India - the Golden Triangle and more

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Thursday: London to Delhi

I don't particularly like traveling in airplanes, they never seem to have enough leg room so it was an extremely pleasant surprise when we found ourselves in business class on the British airways flight to Delhi. The two of us had a sort of room containg 2 seats, televisions, tables, drawers etc and we could almost cut ourselves off from everyone else. If only all air travel could be like this.

Delhi airport is big, shiny and new. They are very proud of the fact it is the 2nd biggest airport in the world or may have been 2nd best in the world, it wasn't clear. We arrived at 11pm and were very pleased to be able to change some of our vast hoard of £s into rupees immediately (you can't bring rupees into the country). It's nice that it the airport is so big and shiny but it could be anywhere in the world. However, when you leave the airport you immediately know you have landed in India. From the chaos of the free-for-all vehicle pickup area to the madness of the roads, you couldn’t be anywhere else.

Bureaucracy in India is right up there with the best (or worst) in the world and its notoriously long strangling arms even reached to our 4 star hotel on the edge of the airport: the hotel had not been able to obtain a liquor license in the many years it had been open. Not a major problem for us but it would have been nice to have had a cold beer after the long journey.

Friday

We had our first breakfast in India and, being a lover of all Indian food, it had to be a lovely spicy mix of sambar, bhaji, idli, dosa and various accompaniments. In fact I would try to eat exclusively Indian food every meal (I even had a lamb curry on the airplane) and in addition I would eat exclusively vegetarian food.

I had an impression of "Delhi" as a crowded, chaotic, dirty city but, my goodness, how ignorant I was. Delhi comprises New Delhi and, yes, Old Delhi. We drove into New Delhi along well kept wide roads with (in contrast to much of India) white road markings. The traffic was heavy and furious but it moved along. I was struck by all the trees lining the road and within the trees the impressive foreign embassies. Roundabouts were positioned at the wide junctions, which gave the Indian drivers something else to ignore, and there were no cows strolling the wrong way down the "fast" lane.
But what was really impressive was the palace and government area, designed by Edward Lutyens and built in stunning red sandstone. The many buildings were designed to impress and they certainly did. The colour, the magnificence of the buildings, the wide spaces and the parkland were definitely not what I was expecting.

From the well kept administrative area of New Delhi we entered, through city walls, into old Delhi. The car would not fit so we took a bicycle rickshaw powered by a wiry man about half my size. This was the more like the Delhi I had envisaged but without the intimidation I had feared. The narrow streets teemed with people going about their business. The smells from the spice shops were wonderful and the place buzzed. Nobody bothered us or tried to force us into their shops (we were in a rickshaw though, which would have made that difficult!) so we had a pleasant ride. Even when J had her thigh felt by a young man it didn't spoil the occasion (I think secretly she was flattered).

At the end of the journey the driver tried to get an extra big tip because we were so heavy, but we took advice from our guide, as always, and gave the driver the standard amount. Tourists are fair game for all sorts of outrageously inflated prices, so having a local guide is invaluable. And saves a lot of money.

After the rickshaw journey we climbed the stairs to a mosque. Old Delhi is about 50% Muslim (compared with 10% nationally) but we couldn't enter because prayers were being held. From the stairs we had a great view across the town and could see 100s of birds wheeling and swooping in the sky. Nothing too amazing in that, except these were huge kites, with 4ft wingspans. They were waiting for the remains of the animal sacrifices which were going to be made during the forthcoming Moslem festival.

I asked our guide about the caste system (which has been said to hold back the development of India, especially rural area). I sensed he became sensitive when I mentioned the untouchables and asked me if I would want a street cleaner sitting in the car with us. I replied that if he had a shower first it would not be problem. But he just didn't see it that way. I think I understand the problem now.

Delhi has two world heritage sites and we visited one after our lunch of tasty biryani. The archaeological site of Qutb Minar was originally the site of Hindu and Jain temple. In the 12th century the area was invaded successfully by Muslims from Afghanistan. They pulled down the temples and built a mosque with the old temple stones, so, for example, the columns in the cloister have a DIY look about them. The moguls (Muslims from Mongolia) took over and continued building.

