Varieties of Experiences

2 December 2008. Tundla, Uttar Pradesh, India.

So I arrived at the train station many hours early, and feeling a bit of the normal travel stomach discomfort, and I discover one of the great pleasures of Indian train travel: retiring rooms. These simple, two-bed, two-chair, locking rooms, with bathrooms, come for $2.00 per 24 hours, but they are not always dependable or clean. Mine is far from clean – the bedsheets do not look like they have been changed recently – and the mosquitos are active. But a bit of sportsman cream with deet, and I have some rare moments away from the constant noise that is India. Traffic sort of “flows,” but horns are used to say “I am coming, and I am not stopping,” and they are used often by everyone. Add the noise of 2 cycle gasoline engines (running the auto rickshaws), loud music from shops, cell phones, and some temples, cawing of crows, and train horns in the distance, and you have a very busy aural experience. What is amazing is how calm and quiet things are just a few blocks from the main streets, especially in a park or monument site.

There is no better known site in india than the Taj Mahal, in nearby Agra. Built in 22 years during the 17th century by the Muslim emperor in memory of his second wife, the Taj Mahal has been described as a “teardrop on the face of eternity” (Indian poet Tagore) and “the embodiment of all things pure” (Rudyard Kipling). It is a massive white marble building with detailed and extensive stone inlays and carved screens. Its size is difficult to describe, as is the impact one has standing in its shadow. The site also includes several gardens and gates, a mosque, and numerous smaller buildings. Unfortunately, this part of India is suffering from major air pollution, which clouds each day and night during the winter with an eerie smog. I went during the early morning, when the day is supposed to be at its best. You see the result.

Yesterday, after leaving Jaipur, I visited Fatepur Sikki, a small town on the way to Agra. Fatepur Sikki was for a short time the capital of the Mughal Empire, after emperor Akbar visited the town to consult with a Sufi (Muslim) saint named Sheikh Salim Chisti. The palace and fort remains, as does a very large mosque, Dargah Masjid. I was impressed with the size of the open space, where people would gather to pray and talk. Architecturally, the mosque is a gem, containing designs that incorporate both Indian and Persian styles.

In a few hours, I board the overnight sleeper train to Varanasi. I am in class 2AC (2nd class, air conditioned) in a space with 4 beds (2 upper and 2 lower). There are at least six classes of tickets, but this is the way many working Indians travel, as well as tourists. (There is also a 3-tier, non-airconditioned option, which I’m happy to pass to another.) For shorter distances, most Indians travel in 3rd class cars, with wood slat seats and bars across open windows. The seats, however, only seat about half the passengers, with the rest standing.

Some other interesting aspects of daily life here:

· Within cities and towns, the primary means of transportation are motorcycles, bicycles, buses, and taxis. Taxis usually mean varieties of rickshaws, human powered or motor powered. There are also trucks – plain big, work trucks with space in their cargo areas and a desire to make a few rupees. In the trucks, and on them, people sometimes crowd and hang on for highway ventures.

· People live in everything from make-shift tents to shanties to old business sheds to rock walled homes to concrete buildings to straw-walled and thatch-roofed structures. Farm houses tend to look like what we’ve been taught about biblical days homes – upstairs or one wing for the family, the other for cattle and other animals. I’ve not yet been in the more modernized parts of India, where I expect to see more high rise apartments.

· The average pay for a teacher for a year is about $3500 a year. Many people make much less. Some make nothing. I talked with a textile producer who proudly spoke of recruiting unemployed poor people from Calcutta, bringing them to Jaipur and providing them with housing, food, and insurance, as well as the “opportunity to learn the trade of embroidery.”

· India produces numerous products. Today I saw numerous small potato farms, then fields of brickmakers, then massive yards of huge stone for carvings. The markets are filled with large quantities of root crops, vegetables, and fruits. I am sure other states will prove more varieties of goods. Products are delivered to market or business by way of trucks and trailers, the latter often powered by donkeys, horses, oxen, and camels.

· There are over 1600 languages and dialects in India, but only 18 are recognized by the government. Hindi is spoken mostly in the North, and a host of regional languages dominate in the South. English is spoken by many, especially the professionals, and I’ve had very little trouble getting by.

· The weather is what I would call “late Spring,” with warm days and cool nights. So far, I’ve seen no rain or wind.

· I have never seen so many animals. I see monkeys in the towns and in the country bush. Yesterday I saw numerous goat herds. Elephants appear on the roads from time to time, but my sense is most of them are used for tourist purposes. Camels serve both tourist and practical needs. Pigs and/or boars roam around scavenging the trash heaps. Cows wander, though some are kept in yards and farms. Pigeons are fed by palace gardens.

· The dominant religions are Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, and Jainism, but Christianity is substantial, especially in the South. Yesterday I saw a small Baptist building, with the sign “established 1845,” and today near the train station, a Christ Church building from 1860. I hope to learn more about Christian presence when I get to Chennai next week.

· Temples dot the landscape like country churches in West Texas. Temples are especially prominent on the tops of hills and mountains, much like fancy houses often are built in America on high overlooks.

· People seem to work hard, especially the women. I’ve noticed at construction sites that the women – dressed in traditional long dresses with scarves – are shoveling sand and mixing the mud and/or concrete. They (and the men) carry big bowls of dirt, mud, etc., on their heads.

· In the north and in this north central part of India, there are oleandars bushes with yellow and red flowers, occasional palm trees, and numerous thorny bushes that resemble our mesquite trees.

· Oh, add rats to the list of animals seen and experienced. I’ve just now discovered one of the surprises of train station retiring rooms. The noise I kept hearing while writing this post turns out to be a rather fat rat that has found my banana peel. Some discoveries I’d rather not have.

By the time this is posted, I will be in Varanasi, one of the holiest cities in all of India. This country is overwhelming in so many ways, and I continue to see here the full breadth of life. Today I saw a young man, maybe 15, hauling two large containers of water on his bike, and then a lady of about 40 dutifully shoveling concrete pieces and carrying the loads to another spot. I see families caring for children, while waiting for trains. In every vacant lot, there are boys playing cricket. On the streets, men sit and play cards or drink tea, squatting rather than sitting. Others visit a barber, right there on the street, with razors and tools laid out carefully on a towel. And I see people taking their puja, their prayers, at shrines large and small all along the way.

It is a feast for the eyes and mind, indeed.
slp