India
Alwar

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    • Day 13

      And so back to “Dilli”

      February 28, 2023 in India ⋅ 🌩️ 23 °C

      Our last full day in India has arrived and so it’s a full days coach travel back to Delhi (correct pronunciation Dilli, Raj tells us). First stop, however, was the gemstone outlet so we had a little demo followed by the hard sell for those who were indulging. Very pretty trinkets and jewels to be bought but very pressurised too!

      Raj’s little talk was about marriage and taxes today. 90% of marriages are still arranged in India, totally by parents although if either the boy or girl does not fancy the only choice offered, he/she can opt out and the parents have to start again. This would be acceptable in the cities but probably no choice at all in the villages-the original choice would be the only choice! 5% of marriages are semi-arranged where boys and girls find their own partners (within their castes) but 5% are inter-caste marriages and these are frowned upon and not recognised by the families and friends concerned. In this case, the couple would have to leave their home town and set up somewhere else. Divorces are becoming increasingly common in the cities, as women have better means of self sufficiency with better jobs but the divorce rate is still low.
      70% of people, mainly farmers, do not qualify to pay tax. Money earned in farming is ploughed back into the land, literally.

      A comfort stop followed by a lunch stop ensued, where many plates of French fries were ordered-people are a bit “curried out”! We ate at picnic tables outside. There were a lot of flies here! Back on the road and all too soon the chaos of the Delhi outskirts with all its huge corporate buildings such as Deloitte, PWC, etc and huge IT centres were on either side of the highway.

      As usual, any Indian people in other vehicles, whether they be schoolchildren, bus travellers, lorry drivers as well as pedestrians, are very interested in a bus full of boring old Brits and are anxious to smile broadly and wave enthusiastically at us. In addition, wherever we have been, all sorts of people ask to take our photos or have selfies with them, even at our age! I must be appearing on several social media pages as we speak! I have been amazed.

      So…. Back to ITC Maurya, Delhi for the third and final time, which is absolutely heaving with tourists as well as delegates from G20 (foreign ministers meeting 1-3 March apparently). We were also told that Fred and Mary (Denmark’s Crown Prince and Princess) are also staying there! We went to a different bar and managed to get free drinks in the guise of Happy Hour 🤷🏻‍♀️. Then there was a complimentary glass of wine with Great Rail so no bar bill tonight. A farewell to those on a different flight tomorrow and then off to bed …..
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    • Day 10

      J8 : Agra ou aller chez Aladin

      March 24 in India ⋅ ☁️ 34 °C

      Une fois réveillé à 7h, récupération des cailloux achetés la veille. Puis petit déjeuner et préparation des bagages, qui ferment de plus en plus difficilement. Départ à 9h direction Agra, cité du Taj Mahal, non dans ine pointe d'excitation. Le ciel est laiteux voire couvert sur la quasi-totalité du trajet, ce qui n'augure pas les photos paradisiaques. Qu'à cela ne tienne, le voyage est aussi l'occasion pour moi d'immortaliser quelques tranches de vie colorées.
      Ainsi, voici un petit florilège ci-joint des camions colorés, du foisonnement de vie sur et le long de l'asphalte, de la transhumance familiale à moto pour rejoindre ses proches pour Holi et du.... séchage de bouses bovines. Donc les galettes au sarrasin en rentrant, ok mais pas tout de suite ^^
      En arrivant sur Agra, les préparatifs de la fête de Holi (fête des couleurs) battent leur plein : des tipis de paille se dressent au bord des chemins (voir quasiment sur une voie) en vue d'être brûlés ce soir.
      La météo est toujours aussi peu ensoleillée, ce qui me déçoit d'autant pmus que tout le reste du voyage affichait un radieux soleil.
      Autre bémol à Agra : les gens conduisent encore moins bien qu'ailleurs. Je ne sais même pas comment on fait pour ne pas faire touche-touche avec les autres véhicules. De facto, les incivilités au volant sont monnaie courante ici aussi. Vous visualisez les courses-poursuites où 2 voitures sont face à face sur la même voie en allant dans des directions opposées puis se rabattent au dernier moment? Et bien là c est systématique!... J'ai hâte en écrivant ces lignes d'arriver au restaurant car ça fait 30 minutes que j ai vu "Taj Mahal : 7.5km" et j'ai l'impression que cela fait une éternité.

      Enfin arrivé au restaurant "Bon Barbecue", un système de buffet a volonté pour le plat. Et entrées servies par le personnel. Ca dépote grave! Même pas le temps de finir sa bouchée que d'autres nourritures atterrissent dans l'assiette : similitude toute tracée avec du gavage d'oies. Le gaspillage alimentaire est fréquent au vu des assiettes débarrassées, créant un léger malaise tant le clivage avec l'extérieur est criant (des gens mendient).
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    • Day 9

      Fatehpur Sikri and on to Ranthambore

      February 24, 2023 in India ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

      9 am start to the ancient, abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri, another Moghul capital back in the day and attacked many times by the Hindu Maharajahs when the Moghul Empire was weak. Most of the buildings are now demolished but the Indian Archaeological Society work to preserve the beautiful red sandstone structures. The Moghul rulers lived in the Palace, one with a Turkish wife (his Sultana) and around 3000 concubines 😳.

