India

India, Part One

(From a letter Jenny wrote to her sisters)

Where to start.  India has completely blown us away.   Dorothy, we ain't in Europe any more.  We have experienced our first week in India and it has been just that: an experience. We will try to give you an image as best we can.

Sunset from our cabin at Nagarahole NP

In our first week we have visited cities, small towns, rural villages, dirt-floor huts, national parks, airports, train stations, Hindu temples, Catholic churches, mosques, river communities, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.   Needless  to say, we are a little tired.  We have been in southern India the whole time and will head to northern India in a week or so.

Our cabin at Nagarhole

Tiger tracks!

Elephant in the mist, Nagarhole NP

Wild elephant, Bandapur NP

Unwed monkey mother, Bandapur NP

Southern India is the more prosperous half of India. Many of the cities here are technology, medical and film industry centers. Bangalore, the city we flew into from Munich, is one of these places.  However, it was completely not what I expected.  Despite being a major city it was incredibly dirty, run down, chaotic and crowded.   Cars, trucks, buses, auto rickshaws, scooters and bicycles jammed the garbage-strewn, deteriorating roadways.  Hordes of people walked to and fro, doing business, going to work and selling their wares.  Women swept the mountains of rubbish along the street into piles to be picked over or burned.  Hundreds of feral dogs skulked along, pausing to scratch their sores.  Vehicles honked their horns to claim an impossibly small space to go through.  We gaped at this wild scene from our hotel window.

Spotted deer, aka tiger tapas, Bandapur

When we finally braved the streets we found more of the same on a much larger scale.  Bob, Doug's brother-in-law, had a friend of a friend meet us to show us around.  Sunil is a native of Bangalore working in the offshore medical billing industry.  He graciously spent the afternoon taking us to lunch, driving around the city to see the sites and to visit the summer palace of the Maharaja.

Below - Tiger video!

 

The driving, as in Italy and Greece, was an adventure.  However, this was on a much more intense scale.   The three of us were really glad we weren't behind the wheel.  I got laughing sitting in the back as I watched drivers trying to negotiate the traffic. I have long since stopped jamming my foot into the floor boards or gasping at the multiple near-misses.

WOW!!!! A high point of our trip

Kerala houseboats

Surprisingly, I am getting used to this.   As we wound our way through tiny streets we found ourselves marveling at the many ways life goes on.   All through our trip we have been struck by how people are living life just as we do but in different circumstances.  India is just on a more profound scale.  In India, day-to-day life is unmechanized.  There are people doing all the jobs we see machines do at home.  People sweep streets, carry heavy loads, dig ditches, move gravel or dirt from one place the next, plow fields, gather water, wash clothes, and on and on.  There are people to help you use an ATM and people to help you put your ticket in an automated turnstile.  One store had so many staff in it that there was little room for us.  Everyone has a job or position and is busy executing it.  All the activity is absolutely fascinating.  Despite the challenging visual assault, I really like it.  Doug looks like a scared animal most of the time, and Kate LOVES it.

Kerala backwater boats

Kate and our little boat

Afternoon coconut juice stop

The next day our driver, Prasanth, picked us up and drove us to Nagarhole National Park.   Nagarhole NP is a 650 sq km wildlife preserve established to protect India's rapidly diminishing jungles and savannas, and its wildlife such as tigers, elephants, wild dogs and leopards.   These are all being threatened by agriculture, industrialization, poaching and pollution.

Canal banks, Kerala

The drive down from Bangalore was intense.  With a few site-seeing stops and a late breakfast it took us 8 hrs to go 200km.  Getting out of Bangalore alone took almost two hours.  Freeways are non-existent and the roads are jammed with people, vehicles and life, even in the more rural towns.  In the rural towns, add more scooters, bicycles, cows and ox carts.  We all sat quietly taking it all in from the comfort of our air-conditioned car.  Our driver was a very nice Indian man who spoke some English but with a very thick accent.  We did our best to communicate but it was difficult.

