Incredible India

All along, we had incredible timing in India.   As examples, we:

• Arrived in Kolkata the day the vice-chancellor resigned – and were able to see the jubilant students the next day
• Went to a party where we met Ali and were able to attend her campus reading the next day, and
• Were in Delhi before India’s Republic Day, and could saw it all spruced up with soldiers practicing their parade marches, but encounter none of the crowds. 

One place we may or may not have had good timing was Jaipur.  We left Jaipur the day immediately prior to the Jaipur Literature Festival.  In its first year (2004), it was advertised as “a reading” and only fourteen people showed up -- including ten lost Japanese!  Now it is billed as the world’s largest free literature festival.  This year, they were expecting 75,000 people each day!  Authors coming included Neel Makherjee, the Booker short list author both Beth and I read while traveling in India.  And, the festival was supposed to have fireworks and dancing each night (two things I love!)  I was bummed I was going to miss it, but I doubt we would have found a bed to sleep in even if we could have stayed.

Entering Jaipur India

As it was, we enjoyed a quieter Jaipur.  Coming into town, you wonder see why Jaipur is sometimes called the “pink city,” as many of its buildings on the route we entered were painted a mustard yellow. We were told that when the Prince of Wales visited in 1864, locals used saffron to paint the walls in welcome.  Many have continued to use that color ever since.  (BTW: there are pink sandstone large gates to the city.) 

Known for its cloth and its gems, Jaipur is visited frequently.  We were told that – on average - a visitor enters Jaipur “every seven seconds.”   We encountered heavier traffic here – including camel carts, horse carts, bicycles, cars, trucks, motorcycles.   (The camels that we saw were all working camels – pulling carts for farmers.) 

Wind Palace, at night

The places I most enjoyed in Jaipur were:

    The Wind Palace (Hawa Mahal).   Built in 1799, this five-story building was for the wives and daughters of a ruler of the time.  Located right in the middle of town, its honeycombed window slits were fashioned so that the women could look out upon street life below, but no one could see in.  Ramesh, our driver/guide, explained that today traditional Hindu women in India still will hide themselves when men other than their husbands visit their home.   

We all climbed to the top and looked down on the city below.  I found it interesting that the climb up was via ramps.  They were not done for accessibility, but because the womens’ dresses were so heavy (laden with gems), that they couldn’t walk.   They had to be wheeled to the top on individual handcarts!

Jantar Mantar

    Jantar Mantar - the place of astronomical instruments.  Completed in 1738, this place was unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been.  It holds nineteen huge stone and brass instruments that tell time, predict eclipses, etc.  

We wandered through by ourselves, but I wish we had had a guide!  Some of the instruments had short explanations.  One giant sundial (called the Samrat Yantra) is accurate to 20 seconds!  Today, Jantar Mantar is a world heritage site.   Super interesting!

The Amber Palace.  The last excursion for the four of us together was to the Amber Palace.  My memory of the Amber Palace itself has started to blend into all the other beautiful places we saw in India.  I do remember that it had a wall ala the Great Wall of China that surrounded it and went up into the far hills.  Once again, it had the most intricate detailing. I especially liked the halls that shimmered with small mosaic pieces made of mirrors.  

Amber Palace-- interior view

Mirrored hallway

My two most vivid memories don’t concern the Palace itself.  I remember the snake charmer on the road leading up to the Palace - where I had to try my musical talent at charming the cobra!  

One snake charmer

Two snake charmers

And I remember our entrance.  Jim and I took the traditional way of entering, and paid about $15 to ride in on the back of an elephant!  Our elephant’s name was Moti (meaning pearl), she was 42 years old (expected to live to 100), and riding her was quite like being on an enormous rocking horse!

They say when an elephant puts its trunk like this,
it means "Hello."  Or, it might it be "Get off!"

Two elephants passing...

Don't give up your day job!

Jaipur is also known for its hand-printed cloth.  We went to one location where Jim got a chance to help.  Both Jim and Beth commissioned a piece of clothing – so ask to see Beth’s dress and Jim’s elephant print shirt when you see them!

It takes 4 or 5 separate hand inkings...

... to make a cloth print like this one.

Now our time traveling together was drawing to an end.  Jim and I were separating off - to fly to Johannesburg, South Africa.  Elizabeth and Leon were staying on in India for awhile longer. 

Throughout our journey together, Ramesh our driver has used the phrase “This is incredible India.”  And, indeed, it was.  I’ll close this blog with just a few more favorite images from our time in incredible India. I hope you’ve enjoyed traveling along with us!

Virtually every truck is uniquely decorated!

I love faces...

Goodbye beautiful,
incredible India!

Following in Chuck Cecil’s Footsteps

The next morning we checked out of our Agra lodging.  We had stayed overnight with a very nice family at Aman Homestay. It was fun to stay with this fun family of mother, daughter and son.  (Jim and the son talked for an hour about his coming to St. John's for a computer science degree.)  But, after breakfast we had to take our leave. 

