Adventures in India

"Portraits of India" Photo Video

2009-02-04T07:29:00.001-08:00

Lee has been busy editing photographs and pulling together a PowerPoint presentation of his efforts. Along the way he assembled a set of pictures of the various people encountered while on tour which he put to music (a track from the album BIG BLUE BALL entitled "River") and uploaded to his PICASA web album site. Here is the result, his PORTRAITS OF INDIA. Enjoy!

Click on the picture below to be taken to the video -- a bit more grainy than the original photographs, but you'll still get the general idea ...

A CAMBRIDGE CHRISTMAS AND BOXING DAY

2008-12-28T20:49:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning, just before 9:00 a.m., after a brisk forty minute walk from our lodgings, we were back at the gated entrance to Kings College – and paniced a bit to find no one else around! Turned out we were the very first in line for the 11 o’clock service.
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We were joined soon enough by others and soon were busy talking with a young Chinese couple (she: studying for an MBA at Cambridge; he: a foreign service officer visiting from Beijing), a very young grandmother recently returned to live in Cambridge after several years in London, and another local resident who joined us after waiting inside the walled complex (as mystified as we had been in his isolation on the other side of the gateway).

Our collective position at the head of the line assured us entry to the choir area for the late morning Christmas Day Sung Eucharist service, featuring choir, organ and a small string ensemble and performed with all the “high church” pageantry imaginable. We sat close to the altar at the far eastern end of the nave, the perfect location from which to hear and observe all the various goings-on.

The service itself was beautiful, built around a Mozart mass played and sung masterfully. Although not as crowded as the Christmas Eve service of Lessons and Carols, many participants, including us, really liked this service better, encompassing as it did a totally involving and complete worship experience. For us, it essentially striped our celebration of Christmas down to its bare essence, a very nice place to be, indeed!

We had Christmas Dinner at Browns, one of the few local establishments even open on this important religious holiday.

Later we strolled around town, seeking out holiday decorations (of which there were precious few in reality), finally returning to our Guest House in the early evening.

With little else to help pass the time, we ended up, in our cramped but comfortable quarters, just watching Christmas specials on the BBC before, once again, succumbing to an early “witching hour” and drifting off to sleep much sooner than has usually been the case.

Boxing Day dawned bright, sunny and quite chill. Since the local buses were, as they had been the day before on Christmas, not running at all, we once again hiked into town.

The next couple of hours passed quickly in the company of an excellent local guide who took us on a very informative and interesting historic walking tour.

That evening we went to experience “Jack and the Beanstalk” done up as an all-singing-all-dancing Pantomime, an impossible to describe but extremely popular cross-generational entertainment especially associated with the end-of-the-year holidays. We had a blast – and yet another early-to-bedtime to follow!

And so ended our lengthy bifurcated sojourn in India and England. We flew home December 27, 2008, via Heathrow and John F. Kennedy, airports, arriving in Cleveland in the evening, glad to home but still processing all that had gone before.

Look for some concluding observations sometime soon!

QUEUING IN CAMBRIDGE

2008-12-25T12:55:00.001-08:00

Once again, a long travel day has led to spectacular results.

Our ten hour British Airways international flight from Mumbai to London’s Heathrow proved uneventful as did our two-and-one-half hour National Express bus trip out to Cambridge. We arrived by noon December 23^rd at our accommodations on the outskirts of the village, providing an afternoon to wander around, getting our bearings, before retiring early to catch up on our sleep a bit.

Christmas Eve morning we got up easily enough - the five-and-one-half-hour time difference with India helped a lot in that respect – and had plenty of time for a hasty breakfast before leaving to make our way to Kings College Chapel. Our scheduled taxi failed to appear, however, so Heidi had to scramble down the street to scare up an alternative – which she did easily enough: we arrived at the queue just shortly before 7:00 a.m.

We weren’t exactly sure what etiquette required under the circumstances but lucked out when two local residents, Joanna and Graham, standing next to us in line, graciously took us under their wings. The day went very smoothly as a result.

As it turns out, those in line are allowed into the Chapel courtyard beginning at 7:00 a.m., late comers accommodated until church capacity (around 650 or so) is reached – which this year seemed to take until around 10:00 a.m., perhaps later.

The first few folks in the queue had actually turned up the day before. Heidi talked with one guy, fifth in line, who had attended the service some fifteen times previously; he’d camped out overnight in order to secure one of the coveted spots in the chapel choir area!

We were just outside that limit, but our early arrival did guarantee us admission. We ended up seated on the aisle a column or two back from the altar screen, allowing a (restricted) view of the choir and those participating in the service.

Once inside the courtyard, with pamphlet in hand describing what to expect while waiting, those in line are allowed to wander off to the loo, to purchase coffee and sandwiches at the snack bar, even to leave altogether as long as one returned before 1:30 p.m. when, in groups of thirty or so, we were allowed into the church.

Joanna was there to hold a spot for her mother, who had never attended before and who had prevailed on Joanna to go this year. Actually Graham was the one initially occupying her slot. He had injured his leg and had a cold to boot but had been recruited, along with another friend and two teenagers, to take turns holding the coveted spot in line. Joanna proved super organized: two folding chairs, ample snacks, reading material – all were supplied out of her large pink plastic bag!

I think Heidi and I ended up spending more time seated then did Joanna or her mother or any of the others who appeared over the course of the morning and early afternoon. The time went quickly enough as a result.

All up and down the line, folks settled in for the duration. Some played poker. There was a spirited Scrabble game going on among one gathering; another group of Chinese students squatted in a circle playing cards. We shared nearby space with a young Korean doctor and a family of four, trading stories about Christmases past and various holiday customs and traditions. We read a bit and walked around town, even stopping off to buy Boxing Day tickets to see “Jack and the Beanstalk”, a holiday pantomime playing locally here in Cambridge.

One group near the head of the line serenaded the rest of us mid-morning, as did the Senior Choristers themselves, who roamed up and down the line about an hour before the service began bedecked in Santa caps and singing secular songs of the season.

Even the weather cooperated: the temperature hovered around fifty degrees, and we even enjoyed some mid-day sunshine -- a great opportunity to photograph our surroundings!

The whole “queuing experience” proved relaxing, quite informal and rather enjoyable. Shortly before we went into the chapel, everyone packed up and left their gear piled up in a nearby covered portico – no checkroom needed, so security concerns, just a pile of stuff waiting to be picked up again once the service concluded.

Once inside the antechoir, we still had over an hour to wait. An extended organ prelude helped pass the time. Although the cloudy day precluded illumination of the stain glass windows surrounding us, the intricately detailed vaulted ceiling overhead was beautifully lit; and candles everywhere added to the overall beauty of the setting.

