India

Mike's Report From India
December 24, 2008-January 5, 2009

25th of December 2008
Day One
Delhi:
Arrival at Delhi

Merry Christmas! All went well yesterday/today as we arrived in New Delhi right on time after about 24 hours of travel and airport sitting. We arrived late to Chicago on American Eagle, then scurried for the flight to Brussels in another terminal. That flight was pretty uneventful - almost full and a night flight, so most people were sleeping.

The next flight, from Brussels to New Delhi, was aboard American subcontractor Jet Airways. This plane and Indian crew were super nice. Each seat had a module with free movies, games, news headlines, and even internet if you paid extra. The experience was very ecclectic, with curry aromas wafting through the plane while Christmas tunes played at times over the loudspeakers. If you have to spend eight hours in a modern day cattle car, this is the way to do it.

New Delhi's air tonight is very smoggy/polluted and the going was slow at the airport. Instead of walkways from planes to the terminal, you take busses. (Great pollution-saving idea!) Our guide told us that security since the Mumbai attacks has forced busses and taxis to parl 10 minutes from the airport until their passengers are on the curb.

Leaving the airport, we saw military jeeps on patrol with manned machine guns on the back. Otherwise, things were very quiet. The roads to the hotel were pretty for the most part. I felt safe despite the show of force, or maybe because of it.

We are staying at the Claridges Hotel, a favorite of my dad's when our family lived in India many decades ago. I remember staying here and the food being quite good. There was a smiling band of turbaned and uniformed hotel greeters on hand to welcome us, and we feel very well cared for.

Before reaching the hotel, however, there were chokidars, or guards, at an electronic gate who checked under our car with mirrors before we came onto the hotel grounds. Some guards had submachineguns.

The hotel site, if you want to check it out, is: http://www.claridges-hotels.com/Delhi/index.asp.
The rooms have wi-fi, which I am using before going on to bed.

26th of December 2008
Day Two
Delhi:


We had a very chaotic, but very fun day seeing the overpopulated streets and alleys of old Delhi and then touring the more modern and well-planned New Delhi.

We ate breakfast at the hotel, with the more adventurous Mary Byrne opting for Indian food and the rest of us going with western fare like omelets and bread. Our guide for the day, Ravi, met us and took us by van to India’s largest mosque, built by Shah Jahan, the guy who also built the Taj Mahal and many of India’s spectacular buildings.

The place was getting ready for a huge outdoor Friday worship service at noon, and prayer mats to accommodate thousands were rolled out. Very interesting experience. India is mostly Hindu and tensions between Hindus and Muslims is a bit high right now following the Mumbai attacks. But we were treated well at the mosque.

Next came our favorite activity for the day: Our rickshaw ride through the crazy streets and alleys of Delhi. More than 100,000 people live on a few blocks, and shops, vendors and traffic add to the mayhem. Ellen’s and my rickshaw driver flew around like there was no one else on the streets, dodging people, cows, trucks, anything in his path. We had a great time and saw a lot of interesting things in about a half hour.

We visited the place where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated. It is part of a very nice park now.
Lunch was at an out-of-the-way Punjabi restaurant, where everything we tried during a family-style meal was good. Connolly, not as adventurous, enjoying some grilled chicken and pan (bread.) The rest of us filled up on curry.

In the afternoon, we visited another Jahan creation, a series of buildings that includes one nicknamed the “Baby Taj.” It was a spectacular structure and the grounds around it were park-like.

Our evening activity was a show called Daces of India. It was performed in a very out-of-the-way compound in a building that looked like a high school gym from the 1940s. Only a handful of people were in the audience. But the show was good and interesting.

Dinner was at the hotel, with all of us opting for western food.


27th of December 2008
Day Three
Delhi – Jaipur:

Seemed like we drove alternately through the 19th, 20th and 21ST centuries today during a seven-hour van ride across central and western India.

After a good breakfast at The Claridges, we boarded our Explorer van and headed west toward Jaipur. Leaving New Delhi on an eight-lane modern highway gives you a glimpse into India’s present and future as an information technology center. Shortly past the airport there's a seven-story-tall, half-mile long shopping mall, the largest shopping center in India.

