From the "Something You Don't See Everyday" Department

So as we are landing at Heathrow, the pilot tells everyone to stay in their seats for a "mechanical problem".  We pull up to the gate, and the door opens and 3 police board the plane and pull one guy sitting 2 rows from us off the plane.  Then all of our passports are checked just as we get on the jetway.  Mechanical problem, indeed....

Varanasi Sunday --> Delhi

Not much of a day. We said goodbye to half the group who were going on to Nepal, then we sat around to wait to go to the airport ourselves. The flight was routine, save for the 15 minutes the plane was shaking as we were ascending. Not something we had experienced before.


We got to Delhi and went to our hotel, the Crowne Plaza. As we were pulling in, a wedding was beginning. Of course, we waited to take pictures. The groom was sitting in a car waiting to make his appearance. He was all in white with a white turban. He looked scared as sh*t. As we were taking pictures, the camera people of the wedding took pictures of us! The groom made his appearance and we took pictures.

Then the bride made her appearance, walking under what could only be described as an Indian hupa. As she walked in, we followed with our cameras, and then the bridegroom’s family invited us in to continue our picture taking. The served us mango juice, and allowed us to mingle. Ann, of course, got lots of stories, and found one guy who will be in the DC area next week. We may have a dinner guest. I got as close as I could to get wedding photos. Michael Kress I’m not. I did get one good one, though, when I was able to take advantage of the professional photographer’s lighting.

We are now at Indira Ghandi International, waiting for our delayed flight. We probably won’t have time to wander in London now. :(

Varanasi - Saturday

We came to find out that the so called “birds on the runway” yesterday was really another plane on the runway that we needed to steer clear of.

We were up before dawn to get on the Ganges River to watch the sun rise. There was a thick fog, and we weren’t sure it would lift. We bused as close as we could, and walked the final 1/3 of a mile or so, through the most pitiful collection of beggars one would ever see. Varanasi is the holiest city in India. More than 20,00 people arrive daily, most of whom are here on pilgrimage to bathe in the Ganges. They are obligated to donate to the poor, so the poor come out in droves. We got onto a boat to see the sunrise. No luck. We could barely see the shoreline. There were people bathing, people selling, and at one place they were cremating their dead. That is the other thing about this place: you come here to die and be cremated on the Ganges and have your ashes spread in the river. We did not see anyone without clothes walking the streets (they do that here, also).

Later on in the day, we had an introduction to Buddhism. We went to a town outside of Varanasi called Sarnath, which was the birthplace of Buddhism. Buddha was not born here, but studied and meditated here to come up with his 8 fold path to enlightenment. There was an archeological park where old Buddhist temples had been dating to the 10th century. There were lots of Japanese and other Indian Buddhists who were making pilgrimages to this site, and they were just as fascinated by us as we were with them. Everyone wanted a picture with the other “other”. It was very cute to see everyone laughing about it. We also went into an archeological museum that had early artifacts. There were no paintings or anything that could be affected by light, but we were not allowed to take any pictures of the statues.

At the end of the afternoon, we went back to the Ganges for another boat ride. THIS was a trip. The few million people that were still sleeping early in the morning were now out on the street. There were cars, cabs, motorcycles, cows, pedestrians, and busses. We got as far as we could by bus, then piled into bicycle pedicabs, with two people in each one, to take us down to the river. At one point, the mass of people was so great, that a cop didn’t want to let us pass. Ritu had some magic for the policeman, and suddenly the way opened. We got to the river, and now that the fog had lifted from the morning, we saw that the width of the river was only a few hundred yards. We hadn’t been able to see anything earlier. We got on the boats and went upriver to a funeral site. There were at least 8 bodies burning, and a few more that were lit as we watched. It is very holy to be cremated by the Ganges, and even others have their ashes dumped into a river that flows into the Ganges. Hindus believe that if their ashes can be placed in the Ganges they will be released from the cycle of birth and rebirth and their soul will be able to rest in peace. After sunset, we came back to our starting place for the evening ceremony. This has been done daily for the last 2800 years. There were thousands of observers, not only on the steps, but also the tourists and Indians in boats. They started with blowing of conch shells (“Tekiah”), and then had incense and fiery incantations with multiple bells continually ringing. It was a very impressive show.

After the ceremony we were back on our bicycle rickshaws to get back to the bus. Now there was really a huge night market going on, not only on a few streets as we had seen in Taiwan, but entire neighborhoods. Everybody was on the street and every store was open and everyone was shopping. Again, seeing traffic at this level was enough to make me break out the nitro. Earplugs would have helped, also, as you don’t drive anything here without leaning on the horn. I did see one sign that said “No Horns”, which I thought was a big joke.

Friday to Varanasi

A very late start today as we had a 11:00 plane to Varanasi. Ann got her outfit which actually looks nice. But then it turned into a 1:00 plane. We took off finally at 3:15. It was a short flight of only 45 minutes. It did, however, take 10 minutes longer as the pilot seemed to overshoot the runway as we were landing, and pulled up to circle around and do it again. They said there were “birds on the runway”, but we weren’t so sure.


Because we got in so late, we will not do the river cruise for sunset on the Ganges tonight, but will do it at the end of the day tomorrow. This does seem like a cleaner city than the rest of India. There is still some trash in the street, but significantly less so. However, it doesn’t make the air any cleaner.

Thursday Night Dancing

A dancing show tonight of local folk dances by “professional dancers” in quaint native costumes.  I had a reasonable nap, and Ann enjoyed it.  While waiting for dinner, Ann wandered into a fabric shop in the lobby of the hotel.  Now we have a new outfit being made overnight for delivery in the morning.

Khajuraho & The Kama Sutra

Easy morning to the temples at Khajuraho. The eastern part of the city has a number of Jainist temples. Jainism is an outgrowth of Hinduism. Even though they have no deity, they respect and honor the Hindu gods. The Jains have had 24 Prophets who they revere. They wish no harm to any living thing, so not only are they vegetarians, they eat no root vegetables, so as to not injure any ants or other living thing by pulling out a root.

Then to the western side, which was more concentrated on Hinduism. This aspect of Hinduism respects the ascent to Nirvana through love and physical union. The temples were beautifully constructed, with multiple intricate friezes indicating people in many aspects of life, including sexual positions. We will not post photos that may get us banned from Blogspot, but we can share photos with anyone who asks at an appropriate time.

The other thing I have been doing is watching television here in India. Not just any television, but the national sport here, Cricket. I can’t say I fully understand this game, but it certainly is getting closer. There is a series of 1 day matches between Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Britain and others. The scoring is weird, with a lot of offense and very little defense. The fielders do not use gloves to catch, and batters keep hitting and hitting. An “out” is relatively rare.

