India -1

India - 2001

Introduction - Ok, the excuse this time was that a niece of a long-time friend, Chandra, was getting married and after saying how neat it would be to go to something like that we were invited! Bit embarassing, but we still took advantage of the opportunity and went for it. The wedding was to be early AM on Sunday the 5^th of March and since there was a work meeting in Palo Alto on the 8th that I wanted to participate in, we decided to do our playing/touring around before the wedding. Also, it would already be too hot in Southern India even by wedding time so playing before rather than after made the most sense. We elected to "only" go for a bit over two weeks since even that meant leaving in less than two weeks after returning from Baja. Before heading out, I picked up a travel kit (for the battery charger within it) and a folding keyboard for my relatively new Palm Pilot; the idea being to write much of the trip letter on the return flight and maybe even some of it while in India. We also got some new, lightweight windbreakers, but that was about the extent of our preparations; other than getting visas, tickets, and a Lonely Planet book on Southern India – a Xmas present from Sabina.

Saturday-1: Verni got us to the airport plenty early, like before 11 Am for a 1 PM flight but we always figure we'd just as soon read the newspaper at the airport as at home. Checked in and did some touring of the brand new SFO International terminal which is quite impressive with all the various museum-quality exhibits. By being there early we also were able to assure ourselves of a two-together with one-at-the-window seating arrangement; but it turned out to not be a full plane so Dawna moved to a by-yourself-triple seat in the middle. Plane left the ground about 1:30 PM with the pilot noting that we had an 11 1/2 hour flight coming up. Yup, it’s a long way. The route, which is actually pretty good, was SFO to Seoul, Seoul to Singapore, and Singapore to Bangalore. The rows of seats were quite close together, but this wasn't too bad since we could spread out, but it was inconvenient when the folks in front of you leaned backward. It even made typing on my Palm Pilot keyboard a bit difficult even though it and the Palm are small items. Spent a bunch of the first part of the flight using this combination to draft a trip letter on the Baja outing that we had completed less than two weeks earlier. This was an experiment in using the Palm+keyboard as would be the rest of this trip; and it worked pretty well. Rather bumpy ride but reasonable diner and Dawna got in some rest while I typed and then I too got in some rest. Following our route on the screen was interesting as we basically went northward parallel to the North American coast but a bit out to sea, crossed the Bering Strait and then "down" the side of Asia. It will take looking at a globe to see the logic of this rather than just looking at the flat map that I'm doing from the airplane seat as I type away! (Postnote – I think going this far north must have been to avoid heading into the Westerly winds. Also, dropping down as far as Singapore is out of the way but after all, we were on Singapore Airlines). Actually went over Anchorage! Then down the coast of Asia but over inlet water that was frozen, came nearly across the top of Sapporo (Japan) which caught my attention since that was where Dawna would have gone "on the way to India if the Baja item hadn’t happen and if the Snow Festival dates there were slightly more compatible with the wedding/India dates.

Sunday-1: There was no such day due to the international date line.

Monday-1: Spent most of the 12-hour flight typing but also tried to rest a bit; and of course did lots of eating and drinking. The fellows in the seat in front of me had their seats back pretty far and the space between rows was very limited so I spent some of the time in yet a different/isle seat across the way. Arrived Seoul at 1:20 AM California time and 6:20 PM Korean time. Yup, a 7 hour time change (not mentioning the day change). Had to deplane, with all our carry-on luggage .... Dawna's being quite heavy since she had lots of goodies - like snacks for us and presents for people in India. Only a nominal amount of time on the ground in Seoul to clean the plane, change crews, refuel, etc and then we were off again. The next leg was to Singapore and it took 4 hours and involved a one hour time change. More fun to watch the screen/routing as this is new country to us with the result (Singapore) being nearly on the Equator and the weather hot and humid. Of course, we only saw the waterfront and boats from the air and then the inside of an air-conditioned airport, but my interest in seeing Singapore sometime got tweaked. In theory we had more than 5 hours to kill here but some of that was used to get off the plane and get organized and a some to checkin and board a different airline so after checking things out at the airport hotel in terms of getting a room with a bed, we decided there really wasn’t enough time so took semi-naps on some soft seats. Had a cup of coffee, and got on our next plane

The leg to Bangalore was 4 hours long, bringing the total airtime up to 22 hours and there was another 2.5 hour time change. So, we landed around 9 AM local which was like 7:30 PM California time (minus a day). Our one shipped bag arrived, we sailed through customs, got some rupees, emerged into the daylight and were met by Shailesh. He is the brother of a very good friend of Usha's, who is Chandra's daughter and we know Usha relatively well. He took us to our hotel, chatting along the way and agreed that he'd try to join us for dinner.

Checked in and cleaned up a bit and before we could call Indira, who is Arvind's (next door neighbor) sister and Dawna knew her a bit from two of her visits to the US, she called us. Arranged that she'd come to the hotel at 6 PM so we could take her for an early dinner and we requested that her brother (Jaywant) join us if possible but she said he had a meeting and couldn't. Rested an hour or so and then went for a walk. Bangalore is stated to not be a good place for walking and in fact no Indian city seems to be very walker-friendly. Dirty streets, enormous traffic, few sidewalks, etc. But walk we did, taking in the sights and sounds and smells along the way. Hot, humid, but not terrible and a local walk is our idea of how to de-jet-leg. A mile or so south we got into the old-market area, which added to our enjoyment. Looked at a fort, didn't do a palace since we were not up to it, had a soda, gawked at all the people and action, bought some bottled water and some small bananas, and headed back up/north to the hotel. Ten minutes later I realized I didn't have my Lonely Planet (LP from now on) book, so retraced our steps to the store/stand where we had bought the water and they had the book. Whew – losing the book with my notes in it, would have been a lousy way to start two weeks of being a tourist. Grabbed a three wheeler and convinced him to use the meter and headed to the hotel. Enormous traffic jam from which he finally escaped and soon we were "home" - at a cost of less than 50 cents.

