Taj Mahal

Crossing_Wagah

current blog at https://neuage.me/varanasi

Walking from India into Pakistan 2024

Narda italics – me not

This trip has been planned for a long time – a long time in our world, a few months. We are continuing our plan with three months home (Adelaide) three months anywhere but home. 2023 those months included: Kuala Lumpur – February, Pakistan – March, England – April, Wales – May, awhile home, New York/Michigan for my 76^th birthday in August, Chicago for September, and Spain for October. We enjoyed a few months at home and here we are back in Pakistan with two months in India next. These notes and images are of our first month (February 2024) and our next scribble and images will be the next two months in India.

As in most of our long-term trips there was the possibility that this trip would not eventuate due to medical stuff on my part. This time I was in hospital on January 19^th getting a new /defibrillator shoved in. Seems the old one (seven years old) was breaking up inside of my body. It was also too close to the surface and me being a bit skinny was close to popping out of my chest, plus the battery was at its end. All wonderful stuff. Firstly, I was told that I many have an infection from the old device which would mean me in a hospital for a week or so with antibodies being pumped in. Then I was told I may have gotten an infection from the new surgery. However, both tests over the next week proved cool and groovy so I didn’t need to get the antibiotic treatment. So, they shoved the new one further in, behind muscle making it all quite painful and I was told not to do much for a month. Three weeks later we were flying to India. So here we are. We are travelling light this time so not much weight to carry and Narda won’t let me lift anything over my shoulder which is OK as she is a big strong Dutch woman and can deal with it. I wasn’t the only one. Narda had cataract surgery over the two earlier months which we were worried about would impact our trip as it could have been postponed by a couple of weeks making us stranded in Australia.

Ay the same time two years ago we had to take a covid test at Melbourne airport before getting on a flight to Dubai then over to Lahore. Come to think of it most of our trips into the world have been “almost not happening”.

Then there was the time a few years ago when we had to test the day before a flight in Lahore going to DC. Luckily, all of us tested negative: Chris (visiting from DC for Brendan’s wedding, and Narda and I) Chris got back to DC a day later, we got there two days later, Christmas night. The next day Chris told us he had just tested positive for covid. Narda and I took tests and low and behold we both were positive. I was positive for 15-days delaying our flight to the UK where we were going for a few months. At least Narda got to stay with her son Chris and family for an extra week in DC. Because we have had so many injections (six now) and three then we were not very sick but still we could not fly back in those days.

There was even one time when my liver doctor thought I could have something sinister going on and had me get a scan a week before going overseas awhile back. But between medical, possible wars, covid and so many other things we manage to keep on going.

Not to worry – our daytime flight to Kuala Lumpur was fine with a bit of wait then onto Delhi. From the quiet of our neighbourhood in Adelaide to the full on of PaharGanj, Delhi.

PaharGanj, Delhi  Feb 9-13, 2024

Sitting on the balcony of the hotel in the crazy market of PaharGanj, sipping a sweet lassie is not a bad way to enjoy this chaos. Tuk tuks constantly reminding us of their usefulness by honking their horns, and then there are the hawkers insisting that you would look “very good Madam” with that bag around your middle.

Two cops on a motor bike have just tidied things up a bit by moving the selling sprawl back off the road using wailing sirens, the guy on the back wielding a long wooden stick.

Then there was the Austrian we met over dinner in the Krishna rooftop cafe. A real traveller. Told us interesting stories of the 70s when it was possible to trek from Istanbul to India, stopping in Iran, Afghanistan …..Kabul was the hip place…and Pakistan. His Indian friend later joined us too. A gemmologist…is that a thing? His favourite stone was the black opal from Australia.

The Austrian also told us that his room was robbed while he was staying in our hotel some  years back. He said it could only have been a staff member. He asked to see the security footage only to be told that the manager was not available…when he did become available the security footage had been deleted as per protocol …every 48 hours!!!

Note to self…no more stays at Hotel Hari Piorko.

The food here is great. No salads, fruit only with a removable skin. The Indian food is amazing, complete with a sweet lassi. 

Yesterday we took the Metro. The first ride, for 40 rupees was crazy. Pushing and shoving, no kind offers of a seat for an old tart…but we found our way to the cinema, only to be told there were no movies with English subtitles. We had hoped for a nice long Bollywood flick.

https://youtu.be/zihvE_Dt4Lw?si=9ZXeuML3_oL5zwjA our tuk tuk ride

I have a new grandchild!! 

