More observations on India, elephant polo, animals, women, village life, more on driving, religious harmony and men’s underwear.

Women working on a building site, quite a common thing to see in India.
Hi again

The other day I wrote a post on my first impressions and observations on India and since then I have been writing all the new ones down in my moleskin. It is 6th January (Kings’ day in Spain) and we are at the Indira Gandhi airport waiting for our flight to the holy city of Varanasi which is delayed for a couple of hours. So this is the perfect opportunity to record these notes in my blog and enrich my travelogue on our fascinating trip to India.

I think I mentioned before that India is not famous for footbal although it is played at an amateur level. The top sport is cricket, a heritage from the times of when India was a British colony. The second sport is also British and it is (grass) hockey. Also polo is played in India but only by the elite as in most countries where it is played. I think that was also introduced by British officers and taken on enthusiastically by the marajahas. But what struck me most is that in India and possibly only in Jaipur, elephant polo is actually played too. The sticks must be very long, if that’s what they are called.

If sport is different in India, so too are their animals, or at least how they live. You don’t need to go to a zoo in India to see un-caged camels, elephants, buffalos, monkeys, peacocks and other exotic birds, donkeys, cows (everywhere), oxen, goats, pigs, sheep, horses and dogs. Dogs seem to be the lowest of the low as they are nearly always stray and don’t belong to anyone.
Camels are a part and parcel of India, whether they be for work or play.
Monkeys run free in India.
Women do not seem as repressed as in Middle Eastern countries and are more respected. Men do still rule though. At least in the countryside and poorer areas women often cover their faces with a nearly transparent veil but have no problem in lifting it if need be. The latter dress very colourfully, mixing bright colours and shiny material and are an attractive sight. Most women wear the national dress, the saree or the trouser and long top with a shawl (don’t know its name).
Women in their colourful sarees shopping in a rural town.
In some areas of Rajasthan they use piercing heavily and they have a chain between the nose and the mouth or even big rings on their noses.

You see women constantly riding pillion on the back of motorbikes and they always ride side saddle, never cross their legs and sit on the seat. Possibly this is because you can’t do this with a saree but I also suspect it is a sign of femininity.

Women work alongside men on building sites everywhere, mainly shovelling rubble and then carrying it away on big plastic bowls on their heads. They look absolutely miserable and I feel sorry for them. Those loads on their heads are extremely heavy.
Women working on a building site and carrying rubble on their heads
In the countryside it is the women you see working in the fields or carrying water on their heads in the streets. The men are often sitting around in groups playing cards or talking and smoking, frequently lying on a sort of bed without a mattress on the side of the streets. I asked my driver why they had their beds outside and he said they were not beds but places for doing business. It looked to me they were more for relaxing.

It struck me too, as I wrote before, that human and animal life inter connect. Sometimes I saw people whose lives resembled animals’ lives, so poor and dirty was their existence. This was mainly in the villages. Many times the villages looked like they had been bomb shelled because of the rubble and rubbish tips but also because many of the roofs of the “houses” were just gaping holes. That’s possibly because the material they are made of, dry cow flap, wore away in the monsoons. Who knows? People live in canvas tents but often they live in tents they have made from straw. How can this be possible in 2009?

Driving is crazy in India, vehicles coming and going in the wrong direction even on motorways so I wondered whether people had to take their test here. Oh yes said Rajesh but I learned that it is only practical. There is no theory test. Is this because many people are illiterate or because there are no rules and hardly any signs? Who knows? People driving practically never use the indicator, they just blow their horn insistently. The noise is most annoying.

There are many road tolls and I wonder what people are paying for as the roads are so bad, but of course the systems brings in money for the government. Often there are 3 or 4 people manning the checkpoint and taking the money and one person manually lifts the barrier. It is funny to see a big green sign showing who is exempt from paying the toll: the military, the police and the President of India amongst others!

I have learned a little about Hinduism and Jainism. In Nepal I will be learning about Buddhism. But I had a burning question for Rajesh, our driver and my main teacher on Indian life. How do Hindus and Moslems get on in India? I asked a few other people too, our Hindi guide, Disi, at the Taj Mahal and our Moslem guide, Yussuf, in Mandawa. Their answers were categorical. “Fine” and in harmony. They ventured to say that the problem was mostly at a political level. I cannot comment here just observe. What I did observe also was an animosity towards Pakistan, but then that is public knowledge.

To end on a funny note, the other day I mentioned billboards and outdoor advertising. I said that I mostly saw cement and mobile phones advertised on the roads. Since then I have noticed that men’s underwear is also heavily advertised. Does this mean men need to be advertised to wear underwear??

That’s all for the moment folks.

Cheers from the Indira Gandhi airport in New Delhi
Masha

From Udaipur to Jaipur, the pink city and a hotel fit for a King, on the road from Jaipur to Agra and the Taj Mahal, the world famous monument of love

Hi again,

This post covers days 8, 9 and 10 of our Indian adventure which means we are already half way through it. Our experiences are so intense that time literally flies.

On Saturday 3rd January we drove from Udaipur to Jaipur which was to be our longest drive, 408 km. Jaipur was our driver Rajesh Sharma’s home town so I’m sure he was looking forward to sleeping at home and seeing his family.

