India 2014 – my journal. (N.B. very long! 21,000 words)

Travel Journal No 0. 30/1/14.

This is to the (so far 12) [later 37] people who I think have said they’d like to be on my email list for a travel journal.  (If you do not want to, please tell me. I won’t mind)

My application for an Indian visa was accepted yesterday, after an earlier rejection (wrong name on payment). I went to Cardiff where the visa office was amazingly un-crowded and calm unlike all other places I’ve been for this purpose. It’s an Indian Centre and they have concerts of Indian classical music, so I hope to go to one in the future. 

This is what I’ve just put on my Facebook, along with an invitation to join this list. 

 I’ve been struggling to find cheap surface travel to India, or at least part way, to Istanbul. But all options even bus cost about twice an airfare to Mumbai – £390 return, Turkish Airline. So shall I fly, and compensate by paying for tree-planting? Maybe stop-over in Istanbul. Another time get an InterRail pass. 

 Stephen Petter, 281 Redcatch Road, Bristol, BS3 5DY

Tel: 0117 972 8054                    Mobile: 07741 089 52

Sounds great Stephen.  What an adventurer you are!

INDIA 2014. Journal 26 Feb 0723

All packed and ready to go! I am to get the 1000 train from Bristol to Gatwick via Reading, then a 1530 flight by Turkish Airline to Istanbul, arriving 2120. I usually seek out a bus from an airport but I’ll probably take a taxi to my hotel. Most of Thursday should be sight-seeing, but I must be in time for a 1955 departure for Delhi, arriving 0525 on Friday.  Whoops! (I was once nicknamed “Whoops-petter”) I’ve just realised I booked the Delhi hotels assuming I was arriving on Thursday.

(Why hotels not hotel? Because the first I booked (Hotel New Hindustan International DX) was very reluctant to give clear directions, and I could see it was in back streets. They wrote twice about the hazards of getting taxis in Delhi, and offered their 500 rupee airport taxi service. When I found it on Google Maps I read lots of extremely critical customer reviews, including that they continually hassle as a travel agency. Also they are 2 minutes from a metro, which will cost about 25 rupees. So, late yesterday I booked elsewhere (Hotel Cottage Yes Please!) and cancelled the first. I had used Hostelbookers because my Rough Guide is out of date. Never again!)

I’m using my old wheelie-case despite its eccentric wheels, as those which friends offered to lend me were either too stiff (won’t squeeze under train seats) or too floppy (some things e.g. my box of catheters, need to be kept straight). (The wheels partially melted in Sri Lanka then picked up stones. When the stones fell out they left gaps in the wheels.) I’m fond of my case which can also be a rucksack, as I have taken it to over 40 countries. I’ll put the list on my blog.)

What I think I’ll miss most (besides certain people) are: my bed with its memory-foam mattress, my strong Mira shower, and my hand-held bidet or bum spray. These are common abroad, presumably to save on paper, but they are far more hygienic than our paper-based technology. I’ll also miss my garden and allotment, but I have a good deputy (Jamie) to look after the latter. March is a busy month.

My worry is that airport security will suspect my CPAP – a square box, air pipe, mask and wiring – which stops me snoring. Snoring is not only offensive but ruins good sleep. I have a letter from the hospital explaining why I need it but I have been told it can present a problem. 

Also as part of the back-to-simple-living I intend to walk to the station. Yesterday I timed it: 29 minutes.

I have been asked to make these entries shorter, and I shall try to do so, but I feel it to be selfish to keep all my interesting and weird experiences (and thoughts) to myself.

Now I might have time to do something I thought of only last night: suspend my car insurance. That could save £45. I am hoping to live on £10 a day including hotels for the next 6 weeks. (That’s in addition to c £500 fares, i.e. a total of less than £1000. Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye!  

In Peace

Stephen

If anyone wants to be deleted from this email list please ask. I promise I won’t be offended. Most of you asked to be put on it but a few I have done so without asking. 

  1 Mar

To

Petter Stephen

Thanks for so many warm replies including “Don’t keep it too brief!”.

This is just to say i’m having trouble with getting my tablet (or phone) to access WI-FI. Technology has move to ‘everyone’ using it, and Internet Cafes getting scarce. I’m now using my hotel’s internet so cant stay long. I will soon have a new (Temporary while in India) mobile phone number, and not be using the old number. (Changing SIM cards). 

All well except weather: cold, grey, wet, making the rough roads horrible. 

Now staff want their PC so au revoir.

Steve

 

1 Mar (No 2)

 Right now (I tend to work backwards) I’m feeling very sleepy. I’m in the dingy internet café of a nearby hotel, the Anloop, where we stayed in 2001. I have just succeeded in finding the address of the Quaker Meeting. I’m glad I checked it as I had mis-remembered but was not sure. It also gave me Hari Khurana’s phone number. I half hoped to see him earlier today in the unusual place called the Coffee House which is an excellent vegetarian eating place that serves as a sort of club for intellectuals and the more discerning visitors. Then I bought a newspaper only to sit on while I examined the map. I must try not to be too boring. Also amongst the notes of appreciation I’ve had a suggestion/request/demand I keep off toilet subjects, which is a pity as this country is a rich source of such material.  For example, it takes about 5 minutes or more running my ‘hot’ tap before the water gets warm. What a waste! Earlier this morning I went to get my new SIM validated. Yesterday they had to spend about 20 minutes form-filling including photocopies of my passport and visa, and a PP photo, required to register any SIM. This morning they had to spend about 15 minutes dealing with a problem – the room number I’d given yesterday was not the same as the one I gave today, as I’d been moved from the Bridal Suite where they’d put me temporarily, to a normal room.  I heard in amongst the Hindi my hotel address etc being given out 7 times.  They certainly earned the 3 pounds they charged me for the SIM and its installation.  So far all my time has been spent shopping, for a railway time tables book (took about 2 hours to find), a Rough Guide to India, an umbrella, trousers and stout footwear. I get tired and also very forgetful, for instance I bought the umbrella (took about half an hour to find, there seems to be a closed market on them) because I thought I’d left mine in a tuk tuk (or motor rickshaw) but found it later in my bag. 

I managed to see quite a lot of Istanbul, including the Blue Mosque but not the Sophia one which is now a museum. I was very impressed by Istanbul and hope to return for a longer visit. Their public transport is excellent. Also the food was delicious. But at both places, Istanbul and Delhi, I’ve had trouble (or taxi drivers have) finding my hotels due to booking via what I now realize is a bad agency. Doing it oneself using a Rough Guide is far more reliable. Batting around narrow back streets in Istanbul at about 11 p.m. is no joke. Nor is sitting on a cycle rickshaw while the hard-working ‘driver’ struggles with huge potholes in twisty muddy lanes – lost – asking for directions repeatedly.  People just wave – ‘down that way’ but never seem to give clear instructions. If walking one is continually hassled by touts. Anyway I shall stop now and have a late nap. I have lots of reading.

Best wishes,  Stephen.    

Mobile: (0091) 9654 573 404 (It would be interesting to know how much it costs to text to me)

2 Mar

To

Petter Stephen ANNE JONES Chris Millman 27 More…

 

I planned to divide this into two – detailed listing (which could be boring) and blog-like impressions and opinions. However the following turned out to be in the old style,  which attracts the complaint, “Too much detail”. Next time I’ll try to be more disciplined.

I was very please today to get an email from a much-respected Quaker friend, describing the article in “The Friend” this week, by me, as excellent.

Weeks prior to the trip I set about getting an Indian Visa, which I knew would be problematic, due to bureaucracy, not that they would formally refuse one. I got the form online but saw there were two ways of applying, online or print-off and post. I started the online version, filling out an incredibly detailed form e.g.more than Mothers’ maiden name, but grand-parents. As for Purpose of visit I put Pilgrim/Religious. But then at the end it said if I had put that I needed a letter from my priest. So I abandoned it and started afresh, this time saying the purpose was tourist. The payment was to be 104 Pounds, payable only by bankers draft or Postal Order. At the PO the Indian owner said the PO had to be made out to the Indian High Commission. It also had to be sent as registered. A few days later a courier brought it back, rejected as the payment should have been to the agency which one has no option but to use. (The old method whereby one went to a HC office is discontinued)  I had lost the 12 pounds postal order fee but got repayment of the 104 pounds. I needed now to pay the 104 plus a courier fee for sending it back to me later. I realized it would be cheaper to do a day trip to the nearest office, Cardiff, where one could deposit the application, which went smoothly. (I got a bit lost in Cardiff, as the office was in a distant place called Splot)  eventually got a taxi, so it wasn’t cheaper after all) I then had a barrage of texts about the progress of the application. But I was in the garden when the courier brought the package back, so after problems locating their office (in a wild and distant part of Avonmouth) I eventually got it at no further cost – approved. This is the sort of hassle one has continually. I suppose it’s why most sensible people pay a couple of thousand pounds for a package holiday (all four star and air conditioned transport)

Then there was getting airline tickets. (Only do this after getting a Visa!) I eventually chose about the cheapest at 470 pounds, Turkish Airlines out of Gatwick with a near-24 hour stopover in Istanbul each way. A longer stop over would be much more expensive. Istanbul occurred in part because originally  I had hoped to travel overland via there, then Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, all mostly by train. But the fares and the Iranian visa were all far too expensive)

Getting to LGW was fairly easy by train, change at Reading.  I had 2 hr wait but did not do the silly thing I did once which was to take a train to Brighton, have 20 minutes on the beach, then back, almost missing Gatwick due to falling asleep)

It was nice to be with a real airline even though among the cheapest after one’s experience with the likes of Ryanair or Easyjet. I’d chosen ‘Moslem’ from the long list of food options (forgetting that implied Halal) so I had  delicious salmon but envied those who had a big beefburger. We were soon in Istanbul (IST). Now more hassle due to my stupidity and lack of planning. It was late (2230) but I chose not to take a taxi but try a bus. When I showed the officer the hotel address he said I needed to go via the city centre (which is called Taxim) so I did, only to (eventually) find there that it was about half way back to the airport. The taxi drive was ghastly! He set off then started phoning to find out where to take me. He drove fast, weaving through the traffic, often letting go of the wheel with both hands as he manipulated his phone. He got to the right district but then started asking people who all sent him confidently off – into networks of narrow lanes. At long last we found the hotel (Maya Madrid) which in fact was conveniently just off the main road. After booking in I went out – it was now about 2330, and found a small café restaurant where I had a delicious lamb-on-the-bone stew. I also bought some fruit. It was a good hotel, except the shower did not work properly,  and there was an excellent breakfast. One good thing about the airline was they kept my case so I was only encumbered with my knapsack, but it was heavy as it contained my breathing (anti-snoring) apparatus.  I explored the district and discovered the metro which is excellent. It would have cost only 3 lira (1 pound) to get to near the hotel from the airport. (It had cost 50 Lira, about 12 pounds)  I took it (it’s in two forms, a normal metro and a tram) to Taxim but it was cold and I was already tired or jet-lagged so I felt lack lustre and only had a coffee before going half way back to near the two great mosques and the Egyptian Market, which is fantastic. I bought a large piece of cheese which has stood me well. Had an excellent lunch then walked up the hill (there being a holdup on the tram system, and large crowds waiting) stopping at a traditional café where they were smoking hubbly bubblies, and playing board games enthusiasticly, before going thru a nice park to the Blue Mosque. Oh, near the Egypt Market I went into a mosque during prayers and sat near the back not at the back as that’s divided off behind a sort of gauze wall behind which the women are crowded. Ugh!

I also went to the Blue one during prayers. Not only saddened by the relegation of women but by the incessant chatter of (Turkish) onlookers. Then back to my hotel district, for no good reason, then by metro to the airport. 

The overnight flight was excruciatingly uncomfortable, but in anticipation of this I’d got an aisle seat so was able to get up often. I had a very interesting companion, a, Indian sea-captain, merchant ships, who’d got his training etc in England (Fleetwood – he’d loved Blackpool). He expressed a desire to do all he could for Sangam School as he lived fairly near.

Arriving in Delhi at 0530 I sat around in the airport for a while before getting the metro to Central Station. Delhi Metro is engineering-wise brilliant, and its stations are palatial. Its manual operational methods are rather quaint. One is horrified by the presence of many heavily armed soldiers. But it sweeps one into the city cool, quiet, comfortable, fast, and only 10 rupees (10/-) i.e. 10 pence. But at C.S. one still has to navigate a horrible route of 1 or 2 00 yards from the metro to the front of the Station. It is very filthy and full of very poor people and desperate-looking poor travellers. Ramshackle buses and impatient taxi and truck drivers hurtle by, ignoring any zebra crossing, and blasting their horns in a continuous deafening cacophony. This scene and soundscape is typical, and drives me mad. I struggled along, with my heavy knapsack and noisy wheelie-case. I hired a porter to take my case up and down the steep staircases that lead to the long footbridge that traverses the station, crossing the huge number of tracks and platforms. All the while the cool clear voice of the station announcer a very evocative sound, as she announces the departing trains in Hindi then in impeccable English. At the front of the station I had a very nasty hassle as I got confused with the money – which strangely, worryingly, I have done frequently. I thought he’d said it would cost 20 rupees. Obviously he was distressed. I thought he had no change for my 100/ note. Eventually I went to some taxi drivers for change and they were able to inform me the fair price was 40/-. Now I still needed change (another infuriating thing is that traders etc seldom have change) But the taxi drivers helped and it was sorted, In fact I gave the porter an extra 10/ and they then tried to get him to give it back despite my protests. I got across the forecourt and across the busy traffic jammed road (one has simply to go boldly assuming no driver actually wants to run one over.) Then a cycle rickshaw. But as before he indicated he knew the way then got horribly lost. I kept saying no, as I knew pretty well where it was, and am very familiar with the neighbourhood of Pahar Gang. It had been raining and there were puddles hiding the depth of the potholes. Eventually we arrived at my hotel, the Cottage Yes Please, which turned out to be well  know. It is good but they had not got my reservation, and no spare rooms. They kept me waiting ages (though I went out for half-hour walks, food, chai, etc) and eventually put me in their largest suite, for one night. (Now as I write, even I begin to feel ‘too much detail!!)

