In India, Anything is Possible

In India, people we interact with often tell us "It is possible." Sometimes, "not possible." Other times: "In India, Anything is Possible."

Varanasi is a place of many possibilities. But before we go there, travelogue or otherwise, we must discuss something not serious at all. When I was younger, our folks took my family to Canada, to a Renaissance fair. My mom was always taking us exotic places, and she had always meant to take us to a Renaissance fair. Probably this is why my brother, sister, and I like to travel so much. It's all our mom's fault.

At this fair was an awesome sword swallower named Johnny something. I'm not sure if they had sword swallowers during the Renaissance, but that didn't matter. He was the funniest, most entertaining guy, we had ever seen. Turns out he was a comedian beforehand, so he said, but he took up all these swords and things because people stole his routines. It's harder to steal someone's routine if you've got to swallow a sword. Copping a line is one thing, but shoving a long, sharp object down your gullet -- a bit harder.

After swallowing a bunch of big, sharp swords, he put another one down the hatch, and started convulsing and screaming as if he were dying, and the sword cut open all his insides. The sword, naturally, was flexible. That's the kind of humor we had going on here.

Anyway, this guy had a great interlude in his routine. He explained than the river Ganges, in India, is historically central to life in India, both materially and spiritually. Hindus worship it as if it were a Goddess. Varanasi, which is on the Ganges, is perhaps the holiest site for Hindus in the world. No Hindu's life is complete without bathing in the Ganges once. And he showed the audience this small vessel, and told us it contained water from India, from this most sacred river, the river Ganges. He poured the water out, with an appropriate level of gravitas, until the vessel was empty -- not a drop left. At the next interlude he held up the same vessel, which he hadn't touched, and again showed it to us. "Water from India," he said, pouring it out all over again, "The River Ganges" -- down to the last drop. Stunningly, it had been refilled with water -- pure magic! Every 5 minutes he'd do it again, which was awesome -- where was all this holy water coming from? Water from India, the river Ganges. The mystical power of the river Ganges was forever inscribed in my consciousness.

So. Water from India, the river Ganges -- we're finally here -- Varanasi, the most holy Hindu place in the world. Varanasi also has a lot of history with travelers from the West, as it was a major site for pot smoking hippies to travel to in the 60's and 70's, and absorb lots of eastern religion, expand their minds -- that sort of thing. Why? What's so special? I can show and tell you a little bit.

Varanasi is also the most ruthless city in India, as far as I can tell, for harassing and exploiting tourists. We travelers are but sparks that leap from the ATMs into their pockets. All they must do is perform enough careful stagecraft, yell loud enough, harass us enough, or mislead us -- and all our money will be in their arms. The old city is a maze, and everybody wants to guide you to your guest house, or perhaps their guest house, where your rent will go up to pay for the tout who brought you there. That's how it works. All the signs for food and guest houses are painted on walls, since touts tore the old ones down. Guest houses have similar names to one another, to mislead people. I almost manage to game the guy who meets us on the platform -- the guy you never want to deal with -- we're in his car, having driven 20 feet, price fixed, destination set, shenanigans put aside, when he just stops, and flat out refuses to move. He simply can't leave his original pitch, having failed to game us. Ok, fine. We step out, realizing that our skills still need some more work before we can overturn ninjas on their backs. The next guy takes us, but tries to hand us off to two touts who will lead us to our place. I make the mistake of telling the driver where we're going, and he tells one of the touts. We manage to shake all of them, but one of them actually meets us at the guest house! The Chutzpah! We've learned our lesson. Drop at secure locations, and tell nobody where you're going.



We go by pedal powered bicycle rickshaw, from the train station to the old city, to help save the environment. With our bags, it's a bit of a squeeze.



Perhaps I should stop complaining. But, truthfully, it is a big hassle and frustration getting around, but the rewards are great. Like, Varanasi is great. This is what I love. The rewards for hard traveling. Magic like this. The ghats, the stairs across India which go down into rivers, go on for about 6km up and down the river in Varanasi.



The old city behind the Ghats is also mega-cool. It's a real bazaar, a twisty, knotted, collection of buildings, tunnels, shops, cows, and all the important elements of urban life. In a really confusing, fun, space. These things can take time to get used to. Like, it takes time to learn how to dodge all the animal poop in the street. And you have to do it at night, while having a conversation, and having your attention drawn by everything in sight, like shops, and passing motorcycles, people, and cows. One night the alley outside of our guest house was spattered by a diarrhetic cow, which was the first time we saw an Indian get frustrated by the poo. Our guest house owner, though, seemed more irritated by the business implications than anything else.



