Sorry about the lack of posts regarding my trip to India. We have been so busy each day that when we get back to our hotel it's time for a shower and to crawl into bed. Tomorrow we need to be up by 4 am so we can catch a flight to Delhi, then another flight to Kathmandu, Nepal. We get to see the Himalayas (pronounced Him-all-yas here) then a short tourist flight to see Mount Everest. We fly out of Delhi again at 2 am early Sunday morning for very long air flights back home to Idaho. It will be good to get back home!!!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Mrs. Bhandari's Guest House
After our six-hour plus train ride (the train left Delhi on time but certainly didn't arrive in Amritsar on time), we were met by our tour guides and two vans to take us to our lodging for the night. . . Mrs. Bhandari's Guest House. Definitely a guest house along the lines of a bed and breakfast, so if you are more into the Marriott, Hyatt, or Hilton type of lodging, this place might not be for you. Having said that, it is very clean, quiet and homey atmosphere with lots of well kept gardens to explore. We were told by our guests that people are even allowed to set up tents and camp in the large garden. Historically, Mrs. B's was primarily soldiers' quarters (the chummery) during the Raj, the British occupation of India.
Quickly settling into our rooms, we made our way back over to the garden pavilion where our meals would be served. Breakfast was included, but all other meals, snacks and drinks went on your personal tab. Buying bottled water or a soda was on the honor system: you went into the room next to the eating area, opened up the cooler, took out what you wanted to drink. Next on a spreadsheet attached to a clipboard with a pencil hanging on the clipboard by a string, you would write your name, room number and check off what you took. When it came time to check out the next afternoon, the manager had tabulated all the drinks and meals giving each of us a final bill to be reconciled. Before we set off for our evening of sightseeing, we all ordered a late lunch and relaxed a bit surrounding with good friends and beautiful bougainvillea.
If given the opportunity to visit Amritsar again, I would definitely spend a night or two at Mrs. Bhandari's!
Here's another great website that explains a little more about Mrs. B's!
Quickly settling into our rooms, we made our way back over to the garden pavilion where our meals would be served. Breakfast was included, but all other meals, snacks and drinks went on your personal tab. Buying bottled water or a soda was on the honor system: you went into the room next to the eating area, opened up the cooler, took out what you wanted to drink. Next on a spreadsheet attached to a clipboard with a pencil hanging on the clipboard by a string, you would write your name, room number and check off what you took. When it came time to check out the next afternoon, the manager had tabulated all the drinks and meals giving each of us a final bill to be reconciled. Before we set off for our evening of sightseeing, we all ordered a late lunch and relaxed a bit surrounding with good friends and beautiful bougainvillea.
If given the opportunity to visit Amritsar again, I would definitely spend a night or two at Mrs. Bhandari's!
Here's another great website that explains a little more about Mrs. B's!
"Happy Journey" - The Swarma Shatabdi Express To Amristar
3 April 2012
Our wake up call at 5:30 this morning came all to early. Being exhausted from constant traveling since last Saturday morning, the shower last night plus crawling into a comfortable bed with clean sheets didn't take me long to fall asleep.
The hotel provided us with a very nice breakfast buffet at six this morning. We were on our tour bus by 6:15 to battle the early morning Delhi traffic. Driving to the train station we could see people and complete families sleeping on the sidewalks, on the medians between major lanes of traffic, or in more comfortable settings like the green grass in a park.
Traveling through central Delhi were the government office buildings are, no such activity like I mentioned above was to bee seen. Police are everywhere to discourage such squatting and squalor to be be visible. Visible to whom is the question.
When we arrived at the station, we had to run to the furthest platform. Once we found the posted list of which first class car and seat we were assigned to, our train started moving. It took us a few minutes to find where our individual seats were as the ticket agent could not put us in the same car. Originally I was supposed to be in Car 9, Seat 54, but I changed with a member of our group so he and his wife could sit together. I'm now in Car 5, Seat 64. The only member of our group and the only Anglo in the car. Gary Purse's wife Martha came walking through, she stated that the air conditioning in the car I'm in works better than their car. I'm grateful for that.
