Incredible India

Safely home after a 9 hour flight. And two more curries on the Jet Airways... and then a two hour+ journey via underground and slow train to Royston.  Didn't get to bed til 5am (my time)
My last night in Delhi was very forgettable. I just wanted to be home. And now I am.

Seems I have been away for weeks; not just 11 days.  What a colourful, amazing, awesome country India is.  Such a mixture of experiences. I saw iconic buildings that in the end, did not move me as much as I thought they would. I saw so much and experienced so much in such a short time... it's hard to remember what and where I have been. The spectacle of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, the noise, the confusion and cacophony of traffic and people will be unforgettable.

A couple of thoughts and reflections:

In the departures lounge in Indira Gandhi airport I watched a video documentary on an organisation called GMR Varalkshmi about the ongoing programme of building of public toilets. Apparently 53% of Indian people defacate in the open. Astonishing. But more of a reflection of the rural poverty than the lack of facilities in cities.

I read in the Saturday Times of India that an astronaut on the space station was surprised one day when he could suddenly see definition over China. Apparently the pollution smog over India and China is so bad they cannot see cities at all. The sudden change was due to the coal-fired electricity power stations nationally being turned off for a day.
I can believe it; as our airplane took off from Delhi there was a haze right up to 10000 feet... that haze lasted for hundreds of miles until we were nearly over Pakistan. Pollution is a big problem for India.

I had no idea that I would not be able to go for a run. Seems ludicrous now, and naive that I took my running shoes and trackies. But to run in Delhi? Along those streets and through that traffic and along those pavements? Naah. Same for Agra and Jaipur.

I had no idea that there would be so few white people around. We as a group and I often alone, were the only Europeans  around and were almost a novelty. I really expected to be one of many, not conspicuous.

I expected to find India to be a very spiritual place but did not. I wanted to find a karma, an inner peace, a devotion to being the best you can and an acceptance of that. What I found was a country full of energy and thrust wanting to better itself...
Incredible India indeed.

Slumdog Millionaire

Is a really good film. If you have the stomach to watch and accept that there are people in India who rake through and live amongst piles of filth. never mind, you are thousands of miles away; and you can detach yourself - it's just a film, just a type of Bollywood - a movie made in Elstree probably. With a happy ending... And that detachment, that acceptance of illusory entertainment. That comforts you.

I saw it today.

Coming into Delhi on the train. Children seven, eight years old amongst such huge, bottomless heaps of waste, barefooted, bare legged, grimy-shorted, sifting and poking and searching; scratching to make a rupee from a scrap of metal or a carrier-bag of plastic. I saw the makeshift, ramshackle boards and sacking that they call home.
It brought a nauseous lump to my throat. Disgust. Horror. It was awful.

Express from Jaipur to nowhere

Didn't sleep very well last night. My alarm was set for 4.30 - but I didn't need it.
The taxi took me, my rucksack, bag and my little cardboard packed-breakfast to Jaipur Junction. It was very dark. The station was heaving; I was the only white person among thousands. I knew where my train would be coming in; and what time but I did not understand seats and carriage numbers. no probs. People speak English generally and you just have to ask.
I saw the sun rise. A big, deep red hazy ball. It was beautiful.
3 and a half hours later. Sweaty, weary and increasingly wanting to be home we pulled into Delhi. But not the Delhi main station. Somewhere in the middle of downtown Delhi. Totally confused. I expected to have to wait for a local train.. nothing.no signs. no idea. nothing in English. I made my way along with hundreds of others (who knew where they were) I was immediately harangued by dozens of taxi drivers. I gave in. And caught a bargained-down 300 rupee ride to the metro. In the traffic chaos I had to shout at the taxi driver as he pulled away with my bags still in the boot.
The metro was not the brown line. I had to change twice. So hard. So confusing. So hot.
I made my way on the brown-line Airport Express... easy. In the forlorn hope that I could catch an earlier flight. no can do. I was about half an hour too late to do that.
I'm now in a hotel in Malaprinihi. It's pretty bad, but I can handle it.
I've had an amazing week and a half.
But I'll be glad to be back where....
I live in a beautiful apartment with a gorgeous Wendy y'know.
And I'll be home tomorrow.
Woopydo!!