-One of the things that has been an ongoing source of discussion on this trip is trash which is everywhere on the streets in India Whether in Dehli or driving through rural towns and areas, the trash has been everywhere and pigs, cows, dogs and other animals are often in the middle of the trash piles picking through them. Even at the fancy hotels, the trash is not kept in dumpsters. I was walking the property of our Taj Hotel in Ranthambhore the other day and ended up behind the area designated for the public and came upon the area where the trash is kept. It is just dumped in an open area with a concrete wall only on one side. As I approached the area, a dozen monkeys appeared and stopped rifling through the trash to gawk at me. It was quite amusing to see them sit on the wall with their legs and arms crossed in front of them trying to figure out who or what I was. But, the real point of all of this, apart from the cute monkeys, is that there does not appear to be an effective system of trash containment and removal. The actual grounds of the Taj Mahal and those of the Khajuraho temples were absolutely pristine, but the areas surrounding them still had plenty of trash. Khajuraho has been cleaner than most other places we have visited, but not up to the kind of cleanliness we take for granted at home. AHS

Wednesday -> On the Road Again

First a 2 hour train ride from Agra to Jhainsi, where we loaded into a new bus for more driving. Other than watching the monkeys, rats and other critters on the track as we were waiting, there was not much to report. We have been impressed not only by the numbers of beggars, but by the physical maladies they have. There are a lot of amputees here. There are a lot of people who have other physical malformations. There are too many to be as a result of infamy a la Slumdog Millionaire, but I don’t know.


The bus took us to the little town of Orchho, where there are shrines to various maharajas. The river there is mystical. While there, we watched a parade of worshippers on their way to the river for a ceremony. On our way out of town, the air conditioning stops and smoke began to pour from the bottom of the bus. We stopped and the driver and bus boy determined that the belt had broken. We had a choice of going back to Jhansi or proceeding, and we decided to push on. So we got more of a taste of Indian life by driving the next 2 ½ hours to a rest stop without air conditioning. The day was warm, but not too hot, so it really wasn’t too unpleasant. The problem was the patches of unpaved/minimally paved road where the bus put up huge dust clouds. All we really needed to approximate an Indian bus ride was an additional 100 people on the bus. Their busses are Very crowded. People are often sitting on top as there is no room to stand inside.

At the rest stop, the driver and busboy took to changing the belt for the air conditioner. It took an hour, and I was impressed that the a/c motor was held in place and the belt was tightened by a connector very similar to what I use in the OR for an External Fixator device. Mechanics is mechanics….

We piled back on to the now-air conditioned bus for another 5 hours to Khajuraho. This is a place that Paul has not seen, and he is jealous.

Agra Tuesday

Up before dawn to go to the Taj Mahal for sunrise. Some of the women had dressed in their Saris for the occasion, but Hillary had her Sari pulled by a particularly aggressive monkey! We had to go through somewhat of a stringent security check (women on the left, men on the right), but given the history of the Mumbai attacks and the obvious PR value if an attack could actually be carried out, I understood. The sun was just coming up as we entered the gate, but the air was hazy, and we never got a great glow on the building. It wasn’t as much of a letdown as climbing Masada before dawn to a cloudy day, however. There was a large outer gate and then we entered onto the grounds of the Taj itself. It is truly spectacular. All in white marble, it dominates everything around it. Built by Shah Jahan between 1631 and 1653 as a mausoleum to his wife, Mumtaz, who had died in childbirth for their 14th child (only a few of whom had survived). He was so stricken that he built this in her memory. There were 20,000 people working on the project. Its interior marble and inlays were spectacular with breathtaking detail. We took all the usual pictures, with people in and out of the picture, water reflections, etc. Of course, people were trying to make a Rupee or 2 by taking our pictures and finding us later to sell the pictures (for only 100 Rupees - $2) or show us where the best shots could be taken. There was also a mosque on one side with a mirror image building on the other side, just for the symmetry of it all.


We went from there to the “Baby Taj”, or the Itimad-Ul-Daulah. This is the mausoleum to Mumtaz’s grandfather, who had come from Persia. He had been Prime Minister to an earlier Mughal emperor. The inlaid marble here was also fascinating, and there were rooms for the whole family, including brothers, wives, nieces and nephews. I think there were 12 in all. It was built in the 1620’s, 10-15 years before the Taj.

Lunch was in a private home of a local gem merchant and antiques dealer, Vrakash Lall and his wife, Nighi. Similar to the author of “India Calling”, he was born here but raised in New York. He returned in 1992 to go into the family business. The house has been in his family for about 100 years or more, as it was originally owned by his great grandfather. The property has since been subdivided, but only to cousins, who have houses next door and in the back. He and his wife had an arranged marriage, after the families agreed that it would be a good match. It was only then that they met and had a few meetings to see if the might be compatible. She said that either could have said no with no loss of face, but I’m not really sure of that. She said it was certainly preferable to a “love marriage”. She proceeded to give us a cooking demonstration of making Puri (a type of bread), Paneer (home made cottage cheese similar to Ricotta) and Kassa Paneer, a tomato based sauce with the paneer and lots of wonderful spices – ginger, cardamom, cumin, coriander, turmeric and others- which was served with the Puri. Very tasty. The rest of lunch was lots of other veggies. She and Ann exchanged cauliflower recipes.

We passed on the marble factory and store.

Tomorrow, we have a 2 ½ hour train to lunch, followed by a 4 hour bus. Blecch. We are going, however, south along the Yamuna River to the state of Madhya Pradesh and the city of Khajuraho: the city of temples devoted to Kama Sutra.

-While Steve was catching up on the blog, I went shopping with the two couples - Ed and Fran & Sal and Edie that we have been hanging out with. We had been told earlier in the day by our tour guide that the best place to walk was down the street to the right of our hotel. After stopping to check out the first store, we headed down the street. What an unmitigated disaster trying to even get a block away. There is precious little room between where the cars, pedicabs and motorcycles drive, the cows and water buffalo walk and where pedestrians might be able to make their way. We walked as far from the road as possible, walking in and out of parked cars, single file, but one of the pedicab drivers kept following us to try to get us in his vehicle. It wasn’t enough to follow us in his pedicab, every couple of feet, he got out of his vehicle to bother us again. In addition, the incessant honking and smells of cow shit were enough to do me in. I was reminded of the continually playing video of Mumbai traffic that surrounded the India crafts exhibit at the Kenned y Center last march. It was truly accurate! We finally turned around and headed back to the quiet of the hotel, and sure enough the same pedicab driver turned around as well and continued to harass us. We did not get rid of him until we turned into the gate of our hotel. So much for checking out the streets of Agra! AHS

The other medical thing to report is the cold going around the group. Ann is now the one with the sniffles, having gone through 4 boxes of Kleenex today! She is impressing everyone with her sneezes, but I am used to it.  I suppose I'll be the next with the cold.