Then my next job was to get a new SIM which took a long time as one needs copies of one’s passport and visa, and a photo. The tiny shop had two excellent staff who also advised me on my tablet. Next morning I had to return to get the SIM validated and as I’d changed rooms my new room number did not match the old which posed a major problem for the government bureaucrats. The shop staff were on the phone for ages. They did a wonderful job and it all cost only300/- (3 pounds)   Apparently all SIMS have to be registered for ‘National Security’.

Saturday was all shopping and trudging around, continually hassled by touts, deafened and maddened by car horns, getting very tired, usually walking or using cycle rickshaws. One feels sorry for them their crummy hard work but one sees their need for trade. And they are the most environmentally friendly mode. In the am I was searching for coffee, eventually found some nearby, but there I get hassled by women and children, very poor, very appealing. Today I gave lassee to three  of them and two oranges. There is also a young man, a drug addict, who hangs around me. I discussed what one does and the consensus was give food or clothes. Some worthy types said the best thing was to buy a load of T-shirts and distribute them. But later I found they were T-shirt traders! I found a lovely Scandinavian style coffee and cake shop called a bakery, with a European woman owner (with two children all over one, and alarming me when they fought for use of some very sharp-pointed scissors) – she seems to be married to a Nepalese man. The place has excellent tea and coffee, lovely sofas, and free newspapers.

 

I had a bad night, and woke up very late (my room has no windows) it was 9.10 and Quaker meeting was to be at 10. I felt bad, and rushing to the metro left me in a bad state. However the trains came quickly and I was in the south of the Centre by 940. I (stupidly) haggled over the 50/- tuk-tuk charge and was at the place, the YWCA in Sansag Marg (tho for some reason it’s also called Parliament Street) by 9.50. After checking it was the right place (the usual sign was not in place) I went across the yard for a chai and a nibble of my cheese and by now stale bread roll from the Bakery. When I went back at 9.55 there was still no sign. I asked to be shown the room. They kept asking me to wait. Eventually I realized they were hurriedly setting up the room. A small office, clean and neat, with Quaker books arranged along the table. I’ll write elsewhere more about my next hour, suffice to say no-one else came! Afterwards I returned to my hotel, had an Indian breakfast (/lunch) then a nap, now feel fine.  I took my wheelie case with its noisy eccentric wheels for repair. A few minutes ago Mr Singhal got thru at last on the phone and we are to meet tomorrow at 10, to go to the school.

So this has turned out to be in my old style, too much detail, not a summary. I’ll try to be more self disciplined next time.   

 

  4 Mar

I have had several pleas for me NOT to be brief – some people love the detail – but a repeat of the plea to cut it short. So I’ll try to do details in one section and “Impressions” in another.

I read a thing on loneliness, and how it shortens life. It made me more apprehensive about moving to my own place some time in the not too distant future. It also gave me the idea that why I like doing this ‘journal’ or log, is that it gives me a sense of company. The replies reinforce that. A while back I read a book in which the author was at pains to differentiate between loneliness and solitude. I seek the latter, dread the former.

This section will be some impressions. 

Norwegians. A very good friend (the same one that demands brevity) has a ‘thing’ about Norwegians. Maybe it’s more of a joke than a real prejudice, like mine, as a north Londoner, against south-londoners. Or Manhattanites mocking disparagement of New-Jerseyites. Anyway, she says N’s are ‘up themselves’. I was having a roadside scrambled egg (served on newspaper) as is my wont, and chatting to other tourists, including a very pleasant, tall, educated, rather middle-class looking European couple. I was approached by the sad, dirty, dark youth, with no front teeth, who hovers, smiling appealingly. I asked the egg-man to give him a portion but he pointed out the other couple had already done so. We got talking. “How long are you here for?” they asked me. “Six weeks”, I replied, trying not to sound too pleased with myself. “Oh, is that all” they replied casually. They were pleased to tell me they have a place in the foothills of the Himalayas. “Gosh! That’s one of the several dreams I’ve had to abandon”, I replied. “I once came across a school near Daramshala which was on a ridge, with a view of the mountains on one side, and 100 miles or more view of the plains on the other. I dreamt of having a bungalow in such a situation.”. “Yes. Of course, we have a house. And another in Katmandu. so we can pop across the border and back whenever our Visa expires.” Nuff said?

Beggars

It’s a cliche that the beggars are a problem. There’s no way one could give to all of them, and as soon as one gives to one, others appear as if by magic. I give a small coin to sanyussis (sorry if the spelling os off) and sometimes to obvious cripples. But the most appealing and demanding are little women (Nepalese?) often with one or two children. They seem much more likeable than the sour faced Romanians carrying babies one sees in London. (And many in Istanbul)  I took to giving out fruit, or this morning a pint of milk (which come in a plastic bag). But the travel agent I spoke to (more later) was insistent ‘They all get more than you or me. e.g. she was probably in league with the chap who sold you the milk. As soon as your back is turned she’ll give it back for half of what you paid for it.” I strongly suspect that’s an urban myth; one that would appeal to anyone trying to cover their conscience.

Anyway, going back to my toothless youth with his hang-dog expression, I’m told he is a drug (or I suspect glue) addict. Yesterday the egg-man had been replaced by another food seller and for only 99 p I was able to buy him a dish of stew with two chicken legs and also a chapati. I had just had a dinner with a 5 pound starter. (The starter was delicious – tandoori sole. But I was horrified by the price. I’d asked for a much cheaper starter, but he said it was all gone and suggested this one. I assumed it would be about the same price. Conned again! This sort of selling happens all the time, but if one acts suspicious one often gets a plea of pained innocence.)

I was talking to the travel agent whose ‘shop’ was little more than a bay in the wall, because I saw a man being continually being beaten up on the way here. I asked can’t anyone do anything and the crowd said they are drunks (or ‘he’s a drunk)  and if you interfere you’ll only get beaten up too. I went to nice looking trader, a travel agent, and said why not call the police and he told me in an authoritative but sympathetic way that if I were to call the police I’d be in trouble [from the local ‘mafia’]. I obviously didn’t understand the Indian way. Was I from England? Oh, that explains it. That’s the way it is round here. etc etc.

I’ve spent these two days, Monday and Tuesday, on Sangam School business. Today I was introduced to each class, and expected to ask a few daft questions rather as does Royalty. As I enter they all stand up and chorus “Good Morning Sir”. Some of the little ones salute. Later I was asked to give a lecture on Quakerism to the staff, as the school was founded and continues with quite a lot of help from Quakers (Or at least, organised by Qs. Most of our contributors are not Quakers.

That’s the end of the supposedly interesting bit. Now for trivia

27/2/14. Bristol-Reading-Gatwick-Istanbul

From IST (Istanbul airport) get metro (3 L; 4L=1 pound) Bus is 10L, taxi 40L

Tram counts as if a metro

Airport bus 10L, taxi 40L hotel 27 euros, meal (lamb stew) 15L Metro tokens 15L, coffee 10L, lunch 10, Dinner 15, cheese 15, 

Capt Yohender Singh (Merchant sea captain, sat next to me in plane) offers to support Sangam School. (I have passed contact details to GNS) (GNS = Director of Sangam School)

28/2/14 (DeIhi: Coffee 150, Metro 150 (these are rupees but 1 rupee = 1/- = one GB penny) Cycle rickshaw 50 porter 50, barber 180 (“my reason for coming to India!”) breakfast 180, shoe shine (he said it would be 100) 200, potato 20 (pieces fried by roadside – delicious) 20, chai (tea, milky, hot, sweet weak)  10, new SIM card 399, cable for tablet 150, deposit on trousers 1000 (i.e. 10 pounds), dinner 150, rickshaw 50 and so to bed. 

1 March New SIM: 9654 573 404, chai 5/-, Times of India 5, Breakfast, 190 boots 450, several items indecipherable as I tried to write while on a cycle rickshaw, includes Rough Guide to India and a book on Aurobindo, total 685, time table 200, lunch 80, newspaper to sit on 8, omelette 30, tea and cinnamon bun (in swishy teashop) 300, socket adaptor 30, internet 180.

2 March Sunday. I’d bought a metro smart card, cost 200/-. water 10, rick 20, tuk-tuk 50, chai 10, Quakers 200, fruit 100, coffee and lassi 80, indian breakfast (aka lunch as it’ now 1300) 180, laundry (5 items inc impeccably ironed shirt 70 (yes, 70p!), 2l water 25, tea and bun 55, internet 90, meal 330, tin beaker  10, banana 5, meal for druggy 95.

Monday 3/3. paper5, breakfast 270, beggar 5, coffee 20, metro smart card 200, bifocal glasses 2400, juice 10 (roadside, extraordinary machine mills huge sticks of sugar cane, extracts fresh sweet drink), lunch in air cooled pub, 99!! (a very good thalli), magnifying glass 399, pens 70, eye hospital reading glasses 1200. (Because I had given the optician my glasses as I am buying new lenses in old frame then realised could not read e.g. time table. Couldn’t find cheap reading glasses hence mag glass, then tried in eye hosp), this was all on a trip to Gurgaon to visit GNSand Suman Kharbanda, (prof of economics at Delhi U, new secretary of Sangam Foundation – the school governors body), Dinner 800 ! (cos I mistakenly had expensive starter),

Tuesday 4/3. Very cheap day as 1. I used metro smart card, 2. GNS insisted on paying for breakfast in Sohna (at a cheap place the type I use but I think rather disgusted him!) and dinner at his apartment an honour and great to meet his talented family, grandson aged 10 has had a novel commercially published), so so far only fruit 250. This internet probably 100, and I need to eat before bed, it’s now 2350.

Best wishes to all.

Stephen

 

5 Mar

Report to FOSF

This is the first time I have tried using a (rather inferior) tablet and with Wi-Fi. In case it or I fail after writing a lot, I will do it in bits. (P.S. I have edited the 4 parts together.)

I met Mr (Shri) Singhal (“GNS”) on Monday and Tuesday. I went each time by metro to Gurgaon (aka HUDA) and he met me near the exit onto the road which is a very chaotic environment. It takes about 45 minutes from the centre of New Delhi. He was unavoidable late each time. One needs to have mobile phone contact.

On Monday he drove me to the splendid apartment of Suman Kharbanda. She was recently elected secretary of Sangam Foundation (SF). (On the way there GNS was a bit peeved we had not told him I was no longer secretary of FOSF.) We had really good conversation. She seems very keen on taking an active part. However I do not think we decided anything to report about. I made some suggestions which they seemed to appreciate.

Except I was able to give them and you good news. On the plane I sat next to a merchant sea Captain who lives in Rohtak, Haryana and he expressed a willingness to help SF in any way. He hinted he had friends in high places in the Haryana govt. GNS rang him there and then and was pleased with the result, a plan to meet. He drove me back to the metro station.

On Tuesday GNS had hired a taxi. I noticed at the end of the day the charge was a little over 1000 rupees i.e. ten pounds. We drove to Sohna. He had said we would have breakfast there which I could have told him was not a good idea. We (he would not let me investigate but sent the driver off) could not find a decent looking place and eventually settled for very rough place the sort I use but obviously repugnant to GNS and I imagine most of you also. He would only have Coke and a banana. Then we drove on towards Idri. Incidentally the roads are vastly improved.

On the road to the village of ?Atte? we had decided boldly to drop in on the new commercial school called Acme International. It was a very impressive large building. We went into the palatial entrance hall and asked the neat receptionist if the Director could spare us a few minutes. We were ushered into his huge office. He was very friendly and hospitable and showed us around the school which had every facility you could imagine and more. They draw pupils (sorry, students) from a wide area – we saw a fleet of about 7 or 10 15-seater buses and later I saw a full size bus on the road. Of course their fees are astronomical.

In discussion GNS and the Director, Ashok Kumar, agreed on mutual cooperation in the future. Clearly we were not competing for students. He is a local man and admired and had met Kamlaji.

Then we drove on to Idri. As usual we had a very warm welcome. GNS showed me the new buildings which are in the part-built state Maggie and Lea described. I have no news on that issue. Then I was taken to each class in turn to be greeted with “Good morning, Sir!” by the standing children (sorry, students). I tried to make intelligent conversation but almost all of them were far too shy to reply. Teachers would ‘help’ them before they had had a chance to work out a reply. This was after a conversation I had with GNS and the H.T. Shri Deet Singh Dhima, whose English has improved which enables him to give one more confidence in him.

He and GNS drew my attention to the great improvements made since GNS took over in 2004. For instance then there was only 1 teacher with a B.Ed. Now only one without. The worst paid teacher now gets more than did the best paid. Despite this they affirmed that teacher motivation is far more important than formal qualification.

