Arriving off the 17 hour train from New Delhi at 4:30am i stepped onto the train platform and headed to the stairs. I noticed in the reflection of a passing windowpane that i was being tracked by two people. I turned around and they looked like cockroaches caught under a light. i have seen plenty of recently them so i should know. I have seen more James Bond movies then these two for sure. i stared right at them as the younger one moved away the older one noticing that i had caught him and his sneaking decided to cut his losses and come right at me. I looked as mean as i could as he approached, he raised his arms in a disarming way, i wasn't falling for it and i tried to look meaner with a touch of ugly disgruntledness. he came closer andddddddddddd It turns out he was just a rickshaw driver looking for a fair. Bummer. My hopes of winning my first street fight in a train station was put on hold. I was tired anyway. We drove into the early morning darkness in search of a cheap guesthouse, one i am sure he was getting a commission from. I told him my price range and the first place we entered was about two dollars too high, i wonder if there was some sort of language barrier. The second place we came to seemed to fit my needs perfectly, perfect. I offloaded my stuff and walked the back alleyways to the Ganges river. One of India most holy cities, people come here to wash away there sins in the Ganges and to be cremated here on its banks. being burned here has special significance for Hindus, it means a break in the cycle of rebirth, being burned here means attaining nirvana. I reached its banks at 6 am and took a boat for a hour up the river through day break. It was a eye opening and a truly wow experience. i had a boat to myself and one rower/ tour guide. I paid triple the rate because i was only one person but after seeing the other boats packed with 25 tourist and no where to stand, i felt great about paying 8 dollars. Varanasi is a assault on the senses. Watching a body being ceremoniously burned is something i wont soon forget. In Varanasi you come face to face with life and death and questions without easy answers. After my boat ride and a four hour walk along its banks i was ready for lunch. the night before due to a miss communication i had found myself with 13 bananas and 5 mandarins. Not wanting to risk my health, on Indian railway food, i had stuck to a diet of fruit. I was starving and when i got back i had the best Dal Makhani in the city, i was told, its certifiable. Anyway, A few chipatta's later i was full and ready for more bug killing on the roof. I laid all my things out and made a new friend, David. He was one of the aforementioned people that never leave India either mentally of physically. From what i can tell his case was more mental than anything else. We sat and talked, well, he talked mostly, i nodding here and there as i killed my bed bug problem. He was German, there are a lot out here, they have a serious travel itch. We got a long and decided to head to the Ganges and watch sun down. India, is surreal its people as curious as can be and i find myself being stared at constantly. This day was no different, David and I are in at least 5 Indian family photo albums. They got a kick out of the beard and the dreadlocks David was sporting. I get a lot of compliments on the beard around here and it has encouraged me to take it a little bit furthur. I left Varanasi a little too early but in India you have to book your train tickets a week or more in advance so its impossible for me to know how much i will like a place till i get there and by then i already have my next three train tickets already booked. That's the downside, the upside of train travel is that is reliable and cheap, also it goes everywhere. 20 million Indians ride the rails everyday. another fun fact that the bathrooms empty directly on to the track. yikes. They are a wild part with greatly varying levels of comfort class. I have taken two night sleeper trains so far and am about to board my third. They are all i will take, maybe and odd bus of two. In SEA buses do most of the transport and i hate them, so India has been refreshing in that way.