Monday to Agra

Another 4 1/2 hour bus ride to Agra. We have left the State of Rajasthan, and have moved on to Uttar Pradesh, somewhat to the east. This seems also to be an agricultural area, but perhaps less prosperous. The towns we pass through along the road seem to have less “oomph’, if that’s possible. We got to Agra which is a more major city, but still not among the biggest in India. Think Baltimore or Cleveland. Still, it’s 3 ½ million people.

We stopped at the hotel and then back on the bus to the Agra Fort. This was built beginning in 1565 by the Moghul emperors, starting with Akhbar and then by his grandson, Shah Jahan. It was also a palace of palatial proportions. The problem was, due to palace intrigue, Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal, was eventually imprisoned there by his younger son, Aurangzeb, who had usurped power by beheading his older brother and killing his nephew in order to seize power. Other than that, it was a nice place. There was a wonderful view of the Taj Mahal, about a mile down the river. We were there as the sun was setting, and the pink colors were wonderful.


We went out after we got back to go to the ATM. On this tour, this becomes a major production, as they really didn’t want us walking the roads. So the bus drove us 2 blocks to an ATM and the bus driver and bus boy were waiting for us. Of course, this is India, so the ATM only worked for one of the 4 of us. The machines are in Hindi or English, so there was no real explanation of why we were rejected. We walked around the corner to try a different machine where another 2 of us were successful. Poor John, who couldn’t get his card to work. He took the bus back, and Sheldon & Ed & I decided to walk back to the hotel. Sheldon had to buy some batteries for his camera, but they wanted an exorbitant price and wouldn’t bargain. We walked back the 2 blocks, dodging bicycles, motorcycles, the occasional cow, and cars going both ways on the same side of the street. It was what I would have expected from India, but Ed felt we had taken his life in our hands. C’est la guerre.

Sunday to Dera Village

Another 4 ½ hour bus ride.  However, I lied before when I said the previous roads were terrible.  This was the worst, for about 1 hour, it was nothing but ruts, sand, dust and the crazy traffic.  We finally got onto a real highway for about another hour, then got off again to go onto worse and worse roads.  When the road stopped, we climbed out and got into jeeps to go on the dirt road for about 2 miles to a little village in the middle of nowhere.  They have a “resort” here for us of little cabins.  The first one we went into had an overwhelming odor of fumigation.  I almost barfed.  We moved to another cabin where the smell is only slightly obnoxious.  After an afternoon on the lawn playing Cricket and having tea, we took a camel ride to a tiny village.  There are 12 families in the village with what looked like 1 house with electricity.  There were about 100 people and lots of goats, cows, and a few chickens.  The men greeted us with a ceremony with music and dancing.  He got us up to dance and proceeded to do what most of us thought was a hora.  We went in a circle holding hands, and then went to the center.  If they had put someone on a chair, I would have thought we had found a lost tribe.  They showed us the houses and the women preparing the food.  The women were crushing peppers and garlic and basil by hand on a stone.  By and large, they were friendly and smiling, but the young girls were somewhat reluctant.

Ranthambhore Saturday – Still on the Tiger Hunt

We were up early to go back to the park. I had texted an early Shabbat greeting to our kids (6:00am Saturday here, 4:30pm Friday West coast, 7:30 pm East Coast). Paul texted back, “May Shiva bless you and keep you; May Vishnu shine his countenance upon you; and May Ganesh bless you and grant you peace.”


Our crowd is thinning, as some have Delhi Belly, and some don’t like the bouncy jarring nature of the jeep ride. Our naturalist described it as a “complimentary massage”. This time, the park police actually checked our passports to be sure they knew who was going in. I’m not exactly sure why, but that is what they do here. Of course, more hawkers at the gate while we waited. We went to a different area of the park this morning. Again, we saw a number of species including more monkeys, deer and peacocks. We saw a fairly fresh tiger paw print in the dust of the road, but still no tiger. We did get a somewhat slow start into the park, as our Trip Guide, Ritu, had an asthma attack on the way in, and we had to backtrack to get her out. There are 2 other docs on the trip, one with an epi pen, so I just showed up for moral support. WTF do I know about asthma, anyway??? I am really hoping to see a real tiger here, not just on a tshirt.

Breakfast was late after our return, and then the women went into town for more shopping. I can pass on that. We have a few hours until lunch, and then for our final foray into the park.

The third trip into the park was more of the same. We saw no tiger. We saw no tiger tracks or droppings. One of the guides showed us a video he took of the tiger killing a baby deer. Oh well. We saw lots of monkeys and monkey babies. There is a talk tonight about tigers. If I know anything about this country, they will try to sell us the video afterwards. But, I suppose, it’s no worse than PBS.

At dinner, other groups told us of their wonderful tiger sightings. The tiger sat in the middle of the road for them. The tiger walked around. She did almost everything except sing and dance. What she didn’t do is read her schedule and know to come to the areas where other groups were. I dunno, these tigers need better training.

Ranthambhore –Friday – Tiger Hunting

We piled on the bus this morning for a drive to the tiger preserve at Ranthambhore. By the map, it’s about 100 miles. It took us 5 hours. Welcome to India. The “highway” was 2 lanes at best, but this time with goat jams instead of camel jams. The road itself would rate as a “back road” at home, often not paved for ¼ mile or more.


We made our way through the town of Sawai Madhopur to our lodge. This, of course, is a world apart from what is inside our gate. Quiet, grass, palm trees, etc. Here in India, WE are the 1%. We are probably the 0.1% After lunch, we piled into large jeeps and went into the park. The Government has strict controls of who goes in, and they required us to carry our passports. We had to sign a waiver (for damages/tiger injuries/ etc.) before they would let us in. I commented to our group that if we were being chased by a tiger, the tip was not necessarily to outrun the tiger, but to outrun your buddy.

