Getaway day started with one last futile attempt to get the elusive student Visa, but it was bagged early as the embassy said "no way" to a letter which maybe would help with the Indian gov't process. So... since we had Kuldeep to drive us around, by 9:30 we were on to shopping! The tourist trap places on Janpath don't start opening until 10 or 10:30, so we went to Connaught place for a special family member gift, following that it was to Dilli Hat the craft market, where we met many hungry vendors but prices were touristy a little high. Julie found a neat leather wallet and I a pretty yellow embroidered tablecloth for Marian and a periwinkle Dhurry for Ruth. 2400 to 1800 to 1500 but he wouldn't go below that...I offered 1200 then walked off, knowing it's on the way out if nothing else ... we stopped for cool drinks and Kuldeep told me the guy offered him a 10% cut at 1500, so 1200-1300 should be doable. On the way out I glanced over and kept going, he was pretty animated SIR, SIR! I give a look and throw up my hands in exasperation... 1200? or what! He won't come below 1300 so that's where we settle.
We head over to Lajpat Nagar market for lunch at Sai Sarovar (strictly veg)... which was great and about $6 for the three of us... including butterscotch ice cream all around! I pick up another pair of camel sandals and a piece of luggage for the stuff Julie is going to leave in storage, then it's time for a nap and finish packing, settle the hotel bill, a final cold shower and change before Kuldeep is picking us up at 7:00. Our flight is 12:15 just past midnight, allow 3 hours so we're to Haus Kauz Village and Naivedyam South Indian for dinner. Kuldeep joins us we have a really fine meal and pick up 10 packs of bidi's (local smokes, a piece of tobacco rolled up and tied with a string) before 30 last minutes in Delhi traffic to the airport.
An hour and a half get's us through check in and security with an hour til boarding it's diet coke and brownie for Julie and Clausthaler for me then we are on in the economy section only 14 hours to Chicago! Eat, read, sleep, blog, sleep, eat, walk around, sleep, eat, and we're in early at 4:30am! But, customs doesn't start work until 5:00am, so we can't deplane for a while... wait... then we are off with a couple hours til our 7:20 to St Louis. We marvel at the clean bathrooms and WATER FOUNTAINS! and... lots of large people in line at mcdonalds... we haven't seen many overweight people in India. Short jump to St Louis we just have time for breakfast there before we are on the last leg home, and in early at 12:20! Just about 24 hours total... there's Marian and Grace at bag claim and we are home! Wow what a nice place, we really have a fantastic life! I'm down for a nap and Julie is getting her VISA pics and fedexing things off, oh, she has to set up her return air itinerary first so following that the paperwork is in the fedex to Houston and in 8 business days she will have her student visa! I'm planning to go in to work 4 hours tomorrow so I'm abed early and get another 11 hrs sleep.. though still in a funk all day Friday. Plan for the weekend sleep, rest, and that's what happens, Sunday my birthday uneventful except me and M make a trip over to Baldwin park and walk around the little connector lake with the birds in the center and sit for a while... the cypress trees are green again and the lake is full of activity... back for another nap and birthday dinner coming up, then back to work tomorrow. Thanks all for your comments it wasn't easy to make time for the blog some days but knowing people were at the other end meant a lot and made it easier to stick to it.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Khurampur village
We're getting nowhere with the VISA thing Julie has decided bag it, buy a ticket back and take care of it in the USA... too much hassle. Our last options dwindle to a spark of hope, and when the guy says first go to the US Embassy and tell them to write a letter stating such and so... we're pretty sure we're sunk. We go to the embassy and they have just closed American Citizen Services for the day, yup, 9-1 is all they are working for us... wonder what our tax dollars are doing the rest of the day... we go back the next morning to be told, nope, we don't do letters, no way, no how. That's it, we're going home together tomorrow night. So now, let's visit Kuldeeps village and tomorrow we'll pack and shop a little if time permits.
I summarize my conversation with the guy on the train and as Kuldeeps face darkens, am quick to say, my feeling is that you are a trustworthy person and I don't think you woud kidnap us or anything, would you? No, no, why do something like that, for what, for money? No, not worth money chance of trouble, worry about get caught, not right to do... you have nothing to worry about, I am not that kind of person. And he calls his wife Radkhi to let her know we're coming for dinner and should we pick up some things on the way.
It takes an hour and a half to get out to Kharumpar village, it's northeast of town out past Gaziabad, and traffic is plugged, cycles get by on the side of the road, by going around, through the shop lots, whatever.. until it is all stopped it is so narrow, 4 "lanes" divided highway, Kuldeep goes onto the other side of the road, 2 lanes of traffic coming at us, trucks, buses, many cars going fast, you cannot believe this, he's driving down the wrong side of the road at speed to get around the jam, hand on the horn, miraculously, buses, trucks, cars, all swerve at the last second around him and keep going... this is too good to be true, and sure enough, there's a Johnny (polic officer) standing on the side of the road with a big bamboo stick (that's how they keep order her, and it works pretty good)... he points the stick at us and motions "ok you've had your fun, now turn around and go back where you started from"... which isn't easy either as about 15 other cars have followed us and are jammed behind us in that lane, and the regular traffic is all crammed into the other lane and shoulder... finally we get turned around and get back to the press again. Eventually we pull off onto a side lane, which is a "short cut to my village" and it's a bumpy mostly paved farm lane road, with the usual pedestrians, cycles, bicycles, cows, dogs, and a few cars sharing. Soon we're surrounded by green fields of rice, millet, and sugar cane, people are out working their plots or diverting water from the canal to them, no monsoon rains yet, just a little bit, and the crops are suffering, yield will be small and the rice grains will be smaller too, Kuldeep says. In a few minutes we are far from the road and crowds and people, animals, and green space is on all sides. Kuldeep pulls over at a vegetable stall at the crossing before the village entry, and Julie goes with him to pick up some 3 or 4bags of things. That's how they do it here, buy fresh just about each day. I stay in the car, I'm tired, sleepy from the heat and hassle of the train station and rushing around town, and watch some boys play a game where one tosses a piece of brick, then the next one, from where he's standing, throws a piece of brick at it. If he misses, the next one tosses a piece at his brick and so on, until someone hits the others brick, then they start over.
