Farewell India!

Here I am, safe and sound in Chiang Mai! Loving it so far, but more on that later...feel like I really should finish writing about India now that I have finished travelling there - oh it makes me sad to type that!

So I think I had gotten as far as our afternoon trekking to the dunes for sunset. Well the trekking was like the other trekking, but the destination? That was something else altogether. The dunes themselves were really beautiful; completely untouched sand apart from by these beetles that were cute, but reminded me a bit too much of the scarab beetles in 'The Mummy' so I tried to avoid them as much as possible! When we arrived, the sun was already on its way down and was hanging in the sky, a huge, luminescent red ball. The speed at which it set was impressive - I reckon I was only there for twenty minutes or so before it had completely disappeared. I found it interesting though, because it didn't actually disappear behind the horizon, but just above and so there was always a gap between the bottom of the sun and the horizon line of the desert, where you could still see sky. I'm sure there is some scientific explanation for that which Dad could fill me in on, but I found it intriguing! It was so peaceful sitting there watching the sun set. The guides had stayed down at the bottom of the dunes, setting up the campfire and starting to prepare dinner, so it was just the tourists on the dunes and I think we all instinctively knew to leave the others be. So I got to sit completely alone, looking out over the desert in complete silence, without a sign of any other human beings...pretty special experience. 

After the sun had finished setting, we headed back down to the camp where chai was waiting for us and some entertaining chat with the camel guys. It only took about twenty minutes after the sun had set for it to be pitch black and starry, so it became a bit of a challenge for them to cook I think! I helped out again, but this time wasn't allowed anywhere near the chapatis and instead was peeling garlic, which I have to say I did admirably well (although I'm not sure it's possible to peel garlic badly)! Just before serving, Ramesh said he would just go check on the camels but that he would be back in a few minutes. Two hours later, after two phone calls and the other guide also disappearing into the wilderness, and long after we had eaten our delicious desert dinner, they finally returned with all the camels. Turns out the naughty creatures had gone off for a jaunt to a farm 3km away and were happily munching away on the crops there! Ramesh said he has never known them go so far...I guess they fancied exploring! It did make me giggle though to think of Ramesh and his friend trying to find them in the dark though, thank goodness one of them has a bell or I don't know how they would have located them! While they were gone I wandered around the dunes a bit, star gazing. The sky was incredible; there was no moon so the stars were particularly bright, and I guess it makes sense, considering the fact that I was somewhere completely new in the world, but they looked nothing like they do at home. We could see what the Swiss guys reliably informed me was the whole of the milky way, and they also pointed out a few constellations to me. To be blunt though, I didn't really care what I was looking exactly, and was more enamoured with the overall effect, which was sublime. I also saw three shooting stars which was amazing, especially as I have never seen any before, so to see three in one night was pretty incredible. 

Ramesh then came up to join me in the dunes and was pointing out some interesting sights to me, including the Pakistan border which we could see the lights of (and the fireworks as they were already celebrating Diwali). It really didn't look very far away, Ramesh said 60km - a lot closer than I had thought it would be! There haven't been any troubles there for a while now though, so it's not like it's unsafe. Even the fact that there is such a presence there though makes you realise that the two country's relations are no where near friendly yet. We sat for a while chatting but then what seems is the inevitable happened and he offered me a 'desert massage' and I decided it was time to retreat to my bed next to the Swiss guys! I don't know what it was with Indian men, but several seem to have the idea that it's ok to ask to touch somebody, so long as you are offering a specific type of massage. In Bodhgaya it was a reiki massage, in Varansi a chakra massage and in Rajasthan a desert massage...I was honestly a little intrigued as to what a 'desert massage' was, but not enough to let him try it on me!

My bed was a blanket on one of the dunes, with the stars above me - a billion star guest house as all the guides were keen on joking! All jokes aside though, it was utterly stunning. It got chilly at night so I was tucked up in a blanket, with the sound only of the wind and an occasional camel bell tinkle, and sometimes, when the wind blew the right way, a bit of music from the Diwali celebrations. I lay there, staring up at the sky and couldn't really bring myself to believe that I was actually there, in Rajasthan, in the desert, laying under the stars, with my friend the camel on the next dune! I felt like an extremely lucky girl, a feeling I have been experiencing a lot on this trip! I slept really well and had a fabulously vivid dream about being a princess in Jodhpur and then when I woke we got to watch the sun coming up from the other side of the desert. I was sat in bed while the guides brought us chai and breakfast, and as far as I can remember, that is pretty much the most atmospheric place I have ever eaten breakfast.

Our morning ride back to the jeep was perfect. It was still early enough that the sun wasn't too hot and there was a cool (well, relatively cool) breeze. Thanks to that, we saw a bit more wildlife, including a small family of gazelles which were so graceful. I was sad to leave Lucky behind because of the sights that he had carried me to, but I must admit that my inner thighs were not sorry to see the back of him! Camel riding is a brilliant experience that I am very glad I tried, but it is definitely not the most comfortable way to travel! I can add it to my list though; plane, train, automobile (including car, taxi, auto rickshaw, motorbike, bus), boat, cycle rickshaw and now camel! 

So that was Rajasthan; an amazing state to visit, and one I would heartily recommend, and hopefully will return to one day. Saying that though, I would like to return to just about everywhere I went in India, and would like to see a lot more of it too! All that remained for my India trip was Diwali in Delhi. However, the word 'all' is misleading, as there was a lot to my last stop! 

Before I could begin celebrating in Delhi, I had to get there, and unlike my other train journeys in India, this one was a tad more eventful. I hadn't been able to reserve a seat when I went to the station to book the ticket because it was late to be booking and everyone was travelling for Diwali. Luckily though, when I got to the station, my name was off the waiting list and on to the seated list, so I thought all would be well. Unfortunately, I didn't have an upper berth like I had had before, so I couldn't just retreat up there straight away and stake my claim to a bed. Instead, I had to sit on the lower bunk and wait for a decent time before I could get my bed (the middle one) out to go to sleep. That would have been fine, except at some random Rajasthani village a whole load of people got on and crowded in next to me. I counted, and in the section I was in which should have had six people sitting in it, we had fourteen! Somewhat crowded I am sure you can imagine! It was four families worth, and I was a tad concerned about how on earth I was going to boot them off their seat so I could get my bed down! We travelled like that for a few hours, with them finding just about everything that I did hilarious; I may not understand Hindi, but I know when people are mocking me! However, I offered the kids some biscuits and that seemed to make me seem more human, less joke and calmed them all down a bit. Luckily, when we got to Jodhpur at about 10pm, three of the families got off, and so I took my chance to ask the other family (with lots of miming and misunderstandings) to scoot over to the other side so I could go to bed and end the drama. Or so I thought. I slept until about midnight when I was woken by a whole group of people poking me and shouting at me. As I am sure you can appreciate, this was a tad disconcerting, and thanks to the fact that I had just woken up, made me rather disorientated! It transpired that they thought my bed was theirs and they were trying to make me move. However, I was pretty damn sure that the bed was mine, so I refused to move, in a sort of sit-in, peaceful protest style! They eventually realised that they were in the wrong carriage and so left, so I was really glad I had stood my ground, or I guess, lay my ground! Being in India alone has definitely made me more assertive; there is no way I would have done that when I first started travelling and I think it's good - you need confidence to succeed at this travelling malarky! 

Arrived in to Delhi with no more drama and was met by Arpit at the Badarpur border which is nearer to where he lives. He is one of the friends I made in Kolkata but studies in Delhi and lives with family about an hour out of the city. He had offered to show me around when I was in Delhi, but in the end went way above and beyond the call of duty or hospitality or whatever you want to call it, and invited me to stay with his family and celebrate Diwali with them for my whole stay. He, and they, were so sweet to me and really looked after me; I had a great time celebrating the biggest Indian festival with them! 

