Delhi/Pushkar/Jaipur

Friday - Nov. 7 - Haze. (aka smog, and pollution, so admits the paper). I stayed in since nothing encouraged me to get out in that air. Pat arrived at 11:30 p.m. we stayed up to watch Obama's first press conference - very staged, stiff, but we had to watch. We feel like we're on another planet. Saturday - Nov. 8 - Having both taken a sleeping pill , we woke at 11:00 a.m., had breakfast in bed and strode out to greet Delhi. A taxi picked us up and we headed for Connaught Place, which we were told was a shopping Mecca. To be a cab driver in Delhi is to be a dare devil - cycles, auto rickshaws, bicycles, cars, all jockeying for position while people and animals wander through it all. Whenever we stopped there were beggars at the windows asking for rupees, or children, or mothers with babes in arms. You had to steel yourself and look away. The hotel suggested that you rather leave money in a jar at the lobby to help the city poor, since to help one was to only invite a thousand more to come. We arrived at Connaught expecting some form of a mall, but it was rather a circular sprawl of small dirty shops, vendors on the street, hustlers trying to 'help' you find a location... or simply people strolling chatting into their cell phones. All the young are dressed in western dress, the older generation - especially the women continue to use saris. After twenty minutes we wandered back to where our driver was waiting. He had accepted no money when we left the cab, assuming of course we'd go back with him. He drove us next to the Craft Store where there were truly beautiful things...unfortunately Pat and I were not great at money conversion, so we estimated everything as way too costly. We were soooo far off! I saw a lovely scarf for 5500 rupees which I thought was 250 dollars, and was more like $100... oh well. Back to the hotel and a rest. Sunday - Nov. 9 - Another polluted foggy morning. We read in the India Times that the airport had to close runways because of poor visibility. Theoretically there was a large temple outside our window...which we saw once. We decided to make a trip to the Red Fort, but after spending 30 minutes in horrendous traffic, we turned around and relaxed at the hotel. It was Sunday and between families out for the day; a marathon being run through the street; and accidents...the pollution just didn't encourage us. God knows how they will get ready for the Commonwealth Games in time...it's like China. Pat and I who are quite adventurous both agreed that this city did not encourage one to explore. I wanted to go to Jama Mashid where Daddy had been, but was told that with recent 'unrest', it wasn't safe. So we bagged that idea as well. We're waiting for our tour to begin, where we hope to see more with more protection. Monday November 10 - A leisurely morning until we met our tour group at lunch - a mixed lot with everyone telling their tier one stories as we lunched. Our tour leader Lisa from Berkeley, and Doranne from Ann Arbor, and Prakash our local coordinator, instructed us as to how the day would go. We loaded into a lovely air-conditioned bus and with our local Delhi coordinator (Vicar) headed for a quick tour of the New Delhi Government Area, where we saw plenty of civil servants out on the grass areas playing cards or cricket. Then we headed to Mughal Emperor Humayun's tomb - a lovely garden oasis with a large tomb in the center and many smaller tombs around it... including a tomb for the barber. As we were told: the barber is the person closest to the head of state, and with a razor available at all times it was good to give him his own temple, and probably lengthen your own life. We were given lots of data quickly, and just as quickly forgotten... but I have the guidebook and can review what ever I think I need to remember. Groups of school children were also attending the tomb ,and they were as curious about us as we were about them. Lots of pictures taken...lots of shy winks. Back on the bus and off to Qtub Minar where Daddy also had gone. Took pictures at the exact same places that he had stood - very eerie and lovely. All the guides were pleased to help me in my quest to find the locations ...and where I wasn't sure of a particular photograph, they identified the exact location for me. Prakash, our Indian coordinator, had studied German in school and often led German tours ,so he could read Daddy's handwriting as well.... and was translating for me, just in case I didn't know German. Very amusing. While driving back to the hotel past beggars, children doing tricks for coins, mothers with children and scrawny starving people asking for handouts we passed by in our swank bus heading for our swank hotel while being taught the history of India, the caste system and the economic situation. Evening cocktail hour, sit down dinner, and a chance for each person on the tour to introduce themselves. My first impression: well run tour; very educated tour guides; interesting and curious tour members...this should be fun! Tuesday - Nov. 11 - An incredibly early start to our day. with luggage outside the door by 6:00 a.m., we staggered to breakfast and on to the bus ,and off to Indira Gandhi Airport used for local within-India flights. Security was like the US, with the only difference being separate lines for men and women so that women inspected only women. We flew on Kingfisher Airlines. It's as if we had a Budweiser Airlines in the USA. Within 40 minutes we had arrived in Jaipur where we boarded our bus for the three hour ride to the Pushkar Camel Fair. Doranne, who spent many years living in India and who loves the place deeply gave us some interesting data about the place we were going:

