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Published: March 17th 2009
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There are two very distinct types of people in India with regards to the working population. The first, put us to shame in that they often do jobs that we consider dangerous or unsavory and they perform their task reasonably well for more hours than seems humanly possible. Local bus drivers are a good example. They drive pathetically old vehicles over terrible roads for as many as twenty-to-thirty hours at a time. Sure they average about 25km per hour and they stop whenever the urge takes them, but it's undeniably hard work.
The second type, the one that baffles us, include a vast percentage of the working force that just seem to do ... well ... nothing. Or at least, very very little. A sari salesman, for instance, as far as we can tell, sits for most of the day waiting for a customer. When one arrives, they don't hop to and attend said potential buyer, but rather just continue to sit and smile. This level of activity can be seen in almost all retail work, most of the tourism industry (including hotels and the like), and many large numbers of people who just seem to sit on street sides
all day.
Our Rajput jeep guide in the Thar desert, Leeloo, said to us the night we slept under the stars on the sand dunes, that "India and China ... they compete. Economy ... population ... China is number 1. India is number 2." With what we can see, China pretty much brutalizes its ENTIRE population into huge bouts of productivity (with an 9% annual growth rate to show for it), while India ... has vast numbers of people doing nothing, all day, even when "at work". But Leeloo, is right, India and China ARE in competition and India isn't THAT far behind.
We're missing something. Just not sure what it is.
Right. The trip. Well, as aforementioned, we left Jaipur (the elephants were neat, but Jaipur really does kind of blow) and made our way across all of Rajasthan to the desert fort-town of Jaiselmer. The pics will give you and idea of how cool this hill top fortified town is, but really the atmosphere of the place just screams 1001 Arabian Nights in a way that makes you wish you had a flying carpet. It also happened to be Holi when we arrived so massive
Sheesha
Al-fa-her sheesha. Smoked from a carved out watermelon. Awesome. communal color throwing, smearing, and hugging were abound much to the delight of the locals and tourists. It's an amazing festival where you basically plaster each other with vegetable dye of the most vibrant color and laugh. Good times.
We then did the requisite Thar desert camel trek with a rather colorful (albeit overpriced) character by the name (and title) of Mr. Desert. Rolling sand dunes, feisty camels, good fire cooked food, a star filled night, and a peak into village life make the trip memorable to say the least. It is of worth to note that Jaiselmer is probably the first place in India that Lynn truly enjoyed without reservation. It's just a lot less hassle.
The last time I (Derek) was in Rajasthan, Paul and I got caught by our own laziness and trepidation by hiring a private driver. Karma came at us like a spider monkey not long after and we were forced to endure one of the most nerve-wracking night time car journeys ever conceived (we were being towed by a jeep on a single lane, unlit, and truck filled desert highway in the country with the worst vehicle motor accident rate in the
Jaislemer
A crowd of celebrants of Holi! world). We vowed never to do it again, but as always, haha, fat chance. So what do Lynn and I do? We book ourselves onto a incredibly optimistically named "Deluxe Sleeper Bus" for an overnighter to Udaipur on the EXACT SAME ROAD that Paul and I got caught. There was no sleep. There was no comfort. There was absolutely in no way anything even remotely resembling "deluxe".
Curse you, India. You win a second time.
Udaipur, a lake side tourist town where Octopussy was filmed, was another godsend. Relaxed, cooler, less-aggressive-tout-filled, and ... well, they had a swimming pool. It cost us fifteen bucks to use, but it was in a five star hotel and ... and ... and ... oh by Vishnu's merciful arms it was worth it.
One last note: we took a day trip to Ranakpur to check out this astonishing Jain temple. We took our first local bus which was an adventure in and of itself complete with drunk-dude who needed to be beaten and thrown off, chachi-Indian guy who wanted to impress his new wife by treating me like an arm rest (that was put to a stop rather abruptly), and all
the other usual colorful hiccups of local transportation in India where comfort means "no dysentary".
We hired a private car on the way home. It was glorious.
ps If anyone (except Clif Prowse and Dave Egan) can place the line quote as the title of this entry, we'll bring you back something nice from India.
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David Egan
non-member comment
No fair!
Why are only Clif and I excluded? I demand compensation! You put the "India" back in...