I timidly broached the subject of the P.T. teacher who apparently does no P.T.It appears that he does it with the whole school after prayers first thing in the morning. Our visitors did not arrive until 10 so they did not witness that. He acts as an administrative assistant during the remainder of the day. However the pupil teacher ratio does seem very [excessively]’good’ to me; it is 14.

We also discussed follow-up of past pupils. There is no formal FU (nor is there in UK primary schools) but 1. when they last took the Haryana 8th grade test (which has now been abandoned by Haryana) all but one of the students were in the top bracket. 2. They know of some ex pupils; two have obtained PhDs from universities GNS said were reputable, and one had achieved some other prominence, I forget what. Their ex-pupils mostly go to high schools in Palwal and in Sohna, where they are very well thought-of, they said. I also brought up relations with the village heads, which they assured me were perfectly good. I got some statistics which David had asked me to obtain, but I have not got them here with me now as I write. I’ll write to him later.

After school was over the teachers were assembled in the HT’s room where I had been asked to give a talk on Quakerism. However GNS had mugged up on it by studying a Wikipedia article which he had shown me in the car. It gave what I would say was a reasonably accurate picture but far too detailed. It highlighted the theism non-theism debate more than any other article I have seen, other than by those supporting one side or the other. So, on introducing me he gave a very long spiel in Hindi of which I could only catch the drift. Anyway I gave my talk which most of them seemed to find interesting. If you are worried about what I did or did not say please ask me.

On behalf of FOSF I received much praise and gratitude. By now it was late and GNS was in trouble from his wife (over the cell-phone) as we were very late for lunch (I had been invited which I consider is a great honour.) We drove back and got to his flat by about 1530. (Both GNS and Suman live in gated communities, each with two barriers to get past.) Mrs S soon got over being severe and sat watching me enjoy her food, served by a house maid. I was introduced to several members of the family, which is clearly very talented. His daughter is a professor at U of Delhi. Their 10 yr old grandson wrote a novel and has had it commercially published.

Then he drove me back to the Metro. Due to the traffic (and a cellphone call) our farewells were hurried but he seemed quite emotional (earlier I had said this was probably my last visit to India)

During the conversations GNS repeatedly said as did Suman and Jeet Singh that their top priority is for SF to be self sustainable, but GNS also repeated their need for our funds; albeit declining annually. I said FOSF would probably continue to exist long after we were all gone, as at least a moral supporter.

Stephen Petter Delhi, 5 March 2014

Thursday 6 March.

Today I went to collect my new bi-focal glasses; cost 24 pounds (lenses only – I re-used a frame). This was in a part of Delhi I’d not been before. Despite several attempts I could not ascertain where the street was from where I was to collect them. (I had the eye test and ordered them when I had time to kill in Gurgaon on Monday. The firm agreed to take them to a branch nearer my hotel.). Outside the metro I showed the address to a cycle rickshaw man, asking if he was sure where to go. I even asked another if the first understood. We agreed a fare – 30/- and the poor chap pedalled away through traffic, through the blanket wall of screeching motor-horns, up a hill, and finally to a dress shop with a name similar to the optician’s. Then a long trail, asking the way frequently, only to end up a few yards from the original metro! I gave him 100/-. 

I thought it would be more fun to return by bus, so after asking “Pahaganj?” and getting an affirmative I climbed aboard its steep step up – often you see women with children and baggage straining to get on. The bus drivers are always impatient and start to move before one is properly on. We rattled along pretty well. The buses are extremely decrepit, with a great, loose gear leaver, and a straining throbbing old engine. But very cheap – the conductor, who sits near the entrance, insisted on giving me change from a 5/ piece. (i.e 5 pence). I was confident as long as it went alongside (actually, below) the metro, but when it curved off I got off. I asked a motor rickshaw (tuk tuk) driver to take me to Pahaganj and he just indicated the opposite direction. I’d turned the wrong way at the start of my trip. But luckily I was now near a metro station. Some very jolly, poor children, dressed in rags, started skipping around me, and repeating my “Go away” with giggles, daring each other to touch my knapsack. They followed me quite a way and I was alarmed when a car shot close behind me. The sidewalk was totally given over to parked cars, as is common. Later when I was walking along the sidewalk of a main road I was continually beeped out of the way by scooters using it to get past the traffic jam. 

It’s easy to think one has got an affirmative reply because many Indians have a way of replying by rocking their head in a manner some way between our affirmative nod and our negative shake.

More important, after much time trying to decipher the train timetables and maps I decided this morning to ask a travel agent for some information, and eventually agreed to let him do some booking for me. He is ensconced in the same hotel as that in which I normally do my internet work. So to cut a long story short my plans are to go by train to Chandigarh on Monday, for two nights, then to Amritsar for another two, then back to Delhi on Friday. I’ll be on fast, air-conditioned (“A/C”) trains, going out, and my preferred ‘Sleeper’ class coming back. These are aka 2nd class no A/C. They have 6 seats per compartment. Three on each side, facing each other. (Also a corridor and another bunk on the other side) the back of the seat lifts up to form a shelf, giving two bunks, and there is a permanently fixed bunk up under the ceiling. However on this trip none of the travelling is at night. I have yet to book hotels. I also booked to fly to Trichy in the far south, Tamil Nadu, on the following Monday. I usually take three days going by train. It takes 48 hours but I stop half way for 24 hours. But 6 days is too long. So I shall fly there and intend to return by train, possibly stopping for a day or two to visit a distant relation (Alice Petter) near Pune, and/or re-visiting Quakers in the Bhopal area. (Don’t tell Alice yet as I have not finally decided. It all depends on whether I like Shantivanam as much as I expect, and so want to stay as long as possible, or whether I’ll feel I’ve had enough navel gazing and come back giving time to do the visiting. (Shantivanam is an Ashram in Tamil Nadu at which I stayed in 2001. I’m a member of the British organisation (the Bede Griffiths Sangha) which holds retreats in the UK in which we try to emulate the life and routines of Shantivanam.) 

So I’ll get another two opportunities to attend Quaker meeting in Delhi. But I still have not been able to contact Hari Khurana who is listed as the contact. (Hari spends much of the time in UK). He has a wife Cathy who is a member of ?Central AM (used to be called Warwickshire MM) so if anyone can find out if he is in Delhi and his correct phone number and/or email I’d be grateful.

I did not do much yesterday as I didn’t feel well until abut 1700. Despite this I went to Connaught Place to collect my tailor made trousers – 14 pounds. They are very good. I left all my measurements with them so that in the future I might order other clothes from them, e.g. they do shirts for 14 pounds. Just as good as Jermyn Street and a fraction of the price. (However, not as cheap as the charity shops, from where I get most of my clothes!) Also yesterday I collected my wheelie case/rucksack with its new wheels. I’m fond of that case. I keep a record of where it’s been, at present about 50 countries. Today I out-sorted several things I wish I had not brought, intending to post them home tomorrow. Some I have binned and some I’ll just give away.

Monday is Holi Day, when it is the custom to throw coloured powder at passers-by. It is all very jolly but can be a nuisance, so I am advised to go to the airport by taxi. Some years ago a meeting of the Board of Sangam School was cancelled at short notice because they had not realised it was Holi, and the members refused to leave their homes. Holi is a moveable feast, and I gather its date is not known until imminent.

End of what is supposed to be interesting. Now for detail;.

(I see that i cannot save this as a draft, so I will send it and do the detail later.)

Best wishes

Stephen 

 

Details (Written 6/3)

Tuesday 4/3 TO SANGAM

A cheap day as GNS paid for everything

To meet GNS @ HUDA 0900. 

Got up and had some fruit, then by rickshaw to metro.

Breakfast at crummy dump in Sohna.  Sweet-maker saw me interested in his method, gave me a sample. (Flavoured sweet fluid squirted into hot oil forming crispy curly sweets.

Visit to Acme International School. (Reporting it to FOSF elsewhere.) Very very grand, astronomical fees. But HT very keen to co-operate with Sangam.

Village is Atta. HT is Ashok Kumar. Knew Kamlaji.0124 201 3775 or +91 9254305970

Told us of 2 OK hotels in Sohna, Suryansh and Smart View Resort. 

VG visit to Sangam – Me expected to address each class, tried to not be too banal. Lovely kids.

Good meeting w HT. Then I was asked to tell assembled staff about Quakers.

Late lunch at GNS’s flat. Gated community – tall flats, already peeling. Two security checks on entry. Met several family. Served by tight lipped maid. No-one says thank you to her. She impassive when I do. 

Back in Delhi – neglected to record spending. 

Internet until c 2330, then return thru strangely empty street. Bit nervous so accepted cycle rickshaw. Chap v good looking offered himself to me. I misunderstood and said I did not do sex or drugs! He hastened to correct me. When I refused again he got very pleading, wife to feed! Baby! Please!. 

Oh, earlier, I saw a nasty case of beating up. A crowd around. I say Cant anyone stop them. Advised don’t interfere. He’s a drunk. He will turn on you.

Asked nearby Travel agent about calling police – DON’t – local mafia will beat you up.!!!

And so to bed!

Wed. Overslept after yet another bad night. Jet lag? Is it because my room gets no daylight?

Tried to get into Park in centre of Connaught Place but couldn’t find a gate, so sat outside looking in!

Went again to Madras Coffee House. Besides core of elderly academic types there were many keen young students. On my table a chap helping a woman with her Commercial Law work.

Excellent Dosa, with extras .

Coffee & newspaper 150

South Indian breakfast (Idli, Samber, ?Naria (coconut sauce) and chai 90/-

Coffee 20/ (cos I have 2 portions)

Paid hotel to date 5250/-

Found it included 10% for booking agency. By checking out then immediately checking in I reduce it to 950/-

Despite that saving I checked out 3 other hotels and found 2 very good for less. e.g. 750/- Will use it next time.

Coffee and cinnamon bun in The Bread Shop – posh cafe, no customers, nice Nepalese man and strong  Venezuelan wife. Discussed racism, e.g. vs Nepalese.

Drew 2nd tranch of cash, 10,000/- (Plus some costs via debit card)

Trousers 400/- (Plus deposit 1000/-)

Airfix model kit 400

Coffee and samosa 120

Wallet 450

Book on Yoga 50

Lunch at Coffee House. 63/- only!

Internet 15/-

Dinner 150

Thursday (today, it’s now 2000)

Coffee and news 25; Breakfast (at same S Indian, but so noisy I decide to go elsewhere next time. Beeping

Bought beggar trousers 400; Rickshaw 40 (I have decided to pay them more and not quibble)

Internet 30; Travel Agent 169 GBPounds; Rickshaw 100; Lunch 300. 

Over and out!  

INDIA 2014 140308 Saturday 8 March

After a whole week I have at last got round to doing some religious stuff. During this past week my time has been taken up with maintenance or domestic or admin jobs, or sleeping due to bad nights, or internet, or reading most of the Times of India in a leisurely manner, or the two days I devoted to work for the School.  This morning I woke up rather late without a headache. I’d improved the ventilation by propping my door open ajar. This was a dangerous if not stupid thing to do as theft is rife. The door has a massive bolt and steel reinforcement in addition to an American style door-knob lock. But I positioned a metal waste bin and balanced an empty plastic bottle behind the door so that anyone pushing it would create a noise. I have booked into a different hotel to stay in when I return on Friday. 

So this morning I decided to visit the Gudwara and the nearby cathedral, which are down the road from the “Coffee Home” that I’ve been to twice already. I took the tube and in the 10 minute walk to it I was accosted about 6 times by touts. Two were particularly insistent. One, with a friend, acted very pained at my “bad manners”. He had used the common “I only want to be friendly. I’m not selling anything” approach. Plus asking if I liked the huge Indian flag which has been put up. “The biggest in India. ” (It is in fact very splendid.)  I took him at his word and he extolled the virtues of his home state, Kashmir. After a long conversation in which I said the three things I dislike about India, which I otherwise love, are traffic noise, mosquitoes, and touts, to which he and his friends agreed. But eventually he got round to insisted on telling me about a houseboat in Kashmir, insisting on writing its address etc in my notebook, and would not stop repeating how good the flights were and he could help me book a trip nearby. 

On the way to the Coffee Home (that’s what the sign painted on it calls it) one passes the excellent shops operated by the Governments of the various Indian states, each selling good quality good value products. Another plus is that they do not pester you to buy, and all the prices are marked. Most of the products are very beautiful with superb craftwork. I wished I was a trader. Going through some of them is as good or better than a museum.

I walked all the way to the Gurdwara Bangla Sahib. It is stunning to look at. One has to hand in one’s footwear, then paddle through a shallow trough. From then on it’s clean, smooth marble paving and carpeting. Inside the main building is stunning. High domed, gold covered, vast, with music being played by three musicians, one of them singing. Around the corner a big screen displays the words in three or four languages, including English. I sat and marvelled. I wrote these notes in my notebook, longing to share my rapture..”How-come I’ve left this for a whole week? Me deeply moved by beauty, majesty, reverent people, music. Feel deep sense of peace.” I spent a long time there, reading the words on the screen. I noted one of the passages, “Meeting with a pious person have thou some conversation with them”. There was also some rather scornful things said of impious people. Then I walked outside, in a sort of walking meditation, to where there is a large pool or lake. Apparently it is holy and considered medicinal. I walked slowly around it. At one place I asked someone to take a photo of me with the domes of the building over the lake behind me . On exit one is given a bowl of water to drink, then a sweetmeat. A lovely experience; I hope to have many similar in the next few weeks. 