In general, poo is useful. Like, people collect it, make cakes, dry it, and then sell it. As fuel. And the cows eat the trash. This is fine, except now India is covered in plastic which cows can't digest so well, even with their many stomachs.



Lots of things happen here. Massages. Two, please. People bathing. Boat rides. Religious rituals and singing, music. Bodies are cremated on the burning ghats, no photography allowed. We meet some interesting folks, Indian and not.



People walk about, and some other people take a dip in the sacred river Ganges.



Above, a Buddhist looking monk meditating, and people doing laundry. You might get spiritually clean here, but the river is very very polluted, actually, mostly because of industry.



Some of what can go on at night here. Lovely rituals I don't understand, accompanied to really nice music. Some adults try to sell you drugs, not so pushy, while really pushy kids sell you tiny lotus candle things you set alight and put into the water.



An old city passage at night, photographed thanks to Yotam's awesome Guerillapod, one of the most fab pieces of technology since the camera obscura.



Varanasi, due to its international draw, has quite a lot of backpackers and tourists. We eat at I:bo, an awesome Japanese owned place, and have some really nice Japanese food. I:bo also has the cleanest squat toilet in all of Asia, Japan included. They do nice Thai and Italian food, too. Above, a stylish bakery with excellent cheeses and approximations of Croissants. A really cool vibe, too. We chat with some interesting Indians from Delhi. Lots of buildings here use the traditional architectural style of a central, open, courtyard extruded upwards, which is what you're looking across, above, and where the light is coming from.



Above, a picture up into the skylight of the bakery, and adjacent, our guest house, Ganga Fuji. Trying to attract Japanese, we think, with the name, and the pictures of Fuji-san when you enter. It seems to work -- Above Alex is talking to a Japanese traveler. Sagoy! It also has the central extruded courtyard, through which they run these colorful lights.

The burning ghats are one of the most striking aspects of Varanasi, where people are cremated. There's simply no explanation, and you must see it yourself.



In Hindu and Buddhist theology, you are reborn over and over again, coming back each life in a way that reflects how you performed in your last life. Perhaps as an animal. Perhaps achieving enlightenment and not coming back. People come here to die, actually, because they believe that if they die here, in Varanasi, they escape from the cycle of life and death. This is a very powerful idea, if one believes in such a cyclic universe. Escape from the cosmic cycle of life and death.

In the end, despite staying right in the hurlyburly center of the bazaar, we've grown comfortable, and could stay on another day. Perhaps became hippies and move here for a year, go up to Nepal, hang out. But we've got tickets to Agra, and it's time to move forward.

Khajuranimo!

We must revisit the packed population habits of our travel one more time. If you are tired of seeing and hearing about it -- well, you can imagine that it must be far more entertaining to actually do this, because we continue to do it.



After stopping in cities with names like Nagpur, we make our way to Khajuraho, whose claim to fame you will discover shortly. It is a very small village, but with its own airport, so it must have something goin' on...



Above and below, pictures from another II class train trip. We don't do this because it's our first choice. We have no choice, really. Trains fill up crazy fast. Elbowing your way to the front of a "line", though it's really more of a heap, is a little bit of a metaphor of how I feel about booking these tickets. No, you can't just walk into a train office and book a train you want to get on. As if. There are lots of people trying to get places, and only so many spots. If a fixed number of spots isn't a concern, then go ahead, unreserved second sitting is what you've been waiting for. Besides, you get to see some interesting things, and meet some nice folks.



People bring you lots of food. We're very careful about what we eat.



This time around, Alex and I hold onto the choicer top spots. Since one must be willing to clamber around to get up here, it's less packed. And these are finally some photos, I feel, that capture the intimacy, joy, and fully embodied nature of this form of travel. Kids love to stare at us, but shyly, when they think we aren't looking. We're so weird looking, after all. I like to make faces and play with them.



So what is this Khajuraho we're after? It is no less than a cocktail of rocks, art, religion, and sex. What more could one want from a travel destination?

We stay at the Osho Zen guest house, perhaps an appropriate choice for this travel destination. Finally -- a guest house designed for backpackers, with something of a courtyard to meet and chat with other travelers, and swap stories and information. No more budget accommodation for Indian business travelers, or wherever we've been staying. These people speak our language! They serve pancakes and cornflakes for breakfast. I've gotten the hang of Indian sweets in the past few years, but Indian breakfast food, aside from Idli, Masala Dosa, and other nice south Indian fare, totally elude me. Westerners like bland food for breakfast. Mmm cornflakes, toast, pancakes, and sugar.



