Outdoor clothes washing in Mumbai is a major enterprise
Clothes washing may be hard work but makes colorful pictures
The Taj Hotel in Mumbai, our humble abode there
JPK and the caretaker at the Sephardic (Sassoon) temple in Mumbai
The small balcony at Gandhi's home in Mumbai, with laburnum in flower
Gandhi's living quarters in his home in Mumbai
Jain temple in Mumbai
Joyce waiting for our rickshaw driver to dust off our seat before riding to the Ganges for the evening ritual
One of many Hindu priests at the evening ritual at the Ganges
Sunrise on the Ganges
Worshipper offering Ganges water to the sun as it rises
Washing clothes in the Ganges at sunrise
Swimming in the Ganges is popular day and night
Cows like the Ganges too (unknown fluid flowing into the Ganges from the pipe)
Cremation at the Ganges (only untouchables are permitted to handle the ashes)
On the way to the Ganges in our rickshaw with the crowd
Murals decorating the buildings facing the Ganges
Pumping water from a well in the street in Old Delhi
Overhead bundles of wires are a common sight in Old Delhi and Varanasi
Joyce with a family who wanted us to be photographed with them at the Gandhi memorial in DelhiIndia, Part 1
This post is out of chronological order because it seemed like a good idea to let you know where we are today (my birthday) - - Delhi; we will catch up on Hong Kong and Bangkok on the next posts.
We arrived in Mumbai/Bombay on Wednesday, April 23, and then on to Varanasi/Banaras on Friday, April 25, and Delhi on Saturday, April 26.
We were in the "palace" or old section of the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, with an elegant room about the size of an efficiency in NYC. Our guide Polly Dumasia was a Parsee/Zoroastrian who unconventionally married for love: 99% of Indian marriages are arranged so Polly could fairly be characterized as a rebel. He took us to a Parsee temple (no photos allowed), which is located in a Parsee neighborhood, as evidenced by the Zoroastrian eagle decal on the windows of the automobiles parked around the temple. He also took us to a Jain temple, which was extraordinarily colorful and we had the good fortune to be there during ritual music. To complete the religion cycle we visited a Catholic church and a Sephardic temple, in which the name Sir Jacob Sassoon attracted my attention because the poetry of Siegfried Sassoon is so moving (Siegfried was descended from a Sephardic Jewish family, and may have been related in some way to Sir Jacob Sassoon).
The highlight of our tour of Mumbai was a visit to the home of Mahatma Gandhi, which is now preserved as a museum full of photographs and memorabilia and personal belongings. The house is in a beautiful residential neighborhood, and it was quite moving to stand on the same balcony where Gandhi addressed his followers in the embrace of the laburnum trees which are now in full flower.
Varanasi must be experienced to savor its energy and sights, aromas and sounds. In order to get to the Ganges for the evening ritual, we took a rickshaw pedaled by a strong driver and on the way we had a closeup view of life on the streets of Varanasi: the traffic is dense, horns honking, incense burning, men plucking chickens with their feet, cows, dogs and goats lying on the street (the temperature was around 100 degrees F.), and of course the beggars, some missing limbs or otherwise deformed, and a multitude of begging children with the sweetest faces. We went out on a boat to witness cremations, a subject worthy of a separate post, and then the evening rituals of music, light, candles and chanting by both the monks and the audience. We came back the following morning (4:30 a.m. wakeup call) to witness the sun rise over the Ganges and the washing of clothes and bathing, as well as a large yoga class. We returned to our waiting rickshaw through the old city along the banks of the Ganges, where we witnessed a standard of living that would be unthinkable in the U.S. The photos taken there cannot convey the sensory overload.
Today, Sunday the 27th, was spent primarily in Old Delhi, with its narrow streets, simple living conditions (e.g. pumping water from a well in the street), and open air markets everywhere. We spotted two monkeys on a rooftop but they were gone before they could be photographed, and only an occasional bull. The temperature reached 105 and by the end of the day we were very glad to return to our air conditioned hotel for a swim (JMU) and then off to Bukhara for an Indian dinner, which is as good as it is reputed to be.
3 comments:
OK, now this looks like a lot of fun; many of your photos have a strong sense of place. I hope you got to wander around a bit too; all of those little stores look interesting. I'm sorry you had such humble lodgings though, at least they had a swimming pool. Sounds like that would have been a nice way to cool off after those temperatures.
I went down to Key West yesterday to discuss the coral project. No time for going out unfortunately, but it reminded me of how much fun it was to go there. With the road improvements it is just 4 hours from the house.
The family is doing well, still in our routine. Deb is hounding the IRS about their screw up; we hope to get it resolved soon of course.
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Hi, Jules and Joyce -- I thought the photo of the Hindu priest was particularly striking...unfortunately the cell-phone photographer in the foreground adds a jarring note. (It can always be photoshopped out!) We are enjoying your journals.
We are still in Florida but will be returning to NH early next week...will keep you posted. Love, Sharman
Joycee says:
The pictures of the cremation area cannot convey the power of the place. First there is an odor, especially in Varanasi and on the Ganges that is hard to describe. Then there are the bright flames rising as the cremations take place. We are asked not to take pictures of the actual fires. On our morning visit we left our boats coming off the sunrise on the Ganges on the site of the cremations. Women do not come to the cremations but we walked up along the side of the site. The oldest son lights the fire to start the cremation and is dressed in a white garb (Ghandi like) and has his head shaved except for a small amount of hair left on the back of his head. When I passed the top of the cremation site I saw a young boy dressed in his white garb, head shaved pacing back and forth obviously distressed and trying to get himself together to light the fire for his father's cremation. He looked about 12 or 14 years old. Women are not allowed at the site b/c they are "emotional" and cry and the men there are not to cry so this young boy was obviously fighting back tears for his father. It was extemely emotional for me - so sad. The men stay at the fire site for 4 hours and then the ashes are thrown into the Ganges by the family members.
Regarding the picture of me with the Indian family at the site of Gandhi's cremation: the young girl in front of me turned around after the picture was taken and said to me "You're from a rich country aren't you?"
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