Lost in Jaipur

Lost in Jaipur.  Well, not really. You can't get lost. You can have no idea where you are, surrounded by decrepit buildings, dust and filth and heat but you are only ever a tuk-tuk away from where you want to be. I went for an hours walk, just followed my nose (holding my breath occasionally cos of the stench) and ended up having a masala tea in a four star hotel.
Was a wonderful little adventure. At no point did I feel unsafe, nor lost.

This afternoon I had my first ever massage. By a brute of a Thai wrestler. I was not left tingling - more found it very private whilst at the same time very impersonal. Felt physically good; but I'd rather the masseur had been a little Indian lady... (prob not a good idea though, eh?)

I have given the YMCA the sack. Not that they know.
I really cannot be bothered to try and book a corner to kip in in the hope of meeting some interesting people.
I have an early start tomorrow; when you are going to bed, I will be getting up for breakfast and a taxi is collecting me at 515am to catch a train at 6am. That journey could be exhausting or fascinating or both; and there is so much disaster potential.  Then, all being good, I have to take the brown-line metro to the airport. If I can find it. I have booked myself into a cheap airport hotel. All I really want is a modern, clean bed and time to rest before my flight on 28.5 hours Wednesday.

Shahpura House

This written on the balcony as dusk fell this evening:

Nb: Today is the first day of Diwali. Although actual Diwali is not til the end of the month, fireworks are freely available in shops and on the street bazaar. Don't seem to be any regulations. There have been fireworks, rockets and bangs going off all evening.
Cows are seen as holy because they give milk and are the mothers of all; they roam freely.


The distant howling wail of the rail
Is calling me home to be on my way again.
Away from the noise and the clamour
The smell and the street filth of Jaipur manor.
That I have grown to understand; in just a while
Her chaotic life pace and yet beautiful smile.

A herd of mothers pass by along the street
With dust and traffic and people meet
They sway and walk totally unaware
Of the firework bangs; Diwali there.
The noises echo around the street where
Behind the wall the children play; what do they care?

There is a buzz downstairs, arriving full
Coachload Saga, which is the tourist pull.
They come to gaze and stare yet in awe
At the Jaipur history as many before.
And I too have seen India wonders sure,
On the cossetted safe sightseeing tour.

But they do not know.

The distant howling wail of the rail
Is calling me home to be on my way again.
A train, a ride and then a flight
And I will be home soon on another night.
Where I long to be and to be beside
My love who waits for me - but is yet here inside
My heart.

Sunday service

We tuk-tuk'd to a Sunday service at a Hindu temple this morning. Getting used to this energetic way to travel; I will confess I quite enjoy it.
We were the  only white people amongst 500 Indians. And we were not scowled at or pointed at but sat unshod cross-legged in the middle and tried to understand what was going on. But did not. Three, four times people sent children over to us to say hello. Sweet.
We think that a special revered temple statue was being shown for worship and devotion, the congregation filed around in a moving massed circle of people to the back of the temple out of our sight.
It was a calm, happy affair with a little chanting, a sort of sermon at the beginning (which few seemed to take any notice of) And well, we don't really understand. But this Hindu religion is so different to what we are used to in England how can we?  But is was very interesting.


Tomorrow is my last day here in Jaipur. And I will breakfast and dinner alone. I have completely run out of money so I need to go out to walk and find an ATM. The YMCA in Delhi still cannot confirm that I have a room for Tuesday; I asked reception to phone them to confirm but they do not do bookings on Sunday over the phone and the internet connection is not working. I arrive there late morning  on Tuesday and feel reasonably confident that I will find a little YMCA corner to kip in. But hey!!!  I have to negotiate the 515am start (taxi is booked); and make the 6.00am train departure and then I need to find seat CC133 yet...gulp!

Going it alone

Saturday 22nd Oct

It may not seem like much of a first day challenge. But today I walked to the train station, caught a taxi to a museum and then came back by taxi via the market.

Walking along the streets is not easy. There are sometimes pavements, sort of, but they are not maintained and are mostly falling apart; and often taken over by street vendors and then you have to negotiate dogs and people sprawling asleep on the ground; the traffic is constant and noisy and when you step off the pavement it is dangerous. And there is excrement and rubbish, often piles of it, literally. Men often urinate quite freely into the gutter.

The station was heaving with Saturday travellers, all Indian, I did not see another white person there. As with any foreign country, the rail system is not easy to understand. Tickets have to be bought on line in advance or you queue for ever. I saw a train come in and it was full to to bursting in both third class and second. I couldn't see a first There were 16 carriages: the engine was fab enormous.