Thankfully the road was better than other days. Nearly as soon as we had left Udaipur we stopped to see the Nagda or Sas-Bahu Temples (meaning Mother and Daugther-in-laws) built or finished in the 10th century. Today they are ruins as they were partially destroyed by the Moghols. There seems to be some connection with the famous Karma Sutra as a lot of the sculptures are copulatin or in erotic positions. We semi understood from a guide that the Karma Sutra was written or promoted amongst people who were becoming too religious and not reproducing. If this is the case, it certainly worked!!!

We drove through marble and granite stone country and stopped briefly at a town called Bhim, a poor dusty location on the road. Here we observed the usual outside market where rural people bring in fruit and vegetable to sell. Of course we also saw the usual rows of tiny little shops and the inevitable barber or seamstress.
The smiling seamstress of Bhlim.
Approaching Jaipur from Udaipur you turn onto what is supposed to be a new motorway. It is not finished so often you have to take a diversion and then come back on. People go faster on the motorway but you often find the odd motorcycle or even car driving in the wrong direction which is incredibly scary. Also the motorways have divided some villages and so people end up crossing the motorway at a terrible risk.

We had a hitch with the hotel in Jaipur. We were supposed to be staying at the Savista Hotel which turned out to be totally unacceptable. So after some wrangling with the travel agency we were finally booked into what turned out to be the best in town, at our own expense I am sorry to say. So after more hassling and frightening traffic in the Pink City as Jaipur is known because of the colour of its walls, we checked in to the marvellous Samode Haveli Hotel.

There we entered civilization and a true oasis of the city. The Samode Haveli is an old palace dating possibly 400 years. That was our best experience so far in Indian hotels.

The next day, Sunday 4th January our driver took us to the famous Fort of Jaipur, the Amber Fort. We stopped to take pictures of the view half way through the climb only to be met by snake charmers. They are supposedly very typical in India but this was our first experience.
Eladio and the snake charmers in Jaipur on the way up to the Fort.
Our next experience was to be an elephant ride up to the Fort Palace, just below the fort. Here we could hardly enjoy it as were literally plagued by street vendors who wouldn’t leave us alone until we took the bait. Eladio bought a tacky turban in which he actually looks great.
Eladio stroking our elephant, "Nuri", after the ride.
On our way back from the Fort we stopped by the reservoir to take a photo of the beautiful Water Palace. From here, we drove back into the centre to see the Observatory called the Jantar-Mantar and then the City Palace. We visited the palace quickly and then went in search of the markets. Our driver, preferring to take us to his friends’ places where he has a commission, tried to make us understand the markets were closed because it was Sunday. This was not actually the case. In Jaipur we bought baggy trousers for the girls, some very pretty embroidered parasols and yet more pashminas, or rather colourful shawls.

After our shopping we stopped to take a quick photo of the incredible Wind Palace and then went to the travel agency, Real Incredible India to pay for the 2 nights in Jaipur (no reimbursement for not staying at the Savista) and to pick up our flight e-tickets and hotel vouchers for the rest of our stay.

From Jaipur we made our way to the Samode Palace (different to the Samode Haveli in the city but belonging to the same owners). This was to be our best night throughout our whole trip. Here we were given one of the 4 royal suites! This time it was me who did a bit of cheating, but for a good cause, of course. We told them that this trip was to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary and they asked if it was that day. I was naughty and lied and said it was. That’s when we got upgraded to the royal suite. Later we were to find a cake in our room on a yellow petal filled tray and champagne for breakfast. We could not have asked for more.
The Samode Palace near Jaipur, a hotel fit for a king.
The Samode Palace hotel is at least 40km from Jaipur and takes over an hour to get there. It is not a secret place at all as we find out a lot of famous people retreat there. When I signed the guest book I found I was signing after the French Ambassador in India! The place is a wonder of a palace nestling in the mountains with a labyrinth of rooms and courtyards as well as marvellous frescoed halls as befits a palace built by a king.

Our suite was wonderful with its own patio and outside Jacuzzi, fireplace, coffee maker, huge flat screened tv, music centre, four poster bed and wonderful drapery. Will we ever go back? You never know. But if anyone reading this ever goes to India, I urge you to stay there. You will not be disappointed. The Tatler magazine rates it the 5th best hotel in the world and the Tatler magazine is a tough judge.

So reluctantly after our champagne breakfast, we had to leave early this morning for Agra which was 300km away.

On the road we were to see the usual vehicles but also trucks carrying farmers who were taking milk or cauliflowers to be sold in the markets of Jaipur.

And then we were to have one of the most interesting experiences of our trip. It seemed we were going to be passing very near our driver Rajesh Sharma’s home outside Jaipur and he wanted to stop off to pick up something and, of course, show us his house and introduce us to his wife, Bimila, and his daughter aged 25, Simpal. We were felt very privileged and found it interesting to see inside an Indian home. It was small and modest but well kept. It was fascinating to see the altar to the Hindu Gods and the huge portrait of Gamesha. Rajesh told us his sweet wife prays 2 hours every morning! We had tea in their bedroom cum lounge and were offered biscuits. It was a lovely experience.
Rajesh and his wife and daughter, Bimila and Simpal.
Soon we left Jaipur. Jaipur, a city of 2.5m inhabitants seems to be the most advanced and prosperous place we have seen so far; although the same squalor and poverty coexists. Here there are brand new big “malls”, big brand shops, traffic police (at times), some supermarkets and new designer multi storey flats. I asked Rajesh what a 100m2 flat in one of these new blocks could cost and after a lot of calculations I think the price is around 80.000 euros, a fortune for India.

