"I'm Simon, and this is Garfunkel"

Taget stannade i Hospet och darifran korde vi rickshaw 

Hampi ar fullt av ruiner och stenstaplar 

och moppeligister 

och cykelligister 

Soluppgang

Orkester

PATAKA

Dopp av lillta i Ganges

Var fantastiska van Mano'ji kanner Shiva Power pa Ashish Cafe

Basta chai-stallet pa Assi Ghat; har dricker man svart te (kryddigt, sott, men utan mjolk) och sitter och spanar tillsammans med baba, rickshaw-wallahs, och chaimannens barn  

 Diwali ar en arlig festival for hyllandet av allt som lyser (sma oljelampor och oandliga elektriska ljuskedjetrassel), glittrar (guld; i mandags bad man till pengagudarna och gjorde allskons inkop) och later (fyyyyrverkerier! Pa hindi helt onomatopoetiskt "pataka"). En kille vi traffade hade forsokt kopa oronproppar, men det var det ingen som hort talas om. Sarskilt inte nagon av alla fyraariga pyrotekniker som ockuperar granderna...

Bablighee och Ellideedee

Indiska kopcentrum ar multiunderhallningscentrum som vid sidan av kopandet och atandet ocksa erbjuder bio, "bungy jump" och spokhus. Vi hade varit och sett pa bio nar vi sprang ihop med en familj vi delat tagvagn med ett par dagar tidigare. Hips vips var vi hembjudna pa middag samt visning av hus och farmor. Mycket mat! "Kann er som hemma" var det staende mantrat. Malin, som numera presenterar sig som Babli, har tidigare fatt suffixet "ghee" som ett tecken pa respekt; och Ellinor har nu blivit Ellideedee, ett namn pa en storasyster. Vi har aven blivit vanner pa facebook.

Nu ar vi i den lite mindre orten Orchha, tre timmar fran ovanstaende familjs Gwalior, och vi har det bra! Vi har redan dodat kackerlackan (for det fanns bara en det fanns bara en det fanns bara en) pa hotellrummet och vi har stiftat bekantskap med de somniga gubbarna pa postkontoret. Vykortslass nummer tva har nu lamnat vara hander!

To the Tiwari family: thank you for yesterday! Food is still coming out of our ears. Lots of love!

golden triangle

Valuable discoveries #1: the women's section on the Delhi metro 

Valuable discoveries #2: the boy in Agra whose photo we look at whenever we feel low

Valuable discoveries #3: Taj Mahal 

Valuable discoveries #4: the blessing in the Monkey Temple near Jaipur - the start of a lucky day 

Valuable discoveries #5: we can eat street food and feel perfectly fine

Valuable discoveries #6: sometimes you're invited to fancy wedding parties

Hindustan babies

Malin's way to a Sari (Tuesday)

Ellinor and Indian soda at Nirvana Cafe (Tuesday night)

Malin fulfilling a childhood dream (Wednesday)

("Hindustan babies" is how a rickshaw-wallah defined us)

भारत गणराज्य - The place where I was born but not nurtured

Ever since I was a little child, I have been dreaming about travelling to my birthcountry. I used to fantasize about that I actually was an indian princess, that was the next in order to become the queen of India. I imagined that I would be welcomed in India, by a long red carpet and that I would be taken to my biological parents, the bearded king and the extremely beautiful queen. And they would give me all the candy and icecream I ever wished for. Then I would live in a big palace, like the one from Disneys "Aladdin". I had no clue at that time, that India is a federal republic. Which was good, it was not a president´s daughter I wanted to be. That was not the dreampicture I had in my head.

Today, I am preparing to finally go and see the country where I was born. 20 years ago a woman gave birth to me, somewhere in New Delhi. Two days old, I came to the orphanage Udayan, where I spent 9 months before I was flown to Arlanda. At Arlanda, my adoptive parents were waiting for their daughter. All I have from India, is the look, I have the luxury of not having to sunbath in the summer, I am already brown. And I have long, black hair that many would kill for, as my stepmom points out sometimes. But my appearance has also created hate and fear, when people have not known how to react to someone with another colour. People should not have reacted at all because it does not matter which colour is on your skin.

When I lived in Estonia, people sometimes asked me to tell something about my homecountry. When I started to tell them about Yxskaftkälen and the beautiful mountains and the cute cows, they said no, we do not want to hear about Sweden. It is boring! Tell us about India! That is interesting! I was sorry to disappoint them, and tell them that what I know from India, I know from the internet and from the tv. I do not even have a memory of being there.

But am I Indian? Today, I would answer no to that question. When someone ask me where I am from, I immediately answer Sweden. And when they then further ask, where my parents come from, I say Sweden. And when they then ask if I have another mothertongue, I give in and say that no, swedish is my mothertongue, but I am adopted from India.Maybe after this trip, I will feel more like an indian. Who knows? Or maybe I will just feel like the average swede I am.

This trip is important for me, because I am fulfilling my childhood dream. Maybe I will not be welcomed with a red carpet and my biological parents, it is more likely that I will get welcomed by stomach diseases and holy cows. But I know that I am doing something that is important for me and that probably will change me. I will finally get to see where I was born.I will explore the country that I have been dreaming about since I was a child. And we will have great fun!

TILL INDIEN? JAAAAA!

Malin