eeeeee! .... Tootle, tootle, tootle ...... honk, honk - The sounds of Bangalore traffic! The horn in India seems like an additional appendage- drivers seem to drive with at least one finger poised to tap the horn or hold it down for a good long blast whenever another vehicle fails to move fast enough or move over. Of course, in dense traffic, the horns are honking, or tooting all around you as each driver tries to warn others of his presence nearby. Some horns sound a bit sickly, while others seem a bit too robust. Some seem like they were mean just to alert you to their presence, while others seem clearly aimed at asking you to get out of their way! Our driver says that the latter types are not legal, but no one ever gets fined for having them. Joseph is an aggressive driver. He is very good too. He has been driving in Bangalore for many years and knows most of the tricks. He uses the horn on our car less than many drivers, but more than some too. He flashes the headlights more than most drivers. He says that flashing headlights is the legal way for telling oncoming traffic that you want to take priority when passing a blocking vehicle. But, it seems to be ignored more than half the time.
We have been told that if we think the traffic is bad now, then we should have seen it about 5 years ago! Apparently, numerous experiments have been tried over the past 5 years to try to find a way for the traffic to move better. Most roads in the city center are now one-way traffic- or at least as one way as it ever gets in India. (It is not at all unusual to find vehicles going the wrong way.) This has helped ease the flow- apparently, but it is still pretty bad. The combination of bad roads AND heavy traffic is hard to beat.
There are some good things about the vehicles here. There are thousands of motorbikes on the roads and thousands of auto- rickshaws and thousands of small very light weight vehicles for carrying all sorts of things around the city. I say these are good because they are probably much more fuel efficient overall than what we would have back home. We have seen as many as 5 people on one motorbike and as many as 6 people in one auto- rickshaw. The former with a seat that normally holds 2 and the latter with seating for 3. But there are options- a wider variety than at home. So, you will see all of these vehicle of various sizes on the roads all day hauling all manner of things from food to TV's to plywood to bricks to huge granite stones. There seems to be a vehicle suited to every task... or ill- suited as is often observed. We often see trucks broken down which were clearly overloaded. You also see many cases, where the stone slabs used to make a sidewalk over the drainage ditches, are broken by an overloaded truck trying to drive over them. Still, I think the size range of the vehicles is more fuel efficient than at home. However, there are safety issues with the small vehicle. We have seen several accidents involving the small vehicles- fortunately, none appeared to be serious, but probably, that is the case only because they normally can't move very fast in the Bangalore traffic! In the US, there would all manner or lawsuits resulting from the accidents involving these vehicles. Here, however, the Indians have come up with a very efficient way to deal with those kinds of lawsuits- inefficiency! We are told that you can sue people if you want, but it may take 15 years for your case to be heard! So, this inefficiency keeps people from suing each other. In addition, it is quite possible that the person you sue will have little money, so it would be of little use. People tend to take more personal responsibility for their actions. They really do try hard NOT to have a serious accident. When they have "fender benders" there appears to be some shouting but violence is usually pretty minimal. Our car has a number of minor scrapes on it- mostly from kids leaning against the car while begging or, more often, from the mirrors of motorbikes passing too close. There is one very small dent in the plastic bumper- apparently this occurred just yesterday when an auto rickshaw bumped the rear of the car. Such is life in the fast lane!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Animal Kingdom
We have these really great sleeping places that our human companions got for us!
They are just the right size and shape and verrry comfortable. We had them moved by the places where we can watch all the other creatures around our home. Every day we see things that fly around in the air or climb in the trees. It is fun to watch them and try to chase them, but we can't ever catch them because there are these hard things between us and them! Too bad! Some look like better food than we often get!Our humans want to say something now. Too bad, but its time to sleep some more now anyway.
The Z's do spend a lot of time looking out the windows and there are crows, pigeons, squirrels, monkeys, kites and green parakeets regularly in view. One picture shows a green parakeet hanging from a mango tree out one side of the apartment. Another picture shows a large predator bird- we think a Kite- resting on top of a neighbor's water tank. They had us put two stools in front of a couple of the windows so they can watch in great comfort... and they sleep there a lot too!
