Khajuraho

Khajuraho was the smallest town that we visited up north with a population of about 20,000. It was also the most challenging for many reasons. One reason was that communication was more difficult there since there were fewer people who spoke English well and we do not speak Hindi.  We stopped there to see the wonderful Hindu and Jain Medieval temples which did not disappoint. The carvings are numerous, detailed and many are very erotic. Many Victorian visitors were outraged by what they saw when visiting the temples. It is interesting that these explicit carvings and Kama Sutra are the products of such a conservative country.

There was a Shiva festival occurring while we were in Khajuharo and the active temple next to the historic ones was overflowing with people all day. I think the chant they were shouting was "SHHIVVAA". One striking thing about this day was that it was extremely hot. With the high humidity and dew points it felt like 112 degrees Fahrenheit.

After taking a break from the intense heat, Jon and I took an autorickshaw to look at some shops. That is always a challenge because people practically pull tourists into their shops and try to sell anything and everything to them. It definitely takes the joy out of shopping for me and I have not done much of it because of that. We also received an unexpected tour of the living quarters of the people who live in the city. We saw the home of a woman who works as a nurse and was working on medical records. It was modest with a few rooms, had electricity but no modern appliances, and a small courtyard in the center. In another section we saw a kitchen shared by 4 families. The outside of some of the homes have writing on the wall to indicate that children inside were vaccinated for polio and tetanus.

After visiting the village, we went to a rooftop restaurant next to the temples to have a beer. It was absolutely enchanting. There was heat lightening in the sky which was beautiful and a light show at the temples which we were able to enjoy.

What Jon did not realize at the time of the picture above was that he was about to experience some of the very bad of the country. We ended up leaving when he started feeling ill. He developed a high fever (103.9), vomiting and diarrhea that night and I had a doctor come to the hotel. The doctor stayed for an hour until his fever came down and prescribed several medicines. The cost was 3900 rupees which is about $70 U.S. dollars. It is about 10 days later and he is still not quite right. We think it was the omelet he had for breakfast outside the hotel that morning. The doctor thought that the heat also had something to do with it.

Because Jon was sick we spent the second day in Khajuharo in the hotel. We had to leave that night at 10:00 to catch a night train to Varanasi. Since there was not a car big enough, Chris (Jon's brother) arranged and paid for a taxi to make 2 trips to the train station. Jon and I took the second trip. The cabbie pulled a fast one and tried to charge us a second time for the ride. Jon was sick in the car and I spent 10 minutes arguing with 5 men about the fact that we had already paid. It was a problem since Jon and I did not have any rupees. They looked at me with blank stares and whispered softly to each other (the situation did not get resolved until Jon got involved). Chris argued with the cabbie again when we got to the train station and we did not end up paying anymore. Being a woman in this country is a topic for a future blog.

Agra and the Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is absolutely beautiful and pictures do not do it justice. Jon and I went back to see it at sunset because we were so impressed. We sat for about an hour just looking at it. Seeing this building made me think that the hardships of travelling here were worth it. The marble is beautiful and it changes with the light. I guess it is magnificent to view during a full moon but no such luck for us. It is decorated inside and out with Islamic and flower motifs using precious gems.  Shah Jahan was the Mughal emperor who built the Taj for his deceased wife, Mumtaz Mahal, as a symbol of his love. She died giving birth to their 14th child so I guess it was the least he could do. Both are buried inside the Taj.

The other site we visited in Agra was the Agra Fort. Most of the pictures I took at the fort were of the view of the Taj Mahal. I kept looking for spots to view it from while in the fort. Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son in the fort and he had a view of the Taj during the last years of his life. There are many things in this fort that are similar to the Taj and it is easy to see the influence of Shah Jahan, one of the rulers during the building of the Agra Fort, in the design. This was probably the most beautiful fort we visited.

