Jaipur

As I write this, I’m on a plane heading to India, where I will be working for the next couple of weeks. Since I will likely be too busy to post to my blog, I’ve scheduled this post to keep you, and my blog, company while I am away. Enjoy.

India is incredibly photogenic, however, this is not a post where you’re going to find scenic postcard shots of the Taj Mahal or crowded market scenes. Rather, I’m going to focus on a few ingredients, a few details, and present them together to give you a taste of… the full flavor….of India.

When I enjoy an Indian meal, I take no spice for granted. I taste every one of them. It’s like a full-blown symphony plays in my mouth, and each instrument gets a solo at some point during the show. I become captivated with guessing…”what is that hint of something…that flavor which I would not have expected…”. I savor it, and appreciate that the dish would be incomplete without it.

The same may be exemplified with a traditional Indian textile:

Each bit is an abstract part that makes up the whole fabric. Look close and discover various stitches, colors, textures, patterns, and even some mirrors! As with Indian cuisine, many layers of flavors and spices (scraps and threads) come together to form the perfect masala (or bedspread, in this example). And there’s always a bit of the unexpected in all of it.

The whole of India is like that, too.

I’ve scoured the cupboards of my India photo archives to toss together some flavorful ingredients, many of which have never before been published, and present to you a recipe for my visual “Masala of India.”

Incarnations of Vishnu (Khajuraho)