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Published: November 9th 2008
Happy Birthday Greg. Wish you were here. Wish we were there. Today we traveled to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. It's very, very impressive. It's enormous, beautiful, and incredibly rich. It's one heck of a tribute to the wife of the Maharajah. Tomorrow, at sunrise we will go there to photograph it, hopefully as the sun reflects on the jewels in the front. It's questionable. The smog and haze are so thick that we may not get great shots. You'll find out soon after we do. Some of the photos included show a bit of the haze. It's an oppressive haze which comes somewhat from the atmospheric conditions here and much from the pollution and smoke. Next to the Taj is the city's crematorium and since Hindus don't bury their dead, it's an active place 24/7. We can smell it from the river where we shot the photos.
All is well. However, we did spend a total of 7 1/2 hours in the bus today, five hours from Jaipur to Agra and another two getting to the Taj from lunch and back to the hotel. Some of us are getting more cranky than we are supposed to be and
are getting reprimanded by some of our spouses. We are supposed to keep up a smily face all the time. We endeavor to live up to the expectations accorded us. Anyone want to place bets?
So, during the loooonnnnng drive, our guide, Rashiv, who our small sample over drinks tonight gave a grade of "mediocre," gave us some interesting information. Among the information, India has over 1200 dialects and 33 different languages. Hindi is supposed to be the common language but it's not. English is. In the south, nobody can speak Hindi but everyone learns English in school. There is mandatory public education until age 14, but as is evident by the beggars and the horrible poverty, it's unable to be enforced, even a little.
Hindu is not a religion. Vedic is name of the religion. And most Hindus are Vedic people. According to Rashiv, Hindu is best defined as a way of life. The Hindu way has millions of gods and goddesses. But one is supreme among the gods. It's complicated. Your supreme god may not be someone else's supreme god. Hindus believe that you can worship god anyway you want. Shiva is the oldest God but
not necessarily the supreme one. You can pick your supreme God. But there are traditions in common. God has multiple faces and you can worship any way that works for you. There are no mandatory temple visits. If this is confusing it is because either it is or Rashiv didn't explain it well enough or both.
Since we got to India we occasionally spied swastikas on walls or doorways. They are backwards from the Nazi swastika. They point clockwise and the Nazi's pointed counterclockwise. Rahshiv reports that these are ancient symbols in India, from the 7th century B.C. They represent the Aryan Indians, which were a tribe which mixed the aboriginal Indians with invaders from the north, Aryans. In India they talk about 7 races and the Aryan Indians are among the highest status. According to Rahiv, Hitler expropriated the symbol from India.
Today I asked Richard to write his impressions and this is what he sent me:
"Don't take this wrong--I'm having a great time--but India is a dump. There is garbage everywhere, camel shit all over the road like landmines ready to destroy your Nikes, beggars trying to get "bashish" (tips) for letting you take
their pictures. After a few days you tend to become totally desensitized to the poverty as simply a fact of life. The kids are gorgeous but constantly bug you to give them money to the point you want to dispatch them to Nirvana. The food is okay but three meals a day of essentially the same spicy slop gets a little old. Ironically I have less heartburn here than at home. The coolest thing is the camel carts. They use them to haul everything from our suitcases to huge logs. Cows wander around the streets among the motorcycles, cars, trucks and cycle rickshaws. Somehow with all the chaos, everyone seems to survive. This is probably because if you do get hurt, unless you can afford private healthcare, you die. Leonard would hate this place and would have bolted within 36 hours, notwithstanding his love of the Gunga Din image of colonial India-burning cow dung and auto emissions (Kyoto was a scam); long bus rides with potty stop places that smell like sewage plants; primarily vegetarian soupy slops that sound different, look different but essentiallly taste the same; slimy merchants who bullshit better than a Wall Street I-banker; merchants hawking the
trashy tourist crap for essntially any amount you'd be willing to give them; tourist traps that would make The Donald blush."
Hmmmmm. He really is having fun. But I can't argue with any of that. What he doesn't say is that the Indian people are gentle and friendly, and somehow, in spite of the chaos, filth, and poverty, their society is moving forward. They feed over a billion people and they are moving, albeit in select pockets, into the 21st century. It's amazing what they do with so little.
Anyway, we are in a great hotel tonight and tomorrow we'll have an easy day. I've been trying to figure out how to describe the traffic and maybe tomorrow I'll try. It won't be easy. It's unlike anything we've ever experienced. Near head on collisions 200 times a day might be a preview. Near misses, really near, like millimeters, on a regular basis. Amazing. More tomorrow.
David
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Brian
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That was a good one.