Then I walked to the cathedral. It was high, cool, fine building, very plain plastered walls. I wrote, “Anglican Cath. No vibes. tall, cool, quiet. A functional place, but I have no feeling of God is near. St Francis’s prayer at the entrance has made me feel ashamed of my faults; anger, egocentricity…I guess that’s sin.” Anyway I stayed for quite a while, thinking or praying, working out yet another essay. As I went out I realised it was a Catholic cathedral. I asked several people where is the Anglican one but no-one knew. Obviously not near there.

I then took a cycle rickshaw to the Lakshmi Narayan temple in Delhi also called Birla Mandir. The rickshaw man demanded 200/- which was far too high, and I found I only had a 20/  or a 500/ notes. I set off to get change, offering to buy inexpensive items, but all the traders refused. I was being pursued by postcard sellers who wanted 200/- for a book of postcards, and the driver. After four or more refusals I had no option but to negotiate with the PC men. One offered to change my 500 note, and duly gave me five 100/s. I offered him 20/ as a fee, which he refused as if offended – I’m no money-changer!. So I had to buy the PCs for 150/- Then try to pay the RS man 100/ he accepted 120 which was still way over the odds. Even then, other PC men were trying to get me into conversation. Where you from? What your name?

I took off my knapsack to put away the cards and other things, and take off my shoes and socks, then went to the entrance to the temple. There was now a long queue of schoolchildren. The ground was very hot. The schoolboys were cheeky. Suddenly I remembered – I’d left my rucksack behind! I swore and ran over to where I’d left it. I was surprised how fast I could run. Thank goodness it was till there. When I went to deposit my shoes where everyone else had, a uniformed security man signalled for me to use a rather more superior place, with seats. Also he took my mobile off me and locked it in a safe, handing me the key. He examined my bag for any camera. At last I was able to go in. (When I left the security man took 30/- off me. I asked is it for you or for the temple. He mumbled ‘Temple’ unconvincingly. )

It is another delightful place. Lots of small temples in one integrated complex, with fine architecture and well painted in strong colours. (Power cut, but the computers have their own supply. Grinding noises  as the generator is started. Now a roaring, and the lights come on again.) There are many bas-relief pictures on the walls, depicting various Gods, with writing in Hindi (or Sanskrit?) and in English. Mostly verses from the Bagavad Gita. (13, verses 14 and 15) Much of it a theology that would be very acceptable to Quakers. I went from temple to temple, reading the writings on the walls, and gazing at the statues of various Gods, all gloriously encased in rich cloths and bejewelled.

Still feeling fit, I walked most of the way home. Despite my religious experiences I was still angry with the beeping of the traffic. I passed a big sign which read, FOR GOD’S SAKE DON’T HONK and a diagram of a horn crossed out. But yesterday even near a hospital with similar signs they persisted.

I have had Delhi-belly last night and was caught out near the cathedral. I was worried that I would not find a loo, or if I did it would be disgusting. But no sooner had I started worrying than there was one, free, clean, empty. Squat loo, but I include squatting in my daily exercises just for such a situation. If I was a certain kind of religious person I’d have called it a miracle.

I intend to go to Quakers tomorrow, even though I suspect I’ll be the only one. Then I shall seek the Anglican Cath.

Best wishes

Stephen

Details from my notebook.

 Friday

TO DO: Book hotels: Chandigarh, Amritsar, Back in Delhi, Trichy, Shantivanam.

Paper & coffee (me well known now) 25/-

Brkfst 200 at the German Bakery. Had their ‘healthy option’ (Usual place too noisy)

Internet (set up blog) and p’copying (everyone needs p/copy of Passport and Visa. )  35/-

Booked all the hotels, except Shantivanam has not replied. 

Laundry 80/.  Coffee and cinnamon cake 200/;  Internet 45

Watch Al Jazeera 

Studied Train timetables, worked out route Trichy to Pune, Pune to Itarsi, Itarsi to Delhi. Will take several days. Mostly overnight journeys.

Got good taxi firm as will go to station by it as it will be Holi. 

Saturday (today)

Slept well cos door ajar. Plus no CPAP. Up late, Watch Al Jazeera, documentary on killing hundreds of dolphins in Solomon Is. 

(Did no watch any TV for first 5 or so days, now hooked on Al J.)

Metro to centre. Tout misdirected me. Touts fooled me. 6 touts in 10 minutes. plus beggars. 

Govt Tourist Info Centre, well hidden, bored civil servant, no info on buses. Don’t know where IG Arts Centre is. 

Coffee Home: Idli, Samber and filter coffee 60/ Lovely place. Americans looked in, were horrified, I felt a sort of superiority to them Rich fools.

Went into 3 Govt Emporiums – lovely artefacts. Resisted buying.

Walk to Gudwara. (Notes in main part)

Then Cath. Loo. Search for Anglican. Rickshaw. 120, Post cards 150. Temple 30. Chai and samosa 14 !! (Included nice chick-pea gravy)

Long walk home. Fruit 120. Top up phone 100/- Sandwich 30.

Collected dressing gown. Big mistake! Horrible colour. And they proudly included a lining, ruining main purpose which is to have s’thing that takes up little space. 

Drew 10,000/- (100 pounds.)

Now 2100. Will go back, read or probably watch Al J

——-

9 Mar

Dear Friends

I’ve packed and ready to set off tomorrow on a 7.40 train.

Actually I’m in a bad mood as I have just discovered my reading glasses have disappeared, presumably pick-pocketed. The were in a rather unique case, sticking out of my shirt pocket. I bought them last week after a long search, at an eye hospital, for 1200/- So now I have to peer thru the small part of my bi-focals. Also there was a huge jam in the street outside (Main Bazar) due to a parked car. The pointless screeching of motor horns was deafening. A police car with lights flashing was unable to get through, but the officers were just relaxed and laughing. Earlier today I went to what I had been told was an excellent site, Akshardham temple. On the way there the metro crossed the River Yamada which was interesting. To cut a long story short, after three quarters of an hour or more queuing for various ‘security’ actions, when I found myself in a huge queue that was moving hardly at all, I gave up. It took another 20 minutes to retrieve my bag. In all the trip was a waste of 2 hours.

This morning I went again to the YW where the Quakers are due to meet, but again no-one else came. I got there very quickly as I now know the right metro station, Patel Chowk, which incidentally also houses a very interesting Metro Museum. Moreover the YW has a modest canteen where I was able to consume corn flakes. I could have had an egg breakfast but I had had fruit and a hard-boiled egg. I still have a queasy tum, whether due to too much spicy food, or too much fruit, or worse, I don’t know. 

So all in all a pretty dull day. 

 A few days ago I mentioned the odd way Indians move their heads – neither a shake nor a nod. Eleanor has passed me a URL which explains it. 

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/03/03/video-decoding-the-indian-head-wobble/

Yesterday there was an excellent programme on Al Jazeera about Israel and Palestine – a debate from Cambridge University. The main speaker (being fiercely quizzed) was a liberal Zionist. pro justice and civil rights, so long as Israel remains a Jewish state, at least for the foreseeable future. However he still hoped for a two-state solution whereas it seems more and more authorities reckon that opportunity has gone, and that there will have to be a one-state solution. I wrote to Ilan Pappe (a Palestinian academic at Exeter Uni) with my ideas and he said he shared many of them My key idea is that Israel/Palestine (one state, perhaps with a new name) could be like Britain with its state religion, and with religious tolerance and civil rights for all citizens. Jerusalem might have a status similar to Canberra, Washing ton DC, or the Vatican.

Best wishes

Stephen

Detail

The Sunday Times of India 20/-

Coffee, with a glass of milk: 40/-

I’m not going to list donations

Brkfst at YWCA 175

Chai 10

“Guide” to temple 5/-

Thalli and (undrinkable) tea 70/-

Packing: gave away several useful things. Still could hardly close big case. 

Ensured new hotel (into which I’ve booked next Friday, Sat, Sun) will be able to keep my case from about 0630 tomorrow. 

Walked out of new internet cafe because no-one could get round adverts. 

Now back in my friendly one, whose manager has his son here for hours until about 2300.  The boy watches endless cartoons , but also answers the phone when “papaji” is away. 

Yesterday a man was watching something on the internet, with headphones on, and was dancing a crazy dance, sometimes singing along to a weird form of music, sometimes roaring with laughter. Crazy !

10 Mar

New Delhi Station is huge. I was in good time, and stood on the footbridge that traverses the station’s many platforms, catching my breath after the steep stairs, and gazed across the tracks, watching the long trains ponderously departing, heaved by massive diesel locos.  After some confusion (the illuminated sign indicated a different train) I and hundreds of others boarded. I found my reserved seat. The air conditioned carriage was dim, the colours grey and a rather yucky green. As we pulled out and gathered speed through interminable suburbs, we were given first, a bottle of water. Next, tea and biscuits. Next, an excellent glossy magazine which I found very interesting. Later, a ‘lunch’, though it was still only 1030. The journey was four hours. It cost 470/- (yes, four pounds seventy!) And according to the magazine, India Rail makes a surplus.

I’ve mentioned the squalor. I’ll just repeat it once then I’ll aim not to mention it again, except perhaps when it’s surprisingly absent. From the train one sees pigs, dogs, cattle and goats freely scavenging the piles of rubbish, of which mountains of discarded plastic bags seem to predominate. Along the trackside there are often ponds of filthy water, with occasionally a suicidal duck or stork. People sit on the tracks, walk along them, bundles on their heads. (There was once an accident when a wedding party which was using the tracks as a sort of reception centre were killed by a train.) In the bushes one frequently sees men urinating, and occasionally squatting with no attempt to not be seen from the train. Beyond that, the buildings look ramshackle, tumble-down, or more probably part-competed. There a many waste sites, often with great piles of rubbish, or rubble, or large building and civil engineering components.

So I came to the conclusion that I would try to turn a blind eye to this aspect of India. I’d try to tune it out, just as most people seem able to tune out traffic noise. I’ll try to record what is good about India. 

When the train gets clear of the cities, the prospect in this region, which is a vast plain, is one of hundreds of neat, lush little fields, each about the size of four or ten allotments. (i.e. well under an acre). In them there are farmers, peasants I suppose, mostly working by hand, usually crouched down, as they plant, weed and gather the crops. Occasionally one sees a small tractor or Rotavator. There a re frequent level crossings, at each of which a line of waiting trucks, auto-rickshaws (“tuk-tuks”), cyclists, pedestrians, and a few cars, wait patiently. Sometimes one sees carts being pulled by an ox. The driver sits close behind the slow beast, poking it with a sharpened stick. Sometimes one sees a cart or small truck loaded with such a huge stack of hay or some similar plant, that it takes up most of the width of the road. Frequently there are temples, some of them splendidly dominating the village, and there are many small shrines, beside the road or at the edge of a field.

Chandigarh is unique. The whole city was designed by a French architect, known as Le Corbusier (I might have spelt that wrong). It is on a grid pattern like many US cities. There are very wide boulevards.Each block or Sector is numbered – I’m staying in Sector 17. The buildings are very 1950s – squat, square, angular. The city is very spread out – a long way from the train station to the centre. 

As I left the train I checked my Rough Guide and saw from a map that my hotel was near the station. So I ignored all the taxi touts etc and set off to walk. Soon I was very alone – the only person on foot. Then there was lightening and it began to pour, Thank goodness I’d brought a brolly. The geography was not what my map showed. I found an auto-ricksaw and got in out of the rain and tried to tell the driver where I wanted to go. Only then did I realise I’d been looking at the wrong map! After a long drive in the rain, skirting huge puddles, we arrived in the centre but the driver had to call a friend to pilot him to my ‘hotel’. This chap insisted on coming with me all the way to the reception desk. I assumed he wanted to be paid but he insisted not. And he would not be getting a commission as I had already booked. 

I put ‘hotel’ in quotes as it is not a hotel but a ‘Transit Lodge’. It is very basic, but also pretty cheap, at 750/- a night. (Including a meal, thalli or dosa, per day) For that I get lots of space, two easy chairs, a bathroom of which more later, and a TV which has the BBC, Al Jazeera and about 400 other channels. 

The first room I was shown had taps which would not turn off, so the bathroom was continually flooded. I transferred to another room, where the bathroom is not clean enough for my liking, so I’ve had a long and very pleasant walk finding a hardware shop to buy some cleaning materials and Dettol. 

Besides its architecture Chandigarh is known for how clean and how green it is. There was no litter in the large bus station near my place, nor in the nearby shopping centre. The walk was through suburbs which might have been Ascot. I got chatting to a retired man (former editor of the Indian edition of the FT) and asked him how much houses cost. He said 30 or 40 Crore, which I find hard to believe, as I think that means several million pounds.

I went to two Tourist Information offices, both Government-owned. As before one of them was staffed by a tired bored bureaucrat who knew nothing of interest, and spent most of the time on his phone, ignoring me. The other was staffed by a lovely woman who answered all my questions with enthusiasm. She represented Himachel, a neighbouring State, and the result of our conversation was that I want to go to Shimla.

But I’m booked for this trip and then to Tamil Nadau. So Shimla, Rajastan, Kashmir and Nepal will all have to wait. 