To be honest, I don't mind being in this car as the only non South Asian. My favorite travel essayist, Paul Theroux has stated many times in his books that the best way to travel through a country is by train. I agree. Personally, I have been in love with trains when, at the age of seven, I rode on the California Zephyr with by parents from my hometown of Stockton, California to Chicago. If I hadn't have been on this train, I would not have had the chance to meet an Afghan gentleman now living in Germany on a holy pilgrimage with his family to Amritsar. I had just come out of one of the toilets. My hands were still wet from the water and soap I had used. I had forgotten to bring something from my backpack to dry my Hans with. Ther was no such thing in the toilet. He saw my predicament and handed me a small paper towel from his personal packet stating at the same time, "This is India!" I thanked him for his helpfulness. I told him that I was from America and sometimes you go into a restroom there and the paper towel dispenser is empty. He began to explain to me that things were so bad in his home country of Afghanistan that he moved he and his family to Germany.
Before coming to India, I read about this particular train. It is the pride and joy of India! Meals are included in the price of the first class ticket, 600 Rupees. That translates to basically to twelve U.S. dollars for a six-hour train ride. In the first two hours of the trip, our car steward delivered to each passenger the following:
A one liter bottle of water
Tea/Coffee service that included a package of two Marie biscuits. They are A little larger than a Ritz cracker and have the flavor of Animal Crackers. The Marie biscuits reming me of the Maria cookies you can get from Mexico. Marie/Maria, same name, same flavor, same thing...just in two different countries.
A vegetarian or meat (beef) breakfast. I opted for the former. The small platter consisted of two small curried vegetable fritters with green peas. Also included were two thin slices of white bread with packets of butter and jam were also provided on the tray along with the necessary dining utensils. During this meal service the steward came by again with a tray of paper cups filled with a Cola drink.
Following this meal service he came by once again offering tea to any one who would like some.
At 9:50, our train made its first stop. Station stops on this train are short. According to the India Railways time schedule, most stops are only two to three minutes in length. So you had better be ready to get on or off when it's time.
Talk about the northern India countryside between Delhi and Amritsar. Smoky, flat, lots of grain crops growing, green trees, piles of dung chips for fire; an agrarian society.
Our wake up call at 5:30 this morning came all to early. Being exhausted from constant traveling since last Saturday morning, the shower last night plus crawling into a comfortable bed with clean sheets didn't take me long to fall asleep.
The hotel provided us with a very nice breakfast buffet at six this morning. We were on our tour bus by 6:15 to battle the early morning Delhi traffic. Driving to the train station we could see people and complete families sleeping on the sidewalks, on the medians between major lanes of traffic, or in more comfortable settings like the green grass in a park.
Traveling through central Delhi were the government office buildings are, no such activity like I mentioned above was to bee seen. Police are everywhere to discourage such squatting and squalor to be be visible. Visible to whom is the question.
When we arrived at the station, we had to run to the furthest platform. Once we found the posted list of which first class car and seat we were assigned to, our train started moving. It took us a few minutes to find where our individual seats were as the ticket agent could not put us in the same car. Originally I was supposed to be in Car 9, Seat 54, but I changed with a member of our group so he and his wife could sit together. I'm now in Car 5, Seat 64. The only member of our group and the only Anglo in the car. Gary Purse's wife Martha came walking through, she stated that the air conditioning in the car I'm in works better than their car. I'm grateful for that.
To be honest, I don't mind being in this car as the only non South Asian. My favorite travel essayist, Paul Theroux has stated many times in his books that the best way to travel through a country is by train. I agree. Personally, I have been in love with trains when, at the age of seven, I rode on the California Zephyr with by parents from my hometown of Stockton, California to Chicago. If I hadn't have been on this train, I would not have had the chance to meet an Afghan gentleman now living in Germany on a holy pilgrimage with his family to Amritsar. I had just come out of one of the toilets. My hands were still wet from the water and soap I had used. I had forgotten to bring something from my backpack to dry my Hans with. Ther was no such thing in the toilet. He saw my predicament and handed me a small paper towel from his personal packet stating at the same time, "This is India!" I thanked him for his helpfulness. I told him that I was from America and sometimes you go into a restroom there and the paper towel dispenser is empty. He began to explain to me that things were so bad in his home country of Afghanistan that he moved he and his family to Germany.
