#11) Reflections on India

One question that I get asked quite often while traveling and while catching up with people from home is “Which is your favorite country so far/that you’ve traveled to/etc?”

I always tell them that it is impossibe to choose – each country has places that I really liked/loved and places that weren’t the greatest. (Thankfully, I haven’t been anywhere that I absolutely hated yet.) The short answer is that no country makes for 100% travel perfection.

BUT, if I were forced to chose one country that was my favorite (so far) then hands down it would India.

There is something (or everything rather) about India that is so totally different from any other country I’ve travelled to and that I can only describe as a feeling that you’re in a place that is utterly unique and it’s completely own. In the other countries I’ve travelled to (and spent at least a month in) I can invariably find a restaurant, cafe, hostel or some place where I kind of forget that I’m in a foreign country – it’s quite amazing how pervasive Western influence is even in the far-flung places of the world. But in India – it’s impossible to forget that you are there. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the people (sooo many people), and everything else combines to be an incredible immersive experience – and for that I love it. It’s definitely not the easiest country I’ve travelled to but that’s all a part of India’s charm really. The two months I was there was not nearly enough to completely understand India and it’s people. One thing I know for certain is that I will return there one day.

But until then my adventures continues on the open road – I’m in Thailand now but I’ll be heading into Laos within a few days. Check out my travel map for my whereabouts and keep an eye out for another post soon!

The holy lake of Pushkar, Rajasthan - it is one of the oldest cities in India and it is considered a site of holy pilgrimage for devout Hindus because according to legend  the city/lake was created by Brahma (one of the three main Hindu deities). It is one of the few places in the world where there is a temple dedicated to the worship of Brahma. The lake is surrounded by ghats (or "steps") which pilgrims use for ritualistic bathing and other important ceremonies. Foreigners are encouraged to participate as well. You can see the group of people on the right are descending the ghats near the water.

While I was in Pushkar there was an Indian wedding going on in a courtyard near the hostel. Indian weddings are known for being quite lavish affairs that last multiple days with spectacular, colorful outfits and traditional ceremonies. While walking through the streets we stumbled upon the groom leading some sort of procession through the streets on an elaborately decorated white horse. There were people following with these big glowing lanterns and a full band playing at full volume - quite the spectacle. 

Here is the groom in traditional clothing - an attendant is fixing something on his outfit while he sat on his horse. He had dismounted at what appeared to be a small temple or shine to pay respects - presumably part of the wedding ceremony.

The procession was followed by this mobile generator which was used to power all the lights and some of the musical instruments - it was a really cacophonous and noisy machine which almost drown out the sound of the band playing - but to be fair they weren't exactly playing in harmony either. I found it quite funny that they had to lug this thing around with them.

After Pushkar I went to Agra - the location of India's most famous landmark - the Taj Mahal! This is the main entrance gate to the grounds of the Taj Mahal.

My first glimpse of the Taj and the hundreds of other tourists who were also trying to get good pictures. Somehow the number of tourists didn't diminish the awe-inspiring sight of the Taj Mahal in the least - they looked like ants in comparison to the shear size of the building. And even though it was quite cloudy when I arrived  it almost gave it a more magical feel - like the monument was emerging from mists of time or reality.

Obligatory "OMG I'm at the Taj Mahal!" shot.

The view of the gardens and reflection pools from atop the platform that the monument sat on. The grounds were really nicely maintained for how many people shuffle through here on an annual basis.

A lone boatman on the Yamuna river adjacent to the Taj Mahal. Supposedly the other side of the river is the best place to watch the sunset over the monument - more on that later though.

One of the archways of the Taj Mahal which is decorated with ornate calligraphy. Supposedly the lettering is inscribed in such a way that they all appear to be the exact same size when viewing from the ground - an optical illusion.

Another optical illusion - this pillar may appear to be pointed on each side but it is actually flat on three sides. The diagonal lines are pointed in such a way that it tricks the eye.

Some of the floral inlays made with precious and semi-precious stones that decorated both the interior and exterior of the Taj Mahal - seriously no expense was spared here.

The Taj Mahal was built as a mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal, the third and favorite wife of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, upon her death in 1631. It took 22 years to complete and now houses both Mumtaz and the Emperor himself here in the inner sanctum - their actual bodies, however, are kept underground in sarcophagi in the lower levels of the building and not on the main floor. This is the only part of the entire complex which is not symmetrical as Shah Jahan's body was added against the original floor plan after his death in 1666.  

The Taj Mahal has inspired visitors to India for hundreds of years and it's not hard to see why - here's some graffiti from 1856 that I found on a little glass window inside the tomb. I would love to be transported through time to see who wrote this and see what the Taj Mahal looked like through their eyes.

When I left the inside of the tomb it had finally begun to clear up outside and get sunny - I was worried I would never get to see the white marble shimmer in the sun!

The Taj is almost a completely different building when glimmering in the sun and the blue skies reflecting in the pools of the garden - I could have sat on the grounds all day and just stared at it's magnificence.

After the Taj Mahal, I went to go see the Agra Fort from which Shah Jahan and the other Mughal Emperors ruled their empire. The entrance to the area of the fort which is open to tourism is quite imposing. 