We headed back into Delhi for our evening meal. The hotel didn't have a restaurant and anyway it didn't serve beer which is what we needed after a long day in the heat. However even at 8pm the traffic is very heavy and I noticed that when the traffic slows it bunches into more lanes. After some observation I created a formula:
Lanes of traffic = marked lanes + hard shoulder + 2. So, for example, a dual carriageway with a hard shoulder would bunch into 5 lanes. A single carriageway with no hard shoulder would bunch into 3 lanes.

The restaurant was upmarket and therefore safe. Excellent food, excellent staff, excellent toilets and even better, flat screen televisions on every wall showing cricket. Bliss.

Saturday: Delhi to Agra

The good thing about having your own car and driver is that you can choose when you leave. We chose 10am which gave us plenty of time for a good sleep and a leisurely breakfast of dosa and sambal.

During our journey our driver told us you need 4 things to survive on the roads of India:
Good car
Good driver
Good brakes
Good luck
We hoped we had all four!

The road to Agra from Delhi is about 4 hours, but probably 4 days in terms of your aging.
There are the normal anarchic junctions, cows on the side of the road, overloaded people/bikes/vehicles of course, but tractors with overloaded trailers coming towards you on the the wrong side of a dual carriageway is something you don't forget. We asked our driver why anyone would be so stupid as to risk their life in this way and he said it may be because they can't be bothered to go the right way, find a proper turning and join the correct carriageway. What! And we saw motorcycles doing it as well.

Everywhere you go you hear the constant angry buzz of the car and motor cycle horn. sometimes it is really quite insistent and angry and you look at the driver and their face is totally impassive. Indeed, the face of an assassin. Enough about driving, its making me nervous.

We stopped at a mausoleum just outside Agra. In this area a mausoleum is not just a tomb, it's 48 hectares of park and garden, four magnificent gates the size of the arc de triomphe on each side, and a huge, beautiful red building in the centre. The coffin itself is deep in the centre, at the end of a long plain corridor and in a large plain chamber. All the beauty and splendour is on the outside.

We have not been plagued with begging as we thought we might be, but we have been the target of persistent hawkers. The latest stuff they were trying to sell were carved elephants and necklaces. And they don't take "no" for an answer.

The Trident hotel at Agra is very nice, and served beer, although they only sold stronger Indian beer because apparently because of the Formula 1 motor race in Delhi the following week, all the normal Kingfisher had been requisitioned by Delhi hotels. Or so they said. The evening meal of vegetation thali was very nice though hotel prices, ie expensive.

Sunday



We got up early to get to the Taj Mahal before the hordes of visitors descended on it. Unlike any other building or construction I have seen it is impossible to do justice to it in words or in pictures. We were driven to about 1km from the site and taken by Eco-friendly transport (electric buggies or horse or camel driven carts - we had a cart) to the entrance. Through strict security checks where anything capable of defacing the buildings (pointed objects, felt pens etc) is removed and kept. It was here that J discovered she had forgotten her battery for her camera. At the most photogenic building in the world. Luckily N had his camera so the pressure was piled on him to to do photographic justice to the place.

We entered a big court of many acres then through a red sandstone gate and lo, 500m away is the the Taj Mahal, glowing in the sunlight. It is made of a type of marble which is translucent so it takes on the colour of the sunlight. It is symmetrical (as is the whole site) and perfectly proportioned. It was breathe taking, literally. We could have sat and looked at it for hours. As we walked towards it alongside the water fountains it was difficult not to keep looking at it. We had to have our picture taken on the seat which princess Diana sat, which was a cheesy thing to do, but hey-ho, why not?

The building is actually square, ie you get exactly the same view from all sides (I didn't know this) . The four sides have intricate patterns inlaid in the marble and gemstones set in beautiful flower patterns. Optical illusions play tricks with your eyes. Stunning. Inside you cannot visit the tomb which is closed off, instead you see the "false" tomb in a large chamber.

The Taj Mahal means tower palace but actually it is a mausoleum and wrongly named by the British. A moghul sultan built it for his wife who died giving birth to their 14th child. She was Persian and the tomb has a very Persian feel to it. He was inconsolable when she died, hence this fantastic building to house her. However he was deposed by his son who was concerned about his squandering money on this and other projects. He was kept under house arrest at the Red Fort where he could gaze at his beloved’s tomb.

The Red Fort is another world heritage site in Agra. It is built of sandstone, hence the redness. Built by over 1000 years ago by the Hindu Rajputs, now only 20% is accessible by the public, the rest is an army barracks. The palace contained lovely walled gardens and even a large square pool the size of two tennis courts for the royal inhabitants to fish in. We saw the rooms where the deposed mogul who built the Taj Mahal was kept under house arrest. He could gaze at his beautiful creation which housed his beloved wife. It was quite moving.

