Ranakpur, Jodhpur

Oct 16

We left Mt. Abu early in the morning. Unfortunately, by the time we reached the desert plains below the day had begun to heat up. Not much to report on the scenery as we proceeded northeast toward Jodhpur. About 3 hours into the trip we turned off to go to Ranakpur, a large Jain temple. The road started out nice but turned into a bumpy nightmare. Everyone we talked to over the next several days indicated the problems resulted from a very generous monsoon season and the roads departments are struggling to catch up.

On arrival at the temple we paid our camera fees, shed our shoes and then were frisked to make sure no leather was smuggled in. Once in, it was sheer amazement with the carved marble columns, wall reliefs, and domed ceiling works. While photos were allowed, you could not point a camera in the direction of the central god figure. Doing so would result in shrill police whistles being blown. While I did not see it there is one of the 114 columns which is purposely build off perpendicular.

After about a hour we left the temple and wandered down a tree lined street. We turned to see another temple and saw a monkey family. I stopped to take a picture and was threatened by one monkey, teeth bared. Evidently she did not want her picture taken. We entered the temple with the guard telling us to look for the Kama Sutra carvings. All I can say is, it must have been Kama Sutra light, or we were moving so fast over the hot marble plaza surrounding the temple reliefs that we missed it all.

Another 45 minutes back to the same road followed by a long delay due to a horrific accident involving a bus and a lorry. The side of the bus was ripped off. We arrived in Jodhpur close to 6PM.

We met with the guide, Raj, at 8:30 in the morning. When we expressed an interest in contemporary art, we deviated from the “programme” to visit the new palace. Supposedly as large a Buckingham Palace, it is a very large structure. The descendents of the royal family live in one portion of the building, another portion is opened as a museum, and the remainder is a luxury hotel (starting at 10,000 Rs) per night. This was the first place we heard the name Richard Geer mentioned, but not the last.

The next stop was the site of the royal cremations. High on a hill, it overlooked the old city.
A beautiful mausoleum, dedicated to the husband is adjacent to a lake and the monuments to other member of the royal family. We spend some time discussing burial practices among Hindu’s. We were also serenaded by local musician, including childhood French ditties. It is better than having “jingle Bells” sung when I wear my read polo shirt.

It was on to the Jodhpur Fort. We took the elevator to the top. It took them 2 years to chisel out the elevator shaft. Otis provided the elevator which took us up 12 levels. Upon arriving we hear music reverberating from below. A parade was forming to lead people to the grounds where Ravan was to be burned…..celebrating the victory of good over evil in the Ramayana. This was a festival observed throughout India for the previous 10 days. From the ramparts were saw the blue buildings that Jodhpur is famous for. Each city we have visited has had a different color. Jaipur is pink, Udaipur is white, and Jodhpur is blue. I wonder what colors we will see next.

We toured the fort high above the city. We noted the Persian pumps ( a series of buckets on a circular rope or chain), and huge reservoirs of water. Above the ramparts, we visited the now familiar women’s quarters separate from those of the Raj. We wondered how the women viewed the world through the carved marble screens. Fabulous murals are painted on the walls. We also viewed the Raj’s quarters, the courtyard where the Raj heard the pleas of the common man, and the other places of government. All in all the Jodhpur Fort is a magnificent building. Again the fort is held as a charitable trust as are most of the properties of the old Raj kingdoms.

We then went into the main bazzars where we visited a spice market and a textile merchant. We purchased in both (some garam masala, and tea spices) and a shawl from a Jain textile merchant. Here is where we heard the name Richard Geer once again. He reportedly made a major purchase of wollens in the shop. Since we are not Richard Geer, we only purchased on shawl. We then wandered around the market, and found the left goods section. We thought used clothing or remainders from shops, but the goods were the possessions of the recently deceased.

Animals of India

We knew we were in India as our car headed for Agra and negotiated around buffalo and cows We are now used to seeing them wandering down the street, crossing the street, sleeping or resting in the median. Our guide in Jodhpur pointed out that the city’s slanted (think an inverted v) shaped medians kept the cows from just laying about. We were assured that each and every cow has an owner.