Got a call from Shailesh saying he couldn't make dinner (too early) and one from Jaywant saying he could. Cleaned up and a bit and before 6 PM Indira showed up and a bit after 6, Jaywant did. Went to a new (vegetarian) restaurant that they thought we'd especially enjoy because it was different/authentic; but it was closed on Mondays. Went to a more general and upscale Indian restaurant and learned that it would open at 7:30 PM. So did some walking to kill time. Spent some time in a craft store and then more extensive time in a government-run sari store. With Indira's help and encouragement, Dawna ended up buying a nice new sari (we won't mention that she had two saris in her suitcase and doesn't actually wear them a lot in any given year).

Dinner was excellent. Our chicken marsala and spicy lamb dishes were good and the paneer that Indira ordered was fantastic (so much so that Dawna ordered another batch of it and then couldn't eat it all but did manage to get J to take it home as a doggie bag). Then had a fine, and well deserved, night's sleep. Someplace along here either before or after dinner we spent considerable time with the travel folks at the hotel determining what sort of car, with driver, we'd be renting for the next several days and where in general we'd be going. Ended up taking a non-air-conditioned car because it was half the cost, "cuter", and it wasn't real hot out. Turned out to be a good decision. Also agreed to a route that wasn't what I had thought made the most sense because they convinced me otherwise. Turned out, the next day, the driver did yet a different route yet and more like I had thought made sense; he just wasn't going to argue with the bosses in the travel room "who don't really know how long it takes to get to places nor where all the interesting places are" or something like that.

Tuesday-1: Got up early, had some fruit and water in the room for breakfast and we were on the road a bit after 7 AM. Fascinating drive - rice patties being planted (by women after the men do the tilling and get the plot ready), sugar cane fields, and carts full of sugar cane going to factories. The carts were pulled by dual bull-ox most of the time but sometimes by a powered vehicle and sometimes there were trucks; many people on motor bikes; water buffalo in the fields; sheep & goats & some donkeys also in the fields; and all of these animals on the roads as well as in the fields. Stopped at a place for a bit of breakfast - coffee/tea and an Indian dosa that was quite long, deep fried, and good.

First real side trip and stop was to see a waterfall. Quite nice and must be really spectacular during and shortly after the monsoons, which ended several months ago. That was followed by a major temple stop - Somnathpur. As we've encountered in various countries, the locals can go in for nearly nothing (& that’s the price LP quotes which is a mistake on their part) and foreigners pay heavily - a concept that we generally agree with; where heavily meant $5 US. Splendid spot. Intricate and massive columns, the whole temple seems to float in space being carried by several layers of carvings beginning with elephants. Large, nice interior and our flashlights were useful. All in all a fine stop. We had all the time we desired to look at things, and sit and stare with binoculars, read about it in the LP book, etc. Definitely were now into our tourist phase. Next stop was an area called Srirangapatnam. First activity there was a quite nice lunch in the garden of a hotel. Biranni, beer, shade, pigeons, kid playing with pigeons for us; all very leisurely. Of the 3 or so viable attractions nearby we went to the summer palace of Tipu (in the olden days) and checked it out. Splendid old wall paintings, nice architecture; and not very crowded.

It was only a short drive from there on into Mysore and to our hotel in the middle of town. Looked at the room and it was marginal but we said OK, one parameter being that the air-conditioner worked and the other parameter being the people were nice. Took a shower (marginal also) and then did some city walking. By then we were both interested in a better hotel since the toilet seat wouldn't stay on in this one and overall it was below even our nominal standards. So in addition to looking at shops and people we worked our way to where there were a couple of better quality hotels and booked into the lesser (and less American looking) of the pair for the next two nights. Given that the place we were leaving cost $14 (and the new place was more like $50) we can't blame the first folks for the quality; but we were both glad we actually made the switch. Usually we are too lazy to make such corrections.

An aside about hotels. Chandra had made the various reservations and the selected hotels changed several times during the month before the trip. Initially, her son and brother were trying to put us in the top quality/American-like places and Dawna strongly objected; so Chandra tried for high-quality Indian places which means acceptable to us (and preferred) but sort of Motel-6 quality. Except for the one in Mysore, this all worked out just fine by the way. Oh, yes, while visiting the other/more upscale pair of hotels in Mysore, Dawna got quite friendly with a jeweler there; but didn't buy anything.... yet. If an 80 year old bangle with rubies in it had fit it would have been a goner I'm sure; but it was just too small.

Wednesday-1: After breakfasting in the room on some fruit we were picked up by the driver at 8:30 and explained our slight change in plan - we needed to check into the new hotel before heading off for sightseeing. We also had him go to two different bakeries to try for a breakfast treat but the options weren't great so we just had an OK item. Then drove several kms to Chamudi Hill. This has a pilgrimage walk upward consisting of on the order of 1000 steps. We didn't start quite at the bottom due to miscommunication with the driver, but did somewhat over 2/3rds of it correctly. Not a big deal at all. The first stop on the walk is a wonderful Nandi (bull) statue - large and out of a black rock. The usual priest is there and Dawn did her prayers, gave some fruit to the bull, some money to the priest, etc, etc. There was also a chap with a cobra so that ended up around Dawna’s neck and I got a picture and the chap got some money. The stairway/path was not crowded and everyone was very friendly to us so we had a few chats when we'd stop to look at the views along the way. At the top is a quite nice temple which we checked out. The only drawback was there were a lot of folks trying to sell you trinkets and postcards and etc before you got into the temple as well as beggars; as well as folks trying to be your guide. This is a major put-off for us (and everyone I imagine) and greatly distracts; but we are reasonably good at saying firm no's and trying to pay attention to the temple not the hustlers. Again the Indian tourists/pilgrims were all quite nice to us and it was fun when one of them borrow our binoculars to get a better view of something we were looking at; without hardly asking if it was OK to borrow them.

