Passage through India – Homeward Bound and Top Ten Highlights (Part One)

So, a second enjoyable evening and an excellent meal in Shimla and then a drive back to Chandigarh for a final train journey back to Delhi.  It was going to be a full day of travel so I thought that I would put it to good use and make an assessment of the tour and come up with a top ten.  I took out my notebook and pen.

This proved to be very optimistic because it soon became clear that it was completely and absolutely impossible to write anything down due to the topography, a slalom like decent down the mountain and the driving.  A fifty mile journey by road but only twenty miles as the crow flies. The mini-bus rolled from side to side, swaying and lurching and avoiding obstacles  as it negotiated hairpin bends, rock slides, pot holes, road works and impatient drivers sometimes prepared to take really reckless risks in order to shave a second or two off their journey time.

It was all rather entertaining and there were some fabulous views on the way down, in fact in some respects it was better than the train journey from Kalka to Shimla as we passed through a succession of vibrant and chaotic towns and villages and the views were not obscured by track side vegetation.

I couldn’t use the notebook but I didn’t really need it because in my head I made my first three top ten selections and they weren’t going to change.

No difficulty coming up with Number One –  The Taj Mahal…

Poet Rabindranath Tagore described the Taj Mahal as ‘a teardrop on the cheek of eternity’, Rudyard Kipling as ‘the embodiment of all things pure’ while its creator, Emperor Shah Jahan, said it made ‘the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes’.

Every visitor wants a first important picture…

I imagine everyone knows the Taj Mahal, it is most likely the most famous building in the World (along with the Leaning Tower of Pisa perhaps or the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona) but to be there and see it is really something special. It is huge, much bigger than I imagined that it would be and the dome is magnificent.  It is ephemeral, it seems to float as it merges seamlessly into the sky.  I was disappointed that the sky was overcast and obscure but in retrospect that seemed to add to the experience as it melted and  dissolved seamlessly into the clouds.

To be fair the Number Two in my selection almost squeaked into first place but eventually Taj Mahal just edged it out – The Golden Temple at Amritsar

If almost everyone is aware of the Taj Mahal then it is almost certain that they will know about the Golden Temple as well.

Not as grand, not as architecturally stunning but almost equally important.  I liked it immediately and there was a difference; Taj Mahal is a tourist attraction, Golden Temple is a religious site and it was possible to connect with that immediately.  To absorb it, to feel it, another impact site but for a different reason.

I enjoyed this day above all others.  Nothing eclipses the Talj Mahal of course but  the Golden Temple was something special, mystical, spiritual, emotional and whilst the Taj Mahal remains in the memory the Golden Temple remains in the soul.  I will never forget it.

Number Three for in my list is the Amber Fort close to Jaipur…

Stepping through the gates of the Amber Fort was truly memorable, the marble stone shimmered and dazzled in the sunlight.  Apparently it was once even more beautiful, once adorned with art and precious stones but another Mughal Prince even more important than the owner of this place was rather concerned that it was even more splendid than his own Palace so ordered that the decoration be painted over and so it became Amber.

Most of us would happily have stayed longer at the Amber Fort but after an hour or so the visit was over, we were through the exit, pestered again by persistent vendors who rather good-naturedly take rejection without offence and back to the jeeps.   We were going shopping at a carpet warehouse.

Back to the journey….

… After two hours or so we left the frantic helter-skelter and crawled through the final few miles of traffic through Chandigrah to the railway station where we left the two buses and waited for station porters to pick up our luggage in the car park amidst madness, chaos, revving, shouting, snarling and bad manners.

Once on the train, the Delhi Shatabi Express there was a two hour ride to New Delhi and this time on a straight and direct line between the two cities and I was able to get my notebook out and consider my remaining Top Ten selections.

What will they be?

Thursday Doors – Jaipur in India

Passage through India – Jaipur to Ranthambore

“We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discoveries could have been made.” – Albert Einstein.

We were sad to be leaving Jaipur, it had been a good two days but there was a new adventure ahead – a tiger safari in the Ranthambore National Park.

