Monday, May 7, 2007

JAISALMER, AMAZING

We are in Jaisalmer, on a 46 C degree midday, and we are HOT. I think heat is the theme of the trip so far, with day after day of heat and sun. Of course, we are in the Thar desert, in the middle of the Indian summer, and there is a heatwave, so yes, I guess we should expect the heat. We are all drinking lots of water, taking electolyte powder, and taking good care of each other. And we are surviving a few cases of "Delhi Belly", some lingering jet lag, and some serious culture shock. And this experience is amazing!

Bikaner was a beautiful little city, crowned with a huge red fortress/palace built by generations of Maharajahs. We climbed to the top of the hill and had a tour of the fort, which was interesting to see. One of the most interesting things we got to do was to stand in the women's rooms, on the second floor, surrounding a large courtyard. They didn't have real windows, but rather intricately carved stone screens. This was to allow the women of the court (the wives and daughters of the Maharajah) to be able to see into the main courtyard without themselves being seen by men. This practice of Purdah (limiting the movements of women to keep them homebound) is something we had discussed in class before we left, so it was interesting to see the actual spatial layout of the real historical practicing of Purdah. This fort at Bikaner also had, at the main doors, handprints carved into the rock walls and painted red. All around the handprints were notes and flowers, and it was clear that great care was taken to keep the handprints clean and painted. Our guide explained that these were the original prints, traced and carved, of the widows of Maharajahs who were expected, upon widowhood, to go to the funeral pyre and commit the act of Suti (buring alive along with the body of the husband). It was all quite a little eye-opener into some of the historical status of women in India!

After the fort, we drove out to what is known as the 'Rat Temple,' where, of course rats are venerated. At this temple, the followers believe that the rats are the reincarnations of their ancestors (and that they themselves would come back as rats in their next life). Rats run freely throughout the temple grounds and courtyard, and they are fed from huge platters of milk. In among all the normal brown rats there is a white rat, and for a visitor to see the white rat is considered to be very good luck. We didn't see the white rat, sadly, but we did all take off our shoes (as is required before entering any Hindu temple) and go in and walk around. I think it was quite a stretch for a number of people, but we not only walked around the grounds, we went single file into the temple itself, which, honestly, was a little hard to appreciate because most of us were too busy making sure that we didn't get "blessed" by any one of the thousands of rats inside ...

We arrived in Jaisalmer last evening, after a long and bumpy bus ride. The land around us is very arid, and is part of the Thar desert. (We are going out tonight to ride camels in the sand dunes!). On our bus rides, we are seeing all kinds of interesting animals : black antelopes, camels, herds of sheep and goats that sometimes block the highway, and of course, cows. The cows here are very gentle and placid. They also seem to look different than American cows. They have longer faces and their eyes are higher up in their heads. Almost like they have high cheekbones. And they are thinner, with longer legs. They don't seem to be bothered by people or traffic or noise or even our large and speedy bus zipping straight at them down the highway. We've seen so many cows by now, we are almost not noticing them anymore. (except for Andrea, who got bumped into just now by a cow on a mission!)

We stopped before Jaisalmer yesterday and had an amazing experience at one of the former summer palaces of the Rajasthani Maharishah. The place itself was part of a lush green oasis on a small lake, surrounded by desert. The buildings were both the traditional and beautiful hindu-islamic architecture, with more buildings built for the British during colonialism. There was also both a working Mosque and a Hindu temple for Vishnu. India is such a mix of cultures! But more amazing than getting to see this wonderful place was another experience we had there. The governer of the state of Rajasthan was visiting there, and it was closed to tourists. It was surrounded by armed guards and soldiers, but our wonderful guide knew the people who ran the place, and pulled some strings to get us in. While the governor was holding a meeting inside about water shortages in Western Rajasthan, we were in one of the British-influenced buildings being served a traditional British tea. When we moved over to the main building, we happened to be in the main courtyard as the Governor came out. The Governor was surrounded by a large crowd of people and press, and a few of us decided to move toward the scrum to take some photos. But while they were watching, some of the governor's people invited us all to meet the Governor! The governor was absolutely beautiful and very sharp, and she spoke with us for a few minutes, asking us why we happened to choose to be in the hottest part of India during a heatwave, telling us we were brave, and we told her we came from Elmira College in New York, and it turns out that she will be in New York for meeting next week (home before we are!). She posed with a number of photos with us and was very gracious. The whole experience was really unexpected and pretty darn amazing. Afterward on the bus we all excitedly compared photos and stories, and it made for a great trip yesterday!

More interesting glimpses of the status of women in India....

Jaisalmer, where we are today, is quite beautiful. This area is built mainly from a very golden colored stone (most of Bikaner was built from red stone, and Shekawati, which used to be a very rich trading city on the silk route, was built mainly from white and golden marble). The golden stone kind of glows, and it is very pretty. This city is very popular with tourists, although at this time of year, in the heat, we have few other Westerners around us. We saw the Jaisalmer fort this morning, which is huge (99 ramparts and walls that must spread a mile or so around the top of a large hill). To get to the top, we had to walk up steep narrow winding stone streets lined with small merchants, cows, shrines, hawkers, all while being passed at breakneck speed by Tuk-Tuks (motorized rickshaws that drive like agressive hornets) and roaring motorcycles. There are about 3000 people that live inside the walls of the fort, which made it very fascinating to experience. It feels alive, in part because it isn't a museum frozen in time, and people are still building and shaping the life there. We got to see several intricately carved Jain temples, and we climbed to the top of the ramparts and got to see an incredible view down over the city and the desert. Down in the city there is a lake, made up entirely of rainwater that gets trapped there during the monsoon season. We upped our Karma by feeding the holy catfish (which were big and fat and happy, like what one would expect from holy catfish that are fed daily by people looking for a little good Karma!).

We also went to the market, and got to experience shopping and bargaining on the streets. We also went to a clothing store where they make custom Indian style clothes. A number of students picked out gorgeous material for handmade Indian outfits, which will be custom fitted and delivered to our hotel tonight. We also visited some more expensive havelis, one of which now houses a government collective that sells the handiwork of poor Indian women. The handiwork was not basic trinkets, but rather very high quality beautiful sewn and quilted fabrics. They showed us a number of items that were designed for Dolce and Gabana, and for Versace and are specially made by the women of the collective. They were for sale, and several amongst us purchased some really beautiful items.

Most of the students are back at the hotel resting (and probably swimming to help beat the heat). A few die hard shoppers (who will not be named here!) are out continuing their shopping experience, and we also hit the internet cafe (a few very slow computers lined up in the back of a regular shop on the street).

We don't have regular computer access or phone ability, but we are all basically well and having an amazing time. More later!

Andrea and Martha

3 comments:

Elmira Dad said...

Wow! This trip sounds like the most amazing experience. I know its difficult but keep the blogs coming. We love em.

Mr.C

Anonymous said...

People who believe they have the power to exercise some measure of control over their lives are healthier, more effective and more successful than those who lack faith in their ability to effect changes in their lives.

Albert Bandura

December 1925-

Anonymous said...

Hi Andrea and Martha,

We're having a lot of fun reading about your adventures. We especially enjoyed the story about the Rat Temple!

Leon and Val