The Vegetarian Within Us All

Once I would have thought meat was a regular part of one's subsistence, so tasty and natural it is. It seemed a simple truth thinking that as beasts ourselves it is our rightful place to eat other animals. And yet one forgets that many animals don't eat meat at all. I noticed on Saturday, 25 June that we do not necessarily miss meat.

Me, Mark, and Hans in the back seat of a tuk-tuk
whizzing through traffic. 

We had packed our bags with toilet paper, medicine, and money for we were going to the city! We all needed to escape the terrifying diet imposed on us at the GMRT. Everyday of the week the GMRT has a different meal planned for us, in theory. And yet to the untrained tongue it all tastes the same. Not only does it taste the same, for that could be livable, but it looks the same.

Our diet is composed of coupons. We buy coupons from a booth and hand those coupons to the next guy in line. Then we grab a metal plate and shuffle down the line. First there is a bin of yellow goop, usually called dal, but it is not! There are no lentils in it! But it is yellow always, of soupy consistency and if you're lucky will find a carrot sliver inside. The next is rice and a cracker wafer, which tastes good, and it has structure (the cracker)! The next bin is a red goop with beans or lentils inside. This is followed by yogurt and a green mixture of bitter vegetables.

Chinese dinner on Mondays. It's the one break in an endless
sea of red and yellow mush.

This is the way it goes for lunch and dinner every single day except on Mondays! On Mondays they make a pale version of Chinese food (noodles, vegetable rice, odd pan fried vegetables), and red goop in case you want some of that again. On Wednesdays, if you ask the kitchen before noon for non-vegetarian food they will charges you three times the price and give you a tiny chicken thing but I have never ordered this.

I think this is a form of mental torture. If they feed us the exact same food everyday except on Monday then we grow to depend on Mondays. Then once we rely heavily upon Monday for our sanity they can manipulate us. I won't let this happen!

So on Saturday we all made a journey into Pune. We left at 07:05 on the GMRT shuttle bus. It is normally a 2 hour journey but today it turned out to be 3 hours. We arrived at the NCRA, where I had slept that one night on my way to the GMRT. There we ran into the Director, the man who had helped me retrieve my laptop.

A Food Bazaar is tiny in comparison to Walmart or Sobeys
and yet it was heaven on earth to find. That might be a little
too exaggerated, we weren't that desperate for better food right?

We had no clue of where to go for shopping and we were thinking of just renting a car for the day (3000 Rps perhaps!). He advised us to head by tuk-tuk to the Pune Central Mall, East Square Mall, and Ozone Mall. None of them were more than 4km away so taking a tuk-tuk was the best option by far. The six of us would fit into two tuk-tuks and the average price of a tuk-tuk is 11Rps per kilometer. So we ended up paying 120Rps. for two tuk-tuks to take us to Pune Central Mall, the largest of the malls.

It pales in comparison to a Canadian mall but it is the tabernacle of society in Pune, as all the cool rich kids hang out there. We all headed up to the top floor, for it was designed up, instead of out like the sprawling malls of Canada. On the top we found our true destination. Me and Mark found Smokey Joe's Pizza! At last we could have a crust on our bread! We ordered two large pizzas for 845Rps. Each was 30.48cm in diameter, one with pineapple, pork bacon, and pork sausage, and one with chicken, garlic, and pork bacon. It was a hefty price but worth it. All the insanity that the GMRT canteen had worked up within me seeped out as I enjoyed stuffing my face with pizza and drinking a coke (the first coke I'd had in years). But it was so refreshing! We saved half of each pizza for the next day at the GMRT.

Then we got down to business. Some people had to buy clothes, some people wanted to grocery shop, and some people wanted to lounge on couches and digest their pizza. And what's that?! The Miss India Beauty Pageant Tryouts to were about to take place? What splendid luck! It truly was going to be a glorious day.

Mark trying on clothes at Fab India.

The pizza wasn't sitting to well with us. We both each still had a stomach flu. Mine was just pittering out but Mark was only on the verge of his. He wasn't feeling too good and the bathrooms were out of service. We were fine really, it was more that our stomachs had recently shrunken and we had just over eaten by a lot.