Getting  a tuk-tuk is dangerous. Apparently drivers can kidnap you and take you to the family shop.. you cannot get away cheaply.. and worse. I was approached a dozen times by dodgy guys before I made eye contact. He looked ok. But he was not a driver; he was a 'guide' but took me to a friend who drove us. I insisted on just being taken to the museum. I told him where I wanted to go and made it very clear. He wanted me to book him for a whole day.. during the journey the guide showed me a reference letter from a previous client explaining how honest and hard working he was.  Arrived ok.

The museum was the Albert Hall. It was a very big thing when Prince Albert visited Jaipur in the 1880's; they painted the city pink for him. Literally. This museum was opened and named for him. It was mildly interesting. Lots of people; including several children's school parties: they all dress in wonderful uniforms.

I walked up through the city gates (pink) and down Nehru bazaar (market) for about half a mile. Again, heaving with people. I so want to buy some gifts for Wendy. But it is impossible. And all around me was chaos, squalor, noise, traffic with horns constantly beeping. Add to that a temperature of pushing 40 degrees. St Albans market this is not.  But it was captivating, fascinating and disgusting. I left the market road, went off-piste for fifty yards but turned back - it felt threatening and it was even filthier.
I woke a friendly tuk-tuk driver and asked him for Bani park.. he did not know where it was so I had to show him on the map. An incredibly bumpy, frantic, smelly, chaotic journey back that took 30 minutes and cost me 100 rupees.
Bliss being back in my maharajah suite. But he would have travelled to the bazaar by limousine with bodyguards.

Jaipur railway station display; I'm catching the 6.00am to Delhi on Tues

This may be a third world country. But everyone; everyone, has a mobile phone.. hundreds of millions of them. This arcade had about 100 phone shops.

Maharajah Strongie

Now it is time for me to see the real India. The Just so India that I am looking for...
The group has split up and gone separate ways....
I am about to go out of Bani Park by myself for the first time... and don't think park as in the English sense of it; no green trees, no grass... just Indian residential area... and I am walking to the train station and tuk-tuking into the old town. Packed lunch and flask in bag.

My transfer is confirmed from Amaid Hotel to here at Shapurah.
And the generous, wonderful nature of the Indian people.... I have been offered and accepted and upgrade to the Maharajah suite.  Two balconies; four poster bed, luxury drapes, mahogany furniture..
Namaste everyone.

Another day another Fort

Another day another fort; this time it is the Amber Fort just outside Jaipur. Not that I am getting forted out; this one is just wonderful and different because it is the largest of three that are perched on top of hills overlooking the town.  A train of at least 50 elephants transport people from the bottom of the hill to the fort, they arrive with a band playing. The elephants are beautiful and magnificent and it must be a wonderful experience but I do not approve, it seems like exploitation to me...Explore WW do not approve, we came up by a convoy of jeeps... bumpy ride!
The touts are such a menace.  They pounce on you and do not let go; I showed just the slightest interest in an embroidered t-shirt, was told the price 600 rupees (7.50) I said no; he said how much you pay I said 200 he then followed my for hundreds of yards going lower and lower in price I kept saying no. Their terrier-like insistence is awful. It is like that at every major tourist attraction here...

You'd think India was incredibly cheap to holiday in. It is not. Restaurants are just as expensive here as in England. At lunch today (ok; it was in a palace) I had toasted sandwich with a masala filling and cheese with a can of diet coke and was charged 580 rupees (about 8 pounds); that is typical.  A bottle of wine here in the hotel at dinner costs 3000 rupees (35 pounds+)
But a tuk-tuk half hour ride will cost you a pound. If you can bear the traffic...

I have mentioned how crazy roads are here. Indian driving regulations are strange. On the way back today our driver tried to turn right at a no-right turn... we were promptly boarded by a traffic policeman who clouted him around the head a few times, a little fight ensued, lots of arguing; the driver had his keys confiscated and was arrested... we had to get tuk-tuks back to the hotel.

Me in Jaipur Royal Palace

The colours of the sari's are just gorgeous

Elephant parade in Amber Fort, Jaipur

Amber Fort in distance, snake charmer at front

On the road to Jaipur

I am now in Rasthajan; our hotel is even better than the last one, my jaw just dropped open when I saw my enormous room; mahogany furniture, light blue voile drapes, ornate lamps, stain glassed windows and marble floor...   pah! No probs.