My time in Delhi alternated between family Diwali traditions and sight seeing, with a little good old traditional British festival fun (ie drinking) thrown in for good measure! Because of the conservative nature of Arpit's family we had to be very secretive about this aspect, which made it feel much more naughty than it was! The sights I saw were the Red Fort, Connaught Place, the Lotus Temple and Dilli Haat. The same thing happened again with the fort; I didn't know what on earth I was looking at and so failed to understand the significance of each part! Fortunately, I had read quite a bit about the fort before hand, so I knew a little about it in general, so it was good to put that information in to context, and even if I didn't know which bit was which, the architecture was beautiful. Connaught Place I liked very much. It is the main commercial district of Delhi and basically two massive concentric circles which are full of shops and places to eat. We shopped there for a couple of hours and Arpit and his cousin Swati (the sweetest girl) bought some traditional dress for Diwali. It was nice to just be in a commercial district and wandering around...didn't really even feel like India! The Lotus Temple is (unsurprisingly) a temple in the shape of a lotus flower. It was stunning to see this huge flower made of white marble, and inside was so peaceful as they don't allow anyone to talk or take in mobile phones or cameras. After the chaos of Hindi temples, this was a haven of serenity, and I couldn't work out why it was so different until I discovered that it wasn't a Hindi temple at all, but a Baha'i temple. The Baha'i religion is all about unity between different religions and peoples, and focuses on the importance of community. They believe in a God, but have no religious leader, instead focusing on the importance of individual pursuit of truth and answers. They have services each day in which parts are read from all the holy books, with no discrimination or favouritism. I found the religion really fascinating and chatted for ages to one of the Baha'i volunteers there, a lovely Persian girl actually! Finally, Dilli Haat was a sort of handicrafts market, where you could buy products from all over Inida, from the makers directly. It was an amazing place with so so much to look and and potentially buy. Unfortunately, my rucksack is at bursting point already so I couldn't buy much, but did get a present for family Lewis (can't say what as they aren't allowed to open it yet!) and Arpit bought me a gorgeous top/dress that I had my eye on. I was mortified that he was buying me a present after everything he had done for me, but he insisted - so sweet of him! His family were the same though; despite welcoming me in to their home for their most important festival, feeding me, and making me feel so at home, when I was leaving two of his aunts presented me with gifts! One gave me a lovely silver pendant and earrings and another an exquisite traditional North Indian outfit, which is intricately decorated with beads and so beautiful! They all said that they would like me to visit again as well, and I really hope I'll be able to - I've told Swati I'll come back for her wedding! 

The Diwali part of my Delhi stay was what made it so special though. Diwali is the Indian equivalent of Christmas; everyone celebrates it and has their own family traditions surrounding it. Obviously the history behind the festival and the way of celebrating is different, but the basic concepts of being with family, giving gifts and eating lots are the same! Diwali has two main meanings as far as I could make out (I should say sorry here in case I get any of the mythology wrong; I must have bored Arpit and Swati to death incessantly asking them questions about it!), one is celebrating the return of Rama after 14 years where he has been gone rescuing Sita, and the other is to praise Lakismi, the goddess of wealth and to ask for an auspicious and prosperous year. It's known as the 'Festival of Lights' and so candles play a huge part in the celebrations and all the houses are lit up with colourful fairy lights. On the religious side, the festival involves performing pujas (like the Durga Puja in Kolkata). We did three of these in the family houses, and each one basically involved honouring the idols by flicking red liquid at them, sprinkling rice over them and bowing down to say a small prayer before having some of the red liquid and rice put on your forehead. The final puja was the biggest, and for this one we also offered food to the idols and Arpit's family sang a devotional song (like a hymn) while I rang the bell. After each puja, the dias (candles) used were spread around the house, one in each room, so that the auspiciousness brought from the puja would be spread around the house too. The pujas were fascinating, and it was really nice to do them in such a personal, family oriented way - a completely different experience from the mass pujas of Durga Puja in Kolkata. 

As well as this religious side, there are also family traditions that make their Diwali personal, just like every British family has their own Christmas traditions. The first one we did was on the day before Diwali which is the 'small Diwali'. Every year the young ones in the family get together and gamble to start the celebrations, so they taught me how to play 'pot', a pretty simple card game which is very much based on luck, luck which unfortunately evaded me! It was good fun though and we played with money from a 'bank' so I didn't actually lose anything, thank goodness! The second tradition I did was making the 'rangoli' - a design on the floor that we (we being Swati and I) made with colourful powders and candles. I have to say, ours was pretty beautiful - we used lots of bright colours and outlined it with silver glitter so that it sparkled when the candles were lit. All of their family seemed impressed with it and Swati was very chuffed with how it turned out, so that was really nice :) The last big tradition that I participated in was the 'crackers'. This is the name that they give to fireworks, but they have not only aerial ones, but actually more that you light on the floor and that make designs (and noise) nearer to earth. My favourite type was one that you lit on the floor like a spinning top, that once it started spinning emitted lovely white and gold sparks in a big spiral...really pretty! Literally every family has their own display (or at least every family where Arpit lives) and so the noise of it is immense! It's like bonfire night but a million times multiplied - I guess I should have expected it; this is India after all and they don't do anything by halves!

So like I said, we did some classic British celebrating as well; a little drinking at home on the night of Diwali, and then we also went out for a meal and drinks on my last night. This last night in particular was so lovely. We went to one of Arpit's favourite places called 'The Living Room' where they have amazing food, live acoustic music playing and (most importantly) Zinfandel Rose wine! It was a really good evening, not least because it was something pretty new for Swati. Like I mentioned, Arpit's family are pretty conservative and so are anti Swati drinking, and also don't like her to be out late. In fact, this was the first time she was out after 11pm in her life, and she is 23, has graduated from Uni and working a full time job with Ernst and Young! Even to go out until midnight for dinner she had to ask permission not only from her parents but from her brother, and there was a real possibility that they would say no. Luckily they didn't and we ended up having a great time. It was bizarre though, such an extreme culture difference, and she could definitely tell that I found it strange. I also asked her lots of questions about how traditional their family are in other aspects and it turns out they are very, to the point that all of their cousins have had arranged marriages, and she thinks that she may well end up having one too. I find the concept of that so strange, and had thought that arranged marriages were on their way out in India. Apparently not though, as Swati reckons that they are still more common than love marriages and are really the norm. I guess every culture is different though, and it seems to be working for their family in general, although they did tell me one horrible story about a cousin whose husband turned out to be abusive, and now that she has divorced him, she probably will never marry again, unless there is 'something wrong' with the new husband too. It must be really hard to be in that position in your twenties, I feel so sorry for her.

On my last day in Delhi/India, I did something that I never thought I would do: I went to a Formula 1 race. Actually, more than that, I went to the first ever race in India at a brand new racing track built especially for the occasion! Arpit's cousin had got us the tickets which were obscenely expensive and not something I would every had bought, but I am so glad he did! The race was cool enough, the cars really do go ridiculously fast and are so loud...we actually had to leave the stadium and buy earplugs because it was hurting our ears sitting there without! We were in the grandstand in front of where they do the pit stops, so that was cool as well as we got to see them doing a bit of that. However, that was by no means the best bit of the day. Arpit's cousin (I do know his name but have no idea where to even begin spelling it) somehow managed to wangle his way in to the VIP Platinum Lounge, and then was able to get us in too...for free! Being in the Platinum Lounge meant air conditioned and sound proofed boxes from which to watch the race, unlimited free gourmet food and snacks, and unlimited free drinks! Arpit and I (and his cousin) obviously made the most of this, and drank copious amounts of free champagne and ate a lot of very tasty food from all over the world. After a Diwali with an Indian family where I had stretched my stomach already, this was not an ideal place to be, and I ended up eating until it hurt! It did mean that I didn't need to buy any food until I got to Chiang Mai though, which I guess saved me money! Being a VIP should have cost 3lakh which is nearly 4000 pounds, if I am exchanging it right, which is clearly an insane amount of money, even for what we got! To be a VIP on the Sunday of the races was 5lakh...mental! It was so much fun though and I could not for the life of me stop giggling, partly because of the champagne, partly because it was so surreal and I couldn't quite believe it was happening! 

