March 13th: Humayun’s Tomb and Our Last Full Day

The entrance to the tomb complex - or just a mirror trick?

A beautiful day for visiting a tourist destination

We started the day in a bittersweet mood: ready to enjoy our last full day in India, but sad to be so close to the end of our trip. Nasir met us over breakfast to return Chris’ wallet, which he had forgotten at the Desai house last night (and which made for a pretty stressful few minutes when we arrived at the hotel last night with a taxi driver who wanted to be paid), and we said one final goodbye to him.

Not all strangers are skilled photographers... (case in point here)

As our last touristy activity, we headed to Humayun’s tomb, a gorgeous complex built out of red sandstone and marble in the mid-16^th century by the senior wife of the Mughal emperor Humayun (obviously). The tomb is the first real example of Persian-style architecture in Delhi and was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. The complex is full of many other small tombs from the Mughal era (including the emperor’s favorite barber), and we enjoyed a wonderful, sunny afternoon exploring all of them. We also stumbled into a rehearsal for a Sufi musical performance being held on the grounds of the tomb complex, and Chris got to show me some great examples of North Indian classical music.

The dome housing Hunamyun's Tomb - last time I was here there was no water in these water features...India is changing!

After a late lunch at a nearby restaurant (see picture of ridiculous cricket pitch made out of food below), we walked back to the hotel to start the tedious process of packing. It took a while to pack all our stuff and all the gifts and souvenirs we picked up along the way, but we were done by evening and left for one last visit to the Sufi dargah of Hazrat Inayat Khan (see the Feb. 17^th entry for details). The dargah was empty when we got there and we had a peaceful and touching time together there before heading back to a late dinner and early bedtime.

16th century doors would not have worked well for Chris

That’s all we have to report for our 2011 Indian adventure. Thanks to everyone who has followed our travels – we look forward to seeing you all again soon!

Sufi musicians rehearsing for the evening's performance

A reminder of home (parrots' humble abode)

Emily in her new blue sari (given to her by Zeena the night before)

"Bloody 'ell, man!"

India is in the grip of Cricket World Cup madness
- meant to look like a cricket bat and two wickets 

 

March 12th: A Few Final Errands and a Farewell Evening with my Guruji Shamsudin and the Desai Family

On the way to Karol Bahg market - a giant statue of Hanuman
(the Hindu monkey god that helped Rama defeat Ravana,
the demon king, in the Holy text the Ramayana) 

Today we had an easy morning waiting until around 12:00 noon before we headed out to Karol Bahg Market to pick up a couple of garments that I had ordered before we left Delhi a few weeks prior. Once there, we made our way through the very crowded market (it was, after all, a Saturday) and returned to the shop where I had purchased lots of shirts, kurtas (long shirts), and a couple of jackets (I had them tailored to fit for only pennies!). The thing that got me so excited about finding this place a few weeks ago was that they carried Indian-style clothing in my size! I have been to India several times now and this is the fist time I have found a place that has shirts with chest sizes greater than 38 inches and pants longer than 30 inches! On our way back through the market we bought a cheap duffle bag for the additional bounty of inexpensive stuff we had acquired over the course of our time here (it was ugly as hell and had the Ferrari logo, no doubt illegally, embroidered on it – I thought it was humorously ironic… Emily hated it).

[I have been wanting to post a video of the Indian Driving experience for a while now

- so here you have it, not as bad as it gets, but reasonably representative of what it is like here.

 Although this is in Delhi, it's pretty much like this everywhere

 - in rural areas, just double the speed of the cars and you've got it!]

The insanely busy streets of Karol Bahg Market

I don't think they get it...

A delicious dinner (bottom to top): Naan and
 fresh puri (breads), raw vegetables, muttar panner
(peas and cheese in sauce), dal makhani (lentils), rice,
chana masala (spiced chickpeas), aloo gobi
(potatoes and cauliflower), rice pudding

We returned to the hotel and prepared to head over to my guruji’s family’s home (about 30 minute drive from here) for our farewell dinner. The food was incredible and I encouraged Emily to talk Nasir’s sister, Parveena, out of some of the family recipes. We spent the evening laughing and enjoying our time together. Emily finally had a chance to spend some time with Nasir’s sisters, and got a few lessons in Indian women’s dress. I was so happy to see her whisked away by Zeena and Parveena to try on sari’s and jewelry in the other room!

Parveena (a wonderful cook)

A giant puri made just for us (after we told Parveena that our
attempts at making puri have been complete failures)

Nasir eating dal and chana masala

I helped Nasir set up a web-cam on his computer so we could Skype after I return back home (maybe some online music lessons!). We left around midnight and instead of saying “goodbye”, we all made a point of saying “until next time, Insh-Allah (God willing)” with lots of hugs and sad eyes.