We went to Fatehpur Sikri on the way here. Deserted hundreds of years ago by the Mughal Emperor Akbar (they are not sure why, maybe through lack of water) it was rediscovered and perfectly preserved with the help of Viceroy Curzon in Victorian days. The walled city is virtually as it was when it was the capital city of Rasthanjan. Made of red sandstone and spread out over many acres.... but it is not a fort. It is now an very eerie, very empty shell of what was once  a magnificent residence and palace and must have heaved with court life well  before our Henry VIII was alive.  The history here is so different, so eye-opening.

Driving (again on toll road) is noisy and interesting. Anuj told us "only three things you must have on roads in India: good brakes, good horn and good luck!" There seem to be few rules, overtake anywhere, weave in and out. Pedestrians cross the roads (as we have learned to do) by just walking out and expecting cars to stop. Our driver constantly sounds his musical claxen/horn as we go along, few of the big lorries have adequate rear view mirrors apparently. It is noisy fun!! We had to stop and make way for an elephant crossing today...
The agricultural scenery has not changed. The industrious nature of ordinary Indian life is everywhere.

I have just had a coffee delivered on tray by a moustached gentleman in traditional raj servant dress. Oh, I could get used to this...

Red fort Agra

There is the story of Mughal emperor Shah Yahan who lost his beloved wife Mumtaz at the birth of their eighteenth child who built the Taj Mahal in her memory. So romantic.  But... it took 22 years to finish (20,000 labourers) and in the meantime he went and married Mumtaz' sister, then he was overthrown by his own son and locked away in prison for the rest of his life.
I went to see his prison today. Don't think a dark, dirty cell... think Minas Tirith.

The Red Fort in Agra. Built nearly 500 years ago it is still magnificent and huge. Deep rusty red sandstone with great murky, hazy polluted distant views of the Taj.
Fabulous carvings, exotic gardens (no flowers) and a myriad of chambers and court rooms. Complex and virtually unchanged in hundreds of years, We went round and round, through gates and ramps and past courtyards; deliberately built to make siege impossible and the emperors safe, we eventually came to the inner sanctum which was all in white and built to house the court and the emperors harem. This was where Shah Yahan was imprisoned.
Unlike any historic building I have seen. Nothing like Warwick Castle, Hampton Court or the Tower of London. More Minis Tirith.  With the river Yamuna running along one side.  Sublime.

We went then to see the Baby Taj, Further along the banks of the Yamuna. Again, super stuff.

Had hot spicy lunch (hot, spicy vegetable patties with my breakfast) and still my tummy holds out... oh yes!!  What's for dinner?

Saw Indian carpets being made this afternoon. Fascinating. But very expensive.
Then saw marble inlay tablets being made. Gorgeous. But also costly.

And tomorrow, the last leg of our Explore, we have an early start and a journey to Jaipur. I really feel I have arrived now and settled into routine. But I am also aware that my new Explore friends are going to be leaving me alone in a couple of days.... gulp!!

I have pictures at last!!

The chaos in Old Delhi

Me wearing my Indian shirt

The inner sanctum Red Fort

Outer of Red Fort

Panic and jet lag

18th October

Panic and jet lag set in last night.
Worrying about money and logistics and arachnids.
I did not sleep til daylight; was even listening to music on my mp3 at 4am. Just couldn't sleep.
Four out of our 13 have been ill...  Bad night me.
But I zonked out with the sun and got two hours and managed to get up, get breakfast and checked out on time.

Four hour mini-bus journey Delhi to Agra....
was wonderful. But I didn't doze once..why??

The two hundred mile journey was on a new toll motorway through verdant agricultural land. So reminiscent of China. People working in the fields everywhere, the crops are just being harvested. Every corner is cultivated for as far as the eye can see. Peasants, villages and farms feeding the country.  India works so hard and I am again very impressed. This may be third world but surely not for much longer.

Upon arrival at Agra we went straight to the Taj. Moving, beautiful, wonderful. Probably the most iconic building in the world and it did not disappoint.
The monument and grounds/park heaved with people almost all Indian/Asian; we stood out. And four times I was asked to pose and join in a selfie/photograph - simply because of my pale skin and blue eyes. Our whole party had a similar experience... Indians are lovely, happy, gentle, welcoming people.