Before coming to India, I read about this particular train. It is the pride and joy of India! Meals are included in the price of the first class ticket, 600 Rupees. That translates to basically to twelve U.S. dollars for a six-hour train ride. In the first two hours of the trip, our car steward delivered to each passenger the following:
A one liter bottle of water
Tea/Coffee service that included a package of two Marie biscuits. They are A little larger than a Ritz cracker and have the flavor of Animal Crackers. The Marie biscuits reming me of the Maria cookies you can get from Mexico. Marie/Maria, same name, same flavor, same thing...just in two different countries.
A vegetarian or meat (beef) breakfast. I opted for the former. The small platter consisted of two small curried vegetable fritters with green peas. Also included were two thin slices of white bread with packets of butter and jam were also provided on the tray along with the necessary dining utensils. During this meal service the steward came by again with a tray of paper cups filled with a Cola drink.
Following this meal service he came by once again offering tea to any one who would like some.
At 9:50, our train made its first stop. Station stops on this train are short. According to the India Railways time schedule, most stops are only two to three minutes in length. So you had better be ready to get on or off when it's time.
Talk about the northern India countryside between Delhi and Amritsar. Smoky, flat, lots of grain crops growing, green trees, piles of dung chips for fire; an agrarian society.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Hit the Ground Running – New Delhi – 2 April 2012
As soon as we arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, we were met by our young Melissa Tours and Travels liaison, Dev. Wherever we were in Delhi, Dev was with us.
First on the agenda was to take us to our hotel, the Jaypee Vasant Continental Hotel, so we could quickly check in and drop off our baggage. After a brief time to wash up and change into some cleaner clothes, we were off on a daylong tour of unusual sites in Delhi.
What captured my attention the most while coming into Delhi from the airport as well as traveling through the second largest city in India, was the ever present poverty. What we were witnessing was worse than the poverty and desperation that I saw over thirty-five years ago as a missionary in Mexico. The well-known Bollywood movie “Slumdog Millionaire” actually portrays the poverty of India’s slums in an antiseptic manner. The only way to truly portray such poverty as we were seeing would be through the lens of a documentarian. Pulitzer Prize winning author Katherine Boo’s recent book entitled “Behind The Beautiful Forevers” paints a masterful and realistic portrait of the lives of these Indians who live either in a patched together slum of hovels or dwellings found under a bridge, overpass, on a median, or just a spot on the sidewalk at the end of the day.
Our first stop was a visit with "Living Religions" author Mary Pat Fisher at the Gobind SadanAshram.
P.S. More to come!
Weather: Smokey
Monday, 2 April 2012
For some time before coming to India, I did what most people would do before they go on a trip somewhere...check the weather. It always intrigued me that, besides the near hundred degree weather, it always said "smokey." After spending a few hours here I know understand what The Weather Channel meant by the term smokey.
A majority of the smoke comes from those who live where ever than can in what ever kind of shelter they can piece together with scraps of metal, wood, and tarps...to create the fire they need to cook, make hot water for bathing, or just to stay warm when the weather is colder. Seeing some these hovels makes you wonder about what will happen to those who live in them when the monsoon season arrives.
More of the smoke comes from some of the holy places in New Delhi. Some of them keep an eternal fire burning in honor of their Gods while followers pray in a circle surrounding the fire waving what looks like a long horse tail like fan in homage to their God.
Regardless of the utilitarian and religious smoke that lifts towards the heavens to carry the prayers of hopes and dreams of the impoverished or oblations to the Gods, the pollution in New Delhi is not what I expected it to be. In fact, it has improved over the past several years. Public transportation whether it be a bus or auto ricksha must be powered by CNG: compressed natural gas. If we are concerned about the pollution levels in our own cities in America, maybe we should try CNG in more of our public transportation.