Atop one of the external towers were these five little parrots - I saw these green parrots in every major fort that I visited but for some reason I didn't see them anywhere else in India. Very weird coincidence.

Puppies inside the fort! These little guys were quite skittish and wouldn't let me get much closer for a good shot. I still think I captured their essence in this photo though.

This part of the fort is known as the Jahangiri Mahal or "Jahangir's Palace" and was probably used as a harem for the royal family. The giant bowl in the middle of the walkway is carved from one single block of stone and was used by the emperor as a bathtub. Supposedly it was also taken with the emperor with him on his travels throughout the empire but because of its size and weight I find that hard to believe.

The inner courtyard of the Jahangiri Mahal - really beautiful stonework.

Not really sure what this portion of the palace was called - but it was really beautifully decorated and had a little fountain in the center. I would have liked to have see it running but I'm sure that would have cost quite a bit of money to maintain properly.

One of the pillars inlayed with colorful stones in a floral pattern. 

From certain parts of the Agra Fort you can see the Taj Mahal in the distance - about 2 km away. Interestingly enough, this was actually Shah Jahan's view of the monument as he was imprisoned inside the fort by his own son, Aurangzeb, through a series of palace intrigues and power grabs. The area of the fort he was held was pretty plush to be honest - but captivity is captivity.

Another parrot living in a little hole in above an archway - it's giving me so much side-eye right now.

A grass courtyard inside the palace. The area where all the tourists are standing in the center is where they display the thrones of Shah Jahan and Emporer Jahangir made of white marble and black slate, respectively. They are really more like large flat coffee tables than a Western-style throne seat. The pavilion on the right would have been used to receive important visitors to the palace.

A large mosque within Agra which was also built during the reign of the Mughal Empire. 

After leaving the fort and getting some delicious food I decided that I would cross the river in an attempt to see the sunset over the Taj Mahal - the only way to do that without a boat was to cross this railroad bridge. There was a little walkway on the left-hand side which Indians were also using to shuffle back and forth between the sides of the river with their bicycles and baskets of produce. 

From the bridge I could see a little makeshift village that had popped up next to the river with tents and hovels made of tarps and large sticks. Unfortunately these types of settlements are all-too-common in India. It's really striking to see when you have such a magnificent building as the Taj Mahal juxtaposed against Indian villagers who live under tarps on the sandy, sullied banks of the river.

The Taj Mahal viewed from the railroad bridge - at this point I decided to turn back and return to town because the clouds had returned and I would not have seen much of any sunset anyway. It's a shame, but I guess it gives me a reason to return one day.

After Agra I arrived in Varanasi along the holy river Ganga (Ganges) - it is the holiest city in all of Hinduism and is one the oldest continually inhabited places in the world. The religious life of the city revolves around the ghats which line the entire river - it's used for bathing, washing clothes, playing cards/dice and (of course) holy pilgrimage. It was really relaxing to take a stroll down the ghats and take in everything that was happening along the banks.

A row or boats moored along the bank - I liked these ones because they are the color of the Indian flag (orange, white and green). One of the more popular tourist activities is to hire a boat and take a spin around the river at sunrise or sunset. It's impossible to escape the boat-walas which line the ghats and constantly shout out "Excuse me, boat ride?!" as you walk past.

These was also a lot of animals which just hung around the ghats all day - probably left their by their owners just to pass time. This ram was out cold but I noticed he had little bangles attached to his hoofs that would rattle and ring as he walked.

The families of stray dogs were everywhere on the ghats as well - this particular clan was pretty mangy so I didn't want to touch them. The dogs are everywhere in India but I think they were particularly bad in Varanasi for some reason.

After walking along the ghats I went into the market to see what wares were being peddled and I came across this monkey just chilling casually on a motorbike. He was massive and kept staring off into the distance like he was watching or waiting for something - he wasn't the slightest bit concerned with anything happening around him. Zero Fucks Given.

While walking the ghats I ran into some friends I had made in Agra (which actually happens surprisingly often on the road) and we took a boat trip out to watch the sunset. Our guide brought us all along the ghats and explained the significance. In particular we stopped for a long time in front of this particular ghat - the Manikarnika ghat - known colloquially as the "Burning Ghat" because it is used to cremate the recently deceased. Obviously pictures at any closer distance are strictly taboo and disrespectful. There is a whole ceremony involved in the cremation which only men are allowed to attend and there are massive piles of wood on the steps and platforms surrounding the ghat to use as fuel. Before the body is burned it is given one final bath in the holy waters of the Ganga and then left to dry before it is places on a small pyre made of wood. The attendees wait at the ghat for as long as it takes for the body to burn and then the closest male relative puts out the fire using a small pot of water hurled behind his back without looking. Then all the relatives and friends leave the ghat without looking back at the pyre signifying the importance of moving forward and not dwelling in the past. Only certain people are cremated in this way however - when brahmin (priests without relatives), pregnant mothers and very small children die their bodies are taken into the middle of the Ganga at night and are sunk to the bottom using heavy stones to weigh down the corpse. I'm sure that in the 10 minutes that our guide explained what we were seeing at the ghat wasn't nearly enough to understanding the complexities of this important place. It was a very moving and emotional experience to witness.

