Forts, palaces, temples and a marraige proposal - a week in Madhya Pradesh

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Why does food poisoning always strike just before a long journey?! I was in Gwalior, it was 6.30am, most of the night had been spent running to the squat toilet and I lay pondering the answer to that question whilst trying to decide if there was any way I´d make the bus to Khajuraho. I´d been told it would take 7 hours to get there (allowing for this being India I was guessing maybe 9) along bad roads and whilst the thought of a long bumpy bus trip wasn't particularly appealing I´d seen everything I wanted to and was keen to move on. And so, stuffed with drugs and praying that 7 hours was right (in the end it was nearer 11), I finally hauled myself onto the bus, much to the entertainment of the driver, conductor and bag man who seemed thrilled at having a white female passenger on board. They didn't speak English, I dont speak Hindi but we communicated just fine through a mix of sign language, smiles and grimaces. They kept checking I was OK, didn't get hassled too much by the other passengers who were rather bemused by the alien in their midst and when I finally got off they all came round to shake my hand!

I´d come to Gwalior to see the fort which so dominates the skyline. Sitting high on an isolated rocky outcrop, its outer walls clinging to the near vertical cliff face, the fort looms over the city below. The approach up is a steep, zig zagging cobbled road with fantastic views out over the surrounding flat terrain and at the top is the main gate from which walls 35ft high span out in both directions. Thick, functional and designed to repel invaders the sandstone walls were also decorative with blue and green tiles used to create flowers, geometric shapes and ducks of all things. Behind the imposing walls were temples from the 9th century and later palace buildings, but honestly I found the inside a little disappointing. But perhaps that´s because I got hassled all the way round by guides insisting I needed their services.... for a rather fee of course.

I went to a few other places in town, the most unexpected one being MacDonalds! Being veggie it´s not somewhere I usually go but when I stumbled upon one here, in a country where the cow is sacred, I just had to see what was on the menu! Veggie burgers!!! And some chicken. I´m rather ashamed to say it but I had 3 McDs in India.... more than I´ve had in about the last 15 years!!!

I hadn´t planed on visiting Khajuraho simply because it´s such a pain to get to. But I got chatting to other travellers who raved about it and soon found myself persuaded otherwise. Home to just a few thousand people and surrounded by farmland Khajuraho is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city was the cultural capital of the Chandela Rajputs, a Hindu dynasty that ruled in the 10th-12th centuries. What remains today are 25 of the original @80 temples built during their rein. Most are dedicated to Hindu deities, a few to the Jain pantheon but all are decorated with amazing intricate carvings ranging from deities to farmers, dancers, potters and soldiers. However the temples are rather more well known for the erotic scenes on their walls than their depictions of everyday life. Which is why they´re also known as the Karma Sutra temples, something local souvenir vendors are keen to exploit as they try to sell you books, key rings and all sorts of other Kama Sutra souvenirs. The erotic scenes only constitute a small fraction of the total but walking around it was invariably those that got the most attention with people of all ages and nationalities huddled around, pointing and giggling!!!

There are 3 groups of temples, with the main group in town set in lush green landscaped gardens. The rest are scattered about the old town and half the fun is getting to them - hiring a bike, getting away from the touristy areas and cycling along dusty streets where cars don´t go, old men sit around chatting and the ground of the entrance way to each house has patterns painted with buffalo dung.... apparently it keeps the mosquito's away.

I loved the temples here, could have stayed longer, but instead found myself hounded out of town by the 'love' of a young local guy who´d decided he wanted to marry me! Lots of guys here seemed to have latched onto western girlfriends, in their minds at least, and I think half of it is being able to parade around town with a white women - a mega ego/status boost. I´ve had numerous fictitious boyfriends on this trip - generally the most effective ploy in deflecting the attention of a local guy. Saying I´m not interested just gets seen as a challenge. This guy just wouldn´t get it though and I soon found myself describing our wedding plans, what my boyfriend did for a living, why he couldn´t take time off to be here.... suddenly this invented boyfriend was seriously hard work! The funniest thing was when my wanna-be husband started suggesting that well, perhaps my boyfriend was off with other women whilst I was away and I found myself getting really indignant! He insisted I have dinner with him, threw a strop when I said no, wanted to know why he couldn´t spend every minute of the day with me and suddenly it just seemed easier to leave town! So at 6am one morning I found myself at the bus station a day earlier than I thought I´d be there, effectively being run out of town by the attentions of a 21year old love struck puppy. But as I waited for the bus to leave suddenly he was there. He´d gone to the guest house found I´d left and followed me down to the bus station to give me a present.

The bus to Orchha was the usual fun - the small child next to me needed to wee, the mum wanted to hold her child over me and out of the widow so she could go, all whilst the bus was still bumping its way along a pot holed road! None too keen on the idea of being sprayed with wee, which I was sure was inevitable, I was secretly glad when the window wouldn´t open. But an hour later we had another toilet trauma... the young girl sat on the edge of her seat, desperately clinging on and trying to cross her legs but the diarrhoea had already stuck and, with the bus conductor refusing to stop the bus, a stream of runny poo ran down her legs, on to the floor and...

Eventually I made it to Orchha, one of those unexpected highlights that you find when travelling. The town was founded in 1501 by the Bundela chief, Rudra Pratap Singh, who became the first King of Orchha (r. 1501-1531) and built the fort here. There are some nice sights to see in town - the fort with its palaces and views out across the surrounding lush green paddy fields, the beautiful and peaceful Chhatris (elevated, dome-shaped pavilions used as funerary sites) down by the river and the Lakshmi Temple where I spent ages sat at the top, looking out at the stunning views and realising just how small the town was (small towns isn´t something I was used to in India!). But there was also lots of local life to keep me busy - the young girls who insisted I come to their house for chai, the Irish lady who´d married a local, opened a cafe and gave me the low down on local politics and life here, the locals sat in the middle of the street completely engrossed by the TV inside the shop opposite, streets full of cows excitedly being taken down to the water front for a feed and the market vendors, with their colourful pots of powder who tried their best to entice me to buy.

Next up: Back to the big city, Delhi

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Comments

[liliram]

Good story, Good Photos
Hope you are feeling better now. Sad to think you were "chased out of town" by a marriage proposal. Well, maybe next time you can play up an imaginary fiancee who works as intelligence officer in the military, or some guy who earns a living giving sharpshooting lessons. Not sure if that will work , but let's see if that drives them away.

[helen]

MacDonalds!
Do you think there is a connection between your upset stomachs and the Maccie D's veggie burgers? te he he... what present did your persistant boyf give you?

[Buddhaboy]

What self restraint!
I really like your blog. Good on you for being able to talk about the other great things in Madhya Pradesh, as opposed to me who giggled like a schoolboy in my blog about Khajuraho. Isn't Orchha great? I couldn't believe it wasn't more famous on the backpacker trail.