Unexpected were the herds of sheep and goats we saw throughout our trip.

Rajasthan is a heavily vegetarian community (and Pushkar prohibits the serving of meat, fish, and eggs within its boundaries) we were especially surprised by the goats - we saw lamb on most non-vegetarian menus. While goat meat is eaten the more usual use is goat’s milk. Similar to the cows the goats and sheep seemed unbothered by vehicular traffic and stayed on course. We also saw a small donkey herd – we assumed that we would see one later in time for a picture but we never did. So we have to settle for this solitary donkey.

Our first camel sighting, again on the road to Agra, seemed exotic. The camel was pulling a cart. We were reminded that camels are a beast of burden. We saw them pulling loaded carts, heading a rickshaw, or transporting individual and families. We rejected a camel safari as part of our tour, because they smell and spit. Early in our trip the correctness of our decision was confirmed. On the horse and buggy ride in Agra we found that bumping along a road gets tiring very quickly. On the elephant ride at the Amber Fort we found that being up high and swaying even on a short ride isn’t all it is cracked up to be.
22 October When we headed for the sand dunes outside Jaisalmer clearly many people found the opportunity to ride a camel appealing. I assume that it assures the camels employment (and survival) and the trainers income.

In Bikaner we visited that camel research center. Note that the staff statistics were summed up as “Category Wise Staff Positions.” Also, the sign implies as 6.5 hour work day – 10 to 5 with a half an hour for lunch. As we left the two decorated camels at the door went into action. The cars were stopped for the arrival of a visiting dignitary and as he entered the research center he was given a bouquet of flowers and showered with flower petals.



(A note to all who receive a bouquet – he gave them to the camel rider. We saw Steven Hough, a pianist, make a similar gesture in Prague – he handed his bouquet to a startled member of the audience.) Based on our visit we can down distinguish among the Gujarati (black) camel, the Pushkar camel, and the Jaisalmer (sandy colored) camel. They have different colors, different facial features, and different tasks. We also learned about camel sex – the act takes 25 minutes and at the end the male is collapsed over the female and is pushed off by the trainers. The research center has a dairy where one can get camel milk, camel ice cream, coffee or tea with camel milk. Doug and I shared camel ice cream – sharing was a good idea. I can’t describe the taste beyond saying that once in my life was enough.

Our most memorable animal subject was this monkey at the Jain temple in Ranakpur. We had just turned down two young girls who offered to let us take a picture. As Doug snap a picture of the monkey I asked if the monkey would expect money. Instead the monkey turned and tried to attack Doug. A short and unpleasant encounter.

Signs of India

This sign seems to capture the spirit of India - it is not what you see but how it makes you feel. The sign us to look at other for signs to share.

When we traveled in Vietnam in 2002 we were fascinated by the list of rules everywhere. Most were in Vietnamese and hence a mystery to us. On the train, however, the lists of rules for the railroad company, the train staff, and the passengers were read in English. Our ticket also had a list of rules including one that passengers could not bring "dead or radioactive bodies" on the train. Thus, we became fascinated with rules. Below is from a Jain temple.

Reminiscent of Vietnam is he Desert Boy's sign illustrating the belief that if your business isn't listed in Lonely Planet it is totally ignored.

























Some signs left us puzzled. We don't know what an "non touristic" safari is. Similarly, what constitutes a Jain bathroom is a mystery. Several Jain temples are closed to non-Jains but I don't think that is the case here. Also, Jain temples prohibit giving money directly to holy men - perhaps the same applies to the tips given to bathroom attendants.











There are also the "public service announcements." Most signs are in Hindi. We assume that the English signs are to communicate with tourists. Here is two from our collection.

Taj Mahal Tricks

18 October

The spell of the Taj Mahal is broken as folks from all over the world stand on a platform twisting their body.

The most talented are stars in pictures that have them holding the Taj in their hands. My effort showed less talent (less strength?) and the best I could manage was to put my hand on the top and try to lift the Taj.

