A Round-the-World Journey to Find a New Home #3

13^th May 2001, Mt Abu

So here we are in Mount Abu, holiday retreat for thousands of Indian Nationals in the months of June and July. It’s the 13^th of May today, and the first few Indians are in town. When I say “few”, I mean it’s crowded like the streets of Delhi in the evenings with the major throng down by the lake and more so at the weekends. Don’t let this put you off because, like the traveller, they are holiday makers, so they leave you alone and get hassled as much as the foreigners to buy the trinkets and eat the food at the restaurants.

This is a pleasant change to witness and you can learn a lot from the holidaying Indians how to fob the locals off. The odd dismissive wave of the hand we have found being the easiest and most useful.

We are staying at the Shree Ganesh Hotel, half way up to the Jaipur Summer Palace, which affords some fantastic views across Mt Abu and the lake, which is the centre of hubbub in this small town. The hotel is a small family-run business which is the only place I know that charges more for Indian Nationals to stay at than foreigners. We have bagged the rooftop room, it’s permanently occupied due to its position; we were lucky in that it was vacated the morning we arrived.

Every morning we step out onto the rooftop with views across the town and a particularly good one of the Summer Palace, once used as a holiday home by a Maharaja of Jaipur. It’s now privately owned and is being renovated into a plush hotel, although you can still go up and wander around the palace while the work continues and take in the magnificent views. I think in about two months when the planned opening occurs you will not be able to.

Walking around it you can get the feel of the palatial building, small but well lit and comfortable. The rooms now have marble floor to ceiling as the hotel takes shape and the rooftop room, which will come in at 1800Rs a night, has a balcony overlooking the lake. We sat for awhile on the marbled floor of the rooftop room and gazed over the lake as the light dwindled and the crowds amassed, watching the holidaymakers partake in the evening activities lakeside. This seemed to be lashings of sweet ice cream and photo taking. The ice cream is good here, but be aware that other places it’s not so good. I read in the Hindustan Times that recently 100 school children were hospitalised from eating ice cream sold near their school.

The Indian papers can make a good read of an evening, and they can keep you abreast of what’s going on in the country, where the local uprisings are, and so which areas are good to avoid. Kashmir is a principal area at the moment, lots of murders, shootings and kidnappings in the Jammu and Srinigar areas. Both are beautiful areas to visit, but dangerous. Avoid touts in Delhi that assure you that it doesn’t affect the visitor, so come and stay on their “uncle’s” boat on Dal Lake.

Back to Mt Abu, the Shree Ganesh offers sunset walks every evening. These are free and Lalit, the son of the owner, guides you through the mountains on walks that last from 20 minutes there and back to three hours, usually with a 40 minute to an hour break at a beauty spot or lake. The lake walk is the longest and requires a fair few bottles of water, but the reward is a mountain lake to swim in when you get there and a peacefulness where we laid back on the rocks and watched the birds strut the waters edge. He also runs half-day trips around Mt Abu to temples and villages, one ending with a meeting with Jain Monks where you can sit in their home, ask questions or just enjoy the serenity.

The Mt Abu hill station sits at 1200 meters and is cooler than the rest of Rajasthan, which is currently sitting around the 50-53°C mark in Jaisalmer and Bikaner. For this reason, and the feeling of calm and relaxedness, we decided to cancel all onward travel and sit here for 8-9 days. It’s a wonderful place to do this, get up early and take a walk around the lake before the Indian tourists clamber out of bed. We have been taking joy in finding quiet spots to sit and watch the world go by. This is a cool place to do this. Whether you are in the Dilwara Jain Temples resting on the large marble seats just outside the main temple or contemplating a chapatti in a garden by the lake, this place oozes relaxation.

On a gentle stroll around the lake going anti-clockwise from the town, it’s shaded in the morning and quiet. No cars come along this stretch as it’s barricaded off at the end. Enigma crooned from a hut on the hill as a man hung out his washing and further on an old weathered man sits by the road under a shaded tree. He invites you to sit for a while and asks you into his house. This consists of a small cave with a low doorway. Inside, the “house” is immaculate, tidied belongings and clothes neatly hanging from a make shift line hung across the roof of this tiny cave. You can sit and chat for hours, or be lazy outside watching the lake. He has a book of comments from travellers who have passed his way.

Apparently he once owned a house and land on the opposite side of the lake. He was asked to sell it to developers but refused, the pressure mounted and he began to drink. A few back handers and he was forced to give up his house and land with no recompense. His family deserted and he now lives a simple, meagre existence, chatting to passers by. He’s not after your money, and you never get the feeling he wants it. He is just a simple man with a past.

