Only Have a Few Minutes

At these hotels, the way the wireless service works is that they give you a coupon good for 24 hours of wireless.  Once the time is up, you have to renew it.  I'm down to less than 30 minutes and we're heading back to Agra today, so I wanted to post quickly before I'm offline again.

Hopefully the pictures went through last night.  I had high hopes of captioning, but there are hundreds of them (happy, Julie??) and we are just too wiped out by the end of each day.  Here's a quick guide to what they are, though.  The batch marked India 2 are the ones from Kanpur.  They start with the train ride there, then show all the relatives from that side.  We didn't do any sightseeing there, so all the pictures are from two different uncle's houses.  When you see the kids playing, that's up on the roof of the house.  I know there is one of Juliana kneeling down on the roof grate that I took from the first floor of the house.  I took a bunch of pics from the roof and from the front of the house (those are the ones with the clotheslines criss-crossing everything....also of the cow walking past the window).  All the ones of people dancing are from the second house we went to.  There are a series of Ritu and I touching the feet of the older generation which is both a major sign of respect as well as a huge photo-opportunity, apparently.  There are also pics from the hotel lobby and the view from the hotel window.

The third batch are all from Jaipur.  The night ones are from Chokhi Dhani and then the rest are from our whirlwind tour yesterday.  First we visited City Palace, where the King of Jaipur still lives.  That's the building with the pink walls.  The yellow building with the striped flags is the royal residence, while the rest has been turned into a museum/tourist area.  From there we went to Jantur Mantur (I was going to say "forgive my spelling" but it's not like any of YOU know any better) and that's a nearly 300 year old observatory.  The pics are mainly of the kids climbing on all the sundials and other equipment which measure astrological movement.  That place was really cool.  Then there are pics of what translates to "the water palace" and those should be pretty obvious.  You can't actually tour that, but it makes for good pictures.  After lunch we drove up into the hills to Amber Fort which is the ancient fort where kings and queens used to live.  Took lots of pics of that, the view from there (including elephants bringing tourists up the front "driveway") and monkeys hanging around there.  We're traveling right now with my mother in law's sister and two younger cousins, Deepu (the one who got engaged) and Kunal.  I hope that helps with the pictures and I promise to go back and caption more thoroughly when I get home.

I don't have my complete address book on snapfish, so I tried to make sure one person from each group of people was getting the link and could forward it around.  If you didn't get them, try emailing somebody who might have them.

 

Jottings from Jaipur

Hi all!  Sorry I've been so out of touch.  My last entry was a week ago which is also the day I came down with a lovely case of gastro-intestinal-why-the-hell-did-I-come-to-India-itis.  I spent a solid day in bed, but I was back up on my feet after about 36 hours.  So far, I'm the only one who has been significantly sick...must be a White Girl Special. 

Last Friday we took the train to Kanpur where we spent three days with my father-in-law's side of the family.  In India, it's traditional that when a woman gets married, she leaves her family and goes to live with the husband's.  Even though that tradition isn't strictly adhered to anymore, the first time a daughter-in-law comes to the husband's family's home is a cause for celebration.  So, 14 years after my wedding, I was treated like a new bride with ceremonies, gifts, singing and dancing.  While it was a bit overwhelming at first, the outpouring of affection was so kind and genuine that I was truly touched by it.  Our visit brought together scores of family members who had made the trip from various parts of India to see us.  I think it was the biggest gathering of family there since a funeral several years ago.  I really enjoyed getting to know people and there were cousins for the kids to play with.  All in all, despite the polluted air and the lack of wireless service, I wish we could've spent more time there.

We took the train back from Kanpur early Monday morning and spent the night back at our hotel in Agra.  Tuesday morning we took a 6 hour drive to the neighboring state of Rajastan to visit the city of Jaipur.  Last night we went to a touristy place called Chokhi Dhani which is basically a recreation of a Rajastani village where they have performers showing traditional dance and crafts.  There were also animal rides, places for the kids to play, and puppet and magic shows.  The kids had a total blast, even though it was probably the least authentic thing we've seen yet.

