She told us that India is more a developing world country than third world. It can be difficult and has its bureaucratic pitfalls (e.g., forty-five minutes for a bank visit is not unlikely). Things happen slowly. Usually things go smoothly, but you have to expect some problems.
We would be staying in palaces converted to hotels in Mandawa, Samode and Sariska. Power cuts (often quickly followed by matches and candles) were common. The water supply is usually pretty good, but we might have to wait for hot water to reach our rooms which may in the end come out of the cold water tap. The water in the desert would come from wells, and usually the water outside of cities is pretty good. Rachel had no injections, doesn't take malaria pills and drinks the tap water. We were told to stick with bottled water.
The food was supposed to be milder (spicy, but not hot) than Indian food we had at home. Our options would often be between Indian, Chinese and Continental cuisine. Rachel told us that the local Indian guides love to take you shopping in places where they get kickbacks which means that the prices will be higher. There was also a scam going around where someone would throw cow manure on your shoes and then offer to clean them for a tip. Some people in our group had already become victims of this technique.
There were 25 of us in the group. We were a varied group from all over the world. It was good to see that there were a good number of people around my age and even younger. Henry at 78 was the oldest. He was a Pole who moved to England after World War 2. Throughout the trip we would sometimes speak in Polish with each other. We had to fill out a form which asked for blood type and whom to call in case of emergency. There was some time before our 2:00 PM tour of Old Delhi for lunch, so I went out with Jim and Carol and **** and Sue, two married couples from Canada, to a place Rachel had directed us down the street. I had dosa masala and a cola. It went down okay and only cost 28 Rs.
We boarded a bus for our tour. Our guide was Mr. Singh. Nine million people are supposed to live in Delhi. We parked by the huge Secretariat buildings and had to walk under a bridge to get a better view. We also saw the round Parliament building and some dressed-up monkeys dancing and playing drums on command. I never took a picture of them because their owners would then ask you for money. The tree-lined streets strangely reminded me of Mobile, Alabama. At a stop, I saw a boy washing car windows for money. I also saw a bus with a huge ad on its side: AIDS KILLS, CONDOM SAVES.
We stopped by the India Gate (or War Memorial Arch) which looks something like the Arc de Triumphe in Paris -- only a lot smaller. It's a monument to the Indian dead from World War I. Just as we were boarding the bus to leave, a couple of men with baskets containing snakes sat down by the entrance of the bus hoping to make some money by performing some snake charming. We stopped by where Mahatma Gandhi was either cremated or where his ashes are kept, but the place was closed and guarded.
Then we visited the Red Fort where we saw lots of pigeons, peddlers and beggars. It was pretty crowded outside. It seemed that wearing sunglasses and ignoring the peddlers at the Red Fort entrance was the best way to get them to quit bothering you. The fort was big, ornate and nice, but I was more impressed with the Ashoka trees. It has 75-foot high walls and was built by the Mogul Shah Jahan of red sandstone in the mid-17th century. The Moguls are descended from the Mongols.
I was disappointed that we didn't actually visit Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque. It was completed in 1656. The mosque is built of red sandstone and white marble. Our guide just pointed at it. We were told that there are 92 mosques in Delhi. Mr. Singh also didn't even mention Chandni Chowk, a once imperial avenue down which rode lavish cavalcades. Today everything rides down Chandni Chowk: bullock carts, limousines, horse carriages, scooters, taxis, a sea of humanity interspersed with cows and donkeys. I had to settle for the view I got of it from the Red Fort.
The streets were more spacious, less crowded and cleaner than I expected them to be. Traffic seemed fairly light during a Sunday afternoon. We got back to the hotel around 5:15. We weren't supposed to get back until 5:30 or 6:00. I was disappointed that there wasn't much interest in seeing the Sound and Light Show at the Red Fort that evening. I had seen these shows in Greece and Egypt, and often they can be a bit melodramatic and boring, but nothing else had been suggested in its place. The show was supposed to tell the history of the Red Fort. The price for it was the cheapest I've seen in all of the countries I've been to that present them.
Dinner wasn't until 7:30, so I ended up talking with Lisa (a 23-year-old physical therapist from Melbourne, Australia), Maritsa (40), a window from South Africa who has a son, and Marie and Marc, a married couple from Canada. Marie teaches French and Marc is in some kind of sales/construction. Maritsa had been in India for about a month, and Marie and Marc had been here for 5 days. India was the last stop for Lisa's 10-month travels around the world. They went out for a walk and dinner. I was invited, but I decided to wait for the others. I ended up finding my way to the roof where I got a better view of the city. The lights on some buildings were just starting to go on.
