India 3: Holi in Jaipur and back to Delhi

     That night I had stomach problems.  I slept well into the next day.  I was ok with this because I wanted to avoid going out during the day of Holi.  Holi involves throwing and dabbing colored powder.  I would have loved to sit and take pictures from a distance, but I couldn't think of a way of doing it safely for my cameras.  I waited until around three in the afternoon, and then carefully ventured out, with my camera wrapped in a rain cover.

  I began walking north toward Thikana Mandir Sri Govinddevji, noting all of the patches of colored ground.  This temple was advertised as a public location that held Holi play.  I ran into a foreign couple and asked them what to expect.  They said that people may or may not respect my desire to remain unpowdered.  

  I needn't have worried.  Most people were already colored and I didn't see any powder throwing.  People were celebrating and chanting near the temple and its surrounding park.  One person asked if I wanted to be powdered and they respected my decision to decline.  Another put some on my neck anyway.  My camera was safe.  When seeing my camera, a few people asked me to take photos of them.  I took down their email addresses and sent them the picturess when I got home.  One set of four women asked me to sit down with them and talk.  They seemed genuine, but I wanted to wander, so I politely turned them down. 

  There were monkeys hanging out and eating near the people in the park behind the temple.

  Afterwards, I walked back to my hotel and prepared to go out for dinner.

  I returned to Labrass.  There was a tuk tuk driver on the road leading to the restaurant.  He approached me, claiming to be an official tuk tuk driver of the 5 star hotel(not a chance).  He explained that he learned English from watching Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives.  They had papad ki subzi this time.

  I took a different route home, passing the Albert Hall Museum.  Just behind the museum, people were throwing food discards to the many, many rats digging holes in the park ground.  As I was about to pack up, a man on a tuk tuk stopped next to me.  He was fascinated with my camera and while I was twisting off the filter, put his fingers right onto the lens.

  On my last day in town, I decided to visit the Jaipur Watch Company.  I originally was going to visit their Delhi office, but Jaipur is right there in the name, so it made sense to visit while in town. A bit removed from central Jaipur, I Ubered on over.  It was on the bottom floor of what looked like a condo building on a residential street.  It was a small showroom, but they had some beautiful locally made watches.  I picked up four.

  While waiting for my uber to return to the center of town, a girl around the age of ten approached me asking for money.  I decided to hand her some.  This was a mistake, as she then came back with her little brother.  He wanted money too and offered to sing in either Hindi or English for me.  I explained that although that was sweet, I was good.  They sat with me for ten minutes anyway, occasionally asking for money.

  I was planning to go to the Chandpole Bazar, but then I noticed that Hawa Mahal closed earlier than I expected, so Hawa Mahal it was.  In order to enter, you had to walk through a metal detector.  I asked if I should take off my backpack.  They said no.  The metal detector beeped nonstop while being completely ignored.  The place was beautiful, but the stairs and pathways were narrow, and people were pushy.  As I was descending, I noticed that two younger men behind me seemed interested in me.  I exited into a courtyard and put down my bag to put my cameras away.  When they saw that I had turned around while doing this, they quickly skittered away.

This iconic picture was found by exiting and going around the back to the street.

  The City Palace was a short walk away.  They were filming a horse and carriage.  Otherwise, there wasn't much to see.  I returned to the hotel and ate oatmeal.

This strange scene had a young woman posing in front of the arch, while another building was left to decay just beside it.

  On my Uber ride to Jaipur station, I spotted a pedestrian green light.  At no point during its time flashing did vehicles stop for even a second.  I arrived to the station a good hour and a half before my departure time, so I walked around and looked at what the vendors had to offer.  It was a good time to stop up on some snacks, since I didn't expect Delhi to have convenience stores.  

  I decided to buy some cookies at one of the stalls.  I asked the price.  He acknowledged me, but then ignored me in favor of random strangers that walked up and ordered as if I wasn't there. Then he held up a calculator with the number 380.  I knew that this wasn't even close to their price, but I chose to buy them them anyway.  Out of curiosity, I went to another vendor.  Each item was about 40.  I let him keep the change.  

  My train was to appear on Platform 1, but another train arrived and remained there at the time my train was supposed to come.  When that train arrived, people rushed as a mob toward each entrance, holding any items they had above their head, as they were crushed on all sides.  Their concern was not that the train would leave too quickly, but that they would not have room to board at all.  The train ended up remaining for twenty minutes.  At one point, a group of men wanted to enter one of the cars, and were refused by those already on the train.  One of the man on the ground grabbed one of them and pulled them off the train, so he could board, and pushed his way in.  I wish I had caught the entire process on video but I was too stunned and absorbed by the scene to think of it.

