traveldiary.stracke.us

I came across some facts about the Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan. Both countries have been fighting about a worthless glacier during this 17-year military stalemate. The Siachen glacier is the highest battlefield on earth, where 20 000 Pakistani and Indian troops are fighting over a 700-sq-km chunk of ice of no strategic importance. The air is so thin ( altitude between 6000 and 7000 meter) that mortar trajectories can not be calculated accurately. 80% of all fatalities are caused by exposure to the elements and avalanches.
I like to quote Confucius : ” Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated “.

When planning a trip to India, it is wise to limit oneself to a small section. The country is about the size of Europe, enough said. Try to do Europe in a little over a week! OK, I know some travel agents do do that but let’s face it, you’d have to be crazy.
So, we limited ourselves to 3 cities in 2 provinces in the north, just to get a taste of India. Delhi, the capital, I discussed in previous posts. The other 2 cities were Jaipur in Rajasthan and Agra in Uttar Pradesh, both definitely tourist destinations for foreigners, as well as Indians.; also honeymoon destinations. In Jaipur, we visited the Hawa Mahal, the Palace of the Winds, an intricately carved palace of mesh screens, that allowed the palace women of the moghul to watch the festive parades, without they, themselves, being viewed. Women were, and for some degree, in very religous families, still are not allowed to be seen by anyone, except immediate family members.
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So many negatives have been posted, that I feel I must highlight the positives of our trip to India. There were many people that are really nice and helpful. In the meantime, through varies readings, I began to realize that they have a high sense of curiosity, which we may find overwhelming. Their constant questions of where we were from may actually have been a way to get us into conversation. They probably aren’t able to engage with foreigners and we are somewhat of a curiosity, especially for people that have never been out of their city. Not many tourists go off the beaten tourist track. Most do what we did the last couple of days, hire a taxi and drive point A to point B and back again. But… this really isn’t a way to see a country. What we did before is really more at the ground level. Our patience just needs to get better.
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One more reflection about India :
An interesting scam a few years ago involved restaurants and doctors in Agra, the town with the Taj Mahal.
The restaurants would serve contaminated food to the unsuspecting tourists and hundreds of sick people were treated by crooked Indian physicians. The scam was eventually exposed, when international health insurance companies examined all these claims. It is not very comforting to know that the same restaurants and doctors just were fined, but are still doing business. It has been 3 days now since we left Agra and so far our health appears to be good.
As far as my final thoughts about the India we experienced, I would like to recommend reading my post about the wretched humanity, dated February 15th!

Teachers in Bharatpur, Rajasthan Province, which is where we had spent a few days, are each required to get one family per month to agree to voluntary sterilisation. They must show success of this or be in danger of losing their jobs. Talk about extra duties for teachers!:shock:
I guess with the exploding population rate, they need to do whatever they can:?:

AIDS is another tough topic here. According to the paper, about 5 million are infected with HIV, with a prognosis of 40 million by 2010.
We have not seen a single advertisement in print or TV for safe sex, condoms, or any public service campaigns about the risks of contracting HIV or the methods of prevention. Is this a means of solving the population explosion

I did not expect to survive the cab ride to the Indira Ghandi airport this morning. It is 5 AM, traffic is light and our Indian taxi driver is crazy. Gabi had read, that Indians believe, that an accident or anything else happening to them, is the result of events from their former lives and not their fault. They just believe in Karma, and I was praying this morning that this guy’s Karma was not running out with us in his car!!
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A typical advertisement for marriage placed by the parents in the Hindustan Times of Delhi:

Searching for…
A suitable match for an educated high stautus Punjabi woman , 25 yr., beautiful, fair skinned, well appointed family. Looking for an intelligent, worthy, educated , well bred, and situated man. Write………
Anyone out there who’d like to apply? It seems the girls’ families only need to make a suitable union. I saw no advertisements the other way around.

More on this later, it seems to be a fascinating topic.

Using transportation , like the Indians do, requires one to ride in 2 cycle motorized tricycles. They are build for a driver and 2 passengers, but are often inhabited by entire families of 6-7 people. They have meters, placed so, that with a sudden stop, one will need to visit the local dentist or hospital; these meters are invariantly non functioning,, so that one has the pleasure to haggle with the driver in order to secure a fare to a particular location. This will be quoted at 3 different prices with 3 different drivers, but is negotiable, depending on how badly he wants the passengers. After a few rounds of bargaining, we board an auto rickshaw and are in for a ride, like no other. We whizz by bicycle rickshaws, pedestrians, vegetable and fruit pushcarts, oxen or camel drawn carts. In turn , the more powerful motorcycles, cars, buses, and trucks whizz by us.
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We just survived three days of train travel in India. We started out at the New Delhi Railway Station at 6 AM and observed unbelievable scenes. It is still dark, and there are people sleeping under their blankets on the station floor and platforms all over the place. It is difficult not to step on anybody, never mind wheeling a suitcase between the huddled masses. The train ( at least 20 cars long) is pulling in, and the people traveling in 3rd class are jumping on and hanging on to the doors while it is still in motion. There is incomprehensible pushing, shoving and lifting large bundles and cardboard boxes on board; everybody is trying to beat the other guy to an empty seat or at least to make it on board.
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The bureaucracy in India is horrendous: We had to show our passports at every hotel, and the front desk clerk had to fill out a ledger with our passport and visa numbers, address in the US, length of stay in India, where we had been the day prior and what our next destination was. We had to give multiple signatures every time we checked in or out of a hotel. One time I was not allowed to pay our hotel bill at that particular time, but the front desk staff asked me to pay later. Maybe because the money was under the table and other people were standing at the front desk ? Who knows. We had to fill out multiple papers to buy a train ticket and stood in 3 separate lines!
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