 INDIA 2014 140313 13 March, Amritsar

I became pretty jaded, tired, a bit depressed, yesterday. I was in my latest cheap hotel and it seemed the pits! I thought fondly of home, bed, the allotment, people. Do I really want to stay here another few weeks? I’d bought a book to read – The Life of Pi. I was amused by a sentence half way down the first page – I don’t have it here but it was to the effect that a time in India will cure anyone of restlessness., How apposite! The introduction continued to delight me and I could hardly drag myself from it. But I was extremely tired, so went to bed though it was only 8.30.

I’d searched for a bookshop and had eventually found one in the railway station. I hoped to find another by R K Narayan, because I’d devoured his “The Guide” on the train and again could hardly put it down. It’s about an apparently very amoral chap in Tamil Nadu. It mentions several places I’ve visited. Today I saw a bookshop as I was passing (in a cycle rickshaw) and was able to buy two more Narayans. 

This enthusiasm for reading, which is unusual for me, is a result of having lots of spare time. That in turn is because I am not the former Steve, desperate to fill every hour with activity. 

I had the rickshaw go quite a long way as I searched for an internet cafe. They seem quite rare now. The first time I came to India, in 2001, the country was plastered with signs “ISD/STD” over tiny places from where one could telephone. The second time it was all “Internet here”. Now they are rare because everyone uses Wi-Fi. A car cause the rickshaw to swerve, nearly toppling us over. (British drivers would be outraged – cars emerge from the inside – if you don’t swerve out to avoid them you crash. ) He started to apologise to me; I tried to be supportive to him. We stopped to have a chai each. 

In Chandigarh I took the open top bus tour. It was supposed to cost 50/- but as I was the only customer they first said it would be cancelled, then said they would run it for 400/- (which I decided to accept) but they then said 200/. It was a lovely tour – it was an open-top bus – super boulevards, lovely gardens, not much sight of architecture due to all the trees (chosen to be of interest at all times of the year). The only hitch was that my hat blew off. I eventually persuaded the driver to go back, which was a long way due to it being a divided highway, and there it was! A chap fetched it over, and would not accept a reward. We stopped for 20 minutes at the Rose Garden, and for 30 at the Art Gallery. Then other stops including next to a huge lake, and a place called the Rock Garden. I anticipated this to a be a bit twee, like Bourton -on-the-Water’s Model Village. But it is fascinating. An eccentric artist secretly spent decades collecting rocks, stones, and shards of pottery etc, and cementing them together to form grottoes,  pools, statues, alleyways, ponds (or ‘lakes’), a waterfall, all in a two acre site around which one goes in narrow, twisting paths (contrasting with the city’s long straight streets and square blocks). When the authorities found it they were going to demolish it but a public outcry stopped them and now they give him a salary and assistants to continue to work. Samples of it are in several major art galleries.  

After a nap I ventured out again and on impulse got on a bus intending to go to the end of its route then back. Not being able to say where I was going caused a stir. A young woman – apparently to only person with English – told me it was going a long way and there were probably no buses back that day. So I got off in a very grotty area, and after buying a snack I started looking for a bus stop back. There were none! I was told the only option was an auto-rickshaw. After a lot of walking (on a horribly noisy main road, with either no pavement (sidewalk is a better word) or one used as a car park or rubbish dump, I finally gave up and took an auto until after a couple of miles I found a bus stop. 

Early in the morning I returned to the train station by bus, costing 10/- instead of an auto-rickshaw which would have been at least 150/-. The train was not quite so posh as the previous one, but a/c and a nice reserved seat. I was very hungry, as it was hard to find non-spicy food. At last a salesman came round and I had what is euphemistically called a veg sandwich. The slices of plain white bread with a thin smear of sandwich spread. Utterly tasteless. I’m hoping my carefulness added to my continued Delhi-belly will result in me losing weight. 

Once I had found my grotty hotel in which my room stank of insect killer which worried me, as did an insect bite of an unusual type, I had a short nap then set off for the Golden Temple. I took a Cycle Rickshaw as I usually do. (I think I”ll abbreviate that to CRS.) I use them because they are quiet, and eco-friendly, and the chaps look as if they badly need work. I  tend to pay more than they demand (unless it’s exorbitant) as advised by Lonely Planet. On this trip one gets out and walks when one come to a hill. 

The Golden Temple area was very crowded. I bought a sort of large handkerchief to cover my head, checked in my shoes and socks, and my bag (both services are free) then entered the enchanting place. Huge, gleaming white and gold towers and domes, around a large rectangular lake. At one place people strip to bathing trunks to enter the holy waters, which are described as ‘nectar’. I joined the 30 minute queue to enter the central temple, where I sat to meditate for about half an hour. This temple is incredibly beautiful, with carvings, and inlaid stonework patterns. I climbed to the highest level permitted, and gazed at the reflection of the buildings shimmering in the lake. The priests sing from the holy book (which is regarded as a Person, Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji) to the music of tablas, and a form of harmonium. It all produces a very strong feeling of spirituality and God nearness. I had two thoughts (realizations?) which I felt were religious openings. 

I also visited other temples on the same site. In each the holy Book was being read aloud by a holy man, even if there was no-one else present. Then I went for ?? the free food, which I had not from greed but because I felt it was all part of the religious experience. They seem very keen on one sharing it. The worse bit is one has to sit on the floor, and I find it very difficult to sit cross-legged. One is handed metal utensils on entry, and men come round with the food, ladling it from shining buckets. One has to refuse offers of second and third helpings. There were a huge number of people eating, in long rows, the continual stream being directed like cars in a car park. It was all highly organised, with dozens of staff, and very rushed. After eating you take your utensils to a place where the left-overs are banged into a huge tub, and the utensils flung into a container with a crash. One of the men serving spoke to me and I asked if all these people were volunteers, which they were, and he said I could offer to help if I wished. I guessed his accent to be Canadian (there are many Indians in Canada, as I know from having visited a family in Montreal) but I got it wrong, he said he’d worked in New York. It was all very friendly and efficient. My only hangup is that almost all the inscriptions on the walls, memorials of deceased Sikhs, were military. And a wall sign recounted the story of the siege on the Golden Temple from a very extremist point of view, according to my reading of the event. If you read an introduction to Sikhism they list virtues very similar to those aspired to by Quakers, but Pacifism emphatically is not one of them. 

It is now 1300. I shall try to find another spiritually powerful temple, or go to a nearby park. I have no desire to do what the tourists agencies urge, which is to go the 28 km to the border with Pakistan, to observe the Closing of the Gates ceremony which occurs every evening. Michael Palin showed it in one of his programmes. I’ve now got three interesting books to read. BTW, after I’d re-arranged the bedding at about 2 a.m. I had a comfortable night. I put the incredibly heavy duvet under me, and the blanket that was supposed to be the under-sheet  over me. I was glad that despite bringing as little as possible I had brought my sheet sleeping bag.

I’ve decided to go to the Jallianwala Bagh, the site of the massacre by British troops. 

END 

DETAILS, mainly spending

Chandigarh, 

Tour bus 200/-; Rock Garden 20/- Museum entry 2/-, permit to photo, 5/-; Lunch 90; Orange Juice squeezed from about 8 oranges 40, Shoe shine 20, Bus to ??? 25; Auto 40, bus 128 [P.S. Probably a mistake, ?28/-], Food 80. Total 548, i.e. 5 pounds…

Thursday, to Amritsar

Bus 10, 2 Chai 20, brkfst 60, Lost ??? 500?, [Later found.] More chai 20, hotel 650, lunch 70, CRS c50, Head cover 20, CRS 50, book Life of Pi 399, Food 60, Total 1330.

 INDIA 2014 140315 15 March, Delhi

In Brief

Thursday 13 March, afternoon. Jallianwalla Bagh. Site of the massacre of several hundred peaceable protesters by British Army platoon under a Gen Dyer. 

Evening: reading. 

Friday. Mata Lal Devi Ji Temple (Hindu); Park; 1510 Train to Delhi, arrived 2250 on time. 

Sat (today) now 1330. Lazy morning, then to Euro-style place (“German Bakery”) for their “Healthy Breakfast”. Long conversation with Australian/Canadian (Vancouver) young couple. 

Details based on spending

Thur

4 coffees in 2 glasses 30/-; 

en route to Golden Temple, saw bookshop, bt 2 Narayans 230/-

Chai 20; Cycle Rickshaw (CRS) 100

Coke and nuts (bt to get change) 120; Internet 180/- CRS to Jallianwalla 50; Lunch (All you can eat Thalli) 310/-; CRS 40 Fruit 30, Water 20, 2 eggs 40 (overcharged) Total 1170/-

Fri 

Nuts and coffee 100/-

shoeshine 30, Hotel 650, CRS 30, CRS 50, 2 chai (1 for me, other for CRS-walla) 15, CRS 50, lunch 70, (chick peas in spicy gravy, ‘veg’ is mostly onion chopped into a thin cold soup, 2 very good chapatis with lashings (far too much ) butter, ‘curds’ (=sour yoghurt) ) train food 20 (same chick pea and gravy, plus 2 chapatis) 20; Hotel Vivek 750, + 100/- they unexpectedly charged for keeping my case. Beer and water 220. 

Always great difficulty getting the currency one gets from ATMs changed to 10 or 20 rupee notes. Most traders say they have no change. 

Comment.

Jallianwalla Bagh

This place affected me deeply, rather as does the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. The story is so shocking (graphically portraying the the film “Gandhi”) Now is is a beautiful garden, but with placards explaining where the guns were, pointing out the bullet holes in walls, and with the well surrounded by a protective building – but one can look down into the depth of it. (Its a very wide well). I saw a young Sikh man looking at me very hard. I tried to say something to him but words were choked. I nearly cried. I was grateful the museum (little more than a display of newspaper cuttings) showed that the atrocity was condemned by Parliament, especially by Churchill, within a year. Col Dyer was dismissed. Sadly, another Colonel O’Dyer was shot by an Indian, in London, a couple of years later. 

Mata Lal Devi Ji Temple

The CRS-chap indicated where I was to take of my shoes and socks. I checked them in plus my bag, and walked across the dirty street into the temple. Near the front, sitting in a group, several large women, playing drums and cymbals, and taking turns to chant – grossly amplified, but spiritually very calming and satisfying. The temple very rich in brilliantly adorned, brightly lit gods and goddesses, behind glass panels, with a slot for offerings. (Aha, that’s where all the 10 rupee banknotes go to!) A lot of bustle, people going to and fro, meeting and greeting. Queues at some of the side temples where big efficient Brahmins accept donations of foods or 10/- notes, wave them before the God, bless the giver, and perhaps give some advice. Then give them an overflowing dish of various fruits and sweets.  I found a convenient bench, move a carpet so I didn’t have to rest my bare feet on the cold marble floor, and meditated or thought or prayed for about 90 minutes. Then went slowly round, stopping in front of each God. I was perplexed by the frequency of one god-like image, an elderly lady with large glasses, looking very like Kamlaji (founder of Sangam school). Seeing my interest I was led into a sort of office in which several elderly men sat, presumably elders or administrators. One explained that the image was of Mata Lal, who had been ‘enlightened’ and whose devotees had built this temple. She had had left her home in Lahore at the time of Partition (as did Kamla). 

Some of the CRS trips were quite long and I felt for the pedallers. (Not really ‘cyclists’, and I’m not sure if ‘cycle-walla’ is impolite.) (It’s really good to get feedback from some of you.)

So several times I have them stop and buy each of us a chai. If told a fair fare is say 30/- I give maybe 50/-. They are so obliging and inoffensive compared with the motorists, including the auto-rickshaws. 

I estimated there was time to go and see the central park and a noted panorama before getting the train. I could not find the panorama for a while, but enjoyed the walk. Then I was told it was 70/- to get in, and I only had 40. He could not change my 500/-. So I gave up. I got to the station with about 10 or 15 minutes to spare. The P A system was unintelligible, but I saw a train marked Amritsar – Delhi, so I looked for my carriage, D2. A walked the whole length of the train, which is enormous, but no D carriages. Luckily I found a guard, who told me this was not my train. I needed the one on the next track. I must have looked horrified, at the thought of going miles to the footbridge. “Come this way. It’s easy” he said, inviting me to go though his compartment. I climbed nervously down the sort of ladder – it must have been about 8 or 10 feet. Down to the rough ground between tracks, across a hideously black drainage ditch, then climbing laboriously up into my train. This train was a lower class (2^nd, no a/c) than the one I’d come in (Sleeper). The seats were hard, the 7 hour journey seemed interminable. I sat with a Sikh family who were initially rather sullen because I had ousted the daughter from the window seat I’d reserved. At one time I felt a sort of wet spray splashing me from head to knees, and realised their son, about 16, had explosively vomited.  I offered my food bag as a sick bag, taking out the near empty coke can but not the half finished chappatis. The bag was refused, but then the daughter pointed out to me that in my confused haste I was holding the can upside down so the the remnants of coke were dripping over my lap. I hastily mopped it up with my handkerchief, but the mother assumed I was wiping up lots of vomit, and started brushing me down with a flannel, all of them apologizing profusely, while I kept saying – it’s nothing, don’t worry. In fact I’d only receive a few particles. But that was one way of breaking the ice and from then on we had some good conversation. The only problem was that the father’s English was very poor, which embarrassed his 18 yr old daughter, whose English was good, but it would not have been polite of me to ask her to interpret. He was a maths teacher (“The Life of Pi” being one topic of conversation), very proud of his bright daughter. Mother nursed the son lovingly all the rest of the way. I think he might have been challenged. 