All that was left then was to pop back to the house and say goodbye to Arpit's family, and then Arpit himself. It was sad to say goodbye, I really enjoyed staying with them and was so well looked after. I really hope some of the friends I have made in India will take me up on my offer of visiting the UK so one day I can repay the many favours they have done for me!

So that's it...goodbye India! Before I left I read everywhere that I would either love or hate India, and I definitely see now that that is true, and am so glad that I come down on the lover side! It is an incredible country with so much to see and do and I know that I will come back some time in the future to try and see and do some more of it! It has everything; amazing buildings, fascinating history, delicious food, diverse culture, breath taking nature, beautiful handicrafts and some of the loveliest people I have ever met. Yes, it also has squalor, heart breaking poverty, crooks, perverts and danger, but I think for me, these contrasts just highlighted the good points, and made me want to see even more of those! India attacks your senses from every side, and although sometimes, or most of the time, the experience is pretty overwhelming, it is never, not for a second, dull. Even the times I sat just quietly in a restaurant eating alone I was soaking up culture from every side and loving every minute of it. I am sad to have left there and cannot believe how quickly my time went, but I am also really excited to be in a completely new culture, ready to start learning all over again! 

I won't go in to Thailand in detail now - I have only been here just over 24 hours after all! - but will just say that so far I am very happy. My volunteer house is lovely; very clean and comfortable, and tomorrow I have orientation ready to start work on Tuesday, which I am both looking forward to and nervous about! There is another volunteer in the house who has been here 3 weeks though and she is very happy so far, so that bodes well I feel :) There are loads of internet places near my house so it should be easy to keep in touch here, so maybe I will write with a bit more regularity than in India! 

Lots of love, as always, 
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



  

Hospital, the 'monument to love' and the state of kings...

Oh dear. I have been somewhat remiss with my blog of late, haven't I? However, I feel that I have a very good excuse seeing as I had to waste five of my precious days in India in hospital, and so since I escaped from there I have been trying to make the most of every second, let alone the multiple hours it takes to do a blog entry! Right now though I am sitting in a friend's living room in Delhi, and seeing as it is the day after Diwali and we celebrated pretty well last night, I am going to let him sleep for a bit longer before I drag him out of bed to take me sight-seeing in Delhi. The trouble is, the longer I leave updating this the longer I know it's going to take to write everything, so I can't promise that I'll be able to get up to the present day this morning. I should be able to get you slightly more up to speed with where I've been/what I've been doing/what an amazing time I have been having in this incredible country! 


So, as lots of you will know, after my last post I had that train to Agra. Well that was an interesting experience! I managed to make it there, through the journey, and to a hostel the other side on a stomach completely empty apart from copious glucose tablets; not something I would recommend anyone try unless they really have to. Once I got to my hostel I went straight back to bed (as I had been doing in Varanasi the last four days) and when I woke up I realised that I really wasn't getting any better on my own, and that maybe it was time to stop being so stubborn and insistent that it was only a traveller's tummy bug and that I could deal with it myself, and instead just go to see a doctor. Thank God I did, because as soon as I arrived in the surgery he diagnosed me with a fever, acute dehydration, low blood pressure and what he described as a stomach full of nasty bacteria, and told me that I needed to be admitted to hospital immediately. I went back to the hostel, picked up my stuff (luckily I hadn't even made it as far as opening my rucksack) and went in to the hospital. To be fair, I was really impressed with the hospital. I had my own room, which was very comfortable and clean and had a TV, which I made full use of once I got past the sleeping all day and all night phase! The people who were administering to me day to day didn't really speak wonderful English, which was hard at first because I was trying to ask them what all the different pills/IV fluids that they were giving me were and each time they looked a bit confused and then just said 'oh don't worry, it's for your stomach' and mimed rubbing their stomach and smiling. That unsettled me just a tad, but after the first few doses when nothing bad had happened and I was starting to feel more like myself again I decided that if I was there I might as well be there 100% and just trust them and let them get on  with it, and it worked out ok! Despite the language barrier they were very sweet to me, and were very keen to make sure I was happy with the care I was receiving and with the hospital in general, which I definitely was. The food was flippin' horrendous, but I think that's a given for hospitals, and my appetite was next to nothing anyway so it didn't really matter. Five days later then, after discovering that I had come down with a stomach full of e coli (which must have been quite bad because my doctor pulled a very entertaining 'worried face' when he told me), they decided I was well enough to be discharged and continue my travels, and although I still felt a bit battered and worn out, I completely agreed that it was time to get out of there and see some more of India. I was starting to itch to get back on the road, and feel it must be some sort of world record to be in Agra for five days and not even catch a glimpse of the Taj Mahal! 


The plan was to take it easy for a few days once I had left, but as with all the best laid plans, this one was shot to hell within an hour of leaving the hospital. Luckily, I had cancelled all my on going train tickets when I was leaving Varanasi because I didn't want to feel rushed to get better, so I hadn't missed an travel arrangements. However, that also meant that I didn't have any further travel arrangements, which when you are travelling on trains in India during festival season is not a good situation to be in! I spoke to me hostel manager about getting train tickets (they may have hostel manager as their job title, but they always seem to double as travel agents) and he informed me that there was not a chance that I was going to get a seat on a train to Jodhpur (which is in Rajasthan) in the nest few days, but that he knew of a sleeper bus that was leaving the next day that he could get me a seat on. After my experience from Bodhgaya to Varanasi I was somewhat reluctant to get back on to a long distance bus...especially as this one was actually advertised to be 13 hours, but I didn't really have a choice, so signed my name on the dotted line, handed over my rupees and decided to just hope for the best. That meant, however, that I had less than twenty four hours to see Agra, so I pretty much went straight to bed, setting my alarm for 4.30 the next morning so I could make the most of the time I had. 


I am so glad I did, because being up that early meant that I was at the Taj when it opened and got to see the sunrise there. It was absolutely stunning. I find it amazing, because I have seen (everybody has seen) so so many pictures of the Taj, in every light, from every angle, a million times over, and so I kind of thought that I would get there and it would just be everything I had seen but bigger. Somehow though, no picture, no matter how beautiful, seems able to capture its magnificence, its splendour, or its pure beauty. It really is the most awe inspiring building I have ever seen, with mind boggling symmetry at the heart of its design, a design so structured and precise that you would expect it to cause the whole thing to feel a bit stale or sterile, but somehow magnifies the essence of what the Taj is about and turns it into an experience in purity, rather than just a building. I know I am waxing lyrical a bit here, but honestly, it's hard to describe how it feels to stand in front of a building that perfect, especially when you have been imagining that moment since you were sixteen years old and started planning your gap year! By arriving before sunrise I got to see the Taj in many different lights and it changed subtly with each of them. When I first walked through the gate (which in itself was stunning) it was only just visible in the distance, with its outline sort of hazy and indistinct through the early morning haze. I headed straight for the marble platform that you see in all the photos and managed to have my picture on the Princess Diana bench (a touristy must I feel) before wandering around to get a look at it from all its different angles. As the sun started to come up, the outline became increasingly clearer, and the colour of the white marble altered through many shades of pink and orange, before settling on a mild yellow and eventually arriving at its startling white. It was beautiful to see the changing colours of the sunrise reflected on it, but I have to say I think it is at its best when the sun is properly up and you can see the unadulterated whiteness of the marble...it's quite remarkable how brightly it shines considering the amount of time it has been standing there. I read actually, that several years ago they gave it a sort of face mask made of clay from the Ganges, a face mask that Indian women used to use, and that that helped to bring it back to its original colour. Now no polluting vehicles are allowed within a certain distance of it, so it's not being damaged by smoke or exhaust fumes. 


