Air Pollution, Camel Safari's, and Big Crowds

From the beautiful, whimsical, romantic, and magical Udaipur I traveled to the overcrowded, polluted Jodhpur where I met up with Erin (the American girl from Udaipur). We spent the day exploring a humongous fort castle looming over a hazy, and blue spotted city, a modern palace, and a park littered with seemingly abandoned and beautiful hindu temples ruled over by hundreds, if not thousands of monkeys. The park was probably the best thing about Jodhpur.
By the time we returned to the city for dinner, we were both feeling nauseous with unhappy stomachs. We narrowed it down to the street vendor samsosa's, the immense air pollution in the city (breathing is cumbersome), or dehydration. In anycase, we were happy and eager to get out of there that night. A day in Jodhpur was plenty for me.
From there we ventured to Jaislamer which closely resembles a god-sized sandcastle. From a distance it appears like a sandcastle rising from a small city springing up amidst a desert. From the inside the fort reminded me of the high walls upon entering Jerusalem's Old City through the winding streets.
Joined by an Australian friend (Nikki) we headed out on a two day camel safari. We sat high and mighty upon our camels, stopping for an Indian lunch cooked over fire, and breaks for milk tea using freshly squeezed camel's milk. The desert was a flat brown landscape sprinkled with shrubs and sporadic hills - like the Negev surrounding Beer Sheva after a hot summer. Not exactly the saharan sand dunes I had envisioned.
We slept on (the only) sand dunes under a spectacular full moon that left our flashlights unpacked. Our camel drivers - a 12 year old boy and a middle aged man sat guard.
Breakfast was an incredibly delicious porridge and tea breakfast. We used biscuits to scoop the thin porridge to our mouths, as our guides had forgotten silverware. The day consisted of LOTS of riding and stops at two tiny villages along the way. The first was miniscule and the huts were made of cow poop, sand, and water... it was beautiful and serene and looked like an ancient village from a natural history museum display. The kids were energetic and playful and excited to play for the camera. I somehow managed to communicate with them and got some beautiful pictures...
The second village was a bit bigger with less children and houses made of bricks. The adults were just as eager to have their pictures and were sure to give me their postal address to ensure I sent them copies.
We finished the day with a jeep ride back to Jaislamer where we explored inside and outside the fort. Winding streets, vegetable markets, jewelry shops, and street vendors.
The next day Erin and I booked tickets to Delhi and explored 8 Jain temples called the seven sisters and brother. We also headed to a beautiful man made lake surrounded by desert scattered with trees.
The overnight train to Delhi was 24+ hours...all the trains to Agra were booked. In Delhi we were graciously welcomed and hosted by Erin's cousin's friend who practically shoved us into the shower, and rightly so. After such a long train ride with open windows through the desert our clothes were sandy and our hair matted. They prepared us lunch and we wandered into the city to see the Red Fort, which was closed but spectacular from the outside, and tremendous in size. We continued to the largest mosque in India which was also closed to women and tourists as we'd arrived at sunset just in time for the prayers. But it was also spectacular from the outside, as was the energy and buzz of the people surrounding it. We wandered through the adjacent marketplace which was (surprise) overcrowded and had a strange energy, we seemed out of place (even for India). As I looked around and saw almost solely destitute people and half naked children... I realized this was the dwelling area of the cities homeless. With the sun setting we found the nearest exit and departed.
We got a bicycle driven vehicle to take us through the main market place which is huge and separated into a different markets for silver, spices, fabrics, etc. It was massive and had the largest traffic jam I have ever seen. The patience of the bicycle carts waiting was impressive. We were beyond exhausted though and I tried to soak it in...
This morning we headed to Agra... where I sit now writing this email and burning my pics to a CD to make room for this new city. We have ourselves a rickshaw driver for the day.
Tomorrow afternoon I go to Pune for a week to assist teach an Art of Living course and then I head home on the 11th or 13th - not yet certain.
I miss Israel a lot and can't wait to get back... it's been an interesting journey being in India, loving it yet missing Israel and waiting to return. I never felt that was about the states and it makes me think that I'm probably in the right place... at least for now. This is just one of the many realizations and clarities I've had over the past three months.
My trip is wrapping itself up...
My next email may be my last...
love
Roni
ps. i just discovered that this email that i thought i sent on the 30th is still in my draft folder. i am now in pune assisting an art of living course. enjoying myself with 6 other teachers... more to come...
i head back to israel on the 11th of november... SOON!

