A Bit of Culture

If anyone still reads my blog you may be wondering a little bit about the people of India.  For the most part I've  confirmed what I'd long suspected, that people everywhere are pretty much the same.  However, each culture has some unique aspects that make it interesting and India is no exception.

The food here is definitely unique.  Everything is full of flavor and often spicy though I don't mind a little heat.  Most meals include either rice or rotis, a thin bread, both of which I like a lot.  I will definitely miss the food when I leave.  The Indian restaurants in the U.S. aren't nearly as good.  Another plus is that restaurants are much cheaper here :)  I've not sampled many of the local drinks but one that's really really good is fresh lime soda.  There's nothing more refreshing after a hot day in the sun!

On the subject of food, in Indian culture a guest is required to consume incredible amounts of it!  The next time I come to India I may need to train for it in advance :)  That's a bit of an exaggeration but hospitality is taken very seriously here, especially when it comes to food. 

India has a huge population with a much more noticeable variance in wealth than in the U.S.  One result of this is an abundance of cheap labor.  This definitely has some good effects.  There are no self-serve petrol pumps and even fast food restaurants like McDonald's will have someone to open the door.  It also has a few bad effects like an endless supply of street kids trying to lure tourists into expensive souvenir shops.  But all in all I think we've lost something with all of the automation in the U.S.

Last but not least, no attempted description of Indian culture would be complete without mentioning weddings.  Weddings in India are a really big deal (and a really big business based on the shopping malls I visited).  They seem to serve as a link back in time to previous generations.  Weddings can go on for days and are lavish affairs requiring lots of clothes, food, and gold.  Everywhere I go I see ads for banks offering gold loans.  I had long thought that weddings in the U.S. are too expensive, but now I see that they're actually quite a bargain!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

I risked the heat and went to the zoo in Delhi today.  It was pretty cool (figuratively, definitely not literally :)  Most of the animals were native to India although they had some from Africa as well.  The animals from India included tigers (which I expected) as well as lions and bears (which I did not expect).  Here are pictures of an asiatic lion, a white tiger, and a Himalayan black bear:

Some of the animals from Africa included giraffes and hippos which were neat to see.

The hippos in particular were really cool.  Despite the fact that they look like big slow brutes they can run faster than most people.  I certainly wouldn't want one to come running after me!

A Wonder of the World

It was over 110 degrees today in Agra but I wasn't going to let that stop me from seeing one of the wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal!  Without a doubt it deserves its position as the most recognized landmark in India.

The thing that surprised me most about the Taj was just how huge it is (it's over 240ft tall!)

The building is actually made of red brick but it is completely overlaid with marble.  The marble is beautifully carved and fitted with inlaid stones (there's no paint).

Inside the mausoleum the inlay work was very impressive with very fine work but unfortunately I couldn't take pictures inside.  

One last shot with the sun shining from behind.

King of the Pink City

The last two days I was in Jaipur.  This city is fascinating for two reasons.  First, most of the buildings are a shade of red or orange (which for some reason translates to pink here, not quite sure why).  All of the buildings were painted "pink" in the 1850s when the Prince of Wales visited and the theme has been maintained since.  This is one of the famous buildings, the Hawa Mahal.

Now all of the buildings in a city being painted the same color would be interesting anywhere.  But it's particularly interesting here because buildings in India are typically painted a wide range of bright colors. 

Another interesting thing about Jaipur is that there is a king here!  I thought royal families were constrained to England, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and a few others.  But Jaipur used to be its own kingdom and still has a royal family.  I went to the old palace which was really impressive.  There are two huge silver pots which a previous king used to carry holy water with him when he traveled. 

This was the courtyard used for royal dances.

And this is the old guest house.  I wouldn't mind staying there!

There is another Jantar Mantar in Jaipur (there are five in all), similar to the one in Delhi but with a few changes. This one has a whole garden of small sundials which were used for different zodiac signs.

There was also a hemispherical pit which could be used to precisely track the motion of the sun.

The shadow cast by the disk suspended over the center of the pit gives important astronomical information. 

I also visited the Amber Fort, so called not because it is amber colored but because it was the center of the Amber kingdom.  This was a very huge fort with walls extending to the neighboring hills.

Besides endless walls there were some beautiful gardens.

And many beautiful rooms.

Finally, I have added two new animals to the list of animals that I've seen.  The first are all over the place, thankfully the second aren't. 

A Day in the Capital

I arrived in the capital of India, New Delhi, yesterday.  The moment I stepped off the plane I was able to confirm what everyone had warned me, Delhi is really hot in the summer!  It's over 100 during the day with bright sunshine and mid 70s at night.  Nonetheless, I braved the heat and did some sightseeing today.

The first place I went was right across the street from my hotel, an 18th century observatory called Jantar Mantar.  The centerpiece is a huge sundial which is accurate to 1/2 a second!

There's also a huge structure which is used to track the zodiac signs so that the horoscope for newborn children can be determined.

Finally there is a smaller international sundial which is less accurate than the giant one but gives the time in India, London, and Japan. 

By the way, the huge curved building in the background is my hotel. 

The next place I tried to go was the Red Fort.  Unfortunately, the Red Fort and many other tourist places are closed on Mondays.  I did get a couple pictures from a distance.

I then went to Humayun's tomb which was built in 1565. 

The tomb was built by the Emperor Humayun's grieving widow.  It is the final resting place of the Emperor and his children.

My last stop for the day was the India Gate, a memorial built for the Indian soldiers killed in WWI.

Some Sightseeing

Besides trekking in Coorg there are many sights to see.  Most exciting, I fulfilled one of my goals for this trip, seeing some elephants!

I also got to ride on an elephant which was a really strange experience. 

Besides elephants, we went to a forest where there were some deer.

And everywhere in India there are monkeys.  Here's one hanging out on the bench beside me.

The city that we stayed in was called Madikeri.  At one end of the city there's a beautiful view of the neighboring valley called Raja's seat (Raja means king).

Besides the view there was a garden with some beautiful flora.

There was also a musical fountain which was a synchronized water, light, and music show.

It was very impressive!

Trekking in Coorg

My first day in Coorg we went trekking.  Coorg is a beautiful, mountainous area in southern India.  Seeing so much greenery was a very welcome change from the endless buildings, roads, and honking in the cities.

My trekking partner was one of Shivani's friends, Pragya.

Much of the landscape reminded me of Tennessee but occasionally I would see a tree which reminded me I wasn't in the US anymore.

The climbing turned steep pretty quick but made for some beautiful views.  Here's the view from about halfway (about 2 hours into the trek).

After some more climbing we were up in the clouds.

Eventually we ran into a barbed wire fence so we weren't able to reach the peak.  Still, the views were beautiful!