Jaipur and onward to Varanasi…and the temperature RISES!

Not wanting to rub any of the salt from your sidewalks into open wounds, during the past two weeks we’ve been experiencing high temperatures of at least ninety degrees, more recently up into the very high nineties. Now, if we could find a way to merge our relative weather conditions, many of us would be a lot more comfortable.

Referring to Barbara’s bruised elbow that, thankfully, wasn’t broken. I’m providing a few pictures below in the sequence of having been documented.

 

  

 

We arrived in Jaipur just prior to an extended holiday weekend, which made it difficult to get done the many things we hoped to be able to accomplish while there. In any case, we covered a lot of territory and did many things and felt that our time there was well spent.


Jaipur is largely a center of commerce that has grown radically during the past fifteen to twenty years….since the time India opened up to and became a part of the global marketplace. The city is, additionally, steeped in the history of the Moghul Empire and much more. Our first day there, we visited Jantar Mantar, an observatory that was built by one of the Moghul emperors early in the 1600’s….and as I recall, I believe he also established and built the city of Jaipur. The observatory is composed of several separate stations, each to provide one or another astronomical measurements. Being very difficult to describe, the best I can currently offer is to provide some pictures showing some of the measuring devices. It was visually stimulating while being very interesting…what seems yet another approach to attempting to understand the heavens and our place in it, PARTICULARLY that long ago. The west definitely didn’t represent the only people capable of such explorations.

 

  

  

  

  

We continued our exploration with a tour of the old town via auto-rickshaw as we made our way to a group of cenotaphs, a group of monuments built in memory of a number of the Maharajas and their families.

 

  

  

 

Other highlights included a visit to the Anokhi Museum which houses a collection of block printed fabrics and associated information. At the top of the museum, one of the block printers at the museum provided Barbara a hands on experience of the basic processes. So please see photo below.

Also, a nearby temple, the Amber Fort, the Elephant Festival, as well as Galtaji….the monkey temple located not far from town. We were also in Jaipur during the celebration of Holi, which occurred on 1 March this year. Other than just a bit of the pre-celebration of this holiday, we somewhat unwillingly did little to partake of the festivities due to concerns regarding our safety…but we’ll provide some pictures associated with the event as well. Some additional pictures can be seen below.

 

  

  

  

  

 

Representing what I feel to be the most memorable portion of our stay in Jaipur, as I believe Barbara has already noted in her most recent update to the blog, the seeds of a definite friendship with Mesu, our main guide while in Jaipur, and his family were planted. Our main interest in India has always been connected with the character of specific people we meet here….our encounter with Mesu, his family, and his brothers provides us yet another reminder of this specific fact and why we love India as we do. I don’t want to steal Barbara’s thunder regarding our encounter with this wonderful family….so I’ll refer anyone interested to her description. I’ll only emphasize that it’s almost entirely the people who create and make the experience so wonderful and so precious….this is despite the fact that India has more history than most any American might be able to fathom, more buildings that are both beautiful and steeped India’s historical underpinnings. The history, the architecture, India’s much varied landscape, as well as numbers of other things simply add to the general flavor. In short, it’s the people and one’s personal interactions with them that make any place what it is. This is despite any aspects of India that tend to make a person crazy or tired, of which there are many.

The next step…our pair of flights, the first from Jaipur to New Delhi and the second from there to Varanasi, where we spent the better portion of our last stay in India four years ago. Varanasi is located on the west bank of the Ganges (referred to here as Ganga or Gangaji….the “ji” portion suggesting reverence associated with Ganga) and is considered either the holiest or amongst the holiest cities for the practitioners of the Hindu religion…..and as I understand, the place at which a person stands the best chance of finding salvation from the cycle of Karma, assuming one is cremated here with the resulting ashes finding their way into and down the Ganga.

Perhaps we maintain fonder memories of the city from our earlier visit, possibly causing us to impose unrealistic expectations and/or the novelty of our first encounter with such an interesting and historic city. However, my take on the city in general is that it’s become MUCH more affluent during the past four years….seemingly having become centered on money…..AND seemingly far less so regarding the soul and salvation. Imagine that….leaning so heavily toward making quick money with little or no effort….built on what I tend to think of as the more recent western model. It’s no secret that there are plenty of people in India who have tremendous wealth and whose focus is largely on the accumulation of more. And while I feel there’s still a significant focus on the soul at this location, I feel it’s largely been diluted by peoples’ quest for easy money and the resulting scams that are realized most anywhere a person sets foot. I additionally feel that the growth of tourism in Varanasi has brought even greater focus to the quick money making scams and less to what Varanasi is noted for. Looking back the four years since our last visit to Varanasi, I’m very certain tourism has grown immensely. And unfortunately, I most generally feel that when any specific location becomes a destination for tourists, its more genuine character suffers as a result and becomes its fatal blow. I’ll additionally point out that there is currently a VERY strong western component in this city….mostly European, some Asian as well as a very few people from the US. While I recall the occasional encounter with people from the west four years ago, I find the numbers of people from the west has multiplied exponentially….which certainly compounds my feeling that Varanasi has become so largely focused on working the tourist trade. I’m not saying I’m necessarily right about this…but it’s my general feeling at this point.

