Only Mad Dogs and Coloradans




Rudyard Kipling had it mostly right - "Only Mad Dogs, Englishmen [and Coloradans]
go out in the noon day sun in India", especially in May (the hottest time of the year) where it remained over 90 F through the nights! Traveling through India during the hottest time of the year did have its benefits though - there were very few other tourists and the mosquitoes weren't bad - allowing me to enjoy the wonder of India in relative peace. You know, where peace is being surrounded by millions of Indians and their livestock that all want to use the limited road space at the same time...





As I boarded the plane for Delhi I felt a little more timid than usual.
I was going half way around the planet to a country with quite different customs and where the stories and photos made me both excited and wary. My plans were to travel solo for two weeks without any predetermined plans and then join up with my good friends Dominic and Haneen for their wedding with her side of the family (already being married 5 years before with his side of the family back in Montreal).







Each day in India had its surprises, downfalls, and rewards,
but the first one certainly took the cake. All traces of timidness vanished that first night after landing in Delhi. The first night of the three week trip was the only night I had a hotel reservation in order to maintain flexibility, but avoid the airport exit mayhem. I flew in around 11pm and small hotel van picked me up as planned, but after we cruised pass the crowds of people, taxis, bike rickshaws, and tuk-tuks (auto rickshaws) and made it down the highway a bit the van broke down... I had a sudden wake up call a minute later when I found myself pushing the van down the highway in the middle of the night, with scorching heat, smog so thick it made my eyes water, other vehicles awkwardly moving around us hardly giving their horns a break, and most without working headlights... Welcome to India!!!






Well after that I had to walk off
the unfortunate reception, so after checking in to the hotel I meandered through the streets a bit, which turned out to be another kind of adventure - this time it was one for the nose. The dark street still had a bit of energy to it as men who had just gotten off work were sitting at their favorite, literally hole-in-the-wall restaurant or curry stand. The smell of spices and chai floated from these pockets of activity joining with the smell of fruit that had fallen from stands earlier in the day to be trampled by innumerable passers by. There were smells coming from the dimmer part of the street as well. The stench of urine, cow dung, and garbage joined the ever-present smog, encouraging me not to linger too long. I wove my way down the street just trying to unwind, but that wasn't to be. My body was on a heightened awareness level as groups of men and boys roamed around, unhealthy cows were coughing, and I had to watch every step I took to avoid bringing all the street smells back to the room... I concluded the first night in India with an amazing delicious fresh mango from a street vendor, a little daring I know, but I figured I was due. I carved into it and let the juices run down my chin as I took a bite - delicious! I made sure it was the first of many.

















Moving right along here, I rented a car and driver to head north of Delhi toward the foot hills of the Himalayas
in search of wild animals. Not that the elephants, camels, water buffalo, monkeys, pigs, and of course the cows that roamed through the streets were not interesting, but I wanted to see the native animals in their local habitats. Luckily I was able to book a jeep safari and an elephant safari the day of to tour through the Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve, a 1318 sq. km. National Park (the benefits of traveling on the off season). I was really hoping to catch a rare sighting of a wild tiger. I figured the odds were better during the dry season (when I went) since there would be less foliage blocking the view.






The park has many types of habitats. The side I visited ranged
from flat grass lands to dense and open forest with rolling hills. Being just before monsoon season it was pretty dry in the area I was at with only a couple water holes, a small stream, and dried up river bed. I was told that the area gets impassable due to the foliage, mud, and water once it starts raining.













It was a joy to see so many animals! I started out
with the jeep tour winding through the forests and along the clearings. We sighted more Cheetal than I could count. These were a small reddish spotted deer that were seen often grazing in herds. There was also a larger type of deer that had more meat on its bones that I hear tigers regularly hunt. There were 3 foot long Monitor Lizards, several feet high termite mounds, Peacocks, giant bats (those are young mango in the tree for a size reference!), Kingfisher birds and a lot of Langoor (black face) and Rhesus (pink face) monkeys. We saw claw marks on trees and huge paw prints in sand, telltale signs that a tiger was in the area, but no sightings were made...







