The last 6 weeks have been the school holidays that mark the
end of the academic year. So we decided to go travelling round India; hence the
infrequent blog updates. The heat was sweltering but we somehow managed to
tiptoe round temples on the searing ground, spend midday in cooler palalces
& galleries, save the bazaars for tan evening stroll and knock back a few
ice cold Lassis.
On the last few days of term I cut englsh classes and we
just played games and did craft activites to wind down for the holidays.
Here Pavithra in my 3rd standard class trying to
guess who is changing the rhythm.
While exams were going on in the secondary school I spent my
afternoons going round the primary teaching “craft classes” to a different
class each day. Here we are making an origami elephant that is then decorated
to become a colourful ‘temple elephant’.
A far better way to explore the Desert was by Camel; we
trekked 2 hours to some sandunes, the camel drivers leading the way and the
nights supplies loaded on the back. Mine was called Paapu and particularly
disobedient, managed to get a good trot out of him though!
Mumbai’s “Dhobi Ghat”, the largest hand powered washing
machine in India and perhaps the world. Amongst a slum were 1026 open air
troughs that are still being used to wash clothes 146 years later.
I am so lucky to have mum to come out and visit. After
seeing my project and Mumbai we travelled a little round Maharashtra, first to
the ancient Buddhist caves of Ajanta and Ellora carved over 1000 years ago into
the rock face.
A week later mum flew to England and I joined Rose and Ruby
on a sleeper train to Udaipur in Southern Rajasthan. The palace on the lake was
divine and a sunset boat ride was the perfect was to see it.
In the evening we saw a traditional Rajasthani dance
performance, unlike anything ‘I’ve seen in South India so far. Costumes were embroidered
with mirrors, more colourful and showered with sequins. These women had bells
on their feet and up their legs which chimed to the time of the drummers behind
as they twirled at a dizzying speed.
Next stop Jaisalmer aka “The Golden City” presumably as the
sandstone always looked gold in the sunlight. Basically like a giant sandcastle
emerging from The Great Thar Desert . Unlike the other forts we were to see
this one had all the livelihood of the city inside it rather than
surrounding so most of the shops, hotels
restaurants were inside but we stayed outside to get a better view and avoid
the tourist chaos.
A far better way to explore the Desert was by Camel; we
trekked 2 hours to some sandunes, the camel drivers leading the way and the
nights supplies loaded on the back. Mine was called Paapu and particularly
disobedient, managed to get a good trot out of him though!
We reached the dunes for sunset and the camel drivers set up
camp and prepared, chappati, rice, dahl and veg curry over just one open fire.
Forget the standard cheap burgers and ketchup I remember from camping in
England. We played card into the night and slept under the stars, I had never
seen so many the more you looked the more you saw, stupidly I did try to take a
photo but didn’t quite work with my not-so-telescopic camera lens.
On the way to Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur we stopped at
Jodhpur, again colour coded but the time as ‘The Blue City’. Heritage laws
still insist anyone living in the old city must paint their house blue in
keeping with tradition. This is the view of the city from a balcony in a fort.
The best think we did here were a series of zip lines that took you round the
cliffs of the fort giving a a huge adrenaline rush and an excellent panoramic
view of the city.
Now for my favourite; the Pink City - Jaipur! Think Pink,
it’s the colour of hospitality in India. This is the ‘Hawa Mahal’, the royal
women’s quarters where the Maharaja imprisoned his female relations, 30 wives
and bits on the side. Apparently according the audio-guide competition and
bitchy-ness was common as the women competed on who was the favourite, The
lattice windows were not only to look beautiful but allowed the inmates a
glimpse of the outside world while of course preventing any non-royal from
being blinded by their beauty. They were the most valuable hidden jewels of the
city.
Inside Jaipur’s ‘Amber Fort’ the gardener poses for a photo.
Across the lawn was the incredibly detailed ‘Hall of Mirrors’ (I’ve already
forgotten the Hindi word) where the Maharaja retired.
The long awaited Taj Mahal! Got some funny looks doing gymnastics
in the grounds and eventually told of by one of the guards… Fun though! I as
particularly impressed but the semi-precious stones and mirrors made into
floral patterns interlaced into the detailed marble carvings on the inside of
Mausoleum. Shah Johan must have really loved that chick.
The mosque on the eastern gate was considerably quieter
overshadowed by the glory of the Taj itself. The red stone building looked
incredible against the white marble.
Delhi was slightly less peaceful. It was nice to be this far
away from the chaotic streets below. We went up the Minaret, in the India’s
largest mosque to get a view of the city.
It can have up to 25,000 people at any one time. The tower
on the left is the one we went up.