The park itself is the remnant of an old fort and then a Maharajah’s hunting ground. We went through the gates, and it became green again. Ann noticed there was no trash, either. There was the remnants of an old mosque from the 1500’s that had never been rebuilt or completely destroyed. We came upon a crocodile first, snoozing in the sun. Then came the Langur monkeys hanging out to look at us as we looked at them. As we got further into the park, we saw Kingfisher birds, Sandpipers, spotted deer, Sambur Deer and others. Did we see a tiger? Well, no actually. The guides say that they listen to the sounds of the other animals to listen for “warning noises” that they use to warn each other. There may have been a tiger in the area, but not right where we were. It was interesting when they stopped the jeep and the guides told everyone to be silent, while we waited. All we heard was the noises of the jungle environment. Sometimes we heard the warning call, and the herd would scatter a little, but no tiger. After a while we moved on and did it again, but still no luck. We have two more forays into the park tomorrow, so we’ll see. One of the other groups had seen a tiger this morning, so there is no truth to the rumor that this is a big scam.

Dinner was more Indian food. It does get a little monotonous. I could kill for a burger. When I was sick back in Jaipur, I made the mistake of asking for plain sautéed chicken. They had no idea what I was talking about. When I mentioned at the reception desk at checkout that perhaps they could learn to cater to western stomachs for a very common problem, they thought I was making a real complaint and worried that I wasn’t satisfied and even got a manager to speak with me. It wasn’t worth the trouble to bring it up. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

-I actually don’t share Steve’s frustration with the food and have been quite enjoying it. The vegetarian options are delicious and the lack of meat at some meals doesn’t bother me in the least. In Delhi and Jaipur, we had a variety of delicious cauliflower, okra and eggplant dishes. Pushkar was entirely vegetarian so Steve wasn’t too happy. Here in Ranthambhore, there have been meat dishes at every meal in addition to the vegetarian ones. The cauliflower has been replaced by a variety of potato dishes and there continue to be very good eggplant and okra dishes. So far, we have been traveling in Delhi (which is its own state and the state of Rajisthan. It will be interesting to see how the food changes when we visit other areas of the country. AHS

Walking back to our room at this lodge brought back feelings of Maine. The air is cool, the trees give off a great scent (not incense), and the sky is cloudless with a big bright moon. That is, until the bugs started getting to me. Well, maybe that’s Maine, too. I have since moved inside.

Jaipur Dinner

I just returned from our group dinner with a Jaipur family. We ate in the family’s home which is a regal three story structure which they have been occupying continuously since 1752. Currently 21 family members occupy the multigenerational home, with each portion of the family occupying its own so called “apartment”. An apartment is basically a bedroom with a sitting area. The family eats communally in the common dining room. There are no separate kitchen facilities for any of the nuclear families that live in the home. On the walls of the living room are photos dating back generations, illustrating the family’s important relationship with the Maharaja (King) of Jaipur. According to the patriarch of the family, prior to India’s independence, the family served as feudal lords to the Maharaja. When the maharajas lost their power at the time of India’s independence so too did the feudal lords. After that time, all they had left was the house which they continue to occupy. We were given a tour of several of the apartments and of the public meeting room where the head of the family would hear grievances from the members of the community. After the tour, we sat down for dinner accompanied by a daughter of the family and a daughter in law. The daughter of the house , who is 27, was visiting from a town about 6 hours away. She had been married almost a year ago and had gone to live with her husband and his family. At dinner she told us that hers had been an arranged marriage.


Prior to the tour we were served coke and several small hors d’oeurves. Dinner was a typical Indian dinner with a spicy chicken in curry, mustard greens, rice and roti.

A story we had heard earlier at the City Palace, one of the palaces of the Maharaja of Jaipur, intersected with our evening with the aristocratic family. The second to last Maharaja never fathered any children with his queens even though he did father over 60 children with his concubines. His astrologer had told him that if he bore any children with his queens, he would die at the hands of one of those children. Consequently, there were no heirs to the throne. He adopted a boy from an aristocratic family who became the next and last Maharaja. That Maharaja who was kwon as the “Polo King”, as he was an excellent polo player, was a cousin of the gentleman who hosted us in his home in Jaipur.

Jaipur Thursday

Somewhat of a lost day. I woke up not feeling well, and let the group go on without me. Ann will fill in the details of what they did later. I spent my morning sleeping, vegetating, and generally doing nothing useful. I tied to sit in the lobby to read, but a) it was cold, and b) they have an overpowering sandalwood or other incense smell in there, and I couldn’t stand it in my weakened state.


I tried to sit outside on the veranda, but some other tour group was having an event with a marching band and elephant polo. There was an MC who was loud and had a microphone.

I slept for a while, but got too cold there, also, despite the temperature set at 24(75F). I guess I could have set it higher, but Ann would be stifling when she got back. Bah. It looks as if I will not be going out this afternoon, either. Tonight is another “home hospitality” visit. We’ll see if I’m up for that.

So I get to be the “official “ trip blogger today.. We took off by bus this a.m. – no camels or elephants today – to see Birla Temple, a Hindu temple that was built in 1985 by the Birla family, a one of the very wealthy and well established Indian family – Ghandi was living at one of the Birla family homes in Delhi when he was assassinated.

Before we went into the temple, Ritu, our tour guide, gave us a brush up on Hindu theology. Although I thought that Hinduism is a polytheistic religion. I apparently was incorrect. It is based on one god, Paramahtma, which means supreme soul. (Mohandas Ghandi came to be known and revered as Mahtma Ghandi). Below Paramahtma is a trinity of male gods (Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the preserver; and Shiva the destroyer) and a trinity of female gods (Kali, Saraswai and Lakshmi) who were sent down to create the universe. Although Shiva is thought of as the destroyer, he has a much broader role than just causing destruction. Since the Hindu’s believe in reincarnation, Shiva plays a very important role in keeping balance in the universe by causing living things to die so they can be reincarnated and life can continue in its natural cycle of birth death and rebirth. The Birla Temple is dedicated to Shiva and Kali. There is a sculpture of Shiva outside of the temple and large “dressed” sculptures of Shiva and Kali on the front altar of the Temple. The altar has doors at the front of it which may be opened or closed. Ritu explained that the Shiva and Kali are awakened each morning and dressed in their finery. They each had on beautiful jeweled robes and head dresses. They are “fed” – given offerings by worshippers – and all of the extra food is then given to the poor. At night, they are undressed .

Birla Temple was created with an ecumenical purpose. The Birlas wanted to promote tolerance among different religious groups and acceptance of a wide range of ideas. To that end, there are sculptures of Copernicus, Socrates, Jesus, Moses and Mohammad on the outside columns of the temple.