A beautiful little boy who I can’t wait to meet.

The expression says it all. 

“What? There’s another grandma? Do I HAVE to call her Oma?”

I found it interesting to watch the Super Bowl on the balcony of a local restaurant – enjoying breakfast. Enjoying that the team with the dude that hangs out with that Swift girl who likes Biden, won even though I was never a fan of the team previously. A slightly interesting thing, to me, is that I have only one sports team jumper and that is KC. It was Leigh’s and I had used it to paint our house – Clare who is going to a Swift concert in Melbourne asked if she could borrow it and I left it with her. Doubt she would have worn it there.

We took tuk tuks – got ourselves lost heaps – walked in crowded surroundings and had a wonderful time. See our short clip for this time in Delhi. https://youtu.be/uNBZzQ1m9QA?si=hT8OYAP1fXVYj76S  One of the reasons we like to keep blogs is because we can look back at previous trips and see, if anything, what we learnt then for now, but we usually forget to look until after we have been someplace. However, we have done Delhi before – even the same hotel – it was better then. Including a rooftop restaurant. We were told due to a fire where a bunch of folks got were injured, rooftop restaurants were no longer in vogue, or in fact legal. The rooms were worse now so overall the hotel has gone downhill since we were there before covid. 2018 https://neuage.me/2018/01/18/india2018/ that is quite a good blog if I do say so myself. We even had a fish tank in our room.

2. Agra Feb 13-18, 2024

Our train guy (Raj from trainticketplease…google it.) organised a driver for us. The driver was slow and cautious, all good , but next time we’ll take the Gatimaan Express which, by all accounts takes 90 minutes ……about a quarter of the time the driver took….though we did stop for a fast food lunch.

The homestay is really nice.

A loud wedding down the road. 

Iced coffee, drumstick icecreams, and nuts. It’s all there in the Daily Need Store 

Yesterday we caught up with our friend and TukTuk driver Shambhu. 

This is the Baby Taj

[Tomb of I’timād-ud-Daulah (I’timād-ud-Daulah Maqbara) is a Mughal mausoleum in the city of Agra in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Often described as a “jewel box”, sometimes called the “Bachcha Taj” or the “Baby Taj“, the tomb of I’timād-ud-Daulah is often regarded as a draft of the Taj Mahal. (the internet)]

And the big Taj Mahal from the park at the back. 

Where’s Wally’s hat?????

We had lunch at Shambhu’s wife’s house. His wife spent hours making our meal; curried chicken for me and a veggie version for Terrell. 

All very pleasant. They sat watching us eat which we now realise is the way things are done.

We invited Shambhu and his wife for dinner at our nearby restaurant. Shambhu was our tuk tuk driver and has maintained nice contact with us for some years.

@ 9.30 am we got a driver to Agar – got there at 1.30 PM, slow driver doing 80 and below on 100 kph freeway.  People passed on both sides, three-lane highway. In contrast last year to Kuala Lumpur, we got a driver from Johor Bahru (JB) next to Singapore to Kuala Lumpur who drove the 333 kilometres very quickly, like going more than 130 KMPH, with Narda every once in a while, asking him if he could slow down. On this trip to Agra, we stopped at a roadside place (J Mart food court) with basically a KFC being the only recognizable food place and lucky for me they had a really good veggie burger. Narda grabbed some chicken pieces. The only good thing about having a driver was that he drove us straight to the homestay which we had booked for the week. Soon after arriving we had a nap then had dinner at Udupi Brindavan over on Shamshabad Road. A good feed indeed. As usual, about six waiters and whatevers stood around watching us eat. There was only one other couple in the place the whole time there so I suppose we were the evening entertainment.

The homestay was a large house with several rooms rented out to various critters. There were people from Poland, Italy, Ukraine (though we did not get to meet them), France and Czech Republic. We got to meet them at breakfast sometimes though conversations were limited as no one spoke much English, except us and we talk nonstop.

In the evening there was a typical Indian wedding with lots of noise, a horse or two and lots of dancing in the street. It is in our video below.

Another day we took a tuk tuk to Ashok Cosmos Mall shopping centre which turned out to be a long ride and it was a crap place. Not really a shopping centre though it looked as if it wanted to be, a want-to-be shopping centre. When we get a bit too much of a third world lack of integration, we start looking for something familiar – a western shopping centre. We went to the largest one in Delhi, Select City Walk Mall, it was clean and big but exactly like any western shopping centre anywhere in the world, meaning expensive and boring. We did find a good place to eat nearby at 3C’s Café with a great cheesy noodle dish. Address: Sanjay Palace, Sanjay 114/23 Deepshikha Building, Wazirpura Road, Agra, Uttar Pradesh 282002.