Feeling so much better now. We had dinner at 8pm.. shame about the singer behind us, he entertained us (we were charged 7% for the pleasure) with Indian songs with so much reverb and echo it seemed to shake the floor.  The billing is interesting: you get a price for the dish.. then you have to add VAT, then local tax, service tax then add swachh bharat and krishi kalan and your meal goes from 975 rupees to 1248.  The pound value has hit us hard, everything is so much more expensive now than six months ago apparently. My simple goulash and rice tonight cost me, with a local beer over 20 pounds.

Money worries have sorted themselves out; my debit cards have been unblocked and I can at last get money.
And the room is spacious and luxurious... now for a decent night's sleep.

Happy me... oh yes, indeed.

Monday 17th - Old Delhi

Extraordinary day. Anuj (our tour leader) said it would be the one day we all will remember and I feel he is right.
We caught the metro train from Patel Chowk to Chawdri Bazaar and then had a cycle-rickshaw ride into old Delhi. Have never had a ride or a taxi like it. Bedlam. A wonderful mix of smells, continuous cacophony of beeping horns and perpetually swerving to avoid tooktooks, buses, cycles, lorries and people. we all loved it.

The we had a peaceful walk barefooted inside Jami Masjid mosque. Then outside to the teeming narrow streets. I have never known such a heaving buzz of humanity, constant pushing, shoving and squeezing along smelly, narrow streets and a million shops, a pandemonium of colour. All at 30+ centigrade. I loved it all. Indian people are so busy, so enthusiastic, so industrious; yes, there is poverty and squalor, but they are so working their way out of it.
We walked for what seemed like hours, through spice markets until our noses ran and everybody was sneezing, past stalls, little shops.

Managed a stop together for a street lunch of curry then went on to overlook the red fort and a huge sikh temple from a distance and then a 40 minute tooktook back to the hotel which cost only 1 pound (this keyboard does not have a pound sign)  Again it was joyous chaos.

We saw only a few begging. But our tour leader told us to ignore them, as he did.  Did not see anything which upset us.

We saw lots of stray dogs but they are all docile and abject. Not a problem.

We were humourously accosted by some schoolchildren who wanted to know all about us but were not asking for baksheesh, we were just a bit of irritating sport fun for them. Yes there were people pushing us aside but there were equally people saying 'welcome to India''

Awesome day. I like India.

Sunday 16th October.
Chased the sunrise this morning. Which sounds exotic and exciting. But what it actually meant was a night that lasted only a few hours; and with very little fitful sleep. The plane was delayed by an hour and dinner was airline-plated at 1130pm BST and because we were travelling East it got light by 230amBST. It was not a very long night; breakfast was served at 430am and we landed at 615am and it promptly became 1045am India time (+4.5hrs)  The last few hours of the flight over Iran, skirting Afghanistan and Pakistan were complete void desert and rocks... just like the moon. Amazing.

The group are 13 and include solicitors, doctors, bankers, teachers and other professionals.. and a bookie.  I have been given a single room, which does not make me any braver.

After a shower and an hours rest we were taken by coach to the Q'tub complex which includes the Milic which is a fabulous touching-the-sky tower that was built in 1193. Very impressive.
Then we toured round the city seeing from the coach the parliament buildings and various others... and the people. So wonderfully colourful and bicycles full to wavering, took-tooks everywhere... no bullocks at all and the poverty is not as extreme as I expected. But this is the capital.

Then to  Humayan's tomb. We were given 20 minutes to wander around. It is a beautiful building a precurser to and not dissimilar to the Taj. It is very symmetrical.. and that was the excuse I gave for getting lost, taking the wrong exit and keeping everybody waiting..
Good day. Good start.

Five years ago I went on a solo round the world adventure that took me through Europe, Russia, Mongolia, China, Korea, Japan and USA.
I have now got older. But the wanderlust is still there. But at 64 years old am I up to it?
India.
It will be a step into the unknown. I will have seen nothing like it. Noise, poverty, squalor but maybe a riot of colour, a spirituality and a fierce energy of life and such an unknown history.
I've seen the films, Marigold, Slumdog, Indian Summer, Real Marigold and I am mesmerised. And a little scared...

My blog will tell you what I see. The unexpurgated truth of what I see and what I feel. Follow me if you care.

I fly to Delhi on October 16th and join Explore. For eight days and then four days making my own way. Dehli, Agra and Jaipur and then back to Delhi by train by myself.