The driver had driven up to the temple, so he picked us up and we went back to town. We had him drop us at the market with an understanding of when we’d see him back at the hotel. This market is said to be one of the best in India as well as one of the longest and it is absolutely wonderful. Everything is displayed perfectly. That's not so surprising with the endless flower stalls, and maybe even with the spice stalls, but it amazed us to see vegetables and fruits stacked exactly as if a work of art. Needless to say a few purchases were made. Ate lunch at a vegetarian place that was fine; one disadvantage, in addition to no meat, is that such places almost never serve beer. Oh, well .... when in Rome.

Walked back to the hotel, freshened and rested up and then met our driver to go to Brindavan Gardens. This is one of those must dos with the part of the attraction being the light show on the fountains and pools of water, but we actually thought it was not great and a bit silly. It was good fun however looking at the hordes of folks who go there and it was nice walking the mile (or less) to and from it which is mainly along the top of a large earth dam. In retrospect I think the fact that the gardens are large enough to absorb hordes of folks and not be crowded and have grass rather than dirt makes them peaceful and popular with the locals since that is a fairly unique situation in India. We also heard later from a friend of Chandras that the gardens simple aren't nearly as nice as they were back when Chandra lived in the area. The result of going to an after-dark light show was driving 35 km or so home in the dark, which was yet another experience on Indian roads; and meant getting back relatively late (for us).

Thursday-1: Got up early and grabbed a 3-wheeler to go back down to the market. The goal was to get some flowers for Dawna's hair and some sandalwood oil. Both were achieved. Walked back to the hotel, picking up some bottled water along the way. We drank an enormous amount of bottled water in India (and sweated 90% of it out). Boy is it convenient to have it for sale "everywhere." At 9:45 our driver showed up to take us to the Mysore Palace which opened at 10. We were very pleased to not see a huge crowd already there, like the books warn you of, got our ticket and did it slowly. Excellent/enjoyable/refreshing is our view. It borders on being gaudy but is done in a manner that we thought was just plain fun. Stained glass ceiling was spectacular. Carved teak doors and doorways and many other things were outstanding. Took all the time we wanted and in general thought it better than LP gives it credit for. The museum that is also on the grounds was pretty good as well. Again, the "hustlers" were a pain and even the military who were guarding portions of the palace asked for pens and coins. Next stop was a small railroad museum. Fun. By now we were doing items mentioned in the book that most folks don't go to because they do Mysore as part of a trip to surrounding temples rather than spending time there. The driver took us to a relatively upscale restaurant in a different hotel and we had a quite good, and again relaxing, large/late lunch. Shrimp in a sauce and biranni of some sort plus the usual large bottle of water and some beer. These big lunches as a break in the hot tourist day really hit the spot.

Next adventure was to hunt for a Folklore Museum that LP mentions as being rather neat and on the Mysore University campus in a hard to find place. Our driver did a heroic job of asking people where it was and we finally found it tucked away in some archeological section of campus. A nice person unlocked things and showed us around. Absolutely spectacular with fine wooden statues and a huge number of quite large shadow puppets. Having discovered shadow puppets in Turkey we were really impressed with what these folks had just locked away here on campus. Some fine carriages and boats as well. A gem of a spot made nicer by the friendly folks, and the accomplishment of finding it and getting in. From there we went a few km out of town to check out a fancy hotel that has been converted from a former palace. Beautiful setting and quite nice job of the conversion; and a fair number of Japanese tourists. Back to our hotel for a relax and then down towards the market to an area hunting for jewelry stores but not finding what we wanted. Did fine an area where there were lots of folks typing legal documents, lots of stamps, many text books, etc. At a stamp place we found out not only do they stamp documents but they sell stamps and after looking for a good elephant one, gannesh really, we found out they could make what we/Dawna wanted so placed orders for her and Evelyn which in theory would be delivered to our hotel in the AM before we left; the folks making them that night I guess. On the way back to the hotel I stopped by an internet place for the second time and interacted with the world. While there the lights went out but the computer stayed on (separate power system/UPS I suppose) and when this happens they and all the shops around them simply pull their generators out onto the sidewalk, crank them up, and continue business as usual; albeit a bit nosier. Dawna was sitting outside, since it was so hot in the computer area, and saw all this first hand.

Friday-1: Up and had some breakfast in time for an 8 AM pickup by our driver. Had to wait a bit wondering whether the stamp man would show up with our purchase; but sure enough he rolled in on his motor bike and made the delivery. Then off we went on a relatively long drive to the pair of famous temple villages near Hassan. Some bad roads, some good/OK roads, and lots to look at including some fine villages. At Hassan we checked into our hotel (quite adequate and we had booked it the prior day when we decided on this outing) and then headed out to Belur on a nice country road so looked at more villages along the way. Here we saw the Channekeshava Temple that is "recognized today as a pinnacle of the Hoysala sculptors’ and architects’ achievements." Excellent carved pillars, fine interior, splendid elephant carvings, etc. The only major drawback was the quantity of folks hassling us. Another country road over to the other main temple city in this area, Halebid, where there are a couple of notable temples, the ;main one beingHoysaleswara. Again, excellent and maybe we liked it better than the one at Belur. In addition to this main temple we went down the road a tad and saw a couple of lesser, and also more peaceful, "regular temples" as well as a Jain one. Country road back to Hassan, bit of rest and cleanup, bit of walking around and checking out one possible place to eat and then came back and ate at our hotel. Had a good meal.

