Sublime to crazy

Namaste.

Jaipur was a fascinating city with an entire area painted pink for the visit of one of the Edward VII. It has remained the law that pink is the only colour you can use. Mind you very few of the houses had been repainted since then! The streets and alleys are particularily narrow and all manufacturing life goes on in the street. Travels through the old city are adventures all of their own. The changing smells alone are a guessing game.
Fascinating was the Jantar Mantar, an observatory built in the early 1700s. One if five and the biggest of those it was the site used to do the observations and measurements for all five. Unfortunately the day was cloudy so we could only imagine how impressive it is. The world's largest sundial is accurate to 4 seconds. There were all sorts of other "sundials" to calculate time elsewhere in the world according to longitude etc all the measuring scales were carved in marble and the lot were set in a beautiful garden full of flowers. Yet outside the walls were the tiny grimy shops and stalls of the bazaar area where smithies were beating rebar and tailors stitching clothing amid cows and dung and dogs and motorbikes and people dodging the nasties underfoot and tuktuks polluting the place even further. A scarf over the mouth is a necessity while negotiating these areas. The smells, which we had expected to be of biological matter are in fact mainly vehicle pollution.

One thing that has, unexpectedly, stood out has been the lack of flies or other insects, it seems the dogs, cows and pigs eat all the food waste on the streets so the flies don't have time to hatch(?).
Speaking of dung, it is a vital commodity as fuel. As we travelled through the country-side and smaller cities we saw stacks of it dried and made into ricks with thatch covers to keep it dry. Sometimes we saw cakes of it stuck on walls to dry with the imprint of the hu
man hand visible. It is not smelly at all.Stoves are very efficient, made as cylinders about 16" high maybe 12" wide hollow with a hole at the bottom for ventilation. Sometimes they are free-formed from clay others are concrete poured into metal oil cans, whether fired by charcoal or dung they are smokeless.

The Taj Mahal - closed on Valentine's Day -dang! Closed every Friday for worship at the mosque. Agra the city where the Taj is has to be the worst city we visited by a long shot. No redeeming factors at all in the city itself, even the hotel was the worst, smelly internal rooms and jack-hammering on the roof and grubby. Ugh. The Taj is every bit as glorious as all the pictures, we were unlucky enough to hit it in the pouring rain but it was still lovely. They give you shoe covers to wear as an alternative to leaving the millions of shoes outside and the resulting mayhem trying to find your own later.(Not to mention the people who take the good ones and leave you to go home barefoot, though security for theft and the feeling of being safe has not been an issue at all). I was glad of the shoe covers and put the on right away because the pretty sandals I bought were lethally slippery in the rain! So all our photos feature this elegant footwear!
Next day we went to the Red fort and the Baby Taj (the mausoleum of Mumtaz Mahal's grandfather) these were both among the most pleasant tours we had done. Lovely buildings, few tourists, gardens and calm.








Jaipur area was also special for hand-carved woodblocks used for patterning fabric. This is a very labour intensive job involving washing drying and applying dyes and fixing chemicals for each layer of colour and of course each colour has it's own specific woodblock, the process involves about 8-12 steps. But they certainly are works of art.We watched a carver making a flower pattern block in teak wood using a drill operated by a bow and string. All the work done is sitting in the lotus pose with knees flat on the ground and legs crossed over. Either that or crouched, I don't know how they do it. Even the elderly are so flexible and the posture of the people of all ages is perfect. The Indians are a beautiful looking people but lots of them have rotten teeth, either that or perfect pearlies!
Speaking of which, we went to the latest Bollywood release in Jaipur. The cinema was amazing. Huge of course, but also built like a cupcake with swirls of neapolitan ice-cream style all over the walls and ceiling. The lobby was an extravaganza of pink, white and blue with huge chandeliers and even more elaborate swirls. Inside all the seats were recliners in silver! The movie was ....well....Bollywood.

Overnight train to the holy city of Varanasi. this is where all the photos of people bathing in the sacred Ganges come from. Sorry to all you guys who had bets on.....neither of us took a dip. The pollution, though not actually visible, must be diabolical, not for our bacterially sensitive western bodies!!

The trains are not first class but they are comfortable enough and provide clean sheets, pillows and blankets and this particular one was really clean. Someone came by washing the floor and collecting garbage, others sold food, juice boxes, cookies or tea. Even the loo had paper and soap. The tracks are really smooth for the most part and the trains leave on time (or at least they can tell you if there is a delay). Mind you we were close to 1st class compared with the even cheaper tickets where the poorer people are crowded in sitting up all night. They aren't hanging off the roof, however, in fact even the lowest "class' has assigned seat numbers.

We walked along the "ghats" along the river. A ghat is where steps meet a body of water. Varanasi has a ghat for each major religious group and is about 3kms long. There are two "burning ghats" where funerals are conducted. These were fascinating of course, but we had to be sensitive about it and especially since women do not attend, we women in the group were not able to get too close and no-one really took too many photos. Our leader/guide is a Hindu so Varanasi is special to him. For us this was great because he was so good at explaining all the various gods, rituals and do's and don'ts for westerners. Varanasi is a place of pilgrimage for Hindu's.
 

The funeral rites are fascinating. When a person dies, male or female (except unnamed babies less than ?days old or "priests" who have attained special status and done their suffering here in life (?)) the astrologers will decide when is the most auspicious time for them to be removed from the home. The body is prepared by the untouchable caste, some of whom have become very wealthy indeed in the process. The pyre is built of five layers of wood stacked at right angles then the body is laid on covered in a sheet. Then spices, incense, food stuffs and cooking oils are sprinkled on and two more layers built. The eldest son or male relative will light a taper from a fire that has been kept eternally burning in the Shiva Temple. He walks around three times while ritual chants are read/sung and lights the fire. It can take 24 hrs to fully consume a body. The sons then have to shave their heads and wear clothes that are not stitched, so like a saree for men, usually orange. This is for around two weeks and then they sprinkle the ashes on the river and return to normal life.
We went on a boat on the river at sunset and saw maybe 15 fires from the water along with a huge number of other tourists, mostly Indian. There were also 7 more bodies covered in sparkly cloth and flowers awaiting burning. The whole thing seen at dusk is smoky and ashy and somewhat macabre.

Headlights to light the groom's route.

Getting ready for bed we were deafened by firecrackers and fireworks outside our hotel. Then came the parade. Preceded by drums, bells and cymbals a groom was on his way to the bride's house. All dressed to the nines in crazy coloured clothes, all the male friends and family escorted the lucky man. You might think that was enough but then came maybe 40 men each with two 48" flourescent light tubes sticking out of their heads like horns. We thought they each had a battery pack or something but no.....apparently their was a generator on a bicycle cart up front and wires connecting all these headlight guys. It was unbelievable and so absurd looking and also they changed colour as they went along. Only in India. Sadly no photo!

Outside Varanasi is a place called Sarnath where Buddha first spoke to his disciples. Three are now very few Buddhists in India but here there were pilgrims from other ares. There is also the outlines of at least 11 monasteries that grew up around the sacred tree (long gone and replaced by a huge brick stuppa, like flat topped cone, inverted.)The gardens were glorious with flowers and fountains everywhere and a museum with some magnificent statues and reliefs.

Next stop Kolkata (Calcutta).... next blog tomorrow.

Love Mary and Bernie