The village has a 7 or 8 ft wide concrete lane winding through, with open concrete drains of appx 6" on either side. Most homes have at least one cow or goat, for milk, very important for the kids nutrition. There are dogs, kids, and people visible everywhere. We pull up to Kuldeeps family home, which has a car-port type of space entry, where his father Beetam is resting on a cloth woven pallet. He comes to greet us and offers me his pallet, sit is the sign language. He's dressed in a dhoti, cotton cloth wrapped around his middle and upper legs, nothing more, it's hot at 3:30. For the next few minutes we are being introduced to the family members, some of whom speak english, and walked through parts of the home to a stairway upstairs, where we are offered cool bottled water (they get theirs from a pump and we can't drink it) and try to converse. It's awkward after the 2 college age english speaking girls (Rajni and Jyoti) and one boy (awaiting admission test results) exchange with Julie about their courses and what will she do, where stay, etc. I pull out my picture book and offer it to the closest person, narrating pic by pic as they flip through. It takes a few times through for everyone to see them, and by the 3rd time Kuldeeps neice Rajni is narrating in very good english. She's a smart one, just completed her MS in IT from Delhi U 2 days ago she has just come back to the village. She is searching for a job but its very tough for a "fresher" right now people are taking minimum 10% pay cuts to keep their jobs and new hires are getting 50% of the regular rate, with so many experienced people available at 50% a fresher has not much chance. minimum 300-600 applicants per position it is very competitive.
We're sitting in the 2nd fl bedroom where Kuldeeps family sleeps, there's a small room off to the side with a window overlooking the village, and a toilet room, backing to the street. There are 3 pallet style beds in the room, and also a sofa, a ceiling fan, and a bookcase with family pictures and a few religious statues and paintings on them. Outside the room is a maybe 15' square terrace, where dinner will be eaten and the family will hang out as the day cools and a breeze comes up. It's airy and neat and the windows are full open, no screens. Radkhi makes a few trips up the stairs with plates for me and Julie, and platters with Pekora (fresh veggies fried in a light spicy chick-pea flour) and Parantha, round tasty bread, hot and tasty, couldn't be fresher, delicious. We are encouraged to eat and eat, the high piled platter gradually flattens, and we get a little help, though most everyone else has had lunch a short time ago (they eat lunch about 2, dinner about 8). We thank Radkhi and Kuldeep asks if we want to walk around the village and see what its like. Sure!
We are a great curiousity, as we have read, people around here do not see many white people up close, and the kids especially are intrigued. It takes a few minutes to get out of the driveway kuldeeps daughter Radhka shows us her bicycle with training wheels, and accidently rides over julies foot, bloodying her toe, and I have to get photos of the other kids on the tractor, and the kids next door, and their goats, within minutes we have an entourage of 15 or 20 following. Almost everyone in the village is out tending to the cows, goats, or some chore, most everyone is cheerful and smiles at us and returns our awkward greetings (almost no one knows english, but the little kids, some of whom are proud to step forward and say HELLO, or HI my name is).. and we are shaking hands and greeting everyone with a nod, a wink, a smile, as we walk. Some of the children are too shy or afraid to come close, they keep a careful distance. Once in a while we act like we're going to reach out and grab their hand, and they run away, giggling, with all the other kids and grownups around laughing and encouraging them to take the plunge.
We come to a crowd of men, a few dhoti clad elders mixed in, sitting on pallets and woven cane chairs around a water pipe with a 6 foot stem. One of the elders speaks a little english and he asks me a few questions, they nod appreciatively to hear I work at a community planning firm, but I don't think even the one or two that spoke english understands what we do. He asks Julie a few questions, and offers us water, which we explain we can't drink, or tea, which it's way to hot for. Milk? Somewhere they got the idea Julie nodded, and a fellow runs off, a few minutes later we are each handed a large metal tumbler, filled to the top with steaming warm milk, yellow stuff floating on the top and all... Ohhhh, thanks!30-40 people looking on proudly...... I do my best, and get to the bottom OK. Thankfully a bunch of sugar had been added.... Julie took a little longer... but she got almost to the bottom of the cup. Her bloody toe is covered with flies by now, they are all over the place. I pass around my photo album and everyone likes it... you very lucky man, very happy family, very happy life... oh believe me, brother, I know it, I am so lucky!
Kuldeep takes a seat on the pallet and takes a long draw on the water pipe, coughs, exhales, takes another, and I am motioned to partake. You put your hand over the end so not to touch with your mouth and it takes some suction to get the thing gurgling and get a lungful, but I have two successful puffs thanks to bike commuter lungs and do not embarrass myself by coughing or tearing up. Julie declines. I ask if it's OK to get a photo and 3 or 4 tries later we think we have everyone captured and we promise yes we will get a print to Kuldeep, a big one, and we say our goodbyes. Winding through the street, see a proud family in the yard where a new cow has been born, in the last hour, Kuldeep says, yes OK to take a picture, and we wave congratulations to the husband and wife watching over the newborn. We stop to snap a few pics of the monkeys, cute little baby, then come to another group of village elders. I am introduced to the chairman of the village, who speaks a little english. I'm offered a seat, and Julie is being encouraged to go with the kids, they want to take her home and show her to their parents. After a couple awkward minutes because no one speaks much english... I ask if it's OK to snap a photo, of course, please send a print to Kuldeep they say in Hindi.
Coming to the end of the village I look back Julie has wall to wall kids she's trying to coax a shy one to shake hands, we head out of town, where there is a noisy crowd of boys, 10s to teens, moving and jumping around "snake!" they are shouting and motioning for us to go over, I lead the way with my camera at the ready.... right up on the the mound of dry(thankfully) cow dung they are standing on, and try to keep my balance on the sidehill while my sandal is getting full of dry manure, the other one is sliding, and I'm trying to find the green cobra slinking through the tall green grass... I get a pic and get out of there, stopping to shake out both my sandals. We get to the end of pavement and are in the fields, the sun is going down so people are returning to work, a young girl in a bright orange and yellow sari, maybe 15, takes her basket nearby and starts cutting weeds from among the millet plants with her small hand scythe. She'll carry it home to feed to her goat of cow. Most family's have a plot they work, the ones that don't barter or buy from the ones that have a surplus. Kuldeeps family no longer has a plot, they used to. He points to a village in the distance, that's where I was born and lived til age five, then we moved to this village, I learned to swim in that canal, see that yellow 2 story building that's the school, my mom was a mathmatics teacher there... the sun is setting, and we head back, catch up to Julie and the kids are trickling away now as dusk approaches it's time to be home, with family, before dark.