So as everyone else hustled about shopping and purchasing we sat on couches and watched some guy spin a disk. The guy was to DJ while the girls got their strut on. He'd crank the volume too loud and the manager would come out yelling at him, not that we could hear him, we were on the second story looking down on them from above. It was very funny to observe, the guy would blast it again as soon as the manager disappeared. Eventually he just unplugged the DJ.

One of two nice restaurants near the GMRT.
The other is a wine bar! I''m going there tomorrow
after climbing the mountain!

We were getting kind of nervous. Where were the girls? I wanted to see the possible future Miss Indias'. I felt I had experience in the matter and perhaps could help the judges out. But they weren't supposed to start until 16:30! Noooo! What horrible luck, that was the exact time we had to be back at the NCRA for the bus ride back to the GMRT and we still had another mall to go to too.

Well we knew we were defeated so we decided it was time we got our asses up off the comfy seats and do some grocery shopping. We were on the market for something easily made. The only cooking device we had access to was a kettle. Microwaves are obviously forbidden on a radio wave telescope observatory. Your not even allowed to have a cell phone. So with only a kettle our options were limited. Instant noodles, cookies, oatmeal (with assorted additives), and things for our hygiene. This is what we got. The oats were actually one of my favorite buys. It has so much needed fiber, protein, starch, and combined with cashews, almonds, dates, raisins and haselnut spread made one tasty meal. And it only requires a kettle.

Later, we made our way to Ozone mall. It wasn't so much a mall as a department store with food. Not very big but enough variety that some of us bought more things. I bought a wooden brush for my hair.

Then we made a quick stop at Fab India, a fabulous fabric store. They sell cloths, bedding, dishes, candles and furniture, kind of an Indian Ikea.

Kobe Sizzlers Steak House. We each had a lemon-cream,
a tasty concoction of sprite and vanilla ice cream.

Our last destination of the day (it was drawing near 16:00) was Kobe Sizzlers Steak House. What, you might ask, a steak house in India? Yes, and this is where I made my realization that people don't necessarily require meat. Many Indian people are vegetarian, and those few that aren't tend to only eat chicken. And yet here they served a sacred animal, cow.

I was thinking that perhaps eating meat is just a way of signifying status. Or rather, perhaps excessive eating of meat, without regard for the origin of the meat, is what gives one a sense of status. In many cultures meat is ingrained into the cultural menu and I think that is perfectly fine because those cultures (traditionally, pre-modern era) raised the meat that they ate. The First People of North America were very spiritual and revered the animal that they would eat. It was treated as an equal.

There were a few people inside already. A family just sitting down to eat. The food they served here looked amazing. Great heaping plates of vegetables with a steak sizzling on top. Of course they served all sorts of meats from seafood to pork, chicken and finally beef. They also had a great vegetarian section including pizza and pasta.

Everyone ordered a lemon-cream (or lemon soda with ice cream) except Connie who ordered a sizzling steak. When it finally arrived it looked tasty. But she hardly touched it and in fact we had to help her eat it so that we could leave in time. It was surprising how little we actually wanted the meat when it was placed before us. Nidhi is a vegetarian and so she couldn't help, but Greg, Hans, Mark, and I did. It was very tasty which perhaps tells of why its so popular in developed countries.

Pune bridge.

On the way back to the NCRA we got stuck in traffic and had to walk part way and catch another tuk-tuk back. Our driver was stupid and took the wrong route (because he was afraid of getting caught without a license). We arrived just in time to catch the bus and arrived back at the GMRT at 19:30.

We packed our new food away and quickly fell asleep. Perhaps the stomach flu, in my case Cholera, still hadn't passed.

Overall a nice day.

Whats Next

Me with my physics face on.

Now that I've arrived at the GMRT, my place of residence for the next two months, the average reader may not wish to read about my day to day life. Where previously it was adventurous and risky now I spend most of my days at a computer observing the pulsar B2045-16 in hopes of understanding the infant universe. There is much more to it than that and I will share it all but there is definitely not two months worth of material for me to write on. I'm to have to dig deep as it is.

So in order to keep your attention I will let you in on a few things that are to come. Perhaps I am too presumptuous thinking you will be interested at all and so I will leave a few surprises off the list, hoping that curiosity will draw you back at a later date to see what they are.