Emily's Indian dressing tutors: Zeena and Parveena

This is the first time I have played a sitar in 4 years - the pressure was only outweighed by the reverence to guruji and Nasir 

On the ride home I began trying to digest the last month here, a process that will churn and ferment in my subconscious long after the dissociation and culture shock of returning home has subsided. I was both sad and elated, of course, as such experiences in life tend to leave one; coming full circle after ten years of sidelining, distraction, and otherwise living a life a world apart from India, I have felt my heart light-up as if returning home – in a way, returning to reclaim a piece of it that remained here, that never left this magical place, 10 years ago. Ohm Namah Shivaya…Hare Ohm… and of course, Assalamu Alaikum...

"Until next time, Insh-Allah"

(Zeena calls her dad, 'Queen Victoria,' when he wears this dashing hat!)

   

March 11th: Pathfinder International site project, Singing with Samiullah Khan, and Khan Cha Cha Kabobs at Khan Market

On the road with PII

We had an appointment at 9:45 am to meet with Pathfinder International, India again, this time to take us to one of their on-site outreach programs. It took us about an hour to drive with a PII associate out to a lower income Delhi suburb where a French INGO had founded a vocational school for dropouts and otherwise impoverished young adults (age 18-26+).  PII supplies the school with materials and lesson plans for reproductive health and family planning courses that are taught to the students along with vocational training.

The boys' class

Notice the family planning poster on the wall

We were allowed to meet two classes of young men and women (taught separately) and briefly sat in on the lessons (although mostly in Hindi). The most wonderful part was when we engaged in Q&A sessions with each group. They were so interested and fascinated to hear about how sex ed and marriage works (in general) in the US. We learned a lot! (not least of which was that the legal age for marriage in India is 18 for girls and 21 for boys and that so-called “love marriages” are still quite rare especially among the lower economic classes).

     

We returned to central Delhi and our hotel for lunch. Samiullah Khan (spelled “Samula” in a previous entry – my fault) came by around 4:30 and after some tea, gave me an hour-long singing lesson and taught me a new afternoon Rag (his singing is quite amazing, as I posted before). This time we didn’t forget to take some pictures.

The girls' class - they insisted we took a group picture with them!

Samiullah and I watching his work on Youtube  (check out the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tWRaimHyZk)

We went to Khan Market, not far from where we are staying, for dinner at a kabob stall that had been recommended by Lonely Planet, Maura, and (very strenuously) by Will. Khan Market is possibly Delhi’s most expensive and most cosmopolitan market, catering to the city’s wealthy locals and westerners. It turned out that what used to be a stall in one of Khan Markets many alleys, where people would cue up in hordes for Cha Cha’s famous kabobs, had become a three-story restaurant (still maintaining the ‘queue up to order and then take a number and wait by the grill window’ fashion). The eating area, however, was attempting to be chic with techno music in the background, interesting lighting, and large bay windows that overlooked the bustling market below.

After a tasty meal we thought we would attempt to walk back to the hotel. I knew it wasn’t that far and the taxi there had only taken about 10 minutes. After a few wrong turns (I’m sure) and directions from friendly locals, we found our way back to familiar looking territory and then to the hotel for some sleep – there will always be something nostalgic about walking Delhi’s (often poorly lit) streets at night. 

Today was also the day of Japan's devastating earthquake... our thoughts go out to the people of that country and all of those affected.

  

March 10th: Back to Delhi (for the last time)

Chennai - as far as the eye can see

I was trying to capture the colorful buildings in the tropics - with limited success

After a rather broken night’s sleep (the hotel was right next to the train station), we woke up in Madurai, one of the oldest cities in India. Greek documents date its existence back to at least the 4th century BC, and it has been part of trade routes for spices and silks since then. It's also the home of the Sri Meenakshi Temple, one of the largest temple complexes in India. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to visit the temple, but we'd definitely like to check it out at some point in the future.

A temple in Chennai

We met up with our driver from the day before and headed to the Madurai airport for our flight back to Delhi. Once again, the flight took us by way of Chennai, although we didn’t get a chance to get off the plane and check out the city. A few uneventful hours later, we touched down in Delhi for the last time on this trip. (Overall, the our experience with domestic Indian flights has been quite good, despite the noticeably higher numbers of screaming children.)

Uhhh - some city between Hyderabad and Delhi...

A stadium built for Delhi's 2010 hosting of the Common Wealth Games

We headed back to our Delhi hotel, for the third time on this trip – it’s definitely beginning to feel home-y at this point – and decided to call it an early night. We don’t have much to show for the day, but please enjoy our attempts at aerial photography.