Next I hopped up on top of a big elephant to tramp
through the forest on another safari outing. He was the ultimate all-terrain vehicle! We went up and down some pretty steep hills along what looked like a very narrow path. Surprisingly he wound his way through the trees and vines with ease. Every so often the elephant would stop and pull down a particularly tasty looking tree or bunch of leafs to snack on and once stopped at a stream to suck down a few gallons of water to quench his thirst... I'll stick to the bottled variety!









When we came upon a freshly killed deer in the woods we knew we were finally getting close, and sure enough
around the corner there was a tiger cooling off in a small water hole! It was a large female tiger that did not seem bothered by us one bit, even though we got within ~30 feet of it. It was amazing to watch such a powerful predator up close in the wild.






Next my driver, Raj, and I drove up closer to the base of the
Himalayas to the towns of Rishikesh and Haridwar on the bank of the Ganges River (or the Ganga as it is pronounced in India). I just have to mention that driving in India is an art - a beautiful one when you survive! Raj was an amazing driver managing some very sketchy situations. Driving laws go out the window in India. People (us included!) drive on the wrong side of the road, on the curb, on unpaved shoulders; the vehicles are usually inches from touching... or even touching, traffic signs and lights are rarely heeded. The obstacles ranged from animal pulled carts, to people pulled carts, wild animals, slow motorcycles oftentimes with three people on them, and huge, lavishly decorated slow trucks that transport everything (and their brothers) called TATAs - I still have nightmares of head on collisions with these monsters!








Rishikesh and Haridwar were interesting cities in that they
are significant in the Hindu religion being located pretty far upstream on the holy Ganga River. Hiking around here I saw many people that made a pilgrimage to the river to cleanse themselves and visit sacred temples to worship. One night in Haridwar I went down to the gats (steps next to the river) to watch a nightly occurrence. Here thousands of Hindus gather on the banks to release baskets made of leaves carrying flowers, incense, and a candle into the river in remembrance for a loved one who has passed away. With the women dressed in colorful saris lining the river and all the lit baskets it was quite a beautiful, but sad sight.


















I then headed back to Delhi for a day of touring that included the National Museum,
the Gandhi Smriti (a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi), the India gate, Qutb Minar (a soaring victory tower), the Red Fort, and the beautiful Bahai House of Worship (known as the Lotus Temple). There were some amazing sights but the traffic and smog was hard to bear. I continued south into Rajasthan by train to Jaipur where it was a bit drier, but surprisingly there were even more animals and the culture seemed a bit more vibrant.








There in Jaipur I joined up with Dominic and Haneen
along with Dom's mother Carol and his uncle Richard as they were making their way to Agra to view the Taj Mahal. With Indian club music blaring, we toured the Pink City with Janu the self proclaimed, but believable, Indian Casanova as our guide. A long standing tradition - the fronts of all the buildings in old Jaipur are painted pink (actually more of a reddish color- see the man painting below) providing a rarely found cohesiveness in an Indian city. We toured Jantar Mantar, an amazing collection of astronomical instruments including a 90 foot high sundial that shows the time with an accuracy within 4 minutes! I viewed the city from the windows of the Palace of Winds or Hawa Mahal, fed monkeys peanuts and watermelon at Galta or monkey temple, viewed the City Palace and Water Palace (a palace built in the middle of a lake), and finally viewed the city at sunset from Nahargarh (the Tiger Fort) located at the top of a mountain.




One day we happened upon a snake charmer in the street. When he played his flute two cobras rose out of a basket
looking ready to strike... and then they did! Every once in a while they would sort of peck at the flute player with a closed mouth. We all jumped back to give the snake a bit of room until the charmer told us that he had the poison sacks removed. Then he offered to let us hold one! It was very surreal to be so close to a cobra and hold such a deadly animal!









