Around the World with Marsha & Joel

It’s early Thursday morning as we board the bus for the seven hour excursion to Jaipur. Remember, miles mean nothing in India, it’s the time it takes that counts…and that’s dependent on the time of day, the day of the week, the whim of the sacred cows, the holiday, and on.

Today is the Jain Festival, tomorrow is Good Friday and Sunday, Easter. It’s a four day holiday in India as everyone celebrates everyone else’s holidays.

The Jain religion is one of the smallest in the world, but extremely strong. It is a community mostly of business people with a reputation of honesty. In fact they control 60% of the business in India. They are also strict vegetarians, even covering their mouths so they don’t accidentally swallow any insects.

Jain Festival Procession to a Temple

Mangal Haladeva Temple is also a rest stop on our way. The statues of the Hindu Gods are enormous and beautifully maintained.

Shiva Looms Over the Visitors

Rama, Marsha, and Lakshmi

As we move on into Rajasthan Pradesh toward Jaipur a more desert environment is evident.

Camels Become Part of the Scene

"Mother" Cows on their Way to Work

Cows are sacred in India because they represent the Mother. The sacred cows we see wandering on their own are abandoned because they no longer give milk. The others, still considered sacred, work full-time. On the other hand water buffaloes do no work other than providing milk.

The (No So) Welcome Monkeys of Jaipur

This family has been rounded up and exiled from Jaipur, but they keep finding their way back…to join their “gangs” in breaking in and ransacking homes. People have to put bars over their windows to prevent the monkey scourge.

An Refreshing Afternoon Treat for Locals

As we reach the outskirts of Jaipur we see the sugar cane juices for the first time. Raw sugar can is ground into a pulp in the open air (along with flies and other assorted insects), mixed with water and other “things”, and sold. We’re advised not to try. OK.

As we approach the city the traffic becomes thicker and thicker, and turns into an chaotic “dance” impossible to comprehend by an “outsider’s” mind. Horns blow incessantly, mostly more as a courtesy than a threat. Aggressive jockeying for advantage is basically ignored. Nary an extended finger or a threatening glance. How do they do it? And they do it unscathed (for the most part).

We arrive in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. It is a colorful city that thrives on it’s businesses, gem stones especially. The old part of the city is painted pink, the color of wealth. the women wear incredibly beautiful clothing (silk saris, etc.) even to do the dirty work like making cow dung patties. More of that next time. In the meantime I’ll be posting the second in the series of facts and factoids shortly.

Slum clusters are evident as we move, slowly, toward the more middle class living areas. People crowd near public bus stops with just a few moving up the stairs or escalators of the modern metro system. The metro is not for the lower working class. Just too expensive and not extensive enough. You usually need to take another form of public transportation to get to your final destination. Men sit at areas on the curb in quiet groups waiting for contractors to stop by and offer some work for the day. Most days they sit all day to no avail. Lots of card playing. It accounts for all the “entrepreneurs” hawking fruit and candies to the locals and negotiating with tourists at sites of interest. No street sweepers appear until you reach the middle and upper class areas. Guess the government can’t afford to put many to work at that level.

No social security, sparse health care, high unemployment means that people are dependent on family, friends, neighbors to help one another. That’s how they make it work.

As we move forward into the business class area we start to see nicer (some single) homes that are generally passed on from father to son. Now we see street cleaners with old straw brooms and less and less strewn garbage. Streets and pavement tend toward some standards, and most homes are fenced or gated. Some of India’s greatest wealth is concentrated within these relatively modest homes. People tend not to show any ostentation…for both safety and tax purposes (that’s another story).

We near the oldest part of Delhi as we approach the Red Fort, built in 1648 as a symbol of Mughal’s Emperor Shahjehan. It is now Jama Masjid, India’s largest mosque.

Marsha and Fellow Traveler, Carol

At our age, covering the body is not necessarily a bad thing!

Ablution Stations

Then to Raj Ghat, cremation site of Mahatma Gandhi.

A Totally Austere Monument in a Chaotic Land

The Monument with Mounds of Marigolds

Later on to New Delhi visiting Qutub Minar built by Qutub-ud-din Aibek in 1199.

Magnificent Hindu Temple (No Photos Allowed Inside)

Beautiful sculptures inside of Shiva and many of the other Hindu Gods…come see our postcards!

Past the India Gate (war memorial arch), and the curious Birla Temple.

An old Hindu Temple that was destroyed by Muslims from the north and converted to a Mosque. Uniquely the Muslims used much of the Temple’s old stone work to create the Mosque, leaving very uncharacteristic images (no images other than calligraphy ever used in Mosques) including some from the Kama Sutra — go figure (figuratively).

We Meet Medical Staff and Students from Gujarat, also Sightseeing

Gorgeous Locals playing at the Mosque

We drive past the the President’s House, Parliament house and Government secretariat buildings and head back to the hotel for dinner and rest for the long (7-hour) journey to Jaipur tomorrow. Have a good night!

Factoid Blog #1

[If you’re interested, here’s the first of our Factoid Blogs. No photos, but some interesting bits and pieces that might strike some of your fancies. If not…skip to the next blog “Delhi Old and New” with photos and briefer “travelogue”].

We start the new day touring old and new Delhi. Traffic, traffic, traffic. Arvind, our tour guide has plenty of time to give us some Indian background:

There are 1.2 billion Indians; 1/6^th of the world’s population. There are 14 official languages and seven major religions. In fact, the Jain festival is tomorrow (Thursday).

60% of the population is in villages and small towns.

Agriculture is the major economy and is totally monsoon dependent. Because of global warming, the monsoons are coming later and later; now the rains don’t start until September rather than July. This is driving a shift of the population toward the cities (to find work…that doesn’t really exist).

40% of the population is below the poverty line, but here is no social security system. 400 million people are not sure where even one meal a day will come from. Plus the population is growing the equivalent of the population of Australia every year.

40% of the population is illiterate, and use gestures to get around language communication because there are so many dialects.

There is no health insurance so people can use the public hospitals. But, there is often a 2-3 month wait to be helped. One can also use private hospitals on a pay as you go basis. Only the wealthy can do that. We saw a few public and private hospitals on our way. Huge crowds outside the public hospitals while the privates are spanking clean and fresh, with no lines.

It is the same with schools; public and private.

[More to come]….