Beneath the mall, construction continues on the expansion of Delhi’s subway system so that it can soon take shoppers and workers from the central city to this location about 10-15 miles away. But the most amazing sight is the next 15 miles along that highway, where modern building after modern building – some just opened and others under construction – house new headquarters for computer companies like IBM. Several Indian companies are in the mix. Pretty amazing to see - when you can through the smog.

But the modern stretch ended soon along the same road as it narrows and becomes congested at times with camel carts, bicycles and pedestrians carrying heavy loads on their heads - just like their ancestors did centuries ago.

Most of the road between Delhi and Jaipur is four-lane divided highway, and travel is quick much of the way. But a flat tire and occasional gridlock in cities along the road managed to lengthen the trip to almost a full day.

We really enjoyed the road and the varied scenery. Though we have been to places like Africa, China and rural Peru, Mary Byrne declared this the most different culture we have encountered. “This isn’t for everyone,” she said. “But I really like it.” We are seeing an in-your-face dose of horrible poverty, intertwined with some of the most magnificent sights anywhere in the world.

Our Explorer van features individual, comfortable bus-like seats. It could accommodate 11 passengers, but this week it is carrying our family of five and a three-man crew to look after us. We have a very well-educated and well-spoken guide, a driver and a utility man whose role isn’t quite clear to me. I do know that he can open doors for you and that he can change the tire on a large van without making the occupants get out.

Saurabh, our guide, knows we want clean restrooms and decent food, and he knows where to find both so far. Give him some notice that you need to make a pit stop, and he will get you to a good place. Indian roads now feature some stations that resemble Exxon On The Run markets with food, gas and restrooms. Well-run ones have decent facilities, soft drinks and snacks like Pringles, Kit Kats and Lay’s chips.

En route to Jaipur, we detoured to Samode, a small, clean village where a large palace still stands. The terrain in this part of Rajahstan, where we are now visiting, features hillier ground and many farms that grow mustard. The mustard plants are in full bloom with yellow flowers, and it is makes the terrain very colorful, especially with Rajhastani farm women working nearby in their traditional yellow, bright orange and red saris.

We finally reached Samode and the Samode Palace after grinding over some very bad roads for about and hour and a half.. The palace is just that, and has recently been converted to a very nice hotel and restaurant. We had dinner there and the food was good. Connolly, who doesn’t like Indian food, had pasta and salad. I had grilled prawns in a wasabi sauce. Sharon had fries and a Greek salad and the other two girls had chicken in a green curry sauce, the smell of which made Connolly queasy.

After dinner we drove from Samode to Jaipur, which took about an hour and a half. The place we are staying is another palace-look building and is really magnificent. Our travel agents upgraded us to suites and our rooms are unique and fantastic. Sharon’s and my suite has four rooms altogether and some beautiful old furniture. But is also has a widescreen flat TV and a DVD player.

Check out our hotel: Samode Haveli http://www.samode.com/home/haveli/index.htm


28th of December 2008
Day Four
Jaipur:

We awoke early and watched part of a cheesy Bollywood movie in Hindi, followed by a silly Hindi game show and then what appeared to be an Indian version of Fox News. It clearly takes an anti-Muslim slant on all stories and focused totally on Israel’s problems with Palestine and India’s own problems with Pakistan. There was some sensational coverage of the one-month anniversary of the Mumbai attacks, with interviews with victims’ family members.

We ate breakfast in a beautiful room of this World Heritage site and it was good: fresh bread, eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, lots of Indian selections. We have found that every place we have eaten has given us some options other than Indian food. I personally like curry and other Indian fare, but not for breakfast. Mary Byrne again tried Indian food, however.

We headed out by 8:30 to the Amber Fort, a beautiful palace on a mountain overlooking Jaipur. This place, hundreds of years old, really has been maintained well and gives a good look at how Indian royalty once lived. The maharajah had a dozen or more wives and each had a separate bedroom, and the guy appeared to really have his opulence down to a science.

Our tour van dropped us on the ground level and then we rode elephants up the mountain to the fort-palace. I found the ride to be rocky and uncomfortable, but it was good for a laugh. Hawkers and beggars were everywhere as you entered, and I put my stone look of disinterest into full gear. Stop and take a look at anything, even just a postcard, and the rest of the vendors move in for the kill.

We stopped next to see the Water Palace, which basically is an ancient floating whorehouse where royalty and military leaders kept their concubines. You had to get there by boat because it sits in the middle of a lake.

