Week Eight and Week Nine

After a wonderful time in Varanasi, I headed to the train station for my journey to Kolkata. As is to be expected from Indian railways, however, my train was delayed 4 hours (plus another 2 hours when we actually reached the outskirts of Kolkata). Luckily I met a great bunch of people on the train - including Manoushka from France and Nancy and Katie from Vancouver Island - so the journey went fairly quickly! In Kolkata, Tara's old school friend, Manish, was a super host, chauffering me around town and keeping me extremely well-fed! Compared to all of the other large Indian cities I have been to Kolkata felt very laid-back and its residents seem to have plenty of time to play cricket and have picnics in the parks. This, combined with the beautiful (and somewhat dilapidated) old colonial architecture, made it a very nice place to explore for a few days. I also discovered that one of my brother's friends from high school in China was living and studying in a town near Kolkata, so I made a short detour to the gorgeous, and aptly-named, university town of Shantiniketan ('peaceful abode'). After catching up on all the ISB gossip with Ivana, I was back on the trains for my journey down to Puri, in Orissa, about half-way down the East coast. In Puri, at the great Z Hotel, I spent 3 days relaxing, eating, swimming, and watching movies with the other guests at the hotel - Jane from Canada, Amy and Teena from England, Silke from Scotland/Germany, and another Silke from Germany! Although we barely did any sightseeing (apart from the Konark Sun Temple), it was nice to just stop for a few days. But eventually I decided that if I wanted to see any more of India I HAD to get out of dear old Z Hotel, so I hopped back on the train for a 28-hour journey to Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu. Despite being quite touristy, Mamallapuram had some great stone carvings and temples and plenty of delicious seafood. But, after several days of spending all of my time with a big group of people, I found it a bit lonely and unfulfilling being by myself, so I quickly packed up and moved 2 hours down the coast to Pondicherry. An old French colonial seaside town, Pondicherry is very charming, with beautiful tree-lined streets and French colonial buildings. All of the streets have French names, most of the restaurants serve French food, and the police even wear the same uniforms as the gendarmeri in France! After two days in Pondicherry I headed 20 minutes back up the coast to the experimental international community of Auroville. This settlement was founded in the '60s as a place where people from around the world could live without class, religious, national, or ethnic divisions. There in no private ownership in Auroville and they basically have a cash-less society, with all transactions debited from accounts, rather than using hard money. The town is run completely (I think) on renewable energy and they produce their own purified drinking water, which is pumped throughout Auroville. The centre of Auroville is the crazy, sci-fi looking golden spherical building, called the Matrimandir, which houses 12 different coloured meditation rooms (each with a different focus/purpose) and one central white meditation room in which sits what is apparently the world's largest crystal ball, which reflects sunlight into the room from an opening in the roof! I have not yet been inside this golden ball, (they make it very difficult for visitors to get in, as it is the holy centre of the whole town) but will try today. It is very interesting observing this attempt at an environmentally-friendly, socialist, unified, equal society. There are many problems, obviously, and I have already witnessed some tensions and divisions amongst the inhabitants but, no matter how much there is to criticise, I guess at least they're trying something different! While I am here I am helping out at a dog sanctuary and cycling (mostly uphill) for several hours everyday in the 38 degree heat! The landscape here is strangely similar to Australia, with orange-red earth and gum trees everwhere!! When Auroville was first founded the whole area was a barren wasteland, so the settlers planted hundreds of thousands of trees, most of them gum trees - I guess because they thrive in the dry heat. Where I am staying is on the outer-edge of Auroville, in a little palm-leaf thatched hut on the beach with an ever-increasing group of German Hindus with whom I discuss philosophy and religion and everything in between every evening! It is a very odd place, indeed, but interesting and though-provoking to say the least! On Monday I head back to Delhi and then, on Friday to Singapore for a few hours of hanging out with Debbie, then on to Bangkok for a few days of catchng up with Boobie! (Am trying to upload more photos, but computer is not playing nice today, so will try in a few days or at another net cafe!)

India - Week 7...I think! And some Week 8 photos...