Back at Kuldeeps we enter the courtyard and are offered a couple plastic chairs, a fan and battery are moved near, the clips attached, and the fan blows directly on me and Julie. The college girls mother Grita is introduced, and their aunt, then Kuldeeps grandmother Gwati comes out from her quarters across the courtyard away from the street. She's 90, slim, alert, in a pink and brown sari, rings on her toes, bracelets, smiling. She says she has a little arthitis in her fingers and toes, and flexes them for us... smiling. Looking pretty good for 90. She asks about us, what do we think of India, what do we like most... what is Julie doing, community service very good, the grandneices tell us she used to teach mostly underprivileged kids and especially women. We're called to dinner upstairs by Radkhi and say goodbye. Each part of the family has their separate rooms, with space between them and the next group. Each has privacy, but also share the common space, well, & kitchen.
We are back upstairs on the terrace at sunset, Radhki is sweating, making numerous trips up the stairs carrying everything to set up for dinner, I carry up a couple handfuls on my trip, and others help out. We are seated, the fan and battery are brought up and put to blow on us, and we eat again! Dal, mixed vegetables, rice from the field, excellent roti or parantha, pickle, and for desert fresh ripe papaya, which is much sweeter than what we get. There are 4 or 5 varieties here, some are better for pickle others to eat. Dinner is great, the kids at the pallet nearby come back for more rice, more papaya, they are 3 sharing off one plate, getting along so nicely, even when down to the last piece of papaya the 10 yrs old daughter carefully cuts it with a spoon so all 3 get an equal part. I thank Radhki for the wonderful 2 meals... and comment about how hard she works. She smiles and nods as it's translated to her. "India wife" says Jyoti, they take great pride in how hard they work. She tells how her sister Jyoti loves fresh butter and Grita mother makes it for her every morning and she eats it all! Every morning? asks Julie, yes, she says, it ONLY takes about 20 minutes work to whip it up from the curd. Wow, they really do work hard.
Soon enough darkness is falling, the dishes are cleared, and we are looking over the terrace wall to see many other families going up on the roof to enjoy the cooling of the day. There are a number of pallets on rooftops as well... yes, many people sleep outside on their roofs because it's cooler, he says. We say our goodbyes and exchange email addresses and promise to keep in touch and we are back in the dark on the road. It takes nearly 2 hours to get back the traffic jam is terrible... an interesting thing we see at the toll booth where there is no lane it's 8 lanes of jam going past the 2 booths and if you don't drive by the booth you, or someone in your car or cycle has to get off and go to the booth to pay and get the receipt... seems like with these thousands of cars there's no way they could tell who did or didn't pay, right? In a few minutes, here come a gang of about 5 guys, carrying big sticks.... going car to car to check receipts! They come right to Kuldeeps window and he puts up his receipt... the guy says no roll down the window give it to me Kuldeep says no, I paid, here's the receipt, and he shifts into gear and moves with the crush again... yes, that's how they make sure people pay, he says, 10 rupees, or stick, he laughs.... I think the 10 rupees is OK for that! We're back to the room by midnight, and we're packing, tomorrow is getaway day!
Night train back from Bodhgaya
Leaving Bodhgaya on the back of our Honda Hero 125 (Sanjeev driving and Ishu in the middle) I had another one of those moments... it's pitch black, we stop for gas, all of a sudden Sanjeev takes off and runs across the road.
Ishu starts up the bike and is beeping the horn we need to go, it's 17 kms, a long way to go on an overloaded 125cc motorbike in the black Bihar night, on the potholed roads with the trucks, speeding cars, other cycles, auto rickshaw's (they are bigger here), and the occasional pedestrian, cycle rickshaw without lights, or dog. We dodge and weave and bump for 30 minutes and enter Gaya.
Traffic crawls the last 2 kms, it takes 15 minutes or so... dust thick enough you feel it in your eyes and every breath, we are stuck behind some trucks and a jam up, 2 trucks can't fit on the town road at the same time, and there are a bunch of them going both ways. While they move over as close as possible to the shops, stalls, open air eateries, and buildings at a snail pace, cycles and cars are trying to slip by at every opportunity.
I am questioning myself why didn't I just get an autorickshaw? It would be as dusty and noisy, but much less dangerous! We inch along, a hair behind a big truck, vying to pass on whichever side opens up with a pack of cycles and autorickshaws, even though it's 9:30 on a Monday night it is crowded everywhere you look. My eyes are feeling the grit, I look at the open air food stalls and shops on the side of the
road you can see the dust in a thick layer on everything, I cannot believe people eat the food being prepared right there, but that's life at normal here. We finally blessedly are turning off and into the train station, whew!
Negotiating the "road" in, there's no pavement, just potholed, bumpy dirt with gravel and rocks, it's just as dusty as the road.
We say our goodbyes at the station entry and it is packed, people laying everywhere, I'm looking for a signboard and find an e-board, all in hindi, but my train number and time are there, and there are the dot-matrix printouts of passengers tacked up on the wall, in english. I don't find my train number, and while my ticket says confirmed, they always tell you that doesn't mean anything until you confirm it at the station. My ticket says a car but not a berth number. There's no listing for my train but a little Tourist help office is open, and the man in there takes my ticket and confirms I have a berth, my car isn't A1 but H1, and I am berth F. Great! Now 40 minutes til train time I walk around the whole station it takes about 5 minutes, there are 2 snack bars, each with a choice of tea biscuit cookies, bottled water, soda, or the chip type things they eat there, a book store with all Hindi books
except one or two Business type english books and some trash novels, and that's about it. People are laying around on the floor everywhere, there's no place to sit and as usual it is too dirty to sit on the ground. I follow the signs upstairs to the "1st class" waiting room, across from the retiring rooms with beds for a small fee, and quickly decide the dirty crowded platform is a better choice, at least there's a chance of a breeze. Back downstairs I walk the building again, buy a pack of biscuits and a bottle of water, and walk way to the end where I find a place to sit. A train pulls in, the announcement is in hindi, the e-board doesn't show the number, and it says Howrah Express on it. Not mine, I'm on the calcutta-Delhi express I think... people start getting on, it's a long one, and the clock says 10:22... my train is due at 10:19, I better check. No english speakers around someone
looks at my ticket and points at a railroad worker. Yes this is the train, your car is all the way at the other end, hurry, run!, and he takes off at a sprint leading the way. I follow, with my loaded backpack and rueing the 2 full bottles of water it's only a minute I'm pouring sweat, and as we pass about 13 cars by my count
get to of course the last car before the engine, where the conductor is standing with his list shaking his head and waiting impatiently. "Is this" I start to ask, Berth F upper, he says, without looking at my ticket, and he checks off his paper and walks off with a sideways shaking of his head. I am winded, hot, sweaty, dusty, tired, with a heavy pack on my back, and as I enter the berth, everything gets nice.