About 12 temples are in the main area, which costs 250 Rs to get into. It's a lot, but whatever. Indian nationals pay a fraction of this. Everyone working there finds it really funny that our ticket is only single entry, so for a day's visit it's 500 Rs. Ha ha.



This is one of the most aggressive towns we've been in, speaking of touts, begging kids, and so on. Speaking of getting screwed, below we have some fine sculpture, for which this place is so well known:



The breakdown of material here is interesting. In the interest of our broad audience, we will try to keep to a strict PG-13 rating. Or maybe that's R. I don't know. In any case, above, a rather tame sexual act depicted in stone. Things get much raunchier, with multiple people, and sometimes animals. If you dive into the flickr stream, perhaps zoom in on certain pictures, you will find all kinds of highly creative erotic material.



About 50% of the carvings are just plain sexy, as seen above, alongside Alex Rosmarin's interpretation of the finely carved ladies of Khajuraho.



The rest of the carvings are just nice carvings depicting all aspects of life, as far as we can tell. But that doesn't get you fame, does it?



Here is one of our many heroes, posing beside a fine piece of rock.



But these are old Hindu temples, after all, though none of the ones we visit are functioning. Above, a really nice carving of a pig. A source reveals to us that the many deities on the pig map to the fact that there are as many Gods, in Hindu theology, as hairs on a pig. Pigs represent money, and Lakshmi, the Goddess of money, guides this pig, though only her feet remain in this statue. We love pigs. And beside this boar, a Ganesh carving. Ganesh is very popular.



Did someone say animals? India is most well known for cows, but dogs, goats, and water buffalo appear in equal numbers. Below, some super cute water buffalo.



All these animals, whether they be dogs, buffalo, goats, or cows, are often pregnant, and babies abound. At home, we perceive animals differently, and aren't exposed to the full range of life in such a direct way as we are here, in India. And I mean this in the broadest sense, not just as we see depicted in rock here.



Above, one of the joys of being back on the backpacker circuit. A "German Bakery" run by a Nepalese man. Later we buy some cookies from his son. Nepalese are all over India, often in the most backpacker heavy areas. They are often masters of international cuisine, as well as, in general, being super sweet, and super hard working folk. I heart them.



Above, Alex on an outward journey from Khajuraho. Where are we going next? Varanasi.

Movie Moghuls

What, exactly, is a Moghul? Read on, and you certainly won't find the answer, but you might find some nice pictures of their architecture. We like Babur, but not just because he is a children's book character. Read more, and find out a little bit more, but not too much more.

Some readers have been carefully researching, mapping, and digesting our titles. Perhaps we have erred. Perhaps they have. Nobody knows. We apologize to any of you with broken hearts out there. We'll find a tiger. Somewhere. Maybe. Alex is a good artist. Maybe he can draw one. Maybe we can find a picture on the internet. So many possibilities. Perhaps we can find one in India. Maybe.

Those keeping close tabs on our progress will remember us attempting to reach the northern parts of India, from the southern ones, via an unconventional, for tourists, series of stops and modalities through central India. A Passage Through India. No direct rail route -- which makes me remember reading, that Walt Whitman wrote his poem after learning that the trans-continental railroad in the United States had been successfully linked up in Utah. He was a clerk in a government office. Our travelogue continues where we stopped last, Madurai -- going exactly where other travel writers don't dare to tickle, tread, or type.



We ride unreserved 2nd sitting, because we're hard core. This basically means that Indian Railways issue as many tickets as they have paper for, and put as many people on train cars as can fit, which turns out to be a lot more than you'd expect. Above, but a mild taste of what happens. People are sitting above these people -- you can see their legs. Above -- that's where luggage and more people go. We sit up there next time. It's more comfortable, in a way. People sit on the floor in the aisles, and in between the bathroom doors, at times. It's a great place to really meet people, in these conditions. People aren't used to seeing foreigners, and you spend a lot of time under intimate circumstances with a lot of strangers. We learn much about one another.

I love climbing around the train. As you step over between, around, and through people to get down the aisles, you can grab onto all kinds of surfaces to manuever around. It can take quite a while to make it through a train car. All my climbing skills are exercised here. Nice.

