...The disembodied weirdness of arriving in a city after an overnight train ride. It's a bit like flying in a way, where there's no interconnection with the landscape, between points A and B...
...In India, the mood of your entire day is dictated by the quality of your stool...
JAIPUR
...teased by the Palace of Winds, which we can photograph, but don't actually get to enter. The assumption must be that the pax couldn't handle the close confinement inside, but I feel cheated and wished I'd been offered the choice...
...elephant ride up to the Amber Fort, which plays out exactly like a description I once read, as if the animal has eight legs, all moving in different directions. After lunch, I curl myself into a stone window and doze, as the hot wind brushes over like a caress...
... I read in the heat of the bus while the rest of the group is shepherded into a carpet shop. Kites fly over the adjacent neighborhoods, swirling and spinning in the sky, as the Red Fort looms beyond. A man squats beside the road to pee, and pee, and pee, like he'd been holding it for days. A motorbike pulls up to an adjacent shop, the rider handing over a duck which goes straight into a cooking pot...
RANTHAMBORE NATIONAL PARK
...shy tigers of the reserve offer only their impressive footprints. It's a delight though to drive through the cool air of morning, up and down the hills that open out onto forever. Just through the crumbling old stones gates of the park, a troupe of monkeys bare their asses as a way of saying farewell...
UDAIPUR
...bucolic day by the lake, lazily punted out to Taj Lake Palace for tea in the courtyard. Lunch in the old Palace beside the lake, followed by another doze in a bay window...
..."Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end." Usually attributed to John Lennon but apparently was actually an old Indian proverb...
CHITTORGARH
...sunset visit to the old fort, which sprawls along the hilltop. Peaceful in spots, busy in others, a riot of monkeys that watch the clusters of tour groups come and go. Funneled into a ruined amphitheater to see a light show that never happens. Never mind, I'm enjoying people-watching. Far more colorful...
...mobile phones everywhere. Probably the only way to be alone in such a crowded country as India...
...Large numbers of domestic tourists everywhere. This, and the obvious improvement of quality of life, hints at a rapidly developing country. Indians are hungry, and the middle class is rapidly expanding. I predict that the first half of the century will be China's, and the latter half all India, if their religious differences can be sorted out, or at least ignored. In the past, being Indian meant to repeat the life of your parents. But that is rapidly changing...
...India is becoming more like the US, and vice-versa...
JAISALMER
...the kids greet us just off the bus, singing Frère Jacques to the beat of an Indian tune...
...the temperature maxes out at 49.2 degrees C. The guide tells us that if it had hit 50, he'd have called it a day...
...the fort town immediately becomes my favorite city, its narrow winding lanes, the Sufi temples, the airy courtyards of the merchant homes. Then again, I always love places at the extremes of geography. But would have preferred less of the motorcyclists zooming around...
...camels much smoother to ride than elephants. Exciting to be this close to the no-man's land of the Pakistani border. Beers and a sunset chat with the Scottish Trio, mainly about the complexities of raising children...
JODHPUR
...the fort here the best of the lot. Somehow feels less trafficked, the blue city below gorgeous. LYL and I ponder a repeat visit, fewer trains and overnight instead in palaces...
AGRA
...dawn tonga ride through Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary, refreshing in the cool and the quiet, but I am still smarting over not having seen tigers last week...
...Red Fort impresses with the open courtyards, and views of the Taj. Wash off the dust with a quick swim in the pool at Clarks Shiraz Hotel, trying not to think about the quality of the water that gets in my mouth...
...And the Taj itself. What else can be said, since Tagore has already had the last word, with his 'teardrop on the face of eternity.' Even the most jaded traveller such as myself is overwhelmed. The Taj is far more breathtaking than expected. I had long ago planned to propose to LYL here, though it becomes more of a postposal since the wedding has already been planned. The act is complicated by the distractions of people, who keep wanting to take photos with us. I finally pull her away for a half second to slip on the ring, and mere moments later, we are no longer alone...
RAILS TO DELHI
...happy that this night is the last on the train, as it is nearly impossible to get a good sleep. We all walk around in a daze through the hot afternoons. I wish too that we had had a little more time to ride during the daylight, and watch the countryside roll on. I missed somewhat the liminality of the journey...
...final dinner, with the Scottish Trio as usual, which is always a delight. The English have all found their usual comfort in the confines of their familiar social spheres. We five are the only non-English, and thus joke about our social ostracism, about ours being the domain of former colonists...
On the turntable: Govi, "Your Lingering Touch"
On the nighttable: William Dalrymple, "City of Djinns"
On the nighttable: William Dalrymple, "City of Djinns"
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