Across the street from the Water Palace viewing area, tourism is thriving as you can rent a camel, a cow-drawn carriage or an elephant for a ride down the street. The girls and Sharon opted for camels while I opted to keep my feet on the ground. They had fun and I short pictures.

We had lunch at a very out-of-the-way place again, and the food was very good. I had chicken with rice.

We then headed to the City Palace in the heart of downtown Jaipur, and crowds were starting to build on the streets and at the attraction. We did enjoy seeing the 400-year-old architecture and hearing some of the stories of the building and its former inhabitants. Our local tour guide, hired just for the Jaipur part of our tour, was very knowledgeable, but very long-winded at times. TMI.

We asked to end the day a bit early and headed back to our great hotel. I took a nap, Sharon got a massage and enjoyed the pool and the girls stayed poolside.

Ellen and Mary Byrne decided to take an optional visit to an evening Hindu worship service, and said they found it very interesting.

Dinner was in the outdoor courtyard and was very good. They had propane heaters and campfires burning because the temperature had dropped from 75 during the day to about 60 this evening. It was a beautiful day weather-wise, with the clear skies of Jaipur being a relied from the smog of Delhi.

The hotel has wireless, but unlike Delhi, it is very slow. I capped off the evening uploading these reports and some photos.

Tomorrow we head out on tiger safari, and it is doubtful I can hit the blog for a while.
Here is what the itinterary calls for in days ahead:

29th of December 2008
Day Five
Jaipur – Ranthambhore:
By Road
175 km/4 hr

Another great, interesting day. We spent a leisurely early morning, watching some more crazy Indian TV and then having a good breakfast in the Samode Haveli dining room.

My favorite TV program was a 30-minute infomercial that looked as though it was filmed somewhere like Milwaukee, but had the excited voices in Hindi. It was trying to sell you an inflatable plastic couch, and it showed American kids in football uniforms and cleats jumping on one to demonstrate its toughness as an Indian described the merits of the product in Hindi. You can get one for 5999 rupees, by the way.

Sharon went to see the massage therapist again this morning, receiving a treatment during which they drizzle warm oil over your forehead for a long time. It is said to improve your memory, but she would not attest to this because she forgot where our room was afterwards.

We wanted to do some fabric and crafts shopping before leaving Jaipur, so we visited a factory where they made both. How our driver found this place is beyond me, but it was great. They not only let us watch Indian cloth-printing in action, but they allowed each of the girls to try it and to keep their work. Then we hit their shop and bought a few things.

The road to our next stop – Ranthambore tiger preserve – was horrible. For about four hours we bumped and tossed along, dodging trucks, cars, motorcycles, pigs, three monkeys at once, camels, a mongoose, elephants, sheep, etc., etc. The best photo op was when we pulled into a service station for gas and there was a camel lined up at the pumps. He was pulling a cart with a gas tank on top, so he lined up just like the vehicles.

The villages we passed through were very poor, and many people lived in huts. It seems that the chief line of work is farming mustard and wheat. There also were various types of merchants in the small towns, and several people were cutting and selling firewood.

There also were some towns where there seemed to be a more middle-class population, but it wasn’t clear how those people made their livelihood. Several walls had painted signs urging people to attend a local “computer hardware training college” after which there is a “100 percent employment guarantee.”

The intriguing and sometimes hair-raising journey ended at Sher Bagh, a “tented lodge” resort right beside the Ranthambore National Forest. Being here is like what I envision the British big game hunters must have enjoyed in India and Africa in the 1800s.

We were helped from our vehicle by an entourage of smiling servants, each wearing a bright white, pressed outfit and a yellow turban. The British woman who manages the place also was there as we were each handed a cold nimbu panne – an Indian version of lemonade.

Sharon’s and my tent is just that – a canvas tent. But it has a king-size bed, several electric lamps, a desk, other furniture, and a separate bathroom with an attractive stone shower wall and floor.

We enjoyed a great lunch of pasta, spinach salad, homemade bread , quiche, zucchini chips and banana fritters – all served outdoors in perfect 75-degree weather. It seemed like we had barely settled back into our tent when it was time for everyone to gather for tea and homemade banana bread. So much for the low-carb diet.