I spent about four hours there in total, just wandering and then sitting and admiring, and of course going inside to see the tomb that it was all about. I think that the reason for its existence makes it an even more special building; that this guy would spend so much money and time and effort to construct a building that is an example of perfection, just so it could house and honour his dead wife is touching. The fact that soon after he was deposed by his own son and made a prisoner in his own fort across the river, from where he could only look at his creation (and wife) from a distance, and only returned to the Taj to be buried once he had died himself makes it such a tragic place, and that history resonates when you are walking around. It's interesting because in Indian culture men have always been (and to an extent still are) very much given a position of prominence, over women, but in this case, Mumtaz's (the wife) coffin is in the very centre of the tomb in line with the entrance, the marble platform, the archway and the entrance at the south gate, so if you stand at the foot of her coffin you are in the very centre of the whole momument. Shah Jahan in contrast, is off to one side, clearly the after thought, something I haven't seen anywhere else in India. He must have loved her very much, or else he was atoning for doing something very bad to her while she was alive! I'd like to think it's the first one though. 


I headed back to my hostel for breakfast because it has what Lonely Planet describes as the best view of the Taj from its roof top restaurant. It was really nice, but I think maybe more impressive before you actually visit the building itself; it's more like those postcard views again without the awe factor. As far as views go though it was a lovely one, and it's probably a sign of how many incredible things I have seen in India that I am being so blase about it! Once I'd eaten I headed to Agra fort, supposedly one of the most impressive examples of Mughal architecture in India. It was very impressive, with beautiful marble work and fabulous views of the Taj across the river. The trouble was though that there was not really very much information available around the place, and I refused to pay to have a guide who, as far as I knew, was spouting rubbish at me. I am glad I made that decision incidentally, because in Jodhpur I met a guy who had paid for a guide, who proceeded to tell him insightful things like 'this is a big red door' and 'here is a marble platform'...and I could see those things very well for myself! Not really knowing what I was looking at did mar my experience though, and I found myself sort of making up stories for different rooms/areas based on their names, which kept me entertained for a while but lost its appeal after a bit. Also, I was feeling the effects of my early morning and it was very hot, and to be fair I had been out of hospital less than twenty four hours, so I ended up just sitting under a tree inside the fort for quite a long time, reading up in Lonely Planet on where I was going next and taking in the ambience of everybody wandering round. It was a nice place to sit, but I'm not sure it was worth 250Rs to be there! Never mind though, if I hadn't gone I would have regretted it. 


My journey to Jodhpur was pretty uneventful. Although the guy in my hostel had promised me that it would be so comfortable - 'like a double bed' - it was by no stretch of the imagination luxurious, but it was fine for what I needed. I had my own (smaller than single) 'bed' which could be closed off from the rest of the bus and had a window, so I pretty much went to sleep as soon as I got on and slept on and off for the whole journey. The roads were in surprisingly good condition apart from every now and then when we would go over a rough patch for about ten minutes and I would be rattled around and got thoroughly battered. It definitely wasn't as comfortable as train travel but needs must and it was an acceptable alternative. Plus, it got me from a to b which is what I needed it to do! 


Jodhpur, I loved. It's a shame really that I was only there for one day (my train to Jaisalmer left the evening that I arrived into the city, so I didn't even stay there in the end...see what I mean about not taking it slow?!) but I managed to see quite a lot in that day so it's all good. I went up to the fort first, feeling a bit unsure after my Agra fort experience, but I am beyond glad I went. It's a fantastic building, right on the hill over looking the city and is a pretty formidable place! It also had the best audio guide I have ever heard...full of interesting information and the usual facts, but also with some hilarious dramatic monologues complete with sound effects, and a few interviews with real life princes and princesses of Rajasthan. It was great because I could just wander around at my own pace, listening to a bit of information when I wanted, sitting comfortably in the shade, with no hurry, no hassle and no confusion as to what I was looking at! It meant that I got a real idea of what the fort was like when it was up and running; it was so easy to picture what this charming Indian man, who was doing a very good attempt at a British accent, was telling me about and really made it come to life. They also had musicians and guards dressed in traditional Rajasthani dress all over the place and it was a really nice touch. It was one of the best places I've been for tastefully done tourist touches; they added to the experience in a good way, as opposed to making it cringy as is so often the case. I spent ages there, enjoying the fort and also the view of the city which was breathtaking. They call it the blue city and standing looking over it you can totally see why - pretty much every building has the walls facing the fort painted in different shades of blue. Apparently it began being used as the colour of the Brahmin caste (the highest caste) but now everyone can use it, and it doubles as an effective mosquito repellent! 


From the fort I headed over to the other side of the hill to a marble tomb, also built my Shah Jahan, which was like a mini Taj Mahal. It was a lovely contrast to the fort, very calm and peaceful and with a wonderful cool breeze, so I stayed there for a while relaxing and enjoying the view of the fort and city below. It's interesting, because in the distance from both fort and tomb you can see this amazing palace like building, which, it turns out, is the modern day palace of the current Prince of Jodhpur, where he and his family share their home with a very fancy hotel! It was only in the last century that Indira Gandhi took away the Rajasthani royalty's power and position in society, but to this day they are very much still treated as a royal family with a very important role to play in Rajasthani society. I really liked that about Jodhpur, because it made it feel like the history that I was seeing/hearing about was not something that was relevant only in the past, but that is important to the present as well. Rajasthani people are clearly, and rightly, very proud of their regal heritage and are very keen to keep it alive through cultural legacies like their forts, but also through their everyday lives - makes for a fascinating place to visit. My afternoon was spent wandering around the markets near the clock tower in the old town which was great fun. I ended up buying quite a few bits and pieces (my rucksack is stretched to capacity now...not sure what I'm going to do about shopping in Thailand!) like bangles and anklets, and really enjoyed the experience of chatting to people, drinking chai with them and having a good old barter. The only trouble was that they woman who wanted (very insistently) to sell me some bangles took the approach of just putting lots on me and then holding her hand over my wrist so I couldn't remove them. This would have been fine, but she chose the wrist that had had my IV in, and it was still (is still) very sore and bruised from all the liquids that they pumped in to me in hospital, so that was very painful. She must have thought it was just a bartering trick though, because there was no way she was letting go of my hand until I bought something. In stoical style however, I managed to see past the pain and still bartered her down from 400Rs to 100Rs...which I feel is a good effort! I also bought some amazing camel leather gold sparkly 'jootis', or shoes to you and me, which I am in love with (even though they are murder on my poor feet)! They were 250Rs, so about 3.50 pounds (there is no pound sign on Indian computers). 


My train to Jaisalmer was again uneventful, once I had booted the army man that was sleeping on my bed out of it! I've definitely become more assertive while I've been here; there is no way on this earth that I would have had the courage to wake up a burly and somewhat scary looking man in army uniform to tell him to get out of my bed when I first arrived, but I didn't even think twice about doing it! It's good, hopefully I can hold on to this new found confidence while I'm travelling the rest of the world, although I may have to tone it down in Thailand where people are generally a lot more laid back and easy going than here. 