Here are all the links to all the pictures posted so far.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronizacsh/OotyPartII (new)

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronizacsh/OotyPartI (new)

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronizacsh/Mammallapuram (new)

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronizacsh/Pondicherry (new)

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronizacsh/Mumbai (new)

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronizacsh/CochinPartII (new)

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronizacsh/FortCochin (old)

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronizacsh/IndiaHostFamily (old)

Pondicherry and my journey west

What I love about India is that even when I go out in the morning with a plan - things jotted down, addresses, locations, etc. I end up giving up on them and in my explorations finding them coincidentally. This is what happened my first full day in Pondicherry. I came across a big hindu temple with a huge beautiful elephant standing in the courtyard. The huge elephant had huge beautiful ankle bracelets on - I made sure to take a picture. Anyways, I noticed that people were in front of the elephant, shrilling with joy as he seemed to touch them with his trunk. When I finished taking pictures and looked more closely, I realized that they were actually holding something out for him... or her... and was horrified to realize that this something were coins. Concerned, I debated asking the elephant keepers whether they were noticing and whether this could be a health concern. But as I continued to watch I realized that following every coin received the elephant gave the giver a tap on the head - perhaps a blessing. I stuck around for a few minutes, wondering where all the coins were... then as people cleared I saw the elephant take a step or two back to the wall and empty the coins - all of them - into the elephant keepers hands. Well - imagine my surprise - and my relief at not being the stupid tourist worried that the elephant was going to choke on the coins - okay, I was that stupid tourist, but only I, and now you, know that.
Yesterday I woke up, reserved my bus ticket, and then determined to see the sites left in the city. I covered massive ground seeing the impressive sacred heart church, the notre dame de agnes cathedral which was either unimpressive or I confused another building for it, the beautiful - untamed - jungle-esque botanical gardens... and possibly two dead people. I was walking in the botanical gardens - and if you look in the grass and under trees people were napping EVERYWHERE. And this was not nice manicured grass... anyways, I was walking on the sidewalk when I came upon a guy lying there as if he had fallen - completely still. Thinking he was dead, I wondered why no one else stopped or showed concerned, and then I noticed his chappals (flipflops) placed neatly side by side at his head. Strangest site I've seen. I tried to see if he was breathing as I walked past, and decided that even if he wasn't there was really nothing I could do about it and it could turn out only to be a traumatic experience for me. So I continued.
Exhausted, after having walked the whole city from north to south, I took a rickshaw back up and went to an ashram (not mine a different one) and was relieved to find a place to sit and relax and meditate for 20 minutes. I got up refreshed, and ready to continue exploring (keep in mind I had checked out earlier and had no where to go until my 8pm bus). I saw another dead person (or so I think) - a woman on the side of a busy road - alongside the piles of stuff the homeless people set up to be their home. She was covered to her head with her sari and there were flies all over her. A little girl was sitting and looking at her. I didn't even stop to think at this one.
In the evening I finally made it to the bus station where I waited around for an hour and saw a guy who was (sorry to use this description) holocaust thin. He wasn't begging, he was just sitting in a loin cloth on a sheet. Just sitting. I couldn't figure out how he became so skinny and he literally looked on the verge of death. I bought a bottle of water and a pack of marie biscuits and placed them next to him. Feeling like it was really pointless because it won't help, but also not being able to sit and see it and do nothing.
Sitting and waiting for the bus was a young Canadian woman whose seat was interestingly next to mine on an almost empty bus. Which was fine - but curious. So I enjoyed her company for the ride - she was volunteering for 3.5 months in Calcutta with an NGO who worked with children whose parents are in the sex industry. I did my undergrad thesis on the sex industry and so I found this fascinating.
I realized through whatever of the ride I was awake that we were going about 25, 30 mph. And realized that while India is indeed large, it's not as large as it takes to travel across. On a western highway my 16 hour journey would have taken about 6 hours. Somehow I have not yet had to do any of the really long journeys on my own - which has been nice.
So now I am in Cochin - and we'll see where the wind blows me from here.
signing off... and next email will be a link to photos...
I apologize for those of you having immense trouble with the english - if I had hebrew I would struggle to use it... but I dont. Just know i'm happy, doing well, and missing you.
love
roni