The cocktails/dinner portion of the day was very unusual and fun. Comfortable leather deck chairs are placed in a circle around a large campfire. Lanterns are set all over the grounds, especially on paths leading from tents to the campfire. The overall effect is beautiful, especially on a crystal-clear starlit night like tonight.

Six musicians played as about 25 guests from the U.S. and Europe chatted and had drinks. Then six chefs prepared an amazing Indian meal over wood-fired kilns, each stationed about 20 feet from the other. Guests went from station to station and selected what they wanted for dinner.

There was rice, chicken, lentils, fried okra (without breading, but still crisp,) cucumbers and onions and nan, which is an Indian bread. It was all very good. We ate in the chairs around the campfire, with the equivalent of TV trays serving as our tables.

The band played on and the partying continued until about 10 p.. We returned to our tents to find the covers rolled down and the mosquito netting in place, although there were no bugs evident during dinner. When we climbed into bed, we found that they had placed a string of warm water bottles across the bottom of the bed to keep our toes warm.

http://www.sherbagh.com/about_sherbagh.aspx

30th of December 2008
Day Six
Ranthambore:

It seemed fitting that Auburn alum Mary Byrne should see tigers on her birthday, and she did.

We began the day early, with a server arriving at our tent’s door with a pot of coffee at 5:15 so that we could get ready for an early tiger safari.

We boarded a jeep and met our naturalist guide and driver at about 6:15 and headed into Ranthambore National Park to look for tigers. The odds aren’t great – there are just 32 tigers in about 250 square miles of park. And tigers like to stay hidden. The best time to catch them in the open is just after dawn, which is when we went.

Just 10 minutes after reaching our destination, we saw a huge tiger. Tigress, to be exact. She moved swiftly from an open are into the thick woods in a couple of seconds – quicker than we could scramble for our cameras. But we did get to see one, and there are many people who spend a week here and never get that chance. Our guide turned to Mary Byrne and said, “Happy birthday.”

We returned to the resort for a late breakfast, relaxation and then lunch before leaving on another game drive at 2:30. The young managers of the resort allowed Mary Byrne to have a free massage, and they surprised her with a birthday cake at lunch.

The temperature had risen to 75 and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The second safari drive, which explored a different section of Ranthambore’s jungle than the first, was equally fun. But we didn’t see a single tiger the entire three hours we were in the national park. The park rules call for all safaris to clear the park by 5, so we did.

And then, as we headed back to the camp, we saw some commotion ahead as some safari vehicles began pulling to the side of the road. Moments later, we saw a tiger, which took a leisurely 30-second stroll alongside us in the grass, no more than 20 yards away. I got a good picture and Mary Byrne shot video.

Dinner was around the campfire again, with lamb curry being the centerpiece dish. We decided to get to bed a bit earlier than the night before because a long drive to Agra lies ahead tomorrow. Sher Bagh Resort has been a very special experience for us – one we’ll all remember fondly.

31st of December 2008
Day Seven
Ranthambhore – Agra:
By Road
280 km/6 hr

New Year’s Eve was mostly a driving day over the crazy, crazy roads of India. While there have been efforts to upgrade highways, a combination of factors combine to make those improvements mostly ineffective.

First there is the livestock of every kind, each given the same highway privileges as a car or bus. In just this one drive, we encountered many herds of goats, many camels, an elephant, a mongoose, cows, water buffalo, chickens, monkeys, wandering dogs and sheep.

Then there are the zillions of bicycles and bicycle rickshaws that also enjoy the use of India’s equivalent of our interstate system. They slow things down, cut in front of cars and generally complicate an already-complicated situation. Motorcycles are everywhere, too, and they ignore lanes and cut where they please.

Lack of education and customs play a big part. For instance, there are parts of India’s highway system that are divided four-lane roads – two on each side. Yet you regularly see cars going both ways on both sides of the divide! The people in the vehicles do whatever they want, too. Chances of getting a ticket are miniscule. We saw an entire busload of Indian Army guys lined up alongside their bus peeing next to the road.

The driving is insane! People tailgate, weave in and out, totally ignore dividing lines, cut one another off and never use a blinker signal. Blinkers and lights are replaced by incessant honking – beeping that would make NY cabdrivers look like amateurs. New Delhi announced a No-Honking Day this past week, and apparently no on heard about it above the honking.