      We left the coach in the main car park, had to run the gauntlet of the quite agressive hawkers and maimed beggars, one of whom, a lad of about 20, had one leg where the lower half, with foot, was facing the wrong way. Whether this had been done deliberately as a child I don’t know. 😔. We then had another hair raising 5 min smaller bus ride (speedometer not working, door open, no seat belts, tyres questionable) to the archeological site, heard the history, walked the walk and returned to the bus.

      Lunch was in a splendid hotel (Laxmi Villas), a popular wedding venue.
      We had now travelled from the State of Uttra Pradesh to Rajastan, a very dry state. Raj gave us a few facts during the day. The cows wandering about everywhere do, in fact, have owners who feed them but often don’t have room to accommodate them all day so they are free to wander and are collected at the end of the day, similarly the goats. There is method in their madness when they sit down in the middle of the road-the hustle and bustle of the traffic keeps flies and other insects away. The cows are not so much “holy” as useful and valuable to a family.

      The road ahead was very good-a toll road and we passed through several toll plazas. We then turned onto the New Delhi-Mombai Expressway, opened only last week by the Prime Minister, Mr Mondi. It has cut down that journey from 24 to 12 hours. Only fast moving vehicles are allowed on it. Users pay for the distance travelled (per km) whereas on others a fixed fee is paid. There was no one on it! Arrival at the hotel was about 6.30 pm then a quick wash and brush up before dinner.
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    • Day 3

      Naar Jaipur

      November 2, 2022 in India ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      De autosnelweg in India: koeien op de middenberm, mensen die te voet oversteken en de weg markering is decoratie. Iedereen rijdt wel stukken trager hierdoor.
      Voor het overgrote deel van de dag zat ik in de auto, met een grote pauze in een fort dat omgebouwd was tot hotel, waar ik een lunch buffet had. Ook stopten we af en toe voor een chai, indische thee, en om de aapjes te voeren.
      Eenmaal aangekomen in jaipur was ik blij dat ik daar nooit met de auto moet rondrijden, het is pure chaos. Ze rijden links hier, zoals in de uk, maar ik had dit eerst niet door omdat sommige niet weten welke kant dat is. U-bochten maken op de autosnelweg door een gat in de middenberm is ook toegelaten, denk ik. En soms is de berm naast de weg ook weggehaald om alternatieve afritten te maken. Veel ga ik niet doen vanavond, de taxichauffeur zei dat ik snachts niet alleen mag rondwandelen wegens te gevaarlijk.
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    • Day 4

      Autour du village

      October 27, 2017 in India ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

      Ce matin, nous partons découvrir les alentours du village : l'école, les femmes qui tissent des tapis, des fabriquants de chaussures.
      A l'école, quelques enfants chantent des chansons et me demandent évidemment de chanter en retour.Read more

    • Day 50

      Returning to Rajasthan

      July 8, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

      We volunteered with Pahaadi society for a week and decided it wasn't the best fit for our family. Volunteering with a 4year old was perhaps a little more challenging than we first thought.
      One of the most difficult things was daily routine, we were eating in the evening around 9-10pm, so then Lila wasn't sleeping until after this and then she would wake early morning. She was often wanted to play when we were working in the garden and by the time there were afternoon classes with the children, she was overtired and exhausted.
      So we thought we would try another one in Rajasthan, it's a Democratic Learning Centre, where children decide what they want to learn. The project is based in Agar village about 90km from Jaipur.
      Our trip back to Rajasthan was full of learning. We had waitlisted tickets for a train from holy city Haridwar to Jaipur, which the online estimators suggested we had a 90% chance of being confirmed. Sometimes you only get the confirmation a few hours before the train is due to leave. Anyway we ended up being the 10% chance of not being confirmed. Next lesson, avoid travelling on Sundays, the only day off in India, particularly to Holy cities where everyone is also trying to leave on a Sunday afternoon. After finding our train tickets didn't get confirmed, we then found out all the air con bus tickets were sold out, so we ended up taking the local bus for the 12hr overnight trip to Jaipur. It was in interesting trip which involved going through a traffic packed New Delhi around 1am and getting suck in huge amounts of traffic. We passed huge big glamorous buildings which can be next to families sleeping under tarp tents, which really highlights the huge gap between the rich and the poor here.
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    • Day 52

