Kalka
Shimla
Dharamsala
MacleodGanj
North India in 3 weeks
I landed
in Delhi just after midnight during the first week of May the temperature
at the Indira Ghandi airport was 34 degrees Celsius. It hit me with full
force as I stepped off the MD11 and left the airport to come face to face
with cows and bulls walking in the car park. If the pictures dont look
very bright or hot, it's probably because of the dress code and pollution.
No one wears shorts or vests; it is considered poor taste, according to
the guide books I read. And the pollution filters much of the sunlight.
It is possible to look directly at the sun in the afternoon; it looks
more like the moon than the sun.
What
to see in Delhi by rickshaw and
car
With no fixed prices, you’re left to bargain your way across town.
or hire a car and a driver for 550 rupees for the day.
Jami Masjid
the biggest mosque in India (also called Friday Mosque), One must walk
barefoot in religious buildings and although strips of carpet are laid
down on the parts exposed to the sun, sometimes it is necessary to walk
across the naked concrete, marble or brick – one such 50m walk resulted
in me getting a huge blister on the underside of my foot because the floor
was so hot.
Government buildings
provided a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of the
rest of the city. As with all significant architecture in India, the design
is symmetrical, with everything on the left repeated on the right.
India Gate
a memorial inscribed with the names of Indian soldiers who died in the
first world war.
From
Delhi to Agra by train
Agra is the home of the Taj Mahal and 204km south-east of the capital.
This took almost five hours, but was a pleasant journey. We traveled sleeper
class and our cabin was not too crowded.
At the end of the day the Taj Mahal is just a building. Listed as one
of the man-made wonders of the world, one can’t but expect to be
blown away. But, how fantastic can a building be? Some walls, a floor
and a roof … Well that is how I felt when I first approached the
mausoleum, but it wasn’t how I felt when I left at sunset (official
closing time). Constructed with beautiful material (marble) and for a
beautiful reason: not many people realise that the Taj Mahal is a great
big fat tombstone and not a palace. Emperor Shah Jahan had it built in
the memory of his queen Mumtaz Mahal. It was intended to house only her
body, but his was lain beside hers (disturbing the symmetry!) after his
death. Work began in 1630 and it took 20 000 builders 22 years to complete.
Train
to Varanasi
When the train pulled into the station I couldn’t believe that it
was our train as it was full already – and I mean full, to capacity
and beyond. The door to our carriage could not even be opened (either
that or the occupants would not open it) as there were too many people
standing on the other side of it, with all their luggage. We had to board
in the next carriage and work our way down to our compartment, which was
no mean feat. My friend was egging me on, because I wanted to turn and
run … it was just too crowded and I started to panic.
In our compartment were almost 30 people – in a space designed to
accommodate eight! And that is how it was for the 10 hours to Varanasi.
One of the main reasons I verged on panic sometimes was because the glassless
windows are covered by metal bars (akin to a prison cell) and there is
one emergency exit in each carriage as far as I could tell and –
based on the numbers in our compartment – the carriage, designed
to carry 72 people, was carrying about 272! Too many people to exit through
one window in the event of an emergency evacuation. And trains do derail
in India.
However, having said all that, I was very glad for the authentic crowded
Indian train experience. This didn’t stop me though from upgrading
the rest of my train tickets to 2AC – air-conditioned carriages
with two beds on a wall instead of three, and stricter ticket control.
“old
town” of Varanasi
which is where we stayed, there aren’t so much streets as alleyways
between the buildings. Cars and rickshaws are not allowed in these parts,
so people get around on motorcycles. Cows, too, won’t be told where
to walk, and often I would have to squeeze past one in an alleyway. There
are even trees growing out of buildings … this for me symbolised
the nature of the interaction between people, buildings and animals in
India: harmony, with the greatest needs taking precedent. Its very, very
hot and humid. It was about 48 degrees Celsius the one day I checked the
temperature. We were drinking about five litres of water a day. I didn’t
use a towel to dry off but simply stepped out the shower and was practically
dry.
The holy
Hindu city of Varanasi is situated on the banks of the
River Ganga (Ganges). We took a rickshaw out of town to cross the pontoon
bridge (seen here in the picture) to explore a fort (top right of pic).
The pontoon bridge
is only erected for part of the year when the river is low and consists
of big drums tied together and covered with wooden planks going crossways
and two metal tracks going lengthways for the wheels of a jeep to drive
along. Of course a rickshaw is not as wide as a jeep and so we bounced
and bumped over the wooden planks.
burning
ghat (stone steps on river’s edge), where people
are cremated on large open fires around the clock. No pictures are allowed
to be taken, for fear of interrupting the spirit’s ascension to
Nirvana, The locals are very happy to show you around, though, walking
you between the fires (women not allowed, however, unless they are on
the fires) and telling you all about the process. “Burning is learning,”
they say, and “Cremation is education”. It takes about three
hours for a human body to burn completely on a wood fire. All that is
left at the end of it is, for men, the breastbone, and for women, the
hipbone. These are then picked up and thrown into the river. One is considered
very fortunate if cremated on the edge of
the holy River Ganga as the spirit is guaranteed to rise
to Nirvana. As a result there are many old and sick people in the city
– people who have come to wait out there last days in the vicinity
of the burning ghat.
