Our Trip to India, Reflections and of course the Pictures

(If your love is forever, you need to stand in front of the Taj Mahal)

Sandee and I avoid taking group travel, (we only took one in Egypt and one to Antartica) and that had been till now the reason not to visit India, as we thought it too overwhelming to try traipsing around India by ourselves.

(There is no better way to describe traffic chaos than in showing you the scooter/motor

parking lot. Our first drive from the airport to the hotel confronted us with multiple

rows of cars- 5 rows on a divided 3 lane road in each direction, populated with cars,

bikes, a food cart drawn by a donkey and a truck driving against the traffic on the 

shoulder lane. We found out later that because of the hedged division between the in

both direction steered traffic, sometimes an exit that allows you to reach your destination

is too far away, so the truck driver decides to traverse the last part by driving against the traffic

as a shortcut)

(The  old town of New Delhi like most developing countries

Often look like this. Note electric as well as communication wires

hang precariously low above the traffic)

The mail brought us our regular VMFA (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts) magazine. As I absentmindedly leafed through it I noticed an ad posted by Odysseus Travel agency touting a small group trip to India sponsored by VMFA. Long story short we signed up and solicited our friends Janet and Ron to join us.

(Meet Ron and Janet)

(This society has high social standings especially in 

taking care of the needy, despite the well described caste

system, which is actually in this day and age more historical than

actually applied in todays daily life. Here in a building adjacent to

the Bangla Sahib Gurudwsra Sikh temple in Delhi thousands

 are daily fed a full meal. We visited the commercial kitchen and witnessed 

cooks ladle a few hundred gallon pots with very aromatic content)

(This is the above mentioned Bangla Sahib Gurudwsra Sikh temple

dating from 1783. Although Sikh are in Delhi far away from their homeland 

their eighth Sikh Guru built a bungalow on the spot and provided fresh 

water from a well on their property to people who were suffering during

a smallpox and cholera epidemic in 1664. The waters became reputed for 

their healing powers. Nowadays Sikhs from all over the world collect water

 to bring home because of their healing powers)

As the son of a colonial government official, my father served in the final days of the colonial era in the then Dutch Indies (now Indonesia), my first interest before taking the trip was, to read up on India’s emergence as a nation after hundreds of years of being a British colony. 

(Your hotel in Delhi if you take a Odysseus trip to India has beautiful landscaping)

(The Jama Masjid in Delhi, built in 1640 by Sah Jahan, the imperial mosque of 

the Mughal emperors, that can house 25,000 worshippers, symbolizing in those days

symbolically the Islamic power across India. You will notice later on that Sah Jahan

 is the same guy that built the Taj Mahal.)

There is a wonderful book about the almost impossible task given by the British Raj to the new “Indian government” to create what is today the India we know, especially if you consider how the Brits threw their weight around by creating Pakistan for India’s Muslims, in order to “prevent” a civil war between Hindus and Muslims, as they perceived that only they, the Brits, were able to benevolently keep both “sides” under “control” in “their” country.

 

(As always I jump from one story to another, 

reason why I call the blog “reflections”. This

is the Agra fort. In the right side background,

besides the main building, is the royal bedroom

of Shah Jahan and his beloved Mumtaz Mahal, 

his second wife she died after complications from

delivering his 14th child)

(The Jaipur City Palace, living quarters of the Maharajas

of Rajastan, the largest state in India, known as the

Land of the Kings.  The screened windows allowed 

for the women to see out, but not to be seen.)

(The inner courtyard of the Jaipur City Palace built in 1727 as Royal Residence,

as well as administrative center creating the planned city of Jaipur around it.

The Maharaja’s lived and ruled from here Rajastan till 1949 when officially it

became a state in India, the new nation. Read my excerpt about VP Menon)

So for those of you who want to know more about the Herculean job done by a new fledgling government led by Jawaharlal Nehru, who relied heavily on his 1st Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Patel to make present day India happen  (the real work was done by an untouchable, VP Vappala Pangunni Menon, who ran as Secretary: the Ministry of States), you should read this book: “VP Menon, The Unsung Architect”, by Narayan Basu, a Simon&Schuster ebook. The book is long, thus there is a less lenghty shortcut below.

