Jaipur

This post was originally supposed to be named 'Pushkar' but we managed to miss our flight. For any readers that are just starting in the past month, you would think I am the most irresponsible traveler! However, this is my first career missed flight! We arrived at the airport 25 minutes before flight time; the counter closed 30 minutes prior. Completely inflexible. Policies are created for a reason, but the reason should be able to override the policy! We would have made that flight. Our best option was to take the same 6 AM flight the next day, but we would not be able to make the 3 hour drive from Jaipur to Pushkar and spent the day in Jaipur instead and made the best of a not good situation.

We headed straight to the Amer Fort. It was the last day of a Rajastani festival and many people were making pilgrimage to the hilltop temple 'that connects to the sky.' The area was abnormally crowded and there was a troubling bottleneck at the entrance to get in which swelled with people on both sides. The ascent was cathartic: one man fully pronated his way to the top - he lay completely on this front with outstretched limbs, while another man marked his finger tips with a line of chalk. He would then get up and put his toe tips behind the line and repeat. There was an overwhelming amount of beggars that lined the sides of the ascending stairs. There are always constant reminders that maybe your life's stresses, like a missed flight, are not as bad as they may seem.

The inside of the fort was colorful and joyous: music blared from speakers while pilgrims queued up for the temple accent. Vendors were selling sweet offerings to leave to the gods and food to throw the moat dwelling fish.

From the fort, we broke for lunch and head to the old city, nicknamed the "The Pink City" because of the ubiquitous red sandstone architecture. I can see why many don't like traveling in Jaipur: a common problem, the roads are very congested and there are no sidewalks. Interesting because urbanists consider Jaipur to be one of the best planned cities in accordance with Hindu architecture, a 9-part spiraling geometric principal called Pithapada. 9 is based on the numbers of perceived planets at the time (thanks a lot UB313;). The city was founded by an astronomy buff - we checked out his observatory, Jantar Mantar. It was full of enormous walkable sun dials.

We did make it to the city palace, appropriately next door to his observatory. There were great zeitgeist exhibits with textiles, weapons, and palatial adornments, and they were administered by traditionally dressed Rajastani men:

We hit up most of the other sites in the old city before relaxing for a drink but apparently, as I type this, realized that we missed the Hawa Mahal, so check it out if you go.

Sticky Wicket

After getting upset by Bangladesh, India was in a must win situation against Sri Lanka to advance from World Cup pool play into the Super 8. A hungry pack of fans landed at Escape's projector screen to cheer on the first inning of play. The second inning would start after the 11:30 pm closing time, so get your kicks in early. India chose to field first and tried to hold them to as few runs, before taking their 2nd inning At Bats. We threw down after every wicket and in between.

Cricket is the national obsession. There is not even a second place sport, though I catch pro men's field hockey on TV from time to time. Other sports of interest are badminton There is cricket news, game replays, and commentary, on at all hours. It is the tie that binds and spans all the language barriers: we have picked up games with randoms, alleys kids, and co-workers. And every one has the same favorite player: Sachin, who holds most international records and carried them to the last WC finals.

This WC was especially scandalous - after Pakistan was extraordinarily upset by Ireland (on St. Patties day!) their coach turned up murdered. There is wild speculation about mafia ties and match fixing.

After a hard and early night, I woke to find that India had lost! and that we were running late...

Maldives

After hearing about the Maldives, I had to get there. Like India, most of us Americans have trouble because it is about as far away from us as possible. It is Muslim country compromised of a set of islands southwest of India. Global warming is the talk of the town, as they will be among the first to go under if Al Gore is right… or just an excuse for policy makers to come on holiday.

Selecting and securing accommodation proved to be the toughest part of the trip. Each inhabited island has 1 resort on it with various value-adds: coral house reefs, water sports, restaurants/bars, exclusivity, distance from the airport and mode of transport (speedboat or sea plane). Stalling our decisions during peak season forced us to book at a budget hotel in Male, the capital, and relegate our fun to hopeful day-trips or maybe a safari to the islands. We ended up being reward by our indecision (a bad lesson) when we stumbled into a travel agent and locked up 3 nights at one of our top choices due to a cancellation (thanks Abbu!). It was pouring that day, so the first expensive, truncated day would’ve been a wash-out anyhow.