Today we're doing a day of sightseeing in Jaipur aka The Pink City and tomorrow we drive back to Agra, as the engagement party is Friay night.  I'm hoping to have internet access for the next few days and to get the next batch of pictures uploaded.  Maybe this time I'll even have the chance to add captions.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We miss everybody and can't wait to see you!

Monday

Monday morning we went back to Grandpapa's house for a puja (prayer ceremony) to honor a couple of recent birthdays in the family and to celebrate our visit.  His house is a seamless blend of indoors and outdoors.  There is a small courtyard in the front and most every room has a door that opens to the outside.  On the main floor are three bedrooms, a drawing room filled with couches and  chairs, a bathroom, a small open dining room, and a small kitchen that mainly seems to be for serving.  The refrigerator is not in the kitchen, but out in the dining area.  Each bedroom is small, but with enough room for a queen or king sized bed.  Other than maybe a chair, that is all the furniture in the bedrooms.  Instead of a dresser and/or closets, there are metal cabinets built into one wall for storage.  All the floors are made of marble which helps to keep things cool.  A set of marble stairs leads up to the roof which is flat and spacious.  When it gets very hot, people take cots and sleep on the roof.  From the roof, you can look down into the house's interior, walled courtyard.  This is where the puja was held.  The courtyard also has a marble floor and there is a small second kitchen off of the courtyard which is where the servants do most of the cooking. 

 

The puja was nice, although my multi-cultural kids manage to be equally bored by Jewish and Hindu ceremonies.  Interestingly, my participation in a puja is no longer a novelty, but Sarah's friend Becky was fussed over quite a bit.

 

After lunch there, we split up.  Ritu and David went with Ritu's uncle, "Papu", to his jewelry store while the womenfolk went shopping for material to make outfits for the engagement party.  Sarah and Becky are both planning to wear saris, while Juliana and I chose lenghas, which are short sleeved tops and long full skirts.  We went with my mother in law, her sister, and a 19 year old cousin named Sonum.

 

Let me try to describe this shopping experience to you.  Maybe Juliana's first impression will help.  We walked in the door and she said, "Mommy, I don't think this is a store.  I think this is a factory."  The shop was long and narrow.  One whole wall had floor to ceiling glass cabinets stacked with folded lengths of material.  (When you buy a sari, it's one size fits all because it's one length of cloth that gets wrapped and pinned.  At one end of the cloth is a small section of coordinating fabric and that is what the sari blouse is made from.)   Running the length of the cabinets was a low platform on which the salesmen sat crosslegged.  Wedged up against the platform were a row of low couches that had seen better days.  That's where the customer sits.  The store was so narrow that there was barely room for people to walk behind the couches.  You squeeze onto a couch and tell the clerk what you are looking for.  Maybe you point at some of the fabric in the cabinets.  Another guy serves as a runner and reaches down the fabric.  The clerk shakes it open in front of you so you can examine it.  Probably it's not exactly what you want, so you tell the clerk what colors you're thinking of and how fancy/how much detail you want on the fabric.  Suddenly there is fabric flying everywhere.  The runner is climbing shelves and gathering stacks of cloth and throwing it to the clerk.  Fabric is being shaken out, then pushed aside into a pile after cursory glances.  Now, don't forget there are 6 people in our group all loudly discussing what we need.  And things are being translated in and out of Hindi.  Loudly.  And we are only one of 5 or 6 groups doing the same thing at the same time.  It's noisy, a little smelly, and visually stunning.  Everywhere you look there is a whirlwind of vibrant colors, shiny embroidery, and sparkly accents.  Juliana spent some time with her head in my lap and her hands over her ears. 

 

Once we finally made our choices, then negotiating began.  Turns out Sonum is a master at this.  She named her price, and the storekeeper named his.  They argued for awhile, then seemed to agree.  Sonum paid her price then walked away.  Before she got to the door, the storekeeper started yelling and calling her back.  They debated some more, then she gave him more money.  I assume they had negotiated a new price between the first two.  At this point, everyone is all smiles and the deal is done.  Start to finish the whole tme at the store took about 2 hours.  I will never look at Nordstrom the same way again.