Saturday-2: This was to be our last day with this car/driver, and the main target was Sravanabelagola. It was cooler out than it had been making the drive even more enjoyable as we stared out the windows at the usual items. Not sure if I've properly commented on the number of coconut palms, how the palm "branches" get used for roofs, and on all the brick "factories." The soil must be properly clay-like for there are innumerable little operations where they are making bricks in a small kiln. And as always the road was jammed with all manner of bikes, 3-wheelers, trucks, tractors, bullox carts, school kids, and general walkers. In one village there were a lot of people and animals in an open lot so we had the driver turn around and go back there for us to see what was going on. It was a livestock trading/selling situation and we walked around and checked things out, but didn't buy a cow or anything. Very picturesque and we received the appropriate number of stares and smiles.

Onward to S. The main attraction here is a very large Gomateshvara statue which one gets to by walking up some 500 steps cut into a steep hillside of granite. Fun to pilgrimage up in our stocking feet and the statue was most impressive at the top. The temple that goes with it up there was fine as well. Excellent views of the countryside from this align=right height too. "Hiked" back down and then went to a couple of less well-known temples in town. One of these certainly deserves to be better known as it has very well preserved 800 year old murals on the interior walls. Only one other tourist was there so we received some low pressure attention from the priest. After that we did a second stairway up a steep hillside on the other side of town. Name-wise, the second hill was Chandragri Hill while the former was Indragiri. Much fewer people than with the first one. At the top, along with good views of the countryside as well as of the large statute across the way, is a quite extensive set of temples. We walked around them book in hand. Enjoyable and peaceful.

Thus ended the temple visiting of this outing as we headed down the main road to Bangalore. Wanted some lunch, however, and the driver pulled off at a "roadside stand" that is a favorite of his. Sat under a tree and had an absolutely excellent meal. Went behind the stand to see the tandoor oven they were cooking things in and watch some of the preparations. They didn't sell beer but sent a kid on a bike down the road to get some for us. We were the only people there and certainly would never have tried it without the driver. A real highlight in the food/meal aspects of this trip. Reached B and settled up the auto bill. No surprises and amounted to less than $30 per day. Sure can't complain about that. Oh, yes, we hadn't reserved a hotel for that night but they did find us a room at the place we had stayed before even though they were pretty full. We also hadn't reserved a train ride to Madras, so we worked with the travel folks on that (for tomorrow). For awhile things looked all booked, then we were wait listed on an afternoon "fast" train, and somehow by the end of the evening we had tickets on a relatively early morning milk run train. Our luck was holding up.

Sunday-2: Dawna woke up feeling terrible even tho she had a fine/normal night's sleep. Diarrhea and a bit of throw-up and generally felt weak and out-of-sorts. Debated if we could really handle the train in that condition but went for it and managed. Basically, she rested the entire way and after one more throw-up session en route began a recovery. I was fine and spent the time mainly looking out the window and reading about Madras/Chennai since that was our next destination. Oh, yes, we had called Chandra's niece Jyoti to tell her we were coming to Madras a day early and on which train. We had also called the hotel where we’d be staying in Madras and got our booking to begin a day sooner. Let's see, any other comments on the train? Slow, jerky, many stops. AC worked fine, however. For lunch I had vegetarian biranni which was quite good and which I ate with my fingers (not very gracefully I'll admit). Had a few coffees along the way as well. They have excellent coffee which because it is coffee, milk, and sugar all boiled/heated together it is basically like having cappachino or hot chocolate.

Arrived Madras a slight bit late and Jyoti was on the platform to take care of us. She had no trouble finding us as we had told her our coach number and were the only non-Indians around. She had gotten there with a car-driver that Chandra had arranged for us and he/they took us to the hotel (Palmgrove) where we checked in and then he took her home - some 40 km or so south of Madras. She is a very outgoing and enjoyable person and we discussed our plans for the next few days. After the usual cleanup/rest we ate at an upscale place next door to the hotel. Dawna was able to have some clear soup and was definitely on the mend. I had tandori shrimp which was OK but the tandori spice overpowered the shrimp. Given Dawna’s lack of energy it was great having a nice place right next door. We even did a little walking after dinner.

Monday-2: Dawna is OK and we had a small breakfast and coffee in the hotel restaurant. The uttapan was fun. A word about this hotel. It clearly fit Dawna's criteria of upscaled Indian (which meant just adequate by our standards) as opposed to multi-stared and American. We were the only non-Indians I ever saw there. The place did two or three wedding or other major events/receptions a day so there was always a lot of action. The AC worked, the hot water didn't for awhile but eventually (like in a couple of days) we managed to get them to throw some main switch somewhere which then made the electric on-demand hot water tank work in the bathroom; etc. Room temperature showers weren't so bad in this environment, anyway …..

Back to the main story line; our driver showed up at 7:45 (15 minutes late) and we headed south to Mamallapuram. This is a must-see area near Madras and we really liked it. There is lots to see and we saw basically everything at our slow pace. The combination of the Five Raths and the fantastic rock-carved mural (Arjuna’s Penance) made this one of our favorite spots of all. Besides all the old carvings, there is a sculpture college there as well as dozens of free-lance artists. The quantity of stuff/carvings and the size of some of them was amazing and the quality was quite good. Didn't buy anything, however, which in retrospect is a bit surprising but we aren’t good at buying something and having it shipped. Went to lunch at a seaside cafe that was in the book and sorta got taken by ordering some specials without asking the price. My tuna was excellent, however, and Dawna's prawns were good. Her meal was somewhat small but mine was huge. Very relaxing, although a bit windy, sitting there chowing down and looking at the Sea of Bengal with many, many fishing net bundles on the shore.