The monkeys come by about once a week. They are very cute when young and swing all around in the trees. However, when they get older, they are not so cute and they could be a threat to the Z's, so we try to chase them away when they come on the balcony.
Ziggy likes to get inside any bags that come into the apartment. Today, our driver brought a carpenter to hang some pictures we bought and had framed very inexpensively. As is usual, the guy came ill prepared to do the task. He brought the right tools, which is a very good start, but he did not bring any hooks or wire or screws suitable to the task. He is also replacing glass in a kitchen cabinet that broke in a little accident about a month ago, but the new glass was much too small, even though he measured. We had to keep asking him to measure carefully and as the day proceeds, he seems to be doing better. It seems not to be a concern if things are "off" a little, and he seems not to mind if he has to do it over again. Time is cheap. This is a theme we see often among people doing tasks. If its not right, just do it over. This is very expensive at home, but not here. Ziggy climbed inside the carpenter's tool bag, and we got a nice picture of that, but for some reason the blog won't let us add it.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Somnathpur and Mysore
Note that you can double click on any of the images in the various postings and get a larger view.
Friday April 10 was "Good Friday" and it was also a Holiday here in Bangalore. We decided to make an overnight trip to the 3rd major Hoysala Temple in the region and also see a couple places in Mysore that we missed the last time (You can read about Halebid and Belur temples in our Feb. report and Mysore from December, 2008.)
We left Bangalore about as early as we could on Friday morning. We made one short stop along the Mysore road for some coffee and a bathroom. We noticed an awful lot of people stopping and suspected that Mysore might be crowded with tourists taking the long weekend off. We turned off the Mysore road to take some smaller and much poorer roads to end up at Somnathpur. It is a small town and the temple is protected by a wall and security people who try to prevent vandalism and theft. It was getting hot by the time we arrived around 11AM. We paid the large fee that foreigners pay compared to Indians,
though some friends said that if we carry our registration papers with us we might get the low rate paid by Indians. Still, it was just $2 each. We paid for Joseph, our driver, too, as he has some interest in history. Once inside we were immediately approached by a very nice fellow who offered himself up as a guide. Having learned from our experience at Belur, and noticing that he had a sort of official looking badge, we agreed to his service. We should have asked the fee right away, but did not. At the end he told us it was 350 Rs (about $7), which we felt was worthwhile and we tipped him extra too.
The Guide's name was Ramakrishna, which he told us are two of the thousand or so names for Vishnu (Rama and Krishna)- and this temple was made for Vishnu. He said that the three major Hindu male Gods are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and the three primary female ones are P...., Lakshmi and S.... - we may add the primary names later. They also each have many names and many incarnations.
We walked around the perimeter walls where we saw 64 small temples that are mostly empty because the statues were stolen or otherwise removed long ago.
The temple was built in 1268. Since he said it took 64 years to build we don't know if that is the starting date or finishing date.
Next we walked around the outside of the temple. It was about 11:30 and quite hot in the sun. The outside is decorated with thousands of small and large sculptures- like Halebid and Belur. There are 6 rows of small sculptures all around the base of the temple that show elephants, stories from history, stories of gods and other things.
At last we went inside and were surprised to find it very hot and while we walked around outside a large group of young women had entered the temple. The inside was duller than the other temples- partly because it is much smaller. There are 3 shrines inside- each has a different incarnation of Vishnu. The main one was "Keshava", but this one was destroyed or damaged long ago and has been replaced. The guide said that when the main image has been damaged, then temple normally
is "decommissioned" and no longer used for worship. Such is the case here. Photos are permitted, though we wonder why it is still necessary to take shoes off before entering. There are some very nice ceiling carvings inside, but it was so hot we did not stay long.
We took the rough road on to Mysore. We had Lunch at the Lalitha Palace Hotel- a grand old place but a bit expensive. We then to the Cauvery store- this is the government crafts emporium. It was a little disappointing. We then went to find a woodworking shop we heard about. We had spoken to the owner a couple weeks earlier about coming to visit and finally found the place. The owner is of European origin and he came to Mysore becase they have an industrial based for doing wood inlay work- marquetry. He showed us some spectaular work they were doing and gave us a short lesson in the history of the art. We were very tired and went to our hotel for the rest of the night.