You can't blame the women for the problems on the road, because we didn't see a single female driver among he thousands we encountered during the past week. Guys have the roads, and they are doing a lousy job.

The solution to this traffic situation? Have a sense of humor and enjoy it because it is not going to change.

The other feature of the day was the incredible poverty we saw on the drive. The road took us through many tiny villages and small towns, and like our other drives, we got an eyeful of Indian squalor. There was little in the way of sanitation, no litter control and no general indication that these folks had a brighter day ahead. We were amazed at how they kept a smile on their faces and such a hard work ethic in the situation they face. Maybe it’s because they don’t know or hope for anything else.

Today’s trek was about eight hours altogether, getting us from Ranthambore to Agra. We stopped about an hour outside of Agra to visit Fatehpur Sikri, a 16th century city and palace built by King Akbar, but abandoned after just 13 years because he chose a site without a reliable source of water.

The King’s palace is a testament to open-mindedness. A Muslim, he was very popular because of his ability to reach out to other cultures and religions. His palace included a mosque, a Catholic chapel and a Hindu temple. Among his many wives were a Portuguese Catholic and a Hindu. Our local guide, Mr. Singh, wondered aloud why Muslims today can’t adopt the same open-mindedness toward other religions as Akbar showed years ago.

(As for the majority Hindus tolerance of Muslims, the daily Muslim calls to prayers - played over loudspeakers at 6 a.m. each day in the cities we visited - certainly would challenge one's openness even if the political differences weren't there. But Hindus seem to take the blaring early morning interruptions as a given.)

The palace and surrounding buildings are in remarkably great shape, partially because they weren’t used much after the 13 years and partially due to sound design and construction. It was an interesting glimpse into the way people lived 500 years ago, and our guide did a great job unfolding the story.

We were very weary by the time we reached the Gateway Hotel, and Sharon and I weren’t in the mood for a battle with the manager over whether we were committed to attend a very expensive New Year’s Eve party hosted by the hotel. But we had to wage it anyway. Our guide, Saurabh, helped us convince them we were tired and not interested in an all-night gala. We had pizza in our rooms instead.

http://www.thegatewayhotels.com/index.htm?hotelId=TAGRTV&page=Overview


01st of January 2009
Day Eight
Agra – Delhi:
By Road
201 km / 4 hr

Taj Mahal day!

We had a very good breakfast at the hotel – the best breakfast of the trip. Omelet bar, great crisp bacon, lots of fruit – everything great. Sharon tried every kind of Indian food offered, too. Mary Byrne had some intestinal distress overnight and popped some of the Cipro we brought along. She seemed determined to make it through the tour day, though.

Fog covered the city early and you want to be able to see the Taj from a distance, so we made our first stop of the day at the “Baby Taj,” a building constructed under orders from Shah Jahan, while we waited for the fog to lift. It is a beautiful building and is said to be his inspiration for the Taj a few years later.

We hit the lines for the Taj around 10:30. Our guides took us to a less-used gate and most of the people in line were Indians. A long line of westerners could be found at the main gate, they told us. It only took about 10 minutes to get in, including security checks and pat-downs. By the time we left, the wait looked to be about an hour and a half.

Our family visited the Taj when I was 12, and we had a family group shot taken. Each member of our family has a copy of that photo. We tried to reconstruct the scene with our current family. My dad was 14 years younger than me when that earlier shot was taken, and he was wearing a suit. I don’t think I looked the part today.

No photo can do this architectural wonder justice. It is amazing in every way – from the majestic long-range views of it down to the minute and precise semi-precious stone inlay work in the walls. The inside, where moguls’ tombs lie, has equally intricate inlay work, but the dark conditions make them hard to appreciate.

We spent a couple of hours at the Taj and then visited a marble-inlay company where they recreate some of the stonework found at the Taj. We bought a few items.

We then visited the Agra Fort, also constructed by Sha Jahan and used as his and his family’s palace. We learned about the cutting-edge war tactics used in the 16th Century – things like pouring boiling oil on your attackers! The public can see about 35 percent of the fort, while the remaining areas of the huge complex are still used by the Indian army and are blocked off. The structure has been a functioning fort for nearly five centuries, including when it was occupied by the British army.

We had a very good Indian-style lunch at a popular Agra restaurant, where we ate outdoors. I had lamb curry and tried the others’ chicken curry. All of the food was great.