I showed up in Khajuraho not really knowing what to expect but i had made the decision early on that i would stay there a few days, for no particular reason just wanted to put my feet up and be able to unpack my bags, change my underwear maybe.Maybe. So i found a great spot and decent room really close to the Hindu temples. I got there at about 10am and quickly learned that the next day was the beginning of 15 days of carnival honoring lord Shiva. I was recommended to head to the temples as soon as i can because the next days would be swamped with pilgrims from near and far. So i did and they were unbelievable. These temples, not looted or sacked by centuries of war have remained unbelievably untouched and preserved. The carvings are almost three dimensional, they cover huge sections of the temples as well as all the positions in the Karma Sutra, i was interesting. There are some real humor in some of them too, something i have never seen in such a religious site. That night at Midnight, true to word, the Indians dropped what they were doing and got down. The first three days honor Shiva and his marriage to Parvati. Thousands converged on a Shiva temple where they washed by the lake and prayed to a large marble linga which had been erected, centuries ago, splashing water on it and giving it flowers. As i sat in the arid landscape watching from the other side of a lake i was ambushed by a man name Bali. I have been ambushed and talked too by Indians for the last week, it doesn't phase me anymore. Bali told me it was his daughters birthday and he would like to invite me back to his home for dinner. I had absolutely nothing to do so i said sure and thus started a friendship i hope will continue for many years. We made the long walk back to his little village and entered his "compound". Small and covered with plants and shade his little, smaller than my last bedroom, house nestled next to a tree in the midst of a garden was a oasis from the heat. I was struck by how little they had, no bed, no real room for a bed, a small open wood burning stove sat being lit by his wonderful wife Sonu. The children came home, one 9 one 7 and cute as buttons. Bali started to prepare dinner in a whirlwind of pots and pans, mixing and frying. He was a former chef who lost his job and now tries to get tourist to visit his home in hopes they like his cooking enough to give him some money for it. I knew that going in, or had suspected it but to be honest helping him cook in his little home with his wife watching over and the kids playing in the one roomed house was such a great experience. It was easy to rationalize, buy food from him or a vendor/ restaurant somewhere. I have eaten at his place every day for the last three. He was so eager to work and from what i could tell getting desprete for a change in his life. He had been shunned by his and his wife family after they got married for love instead of a traditional arranged marriage. its an interesting culture.He didn't have it easy, still doesn't. He was happy, his children smiled, his wife looked on him dotingly, proud of him. I have come to know him as a good man, so humble and true, honest with a real love for people and life in general. His wife used to sew cloths but her sewing machine broke and they haven't the money to fix it and it sits and collects dust. She makes very simple but very nice shirts and pants, i bought one shirt for 5 dollars, they made me wear it to our next dinner and she looked to happy to see it worn, her work, meaningful again. There dog was "Tommy" she, i know, she was nice but didn't listen to a thing she was told, Bali has such a gentle spirit he never raised his voice or changed tone and the dog feared no reprisal. I was able to buy some food for one of our meals and struck by just how little things cost here. For under a dollar i got 2.2 pounds of potatoes, one pound of onions, two large garlic cloves and a head of cauliflower?! I was also given a carrot, i have no idea why. i am eating an all vegetarian diet for four reasons, its cheaper here compared to meat dishes, widely available, so darn good and it keeps me away from the risker foods. Farm animals roam the streets all day and if you saw the things that cattle and goats are eating, you might not want to have it anyway. Hindus don't eat cow, Ghandi once said that they were the mothers of mankind and they adorn many temples. I have not had Delhi Belly yet and hope to continue my streak. Today at breakfast we exchanged details and promised to keep in touch. I was given a sack lunch for the train along with a horde of Indian spices and seeds, with instructions for each. I hope to look in my garden one day and see Bali's place. Cook food with his spices and remember just how much better he could cook then i can :). I know i was paying for my meals but it took nothing away from the feasts and laughs we shared. I was able for a small time, to step into what is common amongst the 250 million Indians living below the poverty line and catch a gimps of how hard it must be to make it through the week. I have a wider understanding of a different existence, it was really neat. I don't have pictures this time for two reasons, i broke my camera and don't want to risk putting my SD card into any computer around here for fear of losing everything. I head to Agra, in fact i have already been and left but i am behind on this blog by a day or two. Be well all and much love to you guys back home.