Mark trying to understand the universe.

- There is a grand mountain that pokes up from the ground. The distance to it is hard to judge but I think it is easily safe to say that it is larger than the one in Jaipur. There are no stairs on this mountain that I can see. There are no roads leading up to it that I know of. And every night we see a fire burning at the second highest peak at what appears to be a temple. Me and Mark will leave early one morning and travel by foot to the mountain and scale it to the top. I'm looking forward to these pictures. I'll take a GPS so I can let you know the altitude at the top.

The shielding door on the Terminal Room. We spend most
of our time behind this door computing. The door is
supposed to be for stopping radio interference but
it's really for keeping leopards and tigers out.

- There are at least four different kinds of reptiles (not including the snakes), and a plethora of large bugs. I would like to document them all in a long post full of pictures and descriptions of their behaviors.

- Hopefully we can track down a leopard. This one would be a challenge.

- All four venomous snakes. They are known as The Big Four. I'll be sure to bring along the polyvalance antivenin just in case.

I have had a week to the day (upon writing this entry) at the GMRT and I have been trying to clean up my backlog of blogs. Soon I will run out of old material and I'll be fully up-to-date. Keep checking back.

To the GMRT

Security check in through Jaipur is slow and inefficient! They have different scanners depending on your airline and sometimes there is a huge lineup at one while the others are completely free. Possibly due to all the commotion around me to get through security I forgot my laptop in the plastic bucket after it went through the scanner.

Trees with unusual roots coming out of branches.
For Jacob's Tree Collection.

I walked away from security with Mark and Connie up to the bookstore and finally to boarding thinking I had everything. I should have found it odd that my bag was lighter or that while mark was using his laptop I wasn't. Apparently they called over the paging system for me (though it was probably in Hindi). 

I realized once we landed in Pune and midnight that I had forgotten my laptop in Jaipur and suddenly a whole ordeal began that would end up last for days before I finally got it back. The lady at my airline counter in Pune called Jaipur and confirmed that they still had it. She gave me a handwritten note saying I had to send scanned documents to Jaipur airport in order to get it back. I was happy with that and so I cleared my mind of worry and we searched for a taxi.

As we try to find a taxi.

That's not such an easy job apparently. We were supposed to have a taxi already booked for us but that didn't happen. All the normal taxis were busy and we didn't want to take a tuk-tuk (auto-rickshaw) because we had too much luggage. We found a pre-paid taxi service that over charged us. We paid 450Rps but didn't care because we were tired and it's not that much in CAD.

We were going to the NCRA or National Centre for Radio Astrophysics where they had a guest house (70Rps/night) and from where we could take a shuttle bus to our final location in the morning. The taxi, when it finally arrived, smelled like rotten fish.

Stray dogs who chased me.

The guest house at the NCRA was nothing special. Bugs everywhere as expected and a tiny bar of soap on your pillow. We finally checked in and were asleep by 02:00 and had to wake up at 06:30 whence I got chance by a stray dog probably with rabies. We paid of night fee and took the free shuttle bus to the GMRT or Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope. The trip was about 2 hours though it was only 80km away. The average speed of drivers in India seems to be around 70-80km/h.

When we finally got there we found the atmosphere significantly better than previous accommodation. The campus was secluded and there were no honking cars. There were next to no stray dogs. There was free drinking water in most buildings and almost everyone spoke English well enough. There were also massive antenna cover the country side that could be seen from anywhere! Those were the antenna that we would use to observe to universe as an infant.

Our guest house has a square courtyard inside it.

We still hadn't seen very much rain. It was supposed to be the rainy season in India right now, from June-August, though the worst hit the south. It was however a lot cooler than Rajistan. Off in the distance a mountain loomed over us. It clearly marked an adventure to come. Me and Mark would climb that mountain before we left the GMRT (still haven't as of writing this).

The first day consisted of orientation with the technicalities of the software and hardware. The GMRT is a working, constantly updated/modified apparatus designed over 15 years. The professor I was studying under was one of the co founders and he wrote much of the software.