I have to say, shopping malls in Lahore are MUCH better. For example Packages Mall………

We caught up with our friend, Shambu, who was our tuk tuk driver back in 2018 and whom Narda had connections with through her school in Adelaide years earlier. He drove us around for a day taking us to the baby Taj (Itmad-ud-Daula), past the big Taj (we went there last time in India, see our blog – ).

Below is a short clip of our short week in Agra with the wedding parade, the Taj and its sibling and some street scenes.

previous, 2018, blog of Agra https://neuage.me/2018/02/12/india2018-agra

I kept a watch on the local monkey population. Someone at breakfast at our homestay had his smart phone ripped from his hand the day before – a monkey chewed on it and the man was able to get it back by giving a piece of fruit to the critter. another person said her glasses had been stolen – apparently, monkeys will steal glasses off of one’s face as they see their reflection. There are a lot of monkeys in our area, probably all over Agra. They will climb onto your porch and take things.

Some other street scenes of Agra 2024…

We had a good feed at Shambu’s and lots of neighbourhood children came to visit. We sat up on his rooftop to have tea and others on their roofs waved and took photos of us and we of them.

We had the usual amount of people wanting to take selfies with us, and in turn, us with them…

3. Amritsar and Wagah Border. We start off with a derailment! No not for us.  It was the train ahead, fortunately a goods train so no injuries. But now we are 5 hours later than we should be, though that has no relevance in our life. More sleep for me and some time and day to gaze out of windows. This morning, in our search for food, we had to walk through half a dozen carriages of 3 AC….we are in 2 AC…..we have made the unanimous decision not to ride 3 AC. But it was a very interesting walk.

We got a taxi to the train station in Agra. Our train did not arrive on the track it was supposed to, the digital sign made no sense, and we got a bit unsure. As we were the only westerns at the station there seemed to be a lot of interest in us, especially to help us. We blocked everyone until it became obvious, we were two lost souls without a clue and the train could not arrive on the track listed as there was a goods train sitting there with no intentions of moving. We finally let a person take us to a place in the station where he indicated our coach would arrive. We were very unsure as our app showed our coach was car number 19 which showed it to be at the end of the train and the person insisted that it was at the front after the engine. The person was correct, got us right to our seat. I had very little money and he was not pleased with what I gave him. I suppose people just figure western people are rich and probably we are in comparison. Of course, compared to rich people we are not rich…something lost there. We had wanted to get only first-class seats on our train rides but there was not one available, so we were in 2A which is Ok just not quite as private. We got the lower bunk which is all I can manage with my newly implanted pacemaker and of course, just generally being too old to climb up and down stairs. Somewhat comfortable. Compared to our 24-hour Amtrack last year from Chicago to DC it was better in some ways and not others. On Amtrack we had only our bunk, the downside was it sounded its horn every few minutes and it was a rocky ride, so I got basically did not sleep. On this train Narda thinks she slept about 12-hours which is good for her as she is not a very good sleeper normally. I got very little sleep. The bed was a bit hard, my sheets and blankets kept going onto the floor and people were coming and going all night. It was supposed to be a fourteen-hour train ride but due to a freight derailment earlier in the day there was an additional five or six hours added as we waited at one station for them to clear some twisted metal stuff for five hours. The upside is that instead of arriving at six am and having most of the ride in the dark we arrived in Amristar a bit after noon, so I got a bunch of photos and a bit of video – see below, along the way. I thought a lot of the way looked much like outback Australia.

We, or me, had a bit of a meal from their dining car. I had a couple of vegetarian samosas which were almost good. We had lots of chai tea as there are people who go through the train hawking the stuff. I tried to say no sugar but that got ignored or misunderstood.