 

  

Despite the feelings I’ve noted above, Varansi is a very remarkable city that’s known to have been in continual existence for over 4000 years. Vibrant isn’t nearly a strong enough adjective to begin to describe its overall character. I’d refer to the understated vibrancy as more or less organic. And, assuming one is down in the midst of what’s happening, the place completely overwhelms and envelops a person….even consumes. Most anything can be seen…and in fact, it will likely be encountered and seen. Given that Varanasi is likely best known for the pyres on the ghats where recently deceased bodies are cremated and the resulting ashes committed to the Ganga, death and life collide here. Just two days ago while making my way upriver to the upper ghats, I passed one of the two ‘cremation ghats’ where four bodies were in the process of being burned, a Hindu tradition based largely on celebration as opposed to the western notion of loss. I don’t know that I necessarily have even a minor grip on the basic philosophical and religious outlook…and I’m certain a person raised in the west will never quite see it in the same way as a person from this part of the world. While I believe I get the general notions behind the celebration and inextricable union of life and death, I find it difficult to be able to imagine not experiencing a substantial sense of loss for a person with whom I’ve shared a close connection at some level. I should also point out that it’s definitely NOT some gruesome type of ceremony as many in the west might tend of think of it. Life and death here are most definitely connected and inseparable….at the same time. While quietly and discreetly observing the assorted ceremonies, a pair of dogs entered the picture playing and/or fighting for a few minutes. And shortly thereafter, some young children (ages five to perhaps eight) entered the small area in which the cremations were in process….attempting to play cricket using a stick and a partially filled water bottle. ALSO, children flying kites, water buffalo meandering through, goats searching for food and grazing on marigolds and other flowers associated with the ceremonies….and most anything else a person might be able to imagine that could be associated with life. Somehow it all fits and functions together. As I’ve suggested before, life collides with death and is embraced as such.

 

  

  

 

We’re staying at the Ganpati Guest House, which overlooks the river. As Barbara has already noted, it’s quite basic and a place we probably wouldn’t recommend, unless a person wanted to scale down on one’s comfort level. At the same time, I will say that the room tariff is quite reasonable. On the other hand, just one ghat upriver is another guest house we’d more likely recommend to those who might be considering traveling to Varanasi, it’s name being Ramshi Guest House. Actually, if anyone reading our blog is interested in recommendations for possible places to stay while in India, we’re both willing to make suggestions, at least based on the locations with which we’re familiar, which are reasonably few, since India is quite large and VERY diverse!

 

 

 

Barbara has already included in her portion of the blog bits and pieces regarding an auto-rickshaw excursion we took yesterday to and from the museum at Banaras-Hindu University as well as an evening excursion by boat on the river. In it she touched on some of the scam/hustle characteristics that seem pervasive here….unfortunately, to the point I’ve come to expect yet another scam from probably every 3rd to 4th person I encounter on the street, along the ghat, or actually anywhere. And the word NO and/or its Hindi counterpart seem not to mean no in this area, which as one might imagine, gets on the nerves after a while. It also rarely matters just how many times NO is said or otherwise implied. At the same time, I also know most people out hustling are doing so just to survive. Having talked at length with Suki, a person from Cincinnati who has a great deal to do with the Anokhi Museum near Jaipur and who has been doing some level of business in India for the past several years, based on her experiences the costs of essentially everything have risen tremendously during the past four or five years….while any sort of wage for the basic working class has not done so. Substantiating this even further, while on the flight from New Delhi to Varanasi, I happened to be seated next to a man originally from India who, for the past ten or so years has been employed in Silicon Valley. Discussing numbers of topics associated with his experiences and feelings associated with maintaining connections with both worlds, he said he makes a point of returning to India at least once every year or two. Having done so for over a decade, he indicated much the same as did Suki….however, he put some numbers to it. He said that, very broadly, what cost 5 rupees ten years ago will currently cost around 50 rupees….as he stated, “just add a zero to the cost of anything from ten years ago.” He also indicated that there’s been essentially no shift in wages for the common worker, which would suggest that the financial situation of greatest portion of the people of India has gone from very bad by our standards to critical. In the past, I’ve been urged to pay as absolutely as little as possible to anyone in India….and at the same time I’ve definitely come to see and understand the growing problem of this group of people and the plight they appear to be facing. When surrounded by incessant scams, it’s difficult to have any understanding of the reality and how to approach paying a person who’s rendering a service. Looking forward to Mathura and Vrindoban, where we anticipate not being in the midst of 100,000 scams. So, just a few more random pictures to follow.