tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63120652011-04-21T15:40:36.206-07:00India ReboundThe continuing adventures of journalist Dan Oko, as he pursues love and adventure on the Indian Subcontinent. To contact me, please email montana_danoko@yahoo.com. Thanks for looking!Dannoreply@blogger.comBlogger211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1102485680228776492004-12-07T21:57:00.000-08:002004-12-07T22:01:20.226-08:00Hello and goodbye!
Christina and I are now back in India, and I'm posting the latest trip at another, related site http://www.danoko3.blogspot.com titled "India Unbound." Enjoy and keep in touch.
Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1090936365408047212004-07-27T06:44:00.000-07:002004-07-27T06:52:45.410-07:00The August OUTSIDE (on the streets) carries a short article detailing my adventures in Karnataka on page 38. (Unfortunately, I don't think you can access "India Rocks" online).
Otherwise, life in Austin continues apace: Biking, writing, writing and biking -- with the Himalayas on the horizon.
Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1086793614996689702004-06-09T08:04:00.000-07:002004-06-09T08:09:42.310-07:00Back in the USA: Reagan died this week. My brother was married at a great wedding last Saturday. We're currently enjoying beach time on the Cape. Check out the fruits of some of my labor/leisure on the Grist Magazine website:
http://www.gristmagazine.com/maindish/oko060804.asp
Check you later!Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1085399733104523772004-05-24T04:48:00.000-07:002004-05-24T04:55:33.103-07:00The election season is over in India, and so is our visit in a matter of hours. For those keeping score at home, Sonia Gandhi and the Congress Party won the national election; though up in Dharchula, our district managed to bet on the wrong horse, and switched its allegiance to the outgoing BJP.
Then in a bit of winning strategy that reminds one of hanging chads circa 2000, Sonia stepped aside Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1085310536653910342004-05-23T03:05:00.000-07:002004-05-23T04:08:56.653-07:00When the votes were cast for the recent national election, I was in the Uttaranchal Himalayas, taking in the scenery amid the goatherds and eagles on my way to Kuari Pass at some 12,000-feet. My guide, an old man named Korn Ram Martolia, understood most of my instructions regarding the timing of this trip -- "More than a week, wife mad, both in trouble!" -- and sped us along a few short cuts to Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1083491531543836892004-05-02T02:52:00.000-07:002004-05-02T02:56:32.750-07:00In India as in America, election season is heating up. But on the subcontinent instead of having an April offensive to spice things up, distractions arrive in two distinct forms – a much ballyhooed cricket contest between arch-rivals India and Pakistan, playing in Pakistan and on common ground for the first time in about a dozen years; and endless weddings. Boosting the moral of the leading Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1081851187173715122004-04-13T03:13:00.000-07:002004-04-13T03:27:58.326-07:00During last week's trek, short of major physical harm, if it could have gone wrong, it did. My gut problems did in fact blossom to full-blown giardisis, or something pretty close to that, while dodgy weather and a case of massive equipment failure threatened to leave us stranded on the trail in northern Uttraranchal. Our goal was to make for Durba Pass, in the shadow of Bander Panch Mountain -- Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1081009394601585632004-04-03T08:23:00.000-08:002004-04-03T08:26:55.920-08:00The waves of the Ganges called me back again. I spent this afternoon on the river after kicking around for a couple of days. People come here to Rishikesh for different reasons, but the river is central to everybody's goal: Kayaker, meditator, yoga disciple and beach goer alike find the green waters a current to enjoy. In the guide shop, hanger-outers chill in the eddy line away from the pressureDannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1080903051940826992004-04-02T02:50:00.000-08:002004-04-02T03:01:39.403-08:00Happy April! I've escaped Dharchula for rafting and trekking. Springtime has arrived without a trace of rain, and the hillsides back in along the upper stretches of the Kali River by our India home are afire in efforts to clear dried grasses and pine needles ahead if summer. This has made breathing a bit inconvenient and has challenged both C and my rather extraordinary run of good health -- Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1079160013328680742004-03-12T22:40:00.000-08:002004-03-12T22:46:17.983-08:00For all the talk lately of India Shining -- it's election season here, and regarding the nation's economic outlook that's the incumbent message -- Dharchula might as well be in China. Or Nepal. Which makes some amount of sense, since D-town is a lot closer to these international boundaries than to the New Delhi seat of power. The mountains keep us hidden away. I arrived back a couple of days ago,Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1078553942788537902004-03-05T22:19:00.000-08:002004-03-05T22:22:05.263-08:00I'm back to the big city of Delhi -- and I'd judge most aspects of my recent Karnataka-Goa swing a success. The adventures (rock-climbing, trekking, rafting) were all top-notch; for the most part I had a sweet young guide named Madhu, whose rubbery limbs belied untold strength. Still, after a few days of hard running, he was beginning to show a fair amount of wear and tear.
