THE RISING SUN...

Every 24 hours, the Earth's rotation allows us to witness the dawn of a new day.

I have enjoyed many a sunrise -- from a lava rock covered beach in Hawaii to a mountain top in Switzerland to a run along the National Mall. The movement of colors, growing along the horizon, stops me in my tracks each time.

This morning's sunrise -- as seen along some Indian highway between Jaipur and Delhi -- felt different.

We spent the day before touring Jaipur (see Amer Fort and Jal Mahal post and photos). With some free time in the afternoon, we ventured out to the streets to see what we could find -- whatever comes to mind, I'm pretty sure we found it! We then settled in at the hotel in an effort to enjoy an early evening before our 05:30 start time. As we left the hotel this morning, our group shared a rather silent realization that apparently Jaipur does sleep. The quiet city streets turned to relatively empty, often unpaved, mountain roads. Ordinarily, this ride would be a fine setting for a quick nap, but I remember thinking that I needed to stay awake until at least 06:30 to greet the sun.

Noticing the hovering fog in the fields and smelling the smoke from the roadside space heater-sized fires, I wondered if the sun would even be visible. Sure there were a couple lingering stars, but the colors of a sunrise are best seen in a clear sky. Slowly, I began to see traces of nature's own alarm clock, pushing through the clogged skies, a sign that I need not worry, nature would stick to its routine. I doubt any of the drivers along our path had a chance to steal a glance of the sun...isn't it always the case that the regular occurrences in our everyday life are lost in our routine and tunnel vision ways?

Well today I had the chance to watch this sunrise...it lasted 55 minutes. Just when I thought the colors had tapered out, a new scheme -- aided by changing city scenery I believe -- came in to view. As I snapped photos with my iPhone, I knew that this was not the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen, but it was the first one I had ever chased across the eastern horizon. Almost as if in a race, our journey so far had run us parallel to the sun and we had therefore been a part of its entire morning routine.

The cover image of this post is actually one of the last photos I shot -- again from the iPhone. This image is proof that you should always wait for the final curtain call before leaving the show. As we rounded a turn, somewhere 2-hours between Jaipur and Delhi, I noticed a glowing orb in the distance. Certain neither the circus was in town nor a night club was still blasting a spotlight, I saw the firey flash of red once again. This was no routine sunrise -- not to me at least -- this was a sun unveiling, the presentation of light, warmth, and other such properties to this agriculturally reliant roadside community. The image here does not capture the hues we saw this morning and it does not reveal that the sun joined us along the way to Delhi. This image simply captures one millisecond in time when, for maybe the first time ever, I looked at a sunrise beyond a photo op and appreciated it for all it brings to our daily routine!