When the Obamas visited Delhi they were taken here so we
thought we should go also. Compared to the Taj sights didn’t seem so impressive
any more but it was still a beautiful building; the tomb of a great Mughal
emperor Hamayun in Delhi.
This is the Red Fort that the British destroyed a lot of but
what’s left was cool. The prime minister makes his speech on Independence day
here annually. Was pretty hot here as well.
Inside security was intense, they all had huge guns like in
this guards right hand. Again beautiful carvings and detail on the white
marble.
This was the most modern temple ive seen in India.
Impressive architecture gave it the shape of a giant lotus, the flower that is
often given as an offering to the gods.
The furthest North we got before turning back round was
Amritsar in the Punjab. Famous for its delicious food we indulged in Aloo
parotta and Masala Kulcha (stuffed Indain breads). This sikh temple also had a
free kitchen serving Chappati, Dahl and Curry to approximately 70,000 people a
day.
The famous golden temple, containing 750kg of pure gold was
magnificent, especially reflected into the surrounding lake with strange
coloured fish. We visited it several times during the two days we spent in
Amritsar.
On the evening of our first night we went to the Pakistani
border, only 45mins in a shared taxi to watch the ‘border dance’ performed by
the guards every evening at the closing of the border. We had no idea what to
expect. Firstly it was absolutely packed and people were prepared to do
anything to ensure they got into the stadium and got a seat. It took dozens of
guards and policemen on horses to control the crowds, women were particularly
vicious elbowing, pushing trampling screaming to get in front. I was just
scared the horse would buck and knock someone out.
When we finally got in, unlike the other foreigners Ruby and
I thought we would pay our respects to India by running with the flag to the
edge of the border. Several Indians had gone before us but when we started
running the crowd in the mini football sized stadium stood up and cheered.
Amazing. I don’t usually agree with patriotism but this was so much fun! Next
they played famous Bollywood tracks and all the female audience members got
down from the stands and danced in the middle. Knowing minimal amount of Indian
dance moves Ruby and I still joined them. In a complete contrast, to finish the
ceremony off the guards performed a very serious looking parade of marching,
kicking and saluting to the cheering of the crowd. I wasn’t sure whether we
were meant to laugh when the guard kicked his leg up so high it almost hit his
face.
We had to slightly amend our travel plans as all trains to
Varanasi were booked up, to we unecpectedly went via Khajurhao. This is an area
of Hindu & Jain temples that fate back to 990 AD. For reasons still
unknown, perhaps to emphasise the divinity of creation and beauty of the human
form, to highlight the freedom of the god against restrictions of mortals or to
please evil deamons and keep them out the temples were full of obscenely erotic
carvings.
This made them very entertaining.
Due to train Mishaps it ended up we only got 5 hours in
Varanasi, the place of cremation for Hindus. We made the most of our time
getting a local to row us down some of the Ghats. It wasn’t as busy as I
expected but fascinating to see the daily life of the people. Buffalos bathing,
women washing clothes, kids playing in the water, temple men performing
rituals, and families bathing. I didn’t see any funeral processions but a
few-days-old corpse floated past the boat.
After seeing my friend Ruby’s (on the left) project in Hyderabad we took a
sleeper train to Hampi. Its unique bolder like landscape said to have been
created by meteorites was full of interesting temples along the river and
idyllic lake, This is the view for a 500 step climb (stupidly in the midday heat)
Hanuman Temple. The monkey-gods temple itself was perhaps and anti-climax but the
view was stunning and totally worth the climb.
Last stop Bangalore and we spend our last night travelling
at a rooftop bar with a magnificent city
scape view. I had a feta & olive salad for the first time in9 months washed
down with a cocktail. Divine
6 weeks was the perfect amount of travelling time, by the
end we had seen enough temples & heritage sights and missed the children so
were very happy to return back to Sevalaya on the 30th May. The
government declared a week extension of the summer holiday due the extreme heat
and I don’t particularly blame them! So we joined the children on a sponsored
trip to Chennai on the new school bus, the highlight was unquestionably the
beach. We got covered in sea & sand but had a fantastic time.
As time is now running scarily fast I didn’t want to waste a
minute at my project. Rose, Rosa and I organised a mini art project with the
kids over 4 days. Day 1, we split them into pairs and they had to draw a
‘silly’ picture of their partner. Took a lot of organising and explanation but
we got some excellent final products. Day 2 make a Paper Mache balloon in
pairs. This ended in a flower/water paste fight and a huge mess in the kitchen
but everyone had a lot of fun which is of course the main thing. Day 3 cute the
balloons in half and make face masks for themselves. Everyone particularly
loves the glitter and coloured wool (for hair). Day 4 a fashion show and parade
to Michael Jacksons “Beat it” for the older children and residents of the old
age home. This was received with lots of clapping, laughing and cheering which
overrun all the stress of organising it.