Next our guide asked Doug to put on sun glasses. You can see the result.
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Of course, nothing beats an undisturbed reflection of the Taj.

Oct 13 -15 Udaipur, Mt. Abu

Oct 13 -15 Udaipur, Mt. Abu

Udaipur:

Getting to Udaipur was a long journey. After leaving Pushkar on a mountain road we decended into Ajmer. A relatively large city, it was filled with lakes, parks, and lively markets. It had a large temple which we whizzed by on our way to Udaipur. The good roads disappeared for several hours. We used single lane highways as major roads as we tried to get back to NH8. When we finally made it, it was a two land highway with large construction works. They were changing it from a two lane highway to 6 lanes. Near noon we pulled over to eat. Nice restaurant and we had our normal fare: vegetable curry mix with rice and flat bread.

An hour or so later we left the main road on our way to Kumbhalgarh a large mountain fort well back from the main highway. We stopped briefly in a small village to visit a temple to Shiva. The marble flooring was so hot we could barely walk across it in the hot sun. After this temple it was an hour long drive through “dry forest areas”, extremely small villages as we wound around the mountains. It was clear there had been a concerted effort over the years to build a large number of water catchment areas….small dams. Rajasthan has suffered major droughts every 20 or so years and this is an adaptation to try and mitigate the issues. We are always aware of “water”.

Finally we reached the summit (3,000 ft) and were confronted with Kumbhalgarh Fort . It has very thick walls, high ramparts and gates, and the circular wall is 36 km long. From above it follows the ridge lines as far as you can see. Inside the walls are a small village and several hundred Hindu and Jain temples. We had a guide from the fort who spoke minimal English….however he guided us to the top of the fort. We saw the water supply systems, the canon emplacements, the communal kitchens, the women’s quarters, the King’s quarters, the horse barns, and the elephant barns. Murals on rice paper drawn with single hair brushes showed hunting scenes in the nearby scrub forest. Leopards, panthers, and wild boar were the prime targets. The same animals still inhabit the surrounding forests and if we had enough time we could take off road jungle treks. Of note: we visited a very small temple to Cali within the fort. When I gave a token contribution to the priestess after we had been anointed with small red dots on our forehead, she said “foreign currency”.

From Krumbhalgarh we backtracked some 20 km and struck off to Udaipur. We reached the city near 6 pm after 10 hours of hard travel. The driver looked tired, and we welcomed the Hilltop Palace Hotel. Situated high on a hill overlooking Lake Pichola (one of three major artificial lakes in Udaipur) was brimming with water.
We were told that water was in very short supply last year and the full lake had been nothing but a large mud flat. Such is life in the desert. We had dinner on the lawn, drinking gin tonics and eating our standard fare of vegetable curry, rice, and bread.

The next morning we were met by our guide for an informative visit to the Jagdish Mandir temple. This temple sits high above the street.
At least five representations of gods are found at this temple. We encountered the Indian version of Garuda (the transport of the Hindu gods). In Indonesia, the airline is named Garuda.
We also encountered the working of the temple. It feeds hundreds of homeless and poor people. Contributions to the temple fund this outreach. The kitchen is staffed by volunteers from the surrounding community. Our guide said, if you came to the temple in the morning and had an extra 30 minutes, you could help with the cooking. He also commented that the older women in the temple worshiping were able to do so because their daughter-in-laws were at home making the chapattis.

From Jagdish Mandir it was a quick walk to the City Palace, once the seat of government and home of the Mewar Dynasty.
It had an unbroken reign stretching back 8 or 9 centuries, exceeded in length only by the family of the Emperor of Japan. Although the King no longer has any political power he is an economic power, controlling a chain of 17 luxury class hotels, including two on the grounds of the City Palace.

One of the sights within the palace grounds is the elephant fighting wall. The wall divided the two elephants who then locked trunks. The first elephant to touch the wall loses. (Elephant fighting is no longer done. eos) The rest of the city was interesting. We toured a ladies’ garden area with cooling water features. The puppet museum was interesting and included a short puppet show. We followed that with a short visit to a craft shop. We always puzzle the owners/shopkeepers when we tell them we are “homeless”. Our final stop was a contemporary art gallery. It was magnificent with interesting with statuary, photography, painting, and a fantastic holography work. If we only had 5 figures (US) to spend on a work of art. I think we will return to Udaipur, but probably travel by air or overnight train.