The road from Jaipur to Agra is better than many others we have encountered. Here we went past stone cutting industries, brick production with awful polluting chimneys, mustard fields and then cow flap production (from drying to using as building material!).

Nearing Agra we left Rajasthan and entered a new state, Uttar Pradesh. As soon as we had gone through the red pillars indicating this, a man stopped us on the road waving a stick. Here it seemed we had to pay the tax for entering the new state. The total sum was 500 rupees for one day only, quite a lot again for India and a great way of making money for the state.

About 30km away from Agra, the road was suddenly blocked and we had to turn back. It was nearly 3 pm and we were in a rush to see the Taj Mahal before sunset. It turned out there had been an accident on the nearby motorway and 3 people had been killed which, given what we had already seen, was no surprise. Apparently the villagers were making charms against these deaths and we could not get through.

The next hour and a half was a total adventure and an insight into what is probably a life, if you can call it a life, not much different from the stone age! After waiting for ages at a level crossing for 2 trains to come past, we ventured into the most rural roads and areas we had seen so far. This seemed like the centre of the cow flap industry. The road when it had tarmac which wasn’t often was eternal and it seemed we would never reach Agra. We went through the poorest villages we had seen so far and with our heart in our hands finally reached Agra very much affected by the intense experience.

In Agra the guide Rajesh had organised for us, Disi, was waiting for us. For a reason to do with shorter queues at another entrance, we were whisked into a “toto” taxi to another gate for 30 rupees (less than 50 Euro cents!).
Eladio on the "toto" taxi in Agra
Here we bought the tickets for a scandalous 750 rupees when Indian only pay 10! Disi guided us through the entrance to the main red archway and here he found us another money making person, one of the non official photographers who gives you the photo prints after the visit. You are in their hands as it is really difficult to get good photos because there are so many people.

As we walked through the red arch, I saw for the first time the world famous monument to love and one of the 7 marvels of the world. And you know, I nearly cried. No other building in the world has ever had that affect on me. It is captivating and more beautiful than you can ever imagine.

The story of its building is equally beautiful. In short it was dedicated to love when the Emperor Shah Jahan tragically lost the love of his life, his wife, the Queen Mumtaz Mahal. She was extraordinarily beautiful and bore him 14 children. She made him promise 3 things: that he would look after their 14 children, that he would never remarry after her death and that he would build a mausoleum for her. Mad with grief and sadness when she died he vowed to build the most beautiful building the world would ever have. And so he did because for many people, and certainly for me, there can be no more beautiful, wonderful or magical a building in the world.

People come from all over the world to visit it and it is the heart and symbol of India, together with Mahatma Gandhi. And these two are the main reasons we came to India. We have not been disappointed.

Tomorrow we leave Agra for Delhi which is a five hour drive. At 14.30 we take the flight to the sacred and holy city of Varanasi (Benares) by the river Ganges, the holy river of India and for me one of the most fascinating rivers in the world. It will be possibly the most difficult part of our trip, owing to the filth and poverty. We hope, however, to be enlightened by its mystery and spirituality.

We will see.

Masha

Observations of India and the Indian way of life where nothing is the same and birds are green and carrots are red.

A typical row of shops
Hi again,

We are now half way into our Indian adventure and so the time has come for my reflections and observations; very subjective and personal and not always correct because to understand India you would have to know the language and stay here for some time as with any culture and country.

But I must say I begin to understand how some westerners can fall in love with Indian and “go native”. What bugs me most, however, is that I don’t know who I can trust so I end up not trusting anyone and that is sad.

To start off India is cheap when you are not being cheated. To prove this, our laundry of at least 9 garments cost 250 rupees at our last stop in Udaipur. That is about 5 euros! It was done in less than one day and beautifully folded. You wouldn’t get that in the west.

So who owns India? The most prominent brand of all is “Tata” which is a company that makes everything and anything from lorries to cars, to big engineering works, hotels (the Taj Hotel group is theirs) to batteries, to mobile phones to water; all big money making machine products in India. Tata is also the company that bought Jaguar recently causing a big stir in the UK.

You nearly only see Tata cars in this country, the odd Ford and some Japanese makes but nothing else. I have seen only 2 Mercedes since I have been here and not one BMS. This makes you think Tata has the monopoly which it probably does.

Regarding mobile phones, you see them everywhere. I read that there are at least 300 million users, nearly a quarter of the population and this is growing fast. Not for nothing Vodafone is probably the second most prominent brand I have seen. In every village and roadside row of shops, there is Vodafone. You see people using them riding their bicycles and there is no restriction of their use in cars, unlike in the west. The models the people use are quite basic and everyone who sees my N95 begs to touch it and take a photo. They go ooh and aah at the 8 gigabytes and 5 megapixels. The Indians certainly know about technology and have a hunger for it.