There are several beautiful spots around the lake. A short walk from the far end of the lake there is a gentle hill that winds down to a view point affording views across the valley floor for miles on a clear day. There is also a small temple up on the hill called Shanti Shikar where a monk resides. Apparently he is a great man to sit a while and talk to, speaking good English and with clear mind. This could be another place to kick back for an hour or so. We are off there tomorrow, getting there early, as by 10-ish the Indian coaches arrive for a stop.

The only downside for us here in Abu land, is that foreigners are a bit of a tourist attraction here. They want to sit by you and have photos taken with you. If this is not your idea of fun then ask for a 20Rs payment prior to the photo. After all, this is the way they behave if you inadvertently take a picture of them, and soon sends them packing. We made a little rule: we will talk to kids and endure their questions, we will have our photos taken with kids and babies on knees. But when it comes to leering lads and molesting men, slobbering over my wife, then it’s time to go. The main attraction seems to be Eddie’s blonde hair and my eyebrow piercing, that when I take off my sunglasses they all talk about and want to touch.

So here I am, sitting on top of our hotel, the sun is shining and the sky is blue. There is a light cool breeze, the sound of children playing on a warm Sunday afternoon. Sitting here tapping away at my laptop, swigging a cold beer, the Summer Palace before me up on the hill. Lalit has popped in to the rooftop shower for a wash (he sleeps on the rooftop on a bed in the open air in the warm nights), I feel relaxed and contented. This is Mt Abu, and if I could describe the way I feel, I think serene might be my choice…

Check the end for information on Lalit’s walks and reservations.

Backtracking a touch, when I wrote last we were off to Amber Fort, just a quick bit about that. Go there. Miss the Red Fort in Delhi, it’s a good example of Mogul architecture and at a fraction of the price. Prices in India for the foreigner have rocketed in the last year or so, in some cases over 1000%. For Indian Nationals the price hasn’t moved much, and this has led to a lot of travellers boycotting places like the Taj Mahal. A couple of years ago a mere 60Rs, in one popular guide book published in 1999 (guess which one), the price is quoted as 105Rs at sunrise, and 15Rs between 0800 and 1600, the cost now is 960Rs or $20US. It’s still 60Rs for Indians.

Last year the Red Fort in Delhi was 2Rs, now it’s 460Rs, I think 10Rs for Indians. The Amber Fort is 50Rs, plus 30Rs for a camera. It’s an impressive place and one you can easily spend a couple of hours in exploring the passageways and open areas looking out over the countryside.

Then onwards to Pushkar. A “luxury” private bus cost us 120Rs, the private bus was late by about an hour, the usual, and again hardly luxury, but it does give you a specific seat and it does go direct. We all piled onto the bus, and once it was full they gathered a few locals and bump-started the bus, which I would have thought would have been easier before we all got on. Six hours later, one lunch stop at a fly infested roadside eatery where pigeons roosted above the cooking area (I suppose the extra ingredient could add a special taste, one could call it a secret ingredient as I don’t reckon they tell you about it!!!), and another full bus bump-start, we arrived in Pushkar.

Pushkar is a very laid back place where meat and alcohol is illegal. Marijuana is also illegal but seems to be readily available on every street corner. In fact, the only touts you get in Pushkar are selling marijuana, otherwise you can walk the streets without being hassled to eat or buy at any particular place. Pushkar is known I think mainly for the hippies that hang here, the holy lake with its impressive ghats and, of course, the Pushkar Passport.

It’s hard to see the lake and wander the ghats without being pounced upon by the holy men selling the Pushkar Passport, which basically is a small yellow and red thread wrapped around your wrist. The ceremony consists of repeating a load of Hindi you can’t understand (unless you speak the lingo of course) and having a huge red splodge stuck on your forehead which stains your skin for the day and runs down your face when you sweat. To add to this, a few grains of rice are stuck to the red splodge and you feel a bit of a plonker until you are far enough away from the administering priest to pick them off.

When it comes to the point of giving your donation, the language swaps to English and the words you repeat urge you to place a sum or worth on the ceremony. The holy man guides you that it should be your discretion, but somewhere between 200 and 1000Rs would be a good figure. In reality you could give 20Rs but they will kick up a fuss if you came in with this figure, so after much discussion and because of the fact there were two of us being “holy-ised” we settled on an agreeable figure.