Here is an excerpt of his story: https://indianhistorycollective.com/vp-menon-and-the-birth-of-independent-india/. 

(As I ramble from one religion to another, the fifth religion

in India is Buddhism. You already guessed that Hinduism 

is by far the largest religion (79.8%) and considered the oldest 

Religion in the world. Second is Islam - note the Brits created

Pakistan for Muslims and an exodus followed - (14.2%), then 

Christianity (2.38%) Sikhism has 1.7% and then Buddhism with

0.7%. There are ofcourse multiple other identified religions in 

India that would rank even lower. However consider the fact that

 these percentages are applied against a population of 1.4 billion.

Back to the picture - this Buddha statue is on the grounds of

the Thai temple in Sarnath just outside of Varanasi a city 

highlighted below)

(Birla Mandir Temple in Jaipur is a Hindu temple dedicated to

goddess Lakshmi and God Vishnu constructed in 1988, a period 

in the world of growing religious tolerance. Thus this temple

on the outside walls features images of Christ, Moses, 

the Virgin Mary, Confucius and Socrates.

I wonder which committee created the list and how they came

to approve these names)

(While jumping around in this narrative choosing from a myriad 

of facts and impressions which is essentially the result of an India

tour: the bus stopped somewhere in Rajasthan to show us the Abhaneri 

stepwell. Whereas stepwells are very common centuries ago in India,

This one is very intact and thus famous. As all wells they are there to 

provide drinking water. But as you can see from the eleborate step 

construction, during the hot summer months the steps 

downward  provide shadow and cooler temperatures for hundreds 

of people. This stepwell was constructed in the 8th and 9th century.

Even today the temperatures in Abhaneri surpass the 100 F scale/ 36 C

on a daily basis during the Indian summers. Since the well is not in use any

more the water deep down was low and muddy in color)

(Around the stepwell on the ground level all four sides

are a covered gallery with Hindu statues on the wall, in elaborate great detail,

making it almost a temple like environment)

(Another example)

The group led by a wonderful very knowledgeable guide Ritu Sharma consisted of 20 people, most of them interested in yoga, spirituality and eastern religions.

None of the above was a reason for Sandee and I to go, although curiosity in the above mentioned is always part of visiting places away from home.

(Our tour also visited Ranthambore National Park to see the famous Bengal

tigers. We were lucky to see 2 of them. This one from very close and the other 

one bit further away. The park once was the Maharaja of Jaipur’s hunting reserve.

The last count of April 2024 was 88 tigers and that in an area of 150 sq miles/391 

sq km. So we were definitely lucky.)

(Langur monkeys in Ranthambore are the most 

common monkey - by the way strictly vegetarian)

(Same tiger decided to lay down and pose)

(As mentioned before, animals of all types are part of 

India’s city fabric. This brings me to reminisce about 

Hinduism. The basic tenet of this religion is the cycle

of birth, death and rebirth, a code of living that emphasizes

 good conduct and morality. And all creatures have souls,

which thru rebirth can emerge in any living creature.

And as such one should revere all creatures)

(To be flippant this monkey could

be part of your family lineage)

(It was awesome to witness a street scene like this)

(These monkeys were fed peanuts in a village

 we passed through.)

For those who might have the itch to visit India one day, we would definitely advise you to consider an Odysseus trip, not only because of group size and good guides, but also because of first class lodging, food and transportation. 

(At the Ranthambore National Park one can find 

a lot of Banyan trees, the National tree of India 

It is  a type of mulberry trees with aerial roots.

This one was a real beautiful example)

(I have to include a picture of the sacred animal of 

Hinduism. Why is the cow sacred, among all other

 revered animals. Well Hindus have many reasons

in no specific ranking, here are a few: 1. Milk

purifies the body, 2. Cow dung keeps the house warm in winter

and cool in summer. 3. Cow urine purifies. 4. The agricultural role of cows

for its owner 5. Cows give

more to humans than they take. 6. Cows are 

peaceful and beautiful even in the midst of chaos.

