Jaipur... The Jewel of Rajasthan

Wow! What a day. I think I can safely say that the trip to India has finally begun.

First, and before anything else. Perhaps some special mention really ought to go to Ghada, with her premonitions about Jaipur and Rajasthan. This city is simply spectacular. 

We are running on pretty poor internet connectivity right now, so I will have to save the story telling for another day, perhaps as we are flying to Darjeeling. For now, perhaps a teaser photo of the Hawa Mahal (Air Palace) taken on our first night here.

The Hawa Mahal at night

Final thoughts on Mumbai from Ghada and the Garbz!

We have left Mumbai and we both agree we will not be returning any time soon. 

Don't get us wrong, it's not that it's not a good branch point to other places... there is a lot of places around Mumbai. The core city itself thrives from its colonial past, and the village sprawl where we were staying has a certain charm to it- no doubt, but is not in itself a destination point.

This sprawl seems stuck in no-man's land. You get glimpses of what could be greatness: lush greenery, wilderness, banana, coconut and mango trees. But it is simply a tease. Want real lush greenery, head further South, or maybe a little East, or a little North. Want beaches? Go to Goa, the beaches in Mumbai are filthy. One would think that with Bollywood centered around the city of Mumbai, that you would at the very least find a Rodeo Drive, but even that seems sadly absent. The "Posh" neighborhoods, such as South Mumbai (apparently home to the world's 5th richest man), or Bandra or Juhu Beach, have little sparkles here and there, but even the Bollywood stars appear to be living in nondescript housing.

Some pointers: 

1. Our flight to Jaipur left from Terminal 1B of the Mumbai International Airport (Chhatrapati Shivaji). One would think that when your ticket states you are flying from the International Airport, that would be where you are departing from. In fact, Mumbai has a Domestic Airport that used to be called Santa Cruz, and locals continue to refer to it by its previous name. Both airports are now collectively known as the Chhatrapati Shivaji airport, with Terminal 1 being the Domestic flight terminal and Terminal 2 servicing the international flights. Given the traffic situation in Mumbai, this is most certainly not a mistake to be made! 
2. We managed to get Full Day taxi hires for 2300 Rupees, which is about as much as those poor tourists were going to get ripped off, just for a trip to South Mumbai. The price is fair, as the driver sticks around, and is rather flexible. Typically, they charge 100 Rupees for every additional hour you keep them for. The cabs are also air-conditioned, which is perhaps a more stylish way of travelling, especially in the damp monsoon season.
3. Ladies, never walk into the market wearing anything above the ankles. If eyes can devour, I would have no legs 2 min after entering Mumbai's Nataraj market. Here is how I walked into the market after a formal lunch with the newly weds and families and no time to change afterwards.

this conservative dress left me prey to devouring eyes

A saree is one of the sexiest outfits out there: body hugging, your belly shows, your back shows and even my mom was not too impressed with me wearing one and exposing my belly.                                                                                                                                                                 But in Mumbai's Natraj market, NO guy and I mean NONE passed by me without first looking me in the eye, scrolling down to my legs then eye contact again, before moving on. But NONE gave a second glance at the ladies in sarees. A saree, according to indians,  is a most conservative woman dressing. Goes to show you how what is hidden is desired and how human brain works when it comes to sexualizing a woman's body.

4. If going to Mumbai, best times to visit is between October and February to escape the summer and monsoon season. And don't expect Mumbai to be a city you discover by foot. The most we walked was in the hanging gardens and around the Gateway of India where we checked out the University of Mumbai, High Court and the market close by. It was a pleasant walk though and we got some good bargains. 

We did not experience Mumbai's nightlife but being India's entertainment capital and business capital, these may be the only things the city has to offer and it may seem that Bangalore is almost catching up on business so better shape up Mumbai before it gets too late.

Mumbai Final Days

Well, we've had some internet problems in the hotel in Mumbai, hence the delay in posting.

Day 3 in Mumbai saw us wake up, head for a Day-after-lunch party with the bride's family, followed by more shopping at the request of the ladies in Nataraj market, which apparently has built a reputation for being the place to go for deal hunters. Our driver for the day was so pleased with the 500 Rupee tip ($10) he got for the day, he actually called us the next day to see if he can repeat the whole chauffeuring business once again.