Dignitaries and others issued invitations to attend were ushered in as we waited, and there was a lot of last minute scurrying about in preparation. The overall atmosphere was one of great anticipation, however, as the congregation assembled, the Messiaen and Bach and Mendelshohn soared from the magnificent organ, and we read through our multipage program.

When the solo voice of the boy suprano (notified just seconds before that her had been chosen to open the service) echoed from the back of the chapel, "Once in Royal David's City...", everything came together - all the planning, the travel, the uncertainties, the waiting - to bring to reality one of our fondest dreams, attending the Christmas Eve service of Nine Lessons and Carols at Kings College Chapel in Cambridge, England.

Wow! We did it! We really did it! We're really here! We're here! Wow!

The service itself was absolutely beautiful: magnificent choral music, Biblical text intoned with a British accent, an incredible - and very large - Ruben's painting depicting the Nativity behind the altar. Who could ask for anything more?

After it was all over, we walked up into the choir area to rake in more of the setting itself, then hurried off for a light supper at a local pub before heading back to Broad Lands Guest House - where we both promptly fell into an exhausted sleep (that Indian time frame not definitely working against any alternative).

As always, the perfect beginning to our Christmas celebration and, now, a memory to cherish forever after ...

A DAY IN BOMBAY

2008-12-22T08:43:00.000-08:00

Monday morning: up at 5:15 a.m. and on to Mumbai (Bombay) from Kerala by Jet Airway flight at 8:30 a.m. where we were to check into a Le Meridian hotel to await our very-early-next-morning (2:30 a.m. Tuesday) flight to London. Only we learned upon arrival that we had a half-day city tour on tap as well! So off the four of us remaining on tour went, cameras at the ready (Diane left to join her relatives here in Mumbai visiting the South Asian side of the family for end-of-the-year festivities) …

The city of eleven to thirteen million official residents (seventeen to eighteen million likely in reality) turned out to be much more than either SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE or media coverage of the recent Mumbai Terrorist Attacks had led us to expect. We found the traffic horrific (especially after the relative sanity of Cochin); the air, smoggy; the construction cranes and high-rise condominiums, popping up everywhere. We noticed less trash around, fewer blaring horns and, surprisingly, no Sacred Cows or tuk-tuks past the city limits. At the sites we visited and on the shopping streets, fewer touts and beggars seemed in evidence. There was a palpable sense of energy in the air as well, yet lots of tumbledown shacks and shanties along the roadways. Bombay is clearly its own place: not as “advanced” as Kerala; not as chaotic as Delhi.

Our “photo ops” included a humungous outdoor laundry service sprawled over acres and acres right in the middle of the city, ...

... the main rail station, a drive along the waterfront, the fort area once dominated by the British, the monumental Gate of India and nearby Taj Hotel (reopened just yesterday), and the Hanging Gardens (now more a welcome open garden space atop Malabar Hill). The tour kept us occupied for several hours and gave us at least some sense of the city along the way.

And now to repack our suitcases and change some important mental gears, changing seasons from summer to winter and thinking “Christmas” for the very first time.

Actually, we’ve been “in transition” for awhile already. Kerala houses a substantial Christian population, and we consequently often over the past few days have encountered Christmas Stars and numerous other indications of the approaching holiday – which, evidently, everyone locally joins in celebrating. We even came across a rural village elementary school where teachers were busily decorating a tree in the courtyard prior to a visit by Santa Claus that very afternoon!. Then last night we dined with a Syrian Catholic family in Cochin; they had a crèche on display along with some other festive decorations. Even here in “deepest India”, it would appear, Christmas has made its presence felt!

OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE

2008-12-21T08:23:00.000-08:00

A day of leisure is rare enough when one is on tour, but to have more than one is a real treat indeed!

Yesterday (Thursday) before we left our mooring near the Thottappally Spillway, we visited a rural family homestead, a compact complex that seemingly contained everything needed to assure basic survival: several kinds of banana trees; mango; curry, allspice and cinnamon plants; chickens and a cowshed; fishing nets, and all manner of other plantings crowded into a plot not much larger than our lot in Shaker Heights. The family also had a small kitten, one of the few cats we’ve seen anywhere along the way. They also had satellite television and a DVD player!

The head of house and his wife demonstrated for us how to make coir, a substantial twine rope made from dried coconut fiber that has been soaked to soften it before being twisted into stout, course strands – a by-employment encouraged by the state and making good use of an abundant local commodity.

We also encountered a palm tree liquor guy who twice daily climbed a set of some ten palm trees in the area to collect liquid gathered from coconut buds and collected in clay jars suspended high in the trees, akin to how maple syrup sap is collected at home.

Then, back on board our two houseboats, we made our way slowly north to Pulinkunnu, debarking along the way both to visit a rural village and to see a long, narrow “snake boat” used in local annual river races (each paddled by a full complement of one hundred local villagers).

Our mid-day lunch was particularly spectacular, comprised of more than ten different spoon-sized bits of sweet, spicy and battered vegetables and even some freshly caught red snapper served on an ample banana leaf (making for minimal cleanup later, considering all the slicing and dicing that preceded the meal).

The weather all day was misty, cool and a bit rainy; but no matter: we enjoyed the “down time” enormously and are looking forward to another day of much of the same.

One of the biggest benefits of our Kerala extension has been the chance it has given the five of us to escape the “tour bus bubble.”

We had spent much of the previous two weeks observing India essentially through the window of our bus, avoiding eye contact when alighting to visit various sites (so as to minimize the imprecations of the aggressive touts selling souvenirs), even not greeting “anyone” with a cheery “Hello” because inevitably they wanted to lure you off to a shop somewhere.

Kerala has instead provided opportunities to walk through local villages, greet local residents and exchange wave after wave with those we float past on our houseboats – what a welcome change!

On our second day of cruising Kerala’s Backwaters (Friday), we debarked once in the morning to walk the water-soaked streets of a canal-side village to stand along the boundaries of a Hindu temple honoring Devi, a very popular female goddess, watching visitors from all over Kerala and elsewhere perambulate the Inner Sanctum while attendants set off booming fireworks and chanting voices provided ambient background “music.” The overall effect was quite magical!

In the afternoon we stopped again to walk along the canal to visit a local milk cooperative, a counterpart to another earlier stop at a distribution center where villagers could use ration cards to acquire a set quantity of rice, flour and kerosene, all provided by local state government programs. We even passed by a local Communist Party headquarters at one point; the only clue to the party’s presence, however, consisted of wall posters featuring the hammer and cycle – Big Brother was nowhere in sight!

As the day progressed, we shared the waterway with more and more houseboats, of all shapes and sizes, at times quite resembling the parade of boats along the Li River in Guilin, China.