Did the town’s small sculpture museum (OK) and then headed back towards Madras. Stopped at Crocodile Bank but it was closed. My book had said closed on Tuesdays which is partly why we headed south on Monday, but their sign explained they are closed on Mondays. Oh, well. Did an ATM deal at a bank and after much fumbling got a pile of rupees. Went back to the hotel and freshened up and then had the driver take us down to the beach, Marina, of Madras. It is claimed to be the second longest beach in the world or some such thing. Certainly is extensive and is lined with stalls selling stuff. The sidewalk above it goes to a couple of relatively recent and quite elaborate memorials. Walked the sidewalk, walked the memorials, walked a bit of the beach. Nice outing and Dawna even made some great purchases. Not only is the beach extremely long it is very broad/deep. I gather it can be filled with people on a weekend summer day, which must be quite a sight.

Tuesday-2: Gave some laundry to the folks at the front desk to get done for us, complained some more abut the hot water, had some coffee and then off to the temple city of Kanchipuram with our driver. It is one of the seven sacred cities in India, used to have some 1000 temples and now has like 200. The drive there showed us some yet different countryside but nothing to report on really. Did the 3 or 4 main temples in the city. Some highlights were the enormous number of pillars/ columns in the "1000 column rooms", an interaction with a priest where we got blessed and some ashes on our forehead and he got some money, some fine carvings, and a temple elephant. Dawna, of course, made good friends with this decorated chap and after donating $1 to his master was offered the opportunity to sit on him. But she had on a skirt, having sent her pants to the cleaners that AM so declined. Our driver then knew where the alternate/second temple elephant was in a stable out back so we checked him out as well; and also checked out a small college of temple architecture/drawing where some students were working. Oh, yes, at one of the temples they were making a movie so we watched some of that action along with the locals They let us (Americans) into the temple although they weren't letting anyone else in order to not disrupt the movie making.

K is also known for many hand weaving "factories" and we walked through one and then received the hard sell upstairs. Made a small purchase but nothing like they were hoping would be the case. The folks at the looms were interesting to see, with the impressive aspect (to me) being that there are so many of these "factories" in town. It was also neat to see the punched cards that controlled the looms for some of the fancier pieces, that being one of the earliest uses of "IBM cards." Had lunch at a highly recommended non-fancy vegetarian place. Nearly everyone was eating thalis and really digging in with their hand; but we had fried rice. OK. Dawna then had some bitter pickles and says they are the best she has ever had - had a couple of helpings as I remember it with folks being impressed that she didn't find them too hot. This was also our first experience with what came to be a standard desert - yogurt with sugar on it. Quite good. The drive back to M was dull and hot. The air conditioner couldn't keep up with the heat it seemed - it turned out that it had run out of freon and the next day, after being recharged, it kept up just fine as it had the prior day.

Opps – I should have mentioned that on the train halfway from Bangalore to Madras poor sick Dawn realized she had never gotten her passport back from the travel folks at the hotel in Bangalore - it had been used when we did paperwork to pay the car bill with US dollars rather than rupees. We had told Jyoti about the missing passport when we got to Madras, she made phone calls and the Bangalore Travel folks said they had it and would mail it to our hotel immediately using a special service. The interruption to the story is here, because when we got back from K the passport was there (great) as was the laundry. We felt like we were cooking with gas. That was also when we finally got them to find the master switch to enable the hot water and were able to have hot showers. Really on a roll!

Went for a bit of a walk and followed some signs up to the third floor of a building to an Internet place. Holy cow, more than 100 seats and the majority taken, AC, coffee, comfortable. I connected with the world. Then more walking - lousy place to walk, however, as was basically all of India. Bumped into a sign for snow bowling on the 3rd floor of a different building and went up - it was regular "American" bowling with like 5 lanes. Also bumped into a Colors of Beninton store and Dawna bought a pair of slacks so she'd have two rather than one such items. Tried to find a place for something like pizza and beer with no luck. Finally found a liquor store and bought a cold beer for the room and then bought some chips at an adjacent store. The liquor store is a real off-street den of inequity making one feel like a criminal. They had prohibition until recently and are very anti-drinking (and also have a real drinking problem because those who do drink do it to excess). Got some wine too. Neither were cheap and it was the only wine we bought on this trip. Had chips and beer in our room for dinner. All in all a fine day.

Wednesday-2: Today's game plan was to do the Crocodile Bank thing and then see what else we had time for and how to fit it in. So, drove a far ways south again through the usual busy streets. Crocodile Bank is a breeding farm that was established 20 or 30 years ago to keep many species of crocodiles and alligators alive and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Some nice turtles and birds as well. The number of species is impressive, the signs are informative, and the ecological approach is refreshing. If you ever see more than 500 crocs in one "pen" I'm sure you'd be impressed as well.

Next stop was on the way back to city center at the Kalakshetra (temple of the arts) area - again something the book mentioned. A chap showed us around there a bit including meeting some of the young artists/students and looking at their work. Tried to find something we’d like to buy from them but failed. When he showed us a quite nice auditorium we asked when they had performances in it and learned there would be one that night. So, bought tickets for it. Went back to the hotel for the usual rest/cool off, had a fine meal at the nice place next door, and then went to the performance. It was a dance drama. Intermission came in an hour and a half at which time we headed to the train station. First, however, we were handed the bill to settle (for the car and driver) and it didn’t jive with what we had been told by Jyoti when we first got the car so quite a debate took place. It involved making phone calls to a couple of folks as well as having some of the people around the phone-call place get into the loop. Bottom line was that rather than the dollars/day that we had been told by Jyoti it was that much for an 8 hour day and less than 100 km but then there were additions for the extras. The real mistake had been that since the car was arranged by someone else we never saw the conditions in some written form, etc. It wasn’t that the cost was so exorbitant but that it was quite a bit higher than what we had understood it would be and didn’t want to feel taken. Oh, well – paid and went to the station and caught the train. Did tell the driver, however, that on the day we returned we only wanted him to pick us up at the train station and take us to the hotel rather than being hired for another long day. Wouldn’t have even had him for the pickup but since that had been arranged before we didn’t want to rock the boat too much. We were also tired of being with him so much and looked forwarded to being on our own for our final day in town. But back to the main story line.