Male actually is pretty cool although marooned in the middle of the Indian Ocean. There is a café scene, futbol savvy, and an artificial beach that is lit up all night, just no bars (it’s a dry country but they make exceptions for the resorts). It’s got global insight from the booming tourism industry and the Internet with an obvious small town feel: our buddies said they knew of all the kids their age like you would know of all the kids in your town. They import everything from other countries except fish.

In regards to the resort aspect of the trip, any description would resemble the amenity selling points of paradise and be visualized by post cards or a Corona commercial. I spent basically the whole trip snorkeling around the house reef of the island of Lohifushi (Hudhuran Fushi) and taking advantage of our all inclusive status.

I got to complete my first night scuba dive as well! After reaching depth, you turn off your underwater torch so your eyes get used to the darkness (but mainly you can see from what is illuminated by your light). If you moved around quickly in the darkness, the polyps (the little guys that join together to make coral / fish food) would light up like fireflies. The activity at night is quite different. Some fish are sleeping, like the parrot fish that forms a protective film sphere around it while it tucks away in a coral pocket, and some are prowling, like the majestic lobster that showed me his wingspan.

Mark arrives - more Cochin and Kerala

My friend Mark arrived from the US during his spring break to join up our travel efforts. We have traveled before, driving cross country to land in SF and taking weekend trips, but never internationally. Remember the bit about humility from my last post? I got his date of arrival wrong and went to the airport a day early! I was worried that he missed his flight or missed the fact that Delhi International and National airports are miles apart.

I was able to salvage the day, even though the airport was an hour away from our hotel, and made it to the beach. Being Sunday, everyone has the day off, and there were heaps of reveling locals in the refreshing Bay of Bengal. After the 'dry run,' I was able to plan my day better the next day and made it to another beach in the morning, this one, empty, except for canoe fisherman heading out. What came first, the uninhabited beach or the sand toilet for locals?

Mark and I toured the city and headed back to Jewtown (seriously, that's the name) to see the inside of Pardesi synagogue. We met 2 octogenarian members of the community. Sarah Cohen, who creates beautiful hand sewn textiles, talked to us about her work and the inevitable dwindling of the community. Sammy Harangua gave us a history lesson from the inside of the synagogue and about the state of the minion. Both extraordinary encounters.

The following day, we departed for a tour of the Kerala backwaters on a houseboat tour. This was one of the coolest things I've done. The boat was a month old and equipped with 2 double bedrooms and a sitting area up front. We lazily meandered the palm-strewn river ways and canals while dining on home cooked meals from the back of the boat and drinking Kingfishers. We even stopped to go grocery shopping and for coconuts for supper.

(You should always check out my web album for more shots.)

Villages and occasional resorts line the river beds. I got a definite uneasy feeling from the locals as we motored in our souped-up craft, past canoes piled with supplies and propelled by long bamboo shafts. While we were certainly not the first river tourists, there were many boats on the rivers, I felt like we were pushing the disparity of wealth in their faces. It would be like driving a Bentley through some slums. While most people assume this disparity exists when they meet you, the boat seemed to confirm it. I always wonder how these people feel; we inquired our crew about it. They said the common response, "It is what it is." We are able to break down these barriers and misconceptions of our demeanor when we interact, but the water chasm did not afford us this.

When speeding through a canal, our captain scraped the side of the boat. While cosmetic in nature, we docked at his village to repair the damage that night. We went to shore and met up with a large group of boisterous kids who were surprised and excited by our arrival. We head to this tiny but marvelous black sand beach to play in the water and watch the sunset. We then played a rousing game of cricket. We knew it was time to stop when one of the older brothers popped out and cracked the whip, literally a reed, on one of the kids to go home and study for tomorrow's exam.

Brijith's village, and much of the surrounding area, was struck by tsunami floods. The village was rebuilt and looked fresh and uniform. The kids pulled us around by our hands and introduced us to every villager that we walked past. It was quite a trip and redeeming from my earlier thoughts/paragraph.

We slept on deck that night and woke early for the sunrise and morning yoga.

Fort Cochin

The timing of Mark’s arrival allowed me to do my first solo traveling of my trip so far! I traveled by myself some times before, including my 6 month trip to Australia / New Zealand following college. I love traveling solo because it forces me to make it happen and teaches me accountability and a degree of humility (like when you have to ask very obvious questions or laugh with yourself). Of course, you end up talking to yourself at some point and over thinking a lot of the time.