Dileesh Kumar V, our local Trip Leader, feels the whole houseboat “industry” will flame out in another ten years or so. There are already some 500 boats floating around, and commercial tourism fostered by their presence has begun to transform local village economies. He feels it’s only a matter of time before the existing charm is compromised beyond recognition; we’re lucky to have come here at just the right time in this development process: our presence is accepted but not overly catered to, a difficult balance to maintain, I’m sure …

Saturday, quite refreshed, we drove back the two-and-one-half hours to Cochin to continue our tour. We stopped to visit a coir factory where the coconut fiber twine (using teak wooden looms originally installed by the British long, long ago) eventually ends up as thick woven mats used as flooring material.

In Cochin (also known as Kochi), early in the afternoon, we dipped our toes in the Arabian Sea, visited the oldest Christian church in India (where Vasco De Gama was initially buried in the sixteenth century; his remains have since been returned to Lisbon), hauled up Chinese-style fishing nets by pulling on heavy ropes, ate yet another delicious lunch at an outdoor café and eventually checked into our Le Meridian accommodations on the outskirts of town.

The early evening found us entranced, immersed in watching dancers apply stage makeup prior to a lengthy performance demonstration of Kathakali, a specialty of Kerala.

We followed up with dinner at a popular local hotel restaurant, again surrounded by “locals” and other visitors, feeling very much one with our cultural environment to a degree thought impossible only a short week ago.

PARADISE DISCOVERED

2008-12-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

In other places, at other times, I will dream of Kerala, I’m sure of it!

As I write, surrounded by the tropical lushness characteristic of Thailand and Malaysia – coconut palms, mango trees, plumaria blossoms, banana trees, we hear calls of unfamiliar birds mingle with far off, echoing recorded Hindu festival prayers accompanied by drums, flutes and conch shell as the sunrise brings a new day to light. It’s truly magical and entrancing setting and a far cry from what we’ve experienced so far elsewhere in India.

We arrived at our houseboat accommodations yesterday (Wednesday) mid-afternoon after a five hour air trip (1300 miles) from Delhi where we had spent the previous night following our earlier flight from Varanasi on Tuesday. As has been true so often on this trip, the long, long trek was well worth the effort.

Since gaining statehood in 1957, Kerala has been controlled by a democratically-elected Communist government. The state’s public welfare orientation is everywhere and immediately apparent, even during our two hour drive to Alappuzha here on the coast of the Arabian Sea: few sacred cows wandering around; few, if any, beggars on the streets; a popular and extensively used pubic bus network along the major highways; far fewer sputtering tuk-tuks and hardly any rickshaws anywhere; orderly (well, mostly so) driving patterns – a totally different atmosphere from the Golden Triangle area around Delhi in Rajasthan, believe me!

The six million local inhabitants enjoy a ninety-six-plus literacy rate, peacefully cohabit with some eleven different religious traditions, mix together rich historical traditions embracing Jewish, Arab, Portuguese, Dutch, English and Indian cultures, profit from a rich agricultural setting and close proximity to the Arabian Sea, are enjoying a construction boom as NRI (Non-Resident Indians) build condominiums all along the coast to use as vacation retreats.

Our two houseboats (Heidi and Lee have one to the themselves along with a crew of three; the others of the Final Five on the extension and our guide share a three room boat where we gather during the day and, often, for meals) are this morning moored alongside a canal, part of an extensive set of interconnected islands arrayed along the coast here in southern India.

In the 1960s a combined Indo-Dutch project lined this elevated network of canals in stone, replacing the more vulnerable mud dikes used for centuries as part of a rice agriculture irrigation system.

The rice paddies are lower than the surrounding canals. Each season the flooded fields are drained into the canals, and the brackish water neutralized by imported mussels which filter out the sea salt. Two crops of rice are produced each year, a plumper, softer variety than found elsewhere.

About ten years ago, backwater houseboat cruises were introduced to the area as a way to enhance tourism. The result is a relaxing wonderland retreat from the realities found elsewhere in India, a real paradise, indeed!

HOLY CITY ON THE GANGES

2008-12-21T07:24:00.000-08:00

Our two night stay in Vanarasi was punctuated by both an evening and a morning boat trip on the Ganges to observe various religious rituals being performed by the faithful on the banks and in the river of this most sacred of places for Indian Hindus.

We also spent a morning touring the Deer Park in Sarnath where Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha, preached his first sermon, thus initiating the practice of Buddhism as a religious alternative to Hinduism.

The Deer Park is focused on an ancient stupa marking the historic event itself, another fairly recent structure wherein wall paintings recount the history of the Buddha himself, an offshoot of the tree under which he is said to have attained enlightenment and an international array of commemorative plaques honoring all that has occurred here over the centuries. The archeological remnants of earlier structures are everywhere as well. There’s a small but significant archeological museum, too.

The Park draws pilgrims from all over the Buddhist world: while we were there, for example, we encountered a large group from Thailand; at our hotel, a contingent from Malaysia turned up; there were Japanese around, too, creating quite an international visitor scene overall.

However, what draws the majority of visitors clearly are the numerous ghats along the Ganges where Hindu pilgrims perform group prayers in the evening and individual ablutions every morning. We observed the evening prayers (as noisily performed by seven Hindu priests) from a wooden boat just offshore; then returned the following morning to watch, again from a boat out on the river, various rituals being conducted up and down the steeply stepped riverbank by individuals or small groups of devotees.

On both occasions we also watched cremations being undertaken at two neighboring ghats where, day after day and well into the night, over a twenty-four hour period, bodies are burned on wooden funeral pyres.

Although not as many as we might have expected were present at either the evening or the morning rituals, the scenes we witnessed were still quite interesting and inspiring.

So, too, were the wild rickshaw rides to and from the evening prayers and the morning walk back to the bus through the warren of alleyways and twisting streets making up the oldest quarter of the city (known as Kashi to the locals).

Of course, we also visited (and shopped at) one of the workshops turning out the brocaded silks for which Varanasi is internationally known – so, not everyone will be receiving dung incense sticks for Christmas this year, it would appear …

KHAJURAHO THE MAGNIFICENT

2008-12-13T23:29:00.001-08:00

Our morning excursion took us to yet another World Heritage site, this one once housing eighty-five Hindu temples built in the ninth and tenth centuries to honor each of the Chandela monarchs ruling this part of India during that time.

After the fall of the Chandela kingdom, the site fell into obscurity, lost to the encroaching landscape until rediscovered in 1864 by a British army captain hunting in the area.

The Western and Eastern complexes we visited this morning encompass most of the twenty-three or so surviving structures, many emblazoned with marvelous deep relief sandstone sculptures.

Our local guide provided an excellent overview of what, exactly, it was that we were seeing. We all learned a lot about Hinduism in the process -- and managed, as well, but just barely, to survive perhaps the most aggressive set of souvenir touts we've yet encountered!

I'm able to upload the resulting photo album because we're awaiting word about our flight to Varanasi, our final stop on this wonderful highlight tour. Wish us luck getting off the ground!