March 9th: Our Lady of Indian Christian Pop and the drive to Madurai

Family Photo

We packed our things for a 10:00 am checkout and headed over to see Maura one last time before we caught a ride back to Madurai for a flight the next morning. Will showed up in between classes to say goodbye, after which the three of us took a short walk up the hill to see Catholic church (Indian style) dedicated to Mary. (We had walked by it on our way to Dolphin’s Nose a few days before, but were scared off by the blaring Indian pop music – no doubt Christian – echoing through the neighborhood from giant loud speakers atop the church, see picture below.) The place was much more serene without the music that morning (no cameras allowed inside) - we lit some candles for souls passed on.

Idli shamelessly endorses Kodaikanal International School

Catholicism in India

Anyone know what this is? (in the lily family?)

We said goodbye to Maura when the car showed up after lunch, and promised to return. Our driver was much better this time than on the way up. The drive from Madurai to Kodaikanal that took us four and a half hours (distance of ~120 km) last Friday, took three and half hours this time (we suspected that our first driver was erring on the side of comfort over speed). Once in Madurai, we booked a nice room for the night (we needed some western amenities, and when it’s so cheap, why not?).

Descending into the plains - these plantations contain mango, coconut, and banana trees

A banyan tree marks the side of the road with a young banana tree in the distance 

We had dinner at the hotel and booked a taxi to the airport for a 10:00 am flight to Delhi via Chennai.          

A tamarind tree (taller) with a grove of coconut trees (right)

Sunset as we roll into Madurai

Finally, internet in our room (at least in theory) - and the shower was wonderful!

March 8th (Continued): Last full day, but a light day…

Quiz Update: Tom has finally named that animal with all the technical info I was looking for...

"Indian Gray Mongoose or Common Grey Mongoose

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Herpestidae
Subfamily: Herpestinae
Genus: Herpestes
Species: H. edwardsii"

Congrats, Tom

Morning was as the day before – it’s nice to have access to a kitchen to use as our own. Will only had to work until around 11:30 am, so after a late lunch of dal, rice and chapati, we walked to town with Will, Maura and the baby to run some errands. We did a little shopping and walked around the school’s campus for a bit (no photography, God forbid we should take pictures of boarding school buildings? - the grounds were nice, though).

We visited some of their friends for a cup of tea – a very sweet English couple who work at the school as well, and had adopted four Indian babies over the last six years, and are still planning to adopt more! Maura felt that the Muirenn couldn’t handle another outing, so Emily and I went back into town for take-out food at the Royal Tibet Restaurant. We ate and retired back to our room relatively early, as we were all very tired, and planned to meet for a few hours before we left the next day.        

Makin' eggs in Will and Maura's kitchen

Some tropical beauty on our route to and from W&M's house

Muirenn on her new blanket

March 8th: (Prepost action)

Here are some videos of the local fauna that I thought I'd toss on the blog. They were made in Dharamshala so they are not from today, but being a somewhat uneventful day, this entry will have some extra space.

These monkeys were on the roof-tops below our balcony in Dharamshala. Notice the dog in the upper right who is very excited about them!

This eagle must have had a six + foot wing-span. You can get an idea of his size when he is visited by a crow down this wire from him.

Enjoy! I will post the day's happenings tomorrow.

Also, I found out that we are around 5500 feet above the plains (visible in previous pictures from our balcony)!

March 7th: Just another wonderful day

Being Monday, Will was scheduled to teach morning classes at the International School, so it was back to work for him. Our morning was as usual at the hotel (chai, singing and the incredible view with the birds about doing their morning thing), and for breakfast, we wandered over to Maura’s place for toast, tea and eggs.

An adolescent gaur eats on the lawn

  The day before, we had all been walking through town and, passing by the local internet café, I stopped in for a bottle of water. Long story short, I purchased a used wireless router for them, which had been collecting dust on a shelf in the corner, in order to set up WiFi for Will and Maura at their house. After an hour or so of tinkering back at their place, I managed to get the wireless network up and running using the purchased router – everything was working great and Maura and Will couldn’t have been more pleased!

Will and Maura with us at lunch

  Today, Will received a phone call from the school confirming that we had purchased and set up a router on their network, which was wired into their home. It turns out that in doing so, I crashed the ENTIRE campus-wide network (not just the classrooms, but several square miles of compounds, dorms and other facilities)! Although it was easily fixed, Will would have to bring the router to the IT guy at school for them to use it again. (I felt terrible about the whole thing, but I was assured that the network was not the most robust system ever designed and that this had happened before – apparently our little off-brand router had reassigned IP addresses across the entire network!)

A child and his puppy greeted us on our walk

Maura, Emily and Idli on the lake

 

 

Will assed out with the extended family

                                                                                  We had lunch with Will between his classes and I ran some errands while Maura and Emily took the long way back home. We spent the afternoon enjoying each other’s company and watching the baby. After Will returned from work, we took Idli for a walk by the lake while he and Muirenn napped at home.

    We went to dinner and returned to the house where Will and I had a cocktail. 

Muirenn asleep on Will

Emily's tattoo in the sky

Sunset over the lake with the moon