Sarnath
10km from Varsani
where the great Buddha preached his first sermon more than 2 000 years
ago after attaining enlightenment. Buddhism is a branch of Hinduism. Ashoka,
the great Mauryan emperor, erected magnificent stupas and other buildings
in the vicinity. On the left is the 34m tall Damekh Stupa, which marks
the place where Buddha preached his first sermon.
Train
ride to Jaipur
the train ride to Jaipur, a desert city, turned out to be 25 hours long.
Wow, the train was so unbelievably slow. I was glad not to be in the sleeper
class carriage I spoke of earlier.
Japur,
also known as the pink city (because many of the buildings are made of
pinkish sandstone, reminded me of Johannesburg a little bit – simply
because the two cities are of similar ages and Jaipur is relatively organised
and modern compared with the other cities I went to.
auto
rickshaw from Jaipur to Amber,
which is situated on the crest of a hill 11km north of the city. The city-palace
of Amber was the capital of the Kuchwaha Rajputs from 1037 to 1728 and
is also one of the favourite places in India of Goldie Hawn (can’t
remember who told me that, but these people don’t just hang out
on red carpets apparently, and even Bollywood hasn’t diminished
global enthusiasm for American stars, with pictures of Pierce Brosnan
and Richard Gere shaking hands with storekeepers in shops in the mountains).
I found Amber quite amazing, so I can well understand Goldie Hawn’s
sentiments. Jaipur
we took the train again to Delhi
Delhi
to Kalka by train
an overnight train to Kalka. There, at about 05.30 we boarded
the Viceroy’s toy train, which was to trundle us up for about five
hours through the Himalayan foothills to Shimla, which
was the old British summer capital (called Simla then).
Kalka to
Shimla
The track has been described in the Guinness Railway Book as “an
engineering feat”. It passes through 103 tunnels and 969 bridges
to rise to a breathtaking 2100m above sea level, by which time the temperature
had cooled significantly. It is the cooler climate that lures affluent
Indians here for their summer holidays. The town, however, does not look
like a typical holiday resort. It's
spread to the extent that it covers seven mountainsides. We stayed close
to the centre of town, not far from the mall, which is a road that runs
level around the mountainside and reminded me very much of an English
high street. Traffic is restricted to pedestrians, which makes for pleasant
browsing.
Overlooking the town is Christ Church, which was built between 1846 and 1857 and is one of only two churches I saw in northern India. It is complete with stained glass windows, wooden pews and full-sized church organ.
Shimla
by car to Dharamsala 280km
From Shimla we hired a car and driver, as the town is at the end of the
railway line, and headed for Dharamsala 280km away through the Himalayan
foothills. We took our lives in our own hands that day. The drive took
about nine hours and cost about £32. If you have ever driven through
the Kei Cuttings in the Eastern Cape you will understand why I say we
took our lives into our hands - it was like that all the way although
the road was not as good and traffic was much heavier. After an hour into
the drive it was no longer a big deal for us if the driver overtook a
big bus on a blind bend going around a mountain with his hand on the hooter.
However, I did get a fright the time he started praying as we narrowly
missed an oncoming truck. As I say, even with all the speed and “reckless”
driving, it took nine hours to drive 280km – it’s just one
of those things in India; it takes a long time to get anywhere.
MacleodGanj
“Nobody stays in Dharamsala,” we were repeatedly told by tourists
we met in trains, and so we headed for a town just a little higher in
the mountains called MacleodGanj (which is, incidentally, where the Dalai
Lama lives). The town is more Tibetan than Indian, as Indian women in
saris gave way to Tibetan women in their distinctive colourful chubas
(also spelled chupas). This was the most relaxing town I stayed in in
India, and also the most scenic. On my second last day in India we hiked
for nine hours up into the Himalayas to catch a glimpse of the snow line
– from MacleodGanj, which has an altitude of 1800m, to Triund, at
an altitude of 2975m, and then for an hour beyond. The temperature dropped
dramatically as we climbed and it was with relish that we enjoyed a cup
of coffee made over a gas stove at the Snow Line Café (rocks to
waist height covered with canvas) while mist swept over the mountain tops
and a herd of goats wandered past.
10-hour taxi ride back to Delhi The next day I embarked on a trek of a different kind – a 10-hour taxi ride to Delhi to catch my plane at midnight back to Amsterdam to connect to London. There are loads more pictures and many more stories to tell, but this is enough for now.
