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Published: February 21st 2008
Before we fill you in on any of the events over the past month, we must first apologise and explain our extreme tardiness with blog postings. In India nothing is reliable. Even everyday things that you take for granted, such as electricity. When asking when power may be supplied, it is always best to add an hour.. Probably two.
Plus it is REALLY hard to pull yourself away from the beautiful Goan beaches.. sorry! Anyways enough of our explainations, now for the details. When we last left you, we had just entered Varanasi from our three day boat cruise down the Ganges. However we decided that three straight days on board boats wasn't quite enough, so off we ventured onto the Ganges again to witness the famous ceremonies performed on the Holy Ghats on its banks. The sight of these traditional Hindu ceremonies from the river was quite amazing, however quite popular, so we had to jostle with many local boatmen for position! After the ceremony we released floating candles into the Ganges, which are meant to grant you good luck and wishes for yourself and your family. Anuj our lovely, yet greedy tour guide, has either been a very
bad man or has extremely high hopes for his life because we lost count at around 30 candles!
Another cultural tradition of Hinduism we witnessed in Varanassi was the Hindu tradition of realising the spirit of a deceased body at the "burning ghats", considered the highest honour for Hindus. Mourners carry the bodies through the streets accompanied by loud music and banging drums. The bodies are wrapped in yellow/golden sheets, then laid to rest on the river banks under a pile of wood. Prayers are said, and the body circled by family members and religious people, before the wood underneath the body is set alight. Apparently this ceremony is only performed for 'pure' Hindu's, meaning only women who are married and have given birth. There are no such restrictions for men.
Another feature of Varanasi (which interestingly is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world) is the markets that sprawl throughout all of the streets leading to the ghats. These have evolved due to the high tourist volume through the city, and is something that we didnt find too enjoyable, even slightly degrading to such a religious place. However this may be due to the
fact that we were seriously ripped off.. TWICE!! (Hope you enjoy your presents mothers!!) Note to self : Do not enter stores when tired, have headache, and cannot be bothered for serious haggling.
From Varanasi we caught an overnight train to Agra, home to a rather large tomb. The train station was an experience in itself, after mindlessly engaging in chit-chat with the group, we stopped to realise that every person on our platform was staring at us. Hundreds. Now this may have been due to Nick's 'Ali Baba' pants (think MC Hammer) that he swears will catch on back home, but we think not. The family that were on the tour with us had a very novel idea for such occasion - balloon animals! So four kids and one old man were made very happy on that platform in Varanasi.
We arrived at Arga in the early morning, and luckily for us, the restaurant at our hotel had a fantastic backdrop, the Taj Mahal. The beauty of this building is indescribable. As perfect as in every picture. Unfortunately we couldnt get ourselves looking as pretty that early in the morning, however this didnt stop one man offering
a photo shoot for us (for a fee of course!) and about 20 men wanting to be in photos with Lizzie. Even if the Taj wasn't in the background. We should have been charging!! The memory of the Taj Mahal is something that will stay with you forever. But just to make sure, Lizzie took 100+ photos.. Infact some might say that Lizzie saw more of the Taj through then lens than in real life! Sadly, after consultation there was still no kodak moment - perhaps 100 wasn't enough!
Another less famous, but equally beautiful building in Arga is the Agra Fort, which showcased the oppulence of some of the India Marharajas. Gold plated buildings and diamond encrusted walls (all of which have unfortunately been looted) gave a small picture of how these rulers lived (it up). However life for the marharaj was not all smooth sailing, in fact the man who ordered the construction of the Taj Mahal was later put under house arrest in Arga Fort by his son. Not such a bad place to be confined too with 30+ concubines! Interestingly, the man who designed the Taj was 'awarded' for his efforts with his hands being
Lizzie up for auction!
One of the many photos Lizzie was asked to be in. Two things to note. 1 - The Indian pose. 2 - The Taj is not in frame.cut off to ensure the design could never be outdone. Not the bonus he would have expected.
From Agra we caught a 'luxury' bus to Jaipur. Estimated to take three hours, of course it took six. Jaipur is exactly what you'd expect of India - crazy streets full of sellers, street kids, and desperate poverty, contrasted with amazing ruins and monuments. Home to the Pink City, which as it turns out wasnt as fanastic as we first thought! Actually the colour of terracotta to begin with, we were expecting it to be much more grandiose....unfortunately on our first trip into town we didn't even realise we were smack bang in the middle of the pink city itself!