See our video, ‘Crossing Wagah Border’ below to see the train ride

The Wagah border is a wonderful thing. An example to the world on how two countries with incredible conflict in the past can settle their differences and embrace one another. We had several conversations with locals about this in Amritsar, and they said there is no conflict here at all. It’s the politicians who need to come on board. Narda

19 February Monday
Arriving in Amritsar @ noon. As always is the situation, people line up wanting to drive us somewhere/anywhere. One chap seemed to look reasonable, and we showed him the name of our hotel and off we went. We would use him again in a few days to get to the border and again in three weeks to get back to Amritsar – but that is for a later narrative. The car to the hotel was 250 rupees, setting us back a whomping three dollars USD.  After our customary nap we wandered out into the streets of Amritsar exploring this groovy town. Our mission was to get a hair wash and head massage which we did for about $24 USD including tips (800 rupees each), which in this part of the world is quite expensive. Narda went upstairs with a girl, and I was left downstairs with five or six people watching, seemingly laughing at me, but the dude that did the wash and massage was really good even though he seemed to have a case of the giggles most of the time he was engaged with me. I am unable to get anything done to my back or my left arm due to various wires that hold my heart together or is it my pacemaker? Nevertheless no one can thump me on the back.

We didn’t go the Golden Temple this time as we have already done that, and we are not good with standing in lines as is the case with the GT. The hotel was OK and I would recommend it. As we always seem to be on a quest for something, Narda wanted to get a sink plug as most places we stay at do not seem to have one. Narda seems to enjoy trying to describe and get a hold of something that is beyond words. For example, when we lived in China she wanted a fly swatter and after giving a pretty good description in sign language a guy came out with a hammer. She then did the same performance only adding buzz buzz buzz which promptly produced a fly swatter along with laughs from our acquired audience. We found a few plumbing/bathroom type of places but with little luck. A friendly chap who thought he knew what we wanted took us to several places and eventually we emerged with a plug that looked rather standard in hand and unfortunately for the dude who took us around we did not have any money to give him for his service. Narda’s next quest was to find a bookstore selling books in English which we did after a harrowing tuk tuk ride through narrow streets full of traffic that did not easily fit on the same street and which had not idea of which side of the street a vehicle should be on. Again, Narda was successful and proudly trotted down the street with a bag of books and me wondering how we could possible fit them into our already too full suitcases.

So that was our stay in Amritsar. The dude to drive us to the border was in front of our hotel at nine am and off we went to one of the main events of this trip. To walk across the border between India and Pakistan.

The border experience was surprisingly simple and quick. Folks are friendly. 

Brendan’s driver, Imran, collected us from the Pakistani side. We had to wait for awhile as some singer from India was coming to Lahore to perform, making security extra tight. Obviously, we did not look like we were part of the band.

The other times we were at the border was to see the ceremony when 50,000 people on the India side and 20,000 on the Pakistan side, nightly, cheer and celebrate while the flag is taken down. When we arrived at 10 am the flag was up for the day and the stadiums were empty. This is the India stadium.

This is what it was like the last time we were there…

In the previous three times to Lahore we flew. Always a long way either through Dubai or KL. Having gone to the big nightly celebrations, one on the India side twice on the Pakistan side to see the place empty was a goal. The border opens at ten am and we were there in line. We would have been first, but I wanted a cup of coffee which put us behind a couple of other people. Going through was easy as. They checked our passports, put our bags through a scanner – I showed them my pacemaker saying I could not go through their bloody scanning device, though not exactly in those words and as usual no one wants to go near me after that. We got to their big mean looking fence and gate, they opened it, we took some photos, though I didn’t think in the moment to have a picture of Narda with one foot in India and one foot in Pakistan. We will do that on the way back which will be the next blog. They let us take photos of the gate and the guards and everyone seemed pleased with their lot in life, considering these two nuclear armed countries have a terrible past of killing each other – reading a book about that now, “Train to Pakistan” by Khushwant Singh. So many thousands killed one another in 1947 on both sides.

Pakistan achieved independence from British rule as a dominion within the Commonwealth on August 14-15, 1947, the former day celebrated annually as the country’s Independence Day. The British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act on July 18, 1947, which created two dominions, Indian Union and Pakistan. It also provided for the complete end of British control over Indian affairs from August 15, 1947.

