Sunday, January 30th 2005, 2:30pm

Well, I arrived in Patara pind (village) on January 18th, and departed on January 27th. There were different elements to my stay there... many were enjoyable, and some were not.

During that time I was staying with a family who took care of me as one of their own. The food I ate was all vegetarian, and much of it came from the family farm where, if I understood correctly, no pesticides or chemical fertilizers are used. Carrots, peas, spinach, the wheat the rotis were made of, the milk, yoghurt, and butter. Everything prepared fresh, hot and delicious. One element that struck me as pretty funny: The routine I experienced in the morning was to get up, brush your teeth (manditory), and head upstairs for cha (milk tea with plenty of sugar), and some combination of ladoo, jelibie, barfi, and a few other sweets I can't remember the name of. So basically, you get up, brush your teeth, and immediately pump yourself up with all kinds of crazy sugar!! Hahahahahaha... ahhhh... If only the kids in Canada could see me now. A breakfast of fresh roti, dahl & yoghurt would come about an hour later.

When I first arrived in Jalandhar I got a pedal rickshaw from the train station to the 'Model Town' Gurudwara - that is, the Gurudwara near to the Model Town section of Jalandhar. I paid the wallah, and as I began to cross the street to the Gurudwara where I was hoping to stay for a couple days while setting up to get to Patara, and a fellow working at stand outside the gates hailed to me to come over and talk to him... he began by telling me that I had just arrived from Delhi - a pretty good trick, and then guessed that I'm Kimmy's friend! So this fellow turned out to be the uncle of my friend Kim who's in Delhi, and she'd called and told her family about my arrival just hours before. Needless to say I was pretty surprised. Having only stepped off the rickshaw I was immediately in the care of a family. They set about to arrange for my stay at the Gurudwara, but it never quite got to that. Instead the one contact that I did have in Jalandhar, who was expecting me, soon whisked me off to meet the family that I would stay with in Patara.

It turned out that they were in another nearby village attending a wedding party - what turned out for me to be the first of ...I think four solid days of wedding parties. By the end of that I was finished... there was yet another wedding party two days after the end of the first, but I declined to attend. The parties were ...fun, and there were many friendly people there, but they took a toll on me for sure. I was constantly declining drinks, as the family I was staying with don't drink and were very clearly in favour of my following suit. Same went for meats... then there were the requests for me to dance, which I didn't really feel up to.

I've never felt so much like an oddity and an outsider as I have here in Punjab. Sometimes when people are staring at me, and I say something - Namaste, or Sat Sri Akal Ji, they'll reply in kind and the stare will soften... and other times they simply continue to stare with no response at all. That sort of response would lead to me walking down the street intentionally not looking at anyone... it was hard, and as the days went on, it grew more difficult.

Another phenomenon is that of the talking monkey - I'm a bit like a parrot, a bit like a monkey, but I won't tear out your hair, or bite off your fingers, and unlike any other 'talking monkey' to be found over here, I'm white - so I'm like the ultimate entertainment piece. Usually that experience was limited to the wedding parties I went to, and only very mildly to when meeting the family's friends. However, again that began to mount its weight, day after day. One day a neighbour had asked me to visit his college where he's studying CAD & CNC (basically computer controlled lathes). I agreed after he indicated that it would take only some two hours to go from Patara to his college and back again. In fact, we arrived back nine hours later. We spent the first part of the day visiting two Gurudwaras, his old school and professors, family member after family member in different towns, driving all over on his scooter, going to Wonderland despite my protests, and so forth. Everywhere I felt that I was the monkey to be stared at but not spoken to. At one point when he asked what was on my mind, I told him that I was cold and tired, after all we'd spoken of two hours, and this was a pretty long two hours. He apologized, and pointed out though that he didn't know he'd have to go to Wonderland. Riiiight. Finally we went to his college which turned out to be about the most enjoyable part of the day. My mood was pretty sour by then though... and the antics went on. None of the stops felt as though they were for my enjoyment or benefit, despite any ostensible outward appearance that they were. Nine hours. Needless to say I will not be going on any other adventures with him.

