October 21, 2017 · Jaipur, India
Re-Union with a young woman and young man not yet met. Last year I stood alone upon a roof top in Jaipur, India to record another setting of the sun. What I got instead was a wave from a young lady as she prepared a meal on a roof top afar and her brother and others set about putting on a kite flying show. Along with the wave the young lady beckoned me to watch as she did a candle blessing of the food she was preparing and then later she and her brother and aunt put on a fireworks show for the benefit of my camera. When all was done I wrote of this dinner I had with people I had not met.
A year later I have returned and set about to meet this young people who had been so kind and inviting. With the help of my tour guide of the year past, and now my host of the present, I set about to buy fireworks, and festival treats to thank these people for their kindness. We were successful in finding them, the girl now 22 years of age Sonia and her brother of 14 years Mohil. I was invited by her and her family to return for a visit for the eve my departure.
The home she waved to me from, is inhabited by her family and the families of her father’s 3 brothers. Four floors, four families living as one. With cousins and siblings, aunts and uncles indistinguishable for the others. All in school, primary, secondary and university with one married and with child.
I will let these pictures tell the story of our eve, where this time instead of being alone on a faraway rooftop, I was part of a larger family, who were sharing their rooftop with me. Life is Great.
Please not since I was the guest, and not able to take the photos, I doled out my cameras, the relatives, who took most of the photos of the night. This Storyography is not only about as kind of a family as you will meet, but a family who shares in the night with each other, making a stranger like me feel at home.
In the photos, you will see I am eating alone, but with an audience, as they observe me eat in hopes I appreciate what they have prepared. And then with children with gifts in hand, not for them, but for me the parents joined in for a family photo.
And as I left, I remembered how this all started with a single wave, as the whole family waved from the roof top above, wishing me well and asking I return once again, to a family now met.
When I arrived, I was greeted with a glass of Rose Water, coloured in red. As I departed, I took picture of a sign above the home’s entry. Being in Hindi, I have no idea what it says, but for me, it is the sign of as fine of a family as one could ever hope to meet.