This is the closest town on our tour to Kanpur, the place where we lived when I was young, We saw Kanpur road signs around town.

We then faced another long drive – this one more than six hours, through the various villages and towns – to get to Delhi. At some points we were at full speed on interstate-like highways. At many other points, we were in gridlock.

Saurabh has been a great guide and we usually pepper him with questions during the drives – how the caste system works, how his marriage was arranged, various foods enjoyed by Indians, why women wear a bindi on their forehead – you name it. He has been great and we have learned a lot. Who knows where we would be without him, because he really looks out for us.

Almost to our destination in Delhi at about 9 p.m., our van suffered another flat tire. Not surprising, given the rocks and dirt we had covered in recent days. The driver and his apprentice had it fixed in 15 minutes without us having to leave the vehicle.

By the time we got to our B&B, which was cleverly named The B and B, we were exhausted and hit the sack. We had a quick dinner of chicken curry and went to bed. The B&B is a very nice place in an upscale New Delhi neighborhood.

B&B web site: http://www.newdelhibedandbreakfast.com/


02nd of January 2009
Day Nine
Delhi – Haridwar:


We had to be up at 4:30 to get to our train to Haridwar in time. The B&B had prepared us a breakfast the night before – hard boiled eggs, bread, cereal and juice, and we had some of those before boarding our van for the last time.

One thing of note – the hotel manager and his employees stood over us staring the entire time while we ate dinner and breakfast. I am certain they just wanted to be sure we were okay, but it was weird.

It was about a half-hour drive to the train station, and we said goodbye to Saurabh, our driver (Rakesh) and his apprentice (something like Hororal) before getting on the train. We gave each their tips.

I will really miss Saurabh and really appreciate Rakesh keeping us alive through the traffic mayhem of the past eight days. The ever-grinning Rakesh was also very customer-friendly, and seemed very embarrassed when a mouse kept showing up in the van, then scurrying back to an area under the floor.

The luxury train was reasonably nice in the riding car section – comfortable reclining seats – but really bad in the restrooms. They offered a western-style restroom and an Indian one (squat rather than sit.) The latter was much cleaner, and it was pretty bad.

Heavy fog barred us from seeing much in our ride to the foothills of the Himalayas – a five-hour train ride. They brought me hot water and I made coffee using Maxwell House bags from home. The seats had U.S.-style electric outlets, so I could work and play on the computer.

Dense fog the entire train ride cleared just as we reached Haridwar. Our local guide, Amit, met us at the train and took us by SUV through excavated streets (sewer lines – appeared to be their first) to a littered vacant lot, where we boarded bicycle rickshaws for the hotel. The Hotel Hari Ganga is an historic property next to an open air market, and cars aren’t allowed near it.

The ride through the bazaar was fun. It is a lot cleaner than most Indian marketplaces we have seen. We were at the hotel in minutes and greeted with the usual holy bindi paint drop on the head (it is supposed to relax the mind) and a necklace of beads.

The Hari Ganga ain’t the Ritz. It actually could be a very cool hotel if it did what our historic hotel in Jaipur did – spend some money and upgrade the right way. Instead, the cut corners and our room had a space heater, tattered furniture on the outdoor balcony, a mattress that slumped in the middle, etc.

That said, it should be pointed out that Haridwar is not a tourist destination a la Agra. It is a holy site near where the Ganges begins and its visitors tend to be Indian Hindus. The town seems to function with Hindi, not English, as its base language. Even many of the hotel employees didn’t speak English, and my Hindi skills are long faded other than a few words and phrases.

We all napped and relaxed during the afternoon. Sharon, Ellen and Mary Byrne got massages at the hotel. We were alerted at 5 that the holy Ganges ceremony (AARTA) was starting soon and we needed to get down there.

We walked with a guide through the market and went to a shoe storage place to stash the flip flops and loafers because no shoes were allowed in a holy spot. You pay an attendant if you pee in India, you pay a shoe watchdog when you store your shoes and – we were about to learn – you pay to pray.

We sat on a tarp (for which we no doubt paid) for about a minute and then were taken to a bridge where we could photograph what was about to happen. By this time, hundreds of Hindus had gathered on both sides of the Ganges, and some were frolicking around in what had to be very cold water just arriving from the Himalayas.

