by Gary | Jan 17, 2007 |
I’ve got so many impressions and bits of information running through my mind that it’s almost impossible to develop a coherent theme. I guess that’s the way India is. It’s sensory and mental overload of the highest order. We all come here with some preconceived notions about what we will find. Some are seeking self actualization and seek out the Dalai Lama and the local ganja vendor. Some are looking for stuff to buy, and they find it by the truckload. Others want to revel in the grandure of the Maharaja’s world. A few want to see the dark side of poverty and human depravity, and they can find that as well, because it hits you in the face from the...
by Gary | Jan 16, 2007 |
I now know there are sixteen official languages and another few dozen dialects that people really use. There are hues of skin color from very dark to very light. There are regional modes of dress with great distinction and variation. There are as many cusines as there are villages (I’ve been told about 56,000), and few can name but the top four or five of the dozens of religions that ebb and wane. Although officially outlawed, there are dozens of casts and hundreds of sub-casts that add texture to an already complex society. The economic structure supports at least six major groupings…..At the top there is The Very Rich, which every society must...
by Gary | Jan 15, 2007 |
Jaipur is the capital city of Rajasthan state situated on the edge of the Thar desert. It has a population of about 2.4 million with the roughly the same ethnic/religious make-up of the rest of northern India. That is to say Hindus comprise about 80% of the population. There are 53% males and 47% females….now there’s an odd statistic. Much of the city was actually planned by one of the many Singhs in the line of Singh Maharaja rulers, Sawai Jai Singh. It, unlike all other ancient Indian cities, is layed out on a rectangular block basis with streets running perpendicular to one another. Inside of the old city all buildings are painted pink (hence...
by Gary | Jan 14, 2007 |
The Delhi Belly, known in other parts as Montezuma’s Revenge and several other names, is what keeps most Americans at home. We’re so afraid of the food, and our stomachs have become so homoginized that we’d rather stay in Des Moines and eat Big Macs than venture out of our own shadow. Unfortunately, it’s more or less with good reason. There’s the odd thing is it doesn’t just effect tourists. Jonathon, the manager of the Aman I Khas said that they had to put in a water purification system in the nearby village where most of his workers lived to keep them healthy and coming to work. I took a “walkabout” with Jonathon through the grounds of his hotel to see...
by Gary | Jan 13, 2007 |
For some reason that I can’t recollect, I’d arranged a car and driver for the trip from Agra to Ranthambore. Our only other option was train, and I’d always heard that Indian trains are in ill repair, never on time, crowded, and generally nasty. As it turns out, I was right about the trains, but since I had no point of reference, I had no assumptions about traveling three hundred kilometers by car. Remembering my blog When Yes Means No, I should have been more than a little suspicious about responses I got when I tried to get some specific information about the trip. Estimates ranged from four to eight hours for the journey, road conditions from good to not...