On Saturday Morning we got a late start, but went to the Jaganmohan Palace that was used by the Maharaja as an auditorium or something. It is now a sort of art museum, which houses mainly art of more modern origin plus a lot of interesting and unusual objects like mechanical music devices, clocks , weapons, games, toys, dishes and musical instruments. Since it was a bit late, it was also hot inside. Janet left early while Jim prowled around a bit more. We left the place and considered leaving for home since it was hot. However, we went to a craft shop that is air conditioned instead. It is a place we visited the last time and has very nice things. They are generally reasonably priced, but maybe a bit more expensive than you might find if you searched hard. We had fun looking and they gave us soft drinks and some pizza for lunch.
We finally left Mysore about 4PM- perhaps an hour later than we might have wished. The ride back to Bangalore was ok until we go to the city limits, then it was awful for about 45 minutes. However, we arrived home safely and found Ziggy and Zoe in good spirits and happy to see us.
Overall we were disappointed in Somnathpur compared to Halebid and Belur. It is a more complete temple- with the tall "towers" on it that are missing from the other places, but the stone carving seemed a bit less intricate and in worse repair. It is also smaller. However, it was good to see this gem. It was also nice that there were few people there- except for the large group of young college or high school girls. The season is turning hot and this temple is a bit out of the way. So, those things probably helped keep it peaceful.
Friday April 10 was "Good Friday" and it was also a Holiday here in Bangalore. We decided to make an overnight trip to the 3rd major Hoysala Temple in the region and also see a couple places in Mysore that we missed the last time (You can read about Halebid and Belur temples in our Feb. report and Mysore from December, 2008.)
We left Bangalore about as early as we could on Friday morning. We made one short stop along the Mysore road for some coffee and a bathroom. We noticed an awful lot of people stopping and suspected that Mysore might be crowded with tourists taking the long weekend off. We turned off the Mysore road to take some smaller and much poorer roads to end up at Somnathpur. It is a small town and the temple is protected by a wall and security people who try to prevent vandalism and theft. It was getting hot by the time we arrived around 11AM. We paid the large fee that foreigners pay compared to Indians,
though some friends said that if we carry our registration papers with us we might get the low rate paid by Indians. Still, it was just $2 each. We paid for Joseph, our driver, too, as he has some interest in history. Once inside we were immediately approached by a very nice fellow who offered himself up as a guide. Having learned from our experience at Belur, and noticing that he had a sort of official looking badge, we agreed to his service. We should have asked the fee right away, but did not. At the end he told us it was 350 Rs (about $7), which we felt was worthwhile and we tipped him extra too.The Guide's name was Ramakrishna, which he told us are two of the thousand or so names for Vishnu (Rama and Krishna)- and this temple was made for Vishnu. He said that the three major Hindu male Gods are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and the three primary female ones are P...., Lakshmi and S.... - we may add the primary names later. They also each have many names and many incarnations.
We walked around the perimeter walls where we saw 64 small temples that are mostly empty because the statues were stolen or otherwise removed long ago.
The temple was built in 1268. Since he said it took 64 years to build we don't know if that is the starting date or finishing date.Next we walked around the outside of the temple. It was about 11:30 and quite hot in the sun. The outside is decorated with thousands of small and large sculptures- like Halebid and Belur. There are 6 rows of small sculptures all around the base of the temple that show elephants, stories from history, stories of gods and other things.