They tied the thread around our wrists and proceeded to chant for absent family, asking then for a further donation for each member. I guess if we let them we could have got the whole family tree done, and could have walked away Rupee-less, but since Eddie’s immediate family clocks up to about 30 people alone, let alone the dead and buried, we hot-footed it off out of there pronto. We had got what we had come for; the ticket to wander the ghats in peace, for this little piece of thread wards off all further attention from the many holy men that surround the lake.

Eddie is a Catholic, and one comment she made was that she would have liked to sit and think about her family and feel close to her God at the end of the ceremony whilst sitting by the lake. It is a truly spiritual and peaceful place, especially at night, and you can partake in our favourite pastime, the long thoughtful sit in somewhere cool and away from the crowds. This is a place you can really do this, a short walk around the lake will take you to quiet and secluded ghats where time flows easily as you take in the atmosphere. Locals pass by, maybe they will join you on the ghat but after a quick “Namaste” with your hands together and a short nod of the head, you are left in peace as he/she joins you in your peace.

A walk around the lake could take as little as 20 minutes, but take it leisurely. You can get around mostly by the ghats, but remember not to wear your shoes on the steps. This can be a problem as the ghats get damn hot after awhile under the beating sun, and unless you want to lose a layer of skin from the sole of your feet, you should walk early morning or late afternoon. Walk at night with a torch unless you don’t mind what you step in. The far side of the lake has a village atmosphere. Goats and cows share the narrow passageways with you and we were offered a child to take back to England. A bit of a weight to carry in the rucksack, especially as we have so far to go, so we declined the offer.

We stayed at the Oasis Hotel. Easy to find, it’s bang next to the bus stand, which is kinda useful when you need to ship out early in the morning. However, the big bonus is a swimming pool. Many places in Pushkar advertise a pool but most are green and slimy. Oasis emptied, scrubbed and re-filled their pool for us, and do so whenever asked (within reason). The room we had was 250Rs with a view down the street, there are cheaper rooms but you get what you pay for.

Another place in town that has a reasonable pool was Om Guesthouse, but when we were looking around it, it seemed to be a hang out for hippies and multiple pierced bodies being cool and thinking it was still the 60’s. However, the rooms are cheap at 100Rs and the buffet is all you can eat and goes on all day.

Go to the White House at some point, the best Mango tea ever… a good place to stay also but a bit out of the way. We only stayed a couple of nights as we had a train booked to Udaipur, but I reckon four nights would be good. There’s enough to do and see for that time, and it’s a cool place to shop. Anything from toe rings at 20Rs to cool travel clothes for 100Rs. There’s a make your own necklace shop as well so you can mix with the crowds of “long term” travellers in Goa.

By the way, if you really want a beer, you can get it. Ask around. We found a couple of places but be prepared to wait awhile while they potter off on the bike to get it from some secret hideout in the desert. It comes chilled and was served in flasks, mainly to hide the fact it was beer, but it keeps it cool as well.

An early morning start and a state passenger bus over the hill to Ajmer, the nearest train station to Pushkar, a windy 30-minute ride with market goers and produce into a very dusty and industrial town. Early morning hawkers set up their stalls whilst clearing their throats with mouth watering hacks and spits, this is a national occurrence every morning, it’s a bit like a dawn chorus, but instead of being delighted by the chirps of early morning birds, your stomach can be turned by the huge amount of hacked up phlegm that flies around the place. Avoiding being hit, let alone stepping in it, can be a feat.

Not knowing the accuracy of timetables we arrived suitably early at the station, bought a couple of provisions from the station stall and a bottle of water that we discarded after inspecting the dubiously fitting screw cap. We were a major attraction, there wasn’t another foreigner in sight, and sitting space anywhere near us were premium spots. This amused us for a bit, but after moving a couple of times and being followed to our new location it got a bit boring. We seconded a bench near the Chai seller and the seats either side with our rucksacks. Ah, peace (ish). A couple of chais later I was feeling bright and perky, the train rolled in bang on time, we hot trotted down to our reserved car and clambered aboard a cool AirCon carriage. Eddie said that she had the best sleep yet in India on her upper berth, nice and cool.

The good thing about A/C cars is that for the average wage earner it is cost prohibitive, and for the longer journeys easier than sitting six abreast in the standard car on four seater benches in the sweltering heat with all the Indian inhabitants staring, chatting and laughing at you. And of course the breath, that inevitable garlic curry breath that knocks you sideways when a load of them talk to you at once. This is India and all of its experiences.