From Agra we were driving “the golden triangle” – a journey that extends from Delhi to Agra to Jaipur and back to Delhi.  We pretty much were following the route that cousin Chuck Cecil used several years before.  After Agra, we were going to stop where he stopped, stay where he stayed.  

As Chuck did, we broke up the drive between Agra and Jaipur by stopping for the night in Bharatpur, India.  That allowed us to spend half a day en route visiting the wonderful city of Fatehpur Sikri.  

There is a tunnel system that runs
from Fatehpur Sikri to Agra to Delhi..
Amazing!

Fatehpur Sikri

As folk lore has it, this city was built by Akbar the Great – after he visited a ‘holy man’ who lived near here and was granted a wish.  Akbar visited this man because he and his three wives were childless after many years of marriage.  After visiting here one wife became pregnant.  The city today is abandoned, but many people still come.  They tie a thread onto the screen of the mosque here – and make their wish for a child or their own (or another personal wish).  

Can you see the threads that have been tied here?

The city was built in the late 1500s, and is very well preserved to this day.  By this time, the architectural styles were all starting to all blend together for me.  And now, as I write this several months later, it is hard to distinguish one picture from another.  I do remember there were angles & corners that I loved - and beautiful inlaid colored stones.  

Another thing I remember vividly from here were the hawkers.  As soon as they spotted us as Americans, they all said, “I like America ... Obama, Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson.”  It might have been the only English they knew, but they knew those three names.  I smiled to think that the three Americans known in remote Fatehpur Sikri, India were all Black Americans. 

After leaving Fatehpur Sikri, we went to Bharatpur.  We were staying that night in a 17th century castle!  A real splurge in our travel budget, but it was cool.  Beth stayed at the castle and drank tea (of course!), while Jim, Leon and I went out again for the nearby bird sanctuary inside Keoladeo National Park.  Our guide there was amazing.  His name was D.D. Mittal - and could spot and name birds near and far.  We were there for only an hour right before twilight, but we saw over 40 different birds, including a black necked stork (quite a rare sighting), a purple moorhen, Brahman ducks, pied kingfishers, hawks, shovel billed ducks, pied myna, a magpie robin, etc. etc.  As we left the park, the peacocks were flying high into trees to roost for the night (something that I didn't know they did).

Pied kingfisher

Ruddy duck

Purple moorhen

We also headed home to our castle to "roost" for the night.  I didn't feel quite like a princess, but pretty near!

The Taj Mahal & India's Famous Fog

On the morning of January 17^th, we woke to more of this area’s “famous fog.”  We had been warned that fog occurs during this time of year, but I was still impatient with it.   We waited in Delhi until 10 a.m. to give it a chance to break up, and then started toward Agra. 

I enjoyed the road trip a lot.  For one thing – the passing trucks were colorfully and uniquely painted with scenery, animals, or other bright themes.  And, their cabs were also decked out in fringes, bells or window decals.  Other vehicles sharing the road included this ladder-carrying motorcycle and this wagon -- with chandeliers for sale!   Dodging the cows on the road was also a tad tricky. 

Anyone want to buy a chandelier?

Ramesh told us that you need three things to drive in India – “a big horn, working brakes, and good luck.”   To help with the ‘good luck’ part, many Hindus – including our driver Ramesh – attach a decoration to the front bumper to ward off the “’evil eye” (i.e. accidents).  Ours must have worked.  We avoided all accidents, and arrived at the Taj midday.

Tagore described the Taj Mahal as “a teardrop on the cheek of eternity.”  I always thought he was referring to it as an everlasting testament of a husband’s love for his wife.  But, I learned there may be an alternate reason for that teardrop.  The son of the emperor who built it overthrew his dad and kept him imprisoned for many years at the Agra Red Fort.  From there he could only gaze upon the Taj Mahal (and never visit).

Nonetheless, I have always envisioned the Taj Mahal as a very romantic place.  I was excited to see it, and we did --- if only for a moment.   By mid afternoon when we arrived, a misty haze enveloped it.  But, we could see it, if faintly. Within thirty minutes, a thicker fog rolled back in, obscuring it completely.   The following two pictures were taken exactly two minutes apart!

Now you see it...

... now you don't.

People said we were fortunate to arrive when we did, as our first half hour there was the only time all day where the Taj was visible at all!

We all got to see it!

We walked around the grounds – and through the Taj, marveling at its intricate detailing and beauty.  

Detail inside the Taj

Inlaid stonework

They were enjoying the Taj, too!

In a way, the mist made it seem all that much more surreal and dreamlike than a harsh sunny day may have.  While not at all like I imagined, I got my “romantic” Taj Mahal after all.

Jim and Connie at the Taj Mahal
In 2015 ...our 35th year of marriage