Then the family's guru came to town and to stay the night at their place. I won't go into the details, but I was thoroughly unimpressed, and was quite ready to depart the next morning to my next destination, Langeri pind, near the town of Mahilpur, where I am now. Yeah... it's hard for me to decide what to express and what not to express.

All of my entries are seem to me to be fairly focused. I talk about very specific, limited things, and completely leave out the rest of the world that I'm living in. When I talk of bad, there was so much good, but... I can only talk of one thing at a time. I look forward to my next visit to Patara. The family members there are wonderful, and very kind to me. I feel almost at home...

I guess that's it for now. I've spent two days doing "english classes" at a local highschool... and I'll be renting a flat soon. I'll have plenty more to tell you.

ps. Internet here in Mahilpur is particularly difficult... it may take me some time.

l8r!

dharma

Sunday, January 23rd 2005, 10:00pm

Hey all, this is just a real quick update to say that I've been in Patara village, district of Jalandhar, state of Punjab since the evening of the 18th, and am loving it! I will be here for just a few more days before heading off for Langeri village where I'll see about settling for a while. Mmmmm.. internet access here is limited, and so I won't go on and on like I'd like to, I'll just pretty well leave it at that - more to come!

(I'll be replying to yer emails asap too.)

Take care,

dharma

Monday, January 17th 2005, 10:15pm

What is on the menu indeed...

Well, tomorrow I head for Punjab, or the Punjab, or is it Panjab? I dunno... anyway, let's forget about that and talk about food instead!

I've eaten at restaraunts all over, countless dhabbas - roadside food stops for truckers, all sorts of little food vendors on the street selling chopped and fried potatoes garnished with shredded mouli (radish), samosas, mutton, and so on... I've eaten dhal (lentils), sabji (mixed vege curry), paneer (cheese), roti, pratha, yoghurt, on and on - all the standard fair. I've had plenty of fried eggs and omlets, chow mein, pancakes. I remember one particular vege biryani (like fried rice) that I got on a train... I noticed some little bug cooked into it, set the bug aside and kept eating, found another and set it aside as well, eating a bit more... it went like that until along came a young fellow asking for money, and when none was forthcoming he asked for my food. I handed it over.

I've eaten from plates of chopped fresh veges: tomato, cucumber, radish, carrots, cabbage - both when staying with friends in village settings, restaraunts, and when Kurt bought a bunch of stuff from the market and chopped it up - add some salt and plenty of lime and 'ooh la la' it is fine. Those plates of fresh veges always cause me a little hesitation... I've been warned against them time and time again, but do I listen? Just the other day here in Delhi I bought a bunch of grapes. I hung them in bags of water and iodine for 30 minutes before digging in. That seemed like a smart thing.

I drink water from establishments quite infrequently - only when advised from trusted sources that a particular place treats their water adequately. In Nagpur I gradually came to trust the pipe coming out of the ground - municipal water, for being sufficiently chlorinated. Derek had been drinking it for months and seemed fine... I buy most of my water in one litre plastic containers for Rs 10 - 15, about 30 cents Canadian. I had been refilling a bottle with local water and dumping iodine in it in the beginning, but after seeing so many instances of sickening sludges of 'streams' and rivers in every town & city I've been, garbage and feces everywhere around it, I've become less fond of the prospect of the local water tables - iodine or not. I drink a variety of sodas from the bottle - Limca, Slice, Pepsi, Coke... I've had plenty of chai & milk coffee from all over - train stations, street vendors, some pretty grubby looking scenes. Once a thermos of chai came with little pupas/larva/maggots seated around the rim, and probably steamed nicely. I removed them, thought to myself 'I am in India after all, relax.' and drank. I drink lassis (yoghurt drinks) whenever I feel ok about spending the money. I've had milk drinks, milk shakes with ice-cream... ice-cream bars too. I'll eat ice-cream any chance I get! :)

Let's see... what else have I done wrong. Mutton, chicken, buffalo. Ooh... the fresh sugar cane was a dream...
Whisky, rum, beer... they call whisky & soda water "wine" and down it like water. 'Would you like some wine?' Right! 'Just one more pack.'