 

In the meantime, David and Ritu were at the jewelry shop.  It's a small space with glass front counters arranged in a U-shape.  Papu showed David all sorts of stones and gems and explained what they were.  He has a special display case of not-for-sale items such as a large topaz and big pieces of malachite.  He took them all out for David to touch and hold.  I don't think David has ever been happier.  He soaked in all that info like a sponge and Papu gave him small samples of 6 or 7 stones to take home.  Then they went next door to a shop where marble pieces are hand made.  The owner is a Muslim man who, amongst other things, exports handmade marble Judaica to New York City and California.  David had the whole process of marble working explained to him and chose some marble animals to bring home.

 

We all met up again around 5 PM at a spot across the river from the Taj Mahal.  There was a sidewalk that led to the river bank and we stood there and watched the sun set.  It wasn't really a tourist spot, so it wasn't too crowded.  There were some women there cutting up the grass or whatever vegetation was sparsely growing on the sandy river bank.  They gathered it up into cloth-wrapped bundles that they carried on their heads.  The Taj Mahal, needless to say, is breathtaking and I loved that we got this view of it that most people don't get to see.

still no pictures

Sorry about the delay on pictures.  I'm trying to use Flickr and as far as I can tell it totally sucks.  I may need to transfer everything over to snapfish and send out emails with links from there.

 

 

Delhi to Agra

About an hour out of Delhi on the way to Agra, we stopped at a  roadside attraction where the kids could see and ride exotic animals.  It consisted of one elephant, one camel, one horse, and a guy with two monkeys on leashes, one of which was wearing a frilly dress.  (For eight years, I've refused to take my kids to the circus, so hopefully God will cut me some slack and forgive me for patronizing this place. )  The kids, needless to say, were thrilled to ride the elephant and the camel.  And yes, I rode the elephant too.  For 150 rupees ($3) the man had his monkeys perform a show for us.  It was the story of a man trying to win back his wife after they have a fight.  Oy.

 

The bathroom there was interesting.  They had two stalls: one Indian style and one European style.  Eurpean style is your basic flush toilet.  Indian style is more like a porcelain, oval shaped bowl set into the floor.  Instead of toilet paper, there is a bucket of water with a small plastic pitcher inside.  You (and by  "you" I mean "not me") squat and then use the water with your hand to rinse yourself clean.

 

Just outside of Agra, we stopped at a McDonald's.  I had warned the kids that just because it was McDonald's didn't mean they would like the food.  They both chose chicken sandwiches which ended up being spicy and covered in sauce.  I had a veggie burger whichwas pretty good and the fries tasted just like the ones we were used to.  Had enough bathroom info yet? Because here's some more.  In the bathroom at McDonald's, there was a girl whose job it was to wipe the toilet seat between each use.

 

We got to Agra around 4:30 and went right to Ritu's grandfathe's house.  We met up with a bunch of relatives and I expect my children will have permanent dents on their faces from all the cheek-pinching.  The kids were beat, so we checked into this hotel to put them to bed, and I stayed with them while Ritu went with his family to dinner at his uncle's house. 

 

We slept pretty well that night, but were all awake around 4:15 AM.  We got slowly up and dressed and at 6 AM went for breakfast.  I'm seeing now that the benefit of staying at a hotel is that the kids are at least getting one meal in the morning to anchor them for the rest of the day.  The hotel is chock-full of tourists from all over the world and there is a pretty good selection of kid-friendly food.  My children seem to be some of the very few here at the hotel and we get a lot of smiles from the middle-aged tourists. 

 

After breakfast we took some time to explore the hotel grounds.  There are acres of gardens, interspersed with fountains and other water features.  I don't know what came over David, but he demanded we take his picture in front of each and every fountain.  We wandered some more and found a hedge maze and a playground.  It's obvious to me that one purpose of the grounds is to insulate the guests from the surrounding city.  The playground was near the edge of the property so we could hear the sounds of traffic, music, street vendors and even the Muslim call to prayer.

