it's getting hot in here

So uh, yeah, back for an update, four months later, sorry about that. i guess we've been kind of busy. just to give you an example we had close to 10 visitors stay over for anywhere from 3 nights to 3 weeks and that was just May alone. Is it our strategically located flat that makes us so popular (near the airport and good kebabs) or the sheer charisma and international intrigue that we exude? It was nothing like this in D.C,, but then the kebabs aren't as tasty there..

Naya takes in a tomb at Lodhi Gardens

Just so you know I shall be cloistering myself in the studio for at least the rest of the summer to get new painting done for exhibitions coming up in the fall and winter. This is for the best considering how hot Delhi will be during these months. I'm not saying you can't come and visit, we still LOVE company in the right measure. The art scene here is very much alive and kicking I'm happy to say. Strangely, I feel more connected to NYC in Delhi than I did in DC, at least partially because DC lacks any sort of desi art scene. I was working with the Indian version of Sesame Street called Galli Galli Sim Sim heavily until February, but it's lighter now and letting me get new work done and participate in exhibitions here and back in the homeland. There have been a few escapes from the Delhi heat wave which kicked in at the end of March and puts the average day around 100-105 farenheit: so far we made it to Assam twice, Benares, Allahabad for the Kumbh Mela, the high Garwhal Himalayas, and most recently a great family trip to fabled Kashmir.

Naya speaks 3 languages almost fluently now, emphasizing one depending on who she's talking to. She's been on summer vacation from her playschool for almost a month, and I know she misses her friends there as much as her taekwon do and yoga classes. She's been painting in the studio with me frequently and has become quite the multimedia artist, employing charcoal, paint, pencil, and even juice all in the same piece. When not painting we are poking around the shady areas of local Mughal ruins and art galleries. Naya even managed to sit comfortably through a 3 hour Sufi music festival at the Qutub Minar one night, taking in spoken word, a qawwali, and a performance by Abida Parveen. I did not however bring her to the Great Indian Rock festival in February, headlined by a Norwegian bang called Enslaved, fearing for her hearing. More detailed analyses of much of the above to follow.