Fruit... plenty of oranges, bananas, papaya, pineapple... no mango tho, it hasn't been the season. :-/

I'd go on further, but I gotta head back to the ranch, pack, eat candies, read my book (thanks Kurt, I'm lovin it!), and get to sleep. It's 11:00pm and I've got a train at 7:20am.

Peace out y'all!

dharma

Friday, January 14th 2005, Evening time.

Where am I at? Well, I'm back on my own now, arrived today in Delhi back from my Rajasthan tour. I have grabbed a ticket to Jalandhar for Tuesday the 18th, and so I expect to connect there with some extended family, and onward.

Being back in Delhi again is interesting in that it illuminates for me how I continue to change slowly in my ... approach, or style of reactions, to India, to the pressures of a place like Delhi/Pahargange, things like that.

My brother was asking if I've been spending much time with Indians - hanging out and getting to know, that is. I guess it's not easy in a lot of circumstances that I've been in thus far to connect with the native population in a very useful way... the context of interactions is usually me as a white tourist to sell to, take advantage of, ask for money/pens/candy, or view from afar in passing, and vice versa. It's an interesting thing to notice. I expect that that will change a bit once I'm settled in a small village where tourists are not a top priority.

The tour of Rajasthan was good... 1 day Pushkar, 1 day Jodhpur, 1 day Ranakpur, 2 days Udaipur, 2 days Jaipur, 1 day Gorakhpur, 1 day Agra, and then back to Delhi! I wound up paying Rs 1300 for "insurance" for the car, Rs 800 as a part of the driver's tip, and then food, rooms, and attractions. The forts and temples wind up taking a lot of cash... 120 here, 240 there, 200, 50, 75, the Taj Mahal for 750 (Indians pay 10 I think). By the end we were dropping places. Fort after fort, temple after temple... granted they're all different, but they wind up not seeming that different. Same goes for the mosques. And as the bills mount, the enthusiasm to look at another does the opposite.

Anyway, that adventure's finished, and now it's on to other things.

dharma

Saturday January 8th, 2004, 6:10pm

Well, my two companions & I had left Purhiran on the morning of the 2nd, took a Rs 19 bus to Jalandhar, then a Rs 35 bus from there to Amritsar, getting there in the mid-afternoon. That was a good experience, just realizing that I've got what it takes to navigate the local bus scenes and get from place to place cheaply. It adds confidence. We spent the rest of the 2nd and 3rd checking out the Golden Temple, Jallianwalabagh where the British had opened fire on a peaceful gathering of 1500 Indians back in 1919, and the Wagah India/Pakistan border crossing - that was a pretty entertaining experience. Lots of Indians and lots of foreigners... a pretty big show. There's basically a big set of concrete bleachers, like a tiny stadium, then the border gate, then a mirrored set of bleachers on the Pakistan side. Both sets of bleachers fill with people who break into strong patriotic chants, wave national flags, and so forth. The border guards crank on the the rockin music, the crowds go nuts, just lovin it, and after a while the ceremony starts. There's some serious high kicking, fast marching to and fro, interactions between the Indian and Pakistani guards, and in the end their flags are lowered in unison... my description is quite lacking for sure, like just about everything over here - you've got to taste it to understand.

Joel & Kurt had a plan to leave Amritsar for Delhi on the morning of the 4th, and from there they had a tour of Rajasthan already arranged - via a car and driver. I was thinking that I'd stay a few more days in Amritsar, at the Golden Temple itself - we'd been staying at a 'guest house', and then probably head for Jalandhar and Patara, then to Langeri village where I expect I'll wind up spending a number of months. But, the night before leaving they suggested that I join them for their 10 day Rajasthan tour, and so I went with them to the station in the morning, managed to get a ticket general ticket and upgrade it on the platform (another confidence boosting experience), and off I went to Delhi! See? Things not happening as planned...