From the Birla Temple, we headed to a paper factory where paper is made from textile waste. No trees are used in the process. Stores like Home Goods and Barnes and Noble are customers . One of the things we watched being processed was nesting boxes that are destined for Home Goods. I even got a picture of the bar coded price tag with the Home Goods insignia on the box. And of course it stated the original price of the item and the discounted price. I asked our store guide whether she was a manager of production and she relayed that she was not. Her job was to guide the 5-6 tour groups a day which tour the facility. She also shared that the worker earn between 150-300 rupees ($3-$6) per day. We then were guided into the shop where we were able to purchase hand-made paper items such as the package of 6 note cards and envelopes for 100 rupees ($2).

Our next stop was the Blue Pottery Shop where we were given a demonstration how pottery is made which was just like the demonstration Ellen and I had seen in Morocco. We also got another demonstration of block printing on fabric, for which the Indians are very well known. Then on to the shop connected with the operation for more shopping where I bought an Indian top which Steve commented looks hippyish when he saw it.

At that point we had the choice to return to the hotel or have an hour shopping in the local bazaar. I opted for shopping with the two California couples we have been hanging out with. Edie, Fran and I decided that there are strength in numbers and we had a great time bargaining for scarves and buying bangles together. Always the negotiator, I was able to get the vendor to come down almost 50% on his originally quoted price on the scarves. –AHS

So everybody is out for dinner and I am left behind trying to get better. There are 1 or 2 others who are in the same situation as me. Rice & toast for dinner…

Tomorrow is a 4 hour bus the Ranthambore National Park for tiger hunting/photos. I’m told there are only 38 tigers in the park, so we’ll see if there is any actual viewing. Internet access may be spotty, so bear with us until perhaps the 14th when we get to Agra.

-I just returned from our group dinner with a Jaipur family. We ate in the family’s home which is a regal three story structure which they have been occupying continuously since 1752. Currently 21 family members occupy the multigenerational home, with each portion of the family occupying its own so called “apartment”. An apartment is basically a bedroom with a sitting area. The family eats communally in the common dining room. There are no separate kitchen facilities for any of the nuclear families that live in the home. On the walls of the living room are photos dating back generations, illustrating the family’s important relationship with the Maharaja (King) of Jaipur. According to the patriarch of the family, prior to India’s independence, the family served as feudal lords to the Maharaja. When the maharajas lost their power at the time of India’s independence so too did the feudal lords. After that time, all they had left was the house which they continue to occupy. We were given a tour of several of the apartments and of the public meeting room where the head of the family would hear grievances from the members of the community. After the tour, we sat down for dinner accompanied by a daughter of the family and a daughter in law. More details about the dinner to be continued later. AHS

Jaipur Wednesday

We started the day with an elephant ride to the top of the Amer (or Amber) fort. This was built between the 13th & 15th centuries. The palace itself was completed in 1599 by Rajah Man Singh. There was a huge line waiting for the elephants. So, of course, the hawkers were out in abundance. A few Tshirts and tchotchkes later, we were on the elephants. Of course, then there were more hawkers taking our pictures, who would meet us at the end of the tour. The fort itself was impressive, with ornate marble and red sandstone entryways, public spaces with columns of elephants and lotus flowers, etc. There were beautiful interior gardens, and a “Hall of Mirrors” which was a pavilion lined with multiple mirrors and gold. Impressive.

We came upon a snake charmer who was coaxing a cobra up and out of his nest. He asked for volunteers, and, of course, I was there. I held the cobra and played with it. [Note to Harry: Doc says you’re gonna die!] There was an even older fort highter on the mountain that we didn’t get to. More hawkers on the way down, including our photo friends. 200 Rupees ($4.00) for 10 pictures isn’t too bad.

Then to a gem “demonstration” and more shopping. Many of the guys and I were getting tired of this stuff. After a little while, I excused myself and walked out into the neighborhood. Talk about Hotel Aroma! Again many of the kids wanted to say hi and have their pictures taken. Then, after I took some pictures of some cute kids, their older brother came out. He was perhaps 9, but probably spoke the best English of the family. Of course, he demanded money for the photo. I refused and walked away, but he followed me. Finally, when I turned in to the gem factory store, he couldn’t follow.

Then to the center city palace of Jaipur. This was the palace of the Maharajah with some unbelievable peacock painted doorways. Amazingly, much of it has NOT been restored, but still retains a wonderful color. Why? Because, instead of regular paint, they used the grindings of precious and semi-precious stones to prepare the pigments. Still vibrant after 200+ years. We went into the inner sanctum (but were not allowed to take pictures) with gold and silver paint on the walls, solid silver and gold thrones, and marvelous cloaks and distinctive dress on display.

The Maharajah had a keen interest in science, astronomy and astrology. He built an observatory with the largest sundial in the world (accurate to 2 seconds) and many other larger than life instruments for astrological research. I didn’t follow all the science (I had gotten somewhat confused even at Greenwich) and had a harder time with the accent of our scientific guide.

Back to the hotel for a little birthday celebration for Martha on our tour, then Ann and I went “Peacock hunting”. The peacocks were somewhat shy, but we took pictures of a few.

Dinner on our own. I would have liked to go out, but Ann didn’t want to chance a problem with her stomach. Also, one of the other couples e had met, Sal and Edie, had had a little problem as well, so we decided to stay at the hotel and eat at the “fine” restaurant. We had 7 altogether, as we also were with Sal & Edie’s good friends, Ed and Fran, and we invited Ritu to be our guest. As the native speaker, Ritu basically ordered for us and we all shared. We had chicken, mutton, veggies and prawns and dal. The prawns were supposed to be “spicy”, but it really wasn’t much. [Sorry Harry, too many people asked about the food] Ritu spoke of her childhood in the Himalayas, and how her family’s lives have changed over the years. It was fascinating to hear her perspectives. When the bill came, there was a 3% service tax, 2 types of education tax, 14% VAT on food, 15% VAT on beverages and an additional 20% VAT on alcohol. Is this what we are coming to???

Jaipur Tuesday

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving around Jaipur. We seem to be in this insulated little bubble, and aren’t getting into the heart of city life. We drove through the old walled part of town, and saw the old pink walls of the terra cotta buildings. This is the “Pink City”, but it was somewhat hard to see from up close. No views from a mountaintop. They took us to a rug factory where we had a demonstration of rug making for 10-15 minutes, and then we were ushered into the shop. The prices were very good for the rugs, and lots of purchases were made, but then there was shop for clothing and silk items. This can get tiresome. I understand some people travel to shop, but there are some who travel to meet and greet the people and get more of the essence of a country. Our guide, Ritu, sensed that and has offered to modify the program for Wednesday for those who don’t want to spend their time shopping. This actually is the first time I’ve seen a guide do this, so I am very impressed by her.