I wore jeans and a short-sleeved shirt to dinner at Gaylords where I had the chicken kiev. On our way to the restaurant, I saw a man urinating on a wall. I mention it because it would become a fairly common sight. Water was marked up from 12 Rs to 25 (Pepsis were 20 Rs). The plastic bottles were usually labeled with a statement that the price of the water should never exceed 12 Rs which was inclusive of all taxes. We noticed that everywhere we went water never seemed to get down to that price. In the end dinner cost me 220 Rs.
Dinner would be my first unpleasant experience with Hans, a German transportation engineer, who seemed to enjoy arguing and was so anti-smoking he had several of us move so that he could sit far away from any of the smokers at the table. Rachel said she wanted our feedback on the tour of Delhi, so I told her about our local guide not showing us as much as expected. I sat across from Karen, a lawyer from England, and her obese smoker friend Jo, a nurse. I learned that they were on my flight from Paris. When the man who met them at the airport asked where the third person he was expecting from the flight was, they said they didn't know, and with that, they left for the hotel.
Some of us took a different route back to the hotel. Jenny, an accountant from Sydney, Australia, led the way -- I'm glad someone knew the way. The streets were dimly lit, and I wasn't very comfortable walking down back streets. A girl with a baby begged us for money. Crossing the street was even a challenge, and sharing the way with a cow still seemed unusual. Our surroundings looked dirty and poor. The city seemed to be in a haze. The silent stares we received on the way made me uncomfortable.
Jerry had given me 3 of the postcards he bought that day. I used all of them before turning in. CNN and other cable channels didn't come in too well. I was in bed at 10:45 PM and slept well.
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We had a wake-up call at 7:00 AM -- more Jean Michele Jarre. I had awakened a number of times before that starting around 4:30 AM. At breakfast I tasted some awful milk and moved on to something else. It cost me 18 Rs to send my three postcards. Our plan was to depart at 8:30 AM and arrive around 4:00 PM. We left a little after 8:30. Rachel had warned us that the condition of the roads and maneuvering through traffic which included monkeys, cows and camels would make our average speed come down to about 40kph (or 25mph). She told us she was feeling somewhat under the weather today which wasn't very encouraging. I ended up sitting on the right side of the bus next to a window. Maritsa joined me. The cattle did roam freely on the road, and the ride was pretty bumpy.
We saw a large statue of the Hindu god Shiva on the road. Shiva is distinguished with a crescent at his forhead and is both the god of creation and destruction. I saw more men apparently urinating in public on the side of the road. We stopped at markets along the way. People bought bananas. We got a lot of stares as we walked up and down the street. Colored powder for the Hindu Holi festival which is celebrated during the full moon in March was being sold. Children often throw the colored powder or shoot dyed water at passersby during the festival. Maritsa dabbed my left cheek with it. It would be the first of a great deal more. An Indian young man ended up adding more to my cheek and chin before we were on our way. Claudia, an Italian-American living in London with her husband Francesco, and Karen were smeared with the stuff pretty badly.
The ride was bumpy, but scenic, and I enjoyed it. We could see women wearing beautifully and brightly colored sarees working in the fields. It seamed rather strange to me that you never saw an Indian woman not wearing one. Men, on the other hand, wore rather drab outfits. We stopped for bush bathroom breaks, cattle, markets and lunch. I had dosa masala and water for lunch. During the trip we saw sheep, goats, oxen, vultures, peacocks and lots of acacia trees.
Mandawa is in the heart of Rajasthan's 'Shekhavati' area and is renowned for its painted frescoes and ornate havelis (old several-story mansions). Rajasthan is made up of two words: 'than' means land and 'raja' comes from a word meaning princes. It was the land of princes. Castle Mandawa is a maharaja's palace that has been turned into a hotel. It was beautiful and ornate. It has authentically furnished rooms and original murals. The rooms (although it was difficult to ever get excited about the bathrooms) were amazing. When we arrived, we attracted a lot of attention. Many children came up to us. It was a little overwhelming, and initially, one was not sure what their intentions were. Hans actually pushed a child away from me. We had to walk up to the castle where we were greeted with red dots on our foreheads (known as tika marks) and colorful garlands were placed around our necks in welcome.
After settling in, several of us took in the views from the castle roof. Some of the local children waved to us. I could see huge vultures flying around -- some very close to us -- and perching in trees. There was also a peacock nearby. I was glad I had brought a pair of binoculars. Jerry, Lisa and I ventured out of the castle to take a look around and do some window shopping. We soon came across a circle of dancers and men who beat on drums as they danced. It took us a while to notice that none of the dancers were women -- they were men very well dressed up as women. Some children soon joined us. They took us by the hand and walked with us. They were very friendly, but neat isn't a word one would use to describe them. The older boys led us to shops, but they never entered with us. Our companions were inquisitive and had an intensity that made us a little uncomfortable. |
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