I spent the journey devouring The Life of Pi, and just finished it as we drew into New Delhi on time, 2250. This cheaper train had cost 3 pounds and a bit, the better one was 4 and a bit.

The LoP and all three of the Narayans are all based in Tamil Nadu. 

My new hotel room is scrumptiously clean, and almost free of traffic noise, but has no external window. Its internal window lets in air but also the noisiness of people in the foyer and the stairs.

I spent about an hour chatting with the young couple, he from Sydney Australia, she from Vancouver. They had spent 3 months in India (just as we did on our first trip) and had an idea to start a restaurant in Sumatra.

I shall go to Quakers tomorrow, for the third time. I have received an email address of one of the Delhi Friends.

I’ve sent a post card to Dyal Gour, a Quaker in Itarsi, as I have had no joy trying to email or phone him. Worryingly I have had no response to several messages to the Ashram near Trichy.

Stephen, 1435. 

 

INDIA 2014 140316 16 March, Delhi

In Brief

Quaker Meeting

Aurobindo Ashram

Shock re Metro to Airport

Spending

Sunday paper 20; Auto 50; water 20; Lunch 200; auto 40 bus 10; Coffee at Coffee ‘Home’ 20; Hotel 1500 (2 nights); Advance for taxi 550; Bag 450.

Third mishap today – I wrote a good piece about today’s events, taking over an hour, but then it vanished. I’lI find it hard to make it sound fresh when I’m re-writing. But I remember how it started:

Comment

OMG! What have I landed myself in? 

Tomorrow, when I’m due to go to the airport for a 1350 flight, is Holi. Holi is a joyous festival the main feature of which is to throw bright coloured powder at each other. Bright red, vivid green, intense yellow. Sometimes mixed in water or milk. The street stalls are taken over for the sale of plastic pumps, as well as toys. It is not the sort of day one takes a cycle rickshaw or even an auto. One would not dream of waiting for a bus. Today is ‘small Holi’ and already there are noisy laughing crowds, children rushing around beating out tattoos on drums, youths flirting excitedly on the normally staid Metro. Bonfires, garlanded with flowers, have been erected in the streets, to be lit tonight. (Holi commemorates the destruction of a bad god.) There is a general air of excited anticipation. I realised that tomorrow I would need to get a taxi to take me to the Metro, even though I’d normally walk it. So far so good.

But as I sat calmly reading my Sunday Times of India, I saw a small notice that the Metro would not be running. My heart sank. I’d have to get a taxi all the way. I asked the very helpful hotel manager and he just said, “Impossible! There will be no taxis. And anyway this road will be solidly blocked by revellers.” I laughed. “So I’ll have to walk 25 km?” “Yes’, he replied seriously. He then rang three taxi firms and finally got me one, at a modest premium, so long as I was willing to set off two and a half hours earlier than I’d intended. It will be along day.

I’d had another scare yesterday. I had almost run out of money and it occurred to me that with the holiday coming the ATMs might be empty. I went to my usual hole in the wall (actually each one is in a cubicle, guarded by an armed security-man) To my horror it issued a notice in very large Hindi letters. I rushed to another ATM and it kept refusing my card. Eventually I realised it was impatient – I had to answer all the questions quickly or it timed out. Phew!

I went to the Quaker meeting place again today, and for the third time there was no-one else there. I read through the Guest Book which goes back to 1977. It holds the names of many Friends I know. Then I read a bit of the Bible. Then fell to thinking sadly about how that Meeting is fading – Hari Khurana seems to be its only regular, and he is in Britain at present. I remembered he asked me tentatively, during my first visit in 2001, if I would come and live in Delhi and work to revive it. I could have. I’ve been reading Buddhist stuff (actually, Karen Armstrong’s “Buddha”) and Hindu, both of which religions have it that a way to whatever is by renunciation of all domestic ties. But on reflection I decided I could not accept that philosophy, as it seems to me essentially selfish and parasitic. 

Then I went by Metro to Haus Kaas (incidentally where Hari lives) then on a short Auto-ride to re-visit the Aurobindo Ashram. Jennifer and I stayed there for our last few days in India, back in 2001. I wished I’d had the sense to stay there on this trip. 

I could not recognise the place! It has been completely and splendidly (expensively) rebuilt, with impressive architecture, mostly in white marble. There are extensive, colourful gardens and lush greenery under many trees. There is a huge, cool, quiet meditation hall, in which I sat for about an hour, succeeding in getting some deep meditation. I had a really good lunch – vegetarian of course, and with more greenery, e.g. French beans, than I usually get. The only person I spoke with was a young Welsh man, staying there for three months while doing an internship with the same architect as did the Ashram. The place is dominated by pictures of “The Mother” who is the object of what seems to be a cult. People were prostrating themselves fully in front of her picture, and a case holding her sandals. This Ashram is a branch of the one in Auroville near Pondicherry, which we also stayed at. 

Stuart – I reckon the BJP will win the election. (You asked this among other questions, inc what people think of Gandhi. I have said from a small but wide sample that the view is he was a very good man, admired for his fasting, but he made a great mistake in allowing so many Moslems to remain in India. Obviously I have not yet asked any Moslems!)

I have a problems that I’ve got far too much stuff and cannot bear to dump much of it. I’ve given away some stuff, books, magnifying glass, torch, etc. but I’ve had to buy another bag to hold some of it while I go south. 

Stephen, 17.57, 16/3/14. (Been here since 13.55.) 

 

INDIA 2014 140318 Tuesday 18 March, Trichy

(You won’t find ‘Trichy’ on a map. It’s the widely-accepted abbreviation of the city’s long name)

Summary

17 March (Holi festival): Flew from Delhi to Trichy

18 March: Visited Shantivanam Ashram.

Detail based on spending

17 March; Paper 10; Big breakfast 380; Bag repair 30; Taxi tip (had paid in advance yesterday) 100; Pepsis, 70 and 90; (Flight paid for earlier) Bus Trichy airport to centre 4;  (saving approx 200 auto-rickshaw fare); Hotel Sevana 1000. Total 1684.

18 March: Brkfst (Idli, Sambar, and coffee) 48; Auto tour of city 300; Phone top-up 500; bus to Tannirpalli 17, return 17; Chais  20; Fruit 200; Supermarket 157 (2 small cans Becks beer 90, Exercise book 21, Ball point 19, chocolates and bag total 157. ) Tea 20. This internet to come. 

Comments. 

The taxi to the airport was a pleasant ride through the grandest part of Delhi, the President’s Estate and the embassy district.

I had ages to wait and used the time partly to assess buying a tablet at two of the airport retail outlets. They tried to hook me up to WiFi via my phone but could not. The ever present ‘Security’ stops them having internet access. I wanted to ask my son’s advice about the tablet options. Also I spun out a Pepsi for about an hour watching a football match from England (Norwich trounced by Southampton).

The plane flight to Chennai was OK – good food.

I had very little time to transfer, and had to go out then back through Security. I wanted to go to the loo but didn’t have time.

The second leg was in a tiny plane, with the tiniest loo I’ve ever encountered. I thought the trip was to be 4 hours but it was only half an hour. 

We had to wait on the tarmac for an airport bus, tho we could have walked. The night air was hot but there was a cooling breeze, blowing as if from the low, red full moon. I chatted to the pilot, mainly about the technique of landing. 

I boldly (or foolishly) ignored the taxi drivers, and dragged my case the 2 or 3 hundred yards to the main road, imagining the other passengers thinking what a fool I was, as they swept by in their taxis. I almost gave up waiting for a bus, but one came and I struggled to lift my heavy case up the steep steps into the bus. Again in the Bus Station (they call it the Bus Stand) I declined autos as my Rough Guide showed my hotel to be nearby. 

I initially took a wrong road. If one asks a man for directions one always gets confident advice which very often is wrong. Women are less likely to pretend they know the answer. But on this occasion it was the opposite – a man directed me correctly but for confirmation I asked a women who mis-directed me. 

The hotel is pretty good.It costs 650/night, It is not A/c. It is very hot and humid here, but so long as there’s a bit of a draught, even only due to walking, it’s bearable, but otherwise I pour sweat, for instance when completing the hotel sign-in – drips fall onto the register. In my room there’s a big ceiling fan, which I had to keep on all night despite its noise. 

There’s no hot water, but that doesn’t matter because the cold is warm. It’s a shock when it first hits one’s hot skin, but quickly it feels deliciously cool. This afternoon the ‘cold’ was actually quite hot. For supper I had an excellent sandwich I’d made for myself from the breakfast table.

This morning I was up early. Walking around town was much pleasanter. I went to the bus station to enquire about buses to Tanirpalli, the village where the Ashram is located, and also about buses to Erode, which I want for my return journey. None of the signs are in English, but the curly scrip used by the Tamil language. But bus managers are very willing to help, as one just says the name of the destination, in an enquiring manner.  

I had not had any responses to my many attempts to contact the Ashram, so I had decided to go to check that it was still open, but not to take my awkward case. Not only is it difficult on buses, but its a fairly long dirt road to the Ashram. I had a good front seat in the bus. The road is greatly improved; the driving as scary as ever. In today’s Times it says Tamil Nadu has the worst accident death rate of all India’s states. 

I was shocked to see the mighty River Kauvery (the chaps here are not sure of the spelling!) dry. Just a few pools here and there, and even the irrigation channel which used to flow fast, wide and deep is as dry as a bone. The only action – lines of heavy trucks taking sand from the river bed. 

The dirt road from the bus stop to the Ashram is bisected by the new road which is not far from the Ashram, but luckily the traffic does not hoot too much. The Ashram looked maintained but devoid of people. 

I found Bro George who assured me I would be welcome, and invited me to stay for lunch. He told me there were only 4 or 5 guests. I bided the time walking around, or reading on the library veranda. It is all much as it was in 2001, except the chapel has been beautifully rebuilt, mainly with funds from Germany. Also there is a sort of apartment block being built in the staff quarters area of the site. There seems to be no lack of water, a pump brings a huge gush from a bore-hole, which is channeled around the site to maintain the thick vegetation, mostly banana trees, which gives a cool shade. I went to midday prayers, pleased I knew some of the Sanskrit chants from having attended Bede Griffiths Sangha retreats. Then we went silently to lunch, which was good. Like that at the Aurobino Ashram, there was much more green vegetable than one usually gets, particularly French beans, ladies’ fingers, and tiny peas. The bus fare is only 17 rupees. It takes about an hour.

Back in Trichy I searched for some writing paper, as I have given up on my tablet. I eventually found a Supermarket, very welcome as it was a/c. As is this internet place. 

I’m getting a few insect bites, but not mosquitoes, so far, thank goodness. I’m also getting a irritation on my arms which I thought might be excema (which I got last time I was in India; it’s due to invisible mites) but then that it might be from the washing powder I’ve used to wash some of my clothes (I know I’m allergic to bio) .

There’s no internet at Shantivanam (the Ashram, other titles: Saccicananda Ashram, and the Bede Griffiths Ashram) and I very much doubt there’s any in Tanirpalli. So I probably will not be able to keep you informed as often as so far. I can be reached by the cell-phone number below. 

Alix (my distant relation teaching in a school near Pune) has not replied to my email. As for Quakers in central India (Itarsi and Hoshangabad) – Dyal Gour has died but I’ve made contact with one of his daughters, who says I would be welcome to visit. (I’d stay in a hotel neat Itarsi station), and she will try to get Arvind Swan’s contact details. I’ll try to be in that area on a Sunday so as to go to a Meeting for Worship, (though they are evangelical Quakers). 

TTFN

 INDIA 2014 140324 Monday 24 March, Kulithalai, nearest town to Shantivanam

In Brief

Tue 18/3  Visited Shantivanam to ensure it is still open. It is. Warm welcome, good lunch, cheap bus.

                Returned to hotel in Trichy.

Wed 19/3 Moved to Shantivanam.

Staying at Ashram is free, but donation is expected. Recommended: 150/ per day if Indian,400/ per day if European.

Mon 24/3 Went to Trichy to book trains. Conned over bus back.

Expenditure

18/3: Brkfst (Idli, a soft bun made of boiled rice) and Samber (spicy veg soup, used as a sauce),plus coffee. 48/-

Auto tour: 300; Phone top-up 500. Bus to Tannirpalli 17. Bus back: 17; Chai 10; Fruit c 200/; Supermarket for  Total  I recollect I’ve already reported this.

Internet was 90,Total for the day 1364.

Wed 19/3: To SV. Brkfst 91; Medication 197; Water 20; Balance to hotel 300; Laundry 60; Auto 100;

Bus 17; Biscuits 50; Total 665.

Thur 20/3 Total expend: 100/-on 5 litres water.

Fri 21/3: Visit Kullitharai . Chai 7; Internet 60; Chai 10; Fruit 150; Bus 5. Total 282.

Sat 22/3. Nil expenditure but gave donation 5000.

Sun 23/3 Nil

Mon 24/3 to date (1540): Taxi 200 Stupidly); Internet 10; Chai 5; Bus to Trichy 23; Auto to station 80;(Drew 4000); Rail fares 850 ONLY!!; Lunch (v g Thalli with rice plus 10 items,75; Water 20;

Bus (conned into expensive bad bus) 150; Bus, 7;…

Impressions.