In Jaisalmer I stayed in a hostel for 100Rs, which is about 1.50! Admittedly for this I had to share a bathroom with the men who worked in the hostel, but it was clean enough and I managed to use it to wash my clothes so for that price, I'm not complaining! I wish I could find accommodation that cheaply for the rest of my trip, but I think India is definitely going to be the cheapest place I'll visit. My first day there I went into their fort, which was completely different to any of the other forts I  have seen here. It is made of sandstone and so looks like a giant sand castle plonked in the middle of the desert, which made it look almost comical from the outside. Unlike in Jodhpur, the fort is an integral part of the city (or maybe town is the right word, Jaisalmer was a lot smaller than the other places I've been), and was walking distance from my hostel which was in the centre of the market. Also, the fort is not just a historical monument, but home to about 80% of Jaisalmer's population, and so full of houses, shops and places to eat amongst the temples, palace and havelis of olden times. Apparently this method of living is causing big problems for the fort's infrastructure, but it made it a fascinating place to walk around, with old and new coexisting in a really cool way. I spent quite a lot of time in the Jain temples there, which were choc-a-bloc with idols on every surface/wall/floor...just everywhere, but decided not to pay to go in to the palace, because I felt that it wouldn't be as good as Jodhpur and so was happy to just look from the outside. Jaisalmer was really really hot, so for the afternoon I found a roof top restaurant with a fort view that had a shaded area and fans, and so I sat there on my own for about three hours, enjoying a leisurely lunch, writing in my journal (which I am much better at doing regularly than this blog!) and enjoying a bit of a rest. The manager there was very sweet and just told me to sit as long as I liked, and offered for me to have a sleep on the comfy chairs if I felt I needed to, and then he just left me to it! The fact that that surprised me so much made me realise how 'in your face' people are here generally; I think that's the first time I have gone somewhere like that and just been left alone, without having to ask to be! Was a pleasant respite I must say. 


Early the next morning (I swear, I've been having early mornings this whole trip because I keep wanting to see sunrise in places!) I got up and packed and headed over to 'Trotters' for my camel safari! Trotters is run by a man named Del boy (!) who is lovely, but can't read or write, so has to ask foreigners to do all his email correspondence for him, makes it feel a very personal place! I was supposed to be doing my safari with a small group, but in the end it was just me and a middle aged Indian man from West Bengal. It was fine though, he was a nice guy and quite chatty, although he was a wildlife photographer and so spent a lot of time taking pictures. We went in a jeep for the first hour to get in to the desert proper, where we met Ramesh, our guide, and our three camels. Mine was called Lucky (I like to think he was lucky because he got me as a rider) and we got on famously...well as famously as you can get on with a camel! 


Before we set off we had breakfast - chai, biscuits, toast and fruit all prepared on a small campfire that the guide had prepared from sticks he found around in the desert. It boded well for the rest of the trip I felt that I was having the best breakfast I'd had since Kolkata, and it was in the desert! We got on to the camels without any lessons or information about what to expect, and the first time mine stood up it caused me a bit of a shock! The way they sit means that their legs are folded underneath them, and so when they stand they have to sort of unfold themselves which makes for a rocky ride where they lean right back before plunging forwards. Luckily I was holding on tight though, so there wasn't a drama before we had even set off! According to Ramesh he has never had anybody fall off a camel he has been in charge of, so I guess that's reassuring! For the morning we made our way through the desert quite slowly. The camel riding was surprisingly easy, I just had to sit there and didn't really even need to hold on. It definitely wasn't the most comfortable way to travel though; it was an extremely bumpy ride and my legs got sore very quickly from being stretched over the camel's back. I tried sitting side-saddle but it felt so unstable that I decided I'd rather the aching legs than have the constant fear of falling off! It was also crazily hot - I guess I should have expected that, it being the desert and all - and so I was decked out in true desert style with a scarf tied across my head and face, covering pretty much all my skin that was on show; I looked positively ridiculous, but preferred that to getting sun stroke! The desert itself was different to how I had imagined. Instead of sand dunes everywhere, there was this sort of scrubby shrub everywhere and low growing viney sort of plants. There was also a very annoying plant that had small thorn-like things all over it, and every time I got off Lucky I managed to brush past one and get my trousers covered in these little burrs...very uncomfortable! In the distance we could see small mountains and every now and then we passed these random piles of rocks or small huts which broke up the monotony. The huts were where local farmers spent the day while they were looking after their plants/animals. I have to say though, the 'farms' were not like any farms I've ever seen, and I'm really not sure that there would be any nutritional value in the plants that were growing in them...when there were any plants growing in them! The farmers were really interesting looking characters though, with amazingly bright colourful turbans/sarees, which looked so fantastic against the browns and greens of the desert landscape. 


We arrived at the spot where we were going to have lunch and sat down under a tree in the middle of a sort of field. It was 11.30 by this point and the sun was scorching, even in the shade, so I was glad of the rest! We relaxed there for about 4 hours to avoid the hottest part of the day, and in that time Ramesh cooked us a delicious lunch of chapatis, aloo ghobi and more chai. It was pretty impressive what he managed to cook over one small campfire, with very rudimentary implements and limited ingredients, but that meal was as tasty as anything else I have had in India...just goes to show that you don't need fancy ingredients or utensils to make really good food! I tried to help with the food, and was given the job of shaping the chapatis, but without a rolling pin I discovered that my chapati skills left a lot to be desired! I took so long to shape them that by the time they were nearing the right shape/size they had become horrible elasticy and lost their smooth surface, but bless Ramesh, he cooked them anyway and then just subtly left them until last so he would have to eat them! After a little sleep, Ramesh woke me with a watermelon that he had found nearby; turns out that farmers plant them all over the desert so if they find themselves stuck with no water they can open one of them to get rehydrated. It was really refreshing, and felt so authentic because he just opened it with his hands and then we picked at it any way we could to get all the goodness out...real desert living! 


The Indian guy had some bad news while he was sleeping as he had heard from his wife that his baby daughter had come down with a fever so he was going to have to leave early and not stay the night. I was worried for her, but also for me, because although Ramesh had been perfectly fine thus far, I wasn't sure it was the best idea to be alone in the desert with him with no way to get away. Fortunately, we soon after had a phone call to tell us that two guys from Switzerland were joining us for the evening, so that was a relief! They were a really sweet father and son who were taking their first holiday together just the two of them. They were very friendly, and a god0send because mt camera had run out of battery (very annoying) but they were more than happy to take pictures for me and email them to me later which was obviously great. Our afternoon was spent leisurely making our way to the dunes ready for sunset...


To be continued! Arpit just surfaced and family/friends have come for day after Diwali celebrations so can't sit here on a laptop or look very rude! Don't think I will get chance to write again before I get to Thailand as I leave tomorrow night and tomorrow during the day we are going to the F1 race in Delhi! So that'll be different! But I will try to write soon after I arrive in Thailand, I promise.


Hope that everybody is well and happy and enjoying the weather there (!) Incidentally, it's over 30 degrees here and sunny, just to let you know!


Lots and lots of love,
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Bodhi trees, holy rivers and my very own natural disaster...

DISCLAIMER - 


It is possible that this blog may come across as slightly less upbeat, and slightly more self-pitying than some of my other entries. This is because I am feeling slightly less upbeat and more self-pitying than I was when I wrote those other entries, because for the last 4 days, I have spent the majority of my time in bed, or in my bathroom (and I use this word loosely) contending with the mother of all stomach bugs. I have not eaten in days (at least nothing that I have successfully retained in my system) and feel incredibly weak and woozy right now, along with a full body ache that will not budge, a head ache that makes me wince each time I move my head, stomach cramps that would fell an ox and the unfortunate situation where my entire digestive system is trying to escape into the toilet. Again, this word I use loosely, meaning hole in the floor, in a dark room with no electricity, but, thank god, a working tap. I have no idea what has caused this episode, but I can tell you that at this point I am well and truly fed up with it, and am feeling that maybe I did something very bad in a previous life and am being karmically retributed...who knows?! 