As I told him, I'm Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1077790888181373812004-02-26T02:21:00.000-08:002004-02-26T02:25:35.140-08:00They warned me it would be too hot too trek in Karnataka this week -- and I scoffed. I'm from Texas, y'all!
Well, turns out my outfitter and I were both right. Even my local guide had sweat dripping in his eyes, and he appeared cognizant of the possibility that his client was nearing a meltdown in the hundred-degree heat. Nonetheless, we made it to the hilltop temple at nearly 6,000-feet beforeDannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1077342807177753922004-02-20T21:53:00.000-08:002004-02-20T22:02:11.843-08:00Hello from Delhi faithful readers! I'm passing through enroute from Dharchula, where I spent last week, back to Karnataka and Goa, where I kicked things off last month. I'm on assignment -- yahoo! -- but if I tell you what's up exactly, then I'll have to send my hometown minions to erase your memory. I'll be sure to let you know when the article is scheduled to appear.
Rather, let me tell you Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1076160213498379662004-02-07T05:14:00.000-08:002004-02-07T05:29:01.873-08:00Well, we've made the most of the day by cutting a wide swath through India's mid-Himalayan belt over a hundred miles northeast of Delhi. The trip started last night, actually, at the Old Delhi Train Station nearby to the Red Fort and Jama Masjid, sights I missed this week. We took the overnight second-AC sleeper class Ranikhet Express, leaving Delhi shortly after midnight. In the town of HaldwaniDannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1076057692725425112004-02-06T00:47:00.000-08:002004-02-06T00:57:14.843-08:00Sorry, computer woes of the worst kind have kept me from updating more before we leave for Dharchula. Suffice it to say the sun is out in Delhi, and I'll hopefully have a chance to do more writing here shortly.Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1075796425682954352004-02-03T00:20:00.000-08:002004-02-03T00:22:44.123-08:00Having a hard time keeping up with me? I'm having a darned hard time keeping up with myself, to tell the truth. Where were we? Well.... Following the dual overnights Hampi-to-Bombay and Bombay-to-Delhi, split by a day of sightseeing in Bombay with friends from Dharchula, we're back in Delhi. It's pretty damned cold here after the beaches and temples of South India, but I'm not finding India's Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1075301887731975532004-01-28T06:58:00.000-08:002004-01-28T07:01:25.670-08:00By the way, through Thursday, you'll find my article on Christina's research at the Austin Chronicle website http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-01-23/pols_feature.html . After Jan 26, though, you'll have to surf this masterwork up in the paper's archives.
Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1075301212258934412004-01-28T06:46:00.000-08:002004-01-28T06:52:39.356-08:00Just finishing up the first swing(s) of the present India trip -- and back in Bombay just this afternoon. Leaving 10 days ago, we headed for the beaches of Goa, once part of the Portugese empire, today part of the world rave scene. C and I stuck to the northern-most beach, Arambol, where we rented a cliff-side hotel room for about $6 USD per night, enjoyed massive -- and I mean massive -- fresh Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1074330474841711592004-01-17T01:07:00.000-08:002004-01-17T01:14:07.996-08:00We've had as smooth a landing as I could have expected here in Mumbai/Bombay. The biggest hassle has been the street-facing hotel room, which for some reason I couldn't rearrange, and therefore enjoyed the early morning blare of horns along Colaba Causeway for the past few days. But the joint, Bentley's Hotel, has been clean and the staff pleasant, while the morning "continental breakfast" of Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1074257598256784992004-01-16T04:53:00.000-08:002004-01-16T04:55:11.810-08:00After an uneventful flight, I arrive in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) on the heels of native son, author Salman Rushdie. According to the papers, he was staying around the corner from our humble digs in the Colaba neighborhood at India's poshest hotel, the Taj Mahal. The television news last night had a dispatch from the street outside the hotel, where Muslim extremists were expressing their Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6312065.post-1073774509496741232004-01-10T14:41:00.000-08:002004-01-10T15:05:47.503-08:00We ain't there yet, but rather in New York with 48 hours to go. First to Bombay, and from there to the beaches of Goa. As it's a mere 7 degrees in the Big Apple, I can't wait. Check back soon, as I'll be on the ground in India in just a couple of days.
In the meantime, you can read previous posts from last year's trip at www.danoko.blogspot.com Or check the Austin Chronicle website at Dannoreply@blogger.com