Well they definitely were not bothered by all the

 noisy traffic chaos)

As usual you will not get a blow by blow tour description, as the pictures and the picture descriptions always tell the story, leaving you enough reasons to contemplate your own visit. The 2 week circular trip exclusively (there was a plane also involved) done with a very comfortable full sized bus/coach had us get a feel of Delhi, Jaipur, the Ranthambore wildlife preserve, a Retreat in Gadoli, Agra (of course), and Varanasi.

(The Ganges River in the city of Varanasi, for me the highlight

of the trip, a renowned place in the Hindu traditions of 

pilgrimage, death, mourning and celebrations)

(Varanasi, most sacred to Hindus is dating back to 2000 BCE.

If you die here you will be liberated from the endless cycle of

death and rebirth. If you died elsewhere your ashes can 

be immersed in the Ganges for salvation)

(Bathing in the Ganges washes away your sins, cures your ailments 

and helps in attaining salvation)

During the trip one gets exposed to the hustle and bustle of no personal space hectic city life,  visiting temples and mosques, palaces and fortresses, while being told the epic stories that come with such visits. Stories about the early political heroes such as Ghandi, Nehru, or stories of Mughals and Maharadjas. 

(It is sobering and brings introspection when witnessing 

the cremation services witnessed by hundreds of people,

hearing the crackling of the burning wood in the silent

night air on the river)

(Our group went on another night in a traditional wooden boat

 on the Ganges and moved  between hundreds of other boats as close

 as possible to the plaza where the Diwali Festival of Lights  took place)

(The Diwali Festival of Lights marks the Hindu New Year

 and celebrates the victory of light over darkness and 

knowledge over ignorance and good over evil)

For some of us the exposure to Hinduism and the origin of the class system contrasted by the way today’s  Indians mesh tradition with modern western ideas, creating for us westerners still the mystique of their unique Asian traditions, left at least me in awe of a society that strives to become the third most powerful world nation in this century, while not compromising their uniqueness.

(The dances by the men in this picture went on for quite a while)

(One of the stories in mythology was the defeat

by Lord Krishna of Demon Naraksura, a greedy 

man who captured more than 16,000 girls. By killing him,

Lord Krishna saved them by ridding them of evil

spirits, negative forces and cleansing them

of their sins)

(It was interesting to see these side parties after returning 

to the shore)

(another little private party)

A funny story about parents explaining Diwali to their daughter in England

https://www.avanade.com/en

Now, back in the US, I vividly remember billboards with beautiful Indian women advertising modern products, as well the colorful saris and the rickshaws passing elephants driven by their Mahouts, the cows not bothered by all that noise around them, the hundreds of monkeys that are actually fed by humans, all amid colorful housing and stores advertising whatever they hope customers will need, crisscrossed by roads, where carts, taxis, busses, lorries, horses, camels, donkeys, cows, pedestrians and elephants violate every traffic rule imaginable.

(This picture contrasts bathing in holy waters praying

for salvation in a river with so much drifting trash)

(I couldn’t get over my amazement seeing bathing, dressing,

and undressing done in seemingly irreverent ways in such a sacred place)

(It was only when in the river Ganges that certain rituals seemed to occur, although not

 in a prescribed fashion. Each person did it differently)

And then, there was the countryside we traversed with our coach between destinations, where farms and modest stone or mud housing are colored by their owners, along long stretches of highways showing less hustle and bustle, telling a story of almost peaceful, noiseless coexistence with those cities we left behind, a landscape where 21st century life is still only half way there, as shown by the fact that the Modi government has recently brought them bathrooms on the roofs and roof water tanks for running water in the homes and here and there I see TV dishes to connect with the 21st century in, I assume, color.

(I was told this gentleman reads your future and prays for your well-being)

We were exposed to the old ways by visits to leather and pottery shops, tapestry and carpet looms, paper recycling plants and artisanal jewelry.