To get there involved another train journey and we arrived at the station in good time but the platform information board kept knocking back the arrival/departure time in regular ten minute intervals.

This wasn’t such an inconvenience and it gave fellow passengers plenty of opportunity to have their picture taken with Kim.  All rather curious and we put it down to the white hair.  Tour guide Rahi told us that although India resents the period of British rule that they have no animosity towards English people and that was everywhere in evidence here on the railway platform as we waited for the train to arrive from Jodphur.

A different train this one, not an express but an overnight sleeper train with the sleeper carriages converted to daytime travel, only a two and a half hour journey this time so no on board catering included but vendors passed through regularly offering “English Snickers, English Snickers“.  I rather like Snickers but I still insist on calling them Marathon.

All Aboard…

As the train left Jaipur and made soporific progress through the suburbs we were in familiar surroundings, shanty towns, open landfill sites, poverty, destitution and begging but never it seemed despair and always a smile.  People waved as the train passed by as they most likely do to all trains that pass by and we waved  back.

In a response to a previous post my blogging pal Jude raised the issue of Indian state expenditure on space exploration when there is so much poverty.  I have heard this raised before.  As it happened, some time later I asked Rahi this very same question and he told me that India plans to be a world superpower and when the economy has grown then that will lead to social reforms.  He was certain that space exploration helps in this ambition.

“How do you eat an elephant?  –  Answer – “One bite at a time”

We should not forget that the modern state of India is less than eighty years old.

It was a good observation and a relevant question to ask and I thought long and hard about it and I came to this conclusion.  Putting things into perspective the UK Tory government of the last fifteen years has wasted billions of pounds on a vanity project railway line that goes nowhere, no one needs, no one wants and then stand by while privatised water companies (thanks Margaret Thatcher) gleefully pump raw sewage into our rivers and seas whilst paying millions of pounds to  shareholders and executive bonuses.  The River Ganges is the most polluted river in the World but in the UK Thames Water has plans to quickly catch up.

We have limited social housing (thanks Margaret Thatcher).  The privatised railways are completely hopeless (thanks Margaret Thatcher).  The  beloved National Health Service slowly collapses into a pit of  creeping privatisation (thanks Margaret Thatcher)  and it abjectly fails to tackle poverty and destitution in our own country.

And it has a space exploration programme.

India has successfully sent a mission two hundred and forty thousand miles to the moon, the UK high speed train project can’t even get one hundred miles from London to Birmingham.

We are the country with the social and economic problems that will inevitably lead to collapse.  At least the Indian government appear to have a plan.  They are going through a political, social, economic and technological revolution.  I don’t think that we are in any position to judge others.

A nice ride, a gentle ride, a very sociable ride where we got to know better those that we hadn’t really  got to know properly previously and before we knew it we were in Ranthambore, a railway station dedicated to the legend of the tigers.

Spot the odd one out…

The train arrived just after midday, a small station in comparison to Delhi and Jaipur and there to meet us was our ever reliable driver D P Sharma and his cheerful helper Chandu who as ever dispensed hand cleanser with a permanent smile and gave a helping hand up the steps.

D P was an excellent driver who drove the vehicle through the chaotic streets with the precision of a Harley Street surgeon performing open heart surgery.  As though it was a Rolex watch.  He knew every fraction of an inch of his coach and could guide it through impossibly small gaps but when it became extraordinarily tight or especially difficult it was Chandu’s job to give him assistance.  I would not have wanted that responsibility I can tell you.

Lunch was served at Jungle Villas and then there was a welcome afternoon of leisure at the hotel swimming pool which was very much appreciated.  The sun was shining, the water was cool but not desperately cold and most of us took a refreshing dip.  Roger did a thousand lengths.

And in the evening there was jolly entertainment in the garden, a travelling band of local musicians who entertained while tea and tasty samosas were served.  When they had finished they moved on to the hotel next door, it was close by  and we could hear them all over again.

It had been a very good day.

Later it rained quite hard and we became concerned about the next day when we were joining a jungle safari in search of tigers and it was going to be another early start.