At kickoff, the ceremony was at a frenzied pitch – horns blowing, people screaming, loudspeakers blaring, and people lighting torches and leaf-based boats of flowers (which we also bought) and floating them on the Ganges. It was quite a sight and very fun to watch.

I somehow got us (Sharon, Ellen and me) into some sort of blessing ceremony with a Hindu priest who had me pass my hands through a flame, throw Ganges water on my head and toss flowers in honor of my late parents. (My dad would have been guffawing at this.) He eventually tried to get us to pledge hundreds of dollars to God, which he was offering to personally deliver. I ended up giving the guy $10 to get us out of there.

My fellow Catholic friend Tom Nelson asked recently, “What would Pope Bennie say?” about my recent visits to Hindu sites. But with the Titans headed to the playoffs, I was covering all possible bases. Plus I find the Hindu religion very facinating. They are a generally kind and peaceful group.

We went back to the hotel, chilled (literally) a while and then had a very good dinner. The hotel adheres to strict Hindu norms and doesn’t serve meat, eggs or alcohol. While the potatoes, rice, bread, etc., made my low-carb diet an even more distant memory, the dinner was enjoyable.

I read for a while and went to bed.

Hotel site: http://www.havelihariganga.com/


03rd of January 2009
Day Ten
Rishikesh:


This promised to be a long day, starting with lots of cups of very good coffee for Sharon and me. We ate breakfast with the girls and the guide came to get us at 8.

There was some internal family confusion about our plans because we had booked a whitewater rafting trip, but it was a chilly morning – probably high 50s with fog – when we got going. So only Mary Byrne and Ellen had firmly decided toi do the rafting trip. The rest of us were wavering. We drove to Rishikesh, world home of yoga and the trendy place where the Beatles studied with the Maharaishi in the 60s, where the excursion was to begin.

Sharon and the girls stocked up on some wool items like headbands and blankets at a local store. When we went to the whitewater excursion hq, I saw a photo of a rafting group taking in a boatload of water from the glacier-chilled Ganges. That settled it for me, who didn’t have a change of clothes – I wasn’t going.

The rest of the family, who had pieced together changes of clothes, decided to make a go of it. I went into Rishikesh to explore while they did the three–hour trip.

I really liked Rishikesh. Though only 35 minutes from Haridwar, it is much more of a Himalayan town. Pretty mountains serve as a backdrop to interesting rows of buildings. The focal building is a 12-story orange temple in the center. The Ganges river divides the city and an interesting suspension-style walking bridge crosses the Ganges, which the Hindus call the “Ganga.”

I had coffee at an open-air place called the German Bakery, and just watched goings-on for about an hour. The weather had warmed to about 70. Monkeys kept trying to get into the restaurant to steal food. At one point, a monkey jumped onto a guy’s table and grabbed some of his bananas and pineapple and ran away.

I walked around for quite a while, mostly trying to find a restroom because the German Bakery didn’t have one. I finally found a cute restraurant on the town square that had decent facilities. I had some toast and more coffee at the restaurant, and visited a shop in the basement of the place to buy some textile products.

While Haridwar has few westerners, Rishikesh is crawling with older hippie-looking types who apparently are trying to rediscover whatever George Harrison found here in the 1960s. Many of the Americans in this category wear Indian garb as part of their cultural make-over.

Our guide told us that while there were many westerners in Rishikesh today, there normally are many more. The Mumbai attacks on November 26 – what the Indians are calling 26-11, just as we refer to the World Trade Center attacks as 9/11 – scared many of the normal crowd of western visitors away, he said.

Meanwhile, back on the raft, the girls were having a good time, but freezing. Mary Byrne and Ellen decided they were wet enough that a dive into the Ganges River, which begins in the Himalayas not far from here, wouldn’t make any difference. They were wrong. The frigid waters plunged their body temperatures.

After the rafting trip, the two of them had no feeling in their feet and it took a long time for it to return. Connolly and Sharon were cold, too, but not to the degree that he others were. They all changed clothes and that seemed to help. While I would have liked to have floated the Ganges for the sake of doing it, I was glad I didn’t try it without having a change of clothes handy.