There are red fabric seat/beds, ac, it's spacious and clean. Several stewards show up, one brings a fresh bottle of cold water!, the other has clean sheets and a wool blanket, which he spreads out on my berth. Then they are gone and I am meeting the one other person in there, who owns a textile company (nationwide), lives in Gaya, and is heading to Delhi to meet up with his wife who is with her parents, before flying off to Goa (THE seaside resort town of India)for holiday, and then traveling on for 2 more weeks of business. We chat a while I show him my pics he shows me his
laptop full and starts with the wedding pics. He does things in a big way, has a 40,000 square foot home, had plannned to fly 300 people to Bangkok for his wedding but 11/26 (terror attack on Mumbai) happened just days before so they had to completely replan the wedding for Delhi which they did in 2 days and everything went off splendidly. I MUST go to Goa, I MUST go to this restaurant, it's the best in all of India (it's where Hillary Clinton ate that, or the next day) everything is 5 star this, best in India that. Well I'm really more comfortable in 3 star places and I've had great food everywhere in India, for as little as 12 cents a plate, so ... ah, never mind. Yeah, well, maybe so, but I only have 2 days left and I think I'll just relax, visit Kuldeeps village. "Village, vILLAGE!, why would you want to visit a village?" We've been invited to. "Who invited you?" Our driver, Kuldeep! "DRIVER?!
DRIVER?! You must be very careful, trust me on this my friend, I know what I am talking about, you must NEVER trust ANY taxi driver in Delhi, they are not to be trusted with anything. You must not go to any village with driver, it could be very dangerous for you and your daughter, trust me, I'm telling you, I know this for a fact"... OK, well, we've been hanging out with him for like 3 weeks, and he seems to have been very honest in his dealings with us, he's helping my daughter learn hindi, and he has helped us negotiate a good many things we've required with all the
Visa hassles. I'd be very careful, my friend, trust me on this, I know what I am talking about... OK well, thanks and goodnight. (Later Julie tells me one of her new friends told her "WE don't mix with people like drivers to much", so that partly explains it... the caste/class thing), but still, now I have doubts again....
The bed is great! It's big and wide and pretty soft, I can stretch out, I doze off by midnight, to be awakened by the berth door slamming open and the light coming on an hour later. 2 more men drag their bags in and the other berths are prepared noisily in bright light, I stay under my pillow and don't even look, eventually the light goes off and I'm back to a fairly restful sleep. Awakened about 6 the door slams open Times of India is handed to me and I'm offered Juice. Breakfast is grand, cornflakes with hot milk? veg patties and fries, toast and orange marmalade, a ripe mango, and 2 tea bags and a hot pot of water, served on china, real silverware. The 2men aren't up yet so I take breakfast on the upper and avoid conversation with my downstairs neighbor, who sleeps late too, when he get's up we nod a good morning and that's good enough.
We crawl into Delhi the last 1/2 hour takes forever we go so slow
through the sprawling city. Julie and Kuldeep are picking my up at the station at 10:00, and we are in at 9:55, precisely on schedule. I follow the crowd up and across the concourse to the terminal building, but, it doesn't look familiar! Did I get off the wrong place? No, the train terminates here, this must be it. Down to the terminal which is not what I remember from buying my ticket. I got outside and no Kuldeep and Julie... hot beating sun, crowds, about 30 touts and taxi drivers persist, no, no, no, no... no where to sit down outside and no shade is uncrowded. I find a tiny piece of signpost shade and squint to read my phone text in the blazing sun. "We are here in front but don't see you" reads the text from Julie... it takes a few minutes of back and forth Kuldeep says I must be on the Paharganj side? Oh, the station has 2 terminal buildings, one on each side? That must be it... wow... what a place, this side is just as crowded as the other. 10 minutes later I've walked all the way back up the stairs and across the whole station, down again, and out to the street and find them. What a trip!
Ishu starts up the bike and is beeping the horn we need to go, it's 17 kms, a long way to go on an overloaded 125cc motorbike in the black Bihar night, on the potholed roads with the trucks, speeding cars, other cycles, auto rickshaw's (they are bigger here), and the occasional pedestrian, cycle rickshaw without lights, or dog. We dodge and weave and bump for 30 minutes and enter Gaya.
Traffic crawls the last 2 kms, it takes 15 minutes or so... dust thick enough you feel it in your eyes and every breath, we are stuck behind some trucks and a jam up, 2 trucks can't fit on the town road at the same time, and there are a bunch of them going both ways. While they move over as close as possible to the shops, stalls, open air eateries, and buildings at a snail pace, cycles and cars are trying to slip by at every opportunity.
I am questioning myself why didn't I just get an autorickshaw? It would be as dusty and noisy, but much less dangerous! We inch along, a hair behind a big truck, vying to pass on whichever side opens up with a pack of cycles and autorickshaws, even though it's 9:30 on a Monday night it is crowded everywhere you look. My eyes are feeling the grit, I look at the open air food stalls and shops on the side of the
road you can see the dust in a thick layer on everything, I cannot believe people eat the food being prepared right there, but that's life at normal here. We finally blessedly are turning off and into the train station, whew!
Negotiating the "road" in, there's no pavement, just potholed, bumpy dirt with gravel and rocks, it's just as dusty as the road.