At last we went inside and were surprised to find it very hot and while we walked around outside a large group of young women had entered the temple. The inside was duller than the other temples- partly because it is much smaller. There are 3 shrines inside- each has a different incarnation of Vishnu. The main one was "Keshava", but this one was destroyed or damaged long ago and has been replaced. The guide said that when the main image has been damaged, then temple normally
is "decommissioned" and no longer used for worship. Such is the case here. Photos are permitted, though we wonder why it is still necessary to take shoes off before entering. There are some very nice ceiling carvings inside, but it was so hot we did not stay long.We took the rough road on to Mysore. We had Lunch at the Lalitha Palace Hotel- a grand old place but a bit expensive. We then to the Cauvery store- this is the government crafts emporium. It was a little disappointing. We then went to find a woodworking shop we heard about. We had spoken to the owner a couple weeks earlier about coming to visit and finally found the place. The owner is of European origin and he came to Mysore becase they have an industrial based for doing wood inlay work- marquetry. He showed us some spectaular work they were doing and gave us a short lesson in the history of the art. We were very tired and went to our hotel for the rest of the night.
On Saturday Morning we got a late start, but went to the Jaganmohan Palace that was used by the Maharaja as an auditorium or something. It is now a sort of art museum, which houses mainly art of more modern origin plus a lot of interesting and unusual objects like mechanical music devices, clocks , weapons, games, toys, dishes and musical instruments. Since it was a bit late, it was also hot inside. Janet left early while Jim prowled around a bit more. We left the place and considered leaving for home since it was hot. However, we went to a craft shop that is air conditioned instead. It is a place we visited the last time and has very nice things. They are generally reasonably priced, but maybe a bit more expensive than you might find if you searched hard. We had fun looking and they gave us soft drinks and some pizza for lunch.
We finally left Mysore about 4PM- perhaps an hour later than we might have wished. The ride back to Bangalore was ok until we go to the city limits, then it was awful for about 45 minutes. However, we arrived home safely and found Ziggy and Zoe in good spirits and happy to see us.
Overall we were disappointed in Somnathpur compared to Halebid and Belur. It is a more complete temple- with the tall "towers" on it that are missing from the other places, but the stone carving seemed a bit less intricate and in worse repair. It is also smaller. However, it was good to see this gem. It was also nice that there were few people there- except for the large group of young college or high school girls. The season is turning hot and this temple is a bit out of the way. So, those things probably helped keep it peaceful.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Dogs of Delhi
While we were in Delhi a few weeks ago we both were amused by the dogs that we saw around the public places we went. The dogs are almost certainly "strays" or "street dogs", but there generally seemed healthy, so they must have been getting a fair share of hand outs. While most people don't take ownership of these dogs, they also don't normally cause them harm either. Most of the dogs are sleeping with people walking all around, so it is clear that they feel no threat. We hear occasional stories of dogs being poisoned or rounded up when they seem to be causing problems, but mostly they roam free and live off whatever they can get.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Peaceful weekend
Friday March 27, 2009 was "Ugadi" here in Bangalore. We are told that it is a sort of "New Years Day" in the southern Indian culture. We were considering going to the Mysore area to see a temple and a few other things in either a day trip or an overnight trip. However, we both felt very tired Thursday and we decided to stay in the area. Our driver had Friday off, so we relaxed and worked on various chores- including income tax papers and bill paying. In the later afternoon we walked to a bookstore about a mile away and then had dinner at a hotel that is near the book store. There are several bookstors in bangalore that seem reasonably good, but none of them seems to have all the books we are looking for at any time. We walked back home after the dinner and went to sleep.
On Saturday the 28th we did more chores in th morning and then went separate ways for awhile. Janet had some errand that required the car, so she went one way and Jim walked to MG (Mahatma Gandhi) Road (most towns have an MG road- its like "Washington - something" in the US.) where they have a couple more book stores. MG road is a sort of shopping center for the city and most foreigners end up there at some point. There are also some government craft shops and lots of people on the streets trying to sell stuff to the foreigners. Those who live here and have no interest in the trinkets are assumed to be tourists who just have to have this thing or that thing that they are selling. Eventually, maybe they will recognize us and know we are not buying. Jim did not find the book he wanted and rather than look at the far flung shops, he found a used copy in the UK that can be shipped at a reasonable price.