Passage through India – Carpet Shopping in Jaipur

The reason for the swift end to the visit to the Amber Fort may have been because we had timed tickets or maybe because of a pre-arranged jeep transport pick-up slot but the real reason was revealed as we returned to Jaipur with a brief stop to see Jal Mahal, an abandoned Mughul palace floating on a  glassy lake.

We were going shopping; cue groans all round from the men and discreet smiles from the ladies.

We were visiting a traditional hand made carpet factory.  Whoop-e-do!  I have been to these before, once in Turkey and another time in Morocco – fifteen minutes of tour and information, complimentary drink (rum and coke) to soften us up followed by an hour of hard sell.

First a demonstration of block printing and then onto the carpets.  A line of Indian women sat spinning yarn whilst our host and guide spun us a yarn about hand-made carpet making.  A man sat cross legged threading a carpet which we were told would take him four months to complete and he had the unique pattern locked secretly in his head.

Whatever!

On next to the sale room whereupon once we were all inside the door was closed shut and firmly bolted to prevent escape.  A bit of good-natured chat again and a complimentary drink to soften us up but there were a growing number of salesmen starting to enter the room through secret doors eyeing us up like birds of prey.  I knew exactly what to expect, gladly took the rum and coke and  settled back trying to look disinterested.

Then the carpets started to come out as they were theatrically thrown down onto the floor accompanied by a bit of explanation about history, designs and methods of manufacture.

Soon there was a carpet barricade beginning to form that  was blocking our exit and all escape routes and I suspect there were armed guards beyond that.  I began to worry about how we might get away from here without buying a floor covering that we didn’t want and still the pile just kept getting higher and higher.

Eventually it only seemed fair to be honest with the salesman and tell him quite firmly that we didn’t need a new carpet.   Kim told him that we had bought a new one from John Lewis only a couple of months previously but being unfamiliar with UK department stores this information was meaningless to him.  I tried to explain that we absolutely had no intention of buying one today here and we didn’t really want the sales demonstration in the first place.

Bearing in mind that we had been told that it takes the man four months to make a carpet I couldn’t help wondering where they all kept coming from.  Based on that productivity information that man can only make three carpets a year, about a hundred or so in an entire life-time working flat-out but in this room there were hundreds and hundreds.  Either sales are desperately slow or there is a factory somewhere turning out machine made carpets.  I wonder which one it was?

Still it went on, on and on until somebody finally cracked and made a purchase so on behalf of the group many thanks to Ruth and Rachel and Thomas for saving us all from further sales purgatory.  The doors were unbolted and like pardoned convicts we were released with time off for good behaviour.  But relief was short-lived because only into another huge sales room stacked high with cotton and linen products where we were chased around by eager salesmen for another forty minutes or so.

Some of the group were getting irritated by all of this (you know who you are)  so it was my turn to step up to the plate and make a purchase of a couple of nice ethnic Indian blouses for Kim and once that was completed we were all allowed out and back to the coach.

As we finally left I calculated that we had spent as much time at the carpet warehouse as we had at the Amber Fort which was rather a shame.  All tour companies do this and I understand that they have to cater for everyone but as I looked around not many in our group were all that enthusiastic about shopping stop-offs and had it gone to a show of hands I suspect most would have preferred to visit more of the sites of the city such as the City Palace or the Hawa Mahal, the Palace of the Winds.  But we didn’t so I can’t tell you about that…

After a disappointing lunch there was more bad news.  More shopping.  This time a silver salesroom.  I had been through that before as well in Turkey and Morocco and one shopping experience a day is enough for me so I skipped this one and went for a solo walk along a crazy Jaipur street which turned out to be very successful because I came across the Hawa Mahal and then a liquor store and purchased some wine.  Ruby red wine is so much more satisfying than ruby red stones.

I rather enjoyed my walk along the Jaipur shopping street, it was crowded, it was noisy, I was stopped several times and invited into shops but I always declined and there was no pressure because these were polite invitations not aggressive demands and no thank you was almost met with a second attempt and then an acceptance and a smile.  I don’t mind being pestered if they don’t pester too much.