Sidenote: Terrell Neuage was born on August 10, 1947. Wow, it is like Pakistan is my younger brother. Though I believe if they had become a nation on August 10 instead of the fourteenth, they would have been better off. I was born in Battle Creek (Michigan), sounds peaceful to me. Of course, if they had my birth chart with five planets in Leo (Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Pluto, Sun, MH) instead of waiting until there were six planets in Leo (when the moon moved over into Leo) they may have had a better outcome. I have my five Leo planets in Pakistan’s birth chart’s fourth house which is why I am so comfortable here. Of course, the fourth house can be considered the end of the matter too which is not my cup of tea as I want to keep going. And my Taurus moon rising in their first house. A match made in whatifs. And of course, Pakistan has six planets in my 10^th house – we were made to be together. This could also partially explain why I like it in India and Pakistan because I get to honour all my planets in Leo and their need for recognition and overall general attention as everywhere we go folks stop and stare at us and often want to take selfies with us as if we were celebrities – which momentarily we are, at least in our own minds. We both also have in Chinese stuff the year of the pig and both of us have a life path of #7 whatever the hell that could mean. Also, probably of absolutely of no interest to anyone Horoscopes having the same aspect Venus square Ascendant (orb 1°33′) as Pakistan: Cristiano Ronaldo, Uma Thurman, Mila Kunis, Mick Jagger, Tom Hanks, Richard Gere, Nicolas Hulot, Emma Roberts, Pharrell Williams, Michael Schumacher. And that is all we will say about this nonsense.

Bing Copilot AI thingy

According to some sources, the name Terrell may have an Old German origin meaning “following Thor” ¹². Thor was the Norse god of thunder, lightning, and war ³. However, other sources suggest that Terrell is derived from an Old French nickname for a stubborn person ¹⁴, or a Teutonic name meaning “martial ruler” . Therefore, the meaning of Terrell is not very clear and may depend on the cultural and historical context of the name.

Anyway, you cut it Terrell, AKA Thor the god of war, from Battle Creek sounds safe (this last line is not from AI but has been influenced by my own insights).

Bing Copilot AI thingy

The name Neuage is not very common and has no clear origin or meaning. However, some sources suggest that it may represent ambition, independence, strength, reliability, determination and professionalism ¹. It could also be a variant of the French word “nuage” meaning “cloud”.

Full disclosure… I changed my name to Neuage in 1980 in Hawaii. Probably means, ‘he who rambles…’ Also, I have no middle name, and could possibly be open to suggestions. Or not.

I don’t have a whole lot to say about Lahore. We have done it three times before so read those times. This time we are just hanging out locally, walking to shops, parks, waving to the world.

We went to the Lahore Literary Festival again https://lahorelitfest.com/ – we went last year also. Narda was especially interested in Sirbaz Khan who is the youngest Pakistani to climb Mt. Everest and who has made it to the top of 13 of the 14 highest peaks. Unfortunately, he did not speak English, but the video of his efforts was good. We listened to the panel discussion how Pakistan is at the forefront to sort out climate change, however, with the highest pollution in the air anywhere in the world I am not sure how much is being done.

• 2023 Lahore https://neuage.me/2023/03/18/pakistan2023/
• 2022 Lahore https://neuage.me/2022/02/03/covid-world-tour-2021/  (Brendan and Sofie’s wedding)
• 2019 Lahore https://neuage.me/2019/11/29/lahore/

See four years of our video clips at bit.ly/3uIBrjK

A couple of notes: we like getting our hair washed in Asia and of course, massages. We have been gone from home for three weeks and have had three hair washes and four massages. Here in Lahore for two plus weeks we had hair wash and massage in Main Market and our go to place from last few times, Arammish Spa and Salon for excellent foot massages and hair washing. Narda had her first pedicure saying that since she is turning 70 this year it will be a year of firsts.

The other thing we do as done before is going to the International Club. This time Narda got to sing with Brendan’s band, ‘The Buffs’, which we thought was named after him going to the gym and getting buffed but is really named after their school sports team the buffalo.

Our other usual was breakfast @ Bundu Khan Restaurant – Liberty Market where we ate Desi Nashta Served with 2 puri, chanay, aloo bhujia, yogurt & halwa – yumm.

4. Lahore Feb 21 to Feb 24, 2024

And the highlight of our trip, meeting Arhan. What a little snoepie.

One of these baby pictures is not Arhan! See if you can find it. It’s another member of the family.

This is grandchild number five. I am a very happy grandma.

We managed to find a nice brekkie complete with sweet lassi. There were about 6 waiters standing around smiling. I have no idea what they were saying, but the food was good, basically a piece of paratha with a bowl of yogurt for dipping. This has become my favourite brekkie, discovered in India. Easy and nice.

Yesterday we had brekkie with Brendan at the Tea House, fancy Eggs Benedict with salmon for $6. Enough reason for the trip right there! And the most important news is that we accompanied Bren to the International Club where he works out every day. Terrell and I played the pool table and I won!! Though in the interests of full disclosure, he did pocket 3 of my balls.