In the evening we took our drivers recommendation again and visited "a taste of spice" where once again we had a lovely meal, particularly the starters of tandoori cheese and stuffed mushrooms. We also had a cricket match showing on televisions on every wall!

Monday: Agra to Rathambhore
Our first stop was Fatehpur Sikri which is an abandoned city built in the 16th century by a mogul who chose the remote site to honour something or someone. It was not clear. So he built a huge city with a palaces for wives and himself, treasury, public squares, and all the buildings necessary for a capital city. He also built magnificent temples for Christians, Hindus and Moslems, because he had a wife from each. It must have been a splendid place, the beautiful red sandstone a backdrop to the colourful canopies, screens and carpets which were everywhere. We know this because there are many records. However the court moved away after only 15 years, probably because of the lack of water.

We settled down for a 4 hour journey but little did we know what the road was like, or more accurately that in places there was no road at all. So we would travel for sometime on smooth tarmac then enter what can only be described as a long thin building site, and a building site where all the builders had gone home. Sometimes we were reduced to walking pace as the driver negotiated the holes and crevices and piles of rubble. We were in rural Rajasthan and it was decidedly rural. There were people everywhere. Women in colourful local dress carried anything, it seemed, on their heads. Camel drawn carts were the main transport of agricultural goods. And everywhere, in contrast, were bright red adverts for vodaphone mobile phones. Houses were very basic and water was taken from a village hand pump. There seemed to be too many people. Even a tollbooth had a person passing tickets and money between the driver and the toll both operator, with a few more men in the toll both as back-ups. They all had 1 or 2 mobile phones of course. There are a lot of new tractors around so there must be some subsidised scheme to mechanise agriculture. However the new shiny tractors seemed to be mainly used to burn up and down the roads, impressing your neighbours.

We drove through a village well known for it special trade: prostitution. It is not allowed in India (but it is a huge problem) but this village has a proud tradition of serving the needs of a nearby palace. The palace no longer exists but the village still offers its wares to a less royal clientele. As you drive through there are many youngish ladies wearing bright red lipstick and we stopped and chatted to one. She suggested J might like to join them. I think J was secretly flattered, again.

We eventually arrived in Rathambore and eventually found our hotel for the night. It was of a more basic level than those we had enjoyed before but the staff were friendly and the room big. as were the bugs who had also checked in for the night. The food was ok but we stuck to vegetarian dishes only. However the thin nan bread was some of the best we had had. It reminded me of toasted crumpets.

Tuesday

We had travelled all this way on dodgy roads to see the tigers of Rajasthan so we were very excited to be up at 6am and waiting for our safari. We boarded a "kanter" which was a lorry with lots of seats covered in Indian army camouflage and no roof or sides. Not very tiger proof. We entered the park through a ancient fortified gate and made our way over increasingly rough roads into the reserve. The large reserve was divided into areas 1,2 and 3. We took 3 which is the best, said our guide. The reserve is not impenetrable jungle but more open, so generally you can see quite a distance. The trees are the size you might have in your garden and you could quite happily walk through them on the grassy ground. Except you wouldn't want to because of the tigers. The early morning light was beautiful and there were birds of all types doing whatever they do. We spotted three types of parakeet, (including the type we see in our garden at home!), kingfishers, eagles, colourful tiger birds, woodpeckers and all manner of water birds. There were deer, spotted deer (the bambi type), crocodiles, boars, mongoose, dragon flies by the thousand. But did we see a tiger? No we did not. Although the guide claimed to see tiger tracks. We took another tour in the afternoon and did we see a tiger? No we didn't, again.

No tigers but bumping along in an open top vehicle in this amazing park was unforgettable and I would do it again if I had the chance.

Wednesday: Rathambhore to Jaipur

Another 4 hour journey, broken by a stop for the loo and obligatory sales opportunity. The driver may well have got a cut of sales. In fact the carpets, made by 20 local families were very nice and, without taxes and other additions added in cities, were a very good price. So we bought a lovely runner for the hall. Everyone happy.