As we got closer to the park, the land opened up.  The topography changed to more savanna with really beautiful open plains, distant mountains and acacia trees.  The towns became smaller and cleaner.  Cows were all over the place.  They seemed to prefer being in the streets or peoples' yards to being in the boring old fields.  Cows have the most right of way on the roads so we did a lot of weaving in and out to avoid hitting them.  Contrary to what we had believed, cows are allowed to stray but they are owned by someone and are pretty well taken care of.

Stern of Kerala snakeboat

Another thing that struck me was the way people were dressed.  Almost everyone, no matter how poor were well groomed : Hair neatly combed and arranged and clothes clean.  99% of the women wear absolutely stunningly beautiful saris with gorgeous long thick black hair adorned with Jasmine blossoms.  They are like bright jewels among dusty brown.  Despite life being hard, people seem to be relatively happy and frequently smiling with the Indian infectious smile.  They are certainly friendly to us and incredibly gentle.

Bow of snakeboat

Detail of how the Kerala boats are lashed together

Once we got to the park we were very exhausted and rested in our very cool jungle cabin.  According to Lonely Planet guidebook, Goldie Hawn loves this place. It is quite rustic and way out there.  Had a good safari feeling to it.  We had great Indian food and saw a fabulous video on tigers and their plight.  The next morning we went on a jeep safari in hopes of seeing wildlife.  We did see some spotted deer, monkeys, a few elephants off in the distance.  No tigers though.  They are more active in the afternoon.  Unfortunately we had to leave that day as the lodgings were all booked.  So, after our Indian breakfast of dahl, rice, curried potatoes and chai, we had another fascinating 3 hr drive over to Bandipur National Park for the next two days.

Bandipur is a larger preserve covering 950 square kilometers.  It is more accessible, but still pretty remote.  The coolest thing was seeing THREE tigers!  We went on three jeep safaris while there and the first one proved to be the best.   Our jeep safari guide got wind of a tiger moving through the forest near us and we sped off to find a spot to intercept her.  Tigers move in very predictable ways so intercepting them is relatively easy.  The hard part is finding them in the first place.

Kerala

After many twists and turns, sage conferences with other jeep drivers and analysis of tiger paw prints, we waited and listened for about 1 hour.  Finally, we heard warning calls from the deer and monkeys that a tiger was approaching.  We all held our breath, poised our cameras and stared into the thicket from which the tiger was supposed to emerge. Sure enough, in about 1 minute a magnificent female tiger stepped out of the thicket and sauntered unfazed right across our path, up the opposite bank and down to a water hole.  We were all speechless and really excited.  Seeing her emerge from the thicket took my breath away.  Then, just as we were congratulating ourselves on our good fortune, one of her 16 month-old cubs walked out in front of us a little further up.  Our guide was totally psyched.

Hangin' on the upper deck for the afternoon

According to our guide, this female tiger had four cubs and they were probably meeting up at a waterhole.  So we sped off to the possible water hole and saw another one of her cubs.  This was from quite a distance but still, it was a tiger.  Finally, we had to head back as the park was closing for the night.  We were all exhilarated.  The next day, while not quite as exciting, we saw a leopard from a distance, lots of fantastic birds, monkeys and elephants.  One elephant had tusks and we were quite near him.  He raised his trunk to get a sniff of us and then got a little annoyed at us and started to crash around in the thicket.  We thought he might charge but he didn't.  That got the ole' heart racing.  So we saw three of India's biggies.  Also, there are only 1500 tigers left in the wild in the world and we got to see three of them.  Very cool indeed.

Indian schoolchildren being friendly

Early the next am we reluctantly left or jungle home for the fray of Bangalore as we had a flight to catch at 2:30 pm.  As we left at 5:00am we got to see India wake up.  As we drove through the early hours we saw oxen pulling carts laden with massive stacks of grass going to market, women gathering water from the local hand pump, people slowing filling up the sides of the roads to get on buses to go to work, and the shimmering Indian sun rising in the sky.  It was really quite remarkable.  Again, the colors of the saris, temples, homes, buses and trucks stood out among the brown.   The  Indians love to decorate their trucks and buses with brightly colored paints, tinsel and flowers.