And so, at 10:00am the next morning, he picked us up, and gave us, yet another whirlwind tour of the city. This time heading North towards Bandra and Juhu beach, home to Bollywood celebrities.

The beach in Bandra

Upscale residences in Bandra

The home of some Bollywood star

It's been rather disappointing not seeing any worthwhile temples, short of the makeshift stalls in the open markets of Mumbai. So we asked the driver to take us to something within driving distance, and he ended up taking us to the Hare Krishna, which was a new low in the Mumbai itinerary.

Hare Krishna Temple

Hare Krishna followers

One of the monks saw us, and decided to invite us to learn more about the movement in one of the many temples in the West. It was yet another slap of the inauthentic- we didn't fly all the way to Mumbai simply to inundate ourselves with a Born-Again movement born in North America.

I see Ghada's been busy-beeing mocking me over the last few posts. Perhaps I will end this post with a retelling of a conversation at the Krishna temple.

Ghada: "Do I have to take my slippers off here?"

Me: "Yes. You're at a temple. What do you think?"

Ghada: "But the floors are disgusting!".

Me: "Ghada. You're in INDIA! We haven't even started visiting temples yet, and you're already complaining!"

  

View of Mumbai from the Westin

Monsoon Wedding Part 2: What Really Happened…

Despite the traffic jam, the only event described throughout Monsoon Wedding (previous post), Samir Christopher and Glare tied the knot on September 3rd.  The traffic and rain stopped some guests from making it while others made it in no time or so they thought only because…

gaby snoozing yet again

It was a catholic wedding that started with the white dress, dad walking gorgeous bride down the aisle,  handsome prince awaiting, choir singing, but it was none like I’ve ever been to before,  swarmed with sarees and kurtas and so many indians.

gorgeous couple

At the reception, the bride changed into a royal red saree. She was basically taken backstage where the ladies dolled her up, ornamented her with  jewellery  and flowered up her hair with jasmin.  All of the ladies jasminized each other’s hair too. Apparently jasminizing up the bride’s hair serves to make the groom’s first night with her a perfumed enchantment. It was an amalgamation of flowers, music, laughter, gold necklaces, bracelets, scent of a woman. 

bride flowered up

The food was great and I had my first fruits in India, papaya and pineapple. Delicious! Gaby and I had been worried about falling sick especially before the wedding so we had avoided raw foods at all costs.  It is one day post-wedding and Gaby still hasn’t eaten any raw foods, he’s such a sissy.

The wedding ended on a slightly sad note, since as tradition has it, the groom’s family grabs the bride at the end, a depiction of taking her away from her family into another one. Then sad Indian music plays and the bride is supposed to cry and they wait for her to cry and poke her to cry but Glare can’t stop smiling…The mother of the bride was in sooo much tears as the sad Indian music played (it was kind of sadistic). More sad music. More tears. Gaby’s and my laughters exponentially increased with the increase of “salty discharge” from the poor woman’s eyes.  As tradition has it, she is not supposed to talk or hold her daughter for the rest of the evening and until the next day.  I guess Gaby’s and my sadistic natures made this the highlight of our night.

The next day, we lunched with the bride, the groom and the families. But Gaby took forever to wake up, and at noon-time I had to drag him out of bed. It may seem that Gaby's body composition mixed with exposure to India is the ultimate antidote to insomnia. The scientist in me wonders about the perfect experiment to understand this phenomenon and exploit it to help people with sleep disorders.

It is now 6pm and we are at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport awaiting our flight to our next destination: Jaipur. It took us a while to realize that our flight was flying from the domestic airport  which is almost 30 min away from the international one. Our tickets clearly stated "Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport" but Samir and his cousin insisted it had to be the domestic airport and they were right! But it makes no sense not to have this specified in our tickets!! Make sure if you fly from Mumbai next time to check which terminal you are taking. Terminal 1 is part of the domestic one while terminal 2 is in the international one but both are called "Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport". Go figure. 

Gaby is getting a foot massage as we speak, only thirty minutes till take off. I hope I have enough time for some pampering too.
(5 min later). Gaby was snoozing as his feet were being massaged. No space for me for the next 10 min, and our flight takes off in 20 min so I guess I may have to wait for an Ayurvedic massage in Delhi.

Monsoon Wedding

Well technically, the wedding was yesterday, but given that we're stuck in traffic 90% of the time, it leaves very little time to write about anything!