Yesterday we went to our favourite restaurant:  Pakistani style, puri, halwa, some other spicy stuff, yogurt and of course sweet lassis. It’s very crowded on Sunday mornings. Great food. For the 3 of us, $13. 

The drive home was blacked by a woman’s march. Bren has no problem driving up the wrong side of the road to avoid it. He drives like a Pakistani local. Scary!

Sofie joined us with Arhan for the afternoon, lots of time for nice conversation and getting to know the tiny one. We nipped out to buy some afternoon tea, which included yummy chocolate eclairs. We are not doing it too tough!

The weather has been blue skies, relatively low pollution count: 120. Today the blue is gone but still reasonable at 179, which for this city is still pretty OK. We’re sleeping well and are still doing our core exercises, so we are feeling virtuous.

Taking photos for official paperwork. Eyes to the front, white background. Hello. The applicant is one month old! Good job Bren.

And he turned one-month old

Just another day walking down the street.

Our chai wallah, who remembered us from last year. “2 cups, one without sugar”. Nice. 

This is the approach to nearby Main Market. It has a great little stationery shop which I love to visit. They are selling chai on that corner too. 

Last night we had dinner at Imran’s place. He lives in a Christian enclave which could have been in Biblical times with it’s narrow streets. 

Taken by Angel, Imran’s youngest daughter and an up-and-coming “influencer”. Her stated ambition. For that she is excelling in physics,  math’s and chemistry at high school…..:). A clever girl.

The scariest thing in this place is crossing the road. Yesterday we took the red bus, boys in the back girls in the front, to Liberty Market. 

We bought some bits and pieces, had a donut at Dunkin Donuts as you do an then attempted to take the bus back. 

This involved crossing a very busy road. We stood on the side looking terrified. A kindly local said “come with me, I will take you across” He ignored the cars, the motor bikes and tuks and ploughed ahead. We had 2 choices. Either hold hands with him or simply keep going with our eyes almost shut. I made a vow. If I survive, I will not do this again. And here we are.

Getting ready for tonight’s gig in Brendan and Sofie’s lounge…

Bren’s band, “The Buffs”  played for a special event at the International Club. It was a really nice night. I heard quite a few compliments on Bren’s bass playing, but I hesitate to pass them on….don’t want to swell his head!! Haha. I did get to sing a song with them. It was fun. We are starting to get to know a few folks there, Bren and Sof’s friends. Lulu, Kash, Dave and neighour Luke….nice. 

We are also getting more familiar with the city, despite no sim cards. Google gives you a map off-line which is great. Don’t really need a phone. WhatsApp is great when there is wifi. Yesterday we had a nice spa experience at Sofie’s salon. I had my very first manicure in my life, hands and toes, and a foot massage, Terrell also had a hair wash. All good. Now you see why we really come here!! 🙂

This is the view of Bren’ front yard viewed from the lounge. Not too shabby.

Right now I’m plowing through books about the Partition. Just finished one called The Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh, an Indian author. It’s really impartial, describing the atrocities from both sides.

And we were stopped and asked if wanted to purchase a newspaper – but it was not in English. A few moments later the man came back with a local newspaper in English – our first one since leaving home.

It rained only once in our three weeks here – they day of Brendan’s gig at the international club – so it was held inside. In the afternoon it hailed quite large hail things…

Some images and clips from this time…next blog will be re. crossing the border into India then two months in far-out and groovy places in India which we may do as individual places or at the end and toss up when we get back home in May or perhaps June – the world is our oyster and we love sharing it.

Then we left home…see you next blog – thanks for sharing.

India2018: Agra

Travels through India with Terrell Neuage and Narda Biemond. India 2018 itinerary   Previous blog: Delhi

Wednesday 24/01/2018 Agra

We were up at five am after not sleeping well all night from waking up constantly to be sure we were awake at five am. We had our phone alarms on (my wake-up ring tone is a Dylan song ‘She belongs to me’ and Narda is enough to drown out a freight train) plus the hotel was to bang on our door but we were up before then. Still we worry.

We got a tuk tuk to the train station that even at 6:30 am was crowded with zillions of people all over.

We had a nice chat with a couple of police people while we waited. They helped us get on to the correct carriage, which in our case was first class seats for the two plus hours. See  below.