We arrived in Jaipur and were greeted with the standard chaos and mayhem on the streets. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan and is famous for its pink/terracotta painted buildings. There were originally painted for a mogul to welcome him but it looked so good they kept it. As our driver muscled our car through the anarchy we saw a sign for our hotel. The street was not at all attractive and a man was relieving himself into a urinal attached to a wall, (we later found out that it was our hotel wall and we suspect the hotel installed the urinal to minimise the seepage into the hotel buildings). Anyway, it was not promising but as we turned into the gate we entered a veritable haven. We parked in the small car park, through the reception and into a lovely garden. The hotel is quite old and of the Raj type of architecture with verandas and pools and fountains, colourful plants and a world away from the madness outside. Our rooms were cooled by fans and airconditioning and the furniture and fittings gave it a colonial feel. The beautiful floor made of colourful natural marble was particularly attractive. No TV so no cricket but who cared?

After settling in (and sleeping) we had cold drinks on the veranda followed by a very nice vegetarian buffet.

A puppet show was set up in a corner of the garden so we wandered over to watch. We were given seats and the young puppet man told us sadly that it was a traditional show passed down to him from his father, grandfather etc. but young children are no longer interested and would rather watch TV.

He started with a female puppet doing a dance with fire coming out of her head. There was a warrior who leaped at the audience, and there was a man on a camel who kept falling off. All the time he made a squealing sound with something in his mouth. It lasted about 10 minutes and I could see why modern children preferred TV. We did buy some of his puppets though.

Thursday

We picked our young fashionably dressed guide up who immediately told us he was in a documentary with Sean Connery. I think his mind was in Bollywood rather than in Jaipur and his English was not so good. He preferred to be chatting with his guide friends than us but we learnt quite a bit anyway.

The amber fort and palace is not amber, it is yellow and anyway it's in the town of Amer. It's surrounded by a wall many miles long which snakes up and down like the the Great Wall of China. The fort is not open to us but the palace is. You can take an elephant ride up to the entrance but we didn't because the queue was long and I have bad memories of elephants in southern India. The palace was built in the 16th century which is about the time Hampton court was built. Both buildings were designed to impress, though the Amber palace beats Hampton court on the sanitary front - it had over 100 latrines. It also had ramps everywhere for the disabled wives who were pushed around in wheelchairs, of which there was an example. This was in the 16th century remember. The king had a number of wives and 300 concubines who were housed in their own area guarded by eunuchs. When the king wanted female company he could go to a room between the main palace and the women's area (literally a no-mans land), and take a bath with his chosen partner(s). Erotic pictures which adorned the walls demonstrated what he should do, if he had forgotten.

The palace contained gardens, public places and bedrooms, a treasury and so on. It would have been very colourful and for the king at least, a heaven on earth.

Like all tourist sites in India you get assailed by people, generally young men, trying to sell you something. We were offered postcards, books, bangles, necklaces, small chess set, box of elephants, pens, elephants on a string, calendars(2013), peacock fans, tea shirts, hats, jackets. One sales method they use, after you have politely said "no" is that they say, "when you come out, I will wait for you, my name is Ali". J heard one lady come out of the palace and say to a hawker "I can't buy from you, I promised to buy from Ali", whereupon the hawker replied "Ali is dead, so buy from me!"

Another palace was built down the valley in a lake. It cannot be visited at the moment and may be turned into a hotel. While looking at this impressive sight we were treated to a very good magic show by a boy of perhaps 9 or 10, or 6 or 7. hard to tell. He will go far.

We drove to the centre of Jaipur and parked. Outside the palace gates a scene from one of the 100s of Bollywood films which are being produced at any one time. The films are extremely popular and the television channels are full of them. They are an acquired taste.

The city palace was built in 1729 and I remember it for 2 huge silver jars which held 400 litres. It was used by king when he went to the coronation of Edward VII in 1902. He filled them with water from the Ganges. I have no idea why.

The observatory was built at about the same time as the palace. It demonstrated an amazing understanding of astronomy. We were ushered round it quickly by our reluctant guide but we didn't complain because it was so hot.

Lunch was at a local restaurant and was, yet again, vegetarian and delicious. Entertainment was laid on by a man in traditional garb playing a squeaky thing and a boy, about 10, or 7, dancing in front of our table. I have never been a fan of ethnic dancing, and after this performance I am still not. But he was enthusiastic and smiley so we gave him some money and we were all happy.