Me and Mark share a room at GMRT.
(Mark is a slobby gremlin)

My side of our room.

Also on the campus I found a gym, ping-pong, and cricket, as well as various reptiles and amphibians. There are also somethings to watch out for: 4 types of poisonous snakes, leopards, and scorpions. Of these dangerous things I have only seen scorpions.

Also after losing my laptop (which I still had not recovered) I did not take very many pictures. I'll take more once I get it back.

To Jaipur

We left the Taj Mahal on Saturday, 11 June. We were to make our way to Jaipur through the Rajistani desert. The temperature was about 50C but it was probably my favorite car ride anyway. We developed this habit of every morning condensing all of our partially drank water bottles down to 1 or 2. This would be enough to get us to the nearest place that sold water. Some places upon seeing a foreigner would double or triple the price of water but the normal price is 15Rps per bottle.

By this point I think we were finally coming to realize the true value of the Rupee. We were also getting pretty good at haggling. I think it is mostly about how much confidence you exude. If they could sense your lack of fear (if that's possible) then they would be more willing to drop the price. So with lack of fear we could sometimes get three bottles of water for 40Rps.

I always tried not to think about how cheap things were. In Canada we pay $1 for 500ml. In India 15Rps(=30cents) would get you 1L. If I thought too much about the cheap cost, and combined it with the realization that most people make only a few Rupees per day, then I felt that I was open to be taken advantage of. I remember at times paying 100Rps for a bottle of water (the same price as in Canada)!

So we made our way through the desert, the AC kicking on and off, and at some point passed through the Rajistani toll booth. When Red Rose opened the window a wave of heat washed through the car giving us a refreshing 2nd degree burn. I think that the toll booth operator tried to take advantage of our driver because they saw us in the car.

Amber Fort in Jaipur behind Mark and Connie.

About 30 minutes after the toll we stopped in a little village to pay the local highwayman. While our driver paid the machine gun toting guys a man walked over to the car with a bunch of necklaces. They were kind of pretty so I opened the door (much to Connie's and Mark's disapproval) and tried to barter him down to 3 necklaces for 200Rps. He originally asked 300Rps each. I got him down to 3 for 300Rps but he held his ground there saying "This is my first job! I am good luck!". I think given more time I would have bought them for 300Rps. They were actually nice. One was carved camel bone, one was green malachite, and one was something purple and smooth.

Watering hole.

Before long we were on the road again. After another 2h our driver asked us if we'd like to see something off of our normal route. Yes please! He took us to this ancient watering temple. He got a local villager man who knew a speck of English to tour us through the temple. Though it was super hot this was one of my favorite sights. It wasn't too large of a temple but it was old and stood for a common cause among the long gone people of India.

The watering hole was a staircase that went down 19 stories (not full skyscraper stories) and at the bottom water sat. Even in the typical heat of the desert the water stayed or was refreshed by some other source. On one side of the square well there were a labyrinth of rooms and tunnels. I felt somewhat like Indiana Jones mucking around amongst the ruins. I actually tried pushing on odd look stones that protruded from the walls hoping that one would open a secret door. Apparently there was an underground tunnel that lead from there for 25km away from the well (though I don't know where it surfaces).

As we were leaving mark tipped the local 100Rps. We felt bad for under tipping the Taj Mahal guide, and this villager probably needed the money more. Apparently there is a zoo around there too that we could have visited but the driver convinced us to head on to Jaipur.

Snake Charmer. I saw the snake bite him and he didn't
 even blink. He must have defanged the poor snake!

The closer we got to Jaipur the more hilly the region got until finally ahead of us lay this grand wall of rock. Jaipur is nestled in a valley surrounded by high hills on all sides. It reminded me of Hollywood however the other two couldn't see it. We stopped at the entrance to Jaipur to see the Queen's Gardens. While the other two saw it, I chose to go for a walk up the road and look at the landscape around there.

Off in the distance we saw a Hindu Temple situated at the peak of a mountain with a long winding staircase leading up to it. I asked our driver about it and he said to climb up would take 2 hours and lots of water. I don't think he wanted to do it. Not in the heat anyway. I didn't really care if he wanted to come or not. He could stay at the bottom. But once we got into the real Jaipur city I saw that there was an even higher temple with an even longer staircase so the first one was washed from my mind.