The only, but quite significant up side to this, is that I had decided to extend my stay in Varanasi seeing as I liked it so much. If I hadn't, on Tuesday night I would have been on a train to Chitrakut, and I cannot even imagine how horrendous that journey would have been. Of course, as it stands I haven't seen any more of Varanasi, and am gutted that I have missed out on some pretty famous temples here, but at least I have been somewhere with my own room and attached bathroom, free to wallow in peace. To be fair to me, I actually think I have remained remarkably positive throughout this trauma (and trust me, it has been traumatic); I have only cried twice in 5 days of feeling unwell, and those who have experienced me during an illness will testify that this is a lot lower than my usual average. I have also been focusing on the positives, the almost guaranteed weight loss for one, and money that I have saved by not eating/leaving my room for 4 days for another. Of course, I would trade these in a second for the sweet sweet feeling of a healthy stomach, especially considering the fact that today is the day that I have to leave my (relatively) comfortable guest house and get on a 12 hour train to Agra. Before which, I have to somehow get to the station, which involves a 20 minute walk to where the rickshaws are (these quaint narrow streets in Old Town Varanasi are very pretty but not overly practical) carrying who knows how many kilos of ineptly packed luggage, on a completely empty stomach, in about 33 degrees sunshine. Could be interesting. My plan (if you can call it that) is to dose myself up on glucose tablets and plough on through, at least once I'm at the station I can relax a little. I just really really hope that I am feeling better by the time I reach Agra; if I have to miss out on the Taj then I think I might scream! - if I have the energy that is. I'm doing all I can though and am armed with immodium, electrolyte powders, glucose tablets, copious amounts of water and flat coke. This last tastes very strongly of nostalgia and reminds me of the days when I was off primary school sick and would go into Granny Next-Door's house. Unfortunately, there is no one here to whisk the coke for me, to wrap me in a blanket in front of the fire and Neighbours, or to give me highly inappropriate glasses of wine or sherry with my lunch, and, although Granny Not-Next-Door has a sort of ironic ring to it, Granny-In-Another-Continent sounds too depressing for words, so I won't even contemplate it!


But anyway, enough whining (for a few paragraphs at least). Before this illness struck me down I was having the most amazing time in Varanasi and had come from some more amazing times in Bodhgaya. I guess I should start there; chronology always seems to be a good structure to fall back on when documenting what I've been up to, otherwise I feel I'll miss things out!   


So, Bodhgaya. Before I begin I guess I should make it plain that I completely failed my one mission in Bodhgaya - to become enlightened. Turns out it took Buddha such a long time for a reason, and on this trip I have neither the patience nor the time to sit in a cave for 6 years, starving myself, and anyway, in the end it turned out that the 'middle way' was the way to go, and I reckon I'm more cut out for that! 


As I said, I stayed in a beautiful Tibetan Monastery called Karma, where they had an amazing, huge and intricately painted prayer wheel - wish I could have understood what it said on it! I had only been there for about 10 minutes and was about to have a shower and go to sleep for a few hours (I arrived at 6am), when this incredibly enthusiastic Buddhist guy turned up and started effervescing all about how much he loves foreigners and making them happy, and how he frequently takes people who stay at his monastery (which I was) on tours of the surrounding areas. He seemed harmless enough and there was no way I was going to pay for an official tour, so I agreed that if he gave me 20 minutes to shower, then I would go see Bodhgaya with him. I'm glad I did. He took me to follow in the footsteps of Lord Siddharta's journey to Enlightenment, although our journey was much more accelerated! We started in a cave in a mountain, about 40 minutes out of Bodhgaya. This was where Siddharta spent 6 years fasting and craving Enlightenment, but it kept eluding him due to the distractions of local monkeys. The cave was a really special place...so tiny and with a golden statue of Buddha where he had sat. Felt incredible to be sitting in the same cave as he had for so long...not often you can say you are in the same place as somebody as influential as Buddha! We then went to the tree where he sat unsuccessfully, to the ruins of the palace where the Princess who gave him rice milk and revealed to him the secret of the middle way lived, to a small village temple he visited and eventually to the Mayabodhi Temple and the the world famous bodhi tree, where he eventually achieved Enlightenment. It's not the same tree, but has grown from a cutting of a tree in Sri Lanka, which is said to have grown from a cutting of the original tree; so technically it's a clone and I guess it's then a matter of personal judgement and scientific ethics if you would say whether it's the same or not! 


I really enjoyed the journey and learnt a lot of Buddhist history (sorry, I don't have the energy for a history lesson right now), and was also glad to see some of the countryside around Bodhgaya, which was so beautiful. After being in the cave temple we climbed to the top of the mountain it was in, and although I'm pretty sure this led to a bit of sunstroke on my part, the views from the top were incredible. There were paddy fields as far as the eye could see, and the occasional temple jutting out of the landscape and it was so quiet. I hadn't realised just how noisy Kolkata had been until I was sat there in utter silence, although I have to say, there is a certain beauty to Kolkata's noise too. My favourite bit of the journey though, and my favourite bit of Bodhgaya was the Mayabodhi Temple and tree. It was a beautiful building, but it wasn't just that. I think it was the atmosphere, created by so many Buddhist pilgrims, of all ages and backgrounds, coming to sit and worship, or maybe just contemplate this tree. I went back there in the evening and there were so many people sat chanting mantras together in white robes and sarees, and it was a wonderful place to sit and soak up your surrounding; so peaceful! 
My second day in Bodhgaya started with 6am meditation downstairs in my temple, although I didn't meditate, just spent an hour trying not prevent myself from being bitten without disturbing anyone else meditating! I really enjoyed it though, and found the mantras they chanted and occasional music the played pretty enchanting. The rest of my day was spent wandering round temples, until 5pm when I went to what I understood to be a meditation organised especially for tourists. Due to five requests to have my picture taken, I was a little late arriving, and so by the time I arrived everyone was in full swing, and as far as I could tell, I was the only novice there! Several times the Japanese master had to come over to tell me what to do and I felt like such a numpty! After the session though, I got chatting to two American guys, who explained that although the session is open to everyone, it is dominated by tourists who are living in Bodhgaya on special meditation courses, and so clearly have a big advantage over me! I ended up going for dinner with these guys and they told me all about what they are doing (basically paying $20,000 for four months residential meditation lessons) which was interesting, but not something you'd catch me doing in a hurry...not unless I become a millionaire anyway! 


So that was the end of my time on Bodhgaya, and all that remained was to catch my bus to Varanasi; a bus I was assured would take 3/4 hours and would be easier than a train. Well I beg to differ. 9 hours in a tin can, wih no AC, squashed into 2 seats with three people, frequently stopping for an hour at a time in the midday sun to cram in yet more passengers, driving through the most abject rural poverty I have ever seen, with no opportunity to go the toilet for risk of losing my precious seat. As I hope you can imagine...it was hell. At one point we stopped in one place for over an hour at 12pm and I honestly thought i was going to faint - my breathing became pretty laboured and I was seeing spots in front of my eyes - but luckily a boy came up to the window offering to get drinks for people and he brought me a blissfully cold Thumbs Up - an Indian coke. Thank goodness he did or else I think I'd have ended up in an Indian hospital! 


When I got to my guest house in Varanasi everything became infinitely better. In face, I am going to write a little bit straight from my journal so you can get a sense of the wonder I was feeling when I wrote it (and that's what this blog is all about right?...)