Pondicherry

First stop is Pondi. It's on the coast, a former French colony, and is interesting. It's like India*.8 + France*.2.



Auroville, which is nearby, but remains untainted by our traveller's feet, is populated by Aurovillians. It's most remarkable achievement, perhaps, is that it hasn't collapsed. This is remarkable as it is a 60's era new age commune, and most of those have collapsed.

We stay in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram's guest house, entitled the Park Guest House. It's on the seafront, and we get a double for like 250 Rs. At night we can hear the ocean in our room. Sri Aurobindo's partner, an unusual state of affairs for an Indian holy man, was called Mother, and she set up this utopian Auroville community. It's slightly inappropriate, but I am reminded of Walt Disney's original vision of Epcot as a utopian community, perhaps more in the Bucky Fuller sense than in the spiritual sense, though.



An interesting thing about this guest house. No drugs, alcohol, smoking, and a 10pm curfew. As in, they lock the front gate. It's right on the beach, and very peaceful. It's very simple. The rooms are just two beds, mosquito nets, and a bathroom. But, it's also the cleanest, and most pleasant place we've stayed. Masala Dosa is available in the sea-side cafeteria room, with tons of sunlight, and there's a lovely garden. An institutional architecture with lots of love, like some Kibbutzes. It makes me think about all the places we stay that have televisions, AC, and a host of other features that are luxurious, but unecessary. But, those places often fail at the fundamentals that this guest house takes care of so well -- like clean sheets. You can be bitten at night by mosquitos, but you have a tv, in other guest houses. I find this rather obvious observation slightly profound. Take care of the necessities really well, and that's all that really matters.



The town, Pondi, is quite interesting. Above, a picture from a French park. At the center of the park, a totally out of place greco-roman looking thing surrounded by cannons facing outwards. This, then, is surrounded by bits of Hindu temple looking sculpture. It's the French defending this kernel of Europe with cannons, facing India from inside out. But they are gone now. Kind of.

Their architecture remains, which is very interesting. Every morning and evening, many people walk up and down the giant sea-front promenade. It's interesting to see how people react to and use this architectural context. No Indian city we've see has this kind of architecture, yet everybody knows what to do with this architecture, since walking up and down it just feels right. Very Christopher Alexander.

Many French tourists are here. Many expensive (for India) restaurants are here with very good food.



Above: a curvaceous anatomical detail of one of our escape vehicles, a rick (auto rickshaw). Choo Choo. Next stop, by awesome long distance bus: Bangalore.

Bangalore

The Lonely Planet says that if you find yourself in Bangalore, it isn't a total dead loss. This is true. Bangalore and Hyderabad, which we'll visit next, are the hubs of the new Indian information economy. Most of the software and high tech work in India is done here.

One of the nice things about coming to a town like this, is that nobody expects you. There are no cute guest houses, and an army of touts trying to separate you from your money by every conceivable manipulation. No. The foreigners here are mosty from developed countries, and working here, taking part in this brave new IT world.



This means food. We sit down to an Japanese meal. The food: exquisite. It's only appropriate that Naomi took me to one of the best Indian means I've had in my life in Shibuya, Tokyo, and I've had one of my best Japanese meals in Bangalore. The restaurant, once we're inside, could be anywhere in the world. The Indian staff are as polite as any staff in a Japanese restaruant. Japanese salary-men smoke and eat, Japanese news is on tv, Manga abounds. So good.



Our room, with balcony, affords some nice views of the bazaar buzzing outside. It's kind of seedy at night, but this is all strength training, and enjoyable in its own right.



There's a nice British colonial-era park in the city. We walk around there. Pictured above, a creatively designed trash can, asking park visitors to take advantage of it.

We hop on another overnight bus. Woohoo. The bus station in Bangalore is a force to be reckoned with. It is the biggest and busiest bus station I've ever seen in my life. Imagine walking through a life sized maze of huge moving walls, that just happen to be buses. Somehow, we find our bus, and get on.

Hyderabad



Hyderabad is like Bangalore, but with more fun tourist stuff to do. Like eating with your hands. Actually, you can do that anywhere in India, but this is the first time we get a real banana leaf Thali, and it's about time, since we're on the verge of leaving South India. You don't just smell, taste, and chew the food -- you enjoy its texture with your hands. The ribbed banana leaf feels nice, too. A tactile experience. What would Brillat-Savarin think? This should only be done by trained professionals, or amateurs, such as ourselves, who have thoroughly washed and hand sanitized before hand. The food here: Awesome. We return many times.

