From November 2005 to April 2006, I traveled around India and Nepal, spending the majority of my time studying music in Mumbai with an excellent violinist named Kala Ramnath. I also brought a binaural microphone (a crappy one I put together myself) which, paired with a minidisc recorder, put me in a position to capture some very interesting sounds.

If you wish, you may download all these sounds as a single .zip file.
   

Binaural Recordings
India and Nepal, Fall 2005-Spring 2006
   

 

     
      "Bidi, bidi?", Esteban asks Omri. "You have bidi for me?" This is en route to Mumbai, from Varanasi. A 26-hour train ride.  
           
      Women on the Ganges wash saris in Varanasi. Imaginative percussionists are everywhere.  
           
      Bells hung on the necks of dzus (a crossbreed of yaks and cows) dingle happily in Yuksom, the ancient capital of Sikkim and coronation site of King Phuntshog Norbugang.  
           
      New Year's fireworks in Mumbai, exploding directly over densely populated areas. So far, the closest I've been to war.  
           
      Varanasi streets swarming with touts. All the English you hear is directed at you, the listener. My favorite clip of the eight.  
           
      Some weird bug in Sikkim. Sounds to me like a failing alternator belt.  
           
      Sambar Idli wallah. A neighborhood fixture, he shows up late in the morning. He is not pictured, but this is one of the streets on his route.  
           
      A fruit seller, similarly marking the afternoons. 20 rupees for a kilo and a half of tomatoes. Also not pictured. He is a very young guy, in his early twenties.