RURAL LIFE

2008-12-13T09:33:00.000-08:00

One of the nicest aspects of our current tour of India comes with the opportunities provided on occasion to get off the bus and mingle with the local Indian population.

On our way to Agra a couple of days ago, for example, we stopped to watch a potter at work.

Today we watched two water buffalo haul water to the surface from a VERY deep roadside well; passed by morning vegetable markets in the midst of busy rural villages; kept an eye out for cell phone towers, tractors, monkeys and sacred cows, goats and camels.

Over the days we’ve seen lots of temples and tombs and deserted mountain top ruins as well, helped grind corn into meal; watched laborers hard at work; and met lots and lots of really friendly people.

THREE SITES IN AGRA

2008-12-12T09:39:00.000-08:00

Over the past two days, we have visited three World Heritage Sites here in Agra - the photographs speak for themselves ...

THE TAJ MAHAL

THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY GHOST CITY OF FATEHPUR SIKRI

THE PALACES OF THE AGRA FORT

NO TIGER, BUT ...

2008-12-11T10:15:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, December 10, 2008: We have been / will be “out of range” of the Real World for several days – no television, no newspapers, no Internet connectivity (although cell phone coverage still seems available) – as we journey out into the countryside.

On our first day we drove between Jaipur and Ranthambhore National Park, about a six hour bus trip, with two stops along the way.

The first was at an elementary school supported by Grand Circle Foundation funds (underwritten in turn by a per trip fee charged those participating in Overseas Adventure Travel tours). Ten years ago the current head teacher / principal (a Dialet “Untouchable”) began teaching thirty pupils under a shade tree; now – with Foundation funds – there are five teachers, 125 students, four (tiny, tiny) classrooms (with a fifth under construction) and modern restroom facilities plus a playground on the grounds.

The school day begins with prayers (Hindu and Buddhist both), recitation of the school pledge, some yoga-like physical exercises and the singing of the Indian national anthem. Teachers then inspect everyone’s hands and teeth for cleanliness, and classes begin with students crowded into their classrooms and seated on the floor, slates in hand, ready to learn.

OAT visitors usually bring supplies with them on these visits, so there are lots of magic markers, pencils, maps and globes around; otherwise the teacher makes do with a white board on which to write assignments and such. The kids learn in both English and Hindi from kindergarten onward and begin Sanskrit in third grade. All go on to high school!

I can’t begin to express how emotionally moving this experience proved to be – even now I tear up just thinking about it. The opportunities this one young man has opened up for an entire rural community are just amazing. And Grand Circle Foundation support shows just how much can be accomplished by giving back to the community even just a small portion of one’s accumulated wealth. What an inspiring brief visit this turned out to be!

Later in the morning we stopped at what our trip leader described as “an ashram for cows.” Here old and feeble “sacred cows” are cared for in the name of a guru who took them in as a sacred duty. He also began the production of temple incense sticks using a mixture of sandalwood, herbs and cow dung (!), providing employment in the process to a bevy of local women who sweep up the dung, cart it off to the “factory,” mix in the other ingredients, form the mixture into sticks, dry it in the sun, and package it for distribution. You can guess what everyone is getting for souvenirs from this trip …

After a brief stop at a rest area a little further along the way, another couple of hours brought us directly to Paradise – the Nahargarth Hotel on the outskirts of Ranthambhore. A "reproduction" of a hunting lodge belonging to the Maharajah of Jaipur (who would have had to have ridden days to get here!), this luxury “heritage hotel” opened for business just four or five years ago. It’s truly an amazing experience to be here; just look at these pictures …

Over the course of our two night stay here, we have taken three safari trips into the national park, one of sixteen refuges set up to work towards preservation of the Indian tiger in the wild.

On our first excursion we hiked up to the ruins of an abandoned mountaintop fortress occupied over the centuries by all manner of military forces.

Incorporated in the site is also the reputed birthplace of Ganesh, the Hindu god of wealth and prosperity. As a consequence Indian devotees come from all over the subcontinent to worship here – there are even long metal railings to allow for orderly queues when major festivals are scheduled!

The shrine itself is surprisingly modest, one might even say, decrepit. A mouse nibbled away at the altar offerings while we were there; no one seemed to mind at all…

Every visitor merely offers a prayer and/or an offering before the shrine alter, then receives a blessing (marked on the forehead with a red dot) before departing. Nearby one can also leave a prayer request and receivesa in turn a string tied around the wrist to remind one of the prayers being offered on one’s behalf.

The overall mountain plateau setting is magnificent: lots of ruins – columns and stone platforms and brick walls everywhere – and far-reaching vistas. To be there at sunset was particularly nice – although the hike up and back was no picnic!

Twice the following day, early in the morning and again at mid-afternoon, we were joined by a park naturalist on two tiger hunts. We happened upon evidence of recent prowlings on both occasions but never did see a tiger. However, we did encounter lots of other wildlife – as documented in the following photo album …

And when not out on safari we’ve had this magnificent accommodation in which to luxuriate – tea and dinner outside in one of the courtyards, gourmet food at every meal, costumed service personnel forever at one’s beck and call: one could get used to this all too easily!

Thursday, December 11, 2008: Our bus trip yesterday brought us to the Overseas Adventure Travel camp outside the village of Geejgarh just off the new main trunk route between Jaipur and Agra (where we’re headed today following our overnight stay here).

We made only one stop along the way, visiting a family home extensively decorated with drawings done by the woman of the house – indigenous folk art extraordinaire and quite charming!

Other photo opportunities were confined to what we observed out the bus window, but that provided diversion enough to keep us all happy until our arrival in Geejgarh.

Our camp accommodations consist of a number of individual cabins, each with a covered veranda, surrounding a common green and facing the dining hall and a roofed pavilion with outdoor seating. The room itself has a cloth tent-like ceiling and lots of screened windows plus a big king-size bed, a couple of chairs and small tables with bedside lamps. There’s a good sized dressing room and a full bath as well. Hardly what one might expect at the “sleep away camps” of our youth …

So what does one do at camp these days? Well, the seven of us all took a camel ride, that’s what! Much more relaxing and comfortable than riding a horse, said those who had. Both experiences. We also were treated to a cooking demonstration featuring locally-grown organic ingredients, many grown in the camp garden. Before dinner we also watched colorful local dancers accompanied by drums and an small accordion-like organ keyboard instrument.

But the best part was surling up in our big bed, toes touching the supplied hot water bottles we each had been provided. The stillness and pervasive surrounding solitude all around made sleep all the easier. This morning, too, the sounds of the awakening village nearby bring back fond memories of similar early mornings in Thailand all those decades ago -- for the two of us, this experience is probably as close to that of our Peace Corps years as any we’re likely to have while here in India.

