India, Part 2

A truck laden with dowry goods for a newly married couple Colin Hughes will identify this bird
At the Taj Mahal we encountered this Egyptian vulture
The vulture has a fine profile -- just left click
These storks were an unexpected treat in the river behind the Taj Mahal, and how about their reflections in the water!
On the side of the road between Delhi and Agra we came across these fishmongers -- the fish came from about 600 km away

These neatly stacked piles and structures are entirely made of cow dung
If there was any question about who makes the neat cow chips, this photo answers that question
Camels are indeed powerful animals

This family of monkeys was enjoying themselves feasting on the local mangos
Please note the second mother with her infant clinging to her abdomen
The owners of this elephant decorated it, as shown in the next photo
This elephant was in the care of at least three men, who were intent on exploiting her, including a demand for baksheesh from us
One of the enduring images of India, the Brahman bull with its distinctive hump

India is blessed with such a benign climate, at least in the southern part, that it is not surprising to see an abundance of animals. Of course, the sacred cows (and bulls) are everywhere, but it was not until we traveled by van from Delhi to Agra that we discovered that the bovine population serves a vital purpose: their dung is shaped into patties, dried in the sun, and then used as fuel for cooking. The job of shaping the dung into patties appears to be women's work, and the sheer volume of dung patties suggests that there is not only a shortage of cash in rural Uttar Pradesh ("UP") to purchase fossil fuel but also a practical reason for the Hindu respect for the movable factories that provide cooking fuel. Apparently 80% of the population of UP, which is the most populated of the 28 states of India lives on the farm, and one newspaper account reported that a woman field worker earns about 20 rupees a day, or about 50 cents. Our driver thought that it might be as much as 100 rupees per day, but I think that he did not want to admit to us the dire poverty of the rural population. It is more than a little disconcerting to watch the cows and bulls feeding on garbage.

Other sights on the road between Delhi and Agra included the spectacle of large number of heavily laden carts -- mostly with harvested wheat -- pulled by a variety of animals: bulls, donkeys, water buffalo and camels. The appearance of these animal-drawn carts on a major highway, where they unavoidably impede motor vehicle traffic, also suggests that the farmer with a small plot simply cannot afford a truck to move his crop to market. Small plots in turn reflect the tradition of inheritance of farmland, where after successive generations the plots are too small to support mechanization. The division into small plots is quite evident from the boundary lines between plots.

We teased our driver into finding camels, elephants and monkeys for us to see, and our running joke with him was our request that he find a tiger, preferably white. He was not a guide but pointed out to us a number of sights that we might not have appreciated such as a truckload of new furniture and appliances which represented the dowry for a new bride.