The Vessel I arrived on?

Fortunately the day I spent at the Foreigners Registration office was one where I was still so jet-lagged there is nothing more I could have done than sat numbingly on a hard metal chair in a dingy government office for what seemed most of the day. There are many things I love about India, but government offices are not one of them. There seemed to be no order to who would be served when and the only info I got was from a sullen woman at a desk who ordered me into a waiting room saying that I would be called when it was time. An hour later I inquired again and was then given a number hand written by another sullen person at another desk. A kind man who had a lot of passports looked after me and I was eventually "interviewed" by a kind and not sullen young man who could not get over that I was not married. The form I filled out was so old, that it asked "what vessel did you arrive on?" in my case the vessel was Continental Airlines. The copious forms, 7 copies hand written, were hand punched and tied with red string, to be filed, I have no idea, but that my spirit will probably live on and on in some dusty government file in Ahmedabad.

The next day, finally sleeping well I enjoyed touring the old city where so many of my paintings come from, with my friend Rajesh Sagara who had made a series of site specific sculptures highlighting various significant parts of the old city. I shot videos for my artist series, most of which need to be re-shot, but had access to parts of the winding alleyways and magical courtyards of the cities "pols" or neighborhoods for which Ahmedabad is famous, along with its amazing carved wooden architecture, most of which unfortunately is in various states of decay but also some good renovations being carried on.


Rajesh on Relief Road, Ahmedadabad Old City

Some nice renovations
Some buildings that have seen better days