Next we're off to Agra to see the Taj Mahal!

SUNDAY IN JAIPUR

2008-12-07T16:39:00.000-08:00

All over Jaipur tonight, it seems, fireworks spangle the night sky, drums keep up their endlessly pulsating cadences, and spotlights illuminate outdoor party centers all around the city – it’s been an active weekend for weddings, that’s for sure! From our Country Inn and Suites hotel room this evening we can look out and see much of the action, just as we have for the past several days; it’s quite a colorful scene – and noisy, too!

Earlier today we continued our explorations of Jaipur, first stopping by Hawa Mahal (“Palace of the Winds”), the iconic symbol of the city, a narrow five story façade of viewing rooms sheltering palace women from the glances of men other than their husbands behind intricately-patterned, honey-combed sandstone window screens.

We moved on from there to explore more of the old walled city dating back to the early eighteenth century, first visiting Jantar Mantar, a fascinating open air astronomical observatory completed in 1734 (and whose most sensitive instruments are still accurate to within two seconds all these centuries later). The layout of the observatory most resembled a contemporary outdoor sculpture garden rather than the set of comprehensive astrological tools they in fact are …

In the same central location, just a few steps away in fact, we were able to walk through a nicely displayed collection of traditional costumes worn by the local maharaja and his family, and (housed in a local artisan collective) to watch a demonstration illustrating how a talented artist can create miniature works of art with a paint brush containing only a single hair.

Our final visits for the morning took us through the former maharaja’s city palace itself, a central portion of which was being transformed into a movie-like set for a wedding, likely similar to many of those taking place elsewhere all around town this evening. Then, to round everything off appropriately, we visited a rug-weaving workshop and showroom (where we ended up purchasing a small wool Rajasthani rug for our bedroom floor).

After lunch back at our hotel and a brief “time out,” later in the afternoon several of us opted to explore a wonderfully busy and colorful local market and then go on to visit a local Hindu temple. We managed to catch both a glorious sunset and a brief service of prayer and blessing at the latter before heading “home” for a leisurely evening of much-appreciated “rest and relaxation.”

Jaipur has proven itself a most hospitable and worthwhile travel destination. One can only hope more and more travelers will discover its multiple riches and wonders in the years ahead …

AM(B)ER WAVES OF BEAUTY IN JAIPUR

2008-12-06T10:13:00.000-08:00

Rajasthan, India's largest state, "the Land of the Rajas," has been home over the centuries to a varied series and number of locally powerful states governed by members of what come to be termed the Rajput royal military caste (second only to the Brahmin in terms of caste ranking). As a result, the state is crowded with ancient forts, palaces and walled cities.

Yesterday (Saturday, December 6th) we toured the Amber (the "b" is silent) Fort Complex much of the morning. Located on the steep slopes of a protective valley just to the north of Jaipur, the fort sprawls over the mountainside surrounded by crenelated walls marching up and down the nearby landscape -- a stunning sight when lit by the morning sun.

The interior surfaces of the palace living quarters are equally stunning in their detailed complexity and lavish use of materials. The engineering involved in creating "natural air conditioning" throughout the vast complex is quite impressive as well.

One way of getting to the fort entrance is by elephant. Usually the wait involved to "catch" an elephant, however, is much too long to make that a feasible alternative for tour groups, so we clambered aboard jeeps to make the trip. On the way back, we stopped off to visit an elephant stable, though, which gave us an opportunity to get "up close and personal" with these magnificent beasts of burden (which we also encountered on the streets of Jaipur itself with some regularity).

After a shared family-style lunch on the broad veranda of Spice Court, we retreated to our hotel room for a couple of hours. Then, that evening, we enjoyed our second hosted dinner with an Indian family, in this case a joint family housed in a haveli (mansion) dating back to 1724 and owned for most of that time by successive generations of this same family.

Three courts open up the mansion's interiors to lovely gardens. Each of the four brothers currently inhabiting the complex with their families (and under the headship of their mother) occupies their own apartment; each family unit eats separately but shares a common kitchen. The rooms are filled with all kinds of historic memorabilia, including lots of tiger skins and heads!

The daughter of the family was engaged just this past June, so we spent lots of time talking about the intricacies of arranged marriages and wedding ceremonies. The family continues to administer farms in the nearby country and to serve in various administrative posts advising the same local royal family that originally built Jaipur in the early eighteenth century.

The meal was delicious, too!

ALONG THE WAY: THE VIEW FROM THE BUS

2008-12-06T03:44:00.000-08:00

Early in the morning we wandered through a nearby wholesale flower market in Delhi; later in the afternoon we had lunch at a maharaja’s palace, now a “heritage hotel,” in the countryside outside Samode; and, in the early evening, we stopped by a village to visit with a band of itinerate snake charmers.

However, the real highlight of the day was surely our eleven hour journey by bus between Delhi and Jaipur. Outside the bus window the everyday world paraded by in endless variety, illuminating contemporary India in ways incapable of expression or comprehension otherwise.

The narrow four-lane-plus-access-lanes divided highway we were on much of the day wound from the city into the countryside, passed through rural villages and over mountain passes, across fertile farmland. Seldom encountering crossroad intersections and with nary a stop light in sight until reaching the outskirts of Jaipur, traffic was constant and heavy, consisting of every imaginable form of transportation known to humankind.

Sacred cows lingered in the middle of the roadway along the median shoulder, the breeze stirred by passing vehicles shooing away annoying flies. Lush green fields were enlivened by the brightly colored sari worn by the women weeding the newly emergent crops. Tiny shop after tiny shop interspersed with al fresco restaurants, truck stops, motor vehicle repair facilities and stretches of market stalls lined the roadway.

When, around mid-day, we got caught in a nearly two hour traffic jam, we were perfectly positioned to observe the village life surrounding us in all its amazing detail; cameras seemed to click much of the time we were stopped, recording it all. We observed richly decorated truck cab interiors, the plying of trades, the marketing of fruits and vegetables, social gatherings for tea and conversation.

We paid the price for the delay, not having lunch until nearly 4:00 p.m. and arriving at our Country Inn and Suites accommodations in Jaipur not until a little after 7:00 p.m.

And, one must admit, the view provided concerning the true reality of “everyday Indian life, culture and custom” seldom penetrated the air-conditioned reality of our elevated “glass bubble” of a bus. Nonetheless we observed a lot and learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the entire day’s fascinating journey, a fraction of which the following pictures might illustrate for your viewing pleasure …

DAY TWO IN DELHI

2008-12-04T09:57:00.000-08:00

Our second day in India’s capital was spent exploring several aspects of the city’s history and religious heritage. Of the area’s eight major historical epochs, only the very first was under Hindu dominance. The rest were under the influence of Islam. This morning we journeyed out to the southern edge of the city to roam the grounds of Qutb Minar, an early Hindu religious site transformed into an Islamic mosque built around the second highest minaret in all the Muslim world.