The next morning we were off to Mt. Abu, a colonial hill resort. We had our first taste of desert, or should I say, arid areas. It was a mountainous area as we passed over and through mountains. We finally reached the take off point at Abu Road, a small village at the bottom of the mountains. We noted a large modern hospital and eye clinic in Abu Road. It took approximately 1 hour to ascend the mountain road (approximately 1000 meters about the arid plain).

Our first experience at Mt. Abu was the traffic jam at the toll booth.
The car needed to be parked, the driver needed to note the plate number of the car, and we waited about 10-15 minutes…all for a 20 rupee (about $0.50) toll. With that accomplished we got to Jaipur House, our hotel literally on top of a mountain overlooking the lake below. Several hours later we met with our guide and proceeded to visit an exquisite Jain museum. As with previous guides, we got an interesting religious introduction…this time Jainism. (No pictures were allowed at this temple). Once back at the hotel we ate “tea” on a veranda overlooking the city (Kingfisher beer, and chili cheese toast). The cheese toast brought back memories from a similar dish in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia (35 years ago).

The hotel was the summer residence for the Raj of Jaipur….an escape from the heat of the plains below. Needless to say, we did not stay in the Raj’s old quarters, but a small room off to the side. A pleasant escape from the turmoil and heat of the cities.

Touring India – The first half

17 October
We arranged our tour through Glimpses of India (www.glimpsesofindia.com), which Doug found through the Rajasthan Tourist Development Commission (RTDC). For a reasonable price we could get a good introduction to a part of India (total cost about US$100 a day which covers everything other than lunches and dinner). Our driver and guides were important in building our knowledge of India. Since we did not want to be intrusive our relationships largely developed through the details they shared as we visited various sites. Our driver Rokash is a gem. He handles the potholes, animals, and multi-vehicular traffic with aplomb. He is patient and skillful in traffic jams. His English is limited (and our Hindi is non-existent), but he has thoughtfully pointed out sites along the way and given us some basic information about them.
Each of our four guides has given us new insights into India. Their comments build on each other and confirm our impressions. In Jaipur Dinesh (dineshsoni_70[at]yahoo.com) , who gives tours in French and English, introduced us to the flexibility of Hinduism and the goddess Cali, who permits the eating of meat, and another goddess who allows alcohol.
We learned that he gives tours in the Himalayas during the summer. The temperatures in Jaipur and the region are so high in the summer that the tourist industry pretty much dries up. (One guide said that during the summer the guides and hotel workers play cards all day, but the guides we have met pursue other income producing activities.) I mentioned Dinesh is an earlier entry – his wife does not work because she is “not educated.” And apparently his English is self-taught.
In Udaipur our guide was Mukesh (mukesh10dec[at]yahoo.co.in). We started the day at a temple and his extensive knowledge and command of the English became apparent. He was an excellent guide and added details of gods and temple life. The turbaned men who found around the temples are single, older men who spend their day at the temple. Off to the side was a kitchen where meals were provided to the poor – we didn’t see children eating there. (It may have been time of day or children may have other food resources. The schools provide free meals largely in an effort to encourage children to come to school.) Udaipur is a tax-free city and relatively prosperous. The city’s rate of school attendance is over 90 percent. Women n Udaipur may be a bit better off than in other areas we have visited. We saw a number of women on Vespa’s. We visited a contemporary art gallery, Bougainvillaea www.bougainvillaea.co.in . Doug pointed out it was the first shop where we saw a woman working in a professional position(she was the gallery manager). We have yet to see a woman working at a handicraft shops and except for the Ramada in Jaipur and the hotel in Agra, women have been virtually missing from the hotel staff. Mukesh mentioned the traditional castes – he is from the warrior caste. From our conversation I understood how our guides could say confidently that a certain handicraft had been done by a given family for generations. Mukesh’s family were tailors; we hypothesized that working as tour guide was a desirable profession for ambitious young men. Mukesh gives tours in English and German and he seems to his hand in several enterprises.
In Mount Abu it was Dalpat. He gave us a complete introduction to Jain beliefs traditional and contemporary. Traditionally Jains practiced “aggressive non-violence.” They went into business and provided goods and services to people who were not in need. To charge people in need for goods or services would be violent. Today Jains are among the richest families in India and known for being scrupulously honest. In an unexpected twist I learned although Jain women are well educated they stay at home and clean everything in the house every day. So floors, dishware, and the like get washed everyday whether they need it or not. Dalpat talked at length about caste and marriage. I have heard Indian mothers described as very strong; still it is disconcerting to hear tales of a mother threatening suicide if her son marries a person seen as beneath him or of a man telling his wife to be very careful if she is in the kitchen with his mother. Dalpat is hoping to complete a book on Jains for the tourist trade. What lies ahead wasn’t totally clear to me, but he has ambitions and talent.
Today our guide was Rajendesa Singh, a man closer to our generation than the other guides.
We had a long conversation about Hindu burial customs. Similar to Muslims and Jews, Hindus bath the deceased immediately after death. This may be done by family members, but if the family isn’t up to it, friends may bath the body. There are also burial societies for persons who die on the streets or in similar circumstances. The body then leaves the house feet first and is carried on a bier to the cremation site. Even to this day only men can attend the cremation. After the body is burned some ashes are gathered to be placed in the River Ganges (I had assumed that all the ashes were put in the river.) Similar to other religions the mourning period is one year during which the family members don’t attend festivals. At the end of the day we wandered through the market with Raj –from our walk we inferred that India has improved. Unlike our visits to Vietnam (2002) and Indonesia (in the 1970s) we weren’t besieged by beggars, cries of “hello mister,” or insistent invitations to take a look. Raj other profession is as a freelance translator; I believe that he translates for researchers who are interviewing local people.
We have learned so much from these four men we can only give a taste of our new knowledge here.