Jaipur

A book I bought describes Jaipur as "a tourist's Eden." I think my description will differ. Although there is a lot of beauty and history in Jaipur, which is known as the "Pink City", I was more overwhelmed by the poverty, pollution, beggars and hawkers. Jaipur is one of the locations in the Golden Triangle on the travel circuit for India. We visited 5 historic sites here and saw a lot more.

The City Palace is in the heart of the city and it is a beautiful building. I enjoyed the beautiful paintings on the walls and around the doors as shown in this picture with Jon. The colors are vibrant and stunning and I am not sure that the pictures really capture the colors. Like other buildings in Jaipur, the building itself is pink. It has an open air concept as do all of the other palaces we visited. There is a part of the palace where a princess still lives.

Hawa Mahal is the famous building built for women to be able to watch the happenings on the street below without being observed. The rooms are few feet deep and the most impressive thing about this building is the way it looks on the outside. What is not very obvious from this picture is the hustle and bustle that is present in front of this building. We were probably approached by half a dozen hawkers and at least a couple of beggars.  The street in front of the building is a mess and does not have a completed sidewalk or place where one can stand without being hassled by traffic or people.

The Amber fort outside the city was impressive as all of the forts have been that we have visited. They have long walls that surround them, usually sit up on a hill and look fairly impregnable. This fort is called the Amber Fort after a ruler, not because of the color which is what I originally thought.

On the water there is a lovely palace called the Jal Mahal built as a summer resort in 1799. When we got out to look at this palace a hawker called to us from a distance "Hey, hey over here, come here." He wanted us to go to him so he could convince us to buy something, probably information about Jal Mahal.

The monkey temple known as Galtaji Temple was probably the nicest temple we have seen so far at least as far as the setting. It is in between mountains and at the top there is a view of Jaipur. Laurie and I were blessed with a puja at this temple. We walked towards a little shrine and happened to meet up with a priest there. He took more time with us then I have experienced at any other temple so far. He asked for a donation of course. Laurie and I joked that we had fallen into a time warp because Jon and Chris were looking for us for about 30 minutes and we thought we had only been in the temple for about 10. When we met up with Chris he was not happy and we were scolded by the man at the gate and his wife. I could not understand her but I think she was saying "Boy are you in trouble now." Jon was not upset and I was not worried. 

Another temple we stopped to view was the Birla temple which was a beautiful marble temple. A busload of pilgrims or tourists stopped there at the same time

Although we were impressed by all of these sites, I have to say that one of the main things I am taking away from Jaipur is something you will not see in the guide books. There was a lot of filth and poverty in this city. There is a lot of it everywhere in India, but we thought it was a bit worse in Jaipur. Trying to walk down the street where the shops were meant trying to navigate through hazards, trash and dung everywhere.  We were probably hounded by more beggars there than in any other city and there was a little girl there that still haunts me. Begging is an issue I need to deal with separately in another blog.  

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Traffic

This is a video from our cab ride driving into Agra. 

There was a Shiva festival that night and the roads were packed. 

This might give a glimpse of the craziness of the traffic here.

Traffic is crazy here. There are very few street lights, I have not seen any traffic signs, and the only rule seems to be bigger vehicles prevail. Jon and I have gone up to the busy road just to watch the traffic. Cars pull into openings in the highway to take a u-turn to the other side which seems outrageous but miraculously works.  Watching the traffic is fascinating. What looks like it is supposed to be 2 lanes will often end up having 4 lanes or more if motorcycles are included. People ride sometimes 3 and 4 on a motorcycle and often what looks like whole families. I have seen a father with 2 young children on the back of a bike with one of them holding an infant. The women usually sit sidesaddle because most of the time they are wearing burkas or saris, which can be a problem on a moving vehicle. Not many people wear helmets but some do.

