India, December 24, 1986 - January 22, 1987
Jack drove the decision to spend a month in India in the middle of our 6-month around-the-world trip. Our travel agent, Del Parkhill, strongly recommended that we skip India on this trip, saying it was challenging on its own, much less amidst a marathon. We were glad we went to India, and especially Nepal, but it held many challenges amidst its splendors. Enjoy Jack’s thoughtful essay below.
Essay - JGH: India and Nepal
India, the enormous and complex sub-continent whose history and culture LLH had studied at Columbia (Ainsley Embree). But on the ground, she found it more complex, contradictory, less logical and more puzzling--and still quite extraordinary.
12/24/86 - Bangkok to Bombay. We fly Cathay Pacific Christmas Eve. What starts out looking like a pleasant flight turns into a cattle pen, replete with footprints on toilet seats & sexual harassment. We four arrive at the Taj Mahal Hotel and receive many delightful Xmas cards. Christmas Day: We go down to the Gate of India & take a boat to Elephanta Island to see the Hindu caves devoted to Shiva and full of lingam (which women drenched in oil to increase their fertility). The Gate of India from our room.
Some of our Christmas cards with welcome notes.
Elephanta Island statues, making for a memorable and a bit strange Christmas Day.
12/26/86 - Walking tour of Bombay. Our comparative shopping of silk rugs starts and ends (1 month later!) here (best prices in City, by a long shot). At the Prince of Wales Museum, with its great Mughal paintings, we are a main attraction. Some images and smells: Baby lying on hot macadam, man playing with himself, female impersonators, red tape wrapping sheafs of papers, harbor, human do-do on sidewalk... "horn powered cabs" [Jack's term: the taxi drivers would honk their horns before they even start to pull out of a parking place]; Prince of Wales Museum. 12/27/86 - Aurangabad and Ellora Caves. We are up at 3:45AM to take a frightening flight on Indian Air to Aurangabad (we hold hands and say farewell to each other)... We visit these carved Ellora Caves, and meet the delightful Matzgers from San Francisco.
![[Mrs. Saleem] Lovely woman whose mother is 13 years older and she has 8 kids. Husband cannot read so she runs the business.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62e163b72ac2810ad9183578/79dc097d-9679-479f-9081-898fa6fa57d4/Scan+7.jpeg)
[Mrs. Saleem] Lovely woman whose mother is 13 years older and she has 8 kids. Husband cannot read so she runs the business.
12/28 - With Matzgers to the Ajanta Caves, 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century BCE to about 480 CE.
Viewing the valley upon arrival; The caves are cut into a gorge.
Snake King of Ajanta.
12/29/86 - Udaipur in Rajasthan. Our Lake Palace Hotel as seen from the shore. We take an evening boat tour of lake. Classic captain... and dear musicians.
Evening laundry on Udaipur ghats.
12/30 - We tour Maharaja's Palace with F.L. Sukhoal, a lovely guide (to whom other guides prostrate themselves). Udaipur: the 'White City' as seen from the Palace.
Our family relaxes with this lovely guide and beautiful city.
Maharana in cutout and clothes. We buy some miniatures here. The glorious history of Udaipur dates back to 1559 when it was founded by Maharana Udai Singh II. Once the king was on a hunting voyage where he encountered a sage, he suggested him to establish a kingdom in this rich land.
12/30 - We next visit a Hindu temple. Park in Udaipur.
Park views. Our Brahmin guide invites us home to dinner, where we meet his lovely wife and son, Dupak, 20; our kids have an interesting discussion with Dupak about the process of finding a wife, casting horoscopes and all. We climb up the exterior staircase to roof where our guide hopes to build another floor (rebars are in place). Muslim neighbors lend us their plates for dinner (Brahmins would have to destroy their plates if we ate on them). K. with neighbor's child.
Momata cooks the generous meal. Because they are Brahmins she cannot eat with us so they all watch. We finally can't eat more and ask if the family always eats so richly, to which they reply "We heard Americans eat enormous amounts of food!" With that, we beg off and relax.After dinner we have a breathtaking ride home in a tuk-tuk, right out of a James Bond chase.
12/31/86 - Jaipur (Rajasthan). A number of British guests appear to return to the Jaipur Palace to remember the good old days. Fritz gets food poisoning (as does Jack) from the BLT sandwiches eaten on the lawn; K. and J. play tennis on a camel dung court. Jack and I win the best dancers award at the Jaipur Palace New Year's party: a silk sari for me, and a turban for Jack (with personalized instructions!).
January 1, 1987 - We find Fritz splayed out on the marble floor of our suite with a fever from food poisoning. We get meds to help him (and Jack) and proceed with our tour of Jaipur! We first go to the Amber Fort, loading up for the ascent. The top is full of monkeys!
View from the top; Colorful display; Ganesh, the elephant-headed god; a 'Sadhu' of sorts, Sideshows on the way down, Snake charmer.
Palace on road to fort; Central Palace guide; Prince Albert Museum; The Wind Palace in the Pink City.
Some of Jaipur's rich street scenes.
Jaipur's astronomical observatory. January 2, Breakfast present exchange at Kamal's. Then off to New Delhi and the Taj Hotel.
