Stunning India: An Eye Opener
One of my fabulous clients (and very tallented photographer) recently had his article about his recent trip to India printed in our local paper and I’d love to share it with you all. Enjoy…
The one thing you don’t expect as you are riding an elephant through the wilds of Rajasthan is for your mahout to pull out his mobile phone and take a call. But then India is a land of contrasts; old and new, rich and poor, opulent splendor and squalor.
The incongruity continued when riding on, we passed a four hundred year old Hindu temple with a satellite dish on the roof! My sense of dislocation was soon abated when we were met by two men standing in the middle of the bush, offering us cold wine and beer to sip as our elephant carried us on to a bush camp set up just for us with a candle light gourmet buffet and bar. Well, we had been promised a luxury elephant safari!
A few days later it was a different story while riding camels from the hunting lodge of the hereditary ruler of Samode back to his four hundred year old restored palace, now converted into a hotel, where we were staying for the night. I can tell you that elephants are much more comfortable than camels. When, with still an hour to go, the heavens opened up in a tremendous thunder storm, it was with great relief that jeeps were called to take us back to our hotel from the farm house we were sheltering in.
There were six of us on this trip, all from Warwick. We were in India for a three-week private tour organised by local Warwick travel agent Leon Bruggemann of MTA – Mobile Travel Agents.
Three of us were keen photographers and India is a shutterbug’s delight. The people were friendly and welcoming and would often come up to us and ask us to take their photo or want their picture taken with us. The bright colors of the women’s clothes and especially in Rajasthan their intricate jewelry meant that the photo opportunities were endless.
We also had the chance to go into people’s homes to get lessons in Indian cooking and then eat the food with their families.
The sightseeing was spectacular with the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Humayan’s tomb in Delhi and of course the Taj Mahal in Agra being highlights.
Our trip was timed so that we would be in Jaipur on the day of India’s biggest festival, Diwali, the ancient “Festival of Lights.” Jaipur is one of the best places to witness Diwali. The streets and markets are all lit up, fireworks constantly explode and the women don their best clothes to visit the temple to get small oil filled clay lamps which are taken as gifts to family or placed around the houses shops and streets. Shopping and gift giving are also a big part of Diwali and families travel from all over to share the holiday together.
Varanasi was another highlight particularly witnessing the aarti or Worship to Fire ceremony which has been performed by Hindu priests on the banks of the Ganges every night for hundreds if not thousands of years. The hypnotic banging of drums, ringing of bells and chanting of prayers, mixed with the smoke, fire and smell of incense on the banks of India’s holiest river is a mesmerizing experience.
Overall India was an amazing experience, one that makes most other travel destinations look pale by comparison.
Mike Geisel