We say our goodbyes at the station entry and it is packed, people laying everywhere, I'm looking for a signboard and find an e-board, all in hindi, but my train number and time are there, and there are the dot-matrix printouts of passengers tacked up on the wall, in english. I don't find my train number, and while my ticket says confirmed, they always tell you that doesn't mean anything until you confirm it at the station. My ticket says a car but not a berth number. There's no listing for my train but a little Tourist help office is open, and the man in there takes my ticket and confirms I have a berth, my car isn't A1 but H1, and I am berth F. Great! Now 40 minutes til train time I walk around the whole station it takes about 5 minutes, there are 2 snack bars, each with a choice of tea biscuit cookies, bottled water, soda, or the chip type things they eat there, a book store with all Hindi books
except one or two Business type english books and some trash novels, and that's about it. People are laying around on the floor everywhere, there's no place to sit and as usual it is too dirty to sit on the ground. I follow the signs upstairs to the "1st class" waiting room, across from the retiring rooms with beds for a small fee, and quickly decide the dirty crowded platform is a better choice, at least there's a chance of a breeze. Back downstairs I walk the building again, buy a pack of biscuits and a bottle of water, and walk way to the end where I find a place to sit. A train pulls in, the announcement is in hindi, the e-board doesn't show the number, and it says Howrah Express on it. Not mine, I'm on the calcutta-Delhi express I think... people start getting on, it's a long one, and the clock says 10:22... my train is due at 10:19, I better check. No english speakers around someone
looks at my ticket and points at a railroad worker. Yes this is the train, your car is all the way at the other end, hurry, run!, and he takes off at a sprint leading the way. I follow, with my loaded backpack and rueing the 2 full bottles of water it's only a minute I'm pouring sweat, and as we pass about 13 cars by my count
get to of course the last car before the engine, where the conductor is standing with his list shaking his head and waiting impatiently. "Is this" I start to ask, Berth F upper, he says, without looking at my ticket, and he checks off his paper and walks off with a sideways shaking of his head. I am winded, hot, sweaty, dusty, tired, with a heavy pack on my back, and as I enter the berth, everything gets nice.
There are red fabric seat/beds, ac, it's spacious and clean. Several stewards show up, one brings a fresh bottle of cold water!, the other has clean sheets and a wool blanket, which he spreads out on my berth. Then they are gone and I am meeting the one other person in there, who owns a textile company (nationwide), lives in Gaya, and is heading to Delhi to meet up with his wife who is with her parents, before flying off to Goa (THE seaside resort town of India)for holiday, and then traveling on for 2 more weeks of business. We chat a while I show him my pics he shows me his
laptop full and starts with the wedding pics. He does things in a big way, has a 40,000 square foot home, had plannned to fly 300 people to Bangkok for his wedding but 11/26 (terror attack on Mumbai) happened just days before so they had to completely replan the wedding for Delhi which they did in 2 days and everything went off splendidly. I MUST go to Goa, I MUST go to this restaurant, it's the best in all of India (it's where Hillary Clinton ate that, or the next day) everything is 5 star this, best in India that. Well I'm really more comfortable in 3 star places and I've had great food everywhere in India, for as little as 12 cents a plate, so ... ah, never mind. Yeah, well, maybe so, but I only have 2 days left and I think I'll just relax, visit Kuldeeps village. "Village, vILLAGE!, why would you want to visit a village?" We've been invited to. "Who invited you?" Our driver, Kuldeep! "DRIVER?!
DRIVER?! You must be very careful, trust me on this my friend, I know what I am talking about, you must NEVER trust ANY taxi driver in Delhi, they are not to be trusted with anything. You must not go to any village with driver, it could be very dangerous for you and your daughter, trust me, I'm telling you, I know this for a fact"... OK, well, we've been hanging out with him for like 3 weeks, and he seems to have been very honest in his dealings with us, he's helping my daughter learn hindi, and he has helped us negotiate a good many things we've required with all the
Visa hassles. I'd be very careful, my friend, trust me on this, I know what I am talking about... OK well, thanks and goodnight. (Later Julie tells me one of her new friends told her "WE don't mix with people like drivers to much", so that partly explains it... the caste/class thing), but still, now I have doubts again....
The bed is great! It's big and wide and pretty soft, I can stretch out, I doze off by midnight, to be awakened by the berth door slamming open and the light coming on an hour later. 2 more men drag their bags in and the other berths are prepared noisily in bright light, I stay under my pillow and don't even look, eventually the light goes off and I'm back to a fairly restful sleep. Awakened about 6 the door slams open Times of India is handed to me and I'm offered Juice. Breakfast is grand, cornflakes with hot milk? veg patties and fries, toast and orange marmalade, a ripe mango, and 2 tea bags and a hot pot of water, served on china, real silverware. The 2men aren't up yet so I take breakfast on the upper and avoid conversation with my downstairs neighbor, who sleeps late too, when he get's up we nod a good morning and that's good enough.
We crawl into Delhi the last 1/2 hour takes forever we go so slow
through the sprawling city. Julie and Kuldeep are picking my up at the station at 10:00, and we are in at 9:55, precisely on schedule. I follow the crowd up and across the concourse to the terminal building, but, it doesn't look familiar! Did I get off the wrong place? No, the train terminates here, this must be it. Down to the terminal which is not what I remember from buying my ticket. I got outside and no Kuldeep and Julie... hot beating sun, crowds, about 30 touts and taxi drivers persist, no, no, no, no... no where to sit down outside and no shade is uncrowded. I find a tiny piece of signpost shade and squint to read my phone text in the blazing sun. "We are here in front but don't see you" reads the text from Julie... it takes a few minutes of back and forth Kuldeep says I must be on the Paharganj side? Oh, the station has 2 terminal buildings, one on each side? That must be it... wow... what a place, this side is just as crowded as the other. 10 minutes later I've walked all the way back up the stairs and across the whole station, down again, and out to the street and find them. What a trip!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Bodhgaya sights
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A fitful sleep, I wake at 8:00, late. Room service omlet, toast, and coffee (they don't do coffee very well here), and I head across the street to the Japanese Temple... but, "Hello Sir!" I hear from the shop a couple doors down it's Ishu, he leads me over to where Sanjeev is milking a cow in front of the shop. I say later I'll go around and go to the Temple, it's a great quiet peaceful place, awesome, plenty of pilgrims coming and going, and there's also a school next door with about 100 kids, ages 3-5, all in uniforms, the boys red the girls blue, they are all smiling and happy and could be a kindergarten anywhere. I snap a few photos and head around to the other side of the complex, where there is a free medical clinic, a line of maybe 100 people threads along the several building front sidewalks. As I'm coming out of the gates, there are my buddies, and they insist on guiding me today. Again I'm skeptical, what are these guys after?
We walk a long block in steamy hot to a small, simple, serene Butt Shinji Temple, featuring a wood Buddha carved by Masahiro Maeda, born 1973, his caption "I'll pray you, Sakyamuni, to lead all the people to live cheerfully, honestly, and peacefully. I pray with all my heart. Can this really be what all the people here are thinking?