 

As for pictures, I've taken a ton so far and I'm trying to get them uploaded to Flickr.  Not sure how soon I can link to them.  Let me post this then see if I can add some here.

 

How to Drive in India

First, choose one of the following means of transportation:  motorscooter, bicycle (with or without rikshaw), van that looks like it's been shrunk in the dryer, bus, cart pulled by donkey, buffalo or camel (yes, really, camel!), mini-car that maybe you borrowed from an amusement park ride, tuk tuk, small size pick up truck, or tractor.

Next, load in as many people and/or as much cargo as you possibly can.  Now add more.  People standing on the rear bumpers of cars is fine.  People riding on top of the cabs of trucks is also fine.  Three people on a bicycle?  No problem.

Now you're ready to drive!    Make sure you know where your horn is because you'll be using it as often as your gas pedal.  Whenever you pass another vehicle, honk.  Get behind it, lay on the horn and keep honking til you are past it.  When you approach an intersection, honk the whole way through.  If somebody is going too slow for you, honk until they move out of the way.  You'll notice two lanes in each direction. That is just a general guideline.  Combinations of vehicles 4 across is not unusual.  If traffic is slow, drive off the road into the dirt.  Beware of cows standing in the road.  Also, large herds of goats being shepherded down the highway.  If you are on the wrong side of a divided highway, just drive the wrong way until you find a place to turn around.  (My favorite sign thus far:  an official highway sign that reads Please Do Not Drive in the Wrong Direction.)

Oh man.  We took a 4 hour drive to Agra today.  We had a hired van and driver.   Ritu quite accurately compared it to riding on Harry Potter's Knight Bus.  The sights were amazing and overwhelming and it's a miracle that we lived to tell about it.  A note about the honking: Many of the trucks have "Horn Please" painted on the rear bumper.  I guess they have limited visibility and they want to make sure they know you are there.  Often it will also say "Use your dippers at night".  That means to flash your high beams.  Despite all the honking and swerving, the drivers are very good-natured.  There is no swearing or angry outbursts.  That's just how you navigate the traffic in India. 

After a few hours, the sights on the road are so unpredictable that you stop being surprised by them.  A woman holding a baby  while riding side-saddle on the back of a motorbike?  Why not.  A man standing on the highway median with a monkey on a leash in one hand and a bear cub on a leash in the other?  But of course.  Men standing on the edge of the road peeing?  Ok, that one got old pretty fast.

Getting There

The first flight was uneventful and our layover in Newark was long enough that we were able to leave the airport and have dinner with my friend Jen, who just happens to be one of my favorite human beings on the planet.  It was the first chance for her husband and Ritu to meet and they hit it off right away.  Her kids and mine match up perfectly as well, so it was a good time, although too short of a visit.

 

Back at the Newark airport we started meeting up with our traveling companions: Ritu's parents, his sister, and a friend of hers from college. The flight was unbelievably long, but the kids did a terrific job.  If Leapster wants a testimonial from me, I would happily oblige.  We landed at the New Delhi airport at 9:50 PM  It had been 24 hours since we left Portland.

 

The first thing you notice in New Delhi is the air.  As soon as you get off the plane, you can smell an acrid smokiness.  This intensifies as you get outside.   The sky looks hazy and your throat starts to burn.  You can feel the grittiness in your eyes and nose.  Personally, I prefer my air untextured. 

 

We got through immigration with no problems, got our luggage, and left the airport.  We were expecting one or two people to meet us there, so imagine our surprise when we found that 8 relatives had made the trek to the airport.  We were especially glad to see my mother in law's sister, whom they call Minnie Mossi.  She glommed onto my kids first thing.  I actually got a little teary-eyed seeing them connect with her.  Of course, it could've just been the New Delhi air.

 

We made our way to the Marriott Welcomhotel.  It was gorgeous, with a big marble lobby.  By the time we got checked in and up to our rooms, it was 3 AM.  We'd all slept some on the plane, but we were in that hazy, headachy place of travel.  We managed to sleep from about 3 AM to 7 AM.  We had a nice breakfast in the hotel restaurant, packed up our stuff, and headed for Agra.