TO THE NORTH OF INDIA

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We returned from Varanasi on the overnight train, always an experience and sometimes a good one. Indian trains are clean enough, with linens supplied at bedtime each night and a “western” toilet to drop your poop right on the tracks. They aren’t as much fun as the Chinese trains but a lot cleaner than those in Vietnam and Thailand.

Tom had planned a special treat for the layover between trips: a three-night stay at the Delhi Taj Mahal Hotel. It’s part of the chain of Taj Hotels, one of which was attacked by terrorists in Mumbai last November, and is an exercise in excessive luxury - and security. The staff at Mumbai’s Taj won notice for how they risked their own lives to protect their guests, and this staff was no different. Maybe it was because the hotel was pretty empty, but they knew our names, what we liked to drink, which floor we lived on …and many of them were armed. Tom mentioned to a waiter that he really liked their blueberry cheesecake, and as soon as we returned to our room, a man arrived with three more pieces! My favorite was the way they returned our clean laundry: in a linen-lined box with a long-stemmed red rose on top. We invited Gill, who traveled with us through eastern India, over for dinner, yoga class and a spa experience. She arrived in a tuk-tuk, but had to walk from the gate to the hotel, since they don’t allow the little guys onto the property any more. (Our stay included free airport pickup, which we didn’t need, so the hotel sent her back to her hotel in a chauffer-driven Jaguar.)

24 March: Back to the real world and our last Indian trip, to the Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Our new group of six includes two delightful young women, both 18, from Australia, Gill, and Charlie from England. We re-ran the Old Delhi sightseeing tour and got Tom his required samosa (I have to learn to make those!) and left the next morning for Simla via train. By the way, samosas are like little veggie-filled fried pies.

25-26 March. Simla (also called Shimla) is way up in the mountains of northern India. We spent five hours on the most luxurious Indian train yet and five hours on a “toy train” - narrow gauge, which was fun but cramped. Simla was the summer capital of colonial India, which means that they hauled everything they needed to govern the sub-continent from Delhi to this town for a three-month stay. It’s at 6600 feet and much cooler, so I guess I can understand why they’d flee the heat of Delhi. The next morning, it was pouring rain, our first rain in India, so a five-mile walk across the city to see the old Viceroy’s residence was replaced with a taxi ride. We were glad, since it really wasn’t worth walking 10 miles to see. It was built to mimic a Scottish hunting lodge, so wasn’t very scenic (especially with the rain and the fact that most of it is used as an academic facility and is closed). The residence is famous only because it was the place where the British drew the partition line on the map of the Indian subcontinent, creating India and Pakistan before giving up the colony and fleeing to England in 1947. The rain stopped the next morning and we went off on a beautiful ride through the mountains to Mandi. Simla and Mandi are beautiful hill towns, much like we thought Ooty in southern India would be. Again, we stayed in the local palace and talked to the former “lord”, a friendly old man who knew card tricks.

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Photos

Delhi Gudwara
At Sikh temples, volunteers feed and house thousands of visitors (anyone, from anywhere) each day.

Simla
Simla (also called Shimla) was the summer capital of colonial India. When it's 90 F in Delhi, it's 60 F here.

Our Room at the Taj Mahal Hotel
You have to have seen some of the other rooms we've slept in to REALLY appreciate this one ...