India's Taj Mahal
Even the locals here never quite get used to feeling like amphibians, their skin slick with oil and sweat, goaded on by the sultry climate like a dare. I’m in India. A place I’ve always associated with the beginning of it all.
I’m working on a short documentary, inadvertently metaphysical, about the first filmmaking workshop in the Tibetan exile community, located in Dharamsala, a mountain town due north of Delhi. Throughout the process, my documentary partner Nicole and I have taken a look at a lot of things: The many ways Tibetans define their identity, the staggering number of orphans in the community, the vengeful Tibetan deity who has become a wedge issue in the exile government—as well as experienced firsthand the wholly selfless hospitality of these refugees and their dogged willingness to help us.
However, this incredible experience is coming to a swift end. At the end of this week, I will be flying back to Chicago, spending a day in Evanston and then joining Prof. Loren Ghiglione and Alyssa Karas for a once-in-a-lifetime road trip in search of America’s identity. The Twain twip, I like to call it. After spending an entire summer away from the United States (first three months in Germany, then one month in India), I am ready to come back, laden with foreign baggage, for a bit of domestic discovery.
Dan
Represent the people! So excited to hear your stories, will mos def look out for your work and let people know.
“I am ready to come back, laden with foreign baggage, for a bit of domestic discovery”
i love it.
and
agree with Michelle!