India

I’m back in Delhi after my sojourn at the beach in the straw hut in the coconut grove at Mandrem Beach. (This was the place that my friend, Corinne in Denmark, had recommended.) It was wonderful in every way. The beach was gorgeous and swimming was good. I went to two different yoga classes and enjoyed both of them. One was especially challenging. It was in a lovely setting on a platform overlooking rice fields. Yoga teachers seem to be plentiful at this beach town. Goa is completely different from the north where daughter Sarah and I were first. The north is barren desert while Goa is green and lush - the monsoons come in June, July, and August and it rains constantly. The high tourist season is November to March. The main cash crop there is cashews, and there are spices. People fish, and that was fun to watch on the beach when they pulled in their nets. There weren’t that many fish, but enough apparently. There are poor people there, of course, but they are not nearly as poor as in the north, in the state of Rajasthan, where Sarah and I saw so much poverty. There’s trash around, but not nearly as much as in the north. People are friendly, but not obnoxious – much easier going. The beach vendors understand “No, thank you.” The Portuguese originally settled Goa in the 1500’s and their rule didn’t end until 1961! There are many old catholic churches there and 60 per cent of the people are catholic. What a pleasant surprise to hear church bells in the morning instead of the Hindu and Muslim chanting. I was told that some of the older people still speak Portuguese.

My last day I went from Mandrem Beach to Anjuna for the huge flea market. I’m not sure why it is called a flea market because if is for the tourists and everything is new. I have never seen such a big market with vendors coming from all over. There were small stands that went on and on and on, and then under the shade of straw roofs, there were hundreds of vendors with their items laid out on blankets: beautiful jewelry, fabrics, clothes, shawls, trinkets, bags, CDs, spices and tea. It was overwhelming. There were many Tibetans there, as there also were in Delhi selling goods. I had gotten up early so the taxi got me there at about 8 when people were still setting up. I stopped at a nearby restaurant and had a delicious omelet, toast, and tea for about 75 cents. Hundreds and hundreds of tourists were arriving as I was leaving at about 9:30. From there I went to the capital of Goa, Panjim that still has many old rather dilapidated Portuguese buildings in bright colors. I also visited the main cathedral in town. I had a short walk, a fruit salad at a nice restaurant, then on to the airport to return to Delhi.

Right now I’m sitting on the bed at an Indian friend’s house typing on my own computer, which is a real pleasure. I will go to the airport late tonight for my 4 am flight to China.

Sarah left the evening of the 28th to return to NY. She was looking forward to returning to the nice, polite, not in-your-face people of NY and the cleanliness of the city. We got very tired of the continual hassle and aggressive behavior. There always seemed to be someone in your face making a demand. It was an interesting trip; we saw lots, but also very exhausting since we were traveling and seeing new things almost everyday. We started in Delhi, and saw most of the major cities and towns in the state of Rajasthan, the Land of the Kings. Formally it was a collection of small kingdoms, each with a fort and palace – some more splendid than others. We hired a driver and saw many palaces and forts, many more than we needed to. Our favorite palace was in Jaisalmer, one of the oldest from the 12th century. Within the fort and live 3-5,000 people in the narrow winding streets. The cows determined our route - we chose streets without them blocking our passage. One always had to be careful of cow dung also. The palace was lovely. As in all the palaces, there were beautiful tiles, mirrors and mosaics with Islamic patterns and designs, many aspects of Muslim architecture from the Mughal invaders. The windows in all of the palaces were cut outs with Islamic patterns. The women in the palaces were only allowed to observe court and city life through these grated windows where they could be hidden from view. Sarah has a wonderful series of pictures of the designs. It reminded me of the Moorish buildings in southern Spain. The palace forts in Jodhpur, the blue city, and the Amber fort in Jaipur were amazing. They are doing much to restore the latter and it is magnificent.

We went on a camel safari for several hours out into the desert; it was just the two of our camel guides and us. That was great fun, especially watching Sarah’s expression as the camel got up and went down; it’s awkward and also rather scary. We opted not to stay out in the desert since it was cold and foggy, but instead stayed in a nice mud hut. There was music and folk dancing in the evening. We also went on a tiger safari and even saw a tiger. That was very exciting, and we were told that we were very lucky to actually see one. We drove through many small villages, always very impoverished and filthy with trash all around. People were going about their business, washing under spigots or pumps, washing clothes or just fetching water, shopping, working, children going to school. Many men were sitting around and smoking and drinking chai (tea with milk, spices, and lots of sugar). We saw many camels pulling carts. There were goats and sheep, and always stray dogs and cows wandering around.

Visiting the Taj Mahal had been one of the main things I wanted to visit in India. It is about 4 hours from Delhi in Agra. It was amazing, majestic, just like the pictures. The white marble is beautiful with all the inlaid precious and semi precious gems which sparkle in the sun. We thought we’d be there for sunrise, but because of heightened security after the Mumbai attacks, the hours had been reduced. Each person is checked carefully as he enters. The Taj was built in 1631 as a memorial to the second wife of Emperor Shah, and It took 22 years to build. Everything was carefully thought out, and it is perfectly symmetrical. To me, it was a highlight of the trip. Agra Fort was also a fun place to explore. It was mostly ruins but a great place to wander around.

More impressions later.