Next stop after we were all reunited was Rajiji National Forest, where 500 elephants supposedly reside. I say supposedly because our two and a half-hour safari didn’t yield a single elephant sighting, and those things are hard to hide. We did see 500 elephant turds along the way, but not the actual pachyderms.

The drive through the forest and mountains was enjoyable and we saw a few animals of interest, like wild boars. But this safari was nothing like the great one we had at Ranthambore.

Dinner back at the hotel was great again. I never thought I could be a vegetarian for a couple of days and enjoy food so much. But they do a good job.

A quiet evening of packing and reading followed.

04th of January 2009
Day Eleven
Haridwar – Delhi:

We were up by 4:15 to finish packing and get to the train station for our train trip to Delhi. We were at the station early via our driver and guide, and we had about a 40-minute wait for the train in the chilly air.

The train car was modern-looking, but dirty. The seat trays, for instance, were caked with old food. The restrooms were pretty bad. I was saying yesterday that the whole country could use a good pressure-washing, and this was another case of it. You learn to take the dirt here in stride.

The train was about an hour late getting to Delhi, and we were so ready to get off! Six hours on that dump of a train, with every seat taken, was all we could handle.

We got off to find a smiling Saurabh waiting for us, and it was like a desert oasis. He didn’t have to be there – his work for us was over a couple of days earlier. But there he was, ready to help us again. He took us to a clean van, and off we went.

The B&B by daylight was far more impressive than it was a couple of nights earlier when we were tired and edgy. The grounds around the place are beautiful – grass like putting greens, and we spent some time enjoying the warm, beautiful weather.

They fixed us a very god lunch – a combo of both western and Indian cuisine, and we tore through the food. It was terrific.

Then we all went to bed for a while to get ready for our flights. Saurabh had rented the place on a day rate because our flight left at 1 a.m. The girls’ room on the third floor of the place was very impressive, with its own grass and garden on an adjoining section of roof.

We headed for the airport at about 8:30, wanting to get there early so I could ask for a seat with leg room. I had anticipated a pretty substandard airport – I really didn’t get to see much during our middle-of-the-night arrival during which buses took us from the plane to the arrival gate.

But the New Delhi airport is very nice – clean and modern. It also has a big new addition underway, but not open yet. The security there post-Mumbai attacks is beyond description. We went through six different security searches and checks before we reached our plane, including one where everyone underwent a full scan with a hand-held metal detector.

There were soldiers armed with submachine guns all through the place. We definitely felt safe – secure enough, in fact, to head straight to an airport Subway sandwiches place for dinner. The American cuisine was welcome, even if our meat options were limited. Turkey was still meat.


05th of January 2009
Day Twelve
New Delhi-Nashville:

I was able to get a bulkhead seat – mission accomplished. It turned out to be roomier than business class seats. Our flight left right on time.

The flight was non-stop from New Delhi to Chicago – 7,500 miles and 15 hours. This American Airlines flight featured entertainment consoles at each seat, which helped pass the time. All of us laughed at an episode of The Office about Diwali, an Indian holiday.

I slept quite a bit, and then took some Ambien and slept some more. Chicago came quicker as a result.

We then had a wait in Chicago before our American Eagle flight got us safely home on time – more than 24 hours of non-stop travel

FINAL THOUGHTS: I am very glad we went on this trip. We almost didn’t go after the Mumbai attacks happened, but decided after investigating that we were going to be safe enough. We also were determined not to let the terrorists drive our plans.

I felt much more threatened by the crazy driving in India than I did by any terrorist threat.

I was happy to return to India after so many decades. My brother Dan went there a few years ago, to a work project near Mumbai, and I was the second one of the five children to return. I doubt I would go a third time unless sent there for work for some reason, but I was glad we went.

The girls and Sharon had heard me talk many times about my experiences in India, and they were glad to see it for themselves.

India has changed in four decades, but so many of the challenges we saw as children still remain. Poverty, lack of education, poor roads, trash, the caste system all threaten progress. But there is a lot of pride in what has been done, and there is some determination to keep making things better. Government corruption remains problem that blocks some of the possible advancement.

You will not find a much finer group of people as a whole than the Indians. They are friendly, welcoming and ready to help. Their culture and history is fascinating and complicated.

As Mary Byrne said, “India’s not for everyone.” But it was a great experience for us. Our family really had fun experiencing this place together and it will rank among our best family trips.