When you are driven round India with a guide it is law that they have to take to at least one craft type shop every day. Today it was to a jeweller who gave us a talk about gemstones and rocks then led us to a large shop. It's polite to listen of course but we left as soon as we could, because we didn't want an emerald ring or a ruby encrusted necklace. Quickly through the exit and into a scarf shop, through that and there was something else but by then I had had enough and broke through into the sunlight. I do feel sympathy for the all the shop people (and each small shop has many) but there is a limit to how much retail opportunities I can take.

We returned to our rooms and after a nap I got ready for the evening. I finished first and left the room to sit on the veranda. Now, the old rooms do not have locks but bars, both sides, which slide across the double door. After some time, J had not arrived so I went to find her and found that I had locked her in. She had shouted through the window and texted me but I was blissfully unaware of what I had done. I was forgiven. Eventually.

At this hotel one particular waiter had marked us out as potential generous tippers. He was always popping up and asking what we wanted. If another waiter served us, or tried to serve us he would see them off. We were his property. Over the 2 days, frankly, he became tiresome. We still tipped him though. When you hear that 60%!o(MISSING)f the population lives on less than £1.30 a day, you tend to feel a bit uncomfortable and a little guilty.

Friday: Jaipur to Delhi

On the drive back to Delhi we noticed a change in the landscape as we left Rajasthan. Rajasthan is very poor and we didn't see any modern buildings but as soon as we crossed the border we saw many. Haryhana is the new state and seems more ordered and a little less squalid. When we were in Jaipur city palace (the capital of Rajasthan) we saw pictures of the mogul travelling the world with his entourage and playing polo with his rich international friends. Unfortunately this bled this poor state of its money and although things have changed in the last few years, the state remains underdeveloped and very poor.

As we approached Delhi the traffic got heavier and the buildings got more modern. Many international companies have shiny new buildings and everything was less run-down. It seemed a world away from rural Rajasthan.

We had a couple of hours to spare before we set out for the evening so we searched the 100s of channels for something to watch and found a Harry Potter film in English. Perfect. Except for 2 things. 1. You get 20 minutes of film then 10 minutes of adverts (I know, I timed them) and 2. We had about 8 power cuts during the film. Power cuts are quite common in India - their electric grid is just not up to the rapidly increasing demands of the growing population and burgeoning industry.

Saturday: Delhi to Amritsar

We were up at 6 because we had a 10 hour drive to Amritsar.

Drivers in India have to deal with very different driving conditions to those in the UK. For example, on a motorway we can travel fast and keep an eye on the traffic in front and anyone overtaking on the right. The Indian driver has to do that of course (they drive on the left like us) but they also have to look out for overtakers on the left, cows wandering around, people wandering up and down, vehicles heading towards you in your lane, speedbumps and holes. We hit a huge hole the driver didn't see in Rajasthan which bent the running board. The driver fixed it with a few well aimed blows from a heavy hammer. It's never boring travelling by car India.

It was also quite cutthroat on the roads. There is very little consideration for others users or pedestrians and no acknowledgment or thanking other drivers. It's "dog eat dog" on Indian roads.

We stopped for breakfast at a very nice restaurant. We were not on a tourist route so no special tourist rates. Our delicious masala dosa breakfast with drinks cost about £7 for the 4 of us.

The road between Delhi and Amritsar will be good, one day. At the moment it is a stretch of goodish Tarmac with building sites at every bridge and flyover. It seems they have done the easy bits but have given up on the trickery bits. There seems to be no sign of any attempt to complete the unfinished bits.

As we entered Punjab our driver stopped on the motorway (no hard shoulder), jumped out and ran across the whole motorway to pay the Punjab tax. It was unnerving sitting in a stationary vehicle on a busy highway. The way this country works, if it does, defeats me.

Punjab appears quite a bit more affluent than Rajasthan. The land well tended and some farms look very affluent indeed. The tractors seem to be well used in the fields, unlike Rajasthan where they were paraded up and down the roads. There is a feel of rural France, flat, well tended fields with tall trees lining the straight roads. However when you pass through a town or village you know you are definitely not in France!

We were on the Grand Trunk road which is one of the longest roads in the world, and it runs from Bangladesh, through India, Pakistan and ends in Afghanistan.

We saw lots of extravagant houses and some have big models of various objects on the roof top, for luck apparently. We saw birds, elephants, men on horses and airplanes!

