2019-10-24 India

Introduction

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For this blog:

This blog is about our two month trip to India. We toured the tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh, were in the Sunderbands for a cyclone, saw the Hornbill festival, attended the 150 Anniversary Celebration at our Travel Agent's school (La Martiniere), enjoyed the beach in the Andaman Islands and missed part of our Northeast India tour and our cruise on the Ganges due to the protests going on at the time.

Please do read through this blog for our narrative and the related photos.

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Animals
Architecture
Arts and crafts
Countryside
Flowers
Markets
People
Temples and Museums
Villages

Slide shows of photos in this blog:

Blog Photos (Part 1)
Blog Photos (Part 2)

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October 24/25 – Fly to India

Today we depart from our visit with family in downstate Illinois and head to Chicago to catch our flight to India.

The day started before dawn and by the time we hit the road we had a spectacular sunrise. Great way to start the day.

The five-hour drive was pretty uneventful and we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Because we are flying business class (on Mary’s frequent flier miles) we were able to hang out in the Polaris Long. Very nice.

We flew first to Newark NJ where we had a three hour layover hanging out in the lounge and then it was on to the plane for the 14 hour flight to Delhi India. Our seats fully reclined into beds and we were both able to get a reasonable amount of sleep.

We arrived in Delhi a little late, all the luggage arrived (yeah!) and we were met by Shyam, Tara’s business manager in India. By the time we arrived at the hotel it was nearly midnight. We both crashed and slept really well all night.

October 26 - Old Delhi

We slept in until about 9:00 and are feeling pretty good.

We are back in the color and chaos that is Delhi, India. And today is the day before Diwali, one of the most holy of Hindu holidays (and their New Year). So everyone was out in force shopping and shopping and eating and shopping.

We were picked up at 11:30 by Tara and a driver and headed into Old Delhi where we met our travel companions for part of this trip, Steve and Valerie from the East Coast.

We also road around the streets of Old Delhi quite a bit. The traffic was much worse than our previous visit. We were at a standstill more than once.

We headed out today for a rickshaw tour of Old Delhi. We have done this before but it never gets old. Because of the holiday the crowds were much larger than the last time we were here. We hit gridlock more than once...and that's saying something when there are very few cars. Traffic is mostly motorcycles, rickshaws, bicycles, tuck-tucks and masses of humanity (and an occasional bullock cart).

We had a walk-around lunch hitting some of Tara’s favorite street food restaurants and shops. Don't try this unless you are with our travel agent Tara. She knows where to eat so that you don't get Delhi Belly. And the food was wonderful (and usually unpronounceable). We had jalabi’s (think funnel cakes with sticky rose syrup) and paranta (stuffed breads) and some other unpronounceable treats. Yum. Yum.

It's good to be back in India. Love it or hate it there is no place else quite like it. .

Many of the streets are devoted primarily to a single type of business such as silver, or saris, or stationery or eyeglasses.

We spent a fair amount of time walking through the old Spice Market. Valerie and Steve bought some spices. Everything was very crowded.

We enjoyed looking at all the goods for sale...such a colorful variety

We also climbed to the top of one of the buildings that gave good views of the surrounding area.

Things were mobbed as people are getting ready for Diwali, a major Indian holiday.

As usually there small, interesting scenes that played out on the streets.

This is an iron (full of hot coals that was sitting on a step, presumably waiting for someone to return to finish the ironing.

We seemed to notice some really pretty doors...more than we usually do.

We ended the day at Karim’s…noted by a long-ago Time Magazine article as one of the most famous restaurants in Asia. We ate here the last time we visited Delhi and the food was good. Tara think's it's gone down hill.

We were back to the hotel around 8:30. We are both a bit jet-lagged and are tired, however, instead of going to bed right away we spent some time repacking so that we can travel lighter for the next three-week segment of our trip.

October 27 – Market Visit and Diwali Celebration

We slept in a bit today but did make it down for breakfast. We had a nice visit with several women from Britain. They are of Indian background but all were born and raised in England and were in India to attend Hindi classes as none of them had learned it in England.

We were picked up late morning and the group headed out to a large market to do some shopping. Mainly we all watched the crowds

and the market scenes and enjoyed the experience.

There was a lot of haggling over large piles of goods on the sidewalks.

There were a number of artists doing henna painting.

We stopped for lassi’s (a yogurt drink popular in India). Excellent! Tara also picked up some gifts for our hostess this evening.

After a great lunch at a restaurant specializing in Southern Indian food we went to a nearby stand for kulfi, the Indian version of ice cream. Pistachio. Very good. They drizzle it with rose syrup and it was served with some white noodles (rice noodles probably). Seemed a bit weird. We all felt that the kulfi was very good and the noodles didn’t really add anything. We were dropped off at our hotel by mid-afternoon where we did more repacking and relaxed a bit.

At 6:00 we were off again this evening for a Diwali celebration at the home of Tanuja, a friend of Tara, her husband Raj and their two sons. We were warmly welcomed and shortly after our arrival they started the Diwali celebration. Diwali is also called the Celebration of Lights and is one of the most important Hindu festivals. It also marks their new year.

They had a small altar of sorts set up on the floor at one end of the room. There were pictures of several of the main Hindu gods that are featured in the festival.

We were all able to participate in various parts of the ceremony and the family explained some of the rituals that were being performed. It was a very special day as we all felt very privileged to be able to share this holiday with the family.

After the ceremony we lit little oil candles and set the around the front courtyard and walls.

Then we lit sparklers. It is tradition to set off fireworks but fireworks are banned in Delhi (not that many people seemed to pay any attention to the ban) because they contribute a massive amount of pollution to the already polluted city. But the sparklers were a fun treat. Took us all back to our childhoods.

After sparklers it was time for the wonderful feast that Tanuja prepared for us. Visiting and a gift exchange followed with lots of laughter and discussions about travel and India and life in general. A wonderful day and a special experience.