(life) with a side of brownies: October 2012

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Forts and Tombs - Final Installment

Excerpts from the Week Away (Part 3):

10/25/12 Jodphur

It’s 6:45 a.m. We just arrived in Jodhpur on the overnight bus. A small trek, following our auto drivers through narrow alleyways filled with waking residents, cows, and trash, brought us to Our Hostel on a Hill – the Cosy Guesthouse. Climbing to the small room where our luggage can sit until check-in, we watch the sunrise over the magnificence of the Blue City.

I climbed down one flight of stairs for a little solitude and sat by a bright blue wall with the orange-pink sunrise still rising over the sandstone fortress that sits high above the city, a little white temple at its peak meeting the bright sun. Colors glow and merge into a burst of brightness. The Blue City awes instantly. A maze of buildings and colors, of old and winding, it shines in the morning sun.

(Ok, I tear myself away from the sunrise imagery.)

P.S. The bus was FREEZING in the desert night. The roads bumped so hard I’m pretty sure the bus caught air. The rural and mountainous shadows caught my eye. The moon shone. Sleep was limited.

Other memories: Educating Dave on the topics of Julia Child and Little Women. Dust-coated lungs. So much laughter and smiles. Feeling friendship. Talk of love and life, what has been and what could be. Did I mention laughter?

And now the sun has finally, suddenly, positioned itself above the fort. It feels warm on my tired face and I am oh so wearily blissful…

The Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur was intricate and foreboding, as it should be. The puzzle of this city – blue and pink and green and blue pieced together on the mounting hillside – is a wonder in itself. The fort above it sits as its crown.

Walking through the alleyways and markets: cows, goats, and dogs; children playing and goat tending; candy making, repairs, and metal working; daily life bought, sold, and cherished – all under the bright colors and sun.

Tonight the city glimmered beneath a luminous moon and twinkling stars, its lights below shining as if it were a part of the skyscape. Sleep comes early in this beautiful, antique, blue city.

10/28/12

Home sweet Hyderabad.

We arrived around 11 p.m. and life settled back in to normalcy quickly. Sigh.

But. Let’s finish reveling in vacation:

Our last day in Jodhpur began with an elephant inches from our auto as we rattled our way through the alleys of the city to the palace of the Maharajah. Kulfi for breakfast on the palace grounds was a treat. Gardens, peacock, parrots, squipmunks. A cow gently horning Karolle as he nudged by her in the narrow road.

Sunset and beer on the hostel roof taking in the “killing view” (as the hostel boasts) one last time. The day ended with the five of us and our luggage squeezing into one auto to catch the bus. On our way, the auto stopped (OMG, will we make the bus?!) to change a tire and add air to the others. “It has a new balance,” the driver tells us as we go the 50 meters to just catch our night bus to Delhi.

Last day in Delhi: Qutub Minar, chilling, coffee.

Hannah and I found froyo – don’t tell Yasmin! – and samosas as we wandered around shops in Delhi’s fancy-cosmo-place.

(btw, Delhi subway at rush hour = my Indian nightmare come true. Too close, too many men, too much discomfort!) Subway, auto-arguing, cab-grabbing just got us to the plane in time. (Ok, I know I am a compulsively early airport arriver, but seriously we only just made it.) Exhaustion!

My fellow voyagers and I were a good group. Equal amounts decisiveness and easygoing, confrontation and peacemaking, group time and independence.

Lovely.

Travel group, minus Zuha and me

(Final thought: North Indian food was good – I had my share of breads and very little rice! – but it is nice to have a little spice back in my life again. There’s nothing quite like burning lips after lunch.)

(Click pics to make big. More pics currently on Facebook, also.)

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Forts and Tombs - Part 2

Excerpts from the Week Away (Part 2):

10/23/12 Jaipur (The Pink City)

Hawamahal

Yesterday we explored Jaipur’s Old City a little. The ‘pink’ of the city is actually more of a sandstone, but the architecture and archways dispersed among the place are ever impressive.

City Palace was grand – the colors beautiful, the exhibits of clothes and weapons and art fascinating, the design outstanding. On weapons: swords and sabers and daggers and guns were interesting, but the ‘tiger claws’ were intensely incredible. (Think Wolverine claws worn like brass knuckles – metal daggers to hold between your fingers!) Hand-to-hand combat must have been grotesque and traumatizing. History, man, conquerors - gruesome.