The Amber Fort in the mountains just outside Jaipur
was amazing and formidable. The periodic drumming and battle horns helped with the visualization that an army here must have held a commanding influence over the surroundings. As it is across all India, women here were working very hard carrying building materials up many levels of stairs for repair work. It seemed no mater what sort of work the women were performing, their saris (cloth wrap) always stayed clean and vibrant!










The day after we left Jaipur there was a series of terrible bombings across the Pink City. Eight bombs went off in
the very areas we toured killing ~80 people and injuring hundreds. It was a very scary event that had everyone in India on edge for a while. Thanking our luck, we continued along our travels a bit more appreciative of our time in this world.






I was dreading the trip to Agra a bit after hearing
stories of terrible hoards of hawkers and tourists, but when I arrived all my fears vanished. The Taj Mahal totally lives up to its hype and amazingly there were hardly any one else there, hawkers or tourists, at sunrise. As the first light of the day spilled across the Taj it glowed with an ethereal, serene light sitting majestically above beautiful gardens and reflecting pools. Its beauty was so consuming it was hard to turn away. The carved window screens and semiprecious stone inlay were amazingly intricate. This was also true for the baby Taj (Itimad-ud-Daulah) across the river, which we visited later that day. We also toured the Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri - an extensive abandoned palace and fort outside of Agra. We finished up one day with one last view of the Taj from across the river on the back of a camel at sunset. As before, it held a beauty that was timeless.






While touring Fatehpur Sikri and on the drive leaving Agra we encountered major dust storms.
The first one we were walking around the grounds of the palace when all of the sudden it got very dark and the wind picked up... and it did not let up. The air was so full of dust and debris that we dared not to open our eyes with out sunglasses or breath without covering our mouths and noses with cloth! It lasted about a half an hour then we came out from a small temple we were holding up in. The second dust storm lasted hours, but luckily we were in a car watching as the wind tore apart towns and tormented people caught in it.

















From Agra we then traveled to Udaipur, the lake area of
Rajasthan, for the wedding. Compared to the other cities I visited it was much more laid back, the traffic was less crazy, and the air was much cleaner. The wedding was three days of celebration and eating. If possible, the women's saris were even more beautiful, there was henna on hands, arms, and feet, every event was decorated with flowers, beautiful cloth, and flower scented water. The culmination - the grand reception - had Dom and Haneen sitting in thrones on a stage for hours greeting the 800 guests that had come to congratulate them. They certainly looked the part of royalty with their dress at some of the events! I dressed in the traditional kurta pajama suit for several of the evenings, very fun! ...still no chance of blending in... :) the locals got a big kick out of it though! I really enjoyed wandering through the crowds meeting the other guests - we were very curious about each other and I think we all learned a lot.



















Most of the meals were traditional thali style
where we sat on the floor around circular platters holding many bowls of food. Instead of utensils we used naan and roti bread (with our right hand of course!) to wrap up and eat the curries and stews. The food at the wedding, like all the other food I ate while traveling in India, was amazing! I continually stuffed myself and as a result I actually had to cut back to two meals a day only a few days into my trip. They were all amazing - the curries, tikka, masalas, tandoori, saag, dhal, korma, paneer, fresh spices, and of course the chai... and mango! The mangos were in season and I tasted the best I have ever eaten!
















Between wedding events I went out exploring
around Udaipur. Dinner on the small island of Jagmandir in Lake Pichola was amazing and elegant. There were amazing 4000 year old artifacts at a museum in Ahar along with many cenotaphs (or mausoleums). The monsoon Palace or Sajjan Garh was an amazing fort on the top of a mountain that we visited overlooking the lake country. And finally, the City Palace had some beautiful artifacts like elephant saddles for maharaja, old carpets, and extremely detailed paintings done with a single squirrel hair... hmmm, you better see that one for yourself :) ...in fact you should see all of this for yourself
- I hope you do!










Well that is all for now.
As always if you would like to see any other
pictures of specific parts of the experience,
or want higher resolution copies of what are
on the web site, just let me know. Also,
don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

Curry it Up!

jon.pineau@colorado.edu

Check out some pictures from other trips here