Girls and Women

14 October

I was tempted to title this “Where are the Girls?” On Monday the paper reported that Rajasthan had a gender ratio among 0-6 year old children of 863 girls to 1000 boys. (Googling didn’t produce the article, so these figures are roughly right.) The article noted that this year in Rajasthan 12 infant girls had been found tossed in dry wells. Although sex selection/selective abortions are illegal our guide noted that couples can go out of country to find doctors who will assure the birth of a son. He said that all births in hospitals are recorded so that the state can identify “missing” girls.

Girls may be seen as burden, especially by rural families – the demand for dowries still exists and traditionally upon marriage the girl goes to live with her husband’s family. Today we visited a temple and where a group of older women was chanting. Our guide commented that the daughters-in-law were home making chapatis while their mothers-in-law came to the temple.

The picture taken in a market in Udaipur captures my image of Rajasthan, i.e., knots of men in the market place. Women, other than school girls and tourists, are more likely to be alone or with one other woman. As we drove from Pushkar to Udaipur we saw scores of women in the fields or walking along the road often balancing a load of hay on their head. In the small towns many women had their sari covering their face. Traditionally married women cover their face – only their husband can see their face. This custom seems to be inconsistently followed; the ratio of covered to uncovered faces was largest in the small towns.

Today we went to an art gallery and it was the first time we saw a female employee at a local business. (The Ramada in Jaipur and the Sheraton in Agra both had female employees.) Our guide in Jaipur mentioned that his wife stayed at home, because she was from the country and had not gone to school. And our guide was a young man!

We saw very few women in Udaipur who covered their faces. We are in Rajasthan for too few days to make generalizations but women in Udaipur may have more opportunities than in the areas we have visited thus far – more school girls, fewer women who covered their faces, and more women on motor bikes.

This morning’s paper reported that a 20 year old woman had been strangled by her parents for refusing to marry the man they chose and was involved with a man of lower status. The police were charging the parents wit murder, but life for women especially in rural areas still seems grim.