City Palace

"Tiger claws"

Jantar Mantar is an astrological observatory built in the early 18^th century. Words used by our group to describe it were: futuristic, trippy, awesome, weird. It may be my favorite site. The lines, sharp and curving and intersecting, and the circles are modern and ancient simultaneously. Crop circle designs reverberate in stone.

Other highlights of the day: arguing with auto drivers (an incessant, pervasive India experience!) and deflecting questions from men about our names, our country of origin, our jobs, etc. But the city is not as crowded as others and therefore is less threatening than a busy night at Charminar.

Today, a lot of wandering happened. After getting a late start, we went to Hawamahal – the palace where the Maharajah’s harem stayed. A maze of intricacy that overlooks the city, it was spectacular.

Oldest temple in Jaipur

A meander down the streets of the Old City took us to a temple tucked above and behind the shops. Quiet and empty, we roamed the beautiful structure in solitude until a man greeted us as we were heading out. He told us the type of temple it is, about the guru who mostly travels, and that the temple is the oldest in Jaipur. We thanked him for his time, slipped on our shoes, and continued on our wander.

After lunch – a long lunch – we strolled down to Albert Hall, a British built museum that is a haven for all of the pigeons in Rajasthan, seemingly. It is a beautiful building. More art and history and weaponry.

Continuing on our path, we shopped a little, looked a lot, and squeezed through fabrics brilliant and many in the alleyways of the bazaar.

Dinner. Plan-making for tomorrow. A little yoga. End of day 6.

Happy, full, satisfied. I have left H’bad in the recesses of my brain.

10/24/12 Jaipur

After a morning of lounging and packing (and reading Julia Child for the second time), we bid adieu to Zuha and headed up to Amber Fort/Palace. The bus was quiet when we hopped on, but quickly filled with children on a field trip and families on holiday. (Dussehra fell on this Wednesday.)

Water Palace

As the children were led in a chant, I watched the woman sitting in front of me. The bright scarf of her sari was draped over her head and her bright brown eyes bounced over the top of the statue of the goddess she held in her lap. With the soundtrack of drums and music resounding in the streets, the familiar images of urban Indian life flew past the windows in Pink City-style.

The Water Palace, camels, and elephants created a fantastical ride up to this grand fort of my namesake. Climbing the stony road to the entrance, backward glances and over-the-wall peering was necessary for taking in the view. The palace was grandly intricate in its layout. Unable to navigate every nook, we lost each other and ourselves in the labyrinth of rooms and corners and windows. A beautiful structure covered in a mirror and tile mosaic was breathtakingly stunning, but the entirety of the palace was so carefully designed that it was hard not to gape in wonder of it all.

Regrouping slowly, we unraveled ourselves from the palace toward the fort that towered above. A tunnel inspiring Indiana Jones-theme song humming opened into more (steep) stone roads and stairs. Arriving breathlessly at the top, gorgeous views and impressive architecture rewarded our efforts. Monkeys (glorious monkeys!) intermingled against the backdrop.

Once we peeled ourselves from this place, we caught an auto back to earth (the Pink-shaded earth), gathered take-away parcels and dined and laughed on the hostel roof until our bus brought us to a new-color-town.

(Click on images to enlarge.)

Monday, October 29, 2012

Adventures in Forts and Tombs - Part 1

India Gate

Back in my bed in Hyderabad Saturday night, belly full of naan, feet a bit tougher, nose coated with dust, body a bit weary, I was glad for the journey through North India. Mind rested and expanded, beauty-filled images danced in my head as I lay down to sleep (and made a to-do list for this week).

Ah, Monday has brought me back to power outages and productivity… Let’s go back! (A 3-part series.)

The trip up north consisted of 4 cities, 4 forts, 4 tombs, 5 palaces, and many UNESCO World Heritage sites, various animals, food, people, and architecture in 10 days.

Excerpts from the Week Away (Part 1):

10/18/12

Sunset yoga at Agra Fort

Leaving H’bad, I realized how fancy the airport is. When I arrived 3 months ago at 2 a.m., I didn’t notice or care how modern and efficient it is. Likewise, arriving in Delhi this evening, I was reminded of that trip from the airport – only 3 months ago, and yet a distance which seems so far from my current place.