Next is the large Buddha statue, 80 feet or so tall, in a nice park, surrounded by statues of disciples. The walls have the broken glass stuck in the top of them to keep people out, must work!
We pass the Daijokyo Vocational training school, sponsored by a Japanese charity, where young people learn to type, make cloth, or cook if there's no university in the future, and that means 95% of the locals.
On the same street is the Daisokyho Buddhist temple, high tall flight of stairs in front, 4 old beggar women and a crippled young man dragging a leg with his hand greet you on your way in and out.
Next door is the Tibet temple, built by the Bhutanese but named for Tibet as a tribute to the many Tibetans in exile living in India. It is an exquisite work of art you have to see and ponder a long time to absorb, colorful art inside and out.
Now Sanjeev rejoins us and says let's take the bike (cycle) for a few places out of town... OK...I'm thinking about all the dacoit (robbery/banditry) in Bihar I read in the guidebook, but what the heck, these kids seem honest. The 3 of us pile onto the Honda Hero 125 and head down the craziness that is a rural india road... past working farms of rice patties, goats and cows milling all around, people working everywhere, doing everything by hand, and into a complex with a huge golden buddha statue under a metal barn type structure, it's maybe 30 feet high, and not finished yet, in the middle of a field down a peaceful path with trees and flowers along the way. A goatherd passes by outside the fence with about 20 goats, and he shouts something to the 3 girl/women hand weeding the field, they laugh and shout back happily. Everyone is happy here, if they're not begging or hawking...
Sanjeev says "now to the Sujata Temple!" one of the oldest, most important temples... we are going through back road villages, and I am getting scared... the "street" is maybe 6 feet wide, houses both sides, no electricity don't even think about running water, dirty clothes on everyone, kids with no pants, I see my first hermaphrodite kids... then we cross a river and we are going out in middle of nowhere, looks like a good place for a robbery! I'm thinking... but the kids are good as gold, we pull up to an old, decrepit site, with unkempt buildings, about a dozen beggar old women and kids at the gate... we push past and see the shrine, at the site Buddha sat for 6 years and did not eat. There are many buildings here and I go to take a picture, no pictures! Shouts an old man, there are about 30 of them under a pavillion, making designs on floor, sweeping, meditating. A string of them is heading down to the river with dishes in hand to wash them. We are not feeling welcome here now they are saying give money, give a donation! Ishu says you do not have to give them anything, pay no mind... and we are out of there. Now it the last village was scary... the next one I am sure I am not coming out... Sanjeev makes a bad turn and we are now on a dirt "street"... although there are no vehicles and the dwellings are about 6 feet apart on each side, a drain between each building has to be negotiated by the 125 cycle with the 3 of us on it, we get stuck once, stall once, and it is looking like a dead end! Luckily there was one more turn off and we see pavement again. One more stop, where Buddha stopped before crossing the river to Bodhgaya... the river is shallow enough people are walking across it and you can see the Mahabhodi temple over there, so thanks Sanjeev, I'm walking back!
Ishu walks with me and we talk, on the Bodhgaya side is a palace a king used to live in, now it's fallen into much disrepair but still has a beautiful shrine with a lion head resting bed in the center, where the king used to hang out maybe. Only the caretakers live here now, and they are again making us feel unwelcome and asking for donations so we are out of there and back up the hill to the Mahabodi temple. A good hour milling around the grounds and sitting peacefully on the marble floor under the Bodi tree and I'm done sightseeing for now, Ishu gets on the phone and Sanjeev drops me at an internet cafe, after a quick stop at the shop for cold club soda and to meet his dad (I didn't get his name it's in Hindi and he spoke no english at all)... Sanjeev asked what time is my train and do I want a ride on his cycle and I say yes sure, I would pay an autorickshaw 100 rupees I'll give him the same! He likes that.
No luck uploading pictures but I will try again later. Tonight 10:22 my train is due in Gaya to Delhi overnight again, but 1st Class AC this time, my first... it cost 1300 rupees to come out 2nd AC, 2600 first class! The ticket seller said the food will be excellent, it's included in the price. Now it's 2:45 hot as blazes black monsoon clouds building maybe a cool breeze will come with the rain that hopefully will fall soon, then lunch, a cold shower and fresh clothes and back out for the last few hours. I love this place... all that worry for nothing, the people are just as they are supposed to be by Buddha's teaching, peaceful, honest, helpful, and totally trustworthy... though I'm still skeptical, its starting to sink in.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Friendly Bodhgaya
After a "room service" meal of clear veg soup, aloo, roti, rice, and cold coffee I'm off to explore Bodhgaya on foot. I make friends quickly, everyone want to know where you are from, will you help me learn english, help me get the money for school, etc. The touts and hawkers are thick and just as aggressive as Delhi, but, and this takes some getting used to, some of the people are genuinely friendly and honest as possible, due to the heavy Buddhist influence.
Most of the schools in the area are run by foreign help groups or through the monastery's, so all the kids are getting some education up to level 10 or 11, then choices slim to vocational school to learn to type, weave cloth, or cook, and the dream of many is somehow to get to university for studies, but money is a huge obstacle their families are living month to month just enough for food and rent. 3 young boys from the orphan school hung around with me for a while and at the end asked me to buy them a book... i'm thinking this is a scam of some sort but go to the bookstore and a Merriam-Webster English-Hindi dictionary is the prize possession they want, 950 rupees. I buy it, just like I would for a Fern Creek mentee, then ask the trio "you're not going to take it back for money are you?" Oh no... no sir, this is what we need to learn english, this is very important to us, and you can tell they are sincere. The three will share it and take it to school tomorrow. My other unofficial guide Ganesh is after someone to fund his 5,000 rupee entrance to university, then 5,000 a month, his family can only afford 2,000.
We have a cup of chai in a roadside place with maybe a 12 yr old girl and her little sister and brother. The chai is cooked over a clay bench with a hole in it, the fire is underneath sticks. Dirt floor, one plastic chair, which I am offered... the chai is excellent, then we chat as the monsoon rain starts and mom comes in, there's also a schoolteacher from Gaya, googly eyed Ganesh says he is drunk... it rains heavy for about an hour and we talk much.