seashores, orphanages, spaniards... and heat

Last I left you I had just arrived in Mammallapuram after a 15 hour journey from Ooty. I was living in Mammallapuram like a queen. In a two room room paying 175rupees (4US) a night, when two friends had stayed there the previous week and paid for 650 for a regular room. Why do I need 2 rooms you ask? To do my yoga in the morning without bouncing my head between the wall and the bed - and because it was the same price as a regular room. The place had beautiful gardens and porches and a nice rooftop restaurant where I enjoyed writing in my journal and reading my book (Kiran Desai's - Inheritance of Loss - highly recommended - winner of the Man Booker Prize and it's about India).
After two or so days of being badgered by shopkeepers - as the whole road of the hostels and restaurants are lined with shops - they relented and just shouted out a friendly hello. Which made it much more pleasant to walk around, and a lot easier to to go in when I so desired.
It was nice having Julie around (the danish girl) for company during meals and sporadically throughout the day. Mammallapuram is a tiny place on the shores with lots of beautiful temples, lots of fisherman, tons of good restaurants and hang outs, and great shopping. The atmosphere is so laid back and it's so hot, that you can spend days there not doing much of anything - which I did.
On the third day Julie and I happened upon some Australian looking Spanish surfers who we met for dinner later in the evening. Turned out to be eleven of them doing a project they had started called Smile n Surf in India. They had spend 6 months fundraising in Spain, getting surfboards, and raising money and then they came to this little town for a month to work in an orphanage and give local kids free surf lessons. They set up a surfboard rental (with the donated boards) at the hostel with proceeds going to the orphanage. Among them is a doctor - giving his services, a photographer documenting, a videographer, a girl who started a nonprofit in spain, and a bunch of good hearted people.
They also did some work in nearby villages and the following morning we piled into the open back of a truck - like a group of migrant workers - loaded on a ton of rice and headed out to a nearby village where we began distributing it to the families, and toys to the children. It was a great experience, and incredible to really get to see how people in the rural areas live.
A few days later they threw a big party for the kids and I fell in love with one of the children. Some of you know I want to adopt a child one day (in addition to having my own - this may be news to you mom and dad). And this experience was incredible, made me feel so much stronger about doing so. I fell in love with one of the children who fell asleep with his head in my lap and I just kept looking down at him and thinking he was so beautiful and wishing there was something I could do for him.
The orphanage is really corrupt and the owners pocket all the donations - 100,000 rupees was donated recently for the purchase of land... 90,000 was pocketed by a few individuals and 10,000 was actually used for the orphanage. Not all the kids are actually orphans. They don't get fed well - think of Oliver Twist. And there's sexual abuse there. There's a German journalist whose gone 8 times "to volunteer" and is finally ready to publish her findings. She's extremely brave as the owner has ties with police and the mafia.
On one of my last days there I bumped into a British guy named Richard who I had met in Ooty and we rented two bikes and rode through the town going to the temples. He was a good guide, as he'd been living there 3 months working with a nonprofit and had seen some of the places before.
Other than that I went climbing on slayim (that's hebrew) those big rocks that make the jetty's in the sea. And I thought of Linds (Davis) and how you'd have enjoyed that adventure with me. It was a little scary - not to mention it started off with harassment from some local man who I successfully told to get the hell out of there.
I could have spent so much more time in Mammallapuram - exploring - as I had taken it easy the first few days, but I felt like it was time to move on... so along with a British girl I met there named Sofia, I took a two hour bus south to Pondicherry.
This is long so if you're tired go take a break and come back later... because I'm still going.
The short trip to Pondicherry was interesting - the guy in front of us kept feeding us from his snacks, and we had a theory that he was giving us his wife's share. He refused to take no for an answer until Sofia waved the still uneaten banana in front of him. Then a young couple next to us offered us ice cream (that they bought at a stop) which apparently is dangerous in India because there are so many blackouts (a joyous occurance if I haven't yet mentioned them - especially when you're out in the street and everything goes dark) - that it melts and refreezes and may be contaminated. Which is okay for me because I can't eat it anyways - oh lactose ( I know there are pills and I thank those who have advised me on the issue but the lactaid gives me different stomach problems).
Contrary to my preconceived notions Pondi (as its called) is quite large. The shore is beautiful as those big black rocks replace the sand to form a very unique shoreline. You can sit on those but there's no sand to walk barefoot on.
In my adventures this morning I saw a bakery called hot breads. And for those of you who know India - India doesn't do bakeries like we know them. No croissants, or breads, or pastries. Only really sweet really heavy indian snacks that involve no dough. So imagine my surprise when I walked into find an abundance of fresh baked breads - a whole assortment -even whole wheat, and fresh baked croissants, chocolate, plain, apple. I walked out with a chocolate croissant - so happy I didn't even care where I was going and almost got run over by a motorbike.
Next I went into the most amazing supermarket I have seen in India - they have peanut butter, chocolate silk, and anything else you can possible desire. I was in one of the aisle's pondering the endless options when I turned around to find Zafrir - an Israeli friend who had been at the ashram with me standing there. If I thought I finally had a day of independence (after all I am travelling "alone"). I was somewhat mistaken. What a pleasant surprise!
I was stalked by a 12 year old girl on her bike who followed me up and down the road no matter how many times I changed direction until I told her to stop following me.
Tomorrow I make a 14 hour trip back to the west coast, back to Cochin to see about a guy (in the words of Good Will Hunting).
love
Roni