  My train's number disappeared from the electronic board as the train stayed longer than expected. I tried to use the diagram on the website to figure out what side of the station my train car would arrive on.    As it was approaching, I tried to read the car names and numbers on the electronic signs, but it seemed to be out of order.  The train was very, very, very long.  I chose the wrong side, so had to k very quickly to the opposite end. 

  When I finally reached my cabin, a two person bunk, it was fully occupied.  I had been assigned the lower bunk.  There was a man on the top bunk, with his wife on the bottom.  The small berth was filled to the brim with luggage, food, and cooking supplies.  The woman explained that they had one ticket in a different car, and asked me switch with them so they could be together. They wanted me to move down multiple train classes.

  With a poor attempt to come up with an alternative solution, the worker in charge of this section tried to assign me a top bunk in a group of four.  I said that I paid for the lower bunk.  He looked and me and responded that since I looked young, it shouldn't be a problem for me to climb up.  I was done being pushed about.  I stood my ground.

  He found me a train car with two bunk beds, but only one other occupant.  She was a thirty year old Indian doctor.  Although she had never left the country, she spoke English perfectly.  She had witnessed some of the confusion on the car, and explained that you have to stand up for yourself in India or people will walk all over you.  

  She was unhappy with the state of the room, from the disgusting floor to the air conditioning, which didn't work.  She complained repeatedly to the works.  They put almost no effort into cleaning things or fixing the air.  She had to call the equivalent of a 1800 number on the train car door for them to take it seriously.  Everything was made right very quickly after that.  She lamented the state of workers in India, stating that no one wanted to work hard.

  She was chatty, so we spent a majority of the train ride talking.  She briefly tried to nap.  I read my book, but the train workers kept waking her up to sell her things.  She tried their tea,  said that it was completely unacceptable, and didn't touch it again.  She ended up eating some of my cookies, and the traditional dessert of soan papdi, that I also bought at the station.  She spoke of women's rights in India, her love life, arranged marriage, and asked about life in America.  It was a lovely train ride.

India 2: Around Jaipur

   Our first stop was east and into the mountains, to Hanuman Temple.  The Uber driver randomly stopped at the side of the road, with no warning, to buy himself some fruit at roadside stands.  At the temple entrance, I bought a ticket that allowed one single camera photography, and began walking through.  

  A few steps into the complex, a man asked me to come into his small temple. I knew that this would end with him asking for money, but went anyway.  He put red dye on my forehead, said something in Hindi, and sat next to me.  Then the tip request followed.  Monkeys ran around the courtyard.  I ascended a few steps, and entered an area with water.  There was a man sitting inside, and asked me about currency.  I mumbled something about not having US currency on me, and began taking pictures.  The monkeys were so socialized that you could walk right up to them.  One chatty fellow decided to try the monkey on the shoulder trick, once tried Miles in Morocco.  He then suggested that I hand over my expensive camera, so he could take a picture of the monkey and I.  This of course would not happen.  He pulled the monkey off of me.

  There was a final set of steps that I climbed up.  I passed a small, very green body of water.  It was full of people.  Back at the parking lot, I went in search for my Uber.  A tuk tuk driver warned me that Ubers were not allowed.  I stepped into my Uber and drove away.  

  Next, we stopped briefly by a side walk, with views of Jal Mahal.  This palace had submerged into a lake.  The northern part of my expedition was a stepwell.  Images of stepwells were part of my burgeoning interest in India.  Panna Meena ka Kund was the one stepwell on my trip.

No one was walking down the stepwells, so I wasn't sure if that would have been allowed.  I would have loved to go dwn though.  Dogs had gone a few steps down.  Just across the street was the Bihari Ji Temple, which had not been on my radar.

                                       

                                       

  Just down the road was the Shri Jagat Shiromani ji Temple.  As we were driving, the driver lowered my window.  Someone on the street was insisting that I should go to the Amber Fort with him as a guide.  I declined.  Without convenience stores in the city, I was desperate to find one.  We found one here in the north. When I paid at the cash register, he asked if I wanted change back.

  Closer to the city center, we ended the day at the Birla Mandir Temple complex.  I was under the impression that the whole complex would be walkable, but they did not allow people up to the Ekalingeshwar Mahadec Temple.  I followed the path, dropped off my shoes in a locker, and walked up to the temple.  Unfortunately, photography was not allowed beyond a certain point, nor were bags.  I took a handful of pictures outside and then peaked my head in though.

  Dinner was at Labrass Lounge at Diggi, a restaurant connected to a five star hotel.  Eating at four and five star hotel restaurants were what guides online recommended for the safest food.  I was the only person seated. I asked for papad ki subzi, but they said that it wasn't available, so I chose adraki dhaniya paneer.  I also ordered orange juice, which might have been what eventually caused me issues, as it was served with ice.  I drank it so fast that I didn't give any thought to it at the time.