Walking down the road back I stop for a bottle of water and another group Ishu, Sanjeev, and Ashish are met at the Sujata General Store, an open air counter about 8 feet wide the same depth. I talk with them a good while and they see my photos of home and just shake their heads "mindblowing" is the word they use, over and over. I buy 20 packs of chocolate creme biscuits to give the beggar kids I see (you never had anything snatched from your hand so aggressively). They want to guide me around tomorrow and I say OK I will meet up in the morning, what time? They get up at 3:00 (it's the buddhist training), mediation 3:30, jogging/pe til 5:00, then the work day starts. I say we'll see how it goes and retire. Sleep is difficult thinking about all the kids and how needy they are and there should be more that can be done for them, I call Marian to talk but she's overdue for a nap so I wanted to be on my own in Bihar here I am!
Bodhgaya and Bihar, another overnight train
The train ride was great, 2nd class ac... I couldn't get the Delhi-Kolkata express from New Delhi Train Station so had to shift (that's what they call moving here) to the Old Delhi station which also left 2 hours later, so I had 3 hours to kill in Old Delhi... it was of course over 100 again and sweltering, Saturday so the market was packed... found my way around the Chandni Chowk but didn't score any bargains. Ate a great meal at Haldirams topped off with 2 red slush drinks (risked the ice&water)... so finally was able to stop sweating. The Old Delhi station makes the new station look like a palace... unfortunately you cannot take pictures inside there the machine gun toting guards frown on that... terrorism these days coming from Pak you know..
Picture the orlando amtrak station x12 platforms, strip off all the paint, put corrugated metal up over the platforms, and cram the platforms as full as a crowd leaving a sellout basketball game, add 100+ 90% humidity, and piles of fly covered you know what on the tracks in-between the platforms... absolutely the only breeze is when a train comes by...you cannot sit down anywhere except the ground and it is so filthy even though I had dark brown pants on I didn't want them to get THAT dirty. So you stand and sweat is pouring off... bandana on my head down to my eyebrows with another one to mop off my face and neck below that. Soaked through shirt and uwear. The bottled water is the only relief, it's just cooler than 100.... finally our train shows up, it's on time, the Jarkharand Express, and YES! the AC is on in the ac car... not at first, the train was starting fresh, but after about 10 minutes. I got a nice berthmate couple of students from Tokyo, Ray is studying Native American literature at Tokyo U, his partner Meg is into Public Health. We had good talks about native american books, authors, etc, and also Rays dad is a cyclist everywhere around Tokyo! So we had a good time and although they got off 7:00am at Varanasi, while I was still groggy with my head under the sheets, they each left me very nice notes. Ray will get his dad on liketoobike.com and converse with me.
10:10 we pull into Gaya, I am in Bihar, the poorest state in India! A dozen kms from Bodhgaya, and it is absolutely way way hotter than Delhi! You walk up a long ramp to get out of there, it's a dusty dirty open air station, and it's pretty full of people waiting for local trains. Not a person with clean clothes in sight.
Before I get out of the platform concourse I have 3 auto rickshaw drivers fighting over who is going to take me to Bodhgaya, it's an 80 rupee ride, says Lonely Planet guidebook.
The first one starts at 200 and I give a loud laugh, the second one is 150, and I push past him "no thanks, buddy". The last guy says what do you want to pay and I say 80, he says OK, and the other guys are hassling him I saw him first, hot, dusty parking lot... then as I'm getting in the vehicle "100 0K?"... yeah, yeah, you take me all around Bodhgaya and take me to 3 hotels. That's just what we did and you read about they will steer you someplace they get a commission in this case the Hotel Tokyo(!!!) Vihar... offered at 600 rupees, was not far behind the quality of the Sujata, which Lonely Planet calls "top range"... they want 3600 and won't deal after I see the room, as I'm walking out no thanks he's "how much you want to pay"? game, too bad. Everything works at the hotel I get a cool shower and change to fresh clothes the go out to explore Bodhgaya... I make friends quickly here...oh they are closing up the internet cafe so I gotta go, more tomorrow!
Picture the orlando amtrak station x12 platforms, strip off all the paint, put corrugated metal up over the platforms, and cram the platforms as full as a crowd leaving a sellout basketball game, add 100+ 90% humidity, and piles of fly covered you know what on the tracks in-between the platforms... absolutely the only breeze is when a train comes by...you cannot sit down anywhere except the ground and it is so filthy even though I had dark brown pants on I didn't want them to get THAT dirty. So you stand and sweat is pouring off... bandana on my head down to my eyebrows with another one to mop off my face and neck below that. Soaked through shirt and uwear. The bottled water is the only relief, it's just cooler than 100.... finally our train shows up, it's on time, the Jarkharand Express, and YES! the AC is on in the ac car... not at first, the train was starting fresh, but after about 10 minutes. I got a nice berthmate couple of students from Tokyo, Ray is studying Native American literature at Tokyo U, his partner Meg is into Public Health. We had good talks about native american books, authors, etc, and also Rays dad is a cyclist everywhere around Tokyo! So we had a good time and although they got off 7:00am at Varanasi, while I was still groggy with my head under the sheets, they each left me very nice notes. Ray will get his dad on liketoobike.com and converse with me.
10:10 we pull into Gaya, I am in Bihar, the poorest state in India! A dozen kms from Bodhgaya, and it is absolutely way way hotter than Delhi! You walk up a long ramp to get out of there, it's a dusty dirty open air station, and it's pretty full of people waiting for local trains. Not a person with clean clothes in sight.
Before I get out of the platform concourse I have 3 auto rickshaw drivers fighting over who is going to take me to Bodhgaya, it's an 80 rupee ride, says Lonely Planet guidebook.
The first one starts at 200 and I give a loud laugh, the second one is 150, and I push past him "no thanks, buddy". The last guy says what do you want to pay and I say 80, he says OK, and the other guys are hassling him I saw him first, hot, dusty parking lot... then as I'm getting in the vehicle "100 0K?"... yeah, yeah, you take me all around Bodhgaya and take me to 3 hotels. That's just what we did and you read about they will steer you someplace they get a commission in this case the Hotel Tokyo(!!!) Vihar... offered at 600 rupees, was not far behind the quality of the Sujata, which Lonely Planet calls "top range"... they want 3600 and won't deal after I see the room, as I'm walking out no thanks he's "how much you want to pay"? game, too bad. Everything works at the hotel I get a cool shower and change to fresh clothes the go out to explore Bodhgaya... I make friends quickly here...oh they are closing up the internet cafe so I gotta go, more tomorrow!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Going to Bodhgaya
We've decided it will be good to split up a couple days. Julie was on her own for 4 hours yesterday and really enjoyed not having dad around... and my time is short, and the one place I really wanted to go besides the Taj Mahal is Bodhgaya, where the Buddha became enlightened beneath the Bodi Tree.