Talking about brands and branding, there is hardly any outdoor advertising with global brands which is great, at least for me because I hate it. I consider it visual contamination. The only outdoor advertising you see, at least in the country, is of products like cement. In the towns I actually saw a bill board promoting the coil. Well, that’s not surprising because of the huge population, I suppose.

Going back to vehicles, this is what you see on the Indian roads: numerous noisy and colourful lorries, buses packed with people like in the films, cars and jeeps, motorbikes with anything up to 5 people riding, “totos”, the motorbike run car which is often a taxi, tractors with loads of people on them, bicycles, rick shaws, horses and carriages, donkeys and carriages, camel carts and finally elephants.
A jeep full of people. Notice how the lady's face is covered and the child is at the front; no seat belts of course.
The driving is simply mad and has no system or so I thought. But actually it does. There is hardly any traffic police and practically no traffic signs. People overtake from the right and from the left and no one seems to mind. The maximum speed is 100 km/h but of course no one can drive that fast with all the above vehicles on the road, unless you go on the very few motorways. Then the cars go at any speed they want. But often they have to slow down or nearly crash to stop in time for a cow to pass or even a whole herd of goats!!

Driving on the roads in India, from what I’m beginning to understand, consists of overtaking whilst you blow your horn, irrespective of who and what vehicle is coming towards you. It seems the former has more right of way. There are also very few sign posts on the road which would make it very difficult for an foreigner to drive here. Thank God for our driver. Nearly all foreigners use a driver to get around India. It cost about 40 euros a day all in and of course for a group that works out really cheap.

India is dirty, it’s full of squalor and misery and poverty. You can’t get away from it. It’s everywhere. The countryside is extraordinarily primitive and rural.

Cows graze in the rubbish which lies everywhere. I have yet to see a dustbin. I did read in the Hindustan Times an advertisement for dwellers in Delhi to try to keep the city clean (mission impossible) and one of the pieces of advice was to use dust bins!

The pigs also graze in the rubbish. I hadn’t seen pork on the menus but later learned from our driver that it is eaten by the lower castes, probably the Sudra. Coming from Europe, I can’t come to heads with a country whose people are poor and hungry but won’t eat the meat from cows or pigs when there are plenty of the latter.

India is all about castles, palaces, forts and temples and we have had our fill of the latter as we must have seen more than 10 since we have been here. On the contrary to the towns and streets and people, the temples are spotlessly clean and looked after. I just wish the people could be looked after in the same way.

Housing is nearly always flat roofed. Not everyone seems to live in a house as you see people living in tents (mostly gypsies) or even on the streets and roads. Consequently you see people washing themselves anywhere they can find water. There is luxury housing too but not much.

Shopping is also different from the west. As I have mentioned before, India is filled with rows and rows of tiny purpose built shops, often not measuring more than 2m2 by 2m2. You hardly see any shopping centres or “malls” although I think they are coming to India. As to supermarkets, they too, are few and far between. I once read that if the big global hypermarkets or department stores were to hit India they would put the large population of small Indian shop keepers out of work. That’s probably true.

Education seems important to India. You see schools and colleges and universities everywhere. You also see children going to school and back, walking miles along the road, all dressed in the same uniform, a blue shirt and beige trousers. There are many more boys than girls. You also see children who don’t go to school and this is quite frequent because of child labour which you see everywhere.

People speak English everywhere, some good and some pigeon. You even hear Indians talking English together which I find very strange. I hear from our travel agent here that this is because they like “to show off”. That surprises me. They also know other languages, often Spanish, French and Italian. They obviously learn them to sell to the tourists. They always ask where you are from so’s to know which language to sell to you in. I got so tired of their hassling today that I answered I was from the Czech Republic!! Oh did they laugh, me too.

Any my observations finish today, at least, with some small lessons I learned about religion which is predominant in India.

Apparently of the 3 Gods of the Hindu “trinity”, Brahma (of the four faces), Vishnu (of the many arms) and Shiva, the reincarnations only came from Vishnu. He had 9 reincarnations of which Buddha was the last; the Buddha the Buddhists admire. One of the most popular Gods is Ganesha, the half man half elephant God, son of Shiva. He is the God of success, of wisdom and of education. He is also, apparently, the remover of obstacles. Maybe I will start praying to him too to remove any in my life!! I saw a very funny sign the other day which said “Do your best, Ganesha will do the rest”.
Ganesha
I wrote about “holy ladies” dressed in white the other day. I later learned they are of the minority Jain religion which does not believe in any creator God but rather thinks the soul is potentially divine. There are some 10 million followers in India. They preach non violence and non possession. They obviously take the latter to the brink as we saw a procession of Jain men on the road and the one at the front was completely naked.
Women working on a building site at a tourist attraction, the Amber Fort at Jaipur
As you see nothing in India is the same. Even the fruit and vegetables are different. And would you believe carrots are red and not orange? I even saw a bright green bird the other day. India is colourful and fascinating, but poor and lacking in infrastructure, decent drains and roads and something has to be done about the homeless. For a tourist it’s great. You visit wonderful palaces where I find it more fascinating to snap the women working, carrying heavy loads of stones and rubble than the pictures of the old marajahs.