India 1- Taking the Train to Jaipur

  Like with Mongolia, I decided to wait until I was home to write the blog.  I took notes on google docs, wrote the first four entries before Jeremy arrived, and the rest is being written at home.  Pictures are being added after, so will be an approximation of timing with the events in the writing.

   It took three flights to arrive in India.  I had to swiftly walk between the first and the second flight because the jet bridge malfunctioned.  Charlotte Airport is the worst.  The flight from JFK to Delhi arrived over an hour earlier, due to winds in our favor.  I filled out an immigration paper, and upon reaching customs and handing it to them, it was blank.  I must have grabbed the wrong one in my jetlagged state.  

  After exiting the airport, I was greeted by my driver, who transferred me to the airport hotel about ten minutes away.  He mentioned Holi, but I was too tired at the time to process this.  In order to walk into the hotel, I had to put my bags through an x-ray scanner.  It was too late to go to a restaurant, so I walked a few blocks away, to a convenience store.  In order to enter the region, I had to again have my bag checked.  It was just an empty shopping bag.

  The convenience store doorway was watched by a man in a security uniform of sorts.  The store was made up of three very narrow aisles.  After securing lots of water,  I picked up one small prepacked marble cake, and the uniformed man pointed out that there was a sale if I had wanted three.  I did not.  When I left the store, he asked for a tip.  

  I wasn't sure whether to bring a bottle of water to breakfast or if they would have filtered water that would be safe for me.  They had drink dispensers, but I couldn't tell if this was filtered.  They brought me a bottle of water upon request.  As I was finishing, the staff surprised me with a small pink frosting covered cupcake, due to my newly established high level rewards membership, as a perk to a new credit card.  Then, they wanted to take a picture of me and have me put in a good review for them on Tripadvisor.  Lame.

  The next day I took a one hour Uber ride to the Old Delhi train station.  I saw a monkey playing with trash along the side of the road along the way.  The vehicle had a warning light, keeping below empty the entire trip. The total cost was about $3.50.  When I arrived, I tried to tip, but the app limits you to $1.20.  Afterwards, I began to tip extra with cash.

  The train station required bag x-ray scanning as well, but on the other side were two women looking at their phones as bags flooded through. It was easy to locate my platform, and the train was sitting and waiting to depart. Unfortunately, my train car was locked.  After waiting a while, I noticed the car down from mine had its door opened, so I went in there and walked the rest.  Before we departed, an officer came in with a drug sniffing dog.

  My cabin had a top and lower bunk on both sides.  As the train began moving, I was struck by how many shanties were less than a foot away from the train as I passed.  It was shocking.  They were mere feet from the tracks.  My cabin was empty for the first thirty minutes, and I was soon joined by a man in maybe he mid to late forties, and a younger man.  The younger one slept the entire time, and the older one was quite chatty.  

  The chatty fellow showed me pictures of his wife and twenty three year old son.  He told me about Holi and how it is mostly celebrated with family.  I asked about the metal detectors everywhere, and he explained that the government is focused on general security and expanding infrastructure.  He felt that the heightened security was a good thing.  He asked me if I was currently completing my studies.  

  When the train began braking, I lined up to exit.  A young man outside jumped onto the step outside my train car and was holding.  An Indian man standing nearby caught this and warned me of the possibility that he might waiting to grab the bag of a foreigner.  I made sure to hold on as I descended from the train.  I walked alongside a young couple, also traveling, so I would not appear to be traveling alone.  We were  shadowed by a young man that was persistent in trying to sell us a ride along with other services around the city.  My hotel was supposed to send a driver, but they never showed up, and did not respond to messages.  I ordered an Uber.

  The ride in the Uber was something that I wished I had captured on video.  The amount of tuk tuks, motorcycles, double decker buses, and people walking and pushing in the street was a sight like I'd never seen before.  The honking did not let up for a second. 

  I had been unaware of Holi before arriving in India.  I had seen pictures before, but I did not know its name or when it would occur.  Originally Qatar was going to encompass the first part of my trip, but ended up canceling and adding extra time in India instead.  Holi took place in this extra time.  The first night involves bonfires and the following day involves throwing and wiping colored powders onto people.  I immediately began researching how to bring a camera along.  Every site said not to, unless you were very, very prepared.  I did have a rain cover for my camera, but I was unsure what to do.

  Breakfast at the hotel was by order, with a set of choices.  I chose Indian Paratha rather than an American or European style.  It was served with a sour tasting cream and another sauce that the waiter warned me was very hot, to barely touch to the food.  I hired an uber driver for the day, which I hadn't even known was an option.  I queued up the locations in the app. When I sat down, the driver put me on the phone with someone.  This person explaining that there would be a surcharge to visit the forts above the city,  due to the "elevation of the drive."  This was nonsense of course, as the forts were not high up at all.  I skipped the forts.