I showed up in Khajuraho not really knowing what to expect but i had made the decision early on that i would stay there a few days, for no particular reason just wanted to put my feet up and be able to unpack my bags, change my underwear maybe.Maybe. So i found a great spot and decent room really close to the Hindu temples. I got there at about 10am and quickly learned that the next day was the beginning of 15 days of carnival honoring lord Shiva. I was recommended to head to the temples as soon as i can because the next days would be swamped with pilgrims from near and far. So i did and they were unbelievable. These temples, not looted or sacked by centuries of war have remained unbelievably untouched and preserved. The carvings are almost three dimensional, they cover huge sections of the temples as well as all the positions in the Karma Sutra, i was interesting. There are some real humor in some of them too, something i have never seen in such a religious site. That night at Midnight, true to word, the Indians dropped what they were doing and got down. The first three days honor Shiva and his marriage to Parvati. Thousands converged on a Shiva temple where they washed by the lake and prayed to a large marble linga which had been erected, centuries ago, splashing water on it and giving it flowers. As i sat in the arid landscape watching from the other side of a lake i was ambushed by a man name Bali. I have been ambushed and talked too by Indians for the last week, it doesn't phase me anymore. Bali told me it was his daughters birthday and he would like to invite me back to his home for dinner. I had absolutely nothing to do so i said sure and thus started a friendship i hope will continue for many years. We made the long walk back to his little village and entered his "compound". Small and covered with plants and shade his little, smaller than my last bedroom, house nestled next to a tree in the midst of a garden was a oasis from the heat. I was struck by how little they had, no bed, no real room for a bed, a small open wood burning stove sat being lit by his wonderful wife Sonu. The children came home, one 9 one 7 and cute as buttons. Bali started to prepare dinner in a whirlwind of pots and pans, mixing and frying. He was a former chef who lost his job and now tries to get tourist to visit his home in hopes they like his cooking enough to give him some money for it. I knew that going in, or had suspected it but to be honest helping him cook in his little home with his wife watching over and the kids playing in the one roomed house was such a great experience. It was easy to rationalize, buy food from him or a vendor/ restaurant somewhere. I have eaten at his place every day for the last three. He was so eager to work and from what i could tell getting desprete for a change in his life. He had been shunned by his and his wife family after they got married for love instead of a traditional arranged marriage. its an interesting culture.He didn't have it easy, still doesn't. He was happy, his children smiled, his wife looked on him dotingly, proud of him. I have come to know him as a good man, so humble and true, honest with a real love for people and life in general. His wife used to sew cloths but her sewing machine broke and they haven't the money to fix it and it sits and collects dust. She makes very simple but very nice shirts and pants, i bought one shirt for 5 dollars, they made me wear it to our next dinner and she looked to happy to see it worn, her work, meaningful again. There dog was "Tommy" she, i know, she was nice but didn't listen to a thing she was told, Bali has such a gentle spirit he never raised his voice or changed tone and the dog feared no reprisal. I was able to buy some food for one of our meals and struck by just how little things cost here. For under a dollar i got 2.2 pounds of potatoes, one pound of onions, two large garlic cloves and a head of cauliflower?! I was also given a carrot, i have no idea why. i am eating an all vegetarian diet for four reasons, its cheaper here compared to meat dishes, widely available, so darn good and it keeps me away from the risker foods. Farm animals roam the streets all day and if you saw the things that cattle and goats are eating, you might not want to have it anyway. Hindus don't eat cow, Ghandi once said that they were the mothers of mankind and they adorn many temples. I have not had Delhi Belly yet and hope to continue my streak. Today at breakfast we exchanged details and promised to keep in touch. I was given a sack lunch for the train along with a horde of Indian spices and seeds, with instructions for each. I hope to look in my garden one day and see Bali's place. Cook food with his spices and remember just how much better he could cook then i can :). I know i was paying for my meals but it took nothing away from the feasts and laughs we shared. I was able for a small time, to step into what is common amongst the 250 million Indians living below the poverty line and catch a gimps of how hard it must be to make it through the week. I have a wider understanding of a different existence, it was really neat. I don't have pictures this time for two reasons, i broke my camera and don't want to risk putting my SD card into any computer around here for fear of losing everything. I head to Agra, in fact i have already been and left but i am behind on this blog by a day or two. Be well all and much love to you guys back home.
I wish you had pack us in your suitcase to come with you! ; )
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