That’s all for tonight.
Cheers Masha

From Jodhpur to Udaipur, a harrowing journey. Udaipur the city of palaces and lakes, romantic dinners and fish and chips in a palace.

Eladio and Masha, the new Maharajas of Udaipur, ha, ha, ha
Hi again,

So on 1st January we hit the road from Jodhpur to Udaipur 280 kilometres away which proved to be an eternity and a harrowing experience, through desert and mountains, lush valleys and poor villages and even past a monkey reserve!! Driving in India seems more like a rally driving adventure, probably because we don’t understand the rules. What does happen is that all vehicles parp their horns insistently to get past other slower vehicles, motor bikes, the “totos” and, of course, the cows which cross the roads slowly, with the knowledge that no one will hit them!!!

We went past the usual villages with people of all kinds, from white dressed “holy ladies” of the Jain religion who can only use their own feet for transport, to a man using oxen to raise water from a well and so on. The very poor use any means to get money from tourists, the most well known being to offer their own image! We often pay the equivalent of 1 euro to get a good shot. But we are getting wise to the trick and take the pictures quickly and go off before they have realised.
The man with the oxen. We paid him alright. I'm still not sure whether he was there as a tourist trap or whether he was authentic.
I paid this priceless couple for the picture and think it was certainly worth it.
Ladies with piercings. I didn't pay for this shot.
We are amazed how open intimate life such as having your hair cut or your chin shaven is. You see open air barber posts everywhere. I have yet to understand why.
The barber in the street, typical scene in India.
Apart from animal and human life, there were also the famous Jain temples of Ranakpur to see on this route. This was an obligatory stop. They must be from the 15th or 16th century. The main one has 1444 pillars made of marble and not one is the same. Here the Hindus worship their Gods. The one that most captures our attention is half man, half elephant. His name is Ganesha and I think has something to do with good luck as does the elephant as a symbol in India. We have also learned that the horse means power and the camel means love!

To go into the temples you must remove your shoes. In some important ones you cannot go in with your bag either and I even saw a sign at the Ranakpur temple prohibiting women with their monthly “menses” entering so as to keep the temple pure!! Another thing that strikes me in India is the system they have for tourists entering monuments. Apart from foreigners paying more than Indians, you also have to pay a fee for a still camera and a fee for a video camera. You also get 2 papers to show at the different check points. It all seems quite pointless and bureaucratic to me. Often you could get by without paying and no one says anything. Also I think technology has grown faster than the rules because most cameras these days double as still and video.
The Jain Temples of Ranakpur
The last 50km of the road to Udaipur was sheer hell as we attempted to cross a half finished new main road which had obviously been blasted through the mountains. The dust was incredible and you could hardly see anything ahead. We think our driver is a hero. How can I admit also that none of us wear a seat belt? Ours at the back is under the towel covering the seat so we can’t get at it and our driver simply ignores it! This is India for you!

We arrived some 7 hours later, exhausted in Udaipur and checked into the worst hotel so far, the Rampratap “Palace”. It actually looks like a palace from the outside but the rooms are very spare and uninviting although thankfully not unclean.
Our hotel in Udaipur, The
Our driver took us shopping afterwards. He has taken us to various places, some of which were a bit of a rip off but this one, the Shivrati House, proved to be really good. Here I found a lovely colourful embroidered pashmina as well as more miniature paintings on silk. The shawl may not be real pashmina but at least I got a certificate. They started off offering it at 14.000 rupees and we finally paid 7000.

I learned from Sandeep and from an English travel agent residing in India that you have beat all prices down by 50%. Our driver told us it should never be more than 10 or 20% but I suppose he has a vested interest in our not bargaining too much but, of course, he hadn’t reckoned on Eladio’s negotiating powers. At the hotel we have also bought some Indian trouser and top outfits for the whole family, including my Father. They did mine and Eladio’s to fit in just a few hours and they look great!!

For dinner on the first night we went to the Shiv Niwas Palace Hotel, a recommendation from Julián and Merche. We would have preferred to stay there but you have to book at least 4 months in advance. It forms part of the massive series of palaces that form the Udaipur City Palace and are part museum, part hotel and part residence of the current Maharana (don’t quite know the difference between Majarah and Maharana!). The patio restaurant around a swimming pool is one of the most romantic places I have been in my life. It is also where some scenes from the James Bond film Octopussy were shot. Here I was able to enjoy a pure tomato salad for a first course which tasted like heaven as we have hardly eaten any fresh veg since we got here.
The terrace dining room at the Shiv Niwas Palace Hotel

And today after breakfast our driver took us on our sightseeing trip. We went to see the City Palace built by Maharana Udai Singh in 1559 which is one of the main tourist attractions of the city by the beautiful Lake Picchola. It is actually a massive series of palaces as each successor of the first Maharana added something to the original palace so as to leave his stamp. The place is sumptuous. This even beats the beauty of Spain’s best known monument, the Alhambra, at least from a non expert’s point of view.
The City Palace of Udaipur as seen from Lake Pichola
Then we went to see the Sahelion Ki Bari Gardens which were laid out by Maharana Sangram Singh II between 1710 and 1734 for the entertainment of the royal ladies and their maids of honour, one of the most beautiful gardens in India and which give a glimpse of bygone times, so says the sign at the entrance.
The Royal ladies' gardens in Udaipur, lovely.
Here Eladio and I succumbed to the ultimate tourist temptation; dressing in the local costumes for a photo to be sent to our hotel later. We thought we might be cheated but no, the photos arrived at 19h at our hotel this evening and are superb. I only wish I had been made up for the occasion. Eladio looks very authentic. Don’t you think?

