"And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street"...

Diwali holiday (Festival of Lights, Hindu New Year) brought us a week off of school in mid-November.  We took this opportunity to visit Ambar's parents while they were relaxing in the countryside of Suriya/Hazaribagh in the state of Jharkhand (creamy state to the west of yellow West Bengal).

Sitting there on the veranda at the country house with the gate in front of us, 

I watched and listened as many different vehicles, people, sounds passed our way.  The trucks usually pass with a loud blast of Indian Bollywood music and a roof rack full of people.  The bullock carts passing can be spotted by the  up and down movement of their contents.  And then, you hear the cows...it all brought me back to that old Dr. Seuss book (his first), 

"And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street"  

The images often seem like they could have been taken 50 years ago, even hundreds of years ago, when you see the women in their saris carrying the water jugs to the well or sticks from the field.

These are some of the things that I really did see when I went walking on this road - Hazaribagh Road - just outside the gates.  

Dung patties drying

Concrete Mixers and Deliverers

Many deliveries by bicycle

All decked out for Diwali
Cars are often decorated here.  When we first bought our car, they decorated it with a "marigold lei" (sold on almost every street corner).

I think they win the contest of how many people you can fit in a Jeep!

a Tempo

INDIA is really a contrast of the old with the new.

Notice the 3 satellite dishes on the building.  

We thoroughly enjoyed our week of relaxing.  When we did go walking, we had a profound affect on the productivity of the villagers [they stopped, gathered and stared :) ].