The Heart of India - Orchha to Varanasi

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The approach road to Orchha was really lovely, it wound up and down on gentle slopes passing big shady trees and through fields that were dotted with ruined pavilions and old temples. We arrived tired as lunch was definitely overdue. We planned to stay for two nights in Orchha to have one full day there and then get back on the road to put our new plan of cycling and renewed motivation and enthusiasm into practice. But the first impression of Orchha quickly put this idea on the back burner, we knew it was a place that merited a longer stop than we had planned. We had mixed feelings; it seemed silly to press on past really nice places just because we had a plan to cycle in a certain number of days, but we had only just found some fun again on the bikes after the bad roads in Rajasthan and were a bit concerned that our renewed enjoyment would disappear again in another long stop. Anyway in the end Robin caught the terrible cold I had started to come down with on the way and our bodies made the decision to stay for us. Still we were in a very good place to recover. The air here was clean, the streets were pretty quiet and the atmosphere was not too tourist hassley.

Orchha was the one time capital of the Bundelkand, an old princely Hindu kingdom that had an alliance with the powerful Mughals of that time, which allowed them to exist independently. My first impression of this kingdom was that they must have been very rich, based on the massive palaces, forts, temples and cenotaphs that they left behind. The little village of Orchha now nestled beneath one of the largest temples I had ever seen and the palaces positioned in the bend of a river looked out over an unending view of trees. Finally we had found a view of the Indian jungle and we really felt the peace that this huge ecosystem provided. I tried to imagine this type of forest stretching over most of the country as it had done even as recently as 200 years ago. The India I knew from the history books has changed so much, so quickly.

I could still see the close link that living closely with nature had given to the culture. This village relied on the forests for firewood and most of the traditional packaging of foods is still made from leaves. So traditionally all rubbish could be eaten by cows and other animals and led to a system of throwing rubbish into the streets. This rubbish disposal has continued until today but unfortunately modern non-biodegradable plastics do not fit in with the system and many cows eat plastic and become ill, or even die from it. Maybe the chemicals in the plastic have caused some of these cows to get more aggressive than normal. Robin was unable to prevent one cow from stealing our bananas including the plastic bag that they were hanging in from the handlebars of our bike. This caused a lot of amusement to the watching locals and tourists but it was too late, the bananas and the packaging were gone.

Orchha is a wonderful place to spend some relaxing time. The river is absolutely beautiful and really clean. We loved taking slow walks along the forested banks and enjoyed hours of sitting and gazing at the amazing light as it played over rocks and water. The village itself seemed mostly to survive on the tourists and many pilgrims that come to the town and there were quite a few Babas and other pandits (holy men) around either posing for photos or offering blessings for a fee. There was a full on tourist market and tack bazaar selling masses of different religious trinkets and many sweet shops to provide for all the needs of the pilgrims who want to buy offerings for the temple. Although at the start it was hard for us to buy samosas or sweets for a normal price after a few days stay the local businesses became much more friendly and we found the cheaper local restaurants and better value tourists eateries.

Unfortunately the colds we both had set in quite badly and in the end we spent 10 days in Orchha. The lengthy stop was frustrating, but unavoidable. On one of the days when we had a bit more energy we had a great time exploring the palaces. Full of winding stairways and dark passages we spent a few hours climbing up and down amongst the beautiful architecture, imagining ourselves to be the hidden princes and princesses peeping out of elaborately carved stone lattices on the people working on the strips of farming below. There were some really amazing murals in some rooms and wonderful domes of differing styles all over. Although the rich splendour of the original building has not survived that well there was a really intense effort being made to renovate and restore the buildings and we really enjoyed clambering all over to find the next balcony with another vast and amazing view of forest or river. We spent quite a bit of time in one of the riverside pavilions, since it had great views of the river and it was a really lovely place to rest and chat with some of the other interesting travellers we had met. We even met some other cyclists and found much in common with Rob and Ania from Poland. Rob celebrated his birthday and we joined them and even managed some gin (medicinal purposes!)