Thalis are fun. They bring you a set meal, different depending on the restaurant and the cook's fancy, and most items are infinitely refilled as you consume them.



One can't really know a country until you see it through the lens of its amusement parks. I think. Yotam and I found this out when we visited Singapore's Sentosa Island ("Island Life, Dig It!" -- though Singapore already is an Island...). Now Alex and I go to Ramoji Film City. This is motly skippable, especially because it takes a whole day.



It is really fun, though, to see Indian movie sets of anonymous dusty Indian urban areas. We'd already abstracted them into a kind of single modern urban architecture, and it seems they have done the same. The locals, naturally, find matching sets to familiar movies far more interesting than we do...



Far more interesting in Hyderabad is the Salar Jung Museum. Just the family's artifacts, their couches, and so on, are fun enough. It's a little like a Wes Andersen movie, but in museum form. A strange, wealthy, and prodigious family's intimate and absurd material details. The crazy art from around the world they collected is truly cool, too. Above, a picture of some Indian Miniature Painting, of which they have a great collection.



On our way out of Hyderabad, we do a crash tour of some of its architectural highlights. Above, this crazy Mughal tower, and a photograph, next to it, proving that owning a fancy camera does not correlate with knowing how to take pictures.



Above, the view from the tower, into some crazy autorickshaw traffic. These cars are not parked. Like a thousand crazed windup toys, they drive everywhere, anyhow they can. Everyone, tourists and old ladies alike, must regularly cross traffic like this on foot, without the aid of traffic cops or crosswalks. If you hesitate, you either miss your opening, or die. One must act decisively. I used to think my life would end, in my old age, either going up or down stairs, which I've always found trickier than necessary, or crossing the street, since I tend to daydream. If I survive Indian pedestrian life, then I think I can make it through any other traffic, so no problem there, and rock climbing has eliminated stairs as a substantial threat to my existence, so we'll have to look more closely at other threats. Maybe ninjas in shadows.

These sights turn out to be more spectacular than a crash tour can appreciate. Ok. This is where the Moghuls from the title comes in, since it is Moghul -- Islamic Indian -- architecture. (The Movie reference is to Ramoji film city. Ok, no more dangling pointers).



Fruits are an important part of our diet here. Above, an exceptional addition. For under one dollar the owner of this cart uses a highly developed form of Pomegranate-Fu to open, and de-internal-skin-ify, a Pomegranate. As a souveneir, you even get to keep the fruit, which is very delicious. Fortifying our diet with fruits, such as bananas and oranges, is essential. We are healthier, and digestion is better. I have yet to ascertain the correct price for oranges, since the spread of prices I've paid and bargained for has been quite wide. Bananas are 2 Rupees a piece, or less, in general, which feels correct. Oranges are often 30 Rs per kilo, which feels a bit expensive, since that's the price of a lunch. Once, we got a bunch of bananas and oranges for 32 Rs. One of the keys to proper bargaining is knowing the real value of a good, using healthy portions of experience and The Force, but I am still in a fog about oranges.



Nearby is a huge mosque, a big and peaceful space. Mosques are really relaxing after the chromatic riot of Hindu temples, since there is no representation, just geometric patterns, and the spaces are so simple. Large open courtyards, and shallow reflecting pools.



Above, Chowmahalla palace. It is something. Something like a really beautiful palace. You can catch a glimpse of a local fellow whom we became friends with after it became evident that he would follow us everywhere we went, invited or not. He was also on vacation, it turns out, and was probably both curious and lonely. That's the kind of guys we are, I guess.



Above, a picture of the cenral courtyard. At Chowmahalla Palace, even the guards, admission, and cleaning is super refined. If you put a toe on the lawn, the guards blow their whistles at you, making it feel a bit like a stealth game. Luckily we weren't kicked out, but we don't know what happens if you get whistled at out more than once. Unlike anywhere else we've been, when you pay for your camera ticket, they put a little ticket on a string around your camera. So they are actually serious about this business.



Above, inside the palace. This is clearly where the sultan, or whomever owned this pad, held court. I'm not sure, actually, since we rushed through -- late for our bus.

Our next destination, though not stop, is Khajuraho, which will put us back on the backpacker circuit, so we can expect our travel to be a bit more convenient, and conventional, with cookies, milk, plus all the associated harassment of travelling in the more touristic parts of India.