Following a rewarding stop at a Kashmir rug showroom (lots of shopping going on!) and lunch at a cool and comfortable Chinese restaurant, we visited the national government center complex originally constructed by the British and now surrounding Rashtrapati Bhavan, the residence of the nation’s president.

We ended our day long tour at a nearby gold-domed Sihk temple full of faithful worshippers, international visitors and pilgrims from all around the country and the world.

Later six of us shared supper at the modest but pleasant apartment condominium of Ganpat and Veena Roonwal, a retired Metals Engineering professor and his scientist wife, again on the southern edge of Delhi. We drove out in rush hour traffic and raced back home on less crowded byways – I’m unsure which was more harrowing, especially after learning in the midst of the return trip that our driver had bribed the officials involved in granting drivers licenses so he could start driving when he was sixteen instead of eighteen as the law requires!

AFTERNOON IN DELHI

2008-12-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

Following a late morning orientation session with our guide, Ajay Paliwal, (in the company of the other five remaining stalwart and intrepid travelers signing on with Overseas Adventure Travel’s “Heart of India” tour program this time around) and a light lunch in our hotel, we set out for our first half-day seeing the sights here in Delhi.

Ajay’s approach is to immerse us in today’s India as fully as possible. So our first taste came via a short ride on the city’s fairly new subway system (no photography allowed; metal detectors and bag search at every entrance; a unique electronic token fare system) to Chandi Chowk, a bustling market area at the heart of Old Delhi.

Here we boarded bicycle rickshaws for a brisk ride through the quarter’s narrow streets and alleys to the foot of the steps leading up to the country’s largest mosque, Jama Masjid, where we shucked out shoes to wander through the walled complex in the few minutes before the call to early evening prayers.

Then off we went by bus through the Muslim quarter to Raj Ghat to visit the site where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated following his assassination at the hands of a bitter Hindu fanatic.

Dinner this evening (a truly delicious range of Indian dishes!) was at the drolly-named Lazeez Affaire restaurant.

The following photo collage illustrates, the afternoon proved a rich and varied introduction to contemporary life in Old Delhi. The sunny, cool weather unfortunately didn’t keep the pollution at bay; the crowds of people everywhere, however, were surprisingly orderly, cheerful and (aside from the constantly honking horns) quietly going about their daily business everywhere we went. the desperately poor didn’t seem quite as desperate as might be expected under the circumstances (and, in fact, many are “professional,” even making a fairly good living at what they do day after day to make ends meet).

We should all sleep soundly tonight (if the pounding disco beat from the hotel’s popular lobby club permits it, that is)…

AT DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT

2008-12-04T09:49:00.000-08:00

Of course, wouldn’t you know, the first serious winter storm of the season so slowed air traffic at Ohare International Airport that our scheduled 2:35 p.m. American Eagle flight didn’t actually take off for Chicago until after 4:30 p.m. Fortunately we had allowed plenty of time to make the transfer there to our flight to Delhi (which did, in fact, board at the scheduled 7:35 p.m. departure time – only to sit at the gate for around three hours while a frozen water valve problem was resolved!)

The flight itself went well. The crew fed us dinner (not bad!), provided each of us with a snack bag and served breakfast shortly before landing. We had an entire row of four seats to ourselves which allowed us to stretch out and curl up for naps. Seatback video screens and abundant reading material supplied any needed entertainment,

Lee was particularly struck by the abundance of personal electronic equipment in view throughout the flight. Even while waiting to depart Ohare, lots of cell phones remained in use; and during the flight, laptop computers and portable DVD players were as commonplace as iPods and other portable music players have always been. That – and the individual control provided by those seatback audio visual screens – really help make long term air travel survival possible these days!

We arrived at Indira Gandhi International in Delhi around 12:15 a.m. on Wednesday, December 3rd, having missed Tuesday altogether as a result. Heidi was disappointed to realize that our flight pattern took us over Greenland and Russia instead of more to the west of the North Pole. That pattern means that, although we will return through London, she still can’t claim to have flown “around the world.”

Our expected pre-arranged hotel pick-up, not surprisingly, was not waiting for us when we emerged from Customs and Immigration around 2:00 a.m. or so. We had back-up instructions from Jeremy Kahn, however, and finally managed to prepay for a taxi that whisked us off the thirty minutes or so to the Park Hotel near Connaught Circle in New Dehli, our home for the next three nights.

First impressions are a bit misty since the seasonal fog had settled in by the time we were making our way into the city – and, of course, the traffic at that time of night was minimal. Near the airport and also close to our hotel we passed by various sites connected with the ongoing construction of the underground Delhi Metro subway system extension to the airport. Horns were beeping and honking constantly; traffic signals appeared only advisory – we ran a couple of red lights with impunity. As we got closer to town, huge tree limbs overhung the roadway, providing much more greenery than expected. And there weren’t visible crowds of people around – everything appeared quite calm and serene.

Our hotel is quite contemporary and sleek, reminding us of the W chain in the United States; the rooms are comfortable, nicely designed and quiet – despite the fact that it houses one of the city’s most popular nightspots!

DEPARTURE DAY

2008-12-01T05:24:00.000-08:00

We're off!

Actually, not quite … Graham, the young church organist staying in our home to care for the cats, the plants and the furnace, will drive us to Hopkins International Airport around noon today for our mid-afternoon flight to Chicago.

We’re hopeful snowy weather in the Windy City won’t delay our ongoing flight to Dehli (scheduled for after 7:00 p.m. this evening), but one never knows. At the very least, we will be on our way.

Yesterday we received another email from May Chu. She, her friend from Stanford, her brother and his wife, all originally scheduled to join us on tour, had already told us in an earlier note of their decision to opt out – much to our disappointment. In her latest memo, she passed on word that at least three others had done likewise – leaving, at most, seven intrepid travelers still on board.

We waited word all day from OAT that the dwindling numbers would lead to cancelation of the trip altogether. That never came, so out assumption is that the tour is still on schedule. All we can hope for now is that we’re a compatible lot!

NOTE: I’ve added a few holiday photos to earlier posts, reacquainting myself in the process with some technological tools I haven’t made use of for quite some time. Enjoy!

After the Feast

2008-12-01T04:36:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is really one of the best holidays out there, Alissa thinks, especially since it always takes place on a Thursday and is followed by a long weekend. Even if one doesn’t head off to the mall on Friday, there’s still lots to do – and one doesn’t absolutely have to have turkey again right away!

Yesterday, while Ted went off for a half-day at the office, the rest of us played a bit of UNO (not the “Speed UNO” Jon and Julia introduced us to last summer in Saugatuck; more the “Geriatric” game that comes from playing with two Senior Citizens, the perfect plot for an hilarious improve routine, believe me …). Heidi and Alissa then went off to lunch and to search out a replacement hat for Heidi before meeting the rest of us (including Ted) to see BOLT – in 3D, no less.