This post is dedicated to my friend Richard Adams.  He knows why!

 

 

Passage through India – The Amber Fort at Jaipur

“Jaipur is a blushing bride draped in pink, dancing in our dreams while the peacocks sing.” –  Vinita Kinra

There was a later start today and we were glad of that so after a leisurely breakfast (avoiding the curry of course) we transferred to the coach and headed towards Jaipur and beyond that to the Amber Fort, one of five hilltop forts in Rajasthan that are included together in a UNESCO World Heritage Site listing.

The route took us out of the city and as we climbed the city haze dispersed and the air became fresher, clearer, blue skies at last.  Eventually as the road narrowed and climbed higher the bus could proceed no further so stopped in a transfer lay-by busy with urgent street vendors.

The looky-looky men were persistent and a nuisance but we were becoming accustomed to that and how to deal with them.  At first it seemed rude to ignore them but this was important to do so because to make eye contact and  interact was a bad mistake as this was quickly interpreted as maybe some interest in the wares (mostly tat) and they become especially difficult to shake off, best to say NO very firmly, look straight ahead, give no encouragement at all and move swiftly on.

The Amber Fort and Maota Lake where there were warning signs not to go into the water due to the presence of alligators.  A decision to be made then, paddle with alligators or run the gauntlet of the street vendors.

As we waited for transport to arrive to take us to the fort a line of decorated elephants passed by each one transporting a handful of visitors in howdahs which are a sort of wooden saddle attached to the animals back.  Some welfare groups are critical about this elephant ride entertainment and call for it to be stopped on welfare grounds.  Many tour companies agree and don’t use the elephants but motor jeeps instead as an alternative.

I am not sure that I agree with the use of animals in this way so wasn’t disappointed but I have to say that it looks a whole lot more interesting than the donkey rides on Cleethorpes beach and I have to say that the elephants  looked happier too.

The streets of the village are narrow and have no pavements, shops and stalls  spill out onto the street and cows amble slowly past.  Pedestrians appear curiously unaware of the danger.  Surely more than enough obstructions to demand careful driving, but no, not a bit of it and the jeeps proceeded at reckless speed as though competitors in an obstacle rally towards the top of the hill.  “I am a very good driver, I am a very good driver” the man behind the wheel kept repeating as though to reassure us or maybe himself and to be fair he did get us to the top without incident even without for most of the journey not keeping his eyes on the road ahead.

Stepping through the gates of the Amber Fort was truly memorable, the marble stone shimmered and dazzled in the sunlight.  Apparently it was once even more beautiful, once adorned with art and precious stones but another Mughal Prince even more important than the owner of this place was rather concerned that it was even more splendid than his own Palace so ordered that the decoration be painted over and so it became Amber.

The Mughals were filthy rich, fabulously wealthy and extravagant so they indulged themselves in places like this.  Their wealth was based on control of the spice route running north to Persia and beyond and by control of the local population and a punitive tax system.

The tour guide Rahi, escorted us through the courtyards and the interiors and the private royal apartments where the Mughal Prince had an arrangement of twelve fabulous rooms, one for each of his wives and that made we question if they were that clever after all.

Twelve wives is complete madness.  Anyone having twelve wives must require urgent medical attention.

It also wasn’t so clever to have so many children because jealousy and bickering inevitably led to family feuds, fighting, deposition, house arrest and long term imprisonment and it was all this that contributed to the eventual fall of the Mughal Empire in India.

Most of us would happily have stayed longer at the Amber Fort but after an hour or so the visit was over, we were through the exit, pestered again by persistent vendors who rather good-naturedly take rejection without offence and back to the jeeps.  If the ride up to the fort was frightening, the gravity defying return journey was terrifying.  In the back we were tossed around as though in a spin dryer set to maximum speed and above the roar of the engine and the (occasional) squeal of brakes all I could hear was “I am a very good driver, I am a very good driver”.

At the transfer lay-by we were reunited with the coach and the driver Mr D P Sharma who was indeed a really good driver who took no chances and he returned us safely to Jaipur.