Lunch! 

We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, especially since the flight was delayed two hours.  So we settled into the airport and processed what we had experienced the last few days.  Doug and I both have felt a wide range of emotions from complete euphoria to OMG get me out of here.  Kate has just loved it.  She doesn't understand why we would have any negative feelings.  Granted she has the luxury of sitting back as we stress out over the planning.  She has also commented that she thinks older people try to form opinions of everything and kids just take it in..........Hmmmmm, good point.  I am just trying to take it all in.  However,  we are going to put her in charge of researching and organizing Cambodia.  Give her a little taste of the organizational part of this trip.

Still smiling after a lot of driving!

Another Kerala houseboat - swanky!

Kate at the wheel

Taking bricks to a construction site

Schoolgirl's gift

Another gift

And still another

 Doug and I find that when we get tired we can't cope with the onslaught quite so well.   We have found ourselves feeling very disoriented at times.  While there is some semblance of familiarity, the whole experience is so foreign that it is hard to keep a grasp on it.  Minor things like, where does one buy toothpaste and contact lens solution feel insurmountable. Nothing looks or is organized the way we are used to.  We have been dealing with this on some level the entire trip.  But in India it is ten-fold.   Each day is approached with some trepidation but also with excitement.  It will be interesting to see how we feel after a month here.

Our flight took us to the SW coast to and Indian state called Kerala (care-eh-la) - really roll the rrrrs and lllllls and you have it.    It is considered the swankiest part of India.  It is famous for its incredible food filled with creative spices and fantastic fish.  It is also famous for its amazing backwaters.  We came for both.  We stayed in the grungy town of Cochin for one night and made a hasty retreat the next day with our driver.  We drove another hair-raising drive 2 hrs south to the center of the house-boat backwater tours.  We booked three nights on one to explore the rural side of India along the waterways and rice fields.

Another view of the snake boat

As I write this I am floating down a canal lined with palm trees, wild flowers, rice patties, native homes, fishing canoes, children running off to school, women washing clothes in the river, men diving for shell fish and men ferrying all sorts of goods to and fro.  Small villages appear out of no where.  Sometimes we stop to buy fish or just walk around.  The villagers come running up to shake our hands, smiling and saying hello.  Some villages have women singing the Hindu meditations over serious loud speakers so everyone can hear it.  It is a bit of overkill if you ask me.

One morning I walked off on my own for a bit and stopped to take in the view.  Three older people came up to me and motioned for me to come with them to see a better view.  While looking at the better view, which really was better, one of the women came out of her cement hut with a steaming bowl of Dahl and rice and freshly ground tamarind.  She motioned for me to sit.   I looked at it, took a deep breath and dove in.  (I was thinking about the antibiotics I had back on the boat and felt I had what I needed should I get sick.)

Houses along a canal

 The food was delicious and they all seemed very happy that I tried it.  I was a little rattled as I had to get back to the boat and I couldn't finish it.  I think I gracefully excused myself after a few bites and said "Namaste" many times to smiling faces.  I felt like I had just stepped into a National Geographic film.

K & J at one of our stops

One night we tied up near a hut with a family who came to see us.  The mother was holding a beautiful 2 year old child in a bright orange dress.  She spoke a little English so we could communicate a little.  She seemed eager to show us her house and meet her family.  Their house was a three-room dirt floor cement structure that was very primitive.  Her husband had lived there for 40 years. Her mother-in-law was on the front porch and looked very ill.  She apparently has very bad asthma and kidney problems.  Medicine is too expensive and traveling to the doctor is too difficult for her.   She sleeps on a mat on the porch for cleaner air.  Also the little girl goes to physical therapy for a frozen shoulder injured during delivery.  As you can imagine the nurse in me kicked in and I started to examine the shoulder of the girl.  I told her mother I was a doctor, way easier than "family nurse practitioner".  Heck, even people in the US don't even know what an NP is.  She was very appreciative of my attention and my approval of her PT progress;  the little girl was doing very well.  As for the mother-in-law, that is another matter.  I have decided I want to start a medical house-boat in the backwaters of Kerala!