Pushkar to Jaipur – Tuesday

Monday afternoon, some went back to the fair; my lungs couldn’t take it and I stayed back. Ann went to take more camel and sunset pictures. Dinner, after a short earring misadventure, was more veggies. Saffron rice, Sukhi Bhindi (crispy fried okra), Paneer Lavabdar (fried “cottage cheese” in a tomato soup/sauce), Aloo Matar Sukha(potatoes and peas) and Chola Magala(chick peas), all in various sauces. Desert was my favorite: Gulab Jahun(fried whey balls in a sugary syrup). Sounds worse than it is, but it really is good. These had some pistachios in the center for an added surprise.


A difficult night as Ann had “Delhi Belly”. Better now but still a little tentative.

Tuesday has been a 4 hour drive to Jaipur. There were a few “camel jams” to deal with and the occasional goat herd. Once we were on the road, it was better. Stopping for a rest stop was interesting/scary. Here we are on a 6 lane highway. The bus pulls to the narrow middle and makes a U turn, and crosses the 3 lanes of traffic to pull into the rest stop. On our way back, he travels the wrong way on the shoulder to the turn, cuts across the 3 lanes, and then back into our original travel lanes. Only in India.

We arrived in Jaipur to the Jai Mahal Palace hotel. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan. The hotel was originally a palace of the Maharajah in 1745, and became the abode of the Prime Minister of Rajasthan in the 1860s. The grounds are immaculate gardens, with a huge chess set on the veranda. The pieces are Indian. Perhaps someone will play, although I notice that they really don't know how to set up the pieces correctly. Our lunch here was more of the same, but at least they offered Mutton Saagwala and a curried chicken. The desert included Gajur Ka Halma, a concoction of carrots cooked in milk and butter and then sweetened. Not my favorite, but a bunch of our people liked it.

Pushkar Monday

A restful night (not) as the fair is actually religious festival also, so they were singing most of the night over the loudspeakers at the campsite next door. I finally got to sleep at about 2:30 or so. This morning we went back to the fair to walk around. Camels, pigs, horses, more camels. Most of the camels were dressed for the festival, with colorful beads and scarves. We walked through the town down to the lake where the religious festival was actually taking place. Hundreds of people bathing in the water, blessing others, getting blessed. A few of our group went down to the water. We weren’t supposed to be taking pictures, but one tourist, an Italian, continued to ignore the pleadings of the guides, watchmen, and everyone to stop. I didn’t wait, but I expected his camera to have an “accident”. At least it wasn’t an ugly American. I wonder what he would have said if someone came into his church on Sunday snapping pictures.


The barkers are relentless. Everyone is trying to sell you trinkets. “No” doesn’t seem to help. Sometimes “Go Away” works. The kid who got me last night happened to show up again, and continued to bother me. At least this time, I got his name (Ali) and his picture. One of the guys in our group began to counter them by trying to sell the trinkets he had bought back to them. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not.

Walking the streets, we came upon our first monkey. Paul had said they were plentiful, but I haven’t spotted too many. We also came across a pig munching on the garbage. He was having a grand time, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant. Near there was a sign for the “Hotel Aroma” which, in that situation, didn’t exactly have the correct connotations!!! There was a booth for the Rajasthan Department of Herbal & Natural Medicine. Outreach is outreach. I wonder if they are Tweeting, also. Maybe I can write this trip off.

We went to the stadium where various events were taking place. We missed the mustache competition, but saw the dancing and turban tying. My “friend”, Ali showed up again and tried to sell me. One of our group, Sal, took some pictures of some musicians, and everybody demanded money from him. After he had exhausted the $5 he was carrying, there was a spirited discussion as to everybody else’s take.

On a more philosophical note, I just finished a book “India Calling” by Anand Giridhara. He is an Indian American, born in the US, who goes back to the motherland to re-discover his roots. He speaks extensively of the Indian culture of family and how stifling it can be, but also so warm and comforting. He explores the changing culture of India as it becomes more westernized and middle class. In many ways, I recognized the dilemmas, as he could have been describing American Jews (and probably many other immigrant cultures). And, he was describing America, also.

The middle class… had shifted its loyalties from an ideology that attended to the poor to one that served only themselves: they conceived themselves now as poorer versions of the fortunate, no longer as fortunate versions of the poor.

This struck a nerve with me as a good metaphor for current day politics in America. The New Deal has morphed into the Contract with America and No Tax Pledges. My Rabbi, Dan Zemel, once gave a sermon about how every people needs a story to tell. As the story changes, so do the people and the society. Our story is changing, and I’m not sure it’s for the better.

Pushkar Sunday

The train ride was 6 hours. - Although there was much poverty and lots of trash, we did come upon several more prosperous towns including Alwal and Ajmer. AHS - Despite my son’s love of long train and/or bus rides, it was not the most thrilling. The landscape is bleak, with a few areas that look a little more lush. The air smells of burning stuff. We arrived in Ajmer, the main town near Pushkar. Near bedlam at the train station, but I suppose this was status quo. We piled into waiting cars, and it took another 20 minutes to exit the parking lot. Again, traffic rules must be for other people, as cars were trying to travel in every direction at once. We had another half an hour or so to get to Pushkar and then to our campsite.


The site is unreal. The tent we are in is bigger than our bedroom. They have installed running water and even a bathroom with a shower as a part of the tent. There are multiple flaps, and electric lights. It was deadly hot as we arrived, but it has cooled off a little.

We assembled at the front and climbed into camel carts to go to the fair. Laying down on a flat cart was not easy. My back was protesting by the end, and many of the other people had similar experiences. We went over to the site of the fair and drove around in the camel cart. Think of a huge County fair or State fair with camels instead of cows chickens and pigs. There is a midway with a Ferris wheel and other rides. - But unlike, our county fairs, there were encampments of gypsies throughout the camp grounds. According to our guide, the gypsies are thought to be Roma that migrated from Romania, and that theory is bolstered by the fact that many have green eyes, which Indians typically do not. AHS - Kids hawking everything, and they are VERY persistent. One latched onto me and wouldn’t go until I finally bought some bangles from him. 11 for $20 was not a great price, but not terrible. He had started at 1 for $20. There were actually 12 bangles, but one dropped from the camel cart on our way out, and we did not bother to go back to get it. Once the rest of the kids found out there was a buyer in the crowd, they wouldn’t leave me alone. We did get to see the camels and more camels and more camels. The sun was setting and we got some good pictures. One advantage of the haze is it makes the sunset prettier. My lungs might not survive the smoke, however. I’m told the smoke comes from burning camel dung. Lovely.