The train was pretty beat up and slow running, but it did the job. We had two of four slots in a compartment and in theory that meant an upper and lower bunk but since no one else showed up in our compartment in Madras we spread out and took both lower births. About halfway to our destination another fellow joined us but he quietly took an upper bunk. Biggest problem with getting any sleep on the train was that there were so many warnings about watching your bags and locking them to some cables that exist under the seat that I pretty much stayed awake all night guarding them. The other difficulties were that the train was very jerky, it stopped a lot, and the folks near us were talking until quite late. So, I got very little sleep but certainly some rest and Dawna did just a bit better.

Thursday-2: Arrived Eluru a little bit late, with bags untouched and a cup of coffee under our belt, and were met by Chandra, Ravi (her son and we know him and he and his wife are in Belmont now days), and Jyoti. Went to our hotel, checked in, and we all had breakfast. When I say, our hotel, I mean where Dawna and I were staying as were some other wedding guests. C&R&J were all staying at people’s houses as were the majority of the guests. Then J&R and we two headed off with a car+driver to go see some countryside and got to the village where Jyoti grew up and where her folks still have a farm (and more) with a large/fancy house on it. The countryside was extremely fertile with endless rice fields. The rice was further along than in the interior a few days ago and some was even being harvested. There were few terraces but rather green flat fields of rice as far as the eye could see with random coconut palms thrown in. Absolutely beautiful and very productive. Turns out that India actually exports rice because they produce more than they can eat. Much of the drive was along a canal in which there were many people washing clothes, some people washing themselves, kids swimming, animals being cooled and/or washed; all picturesque. There were also a scattering of fish farms in man made ponds. Got to the house and had a nice time what with some tea, then a tour of every inch of the house and gardens, then lunch. The house is very different from anything we are used to, quite open, and has some beautiful old wood carvings. After lunch we toured around the farm a bit seeing extensive chicken coups among other things. Then we got in the car and went a little distance to where they have a factory that processes cotton into thread/yarn. Rather extensive and we continued to get a feeling for how well off and involved this family is.

What was dinner?

The evening activity was to go to a house "blessing" function. One of the relatives had bought a new apartment and would be moving in in a couple of months and this activity was one of "blessing" the house before move in, like when you take possession. The couple of months will expire while the carpentry work is being done because when you take over the apartment it is just roughly finished by the original builder. Lots of folks, mainly a subset of the group who will be at the wedding, some ceremonies including boiling milk over on the stove and then later making a rice budding out of it, certain flowers on the wall (a nice flame ginger of which was given to Dawna and then resided in our hotel room), etc. Interesting. Just down the hall another group was doing similarly but their place had most of its carpentry done and we peaked in, and one floor down was some sort of wedding reception with a loud band; but we didn’t crash that party. Needless to say, given the activities of the day and the lack of sleep on the train, we slept well that night.

Friday-2: Had breakfast at the main house and then headed out for another adventure; this time with Joyti, Ravi, we two and a couple of kids; plus driver. The nominal goals were to see a different "family" farm/ranch and to give Dawna a ride in a bull-ox pulled cart. And this was accomplished although it was a single ox rather than two and more like a softies surrey than a working cart and the ox was mainly being led by one of the workers rather than being driven by Dawna. Went through mango orchards, cashew orchards, and a gravel pit area, took turns walking along side the cart since it couldn’t hold all of us. Had a picnic wherein we learned to eat mangos with some chili powder and lime?? (reminds one of eating green apples that are a bit sour), saw an old well, saw a couple of residences for the workers, had some coconut milk, and generally enjoyed the day of being pampered. In addition, continued to learn how extensive the holdings of this intermingled family are.

Back to town where Dawna and Chandra went shopping and I went to an Internet place and connected with the world and then took a bit of a walk to see things, including finding a place to procure a beer, which I did. We had a refrigerator in the room by the way which then received the beer and cooled it further; before I drank it that is. Dawna bought some gold ankle bracelets; after all "everyone else" was wearing them. She and Chandra came back to the hotel and caught me drinking my beer after which we three went to granny’s house and Chandra showed us the huge amount of "loot" that the bride would be receiving. Amazing quantity of jewelry and saris and other things and very fun to get to have such a private and slow showing of it with explanations to any of our questions.

And what was dinner and/or any other activity that night. Clearly I need to hunt through my notes more and also talk to D in order to get the last day or two into better shape.

Sunday-3: The wedding "day" began a bit before 7 AM what with Dawna going to one of the houses so that a lady could put her sari on her properly. It was the new blue one procured in Bangalore and the blouse for it having been made the day before in Eluru. Looked quite good. Had a quiet, we two, breakfast at the hotel and then went to one of the houses for the first activity. In retrospect the activities all seem to roll together so I may not have them ordered exactly properly; but it is close. The initial one was the bride getting decked out and "pawned upon." She sat in a special spot, the ladies attended her and/or just watched, and the guys dropped by to watch once in awhile but not much. Me, I was a lady. They pile on the jewelry in a slow and-semi ceremoniously manner. Quite a lot of the stuff, and we had see it the day before. Then various people give her additional presents. Then there is a round of "everyone" getting their pictures taken in small/family groups with the bride. Even Dawna and I made that activity - or was it Dawna and Chandra? I forget but we'll see the pictures. Speaking of which, after returning to the US and getting our pictures developed we realized I did not have a single one of Dawna in a sari. Hopefully, Chandra’s pictures will correct this.