Camel doing a horses's job.

We probably drove for another hour within the city looking for our hotel and our driver had to ask for directions a few times. When we finally got the hotel we decided to stay in for the night since it was already late.

In the lobby it said there was a puppet show on the roof during dinner so we had dinner up there. Dinner was not the best we'd had so far. The puppeteer (age:22) came to talk to us. He told us a sad story of his life and how he could not read or write and how his family passed down the puppetry art from generation to generation. He also showed me a list of places he had played at (including for BBC). I was kind of excited to see him perform. He said he'd play after we ate. So I guess that meant he would awkwardly hover over our shoulder until we finished.

When we finally finished he did his performance which was about 5 minutes long and he made a puppet wiggle across the stage a few times to the beat of the top song in the country at the time. It was way below expectations and Mark later claimed he could do better.

The guy then gave us each a puppet as a "gift" and said that he enjoyed our audiences. Mark got really awkward at this point. I nearly burst out laughing! He thought the show was utterly disappointing and wasn't going to tip him, and he couldn't keep the puppet though it was a gift. It was so funny to watch him try to explain to the guy that he couldn't accept this gift all the while the guy tried to convince him that it really was a gift.

Big palace in Pink City.

Mark just couldn't take a 400Rps gift from a poor kid. I kept mine and tipped him 30Rps (I borrowed 20 from Mark). He was really disappointed to only get 30Rps but his show sucked and the puppet was a gift so I think I over tipped him. We later saw these puppets on sale in the market for 100Rps (which means we could have bartered them down to 40Rps) so I was happy I didn't give him more than I did.

The next day (Sunday 12 June) we ate breakfast at the hotel, and were greeted by our driver with a fellow who was going to tour us around Jaipur. We had asked our driver the day before not to get us a tour guide for Jaipur because we were poor students and didn't want to chip out a tip.

Anyway, we didn't want to send him away. He took us to see this big palace thing in the Pink City, which is a small part of Jaipur where the buildings are all pink (or light orange). I saw a snake charmer there. We only stayed there for 3 minutes or so.

Good job elephant for
pooping on that hat guy!

Mark and Connie on an Elephant.

Then we went to the Amber Fort and took elephants up to the top. This was pretty fun. Apparently the elephants live in villages around Jaipur and have to walk to Jaipur early in the morning so they can walk tourists up a big hill all day. I didn't see a water pool for them anywhere! There was this guy walking beside my elephant trying to sell me a hat. I said no but he kept pestering me. Then my elephant went to the bathroom spraying the guy with pee and flecking him with feces!

Elephants and their trainers.
Give them water!

We met a few Spanish ladies on the elephants and at the top of the Amber Fort we met up and talked a while eventually exchanging info. The elephant driver asked for a tip! I said if he gave the elephant water he could have one but he didn't seem to understand so he didn't get a tip.

World's Largest Sun Dial! Was 11:56.

Then we went to the ancient astronomy observatory. Our guide sat in the shade while we walked around! Some guide! There were really big sun dials there and some neat stone structures that apparently tell astrological things. At the time the sun was in the Gemini position.

Later we went to suit shop and we spent about 2 hours there. I had already wanted to get a suit tailored for me while in India so I was serious in my haggling. In the end I got to choose the best fabric and cut for 4100Rps, down from 7000Rps (and I also got some Alibaba pants thrown in with the deal). Mark was on the verge of getting a suit but couldn't find a fabric he liked except for a grey striped one which was very boardmeetingesque.

Showing us how prints are made on the material.
This one's for Ainsley.

Later we went to another textile shop (Jaipur is famous for its textiles) where we considered buying a silk comforter duvet for our beds back home. Connie chose a massive quilt instead, made by women in the countryside from donated old embroidered dresses. Something like this would be worth around $500 (probably more) in Canada! She was terrible at haggling, lol,  and her only tactic for lowering the price was saying that it would cost her money to dry clean it when she got home to Canada. The merchant was selling it for 8000Rps. He offered as low as 5000Rps but she said no. Meanwhile Mark picked out a duvet priced at 4800Rps. I chose nothing. We left and said we'd think about it and come back tomorrow.