"Am having a magical experience right now; I'm sitting completely alone on the terrace of Vishnu Rest House overlooking the Ganges. It's 6.30pm and everyone is congregating at a ghat nearby for a puja ceremony. For the last twenty minutes I have sat and watched countless boats go past - some motorised, some not - and in between them are scores of floating candles, being pulled along by the current. Every now and then a cluster of about 20 float by and I can watch as they gradually disperse, and eventually float along independently. The moon is glowing, I'm drinking chai, and I cannot believe how lucky I am right now, this very second. This is so beyond anything I had imagined and so overwhelming, it's the actual flippin' Ganges for goodness sake!" 


I'm glad to say that the rest of the time I have been here the river has not lost its effect on me...it really is an amazing place to be, either to walk alongside, or go in a boat along, or just sit on my terrace and look at. In fact I find it so mesmerising I wanted to stay and do those things another few days, but clearly some cosmic force is against that happening. Safe to say, at some point in the future I will return to Varanasi and do it properly, temples and all, it just wasn't meant to be this time. I have so much more to say about my time here pre-illness, but I think I am going to make the most of my last 20 minutes before check out time to have a quick lie down and use the 'toilet'...who knows how long it will take me to get to the train station! 


Lots of love, as always...please send me well wishes!
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Durga Puja - the 'mother' of all Kolkatan festivals!

Oh dear...long time since I wrote and so a LOT to tell you all! The last two weeks have been mentally busy and as I sit here I am having a bit of a blank as to where to start from, and like the numpty I am, I have left my journal at home so will just have to go from memory and hope I don't forget anything too major! Incidentally, 'home' for last night and tonight is an absolutely beautiful Tibetan Monastery in Bodhgaya, the ultimate Buddish pilgrimage site in India where Lord Siddharta became enlightened! But I cannot write about that right now...way too much to say about my last two weeks in Kolkata first!

So, where did I leave you? I think it was at the end of my all over the place volunteering week before my weekend off. I guess I'll start by going over my last work week at BWC and then move on to the play stuff after that...after all the whole point of me going to Kolkata was to volunteer! 

In the end I managed mostly to avoid the tug of war competition with me as the prize, by just going to MP school as if that had been mutually agreed. I mean, it had earlier on in my month, but I just ignored the fact that there was any confusion and stayed put! I'm glad I did because it was a very busy week. I had my normal lessons as usual which were just getting better and better from my point of view as I was really getting to know the kids and having a lot of fun with them - they seem to just love it when you make a fool out of yourself for their benefit so the actions to my songs got progressively sillier and sillier as time went by! Then in the afternoons I spent my time writing down all the songs I had taught and teaching them to Kajal, the English teacher who hopefully will now continue my musical legacy! I also spent a lot of time with her working on her pronounciation. We were trying to do it all though songs but, being older, she can't pick things up as easily as the kids (obviously), so in the end we went back to basics and I concentrated on teaching her vowel and consonant sounds, so that at least when she is reading something out loud she knows what sort of sounds she should be making. She was such a sweet woman and so intent on getting it right and it was very entertaining when she would make a mistake; she would start hitting her head and babbling angrily at herself in Bengali - we had a good laugh together! 

Before I knew it it was coming up to my last day at BWC. I decided I should face the music and stop avoiding Lovelock, and also I wanted to say goodbye to everyone there, so I did that last Friday afternoon. They were slightly cross with me when I arrived, but not because I hadn't been there, but because I hadn't told them I was coming that day and not Saturday as they had wanted to prepare something for me. In a way I'm glad that I didn't; everyone had already gone to enough trouble for me, and so in the end we just had a chocolate ice-cream and a chat. It was nice, really nice actually, because they are lovely ladies, and they were so kind to me when I first arrived. It was only once I tried to leave them that they became a little scary! On Saturday then it was my last day, and also the school's last day before Durga Puja (more on that later!). I had lessons as normal but made them very light-hearted because the kids were so excited to be going on holiday and would not have been able to concentrate on anything difficult! Once the kids had gone home all the teachers stayed behind to give me a farewell lunch. Arpita (the headmistress) had asked me what food I would like and I had said traditional Bengali food, and so every teacher prepared a traditional dish that they eat at home. It. Was. Amazing. The food was flippin' fantastic - so delicious and varied - the only trouble was that there was so much of it, and because each dish was prepared by different people, there was no way I could leave any! I honestly don't think I have every been so full in my life...until they brought out dessert! I thought that it would be ok though as I could go home and sleep off my enormous belly, but it was at that moment that Kajal decided that she wanted to record me playing some of the songs that I had taught on a casette player, so that she could use them to learn from and for the kids to sing along to. It would have been fine but it was one of the hottest days we had had, I was ridiculously full and tired, and for the sound quality to be any good at all we had to go to the top floor of the building and turn off all the fans. After playing All Things Bright and Beautiful 7 times (she wasn't happy with the sound quality) I honestly thought I was going to faint and so I had to tell her that I couldn't do any more. I felt bad, but really and truly could not have sat in that room for another minute! We went back downstairs and they presented me with a small gift and I said my goodbyes. 


I am sad to be leaving there. Everyone was so lovely to me and really looked after me. Plus, I like to think that the kids enjoyed my lessons and hopefully they learnt something from me. Well, I know they learnt something - about 30 songs - but I hope they also learnt something useful! I hope as well that now my placement there has gone so well that Inspire will send other volunteers there; the schools really need it and were so receptive to everything that I taught them; makes for a wonderful atmosphere to volunteer in! 


So...on to the play! Well, first culture, then play! The Sunday after I wrote last I had a very cultural morning. I had been given free tickets to a Hindi classical music concert in the Birla Mandir auditorium that started at 10am. I had been supposed to go with Sophie (can't remember if I have written about her yet, but in case not she is another volunteer from Inspire who is based in Kolkata until December) but the night before she decided to have a lie-in instead; fair enough! I was thinking about leaving it but am trying to be a yes person this year so figured that staying in bed was not doing things with the right attitude! I am so glad I didn't. Was a bit of a mission to get there because it was monsooning like mad, and the auto I had taken broke down in the middle of the road. So by the time I arrived I was soaked through and somewhat disgruntled. When I got inside, the AC was turned up so high that I was freezing...first time I had been cold in Kolkata and I didn't like it at all! All in all I was not feeling full of the joys of life. That is, until it started. The first half was an eleven year old boy playing tabla, and I honestly could not believe the sounds he was making. His sense of rhythm was so mature, and with two (pretty small) hands, he made it sound as if a whole orchestra of tabla players were joining him! The second half was his father playing sitar with one of his friends on the tabla. This, too, was phenomenal. He started off with a very melodious piece that was threatening to put me to sleep (by this point I was dry and enjoying the AC), but soon he and the tabla player were going mad on their instruments, making some very very funky rhythms and clearly loving every second of it! The concert went on for three hours altogether, but it didn't feel that long at all; I think I must have been hypnotised by the music or something!


I had another culture-filled day on the Tuesday after that Sunday. It was a pre-puja holiday from school and while everyone else was staying in bed, I decided to make the most of a day off. To be fair, I made this monumental decision because on the previous Saturday I had literally spent the entire day in bed recovering from Friday night's antics, so I had to make it up somehow! I decided to head to Kumartuli, a district in North Kolkata famous for its idol-makers. I took Sophie and Lauren (another volunteer) with me and we had a really good time. Basically all we did was wander round, but we got to see the whole process of the idols being made at various stalls and a LOT of idols. I think there must have been well over a thousand there altogether, all of which would end up in pandals across the city, and eventually back in the river. The start life as straw and wood frames, before a whole load of clay from the Hooghly river (which is an extension of the Ganges) is moulded on to their frame. Once the shape is made they are painted and decorated with such care and precision, and each one is its own little (or not so little) work of art. Different sculpters are famous for different styles; some make very traditional idols which have been around for centuries, but some make more contemporary versions in modern styles. One thing they all have in common though is that they are absolutely stunning and show months of dedicated craftmanship. Amusingly, we actually ended up on TV that day. We didn't even notice the camera, but one of Sophie's colleagues saw us on the news that night...I imagine the headline must have been something like 'White girls in Kumartuli'...or something of that nature!