After a waste of time visit to the folk museum to see dancing that didn’t happen, our driver took us to a restaurant for lunch. So far the places he has taken in the towns have been ok. However the places on the road have been below standard, specially the one on the road from Jodhpur to Udaipur where we saw tree squirrels eating from the buffet and licking the spoons we had to serve with!!! So when I had a quick look inside the place he proposed today, I quickly suggested we return to the Shiv Niwas Palace. He didn’t seem to mind.

Finally we ended up in another restaurant belonging to the City Palace complex called the Sunset Terrace overlooking the lovely Pichola Lake and famous Taj Lake Hotel which you cannot visit if you are not a guest! So far we have been eating spicy curry every day and have gone from mutton to chicken and chicken to mutton and back again and after 7 days of spice are a little tired of it. So when we saw “fish and chips” on the menu, we said, this is our day. I didn’t expect them to be very good but they were excellent. So, yes, we had fish and chips in a palace in India!
Lake Pichola
In the early evening, just before sunset we went for another tourist activity, this time a boat trip on the Lake Pichola. It was actually quite beautiful and the scenery breathtaking. The boat took us to the Jagmandir Island Palace, also built by the Maharana in the 16th century. This is a jewel of a place in perfect condition and here we decided we would have our last dinner in Udaipur. It proved quite difficult with lots of controls and checks to get there later, including paying a minimum cover fee beforehand. Anyway, we got there and the dinner was even more romantic than the night before. When we had passed all the controls, I asked when the boat was leaving and got a wonderful answer: “the boat is waiting for you madam”. And so it was. Service is marvellous in India as are its people.

That’s all for now. Tomorrow we are driving to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. It is 410km away and I dread the road, the loos on the way and the mid way restaurant. But I look forward to seeing more of local Indian life. And so our Indian adventure continues.

Masha

Jodhpur, the blue city, a fortress, meeting people, learning Hindi and happy new year from India

Buying bangles at the market in Jodhpur
Hi again,

And so our tour continues as we get deeper into Rajasthan and so our knowledge of India grows as we learn a little more each day of its culture and history. But what we like best is talking to the people. It seems they like to talk to us too as there is a great interest in everything foreign. They ask us where we come from and when we say “Spain” they go “ah” and nod but when we ask them if they know where that is, they are often not sure. We tried the language of football which usually works everywhere, especially when you mention Real Madrid but India is not a football country. Here the great sport is that famous strange British game, called cricket.
Me with Indian men at the Fort in Jodhpur
Yesterday after resting in our lovely room overlooking the hotel pool which is splendid, we decided to go the famous Taj Mahal hotel for dinner. The Taj Mahal chain of hotels is one of the finest in the world and became even more famous recently because of the unfortunate Bombay gun attacks. I knew the name from when I was a young secretary working for Defex as my boss used to stay at one in Delhi. We would have loved to stay at this chain throughout our visit but at approximately 500 euros a night, that would have ruined our budget. So we settled for dinner instead which turned out to cost 6000 rupees which is a fortune for India. Was it good our driver asked? Well actually nothing special, that is the truth, but the palace is amazing. It was built by a British architect in 1930 for the Marajah and is actually called the Umaid Bhawan Palace. It is a hotel, a museum and the home of the current Marajah. The building is spectacular and we were told that Liz Hurley had just celebrated her wedding there. Bit too late for us, I’m afraid, but not too late to have a 25th wedding anniversary dinner which we did last night.
The Taj Mahal hotel in Jodhpur
This morning our driver took us to visit the Mehrangarh Fort which was built in 1459 by Rao Jodha. India is all about forts and temples; they are all over the place. But this fort was our first and we found it magnificent. It overlooks the old part of Jodhur whose houses are painted light blue. The views of the blue city and of the new part of the town are fantastic and a walk round the fort breathtaking.
Jodhpur, the blue city
The fort which was once the home of marajahs and their princesses who followed the purdah custom of women living apart, fiercely guarded by loyal servants, often eunuchs, is a museum in its own with all sorts of pieces of art such as the wonderful miniature paintings so typical of India, weapons of the past, fabulous silver elephant carriages and of course the palace itself is a marvel with its gold painted ceilings and colourful stained glass.
The Fort in Jodhpur
And here at the Mehrangarth Fort is where we had our first lesson in Hindi. We met 4 young boys of ages between 17 and 20 who were interested to know where we came from. They were from Jodhpur and were actually visiting the fort for the first time. Today was a national holiday in India. They told us it was the first time they had met westerners and were terribly interested to know about our customs, especially how men in Europe could go out with other women before they got married! They even taped Eladio talking!! They asked us how to say basic words in Spanish and we learned from them that Hello is Namaste, Thank you is Dhanyawad, that Good bye is Alvida, that how are you is Tum Kaisa Ho and that I love you is Me tumse pyar kartahu. They laughed a lot when they told us this last sentence. When we said goodbye, the youngest one asked me for a kiss!!! I felt so flattered. But I ask myself, was he desperate or am I more beautiful than I thought? Probably the former is the right answer, of course
Our Hindi teachers
After the fort we visited the memorial to the Maharaja Jaswant Singhji and then made our way to the famous market in town as well as one of the main landmarks, the Clock Tower. Our driver took us to one place which turned out to be a rip off. A one Mohammed wanted to charge us 1800 for 4 packets of curry and 3 of tea!! We went on to buy cheap bangles and a colourful pashmina but passed on the curry as we just didn’t know who to trust.