There are several overnight trains leaving tonight, and of course, the online booking system, after a long time of pages not working, found the train, a 1st class sleeper spot, and let me put in my name and age but when I try to pay for it too bad, nope won't work and by the way I may get downgraded to any class seat if not confirmed at the station... so I will go up to the station 2 or 3 hours early. It leaves at 5, it's 11:50 now.
I'll get to Gaya, 12 km's up the road from Bodhgaya about 4:30am... don't know what I'll do then. Also, the online booking for hotels shows no accomodation available, except at a couple "budget" places.... still at $60 USD per night! Now we've seen what are called "posh" neighborhoods and places, and to us they are hmmmm well, imagine the worst part of any city you have ever been in... now, imagine all the garbage get's piled in the street, people pee etc not behind bushes and trees but on the sidewalk, dogs and cows roam freely, and there are masses of people everywhere all staring at you... that's a posh neighborhood... so a budget hotel I think I'd rather be on the train back but don't want to do overnight trains 2 nights in a row, they tend to not be the most restful, especially with a 3:30am wake up call.
So this may be my last post until Tuesday, it's Saturday morning here now... we will see if I see an AC internet cafe somewhere along the way I'll be in there for an hour.
Meanwhile, on the Visa front.... one last hope tomorrow is dimming, it looks like Julie will be required to travel back to USA for a week to get her Student Visa, then return in the 3rd or 4th week of school (they started 2 days ago here). So she will probably come home with me Thursday morning we fly out of Delhi 12:15am and with the 9.5 hour time dif, going west, after changes in Chicago and St Louis, get to Orlando about noon Thursday! That will give us back the day and a half we lost on the way here.
It's hot and going around 100 again today, monsoons would cool things down again and they tell me the further to the east you go the hotter it gets! But I must make the pilgrimage and chill for a day or two before saying farewell to India.
Oh we had dinner at Ashok and Alka's last night, Ashok is Julie's Rotary host here in India and Alka his wife. They have a very nice house in the southwest part of the city, after a wonderful veg dinner topped off by creamy vanilla ice cream atop fresh mango we were pushing 11:00 when Kuldeep showed at the gate to drive us back, about 20 miles. It was still crowded on the roads and streets everywhere even as we got back at midnight. There are huge Krishna processions going on where hundreds of devotees got water out of the Ganges up by Rishikesh, and they walk all the way back with gaily colored orange and gold banners and decorations by the hundreds, then they pitch large tents on the side of the road and you see them all stretching out in there with lit up palm trees and like christmas lights strung up all over the place... they are just on the roadside and apparently many temples send their people to do this we saw 3 separate parties going on during our drive back. When they get back to their temple they pour the water on their krishna statue and maybe something else, it's confusing all the things they do and who they are worshipping...
That's what confirmed for me to go to Bodhgaya, I like the Buddhist religion for it's simplicity, not too many rules, worship as you wish, live and let live. I look forward to hanging around the global mecca for buddhists from around the world and absorbing the laid back peaceful vibes... more to come.
There are several overnight trains leaving tonight, and of course, the online booking system, after a long time of pages not working, found the train, a 1st class sleeper spot, and let me put in my name and age but when I try to pay for it too bad, nope won't work and by the way I may get downgraded to any class seat if not confirmed at the station... so I will go up to the station 2 or 3 hours early. It leaves at 5, it's 11:50 now.
I'll get to Gaya, 12 km's up the road from Bodhgaya about 4:30am... don't know what I'll do then. Also, the online booking for hotels shows no accomodation available, except at a couple "budget" places.... still at $60 USD per night! Now we've seen what are called "posh" neighborhoods and places, and to us they are hmmmm well, imagine the worst part of any city you have ever been in... now, imagine all the garbage get's piled in the street, people pee etc not behind bushes and trees but on the sidewalk, dogs and cows roam freely, and there are masses of people everywhere all staring at you... that's a posh neighborhood... so a budget hotel I think I'd rather be on the train back but don't want to do overnight trains 2 nights in a row, they tend to not be the most restful, especially with a 3:30am wake up call.
So this may be my last post until Tuesday, it's Saturday morning here now... we will see if I see an AC internet cafe somewhere along the way I'll be in there for an hour.
Meanwhile, on the Visa front.... one last hope tomorrow is dimming, it looks like Julie will be required to travel back to USA for a week to get her Student Visa, then return in the 3rd or 4th week of school (they started 2 days ago here). So she will probably come home with me Thursday morning we fly out of Delhi 12:15am and with the 9.5 hour time dif, going west, after changes in Chicago and St Louis, get to Orlando about noon Thursday! That will give us back the day and a half we lost on the way here.
It's hot and going around 100 again today, monsoons would cool things down again and they tell me the further to the east you go the hotter it gets! But I must make the pilgrimage and chill for a day or two before saying farewell to India.
Oh we had dinner at Ashok and Alka's last night, Ashok is Julie's Rotary host here in India and Alka his wife. They have a very nice house in the southwest part of the city, after a wonderful veg dinner topped off by creamy vanilla ice cream atop fresh mango we were pushing 11:00 when Kuldeep showed at the gate to drive us back, about 20 miles. It was still crowded on the roads and streets everywhere even as we got back at midnight. There are huge Krishna processions going on where hundreds of devotees got water out of the Ganges up by Rishikesh, and they walk all the way back with gaily colored orange and gold banners and decorations by the hundreds, then they pitch large tents on the side of the road and you see them all stretching out in there with lit up palm trees and like christmas lights strung up all over the place... they are just on the roadside and apparently many temples send their people to do this we saw 3 separate parties going on during our drive back. When they get back to their temple they pour the water on their krishna statue and maybe something else, it's confusing all the things they do and who they are worshipping...
That's what confirmed for me to go to Bodhgaya, I like the Buddhist religion for it's simplicity, not too many rules, worship as you wish, live and let live. I look forward to hanging around the global mecca for buddhists from around the world and absorbing the laid back peaceful vibes... more to come.
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