Before leaving Delhi I was a bit anxious about travelling alone and spending so much time by myself but, since I stepped onto the Delhi-Jhansi train I have not been alone for a whole week! Sitting next to me on the train was a wonderful older Indian woman who, in her broken English and my non-existent Hindi, told me her life story and wanted my advice on what she should do from here onwards in life. By the end of the journey, she told me that she regarded me as her daughter (even though all I really did for the 6 hours was nod and smile while I listened to her) and that she would love me to come and visit her home. Unfortunately, I already had plans for the rest of India, so we parted ways. When I reached Jhansi I fatefully bumped into a Polish couple, Emi and Memo, and we all managed to save money and stress by sharing a taxi to our destination, Khajuraho. Khajuraho is a quaint little town far away from everything but what draws its tourists (and Emi, Memo, and me) is its ancient temples covered, inside and out, with erotic engravings and sculptures from the Kama Sutra! Architecturally, it has similiarities to Angkor Wat (including the idea that the spires of the temples represent holy mountain peaks - in this case the Himalayas, where the Hindu gods were/are believed to live and the numerous carvings of apsaras, or celestial dancers), but when you look a little closer you realise that those little figurines are NOT just doing incredibly acrobatic yoga positions and that that man is NOT just saying hello to his horse! The erotic carvings are interspersed with depictions of daily life and battles and parties - the jury is still out on whether the erotic figures were just meant to be another (very prominent) aspect of daily life or whether they were meant to serve as some kind of guide or learning tool...Nonetheless, it is a very intruiging place, as the photos will hopefully illustrate. From Khajuraho I travelled with Emi and Memo to Varanasi, via Satna, on bus then overnight train. Varanasi claims to be one of the oldest living cities in the world and is a holy pilgrimage site for Hindus, being situated on the holy Ganges River. It is a truly beautiful and fascinating city with a labyrinth of winding streets and numerous ghats (areas along the water with steps leading down to them) where people wash their bodies and clothes, meditate, swim, and bathe and burn their dead (there are different ghats for different activities)! Every morning that I have been here we have woken up at 5am to watch the city and the Ganges wake up at sunrise and we have been to one of the burning ghats to observe the open-air cremations several times as well. It sounds a bit bizzare, or creepy even, but it is really an amazing process to watch. Yet, even just walking down the street here is an experience (and a wonderful photo opportunity for camera crazy people like me), especially with the eclectic mix of people this city attracts: from long-haired, painted sadhus (holy men) to Hindu-curious foreigners to cows, cows, and cows (and a few goats) all of whom share the tiny 1.5 metre wide roads! It is a very addictive place and I will be sad to leave it tomorrow, but so many other places beckon. Tomorrow I head to Kolkata (Calcutta) where one of Tara's friends has kindly agreed to meet me at the station and show me around. Emi and Memo left earlier this evening headed for Mumbai followed by Goa and I do not envy the 28 hour train ride that they have ahead of them! It was a bit odd saying goodbye to people that I have only known for 1 week but have spent almost 24 hours a day with, but I guess that is the way it goes with travelling! Will try to upload some more photos over the next few days.

Here are some photos of the adorable kids at the DCWA School in Delhi, where I have been teaching. Today was my last day of volunteering here, so the kids gave me a card and all said in unison, 'Goodbye Maam!' Hehehe!

India - Week Three

When we reached Hampi we decided to take the advice of fellow travellers and stay on the 'other' side of the river - in the peaceful part of town, away from hassling auto drivers and haggling clothes sellers. After watching Laxmi, the temple elephant, indulge in a good scrubbing down in the river we crossed over to the 'other' side and made our way to the aptly-named Shanthi Guesthouse, where our accomodation consisted of individual grass-roofed bungalows set amidst vibrant green rice paddies and Hampi's signature massive, unearthly boulders. On our second day we rented bicycles and explored Hampi's other main attraction: its 16th century temple ruins, scattered throughout the town. These temples, oddly, resemble, in parts, both the temples of Angkor Wat and those of Ancient Greece. Unfortunately there was not much English-language information available, so I can't tell you much about their history or architectural influences! While Bjorn, Emma, and I rambled through the temple ruins (Tomb-Raider/Indiana Jones style, of course), Tara and Eimear shopped, shopped, and when they got tired they shopped some more! Unfortunately we only had 2 and a half days in Hampi...it is so peaceful and there is so much to explore, that we all could have easily stayed for much longer. After a few hours in Bangalore, we quickly bid farewell to Emma (who, via Chennai and Bangkok, headed back to Melbourne to start uni) and the rest of us headed to Alleppey in the beautiful state of Kerala. With the help of the wonderful hotel-owner, Johnson, we relaxed on spotless beaches, ate one of the best meals of the trip, and lazed a day away on the backwaters - the highlight of Alleppey. We opted to take a motorised ketuvalam - or traditional covered boat - as we slowly floated down the rivers, sipping on coconuts...in some ways, at least visually, it was very reminiscent of the descriptions of the Congo River in 'A Heart of Darkness.' On the same night we were invited to a nearby village to celebrate the festival of the goddess Kali (the goddess of war and death...nice!). After being suited up in saris (and a dhoti for Bjorn), we began the beautiful ceremony, where women carry coconut oil lamps to the temple, to the wild, sometimes trance-like, beats of drums. On the bad side, the walk to the temple ended up taking 3 hours and we were bare-foot and hadn't eaten so, by the end of it all, we were completely exhausted! Nonetheless it was an amazing experience (even if Bjorn, as a man, got to rest and sit down while we women had to do the hard work). Our last stop was Cochin (Kochi) where, after a delicious cold coffee in a funky art cafe, we watched an amazingly entertaining performance of Kathakali - the traditional Keralan type of musical. The real drama began, however, when we got to the airport and Tara, Bjorn, and Eimear's flight was delayed for an undisclosed amount of time and, in the last 20 minutes, they had to scramble and fight to get themselves and their bags onto my flight. Having been told in Cochin Airport that they would get a refund as soon as they got to Delhi, all of us were enraged to be told, in Delhi, that they weren't going to give them a refund because Cochin had forgotten to give them each ticket 'coupons'! They were also informed that, rather than buying a very expensive last-minute ticket on my Air Sahara flight, they could have transferred their Indian Airlines ticket to a Air Sahara one for free - and that Cochin should have informed them of this! Almost a week later, none of them have yet received any refund, but Indian Airlines is now saying that the travel agent who sold them the ticket should be the one to pay!!! Aya, it is a big big mess and the lesson to be learned is: never fly Indian Airlines!! I am now staying in Delhi for 2 weeks and am volunteering during the week at a school for under-privileged kids - and I'm loving it! On my 2nd day in Delhi, I attended a Muslim mourning ceremony where everyone ends up crying and today, in contrast, was Holi - a Hindu festival where everyone throws coloured water and powder on each other to celebrate the arrival of spring! Tara and I are both stained pink and purple - even after scrubbing in the shower for ages - and I am sure that all of the school kids will have a lot of laughs at my expense tomorrow!