• Pushkar means Lotus Blossom
• 10k tourists come to see this site which is a new thing on the tourist route
• Over 200,000 Indians come to this every year
• There is both the Mela - or fair - where one has Ferris wheels, cattle trading, camel trading and races...and there is the religious aspect.
• Pushkar is where Lord Brahma lived...it is the only site in his honor, and people come at the full moon to swim in the lake and be blessed.
• Over $2 million dollars swaps hands during the fair where camels and cattle are the biggest sales, and horses and goats the next.
• Often the animals must be sold because there isn't enough fodder to feed them.
• Camels are beginning to dwindle as their grazing land becomes populated. A camel is used for its milk, its ability to haul things for long distances, and when it dies for its bones and its skin. They are never butchered and the same goes for cattle and horses.
• Saddu's are a very small and strange sect who come to the fair to beg and to earn rupees by doing some pretty amazing tricks including one who has taken a vow of silence for 25 years and maintains his chastity. To prove this, he hangs a large rock off his penis....this has to be seen to be believed!!!

As our bus went through the countryside we passed camel caravans, water buffalo, goats gamboling, and cows; and small villages where men sat at their tea shops by the side of the road sipping sweet tea and gossiping - like Greece.

Suddenly out of no where we're in Pushkar! We came to our Raj Resorts Tent Complex - and that is exactly what it was. They pitch large tents for the 10 day festival complete with flush toilets, cold running water and cots with tons of blankets...and we're here. It was not what was expected by most, and it was like arriving at camp as a child. We sat under a tent, had lunch, and then relaxed on our cots for a few hours. To get hot water one walked to a location where a gentleman would smile and bring you a bucket of boiling water which when mixed with the cold water of the tap allowed you to take a sponge bath or whatever you chose. Primitive after the Oberoi Hotel, but kind of fun since we knew it was just for two days.

Once rested we got onto flat-bed carts drawn by a camel - four people to a cart - and headed in a jolting way to the fair grounds. Every place we passed we were stared at...after all, many of these villagers had never seen Caucasians in their lives. We passed tuk-tuk taxis jammed to the gills; busses with people crammed in and on the roof; cycles, scooters and tourist buses all trying to find space on a sleepy two-lane road which normally serves a very small community of Brahmins. Our camels seemed impervious to the noise, loping along in their disjointed manner. I took lots of pictures and shooed away lots of beggars selling sandlewood statues, necklaces, elephants, bangles, booklets, you name it...they had it. These 'merchants' come to the fair from as far away as Agra to make a few quick rupees during the fair. We headed into the heart of the fair with naked children, gaunt men and women; and everywhere the brilliant colors of the saris. Bareback riders would whiz by, camels would snort and sneeze ,and you ducked to avoid the disgusting mess; and we passed people sorting out fresh dung to make dung paddys for fuel. People were grinding fresh sugar cane to make sugar cane juice; piles of fresh fodderwas being sold by the kilo to feed the incredible volume of animals; and all manner of snacks were availabe, which smelled wonderful but which would have killed us instantly. Words cannot describe this scene! To be in a dessert of soft sifting, blowing sand surrounded by camels, horses, people, piles of dung, piles of plastic and filth, touts selling any and everything ...and smelling new smells, hearing all manner of new sounds and constantly having ones eyes assaulted by another thing which you've never seen before. It was surreal. Usually I can compare things to other things in my past - there is absolutely no comparison. It is a unique first in my life experiences. I feel as new to this as Daddy did to seeing his first black Egyptian. Some of our fellow travelers were less charmed, seeing only the dirt and the dust, and wanted to go home. And in fact one woman left and asked to go back to Jaipur to await our return.

If one wanted, one could have a shave, have a dentist pull a tooth, or simply have a snack. We learned that camels live about 25 years; that their owners feel very close to their animals who provide them so much help, and feel terrible when they die. A good camel could be sold for us$10,000 dollars.

We 'camel-carted' back to the hotel, and Pat and I skipped dinner to sleep.

Wednesday - November 12-

It was a chilly night and I slept well under my pile of blankets, since there is no heat in the tents, and in the desert at night it can be quite nippy. After a breakfast of tea and toast we headed into the actual town of Pushkar - the place where Brahma is worshipped. We wandered through the very crowded markets filled with all the pilgrims coming for the fair, and for the holy swim in the lake. The stalls which had been set up sold all manner of dime-store things which reminded me of the markets in Monastiraki(Athens) in the 'old days' of the 60's. There were men putting soles on old sandals, using old tires; blacksmiths making bowls and tin containers; dentists pulling teeth; men selling fleece clothing, mattresses, blankets, camel decorations, snacks...you name it, they had it.