Relaxing on the boat

We spent three incredible days floating all over the backwaters.  Our boat was about 50 feet long and covered in a bamboo frame tied together with coconut fiber roping and covered in a palm-leaf weave.   It was one bedroom, so we crammed in.  We had a personal cook and driver.  We also had the BEST Indian food we have ever encountered.   Kerala's cuisine is the best in India!   We ate way too much.  My hopes of losing weight in India have rapidly vanished as I can't resist this amazing food.  Our boat felt very luxurious, which also felt a little weird given the poverty around us.  I'm not sure how to process that dilemma.  I just kept thinking that these house boat tours are a good livelihood for many people living here. So we are contributing in some way.

After the houseboat tour we headed back to Cochin to catch our overnight train to Chennai, formerly Madras.  Our second time in Cochin proved to be much nicer as we toured the old town and actually got to get out of the car and walk around a bit.  We are finding it very hard to do anything but sit and ride in India.   Walking along the side of the road, even in the towns, is very dicey.  We have seen almost no Westerners on the roads.  In Cochin, we insisted our driver let us walk to the inner part of town after lunch.  He looked at us like we were nuts.  It was a good walk and we felt more connected to our surroundings as well.

Folklore museum in Cochin - excellent!

Detail of the entrance to the folklore museum

We got to the train station for our overnight train to Chennai and waited for our first train experience in India.  I think it may be our last.  Doug was completely grossed out at the train station bathroom.  He thought he might throw up from the stench.  The station was filthy as is everything in India. I really don't understand why this is necessary, especially in public places.  The toilets on the train were pretty horrific as well and we are traveling the next level down from first class, called "second AC sleeper".  This means that you get an air-conditioned berth and a curtain.  It comes with "clean" linen and a blanket.

"Chinese" dip nets, Chochin

 Since the compartments are not secure, you have to sleep with your luggage close to your side.  We all slept fitfully but well enough to function the next day.   In the morning when we were waiting for our train to arrive, a woman scooted by on her tush with her little boy following along, sweeping the floor.  We gave her a tip.  I think this may be the only cleaning the train gets.  We really need showers.  Later, Kate and Doug realized they had gotten flea bites on their feet while on the train.  Doug was awakened through the night by cockroaches running over him.  Even Kate had to admit this was disgusting.

Despite the above, Kate loved the train and Doug and I really didn't mind it too much.  As long as I didn't have to spend days on one.  Using the trains to see the countryside is kind of useless as the windows are so dirty you can't see out.  Perhaps riding on top really is the best option.  A wee bit dangerous though.  We haven't seen anyone riding on top of the traincars since we've been here.

Church where Vasco de Gama was buried

We are finding that we have to lower our expectations a lot.  What we imagine as first class would be better described as "minimally acceptable."  Even the houseboat, that was supposed to be a premium boat, was a bit grungy, had no hot water and only had facilities for a sponge bath.  Kate slept on the floor on an old tattered mattress at the foot of our bed.  No complaints from her, bless her heart.  She has never complained on this entire trip.  She has totally embraced it.  We have yet to see anything that looks like first class to a Westerner.

How the trains are put together - Cochin station

Even so, the jump from first class to the next level down is huge.  Second class often means filthy and broken.  You have to have your India survival kit with you at all times: a bag with toilet paper, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, coins or 10-rupee notes for tips.  (10 rupees is about 20 cents), sealed bottled water, snacks that you trust, (i.e.: cooked), and a lot of good faith and open-mindedness.  If you have that, you can relax and enjoy all the wonderful things this place has to offer and there is much to love.  As Bob Burleigh said to us, "Welcome to India. Now embrace it!"  Okay, Bob - we're trying!

Kate in her railway berth

We have just pulled into Chennai.  I will stop here and send this off.  It's a long letter but I hope you found it interesting and have a sense of what we have been experiencing.   I will stay in touch when I can.  Internet access is spotty.