The food is interesting. There is something about this district that is holy, so no meat is allowed to be served. Ann is in heaven, but I am craving some meatballs. Even so, it is plentiful and reasonable tasty. Tonight there was some cauliflower and potato curry, Okra and onions and tomatoes, and a bunch of different bean dishes from the local area, Rajasthan, including some fried beans. Desert was a type of rice pudding and honey-soaked fried dough in a pretzel shape. Maybe next time I’ll bring my notebook and write down the actual names.

Sunday, on the Train to Pushkar

Dinner was fun. The Odyssey company arranges home visits for travelers. There were 7 of us at the home of Anjuli, a 50-something manager of a bridal store. As we sat down and exchanged pleasantries, out came an 80-something distinguished looking gentleman, her father in law. He proceeded into a monologue and to regale us with stories of his past. He had grown up in a real estate family in north western India under the British, and the Hindu family had found themselves on the wrong side of the border at Partition in 1947. They had left everything behind in what was to become Pakistan and moved to Delhi to rebuild. He had gone into some kind of economics or accounting, and had worked for years for the Ford Foundation at various places around the globe. He had been able to invest in real estate and had done well. They owned the land in their development (called an Enclave) and the 3 story building with a flat on each level. Various family members lived up and down, and they had 12 in help. He waxed and waned about the state of affairs in India and the world, and India’s growing economic power. And, oh, there was dinner, too. Prior to dinner we had a fried potato, something like a latke, but smoother in consistency. Dinner was Chicken Biryani with rice, Roti, Dal (a yellow lentil), Paneer (a type fried cottage cheese), Okra sautéed with tomato, onions and some spices. Desert was leftover sweets from a wedding of her niece from the previous day. None of it was very spicy, as I’m sure the company had advised her to keep it bland for our American tastes. Other groups had similar experiences, with one going to the home of a cooking teacher who made them hand made chocolate.


We were up before dawn, and really got moving by a few minutes after 5. Our guide, Ritu, congratulated us, as few groups really are that prompt. A bus to the train station which only had 10 thousand people or so milling around. Ritu said this wasn’t too crowded. As in Bollywood movies, we half expected a dance routine to break out at any moment. The First Class car we are in looks like something out of the 60’s, with airplane-type seating and little drapes over the windows. The porter came around to give us tea, juice, newspapers, etc. The air outside is still gray and smelling of burning. The landscape so far is mostly filled with trash and tent cities and abject poverty for much of the 6 hour train.

Saturday Tours -

We started with the Shah Jahan Mosque.  This was built after this particular Shah conquered from Agra in 1635.  It was completed in 1650.  It is an unusual mosque in that it is completely open air.  There was only a small covered area.  In one corner is a shrine to Mohammed, where relics are kept, including a strand from his beard.  Maybe a toenail, too.  Inscribed on the walls is a long history written in Urdu.  Urdu is a language that is a combination of Persian/Farsi and Hindi, with essentially an Arabic script.  Sorta like Spanglish or Yiddish, I suppose.  We had to walk around this place in our socks, which wasn’t exactly fun, since the Muslims feed the pigeons and there was bird poop all over.  The other docs on the tour and I questioned the lung status of the locals, but figured there were other things to get them first before beryliosis.  Again the air was so smoggy, my eyes burned.

We exited the mosque and piled into pedicabs to take us through the narrow, teeming streets of old Delhi.  Walking and interacting would have been more fun, but that is not the nature of this type of tour.  So we went in a large circle, gawking the natives, and them gawking us.

We climbed back onto the bus to go to Raj Ghat, Ghandi’s Cremation Site.  There were literally hundreds of kids, all in school uniforms, marching up to the site.  That’s where the nature of the Indian people comes out.  All the kids were mugging for the camera, saying hi, and wanting their pictures taken.  Even some of the other tourists got into the act.  Ann took a picture of some Japanese girls, and I took a picture of an Iranian family (with a kid that could have passed for Yoda) and then the Iranians and the Japanese wanted their pictures taken together, and then with us.  Cross cultural fun. 

Off then to the National Museum.  This had artifacts from the earliest civilizations in India, the Harappans, who lived on the banks of the Indus River beginning in about 2500BCE.  This was a very advanced civilization with large cities of brick buildings.  There is no record of much earlier civilizations, but these cities seemed to spring up from relative nothingness.  There are writings that no one has been able to translate yet, as there is no Rosetta Stone.  The Aryans invaded from Central & Western Asia in about 1500.  They brought a new set of gods(Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) and stories (including the epics, Mahabarata and Ramayana) which became the basis for Hinduism.  The artifacts were just “OK”.  Again, there were literally hundreds of school kids marching through, not looking at anything, and mugging for the cameras.   I commented that the Chinese were better artists and artisans during this same period, and their preservation and presentation is much better.  However, there may be a much better collection in the British Museum.  Aah, colonialism.

On our way back to our hotel in the “Diplomatic Enclave”, we passed the “Embassy of the State of Palestine”.  Hmmmm.  A) I didn’t know there WAS as State of Palestine, and B) that anyone was officially recognizing it.  Big modern building, too.

The late afternoon has been free, as we are going for home hospitality this evening.  Very early morning tomorrow (wakeup call scheduled for 4:15) and AIS at 5 for a 6:05 train to Pushkar and the Camel Fair.  Depending on electricity and internet access, we may or may not be able to post from there…

Saturday Nov 5

-It is 5am on Saturday, the 5^th, and the jet lag I had fairly successfully avoided until now has finally caught up with me, so I decided to include some of my thoughts from our first day on this group tour.  Braving Delhi traffic in a tour bus is a markedly different experience than driving in a small car.  I spent a lot of time not looking at what was going on when we were being driven that first day.  Since there is always a jumble of cars not quite in their lanes and pedestrians trying to cross the tangled roadways, being in a car was an immediate experience.  By contrast, observing the traffic scene from the height of a bus, you are much more removed from the whole scene.  What you cannot remove yourself from is the plight of beggars in India.  Wherever you go, there are poor women and children who approach you and it is terribly sad as you really can’t do anything for them.  One young woman who approached us with a young boy near the Sikh Temple had a very badly burned and deformed face.  I couldn’t help wondering if someone had thrown acid at her face.  Interestingly, when I asked our tour guide, Ritu, about the woman and whether she might have been purposefully burned or if, as another tour member suggested, she may have been maimed by her handler, Ritu made reference to the movie Slum Dog Millionaire as a short cut way of explaining the situation.

A few more words on the Sikhs.  At least in their written literature that we were given at the Temple, they appear to be a religion much more accepting of women.  Their stated philosophy is that woman is believed to have the same soul as man and has an equal right to grow spiritually and participate in religious rituals.  Sikh women also do not wear veils and at least the official Sikh policy is that dowry is not permitted.