Also, you are likely to have the car to yourself for a while as even if the seat is only booked for half your journey, it is reserved for the duration. If you are lucky like us, we got it to ourselves for the first hour or so, and then it was occupied by a young female army doctor who became a friend and a source of information about parts of India she had travelled to with the army. Very well educated and excellent English, it was good to have her with us.

Trundling through the desert countryside, and trundle we did, average speed approx. 23 miles an hour, you can watch parts of rural India you could never see normally. These are small villages where there is nothing for the traveller to do or stay, basic needs are catered for in these places and a hard life is lived by the people working the land. There has been no monsoon in Rajasthan for two years, water supplies are depleted, wells are dry, and farmland can’t be worked without water. Miles from anywhere women are carrying water on their heads from far off places across baron fields, collecting wood for cooking or minding small herds of wasting cattle with no fodder to eat. This is a part of India we as travellers seldom see close hand, as it is only in the poor out of the way places we see from a “speeding” train. As we got closer to the end of our 10 hour journey, the sun was starting to go down, amber colours against desert mountains mixing with shades of red and orange rock made an inspiring start to our visit to Udaipur, the most romantic city in Rajasthan, arguably India.

Palaces that go red and golden as the sunsets, lake palaces that light up at night, the hustle and bustle of busy streets at twilight, and the smells of spices and sweet fruits in the market. Just a few things from the first night in Udaipur. The Mahendra Prakash Hotel on Lake Palace road was our choice. We bargained the room down from 400Rs to 250Rs, it has an air cooler and bathroom and a second floor view of a clean sparkling pool in a little garden. The manager likes a joke and was quite friendly, he tried to tell us that the owner would beat him if he gave us the room at that price, but it is the low season and the cards are stacked in our favour.

Meandering alleys and passageways in the Jagdish Temple area are a good place to wander and talk to children asking your name. Lots of travellers stop in this part of town as the rooms are cheaper and the area has a good atmosphere, but Udaipur is hot, and the pool did it for us. However, good food can be got in the Jagdish Temple area, we had breakfast a couple of times in the rooftop restaurant of the Jagat Niwas Palace Hotel. Get the right place though, there are a lot of similar sounding hotels, but this one has a seating area that juts out over the lake. We sat on a raised platform cross-legged on a soft ledge with a low table between us, looking out over the lake. In the morning you can see the daily washing of body and clothes taking place below. A cool breeze flows through the restaurant, and out comes the Marmite as the toast and lassi’s arrive.

The English have been bought up on Marmite for years and it’s been a saviour for breakfasts. Many things we miss in England and Marmite helps us remember what was home. The time passes and we are thinking of friends and family, Udaipur is well connected with the internet and connection is fast. Time to catch up on E-mails and write to friends like Cinders and Paul the Clegg-Meister, who aren’t jealous of us at all, sitting in grey old England working their fingers to the bone to pay the rent. Suddenly life here isn’t so bad, but India is never a place we could settle, though many have. Paul, I hope your operation hasn’t left a scar, and all is working well again, after all, you are getting married next year.

We have decided to stay a while in Udaipur, it was one of my favourite places in India on my last trip, the easygoing atmosphere here is pleasant and there is a lot to do and see. Down through the lanes behind the Jagdish Temple you can arrive at some old ghats. Due to the lack of rain, the lakebed is dry here and of an evening kids play cricket at the base of the steps, hitting the ball into the dusty out field that was once Lake Pichola. The lake is still there but you can see that it’s about two meters down from the watermark etched on the walls of the buildings opposite. The Lake Palace Hotel now isn’t surrounded with water, and they have taken the opportunity of the low water to build a causeway from lakeside to the hotel.

I left Eddie one evening at the hotel and took a walk down to the lake. Walking across the lakebed, well established meandering paths show the extent of the long drought here. I am sharing them with panting dogs and wandering cows as the sun begins its slow decent. As you walk across the lake, if you turn right you head towards the peninsula where the new causeway leads across to the Lake Palace. Sitting on the ghat on the peninsula by Ambrai Restaurant you can watch the sun set against the City Palace, a large imposing building overlooking the lake. As the sun went down the bats came out, hundreds of them flying haphazard zigzags across the sky then swooping down and skimming the surface of the lake.

Kids came up from the lake edge from where their mothers do their daily washing chores and talk to me, mostly in Hindi with some speckled English, “What your name?” “Which country” and “One your country coin” which made a change from “One Rupee”. Ambrai Restaurant is a nice place for a little splash with the cash, it also affords great views of the City Palace, and the food is excellent. More importantly they sell ice-cold beer, although it’s a rich 100Rs, double what you can pay at the shops.