Once I got back from Kumartuli, I told one of my friends here that I had been, and once he knew I was interested he promised, in a very mysterious way, that he would show me something I would like. Intrigued I asked when, and he responded that he would pick me up that evening. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but he turned up as arranged with a few other friends and off we went. He drove us to a district nearish to where I was staying that is like a mini Kumartuli and we went over to where a big group of men were loading one of the idols on to a truck. I'll go into this in more detail in a minute, but basically every pandal has 5 idols and the biggest is always Durga, and that's the one they were loading. When I say biggest, this idol was about 9 feet tall and made of solid clay...it's very big and very heavy, so to see them loading it on to the truck was spectacle enough itself! But Ayan had more planned. He explained that this idol was going to one of his friend's pandals and that we would be going with it as it's a special journey. He turned to get in to the car and when I followed he looked at me with a very mischevious grin and told me that, no, I would be going with it, in the truck! So, up I clambered, and clung on for dear life as this rickety old truck careered it's way across the city, with a 9 foot Durga idol leaning over me! The whole way somebody would shout 'Victory to Godess Durga' and we would have to respond 'VICTORY', although in Bengali, and if we saw any other idols doing a similar journey, everyone went mad, yelling and screaming and generally just making noise! It was so exhilarating, and a really good way to see the city...kind of like an open-top bus tour by night, with added drama! 


Once school was finished, my time basically became a heady mixture of culture and play; Durga Puja hit Kolkata and it hit it hard! Everyone had told me that the city would go mad for this festival, but I had no idea just how crazy it would be! I guess I should tell you a bit about the meaning of the festival before telling about the fun side.


Ok so, I'll start with the reason Kolkata is called that (it'll make sense soon). Basically, Lord Shiva was married to Kali, goddess of destruction. One day he came across a dead incarnation of his wife and was so angry he decided to destroy the world. When Vishnu stepped in to stop him, the cadaver was dismembered in to many pieces and flung all over India. One of Kali's toes landed in Kolkata, at the Kalighat Temple, and thus Kolkata was made. Durga, the goddess who is celebrated in Durga Puja, is another incarnation of Kali; they are basically both godesses of power, but whereas Kali is destructive, Durga is not. So, Durga Puja is celebrated all over India, but it is such a big deal in Kolkata because of the city's affinity with Kali. The reason for the festival is that once Durga (or Kali) married Lord Shiva, she had to go and live with him in his house in heaven, thus leaving her father's house on earth. Once a year, she is allowed to come back to earth to visit her father's house and she brings her children with her. These are Ganesh (elephant god), Lakshmi (goddess of wealth), the goddess of education and the god of craftmansip. In each pandal then, there is one of each of these idols, each with their own specific animal, and a picture of Shiva so that she does not forget him while she is away. Quite often there is also a Shiva lingam, which always made me giggle! The festival is celebrating her coming to earth, and her victory over evil, for on her journey she encounters the Hindi version of Satan and kills him.

I mentioned before about the pandals - temporary temples made of bamboo and then decorated - well, by the time the festival started, some of these looked like they had been there for centuries. They are beautiful! I saw one that was like a Rajasthani palace, one like a Roman temple, one like something from Leh, one that had makeshift mountains around it...and the list goes on! The whole point of the festival is to travel from pandal to pandal (and there are hundreds and hundreds across the city) to give puja (or prayers) to the idols. Once a day there is a special puja, which is led by a holy man singing mantras to the idols, with drums playing, incense burning and another holy man giving offerings to the gods. The reason the city goes so mad, is that everyone is out and seeing these pandals, and so the entire city's population, which is about 80 million people, plus guests who visit specifically for the puja, are out on the streets all day and all night. In fact, it's more common for people to be out at night as it's cooler, and so often groups will arrange to meet at midnight and go from there. One night the mothers of the friends I have made were out and they met at 3am, and ended up getting food at the same street vendor as us at 7am...very bizarre! The sheer mass of people means that roads become impassable very quickly, and even the night before it started it took us 2 hours to get back from New Alipore, a journey that should have taken 20 minutes! Everyone buys new clothes for the festival and it is amazing to see all these Bengalis dressed up in their finest clothes, and all those who wouldn't usually wear Indian dress (like the people I was spending time with), wear salwar kameez or sarees (if they are women) or kurta pajamas (if they are men). All over the city street food vendors spring up and in pretty much every park a small fairground is built; I really can't think of a British equivalent!

My puja time was spent doing a fair bit of pandal hopping, both on foot and in the car, with friends. We would generally meet at about 7/8pm, get some fod, have a few drinks and then head out. We would see pandals, eat lots of street food (I have eaten very well the last few days!) wander around, take in the atmosphere and then get way too hot, get back into the AC car and drive to another area. The night would go on like that, with occasional stops at someone's house for a few more drinks! It doesn't sound like much, but I don't think I can really describe it any better, it's just the sheer number of people everywhere, out to worship their goddess that is so overwhelming. Unlike many western festivals, this one has really retained its spiritual roots. You can tell that people are genuinely worshipping from their hearts, and they feel real love and affection for their goddess; it's very moving. They call her 'ma' as in mother, and treat her in this way, with love and respect. The third day is the biggest day because on that day you go to give Anjli...special worship. I did this at one of my local pandals (there were three within a 3 minute radius from my house), and it consisted of being blessed with holy water, and then praying while the holy man sang to the idols, and then periodically throwing flowers at them. I actually really enjoyed it; there's something about being surrounded by people who are truly worshipping and getting involved in it. I also managed to see a few pujas and it was absolutely intoxicating to see the drummers - they are surely in some sort of trance or something and definitely dance to the beat of their own drums!

I am beyond glad that I saw Kolkata during pujas. Although the city is so crowded and impossible to navigate, and although now I am beyond tired despite sleeping all afternoon yesterday and going to bed at 8pm, and although a lack of sleep/glut of over-indulgence have left me with the mother of all colds, it was utterly fantastic, and I wouldn't change it for anything! I loved Kolkata, and loved it even more during the festival - I can't even express how sad I was to leave, but leave I had to. I managed to hold it together saying goodbye to all the friends I had made, and to Minu and Goran-go, but as soon as I got into my taxi to the station I was a balling mess! I never thought that after one month in a place you could feel so at home, but I think Kolkata is like that. It is known as the city with a soul, and in my experience that is completely true. I really hope that one day I can go back and visit; I can't cope with the thought of never being there again! But, such is life, and I did come away to go travelling after all, not to live in Kolkata for a year! So here I am in Bodhgaya, doing exactly that, and tomorrow morning I leave for Varanasi, and then I am well into my India trip! Very exciting, although pretty scary as well! 


I won't write about Bodhgaya now because I have already been here 2 hours and want to see some more temples today; there must be at least 30 to have a look round! Plus, I plan to be enlightened before I leave tomorrow and seeing as it took Siddharta over 6 years I guess I had better get a move on! 


Hope that everyone is really well there and you are all as happy as I am (although I really hope you don't have a cold like this one!)...will try to write again soon I promise, but not sure when really! 


Lots and lots of love,
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