We left to go a different house to see the groom's function that was in process as well. It was religious with the priest chanting away and going through all manner of symbolism that make use of many aids (coconuts, flowers, rice, spices, liquids, leaves, twigs, dirt, and on and on and on). Goes on for 3 hours or so and we caught the middle 1.5 hour roughly. Meanwhile, back at the brides they were now giving her some joke gifts which everyone said were great fun. Dawna had even supplied the wrapping paper (from Cupertino) for the major one of these so was in on the action to that extent but we didn't see it because one can't be at two places at once. I think we finally bailed out of the groom’s activity when he got rather smoky due to the burning of things, including incense.

Sometime along about here we had lunch. It was a catered thing in the yard of the house where the wedding would take place. Thalis which meant rice on a banna leaf, various spicy other items on the leaf and then one mixes portions of it together and eats it; all with the right hand and no utensils. We didn't starve, and it was quite good. Must have been another ceremony or two during the afternoon, one of which involved all men (plus Dawna) in a room wherein the male relatives of the groom and bride exchange long memorandum of agreements concerning the marriage, the families, etc. In between some of these ceremonies we slipped back to the hotel to cool off and rest a bit.

Dinner time came around and was somewhat a repeat of the lunch except different foods to mix with the rice. They provided the two us with spoons for eating - guess they figured we needed them based on the job we did at lunch time. At these meals for the most part the women and children (and Jake) eat at one setting and then the men. You eat at long tables with butcher paper and when you finish they just roll up the paper with the banana leaves and any left over food within it and throw it out and roll down another round of paper for the next setting. The foods at both meals were good and flavorful and strictly vegetarian. Prior to dinner a couple of bands arrived. One was about 5 or so people in typical Indian dress and they played mainly drums and a trumpet like looking thing which is actually a reed instrument that sounds sort of like an oboe. The other band was a military band of say 15 folks. Both bands play loudly and the military guys played from before dinner until after the wedding, with breaks. Very loud but quite good really, and I especially enjoyed listening to them. We had been told that the band plays to keep everyone awake for the AM wedding but then were also told they play (loudly) so that if someone sneezes, which is a bad omen, no one will hear it.

At some point, say 9 or 10 PM, we left and got some sleep; returning to the action spots at 2 AM or so. First, so Dawna could have a different/red sari put on for the wedding and then to watch the activities. Speaking of costumes she had switched from the sari to regular clothes for dinner with regular clothes being a skirt which properly displayed her new gold ankle bracelets; purchased a day earlier I think (or was it that day?). Continuing on the costume theme, sometime, perhaps it was that afternoon, Dawna got one hand ***; becoming more and more Indian every minute. I think everyone thought it was great that she got so into these aspects of things. The *** hand maintained its distinction until several days after we returned to the US, so many people got to inspect it. We do have a nice photo of it getting "painted."

Back at the wedding it amounted (to me) of a whole lot more religious-based ceremony with all those aids again and lots of chanting. By now both priests (the one that came with the groom and the bride’s) were together chanting away to some extent representing their half of the deal. Meanwhile the military band played and quite often it seemed totally disjunct from the ceremony and sometimes the priest had to tell them to stop for a bit, etc. People milled around, coffee was served and greatly appreciated by me; a festival was clearly in process. Only the groom and his parents were on stage for most of this, the bride finally coming onto the scene about 4:05 AM. She arrives behind a screen being held by a couple of the fellows and the screen keeps the groom from seeing here immediately. After more chanting and "stuff" the screen is eventually removed prior to the 4:12 magic time and they see each other for the first time. Yes, this was a prearranged marriage. The two "kids" had communicated by e-mail after the arrangements were made so were not completely unknown to one another but had never seen one another. With the priest’s guidance they proceed to drop handfuls of rice and other things on one another’s heads and generally "trash" each other and the place, everyone relaxes/celebrates, and it is pretty much over (in an hour or so with more talking and eating and drinking coffee, etc).

We rested a bit, probably ate some breakfast somewhere but I don’t remember and then had the car take us to the older/main portion of town so we could bum around; sending him back at that point. Walked around, looked at stuff, with most stores being closed because it was Sunday. Enjoyed being out on our own and seeing a different area, however. Gradually walked back to our hotel. Some resting, some packing, some trip-report writing (perhaps), and then we were picked up by the car with Chandra and Ravi and heading to the train station. Along the way we stopped at another relatives, were given more presents (holy cow we seemed to be collecting more presents to take home than we had brought to India), and a young lady, Subhadra, who would be on the same train as ourselves. The train was at least a half hour late but eventually came and we got on. Got to our compartment and there was a lady, her baby, and grandma in it and spread out over most of it. Gradually negotiated our half of the space, went through the locking of the luggage routine, and tried to get some sleep on the slow, swaying train ride with many stops. The husband of our compartment-mates appeared, they had a single across the isle from the compartment I guess and they all played musical chairs most of the night; beginning with taking turns eating rather elaborate dinners that they had brought with them – like thalis yet again. The baby wasn’t well and cried a lot. We didn’t get much sleep, although I think Dawna did better than I did since she was in the upper bunk and therefore somewhat removed from all the action.

Monday-3: The train arrived around 5:30 AM, about a half hour late. We met up with Subhadra and then with our driver. He took us to the hotel, we convinced him yet again that we didn't want the car for the day, and he took S to her house. Checked into the hotel and cleaned up and relaxed a bit. Then we headed out on foot to find the Development Center for Musical Instruments which was mentioned in the LP book. Hot and muggy of course. After some fumbling, we found it and it was quite nice with lots of old musical instruments, no visitors, and an attendant who stroked a few of the instruments for us. After that we hit a government handicraft store and then grabbed a 3-wheeler to take us back to the hotel. Used the AC and bed a bit and then headed out for lunch at the restaurant run by Subhadra. This had been relatively arranged since we had been told by Chandra how good it was, invited to come by S, and thought she was an enjoyable person. Checked with the desk folks about how much a 3-wheeler should cost to get us there and then bargained with a chap to get it for nearly that amount and off we went. He was a good driver, the distance was not real close, and we saw plenty of traffic up close and personal. Boy can those 3-wheelers weave in and out. Got the restaurant but S wasn't there. Ordered anyway and then she showed up and added a few items to our order. Very good food including excellent fresh fruit juices and excellent deserts. Stuffed - and yes it was vegetarian! Actually we had ordered continental meals rather than Indian; guess it was about time for a change.

