Medinat Ahmed Shah, Bom Bahia!

Ganesh! Apparently, one must always start with Ganesh.

This gentleman saw me and my camera as he was driving by, stopped his motorcycle and asked for a photo shoot.

A Christian security guard.

Warm water, poured over ice, becomes cool! Who knew?

The staircase of the synagogue in Ahmedabad.

Children getting ready for the fancy dress competition.

Near Gujarat University.

In the Old City, Ahmedabad.

In the Old City, Ahmedabad.

A neighborhood bird feeder. These are scattered throughout the Old City and in every enclosed neighborhood, or pol.

From Marine Drive in Bombay, which may be the most underutilized prime real estate on the planet. Bombay passed from Portuguese (Bom Bahia) hands to British dominion as part of the wedding dowry of Catherine of Braganza when she was married to Charles II of England.

The Museum Formerly Known as Prince (of Wales), Bombay.

At the day camp for the Bombay area's Jewish children.

A day camper momentarily unsure about her role as Pharaoh.

Mannequins in Ahmedabad tend to be angry white women.

Every India photo blog has to include some kind of picture of fruit, right? After all, it is India, and they do sell colorful fruit here.

In the early morning hours, dancing during the final night of Navratri.

A langur monkey. Typically they are rude and aggressive, and for all our similarities to monkeys, the ones I have seen really aren't ashamed at all to parade around in the nude in public. Disgraceful.

An uncommon deity in a Hindu temple, supposedly made of butter.

Another uncommon deity.

A Muslim clothes seller in the market.

Listening to a lecture at the Global Day of Jewish Learning.

A few of Bombay's remaining Baghdadi Jews.

A Passage to Ahmedabad

A woman in the Gulbai Tekra slum eyes a freshly painted Ganesh statue. The annual building of these plaster of Paris statues is a major boost to the slum economy, as devotees from across the city and neighboring areas purchase their Ganesh statues and turn their homes into shrines for the festival. During the last days of Ganpati, as the holiday is known, the statues are taken to the river (in Ahmedabad, the Sabarmati), and submerged into the water. Thus they disintegrate and become one with the river. This was more environmentally sound when the statues were made of mud, but now they are spray paint, plastic, and chemicals.

In the back of an open flatbed truck, I rode with friends, holding onto flames and a statue of Ganesh, adorned in powders, flowers, gifts and spices, past large chanting crowds carrying more statues of the elephant god to the river. We rode through the city and ended at the riverside slums.

Lighting a flame for Ganesh.

Ganpati devotees celebrating on the banks of the river (it is night time).

The Langur monkeys are actually quite vicious. I was once surrounded by a gang of them baring their teeth. They are like the Sharks and the Jets, except they can give you rabies.

There are many cows and worn out buildings in Ahmedabad.

Ganesh, surrounded by devotees, before he is submerged in the river.

A boatman on the Sabarmati River.

A Hindu temple near my bungalow and Law Garden.

A young girl selling chana choli dresses for Navratri.

At the Law Garden shopping stalls.

Whenever I have my camera out, everyone wants me to take their picture. These cricket players were thrilled when I told them I was a bowler. I'm pretty sure that is a position in cricket.

Chandravilas, the oldest restaurant in Ahmedabad, is delicious. Everything pictured here is fried to perfection.

A mandir, or Hindu temple, in a pol walled neighborhood in the Old City.

A Jain Temple

In a pol, or semi-enclosed neighborhood, of the Old City.

A broken door of a temple, likely destroyed by the 2001 earthquake.

The Jamma Masjid, or Friday Mosque

The Old Fort

Children in the Street

Götterdämmerung

A beautiful handmade lamp.

Ganesh with Offerings of Chili and a Penant