(Carpets handwoven on looms for centuries are a hot

item for tourists. We bought a hallway runner)

(When carpets are finished they are turned upside down

 and a torch singes the back to clear loose strands and

more importantly- I did not know that- the heat tightens

the knots as they recoil and shrink when exposed to

heat which increases durability of the carpet)

(We also visited a recycling paper making

 factory using waste paper)

(Visited the Jaipur blue pottery factory keeping

traditional techniques of the art of blue pottery 

making kept alive by a 9th generation family

training unemployed and semi skilled artisans)

While visiting the temples and mosques as well as the fortresses and palaces, we were told the magical stories of wealth and intrigue, battle gains and losses, the stories of princes and beautiful ladies during periods where empires where built and destroyed, while looking at the remnants history left us to imagine the unfathomable wealth the happy few enjoyed, such as well told by the Taj Mahal tomb as it glistened in the sunlight when we were privileged to visit. 

(We were exposed to classical dances

that in olden days told stories in the dance)

(the dancing was accompanied by instruments

 that are becoming rarer, thereby having certain 

sounds disappear)

All of you know or should know the Taj Mahal story of undying love and the scheming evil son who locked up his father while taking all the remaining wealth for himself in the name of doing what was best for the family.

The Love Story Behind the Taj Mahal

India’s most iconic landmark is a stunning monument to love, loss, and eternal fidelity.

India’s beloved poet Rabindranath Tagore famously called the Taj Mahal, “…a teardrop on the cheek of time,” and visitors to this new Wonder of the Modern World and UNESCO World Heritage site are quickly entranced not only by its stunning beauty but also by the love story that inspired it.

The Taj Mahal celebrates the great love of India’s Mughal ruler Shah Jahan for his beloved wife Arjumand Banu Begum, better known to history as Mumtaz Mahal or “jewel of the palace.”  Jahan first spotted Mumtaz in the bazaar at Agra, selling silks and beads, and the young prince fell madly in love at first sight with the Persian aristocrat.  Steadfast in his five-year pursuit of her, Jahan married Mumtaz in 1612.  Although Mumtaz has been immortalized as a paragon of feminine beauty, historians recognize that she was also an astute and accomplished political practitioner, like many imperial Mughal women before her.  Jahan’s favorite wife was entrusted with the royal seal, worked alongside the young emperor and accompanied him to the battlefields, even during her many pregnancies. 

Mumtaz bore Jahan fourteen children but died of postpartum complications following her last delivery.  Jahan was inconsolable, plunging the imperial court into an unprecedented two-year mourning period, during which time, he summoned artisans from all over the Muslim world to begin designing an unparalleled monument to his eternal love for Mumtaz.  The result was India’s most iconic landmark, the Taj Mahal.  The breathtaking edifice was constructed by 20,000 artisans assisted by 1000 elephants over a period of 22 years.  The design was inspired by descriptions in the Koran of heaven, and indeed, the pure white marble rising against the cerulean sky seems otherworldly, thanks to its sophisticated use of optical illusions and the fact that it changes colors throughout the day, morphing from pure white to dusty pink.  The building incorporates not only the finest principles of Mughal art and architecture, but also aspects of Persian, Ottoman, and Islamic traditions, making it— like love itself— truly universal.
   
In recognition of the Taj Mahal’s flawless design, UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site in 1983.  Today Jahan’s monument to his eternal love for Mumtaz is visited by more than 7 million people each year and is a must-see on any trip to India.

All in all: India is a wonderful place to visit once in a lifetime, or of course for some it is a place to often return to, for reasons of finding a yoga master, a meditation place, or to immerse oneself in eastern religions and their teachings.

(Our last night back in New Delhi was celebrated with a 

special meal during which we donned clothing we received 

in Egypt during our organized tour there. I want to thank

at this time the lady in the picture to my left, Ritu

Sharma our very knowledgeable guide who helped me remember 

many of the details I bestowed on you my readers)