After lunch, S took us on a brief sightseeing and shopping run around the area - Dawna buying a couple of shirts for Nathan. Then it was 3-wheeling back to the hotel and another round of cleanup and rest with our friendly AC; as well as packing. We had liked the driver who took us to the restaurant so had arranged for him to pick us up at 7:45 PM that night to go to the airport; and he did - actually arriving more like 7:30. Snuggled our bags into the 3-wheeler and off we went. Commuter traffic I guess. Gosh was it thick; but made it in plenty of time. Checked in easily although one does go through a seemingly ridiculous number of lines and security/passport checks. Dawna then managed to spend up some of the left-over rupees (there was no bank inside the secured area much to my surprise). The airport has to rank as about the oldest, most run down, airport of any large city I've been in. No AC it seemed and even the fans weren’t on, so it was quite uncomfortable for waiting; but eventually we were on the plane and it left on time. A 747, haven't been on one of those for quite awhile. A 3.5 hour flight to Singapore plus taxi and boarding times at both ends. What with leaving after 10:30 PM this 3.5 hours when added to a 2.5 hour time change meant we arrived Singapore around 6 AM local. Relatively tired as there hadn't been much night to try and catch naps.

Killed a few hours both by resting, reading, and checking out the airport. I think it is the most user friendly airport I’ve ever seen. Relatively new, clean, enormous number of shops, nice places to sit, convenient spots to checkin at the entry to different gangways, many different TV areas (news, sports, movies, etc), and all very high tech. There are spots where one can in theory simply use the IR port of a laptop or Palm (and other) device to connect to the web (I need to figure out what software to have on the Palm for this), places where there are desks and ports both for power and telephone lines for one's own PC, and internet cafe like spots. Didn't use it/them, however. Did spend a few minutes looking at a fine display of the latest and greatest electronic stuff in one store (prices fine) and Dawna did manage to buy a couple of Swatch watches. Boarded the plane which would get us to SFO, first stopping in Seoul, and it left on time. Another 5.5 hours in the air plus the usual ground times. Continued to eat meals as they gave them to us, watched a little TV, read more of the book, rested a tad, and typed on the India trip letter. All in all a short day as we got to Seoul around 4:30 PM so it was almost time for our second night en route.

Speaking of nights; things were a bit crazy as this made 4 nights in a row without a nice sleep in a bed and practically without a sleep at all. First the wedding in the middle of the night, granted we got a few hours of bed sleep between dinner and the wedding; then the night on the train, then the very short night flying from Madras to Singapore, and finally the night between Seoul and SFO. The long flight across the Pacific went well as it wasn’t super full so Dawna had a pair of seats right behind our pair, which I had. The service was excellent with stewardesses walking up and down the isle continually offering drinks or whatever. We each got some rest. By now I had a sore throat, however, which had begun a couple of days earlier. Arrived SFO early (before noon), cleared customs smoothly, and was picked up by Friedel. Home shortly hereafter and it is always nice to see the house isn’t burnt to the ground or something, plus clean and spacious and relaxing. Did the usual amount of mail reading, e-mail checking, a one hour nap, more unpacking and some washing, and then a good night’s sleep. I was generally conjested but wouldn’t call it a cold and Dawna still has her cough/lung problem from last November; so must admit we weren’t in super shape but not in bad shape either. Worked a normal day the following day and for the most part I’d say neither of us were jet lagged going either direction; although the coming home part was a bit less clear due to lack of sleep and the "colds."

Summary: A most unique and enjoyable trip. It was an opportunity we were glad we didn't pass up. About the only drawbacks were the long flights getting there and back (might have been good to have spent a few days in Singapore on the way), the climate & pollution & difficulty of doing much walking in cities, and having so little time to just bum on our own since we for the most part either had a driver or had the wedding folks taking care of us. We ate well although rice with nice tasting stuff to mix with it got a little tiring after a week or two. Bottled water is everywhere and makes that aspect of traveling so much easier now days; and boy did we drink a lot of water. Sweating it out constantly. Our Indian friends didn’t seem to sweat at all and even wore sweaters some of the time. Guess we’d sure not make it in that country in the summer.

We saw only a tiny portion of India and not even an area that would be near the top of one's choices if just dong a proper tourist trip. The wedding activities were very interesting to say the least and we got relatively well acquainted with a variety of individuals. I would image we'll be seeing, and perhaps hosting, several of them in the future as they have various relatives in the US and have plans for visits. That will certainly be fun for us. Although we continually felt guilty about all the effort everyone went o accommodate us, we also think (hope?) we provided them with some fun and something different rather than "just another routine wedding." We’ve heard from Chandra that the wedding was very minimal by there standards but I think that mainly means the meals weren’t fancy banquets, etc, rather than it being minimal in length and pageantry, but maybe I’m wrong on that latter point.

And the Palm Pilot works pretty well for writing notes such as this while on a trip.

A variety of trips are now under consideration for the remainder of 2001 with the only one that is solidly booked being the Greek Island Runaround with the old Lockheed gang. Most likely we'll do the UK, Boston, and GSFC (on work outings) and the Chorizo Plains as a goof off. Then there are those slot canyons to visit, the concept of trading houses with our contact in Italy, some hiking in the Olympic Rain Forest, and on and on under consideration. Might even work a bit in between.

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