Heading for the hills

After a week of the big cities in Rajasthan and Delhi, it’s time to head to the area of the big mountains. We were in Jaipur, the pink city, Jodhpur, the blue city and New Delhi., the polluted city. All were interesting in their own way and each seemed to be similar to the others in so many other ways. They are examples of the Moghul empire and they where a pretty shrewed lot. They swept into India from places that we have already visited, a combination of Amir Timur from Uzbekistan and Ghengis Khan’s son from Mongolia. It’s very cool to see the combinations of cultures and how they mixed. Unlike the Monguls who used a scorched earth policy and reputedly flung animals infected with bubonic plague into cities who resisted. The Moghuls systemized and organized already existing societies for a more efficient rule. They pacified and used local power structures to maintain control. They built forts, huge rectangular, mini cities actually in whichthe ancient shahs of the Moghul era built magnificent palaces all within walls which stretch about a half mile on each side. The one in Delhi was very interesting in that it had a 50 foot moat surrounding it filled with marijuana in the empty bed. A stoner’s paradise to be sure. The most impressive was the one in Jodhpur, the Mehrangarh, sitting high on a bluff overlooking the blue walled city below, it is amazingly intact and is a wonderful structure to wander through.

Jodhpur gets its name from the aforementioned blue walls of the city which give it a distinctive aura. Blue was the color of the Brahmin caste and the color of royalty, but later kind of got filtered down to the people in general and the city maintains its distinctive nature. Jaipur has always been considered the queen of the Rajasthan cities and gets its name from the pink sandstone from which the old city was built. It’s now a maze of alleys and little shops. Some small alleys have shops on both sides and the walkway is not even wide enough for two people to pass comfortably. Shops one after another each selling the exact same goods as the one across the alley and to either side ply their goods. I can never figure out how they make a living when there are so many duplicates. I was very surprised that I liked Delhi as much as I did. It has a great variety of historical spots from the British Raj period as well as antiquities from the old empires, a very interesting mix of history. We had a car and driver for the day, compliments of the travel agency where we booked our hill station trip--- Compliments, of course, as an indication that we paid way more than we would have to do it on our own. But the point being that it took us all day to see the various sights and would have taken several days if we had tried to do it on our own. Most impressive to me was the Baha’i Lotus Temple. Looking like a knock-off of the Sydney opera house, it is a lotus flower ready to open up and is all in white marble reaching heavenwards. It’s hugely popular with Indians and is a refuge of silence in a very noisy world outside.

The other monuments were not tourist places as such. They were filled with Indian nationals who visit from all parts of India. I keep trying to convince the ticket taker that I am a “domestic” traveler and not a “foreigner,” since entries are $5 for foreigners and .30 cents for domestics…”I’m domestic, I’m from Kerala,” I keep saying…it draws a big laugh each time and then they charge me the $5. The Arc d’ Triomphe-like India gate was built in 1931 and is inscribed with the names of the 31,000 Indians who were willing to fight and die for King and conquerer. However, with all the distinctive forts and monuments, there is a similarity to each of the Indian cities we have visited….big bazaars, shanty towns, wandering animals, plush houses beside hovels, snarled traffic franticly trying to transport people where they want to go all with horns blasting through the air.. I suppose one could make the same comparison between cities of the Central Valley in CA. Does Stockton look any different from Modesto or Merced? Probably not, but I think that New Orleans has a very distinctive and different flavor from Chicago, for example. But here, we have felt that if they blindfolded us and placed us in one or the other cities we’ve been in, it would be very difficult to distinguish where we were, outside of the individual monuments. Hence it was time to get out of Dodge and head north to the mountains for some quiet time communing with nature and the fresh air of the mountain side We have a driver and car for the eight day trip, Anoop. He’s got a good sense of humor and laughs easily, always a good sign. His English is passable, but we don’t discuss anything of consequence. I have so many questions that simply go unanswered. However, he passes the most critical test, he’s a safe driver. Safe is a relative word for someone behind the wheel of an Indian vehicle, but he doesn’t pass on every blind corner, greatly increasing the odds of our survival and he doesn’t careen back and forth around corners reducing the whiplash factor. As we left the Delhi area and entered the state of Haryana, we had to stop and pay the road taxes for that state, which we did again when we entered the state of Himachal Pradesh. It seems that each state has its own road tax and non-resident registered autos must pay for the use of the states’ highways, which were remarkably good as we tooled up Highway #1 heading north. Once we turned off the main road and headed up in altitude, that changed quickly and our 8 lane freeway quickly turned into a two lane road, which in places is a generous description of the width of the road. The eight hour drive north bought the hills, cleaner air and a sense that things were going to be different from what we’ve seen so far. It’s still quite chilly here in our first station, Shimla. It’s about 40 degrees at the moment as we lie in bed, fully clothed trying to stay warm in our unheated room. We’re at 7300 feet in elevation and it really feels different. No tuk-tuks, no bleeping horns, and clean air. Billboards advertised the selling of apartments noting that you only had to put 10% down to get the home with the balance due in 15 months…No wonder everybody lives with mom and dad even after marriage. We passed the Himachal College of aviation maintenance, which made me shake my head. The whole environment is so hilly, you’d have to search for a decent place to land a helicopter, much less a plane. There are not any airports in the area and so it seemed an odd place for that. A few miles up the road was the Jay Pee University of Information Technology. It’s a huge university and a beautiful one as well. But again, seemed an odd place for it. Himachal state is sparsely populated in comparison to the rest of India. It’s not the hotbed for IT such as Bangalore and Hyderabad, but there it is, gleming pink in its many storied towers and buildings. Very impressive it was. So here we are in Shimla, the first stop of two nights. It’s a town/village/city, I’m not quite sure which it is, built up and down the side of the mountain. We had to take three separate elevators to get to our hotel which is located up the hill as opposed to those who take elevators down to their hotels. The downside buildings are deceptive because they all look one story buildings. However, when you get off to the side, you can see the multi-levels of them. This is a town from the mid 1800’s when the Brits needed to defend the northwest territories. They built several garrisons in the area and eventually, the families of the regiments, merchants, and others who were milking the Indian society for the benefit of the British crown and empire found that this area was the place to be in the summer. A place where they could beat the intrusive heat of the lower elevations and a place where they could build their Anglican churches and other accoutrements to maintain their style of life away from the homes for the remainder of the year. But whatever the reason, it’s a lovely spot. I can’t see the high mountains from here, but that should be coming in the next few days…this makes for a delightful, albeit cold, place to begin our road trip. Headline of the day: “400 ghost teachers in North’s private medical colleges.” ….maybe it’s a required class?