Mystical I n d i a
12/16/97 (India Journal): Mumbai; Goa, Delhi, Pondicherry, Chidambaram, Agra, Rajasthan,
Valankanni, Chennai, Khajuraho, Fatehpur Sikri, etc.
Growing up in South Africa, I dreamt of traveling to India where my roots were from. Our 7-year-old daughter and I traveled on Cathay Pacific from L.A. to Hong Kong flying over Beijing, and Shanghai watching a beautiful sunset approx. 14 hrs to Hong Kong. Visited Kowloon City and went shopping for Alexandria; another seven hours in flight and we were in Mumbai. Most of Daniel's family came to pick us up at the airport, and we drove to their home. We saw a few cows along the way and the driver stopped for all the cows on the road as it is sacred to the Hindus. We were fortunate to stay at Daniel's cousin's place during our stay in Bombay. We visited the Gateway of India, took an autorickshaw to the fishing village to see the Bombay Duck that was dried in the sun; we drove to the city to see Mumbai downtown & took a ferry to The Elephanta Caves (the monkey almost attacked me trying to grab a drink from my hand). A driver took me to Thane to purchase beautiful Salwars and a Rajasthan doll for Alexandria. I had to blink several times as cattle were running on the road and it seemed so different to organized driving back home. Daniel, my spouse arrived on the 24th so we visited Daniel's St. Xavier School he attended and his late dad's gravesite. We enjoyed visiting The Hanging Gardens, and Jehangir Art Gallery and enjoyed the snake charmer who played a tune so that the snake could dance (the snake only moved as the snake charmer moved). Visited the Crawford market which was interesting.
Juhu Beach - Mumbai
D'Souzas'- Mumbai
Gateway of India
Left for Goa via Indian airlines and took a taxi to see The Old Goan Church where St. Francis Xavier's rests. Then drove to Candaliem's condos where we stayed for a few days near the ocean. We loved the Calangute beach area and ate delicious food at Souza Lobo Restaurant overlooking the beach. Also visited the Shri Shiva Temple; Colwa Beach and played and swam in the ocean. Visited the popular Anjana flea market which was enjoyable to see all the handmade crafts. One has to bargain at the flea market to get the price you think it's worth. We enjoyed New Year at Margo Coca-Cola on a boat and it was fun to see the lit-up ferries crossing the water while having dinner.Flew and landed in Bangalore and had to wait for the plane to be fixed (some air conditioning and other problems were taken care of ). After waiting a while the plane was fixed and we were ready to fly again.
St. Francis Xavier - Goa
We flew to Delhi, which is the capital of India, and stayed at the YWC to get a taste of what it was like to experience the inexpensive hotels versus the upscale hotels. Driving was very organized in Delhi I noticed and we ate at Roma Rupa and shopped at Palik Bazaar; we visited the Qutab Minar which is one of the earliest remains of imperial Delhi (13th century AD) and the tallest monument of early times; India Gate - the 42-meter high arch was raised as a memorial to soldiers who laid down their lives in the Great War; The Red Fort; Parliament House; Rajghat where Mahatma Gandhi's eternal light is still lit and the home where Indiri Gandhi died.
Ghandhi's eternal light
Landed at Madras and took a taxi to the hotel Ambassador Palavi. We had dinner at The Dynasty Restaurant. We enjoyed our breakfast at The Ambassador which was authentic food from Madras (Chennai).Drove via taxi to Kanchipuram and continued to Pondicherry (which was formerly a french colony) and where my ancestors were from. Drove thru many towns Chidambaram where we had lunch and saw a beautifully decorated elephant; drove the Mayuram, Karaikal, Nagappattinum Nagore, etc.
Speed train to Jhansi
Saw Priyadarshini Govind's Bharatanatym Concert
Exponent of Bharatanatyam in Chennai
We drove back to Chidambaram and had lunch there and visited the Nataraja temple which is famous for its 108 beautiful dance carvings on the gopurams. Drove to Pondicherry trying to meet the priests to check my ancestral heritage, but they were sleeping at Our Lady of Immaculate Conception church. Drove back to Chennai and was happy to enjoy their swimming pool, massage, and delish Idli food at the Dynasty on High Road, Madras.We ordered our dance costumes at Shanti Tailors and visited San Thome Basilica near Marina Beach. The church was originally built in 1504 1893 and houses a small hand bone of the Apostle Thomas and a head of a lance that was said to be used to attack him. There is also a tomb of St. Thomas in the Basilica. Then visited the snake park and in the evening enjoyed a Classical dance performance and she was amazing. We had dinner at the Ambassador Pallavi where we stayed in the heart of Chennai, there was a live band in the evening and we had a great time dancing and ending our stay in Chennai.
We left Delhi and took the train for Jhansi and passed Agra and Gwalior. The train was very fast and took approximately 4 hours. Jhansi is a walled city that has old palace treasures and is in the heart of India. Our driver then drove through Orcha, chhatarpur, and to Khajuraho which was an ancient city and has the Khajuraho Temple (a heritage monument of the world that is taken care of by the U.N.), which depicts the 4 stages of life. We stayed at the Chandela Hotel. We enjoyed the massage at the hotel. Alexandria enjoyed the puppet show that night and we bought a handmade puppet from the two boys who did the show. One of the boys wanted to know if he could come with me to the U.S. and work for us. I told them to study. The next day we went with our wonderful guide to visit Khajuraho Temple which was beautiful the way the guide explained everything. I then purchased the dance carving of the dancing girl; and also saw the Jain temple carvings. We flew back to Delhi because it was foggy or maybe did not get landing permission because the airport in Khajuraho is private. From Delhi, we took a Deluxe bus to Agra which was quite tiring and took us all night and the bus almost overturned at one point. It took about 7 hours to Agra instead of 45 minutes as planned from Khajuraho to Agra.
Velankanni where miracles still happens
Khajuraho in Chatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh, India, near Jhansi. The World Heritage Site. The temples are famous for their architectural symbolism and a few erotic sculptures too portraying the phases of life - had a great guide explaining everything to us.
The gypsies originated from India, maybe Rajasthan, due to the caste system, they were ignored by the people there, so they left India, traveled to Europe, Russia, and to Spain where the dance (Flamenco) got developed today - now they wear shoes and use castanets. Watch the journey "Latcho Drom" from India.....
We had lunch and left for Mumbai. We met Daniel's sister-in-law Crystal and her boys; we took the train to Uthan which is a suburb of Mumbai at the beach to see Daniel's late Grandfather's vacation home and took an autorickshaw ride along the coast.On January 14th we flew to Hong Kong, Vancouver, and home to the USA!