I arrived early on Saturday morning in Kochi, hopped a cab and fought the traffic to get to the ferry. Fort Cochin is like Manhattan – a city on an island. The ferry ride provided a nice breezy respite from the humidity, which contrasted the aridness of Hyderabad, and consistently rising national climate as we head into pre-monsoon season summer.

In most years, you would be able to see dolphins in this water, however, most have moved away. The tsunami disrupted the ecosystem by shifting the small food bits that the fish snack on; the fish follow the food; the dolphins follow the fish; the tourist are selfishly disappointed. The city was otherwise not greatly affected in flooding or death tolls. There is still a thriving fishing culture that has also been affected by this shift. Below, you will see one of Chinese fishing nets that they operate. They stand on the shore or in the middle of the waterways.

The area was also a landing point for a section of the Jewish diaspora (when the Romans conquered Jerusalem in 70 A.D.) If I am like most people, this portion of Jewish history is never mentioned in Hebrew school growing up. The community was bolstered by waves of immigration and thinned by Moghul attacks, integration, and emigration. Overall, the community was accepted by the locals; the site of the synagogue was adjoining the king's palace.

Being the Sabbath, I stopped by the synagogue hoping to catch Saturday afternoon services. While it was expectedly closed, I was informed that there generally were no afternoon services. In fact, they struggled to achieve a minion (the required 10 people to hold a service) on most weeks and holidays! There are 13 Jewish people in Fort Cochin and most are over 70! They achieve a minion sometimes by the tourists passing through.

I found this to be exceedingly depressing, at first, as another section of Jewish heritage was soon to be extinct. However, I deduced (or rationalized?) that the religion was evolving: people migrate to achieve a better quality of life, and perhaps, Jews could achieve a better quality elsewhere.

Pardesi synagogue, est. 1568

All-Star, Break.

I just eclipsed the half-way point of the trip after a torrid fortnight, as detailed during my long week away from home in Corbett, Delhi, Gurgaon, and Nepal and extended quickly into a business trip to Mumbai for 3 days. It was time for a restful weekend in Hyderabad to recharge my batteries.

Good timing as well, as I got to participate in my first real cricket match! An intra-office battle under the lingering mid-day heat. Naturally, I wore a Red Sox jersey (Dice-Kaye), however, I went by the alias Greg Ganguly (surname taken from an Indian cricketer). My 2 goals were to not make a duck at-bat (0 runs) and to not let any balls by me. I exceeded expectations in the field when I made a nice play on a sharply hit, moving fly ball for a wicket (out) and kept all other balls in front of me nicely. Batting was tougher than I thought, and I made a 6 (hitting 1 boundary!) and then got bowled out by Scott. It was the side event of the match.

Additionally, the Hindu Holi festival started this weekend. As I mentioned in the Nepal entry, people celebrate by throwing water at each other and intensely colored powder. The only way to not participate is to not leave your house! (so wear scrubby clothes) Sometimes, you don't play Holi, but Holi plays you... we were chased on multiple occasions by packs of kids, women, hooligans, and even grown men. Almost every person or car that we encountered got touched.

Since it's the half way point, I thought that I would add some reflections. I hear that my blog content is getting too black and white. In the spirit of Holi, let's add some color to it!

• Things I still miss from the States - my girl and our apartment (and maybe our cat, sometimes), the salad bar/accessible healthy options in Cali, the city, me mates, the winter in Tahoe
  

• Things I love about India - the work and the team here, the food!, my set-up (I am getting spoiled by these conveniences), close travel options that are normally exotic, meeting new people and getting their take on things, talking cricket (World Cup is coming up!)

• Things I will never get used to - when queues/road-lanes don't get honored, flight delays, the disparity of wealth

• Funny Indian sayings - "tuk-tuk" (taxi); "dickie" (trunk); "the same" [as in: I will continue this list from the same (thing we were just discussing)]; their directness - "you look tired"
  

• Most interesting aspects of the trip - learning new religious, historic and political climate, in context. learning about things that I never had even heard of or considered learning about. seeking out Jewish cultural activities.