A mosque on the banks of the Ganga - although this is the holiest place in Hinduism there are still a significant percentage of people who are Muslim (like most places in India).

For as holy as the river Ganga is  I would never willingly bathe myself in its waters unless I were at or very near it's original source in the Himalayas. The water is quite filthy as people up and down its route use it as both a shower and a toilet - not to mention all the rubbish and trash that has collected at the banks and floats near the ghats. It's a real shame to see how polluted the river is considering its religious significance, but it is just representative of a larger, systemic problem that India is dealing with - which is sanitation and waste disposal.

Kolkata (Calcutta) - the former British colonial capitol and my last stop in India. It seems fitting to have started in Mumbai (Bombay) which also is known for it's colonial past and ended where the British Raj started. This isn't a particularly important building - I just thought it looked cool.

The General Post Office (GPO) of Kolkata built in the time of the British Raj.

The Writer's Building - this building built in 1777 originally housed the offices of the writers (or clerks) of the British East India Trading Company when they were in control of the British colonial holdings in India. It's undergone a few renovations since and now it is used by the State Government of West Bengal where Kolkata is located.

Another shot of the Writer's Building - after taking this picture a police officer approached me and informed me that I wasn't actually allowed to take pictures of the building because it is government property. This is a fairly common practice in most countries I've been to so far.

St. Andrew's Church - built in the early 1800s. Kolkata has many examples of colonial churches which are still used today by the variety of religious denominations in the city - even before colonization Kolkata was known for being a cultural melting pot.

A Portuguese-style Cathedral - notice how the architectural style is similar to those located around Goa.

The Armenian Church is the oldest church in Kolkata. Armenians have a long history in India that extends much farther than that of British Colonialism - the first Armenians are believed to have come to India along with Alexander the Great in  antiquity. There numbers in India have diminished significantly - they now number less than 200  mostly here in Kolkata. The interior of the courtyard was filled with different gravestones - the oldest of which dates from 1630.

The Nakhoda Masjid (Mosque) in the "Muslim Quarter" of Kolkata. Non-Muslims aren't allowed in otherwise I would have loved to explore this beautiful building. Instead I explored the local restaurants and I had some of the most delicious Halal food.

Chickens for slaughter in the Muslim Quarter - quite an ingenious (if comical) way to transport them in my opinion.

Do you think it knows?

Kolkata is known as the Intelligentsia capitol of India for it's numerous universities, cultural, scientific and technical organizations, Even just walking down the streets it is quite evident that Kolkata is different than other Indian city. In the "University Quarter" there is a huge open-air second-hand book market that goes on everyday. A lot of it is used text books but there are some stalls selling novels as well. It is said to be the largest second-hand book market in the world and I believe it - it goes on for endless rows of streets.

Another shot of the book market/

The area around the universities are also rife with student activism and graffiti - I stumbled across some interesting examples while I was walking through the side streets here. This one is eerily reminiscent of sentiments in American politics.

More graffiti.

The South Park Street Cemetery was opened in 1767 and is where a lot of important British and European settlers were buried in Kolkata up until 1830. It is one of the largest Christian cemeteries outside of Europe. It was a really pleasant walk through history on a sunny afternoon and there were also numerous Indians just sitting and picnicking in the grass together.

Home to the recently deceased as well apparently. 

But not everything in the cemetery was dead either - this stray dog was having the time of his life rolling around in the grass and sniffing around the graves.

The whole cemetery was filled with these massive stone monuments in different shapes. It was interesting to read about the people that are buried under these impressive memorials. 

Even the walls of the cemetery were filled with graves.

The cemetery is obviously quite old and some of the graves were in desperate need of restoration.

This was my favorite grave that I came across because it included elements of European and Indian architecture. It belongs to Major-General Charles "Hindoo" Stuart who apparently embraced Hindu and Indian culture quite well.

This was quite a unique grave among the giant stone obliques and mausoleums.

The grave of Sir William Jones - a scholar of ancient India and the founder of the Asiatic Society in Kolkata. The society's mission is to enhance and further Oriental research and it's library contains hundreds of thousands of  books and manuscripts - unfortunately I didn't have time to explore it while I was in Kolkata.

A local park in Kolkata that I took a little stroll through. It was filled with lots of couples sitting closely on benches which made me feel kind of out of place - but still a nice walk.

There was a sunken boat in the park's pond for no particular reason and no one thought it appropriate to remove it. I just stopped asking questions when I was in India though - lots of things that just didn't make sense according to my cultural perspective. 

The Victoria Monument - one of the most famous landmarks in Kolkata and the last thing I was able to visit in my hurried time there, It was built upon the death of Queen Victoria in order to made Kolkata a "more befitting colonial capitol" or something like that. Unfortunately by the time it was completed the colonial capitol had been moved to New Delhi. It's now an interesting museum and collection of historical artifacts - plus the gardens and surrounding grounds are beautifully manicured.