And now we are back in our hotel room ready to join the other guests for what will surely be a splendid dinner. It will be strange to spend New Year’s Eve away from our family but the occasion makes it worthwhile. The hotel Ajit Bhawan has been at work all day to get everything ready and it all looks wonderful. The dinner is in the garden with lighting in the trees, the music is set and each table looks enticing with a little fire next to it. The waiters are wearing their finest outfits. It is now 21.30 and we are ready to go down to spend New Year’s Eve in India.
All ready for the New Year's Eve gala dinner at the delightful Ajit Bhawan Hotel in Jodhpur
The Gala Dinner

Happy New to all who read my blog from India, with love

Masha

From Mandawa to Pushkar and Pushkar to Jodhpur and roads where human and animal life coexist. The Hindu religion and learning to make chapatis

Colourful India, women in their beautiful sarees.
Hi again,

Here I am in Jodhpur writing a post on days 3 and 4 of our trip to India. I meant to write everyday but last night in Pushkar I was sick and so had to put off the travelogue until today.

Yesterday morning, 29th December we left dusty and sleepy Mandawa for our second long drive in Rajasthan, this time to Pushkar, a holy city, famous for its Brahma temple to which Hindus and hippies come from all over the world.

It is important to know when you come here that in the Hindu religion there is a trinity of Gods, Brahma, Visnu and Shiva. Brahma is the most important as the creator of the world, Vishnu conserves that world and Shiva destroys it. We are also learning that the famous Indian castes come from Brahma; the Brahman (the most important) who come from his mouth, Kshatria, who come from his arms, Vaisia who come from his legs and Sudra who come from his feet. The famous Parias, more commonly known as untouchables, are the lowest caste and it is not known where they come from. Also women, apparently, do not belong to any castes. Here maybe my Hindu friends can clarify how true this is.

Pushkar is also famous for its lake and ghats where religious people bathe. According to legend the lake was formed when Brahma killed a demon by throwing a lotus petal at it. The lake is a beautiful sight at sun set, but from afar only as it is literally filthy and there is filth all around.

To go inside the temple, you not only have to take off your shoes but you also have to leave any other belongings outside. Thus Eladio and I had to go in one by one. I stayed outside and began chatting to some young boys who ran the “shop” where people paid to leave their shoes and bought flowers and sweets as offerings to the Gods in the temple. We became firm friends and took many photos; the boys gave me some “free” flowers and a tacky souvenir key ring which I shall actually cherish for a long time. I then got told off by our driver who had previously warned us not to accept flowers offered to take to the lake because they were a dupe to get money from tourists. And I apparently, had fallen for it. But not so, because when we got to the lakes, there was no one asking me for money for the flowers.
Me and the 2 boy shoe keepers outside the temple in Pushkar
It is so difficult to know who is genuine and who is there just to take your money. Eladio and I are far more interested in the people than in the monuments and on our way to Pushkar yesterday asked Rajendra to let us get out at one of the towns and walk in the streets. He was a little surprised but let us. We have now done this several times and think the feeling must be similar to being famous and being chased by the paparazzi. You feel everyone looking at you. They are very friendly though and it is only really the children who harass you and then it is mainly the gypsies, except that we cannot tell the difference. You feel like taking the children home and washing them but know that is not possible.
Eladio surrounded by children in a town somewhere on the road between Mandawa and Pushkar.

All the places you see along the roadside are similar, linear villages of different sizes with tiny shops along the streets and endless street vendors. There are mobile phone shops everywhere but absolutely no supermarkets. They don’t seem to exist.

Animal life and human life seem to interact. So far we have seen camels – mostly carrying cartloads, many many cows generally in the middle of the road with vehicles driving around them to continue and buffalos – we saw more than one dead in the road, you see buffalos are not sacred. There are also goats all over the place, and pigs – Eladio even saw a sow which had just given birth and yesterday in Pushkar we even saw monkeys. I have yet to see that majestic symbol of India, the elephant.

Last night in Pushkar I had my strongest Indian experience in that I got sick, very sick and vomited over and over again from a completely empty stomach. I also had a migraine so spent a terrible night. I have a feeling the sickness came from something I ate at lunch in the hotel; possibly the ice cream. We stayed at the Jagat Palace which, as most of the hotels so far, looked better on internet than in reality. They are all a bit decayed and tired looking. Usually the outside, as with most hotels in the world, is much better than the rooms themselves. Knowing which are the good rooms in a hotel is the privilege of those working at the reception desks and this information is never available unless you have been to the hotel before. But it was good enough.