It would take a long time to do justice to Shantivanam (SV), physically, the monks and staff, the fellow-guests, the talks and informal but deep discussions, the food and dining customs, the domestic arrangements, the heat, the bugs, the intermittent electricity, the religious services, the lushness of the trees and shrubs which maintain a welcome shade, the variety of wildlife – wild peacocks and hens, bell-birds, and many others big and small, many butterflies, sweet-scented flowers…. Each is worthy of a long, colourful, even ecstatic paragraph. Suffice to say that except for the heat and the bugs it is all very lovely, stimulating and enriching. Regarding the heat, there is often a cooling breeze, there are lots of fans, and once one has braved the cold water on one’s hot skin, the shower, which is lukewarm, feels delicious. I get mad at the biting insects. I dislike the DEET with which I have to smother myself. Other bugs I can stand, except roaches which come in all sizes. Jim assumed the reason I don’t like killing them was ethical. Not at all. Anyone who’s ever crushed a large one will know why. It is repulsive. I usually manage to chase them into the drain-hole in the floor. (It’s a ‘wet’ bathroom.)

I was increasingly worried about transport back to Delhi, as we heard that all the trains were fully booked. But I went to the Reservation Office in Trichy today, and after queuing three times, I succeeded in getting almost exactly what I wanted.

Planned Itinerary

31/3: Bus to Chennai. Yet to be booked, possibly no booking needed. 5 hours.

Need to book a hotel near the station.

1/4: Train number 12164  to Pune, arriving 0225 on 2/4.

2/4: By road to Alix’s school. Alix is a cousin or niece a few times removed, daughter of Chris Petter who is son of Marion and Jim. ( Marion was one of the 13 children including me and Rosemary, evacuated to British Columbia during most of WW 2)

4/4 Train 11045 dep Pune 0720, arrive Itarsi 1340 (not sure if that’s 1340 same day or next day!)

In Itarsi, Bhopal, Hoshangabad etc visiting Quakers, attending their Sunday Meeting for Worship. (Need to book same hotel I used last time – it’s very close to station)

7/4: Train 12615 dep 1720, arrive New Delhi 8/4 0620. Have booked into Hotel Vivek in Pahargang.

10/4.? midday: dep on Turkish Airway to Istanbul. (Have booked hotel)

11/4: Flight to Gatwick,arriving c 0900.

Train booked 1100 approx, to Bristol TM eta c 1300.

(end of planned itinerary)

Today I was tricked by a con-man. As I went to where one gets the bus from Trichy to Kullitharai, a man having politely asked me what bus I was looking for, said there was an air-conditioned one leaving in 20 minutes, which would only take an hour – the normal bus takes about one and a quarter. It was 150 rupees, which tho more than the normal bus (17 or 23) was still a good price. (Taxis are 800 to 1000). I paid up. But then I found, first, it was not a/c. Second, it didn’t leave for 40 minutes or more. I remonstrated twice about the wait, in unbearable heat. Third, shortly after starting it stopped for fuel. 4. Though they’d also said there would be no standing, come passengers were sitting in the aisle,and worst of all it did not go to K, but dropped me on the new highway 2 or 3 km from K. I had an argument, supported by several passengers. Their excuse was that that I’d bought the ticket from a broker. I eventually got a refund of 100 rupees. Luckily I was able to hitch a lift in a van, whose driver refused any payment. It is so sad that you cannot trust people; the more charming the more dangerous. And they seem to be immune from any control. 

Now it’s time to go back to peace and trustfulness of SV. Sadly, too late for the daily lecture or dialogue with Bro Martin.

Stephen, 1620. 24/3/14.

 

 INDIA 2014 140331 Monday 31 March, Trichy Bus Station

In Brief

Tue 25/3: I realise train the Reservations Office had booked for Pune to Itarsi takes 30 hours, not 6!. I found better train in the timetables book, went to a travel agent in Kullitarai (who had almost no English) and she booked the one I’d found, which takes about 10 hours. 

26-27 stayed in Ashram except for dawn bike rides in nearby countryside. 

28/3: Heard that one can book a/c bus Trichy to Chennai. Went back to local agent who booked it – 650 plus 70 fee. (The crowded, non a/c bus costs about 400.)

Sat 29/3: stayed in sauf bike ride.

Sun: ditto; Bought stuff from Ashram shop. Sad last day. 

Mon, 31/3: taxi to Trichy, shared with Francoise who has gone to hospital, then goes by bus ! to Bangalore, with mega luggage.

Currently I’m in the almost-too-cold internet place near bus station.

Expenditure

Tue 25/3: Laundry 70; Water 100; Bus 7; Train ticket Pune to Itarsi 650; Auto rickshaw 40. Total 787.

Wed 26/3: 0

Thur 27/3: Coffee 5;

Fri 28/3:Donation (in lieu of rent) 6000; Internet 100; Bus Trichy to Chennai 720; Chai X 2 12; 7-Up 28; Bike fixed 20; Stamps 10. Total 6980.

Sat 29/3: 0

Sun 30/3: Ashram shoulder-bag 250; Water 20; DVD about Bede Griffiths 100. Total 370.

Monday 31/3 (so far, it’s now 1130) Taxi 1000 less Francoise contributed 200 = 800.

Cake and coffee 38.

As I had time to wait I decided to go back to the hotel I’d stayed in before going to SV. This was to tell the manager, very discretely, that I’d been bitten by bed bugs when I stayed. He thanked me profusely for telling him.

Impressions will have to wait. 

Maybe just time to describe last evening. After tea, sleep in the heat. Sweep out my hut then have lovely cool shower, and change of clothes. Around 5.30, stroll barefoot on warm packed-earth dirt path, past lovely vegetation, in shade of medium and very tall trees, and flowers, to the chapel. Take my usual seat after switching on a large paddle-fan above it, and commence meditation. As dusk gathers, more guests and monks enter, silently on the marble floor, so that when I open my eyes there are rather ghostly, still figures of meditators in the gathering gloom. Suddenly a loud bell (the Angelus) is rung repeatedly. Bro Paul enters, turns on the lights, the service begins with three long loud repetitions of OM … must go!!

Stephen, 1145. 31/3/14.

INDIA 2014 140402 Tuesday 2 April Mahindra World College, nr Pune. i

In Brief

31/3: Bus from Trichy to Chennai. Arrived c 1830. Long Auto ride to Chandra Park Hotel

1/4/14: 0650 Train to Pune. Very hot.

2/4/14, 0225: arrive Pune. Eventually find hotel Shree Pantchratna: Very good, very expensive. 

             Up at 7 – too cold! Got very runny nose – a cold? 11.30 1.5 hour Jeep ride to Mahindra World College, beyond Pune. Met by Alix Petter. 

               Working on her partner’s mega Apple. 

Expenditure

31.3.14 continued

Fruit 100; Auto 50; Soft drink in seedy bar 30;  Lunch in ‘motorway cafe’ 75; Auto rickshaw 300!; Hotel 1500 (may be a rebate); Meal inc Lassi 230; Total for whole day 2673 rupees. 

1/4/14:  Brkfst 90; Water and biscuits 50; Hotel rebate -100; Porter 200; snacks at stations and on train, approx 200; Auto 50.

2/4/14: Hotel 2936!; [Drew 5000]; Coffee for me and driver: 40; medication for cold 120/; Total 3056         

Impressions I was trying to find time to describe one evening – my last – at Shantivanam. The service as usual consists of prayers in English, chanting and singing in Sanskrit or Tamil. Many of the tunes lovely – haunting. The prayers a simplified Roman Catholic (Syrian Rite). The Psalms oddly sanitised making them anodyne. (Remove the rape and pillage and what’s left?). Finally the deeply moving ‘Arati – a smoky flame is brought round – one holds one’s hands in it then brings them to one’s face. Then walking silently in the balmy air, heavy with the scent of flowers, through the dark to the dining hall. Waiting for the grace, then having another simple vegetarian meal. Always delicious – much use of chick peas, lentils, rice, and not-too-spicy sauces. Plenty of green veg. In the evenings, hot fresh boiled milk from the cows nearby. Then out into the dark, to chat in the meeting place until about 9. Then in the dark (sometimes a bit lost) to my hut, to read for a while before getting under the mosquito net.

[P.S. 31/7/14: I seem to have omitted any report of Chennai. After re-visiting the hotel, and the ‘drink in a seedy bar’ in Trichy, the big air-conditioned bus drew in and I settled down for the long ride to Trichy. We stopped at a bleak roadside restaurant where amid a confusing bustle one could get a good cheap meal. The toilets were good. It was stifling hot – while waiting I stood in a tiny patch of shade on a breezy corner. The bus got to Chennai in the evening. It’s a much bigger city than I’d imagined. I thought the auto-rickshaw men were kidding me when they quoted prices, but eventually I had to accept the price, and was then amazed at what a long journey it was. My hotel was near the station. I went for a long walk mainly looking for a place to eat early next morning as my train was to leave very early. The station is very grand, but the floors covered in sleeping bodies.

The train got me to Pune late in the evening – virtually in the night. Confident of my map reading I refused the desperate auto and taxi drivers, and strode off into the town, almost empty except for scary loafers. Eventually I realised I’d made a mistake – I’d left the station on the wrong side. So I had to swallow my pride and accept an auto ride. The hotel was a. very grand, b. locked. The taxi driver hammered on the gates until a security man let me in. Inside I had an difference with the clerk as I thought I’d booked at a lower price than he demanded. Later I got a rebate.) The room was gorgeous. Next morning I went for a walk in the leafy suburb. The car from Mahindra College collected me at about 11. It was a long, interesting drive. We stopped for coffee and food at a wayside cafe – I making good friends with the driver. As we finally approached within a few miles of the college he proudly pointed it out, visible on a distant hill-top. End of P.S. 31/7/14]

Mahindra World College, so called because the giant firm Mahindra donated the funds – is one of several World Colleges in various parts of the world, inspired by Kurt Hahn, who also started Gordonstoun School, and the Outward Bound movements. They have students from all over the world, and teach the International Baccalaureate. The campus is on a hill, along a long very bumpy track, some 30 or 40 km west of Pune. The food is excellent. Alix shares a flat – virtually a house – with her partner Oscar. I have a room as good as in a more expensive hotel than I normally use. Alix (Petter) and I have been talking – about her travels of which she has done a lot despite being only in her late 20s; and about the Petter family, of whom there are many in British Columbia. 

[P.S. A bit seems missing! About my time at MHC, and the long drive to a station, …]

The train ride was almost unbearable. Very hot, and quite dirty. India can seem to be one huge dust-bowl. I hope to get an upgrade for my next and final journey. Air conditioned train coaches have several advantages beside the obvious, but are very dull. At least I had some interesting people to talk with, and many interesting though often shocking minor experiences. Like when many men ‘invaded’ our compartment, obviously not booked to do so. The nice old lady encouraged me to point out it was my sleeping place. I gently hinted this, to which the reply was, “We are Police”. Not, as it should have been, “We are leaving at the next station”!

Stephen, 2215, 2/4/14.

Thanks for feedback. Two have said they could not bear the uncertainties. For me that’s one of the attractions!

INDIA 2014 140407 Monday 7 April – Itarsi

In Brief

3/4 (continued) : At Mahindra World College(MWC)

4/4: Set off for Itarsi. Jeep, Train.

5/4: Arrived Itarsi c 0330. Hotel Meghdoot (8 complaints!). In morning,  Transferred from hotel to be guest of Gour family.

6/4 (Sunday) MfW at extremely boring Evangelical Friends Church. Later in day drove to Seoni Malwa, visit Bhaskar family.

7/4: Now 1130.

Expenditure

3/4 (continued) :  Postage stamps: 40.

4/4: Tolls 117, 47, 45, gave driver 200 for return trip. Coffee and snack for 3: 170; Porter 150; Lunch on train 80; Dinner (too-big thalli) 100; Phone top-up 140, total 1094.

5/4:  CRS (Cycle rickshaw) to hotel (a con) 40; Brkfst 30; Fruit 50; Pills 120; Phone top-up 350; Water & coffee 350; Hotel 1000; CRS 40; Fruit 150; Chocolates 100; Shoes revitalised (insoles) 50; Water 20. Total 2005.

6/4   Sunday. Newspaper 5. (Note I do not usually include donations – today atypically these totalled 600)

7/4:So far Milk 35, n’paper 5.

Impressions (Itarsi).

I intended to upgrade in the train as I could not face another day of unbearable heat, but found that my booking was for air conditioned (a/c). So the trip was boring but not uncomfortable. It included clean thick sheets, pillow and case, even the blanket newly laundered. All for about 5 pounds. But the train was about an hour late, i.e. arrived in Itarsi at about 1.30 a.m. [P.S. Or was it 3.30.?] Given recent bad experiences in the dead of night, assuming I could find my hotel on foot, dragging my wheelie case, this time I went to the first CRS in the queue, brushing aside the hoard of auto drivers. The chap indicated he knew the hotel which I knew was very near, but it soon emerged he hadn’t a clue. He asked some big evil looking chaps who were loitering in the dark of the deserted street. However they were all charm, seeing me anxious, and with lots of handshakes showed the CRS chap the way. It was even closer than I’d remembered, maybe 3 minutes walk from the station. He woke up the hotel staff (beds laid out on the Reception floor) then insisted on 40 rupees which after a while I gave him. I was very glad of the room, a/c switched on tho I’d got the price of non-a/c. But by the morning I’d listed about 8 faults which I handed in. Then I went off to check out other hotels, finding the apparently high price of my first one was typical, so I decided not to move.Then to try to get my phone re-charger repaired or replaced, which eventually was done for 350 rupees, but the chaps only took an effort after I’d mentioned I was visiting the widow of Dyan Gour, who died about a year ago – he was very-much-respected former head of the Friends School and so most of the traders know of him.