We probably under tipped that tour guide that day.

Jaipur from up high.

In the afternoon we visited a temple at the foot of the long staircase up the mountain that I had seen earlier (the higher temple). Me and Mark bought some water and decided we would make the ascent while Connie and our driver waited below and visited the ground temple.

On the staircase to the Hindu Temple

We nearly died on the way up (it was so damn hot and Mark is really out of shape!) We stopped at two places on the stair case and rested. The whole city lay beneath us. The air was so hazy that the far distance seemed to blend into a sea of mist.

At the top we rested in some shade and drank some water. Then we toured around the temple grounds (we weren't allowed in) and took some pictures. The way down was just as hard.

Where we sat spending hours bartering
for our duvet and quilt.

We went back the the textile shop the next day. I had a plan. I thought I might like a duvet too so when we went back the next day I chose out one too. I asked how much for all 3 and we got him down to 11,200Rps. A great deal from Connie's perspective though she still complained it was too high. We split it 3 ways.

Our last moment in Jaipur with Red Rose.

We only had a few hour's left in Jaipur (our flight to Pune was at 19:35) so we had some lunch, saw another temple, and made our way to the airport. During lunch we discussed how much to tip Red Rose. We decided that we should each tip him individually and so when it came time to say good bye we each said goodbye and offered him our thanks and a tip. We got a picture with him and got his email address.

And that's Jaipur.

Taj Mahal

The main square before entering the
Taj Mahal grounds.

Us in front of South Gate.

The morning after arriving to Agra we were to visit the Taj Mahal. It was high on Mark's todo list and he had been anticipating it since we made plans to come to India. I, on the other hand, was not terribly excited. I did not want to avoid it rather I just was as excited as Mark. For this trip Lala Gulaba got us a tour guide.

A squirrel - Jacob

Mark had to hand over his video
camera to authorities.

Who he found for us was a student on summer holidays from school, much like us, and who did tours of the Taj Mahal for tips that would hopefully pay for his education. He was an excellent guide, knowing where the best angle were of the Taj Mahal and also informative on the history of the great mausoleum. 

Famous picture spot for
 the Taj Mahal reflection.

A good shot of the Taj Mahal
through South Gate.

The Taj Mahal almost in Connie's eye.

As it turns out the Taj Mahal was built by a kind for his queen who gave him 14 babies, only 8 of which lived. He had planned to build a black Taj Mahal on the opposite side of the river which passed near the Taj Mahal. He would have lived there next to his dead queen.

Mark and Raj. It was like
50C that day.

Me in my footies.

One of the King's sons realized his father's plan to build the second black version and immediately imprisoned him at the Red Agra Fort, some ten kilometers away. This red fort was more of a grand palace and it had a splendid view of the Taj Mahal. The reason his son did this was to save the kingdom's resources. The Taj Mahal took 22 years to build and drained much of the kingdoms resources, and perhaps spirit. Who would live beneath a king who spent 22 years building a grave for his long dead queen? In the end the King died, I think around the age 70. 

I can see why the Taj Mahal is considered a wonder of the world. It is symmetrical no matter which way you cut it (at least vertically). It is made of marble and gems and stones from all over the world. Back then this would have been a costly feat to accomplish. The grounds are pretty too and are maintained by 200 workers every Friday.

A fully formal Indian Family on their
best behavior.

Pink shirt is our tour guide. His name
 was Raj.

It was surprising to see how few foreigners were there. Most of the people who I saw were natives who were in just as much wonder and us. I wonder what attracted them so to the massive building. I suppose in Canada we are drawn to our most beautiful features too. The Rockie mountains for instance. Is this any different?

A funny picture in theory.

Taj Mahal in Mark's eye.

We each took funny pictures that involved the Taj Mahal in some way. Like I said, our guide knew the best angle well. In the end I think we under tipped him. I think this was partly because we were so frustrated that we had been cheated in Delhi into this trip. Looking back it was an adventure I'm glad I didn't pass up.

Mark at the base of a tower.

Taj Mahal in my eye.