The Monsoon rains were turning things into a bit of a fiasco. It just seems everything is almost ghetto-like around here, I'm not sure how anything gets done. And this car business is getting crazier and crazier.Oh well... here are some pictures from the wedding!

Ghada being prepped up

Ghada pleads last minute to put a stop to the wedding

The Happy Couple 

Bangles

Wedding Preparation

All flowered up

Signing the books

Ghada and the Garbz

Holy Cow

As Gaby was busy talking to Ganesha and the tourists and making sure he remains mister goody two shoes, I was observing the cow being pampered. She stood in a shelter by the temple and a feisty old lady kept feeding her grass. Passers by would stop, touch her face and then touch their eyes to bless themselves.

cow blessing

It may seem that in the more recent Hindu times, the cow became considered more and more of a sacred animal and killing it became prohibited in most regions of India. This was not the case in old Vedic times. Although reverence of the cow appears in all Vedic scriptures, it was used for offering sacrifices and most possibly for food as well.

In India, the cow is considered a symbol of wealth and abundance and even Rama received a dowry of cows when marrying Sita. It is the mother of the world as it takes so little and gives so much. Its milk is used for children to grow, its burning dung to repel mosquitoes as well as a soil fertilizer. Did you know that Psilocybin mushrooms (magic mushrooms) grow naturally from this animal's excrements? Wouldn't that be good enough reason to worship a cow? Hmmm maybe a cow pet?

Well, here is a bit of reality to the romantic idea of being nice to animals in India. Today, killing of cattle is allowed in fourteen Indian states but requires a slaughter certificate which depends on age of cattle or economic viability (so much for unconditional love!), it is banned in six states while no restrictions are in four of the states. Despite laws against slaughter, some illegal slaughter-houses operate in some areas, a trstimony to the universal corrupt human nature.

As we strolled back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding, I clicked a few photos. Indian people are pleasant. They love getting their photos taken and are great posers. Their smiles are infectious.

friendly strangers

great poser even under the rain

Good Guy Garbz

Well, the Lords are not looking too kindly on us, and the rains are not stopping. Lina continues to pray, but then maybe Samir had a point. A "Monsoon Wedding" seems to have enough charm, they made a movie not too long ago on the subject.

Of course the rains are making matters difficult for everyone. The hairdresser who is coming over to the hotel to coiff the ladies' hairs is running late. Family members driving in from out of town are running late.

And I wanted to walk the Slums around the hotel. "Slums? What Slums?", asks Samir, "There's no slums here".

So what do you suppose the dirt roads out there are? A middle class neighborhood?

The "Hood" we're staying in. 

We had come back last night scratching our heads on the meaning of the Ganpati festival that had Mumbai erupting in street festivals. And here, tucked away between the vegetable stands was a small Hindu Temple, with a cow blessing passers-by. I felt like petting the cow, but then how would that come across?

Ganesh Shetty explains the Mahabharata

Ganesh Shetty seemed entertained with two random strangers clicking away at Sacre Vaches, and what not, and took the opportunity to fill us in on tales from the Mahabharata.

Garbz saves the day

Two lost white people interrupt the story-telling, and ask me to join them to the side. It seems they have had it with the locals. "How do we get to Colaba". The name sounds familiar from yesterday's travels. It's a district in Mumbai. "Well I don't know, I'm a tourist just like you". They seem frustrated. Bag-packers. What the hell brought them to this little strip of dirt in the outskirts of Mumbai, I wonder.

"The bus won't let us in since we are carrying bagpacks, what sort of $%$ is that. We don't believe him".

Why don't you take the Rickshaw then? To the train station. I called Ganesh over, and explained the plight of the fellow travellers. He assures them they can get to Mumbai from this location for 50 rupees (that's $1), and the bus should have taken them with their bagpacks. Don't bother with the Taxis he tells them. They will rip you off and charge you 300 Rupees.

That's when they flipped. 300 Rupees!!

300 Rupees!!

This cabbie wanted 3000 Rupees from us!

Ganesh had a point to prove. He will show them that he can get them a cab for 300 Rupees.

"Ghada let's stick around and see what happens".

"We can't Gaby, I have to be back at the hotel to start getting ready".

And so we left, without knowing whatever became of the travelers.

Pictures from yesterday's Mumbai Day trip

Courthouse

View from the Hanging Gardens

Taj Mahal Hotel

Gateway of India