Later we motored off to Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago to meet Evan, Sarah and Oliver and to tour the Christmas lights on display there, followed by a pizza party and some Wii Guitar Hero at their Hoyne Street home.

A great way to spend a (bright, cold but sunny) day!

THANKSGIVING 2008

A Holiday to Remember

2008-11-28T07:31:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving seemed ever so surreal this year.

Evan, Sarah and Oliver joined the two of us at the Lonergans’ Oak Park home, and Alissa nicely managed her first ever holiday turkey feast, serving up not only all the essentials and pumpkin pie for desert but adding a pumpkin cheesecake to the mix as well.

However, in the background loomed the disconcerting news from Mumbai, deep into the second day dealing with a series of devastating terrorist attacks. The saga has continued unfolding even this morning with commandos still seeking to clear out remaining terrorist holdouts in at least two locations, the Taj Hotel and Towers and a conservative Jewish community center.

Furthermore we have become aware that some of the reports found in the New York Times are being filed from the scene by Jeremy Kahn, a friend of Evan and Sarah’s whom we are planning to see in Dehli next week!

We’ve also been contacted via email by a tour traveling companion wondering about what we make of the situation and its potential effect on our trip to India. We’ve replied that we still plan to go (!) and, on the basis of earlier experiences in similar circumstances while traveling in Europe, expect that “things will work out for the best.” Of course, the entire situation is still quite fluid – which only adds to the tenuous sense of what the immediate future holds in store …

Surreal, indeed!

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - A (Very Personal) Film Review

2008-11-27T06:02:00.000-08:00

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, which we saw yesterday afternoon at the Century Theater in Chicago, proved to be an astonishing film, a fantasy romance set amidst the endless complexities of contemporary life in India, particularly Mumbai (the site of a coordinated terrorist attack targeting two luxury hotels, a hospital, the train station and other sites throughout the city even as we watched the movie).

Director Danny Boyle hurtled us, his rapt audience, through an ever-changing kaleidoscope of images and set pieces, rummaging through slum and mansion, organized crime gang life, back office call centers, abandoned high rise construction sites, crowded train stations, alleyways, brothels, even airport runways!

One sequence stitched together a fascinating loop of scenes set on various trains racing through the countryside (clearly a reference to Boyle’s earlier hit film, TRAINSPOTTING). We’re even taken to the Taj Mahal but see it from a totally different perspective (a cautionary tale for us soon-to-be visitors, one involving shoe thefts and clueless “innocents abroad”).

The bits of humor sprinkled throughout often focused, in fact, on stereotypical tourists – Australian, German, American – as well as British call center supplicants angered by being shuttled off to Indian respondents. The cultural gap between East and West was thus yet another theme explored in passing; so, too, were Bollywood films, Hinduism, sanctioned police brutality, rapid economic change, family ties, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and the persistence of True Love through all manner of time and circumstance.

The resulting stew proved riveting – and, truth be told, a bit daunting. On our way out of the theater, Heidi remarked “Maybe I’ve had enough of India,” even without setting foot in the country itself! Clearly, for her at least, it provided a wake-up call, throwing into sharp relief the distinction between a fifty-year-old idealistic set of images and dreamscapes and the hard realities of the early twenty-first century.

We found Thailand upon our return visit in 2003, nearly forty years after our Peace Corps years, to have been transformed beyond our wildest imaginings. Likely India will prove at least as revelatory an experience, one transforming our expectations into concrete experiences.

Our trepidation, as a consequence, has only increased, if only in light of the fact that this distance between image and reality, expectation and experience has grown exponentially, just in the past few days!

Thanksgiving Eve 2008

2008-11-26T19:42:00.000-08:00

The Megabus trip yesterday between Cleveland and Chicago took a bit longer than driving, but – even with the local rapid transit rides tacked on either end – we still arrived in Oak Park before 4:00 p.m. I don’t mind driving but found the time passed much more enjoyably when I could read and listen to my iPod Touch and look out over the countryside from the top of the double decker bus instead ...

After an early dinner, Alissa and Ted went off to see CHANGELING while we took care of the grandchildren, reading those interested some of the books about India we had brought with us as gifts. We escaped the snow swirling around when we left Cleveland and seem assured of sunny (if seasonably cold) weather over the next several days, a welcome respite from Cleveland’s cloudy gray.

This afternoon the two of us are off to see SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, a much-anticipated prelude to our trip. The reviews (and a personal recommendation from friends in San Francisco) have been particularly complementary. We were pleased to discover it showing here in the Chicago area – it won’t open at the Cedar Lee in Cleveland Heights until mid-December. Tonight, after the movie, we’ll have supper with Evan, Sarah and Oliver in their Lincoln Square home before returning to Oak Park.

Sounds like a good way to spend the day before Thanksgiving …

In Anticipation

2008-11-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

Early tomorrow morning we are off for Chicago, taking the Megabus to be with the Lonergans and the Evan Makelas for Thanksgiving. The trip will seem something like a shakedown cruise for the longer trek to Delhi scheduled for a week from today. Since we will be back here Saturday evening, we will have a day and a half to recover and to pack up for that trip; but, certainly, anticipation hangs heavily in the air this evening, believe me!

Partially this sense of anticipation revolves around the uncertainty surrounding what lies ahead. Not that we both haven't traveled internationally prior to this. Lee, in fact, spent a day in Mumbai, then Bombay, back in 1962 (on the same voyage during which he stopped off in Sri Lanka -- then Ceylon -- as well as Singapore and Saigon ); both of us have been elsewhere in East and Southeast Asia, too: Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia ...

But India is something else again. On the one hand, we might find the atmosphere like that of Thailand in the mid-nineteen-sixties or Japan a few years earlier. But, certainly the cities will seem, at least to some degree, much more integrated into the global community than either Bangkok or Tokyo was "back in the day." And neither country was nearly as poor nor as crowded even then as India is today.

I often caution my students, when discussing Chinese history and culture, to avoid saying "the Chinese" since it's impossible to categorize an entire population of over a billion with a single adjective. Clearly the same is true of India. On the other hand, I'm sure, once we are on the scene, we'll make some categorical generalizations and feel some kind of general emotional reaction (empathy? detachment? unease?) that will serve as a touchstone thereafter. What that reaction will be, however, remains the great unknown at this moment in time.

And therein lies the anticipation.

... and a Quiet Sunday

2008-11-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

A sunny, but VERY cold, day, perfect for staying inside and reading through the New York Times Sunday edition and our local newspaper. All this cold weather will make India's warmth in a couple of weeks all the more welcome!