When we finally left Orchha, free of cold at last we really appreciated the lovely cycling along relatively quiet roads passing through rural countryside dotted with bits of jungle and many trees. We spent a night in Nowgong and were really happy to be in a completely normal town. There was not a tourist in sight (well there was no sight seeing to be done!) but we enjoyed the way the towns people happily offered their help and smiles. The hotel guy told us the real price of the room straight away and it was great to be able to shop for groceries and get a meal in a cheap restaurant without a battle of haggling on the prices. Our journey through rural Madhya Pradesh was restoring our faith in Indian people and yet again it was made apparent to us the non-desirable side affects of tourism all over the world. Our route took us to Kajurharo, a UNESCO world heritage site, and so we were back in tourist central. We decided to stay for only one full day and resume our cycle trip without too much of a break.

The Temples at Kajurharo are really some of the most amazing we have seen on this trip. They caused quite a shock to the Victorian archaeologists who “discovered” them, as they are covered in erotic art. The temples were part of a belief in the power of the female and a belief that males can only achieve enlightenment through union with females. Much has been written on this tantric belief system, but we just had a good look at the many explicit carvings, and wondered at the amazing craftsmanship that built such impressive stone temples.

After Kajurharo we had a 4 day cycle ahead of us to Varanasi. The route was great passing through rural rolling countryside that had trees too. We had a night at Satna, a medium sized town, but we ended up in a very middle class area and actually had a very nice meal in a proper restaurant. This restaurant had a weird mirrored foyer complete with a Krishna shrine that looked suitably garish and was lit up by multicoloured flashing lights and was accompanied by a tinny high-pitched version of a religious song. Although initially we thought the display tacky we have grown to like this full power happy celebration of the various gods and have since seen many plastic idols for sale complete with battery powered dancing ability and singing.

After Satna the road passed though a remote area and we were not too sure if there would be anywhere to stay. We asked some old guys when we stopped for lunch and were relieved to be told that there was accommodation in one of the small towns marked as tiny dots on our map. We never actually got to that town though. The road got bumpier and the surface worse, our progress slowed. At places there was no tarmac left at all and we found these dusty sections, where we had to ditch and weave around with the trucks, very tiring. We were enjoying being on the bikes again after so long not in the saddle, but we were not that fit yet and so tired easily. We were resting late that afternoon under a big tree when an old man who spoke good English joined us. Soon a big crowd of his family and neighbours had joined us. The old guy, Jagdish, invited us to stay the night with him. This was the first time in months that we had been offered hospitality and we were not sure how it would be in India. We were tired though so eventually we agreed to stay with him.

Part of the wonder of our journey has been the lovely people we have met on the way and it is great to be offered hospitality, however when you are a guest it can be very tiring. Your hosts expect some effort on your part to entertain them and tell them about your way of life too. We did not want to be bad guests but after cycling we were tired and perhaps should have pushed on to the hotel another 20 km further. There was confusion about where we would sleep. I think that this was mostly because Jagdish desperately wanted us to be comfortable and did not want us to put up our tent. Eventually we managed to get our tent up and join Jagdish for his meal. We were staying at his garden plot and his wife and some grandchildren had arrived to feed us. They reheated vegetables on a small fire and made up loads of Chapatti breads.

Jagdish explained that it was the Indian way for the husband to live in a small hut on the farm while the wife and children stayed in the house about 500 metres away. We were happy to accept the invitation to stay but wanted not to impose too much on the family. It was difficult though as we had not realised this family set up and it must have been a hassle for Jagdish’s wife to have to feed us at the remote location from her kitchen. Still I think we managed to entertain the children a bit, especially with our camera and attempts to speak some Hindi. It was very interesting to see the set-up in a village. Jagdish had introduced himself as a Brahmin and he was obviously a man of some standing. We asked him about his family and were introduced to his sons. But he totally dismissed our questions about a stall on the roadside completely, saying it belonged to a poor man. Also there was another older man there who everybody seemed to ignore. It was only later we realised that he was probably of a lower caste than Jagdish’s family. The family all reacted with laughter when we wanted to include this old guy in our photos. It was a good experience to stay with a family but it had not exactly been relaxing, our every movement had been watched and that was the main reason we wanted to stay in our tent, to have some privacy. Communication was difficult; Jagdish informed me that my accent was “slippery”. And we had not really eaten enough. We resolved not to camp again by choice in India.