Eventually Janet and the driver picked Jim up on Brigade road- one that connects to MG road and is loaded with more shops. We then went together to a framing shop that our driver found to get some small art works framed. It is another thing that is amazingly inexpensive here. We took in 10 items and the bill came to about $11 apiece! At home, one item would have cost about as much as this whole lot! Of course, we'll see how well it turns out. Things often don't end up the way we expect them to- though it so cheap to have it done again that it still seems OK as long as they don't damage anything in the process.
Janet had drapes made for the echoing living room here. the labor was about $15. When she didn't like the way they looked, initially, the guy said he'd change it. However, it now seems OK. It is difficult to understand a situation where someone does his work for $15 and is perfectly happy to re- do some of the work at no added cost! One has to keep in mind that a large fraction of the people in India earn only about $1 a day. So, the $15 the tailor and his assistant got must have seemed pretty good... and he was a very nice man too!
We had dinner at a very nice western restaurant on Saturday night and then walked home.
On Sunday we also relaxed a bit in the morning and also did some chores. Then some friends came by and we went to lunch at a vegetarian restaurant that seems good and is also air conditioned and only about 2 blocks from our apartment. The 4 of us had a good lunch with ice cream dessert and a generous tip for $20. It is quite warm now in Bangalore so we were happy to go back to the apartment and relax a little and do more chores. The income tax stuff is largely assembled now- that is a real accomplishment!
Overall it was a fairly relaxing long weekend. Ziggy and Zoe seem happy too!
On Saturday the 28th we did more chores in th morning and then went separate ways for awhile. Janet had some errand that required the car, so she went one way and Jim walked to MG (Mahatma Gandhi) Road (most towns have an MG road- its like "Washington - something" in the US.) where they have a couple more book stores. MG road is a sort of shopping center for the city and most foreigners end up there at some point. There are also some government craft shops and lots of people on the streets trying to sell stuff to the foreigners. Those who live here and have no interest in the trinkets are assumed to be tourists who just have to have this thing or that thing that they are selling. Eventually, maybe they will recognize us and know we are not buying. Jim did not find the book he wanted and rather than look at the far flung shops, he found a used copy in the UK that can be shipped at a reasonable price.
Eventually Janet and the driver picked Jim up on Brigade road- one that connects to MG road and is loaded with more shops. We then went together to a framing shop that our driver found to get some small art works framed. It is another thing that is amazingly inexpensive here. We took in 10 items and the bill came to about $11 apiece! At home, one item would have cost about as much as this whole lot! Of course, we'll see how well it turns out. Things often don't end up the way we expect them to- though it so cheap to have it done again that it still seems OK as long as they don't damage anything in the process.
Janet had drapes made for the echoing living room here. the labor was about $15. When she didn't like the way they looked, initially, the guy said he'd change it. However, it now seems OK. It is difficult to understand a situation where someone does his work for $15 and is perfectly happy to re- do some of the work at no added cost! One has to keep in mind that a large fraction of the people in India earn only about $1 a day. So, the $15 the tailor and his assistant got must have seemed pretty good... and he was a very nice man too!
We had dinner at a very nice western restaurant on Saturday night and then walked home.
On Sunday we also relaxed a bit in the morning and also did some chores. Then some friends came by and we went to lunch at a vegetarian restaurant that seems good and is also air conditioned and only about 2 blocks from our apartment. The 4 of us had a good lunch with ice cream dessert and a generous tip for $20. It is quite warm now in Bangalore so we were happy to go back to the apartment and relax a little and do more chores. The income tax stuff is largely assembled now- that is a real accomplishment!
Overall it was a fairly relaxing long weekend. Ziggy and Zoe seem happy too!
Monday, March 23, 2009
A TRIP TO DELHI, RAJASTHAN AND AGRA part 5
We arrived in Agra in the afternoon and went to Agra Fort for a tour and some 
interesting history. The fort was built under the direction of Akbar and modified by Shah Jahan- who later had the Taj Mahal built as a tomb and memorial for his wife. We learned that she was his 2nd or 3rd wife and she bore 14 children, but only 7 lived to adulthood. Of those 7, 3 or 4 were sons and one of the sons took power and had the other 
brothers killed and he imprisoned his father in Agra Fort. 
