Wednesday, February 29, 2012

India: Where I Come From - Unjha! Part 3 - The Streets

Hope you are having a great week!!! This post about the streets of Unjha brought me back to my childhood memories when I used to spend my winters there for almost 2 months with my schoolbag full of homework so I wouldn't fall behind in school. All my cousins I visited there remembered helping me in various subjects. My aunt also reminded me how I used to feed the stray dogs rotis and would keep asking her to keep making more. Enjoy my last posting about Unjha. Stay tuned for my next stop...Mumbai!!!

Rikshaw!!!

Cows chillaxing

Streets of Unjha

Of course there is a cow in the way of the car!

Popat kaka, Hiten, and Shama waiting for our freshly squeezed juice on the streets of Unjha

Thursday, February 23, 2012

India: Where I Come From - Unjha! Part 2 - Temples

In the 24 hours we spent in Unjha, we did as much as possible!!! We packed in visiting all my family but we also found time to visit some temples. The temple my family worships at is the Umiya Mata Mandir. When we went to this temple a large group that made a pilgrimage here had arrived so the temple was bustling for a Sunday night. The next day we went to another temple...I can't remember the name of it...but it was on beautiful grounds with a picnic area and a playground for kids. We took Shama to the Jain temples in Unjha. I had never been there before so this was also new for me! We made it to two of of the three Jain temples...one was closed when stopped by.

I have one more post of Unjha remaining! Hope you visit again next week! Have a great weekend!!! :)

Umiya Mata Mandir
Priest at the temple that I can't remember the name

Shama outside of the Jain temple
Inside the Jain temple

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

India: Where I Come From - Unjha! Part 1 - Spice Market

I finally put my pictures from my India trip I went on back in November. I've used my India pictures to practice what I have learned so far in my new photo editing software, Lightroom, that was one reason for the delay...along with my laziness to go through a thousand pictures! I appreciate any feedback on how my pictures look and thoughts on how to improve them! I will post pictures from my trip slowly throughout the month.

Shama and I traveled around India for 19 days and visited 9 cities during that time...we visited our families, vacationed, attended my friend's wedding, and learned how to pack and unpack quickly! Our first stop from Chicago was Ahmedabad, a city in the state of Gujarat. We went there to visit my cousins and of course, do some shopping! We also had a chance to watch my niece, Aesha, compete in the Gujarat state championship!!!

Aesha playing tennis






Then we drove an hour and a half north to Unjha. We spent a night in Unjha. Shama had never been to Unjha so we had to take her to the main attraction...Asia's largest spice market known as the Ganj Bazaar. The market sells are cumin, sesame, mustard seeds along with psyllium (which is the fiber in Metamucil). My cousin, Hiten, and uncle, Popat kaka, took us around the market. We made a quick drive through to see the hustle and bustle in the area and stopped at my uncle's office there. Here is what we saw:

The Ganj Bazaar - Unjha's spice market

Piles of spices
Bagging to transport
Waiting to be transported - notice Patel on the bag? These are outside my uncle's office!
PATEL UNJHA!!! :)
Popat kaka (my uncle) outside his office.
Transporting sacks by pulling a cart...

...transporting sacks and a PERSON by pulling a cart...

...and transporting with a truck!!!