Jaipur also has one of the greatest populations of street kids in India - hundreds of thousands. As part our tour we visited a centre called Ladli, set up by an Indian university professor and his wife to teach homeless and destitute girls the art of jewellery making. Ladli enables these girls, who otherwise would live a life of begging, prostutution, or slavery to learn a trade and start to build a future. It is a great organisation, however only one
third of the children recieving schooling are able to be offered housing, so it was extremely disheartening to see so many of the kids at the end of the day wander back out into the streets for the night.
In Jaipur we also got our first experance of Bollywood in its finest... SUNDAY! Every Bollywood film runs for three hours, two hours too long for little Lizzie, who managed somehow to sleep through the deafening scenes. Not as full of song and dance as we thought, but very funny! Crowd interaction in India is mandatory at the movies, so there were cheers when the good guys appeared and boos for the badies. As well as a standing ovation at the end.. Very appreciative crowd really!
From Jaipur we encountered one of Anuj's many 'suprises'. Unfortunately, this was not one of the nice ones. A three hour bus ride on the local bus, which probably one of the last things that you would want at 8.30am in the morning. Especially after a night of battles with a rogue mosquito!
The pain of the ride was soon forgotten however, as Anuj's next suprise for us was a nights stay
Monkey + Taj
This photo is taken from the Agra fort with the Taj in the background. in an old 16th century converted fort in Roopangarh. This building was absolutely beautiful. It's history is: The Marharaj had been using Roopangarh Fort as his private hunting grounds, however after witnessing a sheep defeat a jackel in a bloody battle at sunset, he decided that this must be a lucky place, so moved his perminant residency there - as you do.
We were certainly spoilt whilst there, having an enormous room with a view over the town, a banquet dinner (which of course involved Marharaja dress ups!) and a gorgeous sunset from the rooftop of the fort.
The day involved a cricket match (when in rome...) between members of our group and the hotel staff which certainly saw Anuj's competitive nature shine through. With rule changes every second ball it was hard to understand how the game actually worked, but we won in the end, which lead to a very quiet and sheepish Anuj for the rest of the afternoon.
We were also able walk through the town with a respected local and see the harsh realities of rural Indian life, exemplified by a mother whose husband was a farmer, so for extra money for her
family used to roll Indian cigarettes. (Tabaco rolled into a tabaco leaf) She rolls five hundred cigarettes per day and has so for 30 years, all for 50 rupees per day. The Australian equivalent of $1.60. Per day. But of course she would consider herslef lucky to be able to provide for her family...
The lack of tourists in Roopangarth meant it was dangerous for us to walk through the village unaccompanied. Our safety was not in question, rather the excitement of the children was to be feared, many of whom are unfamiliar with foreigners. Lizzie knew this all to well, trying to be friendly she smiled at a little boy, giving him such a shock. He tried to run away, but tripped over and started bawling! Poor Lizzie, no luck with the Indian lads!
Next stop was the holy city of Pushkar, home to one of the only Brahma temples - the Hindu god of creation. Fairly similar to Varanasi with its many ghats surrounding its holy lake. It's believed Brahma dropped a lotus leaf from the heavens creating the lake in Pushkar giving the city its name meaning "born due to a flower". Most days here
were spent exploring the labyrinth of streets surrounding the area, as well as taking part in a Hindu blessing on the ghats. Pity the local kids ruined the mood by searching the edge of the lake directly in front of us for money offerings.
It was in the desserts surrounding Pushkar that we also went on our camel safari! Well, it was called a safari, but in reality it was a group of foreigners being lead for a couple of hours on camels. However Nick did manage to break ranks and ride his camel for most of the evening, being told that his camel was in fact the winner of the world famous "Pushkar Camel Championship". Its bigger than the Melbourne Cup we've heard!
The night of the safari was spent huddled together, again trying to escape the cold of the desert and the thunderous sounds of Anuj's snooring and the camels snorting, in a make shift communal tent. Needless to say, there was a few red eyes from a sleepless night in the morning.
From Pushkar we caught a train back to Delhi, which sadly ended our tour of the North. Now time to escape the
cold and venture South to the beaches of Goa!
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