The road did not improve the next day and we failed to find any dhabas to eat lunch in. We did not have the energy to push onwards fast to get some food and in the end decided to just snack on biscuits and jam sandwiches. We had come to the edge of the Deccan Plateau and the location was too perfect to cycle pass quickly. We sat on the edge of the steep drop looking out at the intensively farmed Ganges plain below. The area was covered in scrub, kites and eagles soared on the thermals above us. The slope below us however should have been thick forest, but the many people selling bundles of firewood at the roadside had taken its toll and we looked down on a sparse and extremely coppiced wood. We wondered for how long the woods would remain in the area we had just come through. Many of the locals we spoke to have heard and understood the message in the media that it is not good for the rainfall and environment of their region to keep deforesting the land, however many have no choice and we saw no tree planting efforts at all. Yet again the huge pressure of people on the landscape stunned us and we wonder for the future of northern India with its rush towards industrialisation and massive population growth.

We descended reluctantly on to the Ganges plain and joined the more heavily populated state of UP again. The sun set before we could get to the hotel in the next town and we were forced to cycle in the dark. Luckily though the road was full of other cyclists all without lights so the traffic was used to looking out for us and it was not too dangerous after all.

Our road the next day was not too bad either; because we had stayed up on the plateau for as long as possible we were not on the main highway to Varanasi and we arrived reasonably easily at the River Ganga. We joined the main road here and crossed this massive river on a huge motorway bridge expecting to find a turn off for the city centre. There was no junction! It was only after one hour of asking many people for directions and cycling backwards and forwards that we plunged off the motorway across rough ground to follow the many jeeps and rickshaws that were bumping along one of the worse tracks I had ever seen. We could not believe this was the right way, but it does seem to be the fact that there is no proper road into Varanasi (from that side at least). Eventually after a lot of bone jarring jolting we found the city and made our way to the old part to find a hotel that had been recommended by a friend. The room was not great and the price seemed too much but we were exhausted after 4 days on the bikes and every muscle ached after all the rough roads. We waited in vain for hot water that never materialised, but eventually found ourselves a true local dhaba that served up never ending plates of rice and daal. We collapsed exhausted ready for a break of a few days to look around this ancient religious city.

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Photos

Sacred Female
Sculpture from Kajuraho, well polished by devotoees over the centuries!

Local Transport, Madya Pradesh
the Camel Carts of Rajasthan were replaced by double ox carts as we crossed into MP.

Oo-er!!
Detail of sculpture on one of the temples at Kajuraho

Tantrism
Impressive stuff, this guy is taking care of all 3 girls while standing on his head!

Shiva Temple, Kajuraho
The surface of the temple is covered in elaborate and erotic sculptures.

Local Housing, Madya Pradesh
Not only the walls but the roof tiles are also made from sun-baked mud.

Dry Riverbed, Panna
Sadly a common sight crossing Rajasthan and northern Madya Pradesh.

Nice Parking
But note the almost total lack of damage to the truck.

The road to Varanasi
Believe it or not this is National Highway 7.....

Rickshaw Art
For some reason all of the cycle rickshaws in the town of Rewa are painted with either Bollywood stars (like this one) or images of the Hindu gods.

The Edge
On the lip of the Deccan Plateau looking down to the Gangetic Plains

Indian fuel
Everywhere in India you see dung being made into cakes and dried like this to be burnt on cooking fires. It doesnt burn too well though so you still have use about 50% wood to get a decent fire going.

Comments

[Googie]

Good job!!
I came across this post while reading for my upcoming one day trip to Orchha. Very well written!