After the Taj Mahal we were taken to one of those pre-destined shops. It was a shop that claimed they were the family, 14 generations old, who did all the gemstone engravings on the Taj Mahal. There they showed us the factory, the process of embedding gem stones, and finally pushed their wares upon us. This was the standard procedure. Show "rich" travellers the hard work you do and beautiful wares they have and try to make you buy something. It's kind of laughable, clearly they have never heard of in-debt-student-travelling-on-a-tiny-budget. Connie and Mark got really awkward and out of their comfort zone. I encouraged them to show me their best. I love looking at beautiful things.

Marble work on Taj Mahal. Each colour
is a different stone form a different place.

Shoe covers for walking in the
mausoleum.

We left there in a rush and our adventure in Agra was at an end. Short though it was, I think we gained something from it. Emotional hardiness?

A sweet tree - For Jacob I guess.

Agra

The disgusting squatting toilet. How does one manage this
without getting stuff on their pants is beyond me.

After Delhi and the universal temple we were bound for Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. We stopped at a filthy roadside restaurant where I first encountered a squatting toilet. Up until then I had been lucky enough not to cross one's path. Perhaps I was being kept from them by our travel guide. I don't know what I was expecting for a squatting toilet but I do know I prefer sitting on a throne to them.

My personal experience is limited with these toilets as I have always been strategic in my habits. This one in particular did not call out to me as a place I'd like to dangle my hinny.

This was the first time that our driver ate with us. It was actually the first time I had seen him eat. He spends all day with us driving us places and waiting outside while we visit stores, sights, and restaurants, yet I never see him eat or drink, except for this one rare occasion.

Our drivers name was Lala Gulaba. This is a really beautiful name. It means Red Rose.

Our driver was actually a rather likable guy. We were to spend 4.5 days with him. He never complained about anything, he was not suspicious, and he helped us out in many tight spots.

He claimed to have studied mathematics of some kind at some school. I don't know what kind he studied but he didn't know the word calculus. Perhaps there are other names for these things in Hindi. He knew enough English to advise us against certain things and explain simple things. I think now, in reflection, that he saved us from many wrong turns. He also went out of his way to take us places we would otherwise never have known of. He arranged everything.

Connie under the weather during the 6h car ride
to Agra from Delhi. You lie google maps!

One annoying thing about tour guides in India is that it is their duty to take you to predetermined shops and locations. In fact, in most cases a driver will receive money for bringing a customer to their store. As a customer and tourist you can almost always say no to buying something. To that end we were often taken to places that the majority of Indians could not afford and thus if we did not ask to go to a specific place (researched on the occasional skimpy wifi connection) we would have been shown an upper class India.

When he would arrange for a guide to show us a sight it would be free of charge in technicality. It was our prerogative to tip as we saw fit. As people unaware of the value of the Rupee (but quickly learning!) we feel that we may have sometimes over tipped and under tipped.

Often times it was good to pay more money for better food and stores. It may seem conflicting to whole point of going to India (to experience the real India) but sometimes was more convenient to simply go along with the pre-planned agenda.

That even as we prepared for bed I decided to take a walk. The hotel was called Hotel Amar and it is located in a perhaps middle-good location. But no matter where one is in India you need not travel very far to see the underbelly of the city. I had brought my journal and had planned to do some writing by sunset.

Instead I got caught up in the motion of my feet and soon found myself wandering through a very secluded part of the city. There were hundreds of people everywhere. My sense of direction trembled on the brink of loss and I had to stop... and observe my surroundings. Where I found myself there were tens of eyes on me, each with a hunger for that which they imagined I had. Power, wealth, a means to survival.

A group of perhaps four teenagers streamed me by on the back of one motorcycle and one of them gestured to me in what I would imagine is the only western hand gesture they know. How could they hate me without knowing me? How could they hold such presupposed notions of who I am. It hit home, not without a sliver of terror for I was in their domain, that perhaps these people were not happy at all. They had some deep sorrow for what others had done to them.

From what I understand of Indian history, it has been fraught with war and violence, famine and suffering. Could one country, no matter how quickly they advanced now (India is a burgeoning country, where China not long past was), leave their history behind? I did not find time to write in my journal and instead made my way home at once. I had a bad vibe and trusted my feelings.