The train seats were comfortable – not Amtrak comfortable but Indian good. Our first train on this three-month trip. We got breakfast served (cornflakes, milk, coffee, and a hot meal of eggs and something which we declined as we had breakfast at the train station. An uneventful couple of hours with some reading done. Shambhu, our tuk tuk driver for the next three days greeted us with our names on a sign and we settled into Hotel Sheela near the Taj Mahal and after eating at the hotel we slept. The hotel is quite basic, we had booked the basic room for $23 USD for two nights, but apparently it was too basic for us uptown folks (no hot showers, and small) so for $53 USD we got a hot shower and a larger room for two nights. We thought the beds in India were going to be too hard, so we brought a couple of blow-up mattress and a pump which puts our luggage over weight for internal flights. The beds so far are good, thick foam, after two stays we gave them away to Shambhu.

With Delhi we were tossing out blogs a day, videos, photos galore, now we are too busy to do any such thing. Or we were, I am writing this on the night train to Jaipur, with Narda, and everyone else in our carriage asleep. When we get there I will be stuffed, but then I should sleep, Narda will be reading her Kindle for the rest of the night. The last couple of days have tested every fibre of this seventy-year old and I am sure Narda-the-younger feels exhausted also. Of course, she has been asleep for the past three hours on the berth above me. And this morning I woke her at eight am, so we could get out the door; such is the life of an old person.

We did the Taj Mahal thing Wednesday morning, a very foggy morning – barely saw it. An hour later when sun decided to shine and chase away the fog we got a couple of photos. It is somewhat impressive, the fact that it has lasted so long is a testament to something.

I have always liked cows, from living on a dairy farm in Australia to not eating them since my parents may have slipped something onto my plate in the early 1950s and throughout the early 1960s that may have had cow chunks in it, cows have been an interesting topic of observation for me. My email image of the past ten years has been with me walking alongside a cow in Goa.  In Delhi, Agra, and now Jaipur I have had many photo ops with cows. So many in fact that Narda has put me on a cow-band. I will include a couple here just to remind myself of these days.

We met our tuk tuk driver in the afternoon and went to a carpet weaving place.

Shambhu was recommended to us by Narda’s work colleague, Brother Rob. He has been using his services and those of his family for a period of about 30 years as he made frequent trips back to India. This family of tuk tuk drivers has become very special to Rob, and he has many great stories to tell.

We visited Shambhu’s village. One of our favourite visits, ‘the real India’ he said. The video below is a bit blurry, something I blame on very poor internet for uploading but it does give an idea of this village. Shambhu is getting married in a month and he explained the process to us. His brother arranged a girl from the same class; in his case the ‘shoemaker class’. They meet at McDonalds. He asked if she like him and with an affirmative she asked if he like her, and thus began their romance. They met one-another’s families and when we met Shambhu he was in the process of building his new home; an add-on room to his brother’s home. There will be no floors, outside of what the earth provides, he has the bricks and has started digging out the sandy soil for a foundation. They have a well for water for their area, provided by Brother Robert, who brings students from his school in Australia. It will cost some 50,000 rupees to build his new home; about $776 USD. Shambhu is working hard with this tuk tuk business to raise the money. If he can not build his house in the next two months he will lose his bride as her father wants her provided for. She is 19, he is 25. He is also raising funds for the marriage. I forget how much it is but it is supposed to be a three day affair with a horse and bands and lots of celebration. Travel gives us such a different view of life-styles. Narda and I met on the internet, from the day we physically met at the end of 2000 until now we have rarely been apart. My marriage proposal was one night when, in the middle of the night, not even knowing whether Narda was awake or not, I said, ‘let’s do this thing’. That was it. I could not even use the word marriage for a long time. We did the deed with family present at the end of a pier, and I called it ‘JettyDay’. At the time I didn’t have a car, I was a single-parent, a few bucks in my pocket, and I didn’t even give her a ring. What a contrast to an Indian hitch.

The class thing takes awhile to get one’s mind around, but we have heard people mention it wherever we go. People will tell us on first meeting, ‘I am of the Brahmin Class’ which I believe is a priest class and they feel they are at the top of the heap. It seems strange to identify with birth as the totality of one’s place in life. Of course, it is easy for me as a white male from a western culture (with my duel citizenship of USA and Australia) to say one can achieve whatever they wish. I sure have. I realise I need to get over myself and understand how society has limited people by race, gender, place of birth, belief systems. I always thought by now, 2018, the world would be more homogenous. Maybe religion would be replaced by doctrines of love without doctrines. We would treat each other equally. I think it is getting worse. America First as well as anyone else who proclaims themselves first is putting us back into the class systems. Everyone is to get in the back of the line. I must be careful when I think a tuk tuk driver is over-charging me 150 instead of 100 rupees ($2.33 instead of $1.55 USD). A cup of coffee in most shops in Australia is about $4 (204 rupees), a beer in a pub starts at $8 (408 rupees). Our daily budget for food in India is $20 USD (sorry about switching between USD and Australian Dollar) for the two of us which is about one meal if we are doing it on the cheap in Australia. We feel good about ourselves giving a beggar a twenty rupee note until we realise we just gave away 30-cents. India is tough on a western consciousness.