We could imagine Shah Jahan looking out at the Taj, which is quite visible from the fort. We then moved to the area near the Taj Mahal. They currently try to exclude some vehicles which tend to put out more pollutants from about 1km range of the Taj, so we switched to a battery powered bus to go closer. Our guide was quite good and he led us slowly toward the Taj. We entered the grounds and were surprised by two things. One was how large the Taj 
Grounds are and then by how much it looks like the pictures we have seen! It was about 4PM as we walked around and got different views. We put shoe covers on and went closer to the main structure and then went inside. It was crowded and noisy inside, but we got a good view of the very detailed pietra-dura work. The guide said that the person responsible for the calligraphy on each side of the entry halls was paid as much as the chief architect. The workmanship is particularly stunning! We stayed at the Taj about 2 hours and were very pleased. We were a little annoyed by photographers who insisted on taking our pictures and selling us the pictures as we left. The guide mentioned the legend that Shah Jahan planned a similar structure on the opposite side of the river from the Taj Mahal. The other was to be for himself and made in black marble. The guide said that there were studies done a few years ago which show that there are no remnants of foundations on the other side. There are only gardens. He said that the origin of the legend is not clear, but they think it came through a French traveler who published the story at some time. Its a nice legend. We know about two such travelers- Tavernier and Bernier- perhaps it was one of them.
We later went to a shop that makes things out of marble - a craft that is alive and well around Agra. The train left later for Delhi and we arrived in the morning. we had to leave the train by 8am which seemed a bit early, but we went to our hotel and were allowed to check in. We visited the large government crafts store and were awed by the range and quality of items. In the next couple days we saw more of Delhi and were impressed by the size of the city. The traffic seemed more manageable than Bangalore- people told us that it is mainly because Delhi was planned to be a big city, while Bangalore was never planned that way and it has been a case of trying to catchup with the growth over the years.
We returned to Bangalore on Mar. 11, 2009 which is a national holiday in India- "Holi" - which is described as "the festival of colors". We saw many people who were splashed with colors, which seems like fun, until we heard that the colors may take weeks to come off again. We had some difficulty with our seats on the airline again, but the flight was not too full, so we got the empty seat between us that we paid for.
Ziggy and Zoe had company each day while we were away, but they seemed to appreciate having us back home. They stayed very close. We told them about the big cousin that we saw at Ranthambpore Park, but they were not impressed. We look forward to another visit to Rajasthan- after temperatures come down again and the monsoon season ends.
interesting history. The fort was built under the direction of Akbar and modified by Shah Jahan- who later had the Taj Mahal built as a tomb and memorial for his wife. We learned that she was his 2nd or 3rd wife and she bore 14 children, but only 7 lived to adulthood. Of those 7, 3 or 4 were sons and one of the sons took power and had the other 
brothers killed and he imprisoned his father in Agra Fort. 
We could imagine Shah Jahan looking out at the Taj, which is quite visible from the fort. We then moved to the area near the Taj Mahal. They currently try to exclude some vehicles which tend to put out more pollutants from about 1km range of the Taj, so we switched to a battery powered bus to go closer. Our guide was quite good and he led us slowly toward the Taj. We entered the grounds and were surprised by two things. One was how large the Taj 
Grounds are and then by how much it looks like the pictures we have seen! It was about 4PM as we walked around and got different views. We put shoe covers on and went closer to the main structure and then went inside. It was crowded and noisy inside, but we got a good view of the very detailed pietra-dura work. The guide said that the person responsible for the calligraphy on each side of the entry halls was paid as much as the chief architect. The workmanship is particularly stunning! We stayed at the Taj about 2 hours and were very pleased. We were a little annoyed by photographers who insisted on taking our pictures and selling us the pictures as we left. The guide mentioned the legend that Shah Jahan planned a similar structure on the opposite side of the river from the Taj Mahal. The other was to be for himself and made in black marble. The guide said that there were studies done a few years ago which show that there are no remnants of foundations on the other side. There are only gardens. He said that the origin of the legend is not clear, but they think it came through a French traveler who published the story at some time. Its a nice legend. We know about two such travelers- Tavernier and Bernier- perhaps it was one of them.We later went to a shop that makes things out of marble - a craft that is alive and well around Agra. The train left later for Delhi and we arrived in the morning. we had to leave the train by 8am which seemed a bit early, but we went to our hotel and were allowed to check in. We visited the large government crafts store and were awed by the range and quality of items. In the next couple days we saw more of Delhi and were impressed by the size of the city. The traffic seemed more manageable than Bangalore- people told us that it is mainly because Delhi was planned to be a big city, while Bangalore was never planned that way and it has been a case of trying to catchup with the growth over the years.