1/2/87 - Rapin Krishnan meets us at airport. After checking into our Taj hotel, our driver takes us to Qutb Minar, the UNESCO world heritage site which is an amazing complex of mosques, minars, and other structures; it is an outstanding testimony to the architectural and artistic achievements of Islamic rulers after they first established their power in the Indian subcontinent in the 12th century. We also see Parliament, President's House, India Gate & Connaught Castle, plus a memorial to dead Indian soldiers.
1/3/87 - New Delhi sights. Raj Ghat is our first stop where Gandhi's ashes are kept; Spinning in Gandhi style; Harijan; Gandhi's name for the Untouchables; We then go to the Gandhi Museum, where we feel much anti-American sentiment at this time (and throughout the trip; LLH advised the family to claim we were from Winnepeg, Canada! Schoolchildren line to pay tribute.
The magnificent Red Fort. Unesco: The Red Fort Complex was built as the palace fort of Shahjahanabad – the new capital of the fifth Mughal Emperor of India, Shah Jahan. Named for its massive enclosing walls of red sandstone, it is adjacent to an older fort, the Salimgarh, built by Islam Shah Suri in 1546, with which it forms the Red Fort Complex.
Jan 3 cont. Jami Masjid (built by Shah Jahan); We cannot find reliable men to climb with so Kristen and LLH sit it out; View of Delhi from tower.
Delhi's fascinating crafts center with demonstrations by craftspeople from all over India, encouragement of the crafts is significant; Tilah Jitar, master miniaturist; 1/4, Dinner at Kris' house with his lovely family, great ice cream. (Kris is NCS' rep in India.)
1/5/87 - Agra. The Taj Mahal by day; Fritz tours hotel grounds on traditional ship of the desert. (Wasp nests abounded on ceilings and clumps would periodically drop with irritated wasps buzzing around!)
The gorgeous Taj at sunset; K. and I go back to see Taj in style.
1/6/87 - Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's ancient capital. Due to water shortage, Akbar had to move capital to Agra. We had a terrible guide whom we fired, then proceeded to enjoy the relatively empty place by ourselves; Adjacent mosque; A roadside sight.
I get hassled for Rupees for the mosque school which I think is a sham until the child writes out a receipt for 2 Rupees; $0.15. We give him Jack's dad's address since we think this is not for real; am embarrassed by the kid's sincerity. A lesson! Back at hotel, watch Tamil Manee being made, walk through lovely gardens, then look at rugs where, as a reference, they say Helen, Bill & Paul Metzger are customers ! (S.F friends from Aurangabad)
1/7/87 - We fly to Khajuraho with its Jain and Hindu temples. Erotic art, great weather, nice small town. Fritz, Jack & Kristen ride pedi cabs around and are asked to comment on a land deed! A 'guide' picks us up.
En route Khajuraho on the plane I speak with a public health official who says illiteracy is the greatest threat to good health: malaria, tuberculosis, polio, leprosy and malnutrition abound.
Jan 8-10: Bandavgarh. We drive 255 long km from Khajuraho to this delightful preserve where we are the only guests. Lunch under thatching, Dinner in the Maharaja's Lodge, Sleep in tents. See mostly deer and monkeys. Take an exciting ride on an elephant stalking a tiger, though we only hear it and never see it.
Shiva by the pool. These days are a welcome break from the hustle-bustle (and sexual harassment that Kristen and I consistently experience, unfortunately).
1/11/87 - Terrible Day! We stay at Kajuraho Airport almost all day trying to get to Benares (complete with food fights on the delayed plane--due to insult of chicken box lunches!). Finally we have to return to Delhi where we spend a dreadful night and have to miss Benares in order to go to Nepal! Indian Air = Indian Arrogant; The Gang of 9 (friends we made with the delay, not counting the Korean gymnasts who boxed a desk agent!) fights Indian Airlines! 1/12/87 - Himalayan view as we fly late afternoon into Nepal; 1/13/86 - Kathmandu tour.
Jan 13: Kathmandu sights: 3 kingdoms in one city. Kristen and I can relax: no errant touching or leering looks. Whew!
Down by the Kathmandu riverside! (We thought we smelled a terrific barbecue...and it was, in a way!)
Kathmandu...
Kathmandu...
Kathmandu...
Kathmandu...
We also see the Living Goddess, an astrologically chosen virgin. Her feet aren't allowed to touch the ground, and when and if she marries, her husband is bound to die!
January 14-17. Magnificent Tiger Tops. Jack settles in our tree top room; Fritz tentatively tries out his transportation!
We're off, twice a day elephant rides in search of rhinos, leopards; 1/14 - PM ride, see 2 types rhinos, then slide show, then see tiger in baited herd; 1/15 - AM ride, see spotted leopard (rare) & deer. Nature walk, PM boat ride, see 2 rhinos & sloth bear & tiger tonight.
1/16 - See 6 rhinos in early Indian elephant ride. Off to tent camp! Nature walk and more tigers (cub, too); 1/17 - Fly back to Kathmandu: the hangar with its "tarmac" that doubles as a soccer field; 1/17,18,19 - Stay at the Summit Hotel, met people at Tiger Tops, have colds. 1/19 - Fly back to Delhi.
1/20/87 - See more sights of Delhi. 1/21 - See Kris, signature shop and pack up; 1/22 - Delhi Hotel a zoo due to African conference. Can't get stuff mailed home so give it away, books & gifts! Fly to Bombay. Get rugs; Bahai Temple; Humayun's Tomb; Last visit with Gitai, the Nehru Museum; Last night view of Delhi; Lights for Independence Day celebration.