And so it comes to end, 4 1/2 weeks of India by road, train, and plane. The group started at 10 strong but Maggie, Jim and Joan left us at Goa. We enjoyed the time we spent with them and hated to see them leave, they were with us for 3 weeks although it seemed much shorter. I am sure, or at least I hope, we will see them again on some other great adventure.
What a pleasure to spend this month with Norm , Terry and Steve. For sure we were friends at Overwaitea but for me and Berniece the reconnection was indeed a pleasure. And of course our good friend Barb, who started talking about going to India with us years ago, (the most photographed person in our group, everyone seemed to want a picture of the tall blond from Calliwood : a Subash word, a Canadian star from Canada), and her friend Carol both fit right in as we knew they would. As a group many laughs: at each other, for each other and with each other! Loved those happy hours!
Subash our main guide must have been hand picked because our experience would have been nothing close to what we had were it not for his great efforts! His infectious laugh, philosophical approach to life and his uncanny ability to sense and seize the spontaneous opportunities that popped up as we worked our way down the west coast of India made us all look forward to everyday with anticipation. It is obvious he loved his job.
We have seen temples of every description, stayed in Castles, Palaces, 3 star 4 star and 5 star hotels and hey, even a house boat. Had cold showers, hot showers and many in between! Our trip took us on numerous back roads, not often travelled by tourists, which gave us a chance to see the many sides of this country, from jam packed cities to quiet remote farming communities. Surprises seemed to happen frequently thanks to Subash, like joining a wedding by simply asking and subsequently being invited to eat with the attendants or, as we enjoyed a cool evening walk in a local village by our hotel, accepting an invitation from a village family for a coffee who not only shared a coffee with us but also proudly displayed the pictures of a recent engagement of a household member; such a personal event that we could not help but be deeply touched by their openness and desire to share something so intimate with us.
We learned of the many gods worshipped by the Hindu, Brahma, Vishnu and Sheba, and the hundreds of thousands of addition deities . The stories told of the gods were repeated at every temple by the local guides until even those of us who paid little attention, or perhaps were not as interested, knew some of the main stories by the end of our trip.
The Temples were magnificent; such attention to detail by craftsmen long ago but surprisingly we see that stone carving art still being practiced in Chennai. We observed the many materials that were used, some locally available but often imported from miles away at a cost unimaginable. The wealth of the kings during the many dynasties simply could not be overlooked. The vastness of the palace and temple structures including the surrounding forts built in ancient times were only trumped by, in some cases, the outrageous effort to completely destroy all of it by the conquers during the many religious struggles that transpired over the centuries. History that westerns, I believe, would have little comprehension without a visit like ours.
We were deeply moved by the Hindu devotion at Varanasi to the important traditions associated with the Ganges, from the bathing to the cremations. It is a wish of every Hindu to visit the Ganges at Varanasi once in their lifetime to feel the water on their bodies and attend the religious ceremonies that have been going daily for centuries and, if they can accumulate enough money during their lifetime, to be cremated there and have their ashes put into the Ganges. We learned about the beginning of the Buddhist religion, an variation of the Hindu religion, and that Buddha is considered by every Hindu to be the 9th reincarnation of the god Vishnu. All of this combined with the importance of the other religions, Muslim and Christianity gave us an insight that without which we would have left with much less understanding of the Indian culture.
We witness a historic political economical event, the demonetization of the 500 and 1000 Rupee notes. A surprise move by prime minster Modi. We struggled to make use of the worthless currency we had bought prior to arriving in India but soon devised our own strategy to make certain that none of our group were left holding worthless Rupee. Finally we were able to get into a bank after three weeks when the lineups were reasonable to exchange some of our old currency but unfortunately by that time the rules had changed dramatically and we could only exchange half of what was originally allowed, just 2000 Rupee each, $39.00 Canadian, $30 US!. We also experienced the finger marking that every voting Indian receives after casting their ballot in an election. Old Rupee cash exchange is only allowed once per person and the index finger is marked to ensure they don’t try again. Subsequently a person must deposit old Rupee in a legitimate bank account and withdraw the new money from there. This applied to everyone, no exceptions not even tourists but luckily, by helping each other, we worked our way through it and by the 4th week we had depleted all of our collective old Rupee to a point that we had to use ATM machines to extract, get this, a maximum amount of 2000 Rupee per session! We sensed the frustration of many small merchants who lost sales because of the lack of small bills but must acknowledge that it appears as though a good part of the population is in favor with what Modi is trying to do, which is to stop the financing of the terrorists in Pakistan with underground Indian money. A once in a lifetime event and we were accidentally immersed in it!
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The camel carts, cows, goats, sheep, brahma carts, motorbikes, bikes, pedestrians, tuktucs, cars, buses, trucks, all share the roads, freeways, and streets simultaneously in a manner that seems like complete chaos but truly there is a kind of rhythm and harmony that makes it work in spite of appearances.
This is India! And it is the India we came all this way to see!
So for me the best part was the people we were so fortunate to be with and the wonderful people we met and observed in India ! Hey, in some cases we were considered to be celebrities! Well not all of us, mostly Steve and Barb! But the kindness, curiosity, and the welcoming spirit throughout India from the big cities to the small farming communities, and of course everything in between, is what we take away and will cherish for the rest of our lives!
To that end and this being the last posting on this trip it will be pictures of the many people we have met along the way and those we spent such a great time with. Please enjoy!