Our lunch was taken at another of the Haveli chain of restaurants, our new favourite. We had a great meal for 4, including drinks for less than £10. And we were the only western tourists there.

After some more scary moments in the car and after a total 10 hours in the car we arrived at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Amritsar.

Sunday

After a broken sleep due to a smelly pillow (I had to wrap it in a towel to minimise the sweaty stench) we had my favourite breakfast. "Live" (means freshly made) massala (curry) dosa (thin crisp pancake), sambar sauce and chutneys. P&N had an even worse night owing to a nightclub on the floor above them.

We finished breakfast and as we walked over to our driver we noticed an oldish small man lurking around the vehicle. We expected to be sold something or asked for money but no, he was our guide for the day. And a very good guide he turned out to be, the best we had in India in fact. His day job was a tuktuk driver so he certainly knew his way around, and he also seemed to know everyone in the city!

Our first visit was the Golden Temple of Amritsar which is the most important temple for the Sikh religion so we drove to a multi storey car park in the centre of Amritsar and set off on a short walk. This was the first time we had really walked any distance through the chaotic streets of India. We were now those very pedestrians we had pitied and feared for as we were whisked along in our air conditioned comfort. You have to watch out for people, holes in the ground, tuktuks, rickshaws, cars on the pavement and the worst of all, the motorcycles who try and push you out of the way. Street life is very much "in your face".

At the entrance to the temple you must cover your head so we were supplied with smelly headscarves. We also had to remove our shoes and wash our feet before entering the temple.

Inside beautiful white buildings surround a very large rectangular pool, about the size of four football fields. In the middle is a temple, covered in gold. A causeway links the banks with the temple. A wide marble walkway surrounds the pool and it was teeming with people, some prostrating themselves towards the temple, others immersing themselves in the water. It was a very colourful scene, with the bright headgear of the men matching the saris of the women.

We didn't feel we were intruding (as we sometimes do in temples) because the Sikh religion positively welcomes people of other religions. Indeed the temple has 4 entrances to represent 4 different religions.

Just off the central area is a kitchen which serves 10000 free meals a day to anyone who wants one. We watched the nan bread being made in industrial quantities on ancient machinery. There were about 10 men men involved in the process, most seemed to have a job which involved looking and not moving. The hardest working was a 9 year old who carried great lumps of dough to the cooker.

We didn't enter the golden temple which contains the sacred text simply because the queue looked about 2 hours long. Not only that, but queues in India are quite unruly and tightly packed affairs. It would have been hell.

The temple building is indeed beautiful in its gold, financed mainly by the Sikh diaspora. The lower part (the part people can reach, I thought, cynically) is not gold but the overall effect is quite lovely. It is one of the most visited places in India, maybe the world, with 100,000 visiting it per day.

We entered a museum in one of the buildings which lined the temple. It was the story of Sikhism, how it was founded, martyrs, battles and so on and was quite the most gruesome display of pictures I have seen.

We thankfully deposited the smelly headscarves and regained our shoes and walked through the streets to a garden which was the site of an awful massacre in 1921 perpetrated unfortunately by us, the British. The story is that there was some unrest by the population over some legislation which curtailed some freedoms. There had been a meeting at which some people had been killed. Then a larger peaceful meeting was held in the garden (although it wasn't a garden at the time). The governor ordered the army into the garden, blocked the only exit (through which we walked) and fired 1600 bullets into the people, killing over 300 and injuring many more. We felt ashamed and apologetic, unlike the queen who came here some years ago and apparently did not apologise. I suppose her advisors thought it would be an admission of guilt, and then the compensation claims would follow. We asked our guide if there was resentment against the British and he said not in young people who see only good thing coming from Britain. He didn't say what the old people thought though.

There is a memorial in the park, a harrowing painting of the massacre, and a well where many people lost their lives by jumping in, and bullet marks in the garden wall. Very sobering.

Our guide likes showing tourists the unusual parts of Amritsar so our next stop was an lovely old galleried hostel for people who needed a bed for the night. Probably about 100 years old it was made of carved wood. There was even a British type fireplace. It was a shame it was completely dilapidated and unused when today it is needed so much. If it was done up and re-opened I suspect it would be overwhelmed with lodgers.

