I've taken two trips to India now, and kept a running diary during both that evolved into a series of mini-essays. You can start anywhere or jump in at the beginning, it doesn’t really matter.
If you're just poking around, I recommend reading "The Gods Are Dead," in which I join 100,000 Indians at the festival of Durga Puja in Patna and accidentally find myself on so much the center of attention that I am raised up on the largest altar in the festival.
My other favorite pieces are "The earth is not a cold, dead place," "Just...everything," and "The Peace Child" from the first trip, and "Fire Breathers and Bunk Beds," "Cold Truths," and "The Perils of Simplicity" from the second one.
The first trip was my first real experience as a combination videographer/photographer, and so I think both the photos I shot and the pieces I wrote are significantly better the second time around. Over the course of that year, I think I improved as both a writer and a photographer – but I also think my understanding of what I was seeing in India was deepened by the relationships I developed with the ministry staff over the course of both journeys.
I produced a video on both trips, the most recent one is part of my reel and can be watched here.
Trip One
Greetings from Delhi. I like it better than Newark so far. Those brief moments before landing in India for the first time, knowing things in my life are about to shift.
Greetings from the Taj Mahal, home of monuments and metaphors. Learning about value at the most expensive grave in the world.
Greetings from somewhere above India. It's too dark to tell where. Trying to pull myself together on a journey into Hyderabad.
The earth is not a cold, dead place. Learning about salvation in a place where no one can be saved.
Bad stories. Understanding the caste system while recovering from sunstroke.
Greetings from the Cool Club, where the Communists have not killed me yet. Discovering a faith and hope born out of dust.
"Just... everything." Being determined to cling to memories of India, while knowing that I'll fail.
The Peace Child. The perils of understanding religion through culture.
Trip Two
Day One: The Harsh Soft Light of Morning. Sitting sleepless and haunted in an empty hotel lobby.
Day Two: White Marble and Legends. Traveling to the Taj Mahal with an interpreter fluent in Swedish but not English.
Day Three: Fire-Breathers and Bunk Beds. A pastor waits for a death that does not come.
Day Four: Cold Truths. Hunting for God in India's poorest district.
Day Five: The Perils of Simplicity. Teaching simple Bible stories to children who live their lives under the reality of rape and sexual abuse.
Day Six: The Gods Are Dead. Becoming a minor celebrity amidst the region's biggest religious festival.
Day Seven: Sunstroke. Trapped in a hotel and enraged by my own inadequacies.
Day Eight: Some Stories Are Real. A life is lived out on a trash pile.
Day Nine: Where I Started. I don't know if I want to leave.
Day Ten: Out of Time. Wondering what it is God is doing in India, and why I can't see it.