The ‘cab’ we took to our hotel tonight was a rusty minivan-type vehicle (only smaller) that was likely made in 1978. (The cab 3 months ago was a new, fresh smelling SUV.) The ride was similar – fast, swerving, dark. In the earlier cab ride, I was a little tense, a little worried, a little more aware. Tonight, I was glad to be on my way to a bed; I noticed a huge statue that might be worth noting; and I breathed in the cool air and aromatic street food.

Three months is a short and gaping time period.

10/19/12 Delhi

Red Fort

The metro, reportedly the best in the world, is fantastic. It is clean, has frequent trains, is easily navigated, and goes all across the city. It is superb. There is the usual Indian-style security check (similar to that upon entering a mall) at every station – bag check, body check, ladies’/gents’ lines separate. The trains themselves also have a ladies’ car at the front. (More on this at another time..)

Otherwise, the Delhi metro is truly grand. Case in point, Yasmin and I barely missed a train when the others caught it. No big deal. Yasmin and I caught up – since Delhi trains come every 2 minutes, it was fine. ♥ effective public transit!

The sites were likewise impressive. The Red Fort, a combination of Mughal and British architecture, was intricate baths and living quarters.

Next, a mosque at the end of a crowded market. The view of the market-bustle and Old Delhi from the top of the stairs was magnificent.

Humayun’s tomb was a park with a grand final resting place of a wealthy man and his staff. ‘Grand’ is only a small way to describe this palace of a grave. Orange trees and ‘squipmunks’ and dogs and monkeys – oh my! Stone and waterways and a breeze – beautiful.

India Gate – a memorial to fallen Indian soldiers – was photo worthy and in a lovely public green space. (What?? Did I just say a ‘public green space’? Am I still in India????)

Dilli Haat – an open air market – was a peaceful marketplace (oxymoron?) and made for a perfect, relaxing end to the evening.

Overall, Delhi was lovely – a clean, well-planned city that seems safe and pleasant.

Corners of character shine through – the residential area where we found fruit and lunch; the open urinals on the roadside where we covered our mouths and noses with our scarves; the beautiful ox waiting patiently outside our hotel for his cart to be filled; multi-colored goats going to market on leashes.

Tomorrow, 5 a.m., bus to Agra.

10/21/12 Agra

We arrived in Agra yesterday, midday. Coffee, instant and weak, before heading out to Agra Fort. The fort is huge! Red and ornate, with a mosque devoted to the harem, it was impressive. Most impressively, perhaps, was the view of the Taj Mahal from the fort.

This morning we collected ourselves out of bed, put on our photo-worthy faces, and headed for the Taj Mahal at 6:00 a.m. The security check was more thorough here than most. They went through our bags searching for things like lighters and cigarettes, which are banned. They confiscated Yasmin’s playing cards after first confusing them for cigarettes – “Playing cards are not allowed,” he replied as Zuha explained in Hindi that they were not cigarettes. To save face, he kept the cards.

Entering the gate finally, beauty strikes. Tourist-mode enters. The obligatory photo shoots, awing, and upward facing glances ensue. We spent the morning exploring the mausoleum and grounds. “Wait, someone’s buried here?,” Dave said as we approached the mausoleum. Monkeys, security guards, intricate design, light, marble, sandstone. Beauty.

(Click on the pictures to enlarge.)

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Tackling Enchanting, Incredible, (Big) India

“My first impression was that India's both beautiful and frustrating. It's so big that you can't rid yourself of the sense that you're missing most of it.”

Anthony Bordain said it, and my friend Jen echoed it when she first found out I was going to India. Here’s a limited list of things I want to do/see while I am here.

Agra: Taj Mahal*
Kerala*
Darjeeling
Tigers and/or Asiatic lions*
Caves of Ajanta
Goa
Mumbai
~~Bangalore~~
Himalayas
Rajasthan/Jaipur
Delhi
Kanyakumari*
Tripura

*Must sees.

There is a lot more too. But I can’t do it all in 10 months. And so far I've only hit up Bangalore. I better get started and get outta this city, huh?

I'm leaving tonight (sans laptop) for Delhi-Agra-Jaipur-Jodhpur for the next 10 days. I'll be out of touch, but look for lots o' pics (and maybe a story or two) when I return.

The trippy-est video I've seen in a long time (circa 1990 - oh 1990!):

(Pardon the cheesiness - I am in great need of a break.)

(life) with a side of brownies