      Workaway in Rajasthan

      July 10, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 37 °C

      We took the bus to Agar village to volunteer at 'masti Ki pathshala', a democratic learning centre for the children of the village. The idea of this type of school is to let the children decide what they want to learn, there is no curriculum/exams and children can come and go as they please. The centre operates in the afternoon, as the children attend regular government school in the morning. Gautam, the very passionate founder of this Centre faces various challenges, including working in a rural village which he is not from and trying to work with the mentality of people who only believe what they already know. We were lucky to meet other lovely volunteers here from Uraguay, France, Spain and India. We ended up staying 2 weeks here and did some stuff
      around growing seedlings, reducing plastic, team work, and just playing with the children.
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    • Day 3

      Village de Rajgash Alwar

      October 26, 2017 in India ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

      Nous arrivons au village, ou plutôt dans une communauté de 4 familles, 26 personnes.
      Nous sommes accueillis par le "chef" qui ne parle que quelques mots d'anglais, bien qu'il ait été ingénieur, a travaillé sur des machines outils...aujourd'hui il s'occupe d'un ashram, que nous visiterons le lendemain, et qui est destiné à recueillir des vaches âgées et handicapées (!) dont les indiens ne veulent plus car elles ne donnent plus de lait mais qu'ils ne peuvent pas tuer.
      Nous prenons un délicieux déjeuner composé de riz, de lentilles et de legumes, peu épicé. Puis nous buvons un chaï et allons nous balader dans les champs alentour. La plupart des personnes ici sont cultivateurs mais il a tres peu plu depuis 3 ans, un véritable fléau qui les empêche d'avoir une production suffisante. Un peu de moutarde et de piments verts parviennent à donner un peu
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    • Day 53

      Agar village

      July 11, 2018 in India ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C

      Our home for 2 weeks is the small village Agar in Rajasthan. When we arrived it was very hot, however we brought the rain with us which was so nice to cool things down. Agar is home to around 120 families and the world for most children here is no bigger than a 40km radius around the village. There is a lot of agriculture which includes growing grass to feed buffalos. Many families are also hand making amazing carpets, we were told they work for a big company in Jaipur which deliver the wool to the village and the carpets are made here and then go back to Jaipur to be sold. Many families are big with lots of children and like most villages in India, they live as a big extended family unit. The village has a main bazaar on the main street of town which features about 10 chai wallas, a few tailors, 3-4 barbers, 3-4 doctors/drug distributors, and many general stores which sell a bit of everything. There are lots of monkeys in the village, cows and goats are herded through the village many times during the day. The village becomes alive at 6am, as the daily water supply starts at 6am for about 30-45mins. In the dry season water often doesn't come every day. Here you will see people fetching water, filling their water tanks and children lined up to shower. Like many other villages we have seen, you see women working in their colourful saris and then you see men sitting around on the streets and they appear like they are doing nothing all day. Sorry that's probably a totally bias perspective from a woman!Read more

    • Day 1

      Müde und staunend

      December 29, 2018 in India ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

      7,5 Kissennervstunden und 2 Filme später landen wir sanftest in der indischen Metropole Delhi. Der Flughafen lässt bisher keine dritte Welt vermuten, sauber und exotisch.
      Exotisch gestaltet sich auch unsere Suche nach unserem Mietwagen. Auf keinem hinduistischem Turban steht das Aviswerbebanner, kein Schild ruft unseren Namen und das Telefon klingelt bei Avis - oder wem auch immer - vergeblich. Müde und schlaftrunken suchen wir, sucht Uli, bis uns ein kopfschüttelnder Inder zur Avis Station fährt. Hier fängt für mich verwöhnten Mitteleuropäer mit reichlich Schuhen, Kleidern und anderen unnützen Dingen im Gepäck, die sagenumwobene 3. Welt an. Nahezu sprachlos hupt sich der Fahrer durch die Stadt. Kühe, Menschen, Mopeds, Autos, Müll, und wieder Kühe zum Greifen nah, laut, schmutzig, bunt, chaotisch. Eine Ordnung oder Regel lässt sich auf diesen ersten müden Blick nicht im entferntesten auch nur erahnen. Doch in all diesem Chaos taucht sie tatsächliche vor uns auf - keine Fatamorgana, die Avis Mietstation. Und 40 min später sitzen wir in unserem eigenen Wagen, direkt in das Motorgetümmel der indischen Großstadt. Uli, Adrenalin geschwängert, fährt indisch "elegant" und vor allem hupend zwischen Kühen, Ziegen, Hunden, Menschen, Mopeds, Autos und irgendwas mit Rädern Richtung Alwar. Als Beifahrer sieht das ganze wie ein Spiel auf der Playstation aus, fast schon surreal. Viele Kühe später erreichen wir unsere erste kleine indische Burg und fallen todmüde in unser Bett.Read more

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