We were just sitting by the roadside one morning on a closed shop’s step; we attracted the usual small crowd of kids interested in Eddie’s blonde hair and my “beautiful” eye ring. Questions were asked in the pigeon English we have now become used to. Behind them a friendly guy stood, we had a chat and he was a rickshaw driver called Himmit, for that was his name, so we struck a deal for a trip to the Jain temple complex called Eklingji for only 120Rs. Good for 11km drive to get there. His mother and wife ran a laundry shop out of the front of the two rooms they all rent and we waved as we tuk-tuked by. Himmit sung, hummed and told jokes all the way through the 40-minute trip up through the marble consortiums that line the road to Udaipur.

Eklingji is an impressive Shiva Temple complex; it houses 108 temples in all, one for each of the Demons that Shiva killed. On the 21st of February 2001, two million people came for a festival at this temple, and some people queued for 72 hours to get in. The main temple at Eklingji is adorned with intricate woodcarvings plated with sheets of silver, hammered on the wood showing all the detail through it, huge amounts of it all over the interior of the temple. The temple houses the black statue of Shiva with four faces, three are the gods that make up Shiva (Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma), and the fourth is the Sun God.

Carvings include images from the Karma Sutra featuring group sex and bestiality. I found this contradictory for a religion that was so strict in this area. Desire and lust is looked upon as an undesirable and cheap substitute for the real happiness which is the birth right of every Jain follower. On the flip side of the coin, Jain temples are legal areas in India to take Bhang or to smoke marijuana. The local Maharaja comes here on Mondays and partakes in this legal loop hole, and in fact in recognition of his presence there is free bhang and marijuana every Monday at this temple (apparently, we were there on Tuesday).

Himmit also took us to another more derelict but I felt more spiritual Jain temple called Nagda where it was quiet and thoughtful, with temples full of tiny bats squeaking as we entered. Himmit was a great person to spend the day with, later he helped us with train tickets and advice, and took us to the Monsoon Palace for the sunset. Beware, the trip could cost you 100-120Rs in the low season, which doesn’t seem much, however there is a 80Rs entry charge to the grounds per person and a further 20Rs for the autorickshaw, which can make a sunset a costly business, considering that the entry charge doesn’t allow you into the Palace!!! (You can bribe the gatekeeper of the palace for a look around when it’s quiet for about 20Rs)

So, after a lazy time in Udaipur and a few afternoons spent by the pool, we boarded the bus to Mount Abu, which is where we came in I believe. A little addition to Lalit’s walk included a cook out at the lake yesterday; the foreign population of the hotel hiked up the mountain with daypacks of veggies and spices. Lalit collected dry buffalo dung to burn as a fire and prepared a feast of chai, veggie curry, chapattis and aloo paratha, finishing off with watermelon and mango.

We spent the day lazing in the sun and swimming in the lake. A lone crocodile resides there in the lake brought up by Indian conservationists. So as long as we could see it basking on the opposite shore we swam, cooling the heat of the day. Lalit assured us that the croc was more scared of us than us of it. Sure enough, when we took a sneaky walk around the lake for a closer inspection, it slid silently away into the murky depths. No one swam again till we saw it emerging from the Lake. Better safe than sorry. The day with all the food that I went down with Lalit to buy came to 30Rs a head, less than a quid (£1); a cheap and enjoyable day was had by all.

You can reserve rooms at the Shree Ganesh Hotel on (02974) 43591/37292 from anywhere in India. Lalit will meet you from the bus, and bring you “home” by jeep. You can also Email him on [email protected] although his connection is sometimes dickie so it’s good to confirm by phone. He will give you information about trains, buses, walks, temples, pretty much anything, and without charge.

Mahendra Prakash Hotel in Udaipur can be reached on (0294) 419811. They don’t pay commission to rickshaw drivers so make sure you be firm with the driver that that is where you want to go. A pre-paid fare from the station is 22Rs. If you want the joy of Himmit and his autorickshaw in Udaipur, you can ring his neighbour and ask for him on 432306.

Well, that’s all folks for this lengthy edition, email me any time on [email protected]. I love the attention, and we reply to all… eventually.

Three very useful words for India:

1. Namaste: the India-wide word for anything between “hello mate, how yer going?” and “Oh hello, jolly nice to meet you”
2. Neh-hee: means basically “No”
3. Dhanivad: means “Thank you”

I’m thinking of a number, between 9 and 54, can you get it?

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