One Saturday when we were out with Harsh, a woman was having trouble with the gears and was unable to get her car up the hill. She looked like she would back up into Harsh so he got out and drove her car up the hill for her. I cannot believe she was out driving in that craziness with that level of skill, or lack of it. There have been many times that I have been sure we were going to be hit by another vehicle. Driving in this traffic takes an act of faith and there is plenty of that here. When a car is new it goes through a puja which is a Hindu ceremony to bless the car. The owner puts a red ribbon usually around the shift stick and a god on the dashboard, mostly Ganesha. Ganesha symbolizes success and he is the destroyer of evil and obstacles, which makes him a logical choice for the dashboard. The vehicle is blessed every year after that.

Walking near busy roads is a hazard in itself. Rule no.1 - cars have the right of way (as do cows). So far I am terrified every time we cross a busy road. I was almost hit by a motorcycle driver in Khajuraho on what wasn't even a busy road. A couple of stories in the newspaper talk about a motorcyclist who tried to overtake a bus and was killed. Also, there have been several stories about pedestrians who were hit. In Delhi we experienced road rage first hand when we saw a motorcycle driver start to attack an autorickshaw driver (or tuk-tuk as they are called in Northern India). Delhi has more streetlights than other cities we have been in and it was also more congested.

After numerous outings in cars, tuk-tuks and as a pedestrian, I am starting to see that the traffic has a pattern that flows. I think if street lights, signs and more rules were added, things would not flow as smoothly. People seem to find their place in the craziness and move forward. We have taken several tuk-tuk rides and I even enjoy them. Jon and I were in a tuk-tuk one Friday during a heavy rain and both got soaked. The driver was playing Indian music and I thought the experience was a bit enchanting despite the fact that we were soaking wet, breathing in smog, and dodging vehicles left and right. Based on what we have seen, there does not seem to be an easy solution to the congestion and traffic issues. Delhi has a subway system but we did not use it. Putting in a mass transit system underground in Hyderabad and other cities we visited does not seem feasible and more buses would only clog the roadways more. Vehicles with fewer emissions would absolutely be an improvement though.

Security In India

                                                  Jon going through security at our hotel

There is so much to take in and wrap my head around here. So that I can understand it and make sense of it all, I am going to deal with the things we experience one at a time by topic. Security seems to be a pretty good place to start.

India is a country with more security than I have ever experienced anywhere. The reasons for such tight security are numerous and vary from state to state. Although Southern India experiences less terrorism than the north, in Andhra Pradesh (the state where Hyderabad is located) one of the terrorist groups here is a Maoist organization known as the Naxalites. Two recent news stories here talk about Naxalites killed in an encounter with government officials in the jungle as well as another group that was suspected of blowing up railroad tracks. The following are some examples of security measures we have experienced in this region:

1) I saw several soldiers at the airport after arriving Wednesday night which did not surprise me. What did surprise me was the soldiers we saw all along the highway going into the city. Although it was only 5:00 in the morning and there were not that many people out, we saw one stationed about every 5 miles. Harshvardhan or Harsh, one of Jon's Indian co-workers and friend, thought it might be because a politician would be coming into town soon.

2) Our hotel is in a gated area. When we enter in a vehicle there are men at the gate and they usually inspect the trunk. When we enter the hotel we need to pass through a metal detector. Interestingly, last night they did an additional check on Jon, Harsh and the men who entered behind them. There was not a woman present so they let me pass through.

3) Last Thursday we ventured into the city with thirteen of Jon's Indian co-workers to see the Spiderman movie. We went into a mall area with a few to have lunch. Upon entering the garage the trunk was inspected. Before entering the building we all had to go through a metal detector with an additional body scan. There were soldiers or security guards, I am not sure which, stationed throughout the mall.

4) Once we arrived at the movie theater the trunk was checked again, but the security in the theater was the most scrutinizing so far. We passed through a metal detector and I had to go into a curtained area for ladies. She probably scanned me as much as they do at airports, but she really looked through my purse. I am glad I did not smuggle in any snacks.

5) Finally, Google has a building here which has netting around it to protect it from rioters. We have seen a few buildings with this type of netting as well.

It will be interesting to compare the security measures here with what we experience in Northern India.