Hindus cremate their dead so next stop was a crematorium to learn all about it. In a covered area the size of two tennis courts were about 20 concrete plinths about 3m long and 2m wide. It is on these you lay your loved one and set them alight. There is a protocol about it, you have to leave after an hour or so then return in 4 days to collect the bones which have not burnt. I think close family can visit the slowly burning body at anytime. We saw the bones of freshly burnt bodies and indeed one which had more recently been burnt and the head was quite visible. If you are richer you can be burnt in a pit and have ghee (clarified butter) poured over you which is more holy and probably speeds up the burning process. The bones and ashes are collected and may be sent to the holy river Ganges.

We left the smokey crematorium and entered a temple which was very similar to the golden temple, but smaller, less golden and Hindu, whereas the golden temple is Sikh. There was no queue so we walked through the temple and saw the 3 incarnations of god: Vishnu, Hari Rama, Hari Krishna. Temple attendants blew horns and hit a gong with a mallet. It was very colourful and noisy and wet, because we were sprinkled with holy water. Again there was no problem with us being non-Hindus.

There are very few non Indian tourists in the Punjab so we were somewhat of a novelty, particularly as we wore shorts. This results in much curiosity and giggling, and the more brave will speak and ask us to pose with them for a photograph. J was in much demand, probably because she was a women and much the best looking. Our guide would roll his eyes and get impatient with all the attention we were receiving. We were never asked for money.

We thought Kerala was unusual for India in that there was very little begging, however even in Rajasthan there was very little if any. We were accosted by one lady and her baby in Jaipur looking pitiful and pathetic, however she was seen after she finally left us with a very different demeanour, laughing with her friend. A few times children would tap on the windows asking for money. The were very different from the vast majority of children who looked smart in the colourful school uniforms. All they wanted was to talk to us.

Anyway, back to our extensive tour of the backstreets of Amritsar. We went to the lady's or ladies temple (I am not sure which) which was dedicated to a lady who started fasting when she was young and didn't eat again until she died in her 70s. This improbable achievement is celebrated in a most extraordinary temple which almost defies description. It's quite new ( she died quite recently) and after seeing her image in the entrance you climb steps and take a journey through corridors and rooms lined with mirrors and colourful tiles. To keep the interest up there is a tunnel you crawl through (where I dropped and lost my sunglasses), and a stream you wade through. It goes on and on, winding up and down. Bizarre. The effigy of this remarkable women wears glasses, I wouldn't be surprised to see her wearing my sunglasses, let me know if anyone goes to this strange and unmissable place.

Next stop was a building dedicated to Ranjit Singh, a ruler in the 19th century who was very successful in defeating his enemies and expanding the empire. The panorama contained real wax models and had a certain charm which taught me he won a lot of battles and everyone wanted to be his friend. Of equal interest were the giant bats sleeping in trees just outside the museum.

We drove out of Amritsar to the Pakistan border, only 30kms away. We parked about 1km from the border and walked with the crowds towards the border. It was like walking in a crowd to an international football or rugby match. We showed our passports and were directed to the foreigners area which gave us decent view although we had to sit on the ground. The border gates were about 100m away. We were effectively sitting one end of a stadium, the border was the halfway line and the Pakistanis were on the other side. The 10000s on the Indian side were in party mood and an announcer whipped them into a frenzy with chants and loud music. People danced and the impressively tall soldiers tried to keep order. Like India itself, it was mayhem. Flag bearers paraded, then a cheer and two female soldiers marched very quickly from the back to the gates. Then some soldiers marched in quickly in exaggerated style. 6 soldiers then lined up opposite us, ie 100m from the gates and stood facing us, not to attention and still, but sort of seething and glaring around, building them selves up for something. Then one of the soldiers takes a few exaggerated steps towards us with a furious look on his face and lifts his right leg straight up so that his ankle hits his hat. He slams it down and storms towards the gates very angrily. He glared at the Pakistan side, stands in an macho pose and straightens his hat. What is even weirder is that the Pakistan side is exactly mirroring this strange, aggressive show! So there must be coordination between the two "enemies". By now the crowds on both sides are going wild. The partition of Pakistan and India over 60 years ago still causes resentment and tension which makes this all the more strange.

On the way out I fell for the ploy of a young DVD seller you gave me his name when I went in a said I should buy from him when I came out. He found me, and after seeing the strange spectacle I thought I would like a momento of it. So we were both happy.

Finally on this longest of long days we went back to the golden temple, bought headscarves for 12p rather than use the old smelly ones, took shoes off, washed feet and re-entered the temple. Is was beautifully lit up but the queue to enter the central building was just as long, so we walked around, watching the people and admiring the buildings.