Only when I’d got those jobs over I found my way to the Gour household. Here they absolutely insisted I stay with them. [They had recently extended the house, including creating a splendid en suite guest bedroom, and were clearly very keen to put it to use. They have made me very welcome, going to enormous trouble. Actually too much – it’s quite embarrassing!

On Sunday Archena Gour, the eldest daughter took me to the local Friends Church for worship. Unlike the lively services at other evangelical Friends Churches that I have been to in South America and California, this was very very dull and Spirit-less. Except for three rather lovely though mournful hymns the congregation took no part. Instead they were barracked via high quality PA system (to drown out the external noises – Hindu temples, Election PA systems, car horns) to the Psalm being read, and then to a one hour sermon, apparently on Christ’s second coming. The were not friendly to Archena, beyond basic politeness. She and her family are not evangelical Quakers, but of the same tradition as we are used to in Britain.

Late in the afternoon Archena and I were driven the long way to the village of Seoni Malwa ( this computer is very quirky and I’ve already had to repeat a lot so I’m taking no risks e.g. scrolling up!) In this village is the family of Bhaska Sonkambie which is also of the un-programmed tradition. I had a long conversation with the old man, also with his charming family, and on my suggestion we had a short Meeting for Worship. After it one of them said I looked far happier than before. We read a passage by Pennington.

(Graham – Arvind Swan is very ill, has been moved to  Bhopal, which is too far for me to go, especially as roads are blocked by election parades and mass meetings. But this village is were he worked. There are many Quaker schools and even a big hospital near here. Plus Rasulia. There are two big evangelical YMs here founded by LYM, plus another YM by Ohio YM. The unprogrammed Friends number only about 40 scattered throughout India. They meet only once p.a.. Archena was recently reluctantly appointed clerk of them)

I am afraid this PC is about to crash it is getting slower and slower, so no corrections…

Stephen, 1215, 7/4/14.c

INDIA 2014 140408 Tuesday 8 April – Delhi

 

In Brief

7/4 (continued) 1720 train to Delhi

8/4 (today) Arrived in D at 0620. Early breakfast then ‘touristing’., : Now 1920.

Expenditure

7/4 (continued) : Total for the day was only 235 rupees. 200 for yet another phone top-up, 35 for some milk. (Sold in 2 soft very breast-like plastic bags!)

8/4: Chai on train 7, Porter 100, RS 70; Lassi (bought only to get change for the CRS) 20;

Hotel (in advance) 1500; Luggage storage 400 (a swiz); Breakfast 350; Haircut and massage 400; Shared auto 20; auto 50; Entry to Hanuman’s tomb site 250; Lunch 20; Entry to another site 100; Water 20; Parking 30 and 20; Auto 600; chai 10; Water 15; Fruit 200.

Total so far (now 1930) 3632 i.e. approx 36 pounds. (As usual I forgot to bring data to the computer. I think I’ve got H’s name wrong. I thought H was a Hindu god, but he was a Muslim ruler. Father of the famous Akbar.)

Today I broke many of my rules of expenditure. First I had a very good European style healthy breakfast -cereals, fruit, brown bread. Then I went to my favourite (the world’s best??!) barber-shop and had an excellent haircut (inc eyebrows and nostrils) then a thorough face, neck and arm massage. Primarily to cure the stiff neck I’d got when trying to sleep in the train. Then I set off to see if there was a concert of classical Indian music at the “Indra Gandhi International Cultural Centre”. No, it was closed because today is a festival, that of the goddess Gurga, aka something sounding like Mata Hari. Then I fell into the hands of auto-rickshaw drivers. The first said he’d take me wherever I wanted to go for 50 rupees an hour. I said that’s too little to which he gave a dismissive reply and I secretly decided to give him 100 per hour. But after finding the nearby Gandhi memorial garden was closed he started the old game of trying to get me to go to a mall or an emporium. When he got the message I would not he abruptly demanded 50 rupees (we’d hardly gone half a mile) and scarpered. Then another one offered to do it for the 150 an hour that I suggested. Later he put it up to 200 to which I agreed, but after 3 hours when I gave him 600 he pleaded for more. I refused as I was cross with him, firstly because he, too, had started going on and on about going to emporiums, and second that he refused to go the way I knew was better than the one he chose. He went all along Main Bazar hooting like mad. It drives me mad. It should be pedestrianised, instead it is a madhouse of arrogant drivers blasting their horns at hundreds of pedestrians who have no option but to walk on the road as the sidewalk if any is full of parked cars and motorbikes, sometimes three deep. One of my three complaints about India. The others being mosquitos and touts.

Anyway, that rant over. I had him take me to two superb sites built by Muslim rulers in the C14 and C15. The plan was to build a sort of garden city, or paradise on earth.They have been beautifully restored, and lie in lovely parkland, with vivid green grass, water features, and many superb trees.

Back ‘home’ I went back to the breakfast place for English style tea and apple strudel. Then in to for a shower and to watch Al Jazeera for an hour (mainly about race relations in UK, Canada, and the USA) till now on the web.

To complete my day of lavish expenditure I intend to eat a European dinner in the hotel roof-top restaurant this evening.

I came from Itarsi to Delhi in Sleeper class, i.e. no a/c, no bedding, but a whole bench-seat to myself (once the hoards that went only a few stations had gone) My travelling companions were a group of youths – the Haryana Jockey team, coming home from an all-India tournament in Mumbai. At first they seemed a bit evil looking, and I clutched my bag closely, but later I found them to be very decent and we had some good conversation. I caused a bit of a problem with my silver paper-like emergency blanket. Due to all the windows being open it billowed like a sheet in a gale, flapping in others’ faces. At one stage I wrapped it closely around me, but then had not to move for an hour or two, until they shut the windows.

I was looked after incredibly well in Itarsi. My intention had been only to pay my respects to the widow of Dayal Gour, who was very helpful to me last time I was there. But she and her eldest daughter Archena absolutely insisted I stay with them. They have an excellent guest room, like a posh hotel’s. They went to great lengths to give me food I liked (actually I like almost all Indian food) and went miles to get herb tea after asking me how I liked tea. On Sunday I went to MfW, then late in the day we (Archena and I) were driven what  seemed a long way to a village where there was another Quaker family of the non-programmed/liberal tradition. I had a good conversation with the old man, surrounded by five of his family, and we rounded off the visit with a very satisfying meeting for worship.

Tomorrow I may go to a temple which I have been told is well worth a visit. (It was incredibly crowded, with queues lasting well over an hour when I went before) Tomorrow night I will have to leave at about 3.30  a.m. for my flight at about 6.

ERRATA:   Yesterday I misnamed Dyal Gour, Also I said he died about a year ago; actually it was in 2009.

Stephen

2020, 8/4/14. 

INDIA 2014 140412 Saturday 12 April – Bristol

 

In Brief

Tuesday, 8/4 Arrived in Delhi at 0620. Early breakfast then ‘touristing’.

Wed. 9/4/14: 2^nd abortive trip to Akshardham;

2^nd visit to Baba Khan Singh Gurdwara; Shopping at Govt Emporia. Evening punas in Ramakrishna Mission Ashram.

Thur 10/4: to Istanbul. Left Delhi hotel at 0330.

Fri 11/4: To Bristol. Left Istanbul hotel at 0430. Arrived home about 1400 (all times local)

Expenditure

8/4 (continued): Dinner 528; Auto 40. Day’s total: 4200 rupees.

9/4: Milk 23; Breakfast & Newspaper 130; Ironing 100; Shoe shine 100; Chai 10; Shopping for presents: 3537; Slippers (for me) 450; Supper 400, Day total 4795.

10/4: Tips to hotel staff 200 rupees; (Taxi to airport was prepaid); Hotel in IST 50 USD; Meal 20 Lira; Taxi (tomorrow) 60 Lira.

11/4: (Taxi to airport was prepaid); Brkfst in IST 19 Lira; Snack from M&S at Gatwick £4; (Train was pre-paid); Bus from station (used Pass). (4 L = £1 Approx )

Correction: The “H” Tomb I visited on 8^th was that of Humayun (a Mogul) – not Hanuman -a Hindu God!

Impressions

An over-all impression of the 6 weeks is hard to make. There were so many incidents, such a wide variety of experiences, and I am still jet-lagged, (and have a bad memory at the best of times). Frankly, the most vivid things in my mind at present is the the startling vividness of England’s greenery, and the prettiness of Sussex and Somerset countryside, and the three movies I watched in the planes. Less vivid but unforgettable are some of the temples (or, especially, Gurdwaras) I visited and in which I prayed and meditated; the “Bede Griffiths” Ashram; and the two personal visits towards the end, firstly to Alix Petter, secondly to the Gour family. The hotels and their varying facilities run into a blur.

The weather in Istanbul was lovely. Sunny but not too hot. The main road and the metro line which run side by side from the airport are lined with flowers and shrubs. In fact the whole city, as far as I saw it, is well-kept, “Clean and Green” – to borrow Chandigarh’s city motto. I sat in the Sultanahmet Mosque and meditated or just thought for over 30 minutes. In these periods my mind turns to religious matters, especially my concern that the Quakers in Britain are turning to ‘non-theism’ – and why. After that I took a wrong direction which I was glad to find led me to a fascinating old area near the waterfront, along which I walked in the bracing air, watching the tourist boats coming and going. I was surprised to see that to load and disembark passengers they do not dock other than by driving their blunt bow against the jetty. This despite a very strong side wind and fast current.

I also had deep religious feeling in the BKS Gurdwara in Delhi – plus a free lunch (tho one makes a donations).

I went to the Government Emporiums in Delhi for presents. I like them because the prices are all fixed and clearly marked, and one is not unduly hassled. The quality is very good.

I ate vegetarian food almost all the time I was in India. The evening I lashed out on an expensive meal I had meat and it seemed rather disgusting; swimming in oil. However, the Turks know better how to cook meat, and I had two excellent meat meats there. When I got home I went shopping to make a meal very unlike those I’d been having for 6 weeks: white fish, cauliflower cheese, and boiled carrot. Absolutely no spices, nor herbs except parsley. I had hoped for Lemon Meringue Tart but ASDA seems to have stopped stocking it.

The day I got home I managed to plough through a 1-foot high pile of snail-mail. Also did some weeding for about an hour. I intend to analyse the cost of this trip. Meanwhile I can say it cost me about 600 pounds plus a similar amount on the air-fare. I also intend to put my photos on a photo-sharing web-site. 

(21,600 words)

Stephen Petter, 281 Redcatch Road, Bristol, BS3 5DY

Tel: 0117 972 8054 Mobile: 07741 089 529

Current situation 31st July

Today I intended to get ready for Yearly Meeting Gathering (YMG) which is in Bath from 2nd to 9 August. But I’ve been asked by QSAIG (Quaker South Asia Interest Group) to contribute something about my trip to India last March, so I’ve been consolidating and doing some editing of my journal. I also need to announce my big decision – not to move. And to write thank-yous to those who have sent appreciations of my latest letter in The Friend. And study the Friends Quarterly, and ……….

The Threat of Non-theism. (Letter to The Friend)

If our YM clerks continue to be well-selected, and if they accept that their job is to discern the will of God, then our non-theistic members will be disappointed when we come to review our statements of our Quaker Faith. But if the clerks accept that their job is to reflect the sense of the meeting (which is close to democracy) then it is Quakers whose convictions are as mine who will suffer. Our defeat will be well-deserved because to our shame we have encouraged people to join the Society while not ensuring they understand (let alone ‘accept’) its purpose. They have been allowed to assume the word ‘Religious’ in our title is of no more than historical significance. There is widespread ignorance of the content of “Quaker Faith and Practice” and even those who are familiar with some parts of it choose to ignore others. Hence a recent letter in which the writer quoted Advice 1’s “Take heed … to the promptings of love and truth” while cheerfully ignoring the next sentence, the exhortation (or command) – “Trust them as the leadings of God”. Not only do some Friends dismiss those sections of our book of discipline that challenge them, but they vehemently reject the very concept of discipline. They are likeable, sincere, often admirable and they point out how their political and social attitudes and actions are those of Quakers, but they insist on rejecting the essentials of Quakerism – divine guidance, and being God-centred and Spirit-led “humble learners in the school of Christ”. Liberal Quakerism gained its admired reputation not because secular authorities and philosophies advocated certain actions, but simply by doing what they discerned to be the will of God. Non-theists insist Quakerism (as they have been allowed to understand it) is not about belief but about action. In truth the action follows – if not ‘belief’ – then at least a willingness to allow God to teach and transform them, and to trust that it is ‘God’s Light’ (Jesus) which shows us our darkness and leads us to a new life. If corporately we abandon these convictions, and morph into a meditating group of gentle social reformers, very similar to many other organisations, we as individuals and the world at large will have suffered a grievous loss.