I had brought some things for Nina, the daughter of my friend Debby Roumell, who is spending a semester in Delhi.  Last night Nina and her roommate came to our hotel to pick up her stuff, and Steve and I had the chance to chat with them.  It’s wonderful to see the ease with which college kids adapt to very different environments from learning to speak Hindi, to getting around Delhi to adopting a more modest style of dress.  Nina and Julia were wearing their “Indian Clothes” which they had bought here.  They were wearing jeans and sandals as kids anywhere do but they were both conscious of needing to wear tops that were not low cut and did not allow too much skin to show.  At one point, Julia noted that when she saw her knee in the mirror, her immediate thought was that she needed to cover it. - AHS

Friday Nov 4

Late start as the rest of the trip had arrived in the wee hours as we had the night before. After lunch, we headed onto the bus to see New Delhi. New being a relative term, since we first went to Qutab Minar, a 4th century burial place for Mughal emperors that had been converted to a mosque when the Muslims invaded in the 12th century. There was an enormous “Tower of Victory”, measuring 240 feet. Some of it had been restored, but it was mostly ruins. There were 28 temples for emperors buried here earlier that the Muslims destroyed for their mosque.

Then to a mini-Taj Majal, which was the burial tomb of Humayun, another Mughal Emperor, built in 1565. Elaborate gardens and lovely stonework. The weird part was seeing 6 pointed stars, ie “Jewish Stars”, on the wall of a Hindu tomb. It was explained that the 2 triangles were representative of the Masculine side (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) and the corresponding Feminine side(Shakti, Lakshmi & Parati). It brought back Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon in the Davinci Code, in a weird way. The air and smog were getting very thick, so pictures were a problem.

We then went to a Sikh Temple. We had to take our shoes and socks off to go in, and no pictures were allowed inside as they were having a ceremony. It was beside the fact that they were televising the ceremony, and cameras were all around. The Sikhs do not cut their hair or shave, thus the turban to put it all somewhere.

Venkat's Clubhouse, etc

-So, to fill in on lunch at Venkat’s Clubhouse, we had white rice, biryani rice, curried cauliflower and potatoes, a delicious chickpea dish with garam marsala, dal and roti, all expertly cooked by Raj. We were then served Chai, a very sweet milky spiced tea.


Dinner this evening was with our former neighbors Annie and Shibou Mathew. They lived next door for several years in the mid 2000’s while Annie was working at the Indian Embassy. Her territory was the entire Western Hemisphere for the Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India. She is now back in Delhi as one of the Principal Directors of that office with even more responsibilities. Rowena, their older daughter, who was in Harry’s class at Whitman, finished college last year as university in India in 3 rather than 4 years. She is doing a masters in Environmental Planning and Strategy where the first year of the program is spent at a university in Budapest and the 2nd year is spent at a university on one of the Greek Islands. We had a delicious dinner at their home with them and their younger daughter Shannon, a friend of Jenna Kress’s (who she is still in touch with). Since this would not be a legitimate Rockower blog without describing what we ate—we had samosas first followed by chicken curry, rice dal, beans, cauliflower with spices, and another flat bread that was a typical south Indian dish (Annie and Shibou’s families both hail from Chennai, although they both were raised in Delhi). We had a delicious sweet for desert that was round like a donut hole and had cardoman and dried fruit in it. Annie’s driver picked us up at the hotel and returned us there at the end of the evening. As with all cars trying to approach our hotel, his car was stopped and the trunk and hood opened and searched before we were allowed to approach the hotel. AHS

Thursday Nov 3

Day 1.5+


-Rather than write a separate blog , I have decided to join Steve on this one. Since the whole reason for this trip was my birthday, which we ended up spending it in transit. November 2nd began early for us as we changed time zones on our way to England, with the 6 hour time difference, and the day ended early as we changed time zones again on our way to Delhi with the 9 ½ time difference between Delhi and Washington. On The Delhi flight, one of the flight attendants gave us a bottle of Taittinger Champagne just before we arrived. AHS

3am in Delhi. Just arrived to a city full of smoke/smog, smelling like a forest fire. I asked our driver if there was a problem, and was told, “It’s winter”. The smoke is thick, and somewhat burns my eyes. We’ll see in the morning if it persists. It doesn’t look as bad as the smoke in Xian, but time will tell. The flight was only interesting in that as we were getting ready to land, I suddenly felt something fall on my head. I looked up and saw the oxygen masks hanging down. “Oh shit” I thought, but I looked around and saw that none of the other seats had their oxygen masks hanging. Just a snafu of that door, but it startled me.

This hotel, the Taj Palace, is nothing that my son would ever be found in. The place is on lock down, with armed guards at the gates. They looked under the car with mirrors, and opened the engine compartment and trunk. We went through xray screening coming into the front door. Wow. The room looks like one we were in in Beijing, with a glassed-in bathroom. Similar architecture around the world for high end hotels.

Thursday

Slept late. We were picked up for lunch by Paul’s friend/mentor/older brother, Venkat. We went to “Venkat’s Clubhouse” for a delicious meal of veggies. Maybe Ann can fill in the details of what exactly was in the meal, but it was good. Then off to a government crafts fair where Ann bought some pashmenas and some stones for Ellen. We also stopped to watch a Bollywood movie being shot in the market. Nobody we knew or ever that Raj (Venkat’s cook) had heard of. They tried to take us to another Emporium for more shopping, but we had had it. Tonight we’re going to the home of a former neighbor from Bethesda. Unfortunately, we have to drive there. Driving in this town is crazy. The drivers are not watching where they are going, and lane markers are merely suggestions. It is not unusual to squeeze 3 or even 4 cars across a 2 lane road.

Day 1

Dulles-> Heathrow

So off we go.  We are now in the air, on British Air to London.  We had some problems getting out of the house in one piece with all of our belongings.  We only stopped back once (for the tickets and passports, etc) and had Paul email multiple other things once we arrived at the airport.  Aah, electronics…

Dinner was edible, but it had better be for business class.  Tomato & Mozzarella, Chicken tikka masala with basmati rice and dal (a mashed potato-like substance) which was pretty good, and a dreadful chocolate cake for desert.  I’m going to try to drink myself to sleep….

Heathrow

Sitting in the BA lounge finally.  We had a slight detour, as Ann read the boarding passes incorrectly, and we went to Terminal 3 from Terminal 5 only to find out we had to be at Terminal 5.  A couple of buses and 2 security checks later, we’re now waiting for our next flight to Delhi.