Luckily we had a late start this morning and I had recovered at least enough to get through another journey, for today we were heading for Jodhpur, the second most important city in Rajasthan.

It was to be another long, dusty and bumpy drive with similar experiences from the day before. The highlight of the day was when we stopped off to take a walk in one of the towns on the way and it turned out to have a wonderful temple which we visited and it coincided with prayer (or chant) time. We were crushed into a silver lined room with a frightening looking God at the altar. We were surrounded by colourful looking and smiling ladies praying and chanting. It made us feel so good and perhaps has been our best experience so far. The town was called Meera.
The Meera temple
We decided to skip lunch on the road after last night’s experience but we could not skip a loo stop. Yesterday’s was priceless but today’s was even funnier. We stopped at a decent sized road side café with the usual sights at hand, goats and cows and dogs, men lying on sort of beds outside, unrecognisable food cooking, etc. We then went through the back to the outside loo which I was dreading and found a man sitting down and making flat Indian bread (chapatis). He was very friendly and offered to show me how to make it which I immediately accepted. To do so I had to sit on my heels and roll the pastry into round shapes and put them on the fire; quite simple actually.
Learning to make chapatis on the road to Jodhpur
We arrived in Jodhpur mid afternoon and needed to draw out some cash at an ATM before checking into our hotel. That was another experience. It turned out you could only withdraw 4000 rupees at a time (about 80 euros) so we had to use both our cards and then go to another ATM.

We checked into our hotel, the Ajit Bhawan and got given a nice old room (a bit tired looking again) overlooking the swimming pool.
The delightful Ajit Bhawan oasis hotel in Jodhpur
And that’s the story so far. So am I liking India? My daughter Susana asked me that as did a friend, Blanca. Do I? It’s early days. Certainly my most positive adjectives would be: incredible, colourful, different, surprising and yes warm, both the country and its people are warm, hospitable and welcoming.

Cheers until my next post

Masha

From Delhi to Mandawa, not quite the silk route. Our second day in India.

The main street in Mandawa
Hi again

And here I am writing in Castle Mandawa, the former home of an Indian Maharaja. Mandawa is in the Shekawati region near the desert and belongs to Rajasthan. It was once a crossroads in the old silk route and the caravans on that route would stay at the old havalis (frescoed mansions) and do business there.

We left this morning at 9 am in the deserted Sunday streets of Delhi. The view from our room in the very heart of Delhi was desolate and here I have to include a photo. If you look hard you can see people on the roof in the open air showering and having breakfast.
The incredible view from our room in Delhi

Our trip took 6 hours for only 180 km as you cannot go faster than 50km a hour because of the state of the roads and the traffic. Traffic is mostly packed motorbikes with whole families seated on one bike, coloured lorries with enormous loads and people on top, as well as a lot of camel carts; yes camels carrying carts full of all sorts of produce. It is quite a spectacle.
A camel cart and colourful lorry on the road to Mandawa.
All along the roads you go through linear villages crowded with street vendors, cows, goats, donkeys and even pigs, although pork is never on the menu and outside barbers (there are a lot of them) as well as many women carrying loads on their heads. The further you go into the country the more the women are covered. In fact you see quite a lot who are completely covered without even a hole for one eye!!

Throughout the journey you are accompanied by dust and fog or probably smog. You cannot get away from it.

We arrived in Mandawa which is a bustling little town now full of tourists, although we heard there were fewer than usual because of the Bombay attacks. We settled into our hotel, which didn’t quite live up to our expectations as it was a bit run down, as most places we had seen so far.

We were left in the excellent hands of the guide Yusuf, a young Muslim who showed us the local sights. We heard from him that the population was about 20.000 of whom 80% were Hindus and 20% Muslim. He showed us the local Hindu temple and seemed to know all about the different Gods and who they had reincarnated into.

We were a bit disappointed with the havelis as they are in such a ruinous state and enjoyed the main street with the usual street vendors more as well as watching how the locals live. Yusuf told us we could take photos of anyone and that no one would be offended. So I stopped worrying and started snapping at everyone I saw, do diverse are the people.

After the tour Yusuf took us to his friends’ handicraft shops. It appears Mandawa is famous for miniature paintings and textiles. We bought some and Eladio put his excellent bargaining skills to practise for the first time.

After shopping, we returned to our hotel and went for a massage we had been recommended by our friends Julian and Merche. Eladio got an Indian man and I got an Indian woman, neither of whom spoke English. The massage was applied with lovely smelling Indian oil and did us a power of good although we needed a bar of soap each afterwards to get it off.

We had dinner at the hotel; tika masala for about the 4th time so far. The dining room was wonderful as was the food.

And tomorrow we will be up early to go to Pushkar, about 180km away, that holy city famous for its temple and gats. That will be another 6 hour car journey which ends up being quite exhausting but is the best way to see India.

But more about Incredible India tomorrow.

Cheers
Masha