We returned to Bangalore on Mar. 11, 2009 which is a national holiday in India- "Holi" - which is described as "the festival of colors". We saw many people who were splashed with colors, which seems like fun, until we heard that the colors may take weeks to come off again. We had some difficulty with our seats on the airline again, but the flight was not too full, so we got the empty seat between us that we paid for.
Ziggy and Zoe had company each day while we were away, but they seemed to appreciate having us back home. They stayed very close. We told them about the big cousin that we saw at Ranthambpore Park, but they were not impressed. We look forward to another visit to Rajasthan- after temperatures come down again and the monsoon season ends.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
A TRIP TO DELHI, RAJASTHAN AND AGRA part 4
At Udaipur we first stopped at a very nice garden that was built for the women of the court. As we stood near the entrance the guide clapped his hands and the fountains came on! He explained that the people had long ago figured out how to make sensors that would respond to the clap of the hands. He then asked us if we could figure out how such sensors worked 200 or more years ago and we looked around a bit and saw the fellow in the picture operating a valve! The guide said that it worked the same way back then! We next visited a shop where artists paint finely detailed works on various materials- paper, silk, marble and other things. The work looked very nice. The shop sold lots of other Indian crafts from wood carving to marble inlay or pietra-dura, the prices seemed a bit high, but you always have to negotiate except at the government shops.
We then went to the city palace and saw only a small part of the huge complex. Part of it is now used as one or two hotels. It seems like a very nice place. We got some good views out over the lake and could clearly see the buildings out on the lake. One is run as a hotel by a very good outfit. However, this is dry season and the water level in the lake is low. The pictures one normally sees show the buildings appearing to be floating on the water, but with the water levels low, they seem much less magical.
We had a very good lunch in a huge dinning room that was reserved for guests of the Maharajas in times past. It was a beautiful room. Our small group was served at a huge round table near the middle. They provided live music that was,
again, good and simple. After lunch we went to visit the "Crystal Room" which was upstairs from the dinning hall. We could not take pictures there, but the pieces were remarkable- mainly because of the quantity, but also for the quality. There beds, tables, chairs, lamps and all manner of furniture and decorative items made of glass! They used metal frames. We were told that all the pieces were ordered a long time ago- perhaps 1910 or so(?) from a dealer from Europe. It took about 10 years to make all the pieces. and by the time it was delivered, the Maharaja had died. The new leader did not like the stuff so it 
was put in storage. The current Maharaja found it in storage and had it brought out for display. For anyone who likes glass, it is worth seeing.We next took a short boat ride around on the lake and ended up on one of the buildings out there. We got to look around and have tea and then returned.
The train moved to Bharatpur overnight and we got up early to visit the bird sanctuary there. The bus dropped us off and we road on bicycle rickshaws into the reserve. Like other reserves and parks, this was a hunting reserve for a Maharaja until taken over by the government. There are some old buildings
and a wall of plaques giving a brief description of some of the hunting parties where over 4000 birds were shot. Now the birds are safer. This is apparently a stopover point
for many migrating birds from northern Asia. Most of the rickshaw drivers are supposed to be licensed guides, but we found that 2 of the 3 we had were very difficult to understand. They seemed to know the names of most of the bird species, but could not communicate much else- except that they expected a large tip! It was an interesting place with lots of beautiful birds we could get closer to than usual, but we thought we might have preferred to sleep later too.We returned to the train and had breakfast and rest while the train moved on to Agra.
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