For some time before coming to India, I did what most people would do before they go on a trip somewhere...check the weather. It always intrigued me that, besides the near hundred degree weather, it always said "smokey." After spending a few hours here I know understand what The Weather Channel meant by the term smokey.
A majority of the smoke comes from those who live where ever than can in what ever kind of shelter they can piece together with scraps of metal, wood, and tarps...to create the fire they need to cook, make hot water for bathing, or just to stay warm when the weather is colder. Seeing some these hovels makes you wonder about what will happen to those who live in them when the monsoon season arrives.
More of the smoke comes from some of the holy places in New Delhi. Some of them keep an eternal fire burning in honor of their Gods while followers pray in a circle surrounding the fire waving what looks like a long horse tail like fan in homage to their God.
Regardless of the utilitarian and religious smoke that lifts towards the heavens to carry the prayers of hopes and dreams of the impoverished or oblations to the Gods, the pollution in New Delhi is not what I expected it to be. In fact, it has improved over the past several years. Public transportation whether it be a bus or auto ricksha must be powered by CNG: compressed natural gas. If we are concerned about the pollution levels in our own cities in America, maybe we should try CNG in more of our public transportation.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
The British Museum
After a late flight departure from Dallas, we arrived at London Heathrow later than anticipated. This made us rethink our original plans of what to see during our layover. One group hired a taxi to go into central London to see sights such as Westminster Abbey. Having seen many of the traditional tourist sights of London while here in 1982, I opted to go with the second group heading to the world famous British Museum. With only 90 minutes at the museum, our exhibit hall time was limited. The four of us: David Peck, David Pulsipher, Devan Barker, and myself mainly focused on the Assyrian Empire and India exhibits. As with any major museum, a 90 minute "visit" was not a proper visit. The taxi ride back to Heathrow was much quicker than the ride into town. Getting through security was very fast and now it's a seven-and-a half hour flight to New Dehli. We are scheduled to arrive at 6:30 in the morning India time. Time to get some sleep on the plane because when we get to New Delhi, we hit the ground running.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Pre-production for India trip
As with any video production, whether it be remote or done in a studio, lots of preparation must be done even before the cameras roll. This is called the pre-production phase. Here, amongst other things, lots of reading and script writing must be done. In our case, it is mostly reading to find out about where we are going and what native customs we must follow.
Ramayana basically translates to Rama's Journey. On the book's cover above, we see Rama on the left and his wife Sita on the right. Although I haven't completed reading the book as of this date, Rama is being taught the history of the world, India, and it's Gods by his mentor Viswamithra. A more in-depth overview of the Ramayana story can be found here.
According to one brief summary, "One of the glories of Sanskrit poetry, The Bhagavad Gita is the ancient spiritual text that formas a sublime synthesis of the many strands of Hindu belief.
In preparation for our trip, we've been asked to read four different books. These books are:
The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic by R. K. Narayan.
Ramayana basically translates to Rama's Journey. On the book's cover above, we see Rama on the left and his wife Sita on the right. Although I haven't completed reading the book as of this date, Rama is being taught the history of the world, India, and it's Gods by his mentor Viswamithra. A more in-depth overview of the Ramayana story can be found here.The next book is The Bhagavad Gita.
According to one brief summary, "One of the glories of Sanskrit poetry, The Bhagavad Gita is the ancient spiritual text that formas a sublime synthesis of the many strands of Hindu belief.
Taken from the Mahabharata epic, it details a dialogue between the divine Krishna and the human warrior Arjuna before a mighty battle in which Arjuna must decide whether to wage war against his own family. Krishna imparts spiritual enlightenment to Arjuna, teaching him the paths of knowledge, devotion, action, and meditation, and helping him to see beyond the temporal to the eternal. This new translation captures both the clarity of Hindu philosophy and the beauty of Sanskrit poetry. For more detailed information on this important book, read this.
The third book and considered at this time to be the definitive history of India, authored by John Keay, is simply entitled "A History of India."
Lastly, Huston Smith's The Illustrated World's Religions: A Guide to Our Wisdom Traditions is an necessary guide in learning about the three main religions found
in India: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)