pondering the lines of Indian decency

I finished up my time in Ooty with a two hour hike through a tea plantation and the mountains - with nine other people. It's amazing how you meet people and the group just grows. It was beautiful and we even had good weather - not too cold.
Me and a Danish girl I met took a fourteen hour overnight bus to Chennai. Which was brilliant because it passes quickly when you mostly sleep. And it saved us accomodations for the night.
We watched two Bollywood films. The first was incredible because the sound and the picture were so off and yet no one found this bothersome or strange. I actually really enjoyed the second movie, which I managed to understand most of even though it was in Hindi. Though I'm not sure what this says for the movie. But I was struck by the contradictions in Indian culture. The amount of sexless sex scenes in the movie were astounding.... it's amazing how much sexuality you can portray without bearing skin and without (apparentally) crossing the fine lines of Indian decency. However being in India and knowing that merely bearing my shoulders is inappropriate, I actually found myself a little uncomfortable watching these scenes on the bus, trying to imagine what the equivalent would be in the US or Israel. But what struck me more is how the women in movies are sexy, and whether dressed in tanktops and miniskirts or Indian clothing made skimpy they show a lot of skin. I dont understand how culuture can allow movies and advertisements to portray one thing and still expect people to be completely different. The amount of public displays of affection between couples in the movies way exceeded what is actually acceptable between nonmarried couples. The clubs and bars in the films more closely resembled the upscale and prestige Manhattan hangouts then any place I've ever seen in India. But perhaps the south is merely decieving me and I need to make it up north.
Now in Mallalapuram which in contrast to Ooty is what I imagine sitting with Satan to be. It's SOOOOO hot. I'm considering wearing a sign saying "I didn't come to India to shop" because everytime I pass a store they badger me to go in - doesn't matter that I pass the same store 4 times in 15 min. And that the roads where the guesthouses/hostels are are lined with shops. We're on the shore and the town is small, quaint, and very peaceful. There are tons of hostels and rooftop restaurants. The beach down here isn't so nice small shore full of boats, fishing nets, and garbage, but I hear if I explore a little northwards its cleaner.
love
Roni