We walked to a small shoe shop ,where we left our shoes and our valuables in the merchant's care, and proceeded to the holy temple of Brahma, where having gone through the throngs and past the security police ,we walked up the stairs to strew rose and marigold, and sugar cubes, at the 4-headed statue of Brahma. Men to one side women to the other....It was an unbelievable scene, and someone said that it made the subway in New York at rush hour seem like a joyride!

Next stop was to have our own Puja (blessing) done. Doranne, having been here many times, was very good friends with a Brahman priest, and she suggested that it would be an interesting experience, and as she said, it certainly couldn't' hurt. We walked to the lake, sat on a series of steps rising from the water (we couldn't go into the lake, and probably wouldn't have wanted to). We were first given a handful of aromatic rose petals mixed with red powder (for blood and life) and yellow powder (for wealth and fortune). Next the priest asked us to repeat a prayer for our family and for ourselves and to think of a blessing which we wanted fulfilled. Next he handed us a coconut (not sure about its significance), we were daubed with a red dot to signify that we were married, and each of us received a red and yellow wrist band made of string which was proof of the contract we made made with the priest - we paid him 100 rupees, he prayed for us and carried the message directly to Brahma. Prakash, our Indian tour leader explained that each family may have its own family priest and if you came to Pushkar and knew your village and your caste you would be led to a specific priest who would know your entire family lineage. These are not only memorized by the priest, but are documented which serves as a fine genealogical process.

Feeling blessed, we worked our way back through the throngs to retrieve our belongings; climbed aboard our camel carts and headed back for lunch. In the afternoon six of us brave souls decided we needed to ride a camel directly. What a hoot! The hardest part of the event was getting up from the ground without falling out of the saddle, and at the end getting down, as the gangly -legged beast lowered itself down again. The rest of the ride was just a jolting, rocking event as we passed cars, humans and buses with everyone smiling at the silly white people riding camels...obviously we didn't look as if we did this often. However, I'm glad I did...It was a round trip ride to the fairgrounds and back again. Spent the rest of the day reading and writing in my diary.

Thursday November 13 -

Another early departure from Pushkar. This was the big day to be blessed at the lake - the day after the full moon and every bus, cart, tractor, flatbed or truck was loaded with people dressed in brilliant saris coming for their rituatl bath. It took us almost an hour to get out of the throngs because it was a small two laned road, and people were hoping it was a four lane road...which meant much jostling with our bus being the largest and the least likeliest to jostle. But we were able to stand a lot and were observed by all. I took lots of pictures of preening young men proud to have their picture taken; shy girls who giggled and posed; and older women who simply covered their faces with their saris... and all the time "Hey Lady..." Hello!

Returning to Jaipur, the same way we had come, past sparse vegetation and dirt. To see the women in their brilliant saris working in the fields in an otherwise brown and dusty surroundings was to see a gem sparkling in the mist.

Jaipur may be a wealthy town, but it doesn't look it. Along the sides of the road were monkeys, pigs, camels, cattle, dogs, goats, water buffalo, people going to the bathroom, shaving, sitting, eating, hawking...the streets are where they live and one's eyes can't absorb it all. I just kept snapping pictures since every sight was interesting and new - the fruit stands mounded with pineapples, chestnuts and things I couldn't name; the tea shops with people sipping hot sweet tea; women sweeping the dust to make sure their own personal space seemed orderly; a dead camel at the side of the road; people brushing their teeth, making wooden rakes, sewing blankets, you name it it was happening.

We were driven to the palace of the Maharajah of Jaipur whom Doranne has met numerous times. We never saw him (we're told he is old and had a stroke recently), but we did dine on his lovely veranda overlooking peacocks and acacia trees. After lunch we toured the palace, and then went to visit the astoundingly wonderful Astronomical Observatory...both an aesthetic as well as a scientific wonder which I won't describe in the blog but which I will need to study further to understand.

Exhausted and over-stimulated with data, sights and smells, we collapsed at our very luxurious hotel, The Oberoi Rajvilas, which deserves its claim to be one of the top resorts in the world. It is set in a park-like setting with various buildings scattered along lovely pathways where one actually had a room. Peacocks were wandering, sprinklers were sprinkling and golf carts took the lazy from one spot to another. Everyone took showers, and arranged to have laundry washed after our two days in the desert. (Laundry service is amazingly reasonable in these fancy-schmancy hotels). Every nook and cranny of our bodies was dusty, brown, and in need of soap and hot water. The bathrooms were amazing with solid glass walls that allowed you to sense you were showering out of doors looking at a lovely garden while lathering oneself in fancy unguents. That one could love a shower so much! We gathered our wits to attend a one hour lecture by Doranne, on the area we were to visit next, and then Pat and I took ourselves to our room to have room service and collapse before our very early hour departure tomorrow for the Amber Fort... and an elephant ride.