No. 91

Finding The American West In The Indian South: A familiar landscape in an unfamiliar place, high plateaus, kids playing basketball, cattle roaming everywhere but it’s a bewitching dusk in Aurangabad, not Arizona. On the bus, with this low altitude high desert landscape rattling by, I can squint my eyes and feel a little homesick - sweet memories soaked in the desert hot springs of Oregon, bleary-eyed and taco-bloated drives through New Mexico. I tried to explain this to the Indian man sitting next to me who took mysterious offense.

Me: This landscape looks like America.
Man: Really?
Me: Yes, but different trees.
Man: What kind of trees do you have?
Me: Not many actually, not in the desert.
Man: This isn’t the desert.
Me: Well it looks li-
Man: This isn’t the desert.

He changed seats at the first rest stop.