Narda even played a bit of cricket with the children.

Shambhu and his sisters made us a meal. We were concerned about getting to the train on time. He kept saying we would be there on time, and he did do it. Was I feeling uneasy being waited and eating a meal surrounded by about twenty children. I said feed them first and we were told there was plenty for them. What I saw didn’t seem like it. The meal was cooked in their kitchen, a small open fire on the ground with a few vegetables. Letting go is such a difficult thing. Perhaps this is what I will learn in three months of being in India.

We were told that the school situation was good for people with money, they could send their children to a private school. Public school was a different story. Teachers are paid a salary. They do not show up, except a couple of times a year when there is an inspection. When we were there on what should have been a school day, children were all over the place. We went up to the roof and 360 degrees around us there were children on the rooftops waving to us. We did not share a language but they were smiling and we all laughed together. Narda taught them a song – see the clip below.

Village visit =

Shambhu took us to the local market with everyone smiling and saying it was OK for me to take their photo. We didn’t buy anything, no one seemed to worry. Around historic sites it is a different story with so many people asking for money, selling tours, trinkets, pity. What would I do in their situation? I have had my hardships, tragedies, failures, and success in life but nothing compares to the stories we get and the situations we see. I feel I get beggar fatigue. But I feel somewhat good about animal life in India. I am sure I will go on about this too many times. Unlike cultures of animal-eaters (goody-two-shoes vegetarian for decades me gets a bit judgemental in this space) the animals in India receive more respect. Cows are holy. They wander everywhere. Nutritionally their life is crap as they forge for themselves among the garbage, but they get to live their lives, hangout with each other. The calf is not separated from the mother at birth so we can steal the milk, pigs and chickens are not forced to live in such totally unnatural conditions where they can barely move, let alone socialize, so we can slaughter them to get fat on.

We had no intentions on purchasing a carpet – what would we do with an expensive new rug in our home that we are trying to get rid of stuff from? We watched how rugs were handwoven, months of works, and such an array of amazing colours. Then we thought of our home back in Adelaide. A bit dated, needing new style, something different than our Chinese collections of things dotted around, then we remembered how we have no second thought of replacing a camera or computer for a thousand dollars every few years; phones, television, constant car/caravan servicing, etc. A handwoven carpet should last for a long time. We were told it also would help several families.

This is the carpet we bought. We will now need to redecorate our lounge; oh wait, the house, the next day we bought three more: two for our bedroom and one for the hall. We need new curtains, we will paint the lounge when we get home, maybe even some new furniture. It is amazing what one can do a month after saying no more spending on the house.

the two for our bedroom: handwoven months of work,

And the one for our lounge;

And the one for our hallway (in the middle)

We were told this took five months and three-months of work to make. That is about how much we had to work to make the money to pay for it (not really – but they were not Walmart rugs.

Carpet – here is a video we took of them making a carpet:

We went to a music store where we were given a sitar concert and Narda was taught how to play a sitar in a few lessons. Of course, they wanted us to buy one but we didn’t.

We went to a marble shop and saw how marble pieces were inserted into tables and things. Tuk tuk drivers get a small commission for taking tourists to places like this. There is no pressure to buy anything; we did go nuts at the carpet place, but other places we just look and make it clear for the start we are not buying. They are happy to show their wares and the tuk tuk driver gets something and we learn from everyone we meet and there is always my ever-present camera taking photos or video. I made a rather uninteresting video which can be seen here Marble factory

Agra Fort video

Agra Fort is in the city of Agra. It was the main residence of the emperors of the Mughal Dynasty till 1638, when the capital was shifted from Agra to Delhi. Compared to the Red Fort in Delhi it is much more spectualar. The fort in Delhi was going through a reconstruction cycle but even without that the Agra one is bigger and better. It was India Tourism Day so we got to have our photo taken with some foreigners. Narda got them all to do a round of “Aussie Aussie Aussie” and them to say “oi oi oi”. I did not get my camera up in time to record it so just imagine it.

Video Clips are HERE