The morning of the 5th we piled into our little car (like a geo metro), and busted out of Delhi bound for Pushkar. We arrived in the afternoon, wandered through the markets, across the land, and climbed a very long set of steps up to a temple that I'd visited some ~17 years ago. I could hardly make it to the top, and kept thinking about my dad & I doing the same walk so long ago. I'd been feeling pretty sick and unable to eat anything all day, but happily by the next morning I was back in form, and we headed out, bound this time for Jodhpur. Again we arrived in the afternoon, found a good hotel, suggested by our driver, and immediately went off to visit the Mehrangarh Fort - a stunning fort (read: castle) to be sure! It's sitting on top of a mesa-like chunk of rock, more or less in the middle of the city, high above everything else. And its size... it's really, really large. And it's beautiful... amazing architecture, stone work, what can I say. The morning of the 6th we checked out a couple more sites of the city: the Jaswant Thade, which is a large, beautiful, and peaceful white marble shrine built in memory of Maharaja Jaswant II, and then the beautiful-from-afar-but-lame-to-visit Royal Palace. Done with that we headed out of town and toward Ranakpur - which is made up of a very large Jain temple complex, again, all done in white marble. Very beautiful... a really tremendous monument. The detailing of the high roofs, the pillars, the idols and statues... everything. Ranakpur is rather remotely set... there's really no town or city anywhere around it, so if you're going you either have to go from whatever the closest town/cities might be, or you have to stay at one of the hotel/resort places situated 2 - 7KM outside of it. We did that... and it was sweet. It was the nicest place, esthetically, that I've stayed at yet in India. Set it in a quiet little valley surrounded by crumbling sage and scrub brush covered hills and mountains. Parrots and birds of all sorts, lizards, monkeys all over in the surrounding trees... and the place we actually stayed at was really nicely laid out, and had the best showering facilities any of us have come across in India. If only it hadn't been so damn cold at night! It would have been sweet to hang out outside in more comfort. Oh, and I could see the stars! It was the best sky since Washington state. So, this morning we visited Ranakpur, and then took off up twisting roads through beautiful mountains, at once both desertish - rocky and dry, and lush with trees, greenery, and water holes. Apparently there are some leopards living in that area... maybe 8 or so. :) Nice healthy population. Anyway, we arrived this afternoon here in Udaipur, got a hotel and dumped out bags, and headed out to check out town. It seems to be a pretty hilly town... with several "lakes" which are mostly dry with grasses growing everywhere. All of the hotels (or nearly all) advertise nightly screenings of Octopussy - you know, the James Bond flick... which evidently was filmed here. So, we found a nice hotel/restaurant, headed up to the roof, and had some grub. I ate a banana pancake (a banana wrapped in a crepe), and had a rose shake with ice-cream to finish it off - delicious! From our very high vantage point we could see a procession of elephants, camels, and musicians heading away from the palace in the middle of the 'lake' toward another structure some ways away. We decided to find our way down there, and wandered out to where the procession had stopped. It turned out that it was a daily affair. Monied tourists staying at the palace - I guess it's a hotel too, like in Jodhpur, get taken out for a ride and a welcoming and informing talk on the history of the area. Anyway, it was a nice walk and we got some pictures... and now we've come back into town and found this internet joint.

So, this is day 4 of 9... tomorrow we stay here, a two day stop, then it's off to Jaipur for two more days, then... somewhere, then Agra where the Taj Mahal is, and then back to Delhi for me. At that point I'll be planning to head back to Panjab. We'll see eh?

I'm thinking of all of you... and again, thanks for the emails! This is the first time since January 1st that I've been able to access the internet, so please be understanding of slow, or no, personal responses to your emails. It just takes so much time to write, and keeping you all informed pretty much takes the time I have. I do love reading them tho!

ps. in case you're wondering - I was high up in NE India when that earthquake & tsunami business all went down, so I was far away from it.

take care,

dharma