Among all its many articles today, the Metro section of the Cleveland Sunday Plain Dealer carried a nice, long, illustrated article about yesterday's Shaker Heights street sign sale, making the same point about how the response indicated something special about the nature of our local community identification hereabouts.

A few days ago the paper carried a similar article focusing on the Plymouth Church of Shaker Heights' Candy Circle concluding its activities after some ninety-five years of twice annual gatherings to make hand-dipped chocolates for sale to benefit various church projects and activities. This morning the entire Plymouth congregation honored all those taking a hand in these sessions over the decades with a valedictory during the service followed by a Silver Coffee (using silver donated by the Candy Circle years ago) and announcement that their final project would be to donate the needed funds for a total renovation of the Conference Room, hereafter to be known as the "Candy Circle Conference Room" -- a nice way to honor all those years of service to the congregation (to say nothing of all the sweetness provided during that time)!

Yet another reminder of the very special nature of this particular community ...

A Busy Saturday

2008-11-22T20:55:00.000-08:00

Much of the day was spent printing out, addressing and stuffing our annual holiday letter, focused on Thanksgiving this year since we will be away much of the month of December. We also watched Ohio State defeat -- quite handily -- the University of Michigan on T.V. in the final football game of the current season ...

Lee also walked over to City Hall several times hoping to snare one of the "old" Braemar Road street signs being offered for sale beginning today (even though the replacements aren't yet fully in place, at least on our street). No such luck, however. On the first visit he picked up number 240 (!), figured it would be a couple of hours before he could get in to the display area to see if one of the two signs available was still around, and returned home where it was nice and warm to wait 'til noon to return.

On the second trip, he found the numbers only up to 95, went back home again for another couple of hours, walked back again around 2:00 p.m. only to find the available stock had dwindled down to a precious few -- only about twenty were still lying around waiting to be "adopted," not including either of those from our street.

The whole experience just goes to show how much affection folks here abouts have towards their neighborhoods and the city of Shaker Heights in general. Sort of makes you feel good all over -- even if we didn't snag one of the signs for our very own.

Considering Images and Attitudes

2008-11-21T12:38:00.000-08:00

Throughout my entire thirty-five year university-level teaching career, I began courses asking students to complete attitude surveys I hoped would capture their existing impressions of the culture, a study of the history of which they were about to embark upon over the weeks and months to come.

The images and attitudes conveyed in these surveys helped me gauge where it was that students stood, as a group and individually, at this critical departure point so that I could link the course effectively to their existing knowledge base. The exercise also provided a benchmark against which these same students could measure their future progress, at least to some degree. Otherwise students often misjudged how much (or how little) they had actually learned over the course of a semester's study of Japanese or Chinese history. Over time another benefit emerged: I could begin to see changes in general American attitudes towards Japan and China reflected in my students responses to three simple questions -- "When you think of Japan (or China), what comes to mind?"; "When you think of Japanese culture, what comes to mind?"; "When you think of the Japanese people, what comes to mind?

In introducing these surveys, I always used "India" as an example, outlining for my students the type of responses I was seeking from them by providing examples drawn from my own personal responses to the survey questions posed above with "India" substituted for "China" or "Japan." I concluded with the following set of summary observations:

I have a fairly specific view of India but in general it lacks depth. I find India as an image is largely depressing although exotic as well. The Indian people fascinate but repel as individuals -- I don't appear to hold them in the best of lights. Indian culture appeals strongly. To sum up briefly, India comes across to me at the moment as a problem area of the world while the Indian people have a favorable image -- at a distance -- and the culture of the country intrigues a great deal.

Interestingly, I have never felt the need to "revise" this set of images and attitudes during the last thirty-five or more years ... until now.

This afternoon I finished reading Mira Kamdar's Planet India which I found to be, among the several books I've read lately in preparation for our trip, to be by far the most useful and informative overview of contemporary Indian life and culture. In her concluding pages, the author sums up the transformation I have come to feel myself in how I have come to see "India" on the eve of our departure:

India has within its grasp all the elements it needs to imagine a different trajectory. Because it is still a developing country, it can chose to develop differently. India does not have to blindly follow the American agribusiness model and become another fast-food nation. It does not have to allow a military-industrial complex to dictate national priorities. It can -- it must --forge its own path, lest a world hell bent on consumption for its own sake and the dangerous vanities of military one-upmanship lead us all into oblivion.

Kamdar's overview provides much more than this, especially in its litany of specific information about the current state of Indian life and culture. I found the book so useful that, although I began reading a copy from our local library, before finishing it, I ordered a paperback version to bring with me on tour to refer to as needed when attempting to identify personalities and products and other particular interests I might want to look into while we are "in country." Her focus on India's "soft power" was also welcome -- I'm very much looking forward to exploring some of its manifestations on the ground from which they originated.

I still am perhaps more tentative and apprehensive about this travel adventure than any other I have ever been on in years past. But the excitement IS building -- and Planet India has provided much of the anticipatory momentum I'm now experiencing.

Preparations All in Hand, We Think!

2008-11-20T08:19:00.000-08:00

More than a year ago, shortly after our return from our THIRTY-TWO RAKAN tour of Japan, we decided to act on one of Heidi's most persistent dreams and make plans to travel through India as our next major international travel trek.

Fortunately, good friends and neighbors, Nancy and Tony Saada, had recently traveled there with Overseas Adventure Travel, an agency through which they had taken a number of enjoyable and worthwhile tours in the past. We looked over the OAT itinerary, liked what we saw, called to make reservations and ended up with a December 1, 2008 departure date. We let another good friend (and traveling companion on trips to Kyoto and Macao in 2003) , May Chu, know of our plans; and, lo and behold, she signed on as well together with another one of her friends!

Realizing that our return air flight would take us through London on December 23rd, we decided to realize another long held desire to witness the annual Twelve Lessons and Carols Christmas Eve service at King's College Chapel at the University of Cambridge and made reservations at a Bed and Breakfast in Cambridge where we will spent Christmas 2008.

Our only misstep was not realizing that Thanksgiving this year fell during the last week of November. Although we tried to change our flight reservations once we did, that proved prohibitively expensive. So we are taking the Megabus to Chicago next Tuesday, November 25th, spending the holiday in Chicago, returning to Cleveland on Saturday, November 29th, then flying out to Dehli (via Chicago!) on December 1st. At least Lee won't have to make the drive back and forth to the Windy City by automobile ...

Otherwise, with lots and lots of Pingo phone calls to England, emails to contacts in India and other bits and pieces of communication, everything seems "ready to go" at this point. We've done lots of reading, bought new suitcases and other travel paraphernalia, even borrowed a brand new small portable laptop computer from Cleveland State University's Department of History to make this blogging process a bit easier to manage over the weeks ahead.

So there you have it: the first entry in yet another series of travel blog entries ...