By this time we were exhausted so we took a tuktuk. We had seen and laughed at the overloaded tuktuks but we became one as 5 of us squeezed in. The poor engine just about managed to get us to our car. A truly memorable day finished of by another excellent meal at the Cristal restaurant. Go there!

Monday: Amritsar to Chandigarh

Our driver asked us how much we had given the guide. We had probably over tipped him with 1500 rupees because he was by far the best guide we had had and felt he was worth it. Apparently when the driver had asked him he had said 500 rupees. The driver was a bit miffed because he had bought the guide a meal! I don't think the driver will trust him again.

Chandigarh is a vision which the rest of India could follow. It has the largest GDP per person. The roads have kerbs and white lines. Amazing!

We visited a bizarre Rock Garden, created by a man who created figures of animals and people out of recycled materials, or rubbish. Its a bit Gaudi-ish and kept us amused for an hour or so.

Tuesday: Chandigarh to Delhi



Our driver gave us a surprise. Because we had not seen a single tiger in the tiger park in Rathambore he took us to Chandigarh zoo. We drove out of the town and turned of the main road onto small, well maintained roads. The land was intensely farmed and reminded me of the vale of Evesham: rich soil, well irrigated and a wide variety of crops grown in small well tended lots. The villages were clean and well maintained and there were no handipes as we saw in rural Rajasthan which seems a world away from this more affluent area.

The zoo itself was rather good. Entrance was under 20p and we took an electric buggy tour round the extensive site. And we finally saw tigers, one Bengal standard tiger, and one white tiger. Almost everything else we saw in the zoo, crocodiles, antelopes, parakeets, elephants, deer, eagles we had seen in the wild.

We had been invited to dinner by a man we had met, so it was with some trepidation we made our way to his house. We were greeted by his wife and 16 year old son, and ushered through the small kitchen to the other room, which served as bedroom and living room in this 2 room house. A double bed and a single bed took up most of the room, leaving just enough space for 4 chairs and a small table. We were offered beer and had a lovely spicey soup to go with it. Neighbours and friends dropped in to see the Europeans and we soon had a very full room.

There were 4 young men, aged 16 to perhaps 18, all studying for accountancy or business because, as it was said many times, you need a good education to make any headway in India. There is so much competition for jobs. All the the boys were articulate and intelligent. But we were taken aback when one asked how he could be whiter. This sort of statement shocks you, and we asked why he would want to be whiter because we are all trying to get tans. But in this overcrowded land any advantage you perceive in getting a good job and then a wife has to be taken. A young man without a job, in this land of arranged marriages, is not going to be an attractive proposition. If your skin is whiter, then that helps a little.

The whole marriage thing seemed to us to be ridiculous and crippling. I asked the father about his 20 year old daughter's marriage plans. He said he would be looking to get her married in the next few years. He added that it keeps him awake at night. An Indian wedding, it seems, has to have at least 1000 people and will cost at least £6000. When the average annual income is about £400 and most of that goes on surviving, then you can seen the problem. In Europe, with an annual salary of £30000, it would be like paying £450000 for a wedding! It is a tyranny because not to have such an extravagant wedding is just not an option and would be social humiliation. This must keep the poor, very poor.

The main course was a vegetable curry, a dal and chapatis to scoop up the delicious food. Rice was only brought to the table when the chapatis were finished. The wife of the family kept out of the way, of course, but from a very brief conversation, was pretty and smart. In hindsight we realised we made a number of faux pas, I hope they forgave us, being ignorant foreigners. Sorry.

The house visit was a highlight because we got a good idea of what life was like for a average Indian, albeit an Indian who was probably earning 2 or 3 times the average annual salary. Their worries and concerns make ours seem somewhat trivial. I came away thinking they, as a country, have an awful long way to go, development-wise and with the crippling weddings, the status and appearance issues plus the caste system, its going to be a long and difficult journey.

So we returned to London and we all agreed it was a most fascinating holiday. India really is an assault on your senses, more so than any other country we have visited, which is why we have been twice in 3 years. Being able to go where we wanted and not just to the tourist areas gave us a fascinating insight into this amazing country. Go and visit!

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Comments

[anonymous]

A very thorough report on a journey we shall share in February 2013. Thank you, Steve. David and Janice