Don't see that in Mumbai...

The monsoon was still trickling along as we left Mumbai for Australia.
The months of monsoon were periods of heavy rain and months of grey skies and it'd been some time since we'd seen storm clouds roll across the landscape. The pics are from a storm that swept across the Gold Coast the afternoon we arrived. It was great to watch..

Rajasthan

It’s been a while between blogs and this one was started in the departure lounge of the Mumbai Airport. Yup in keeping with Indian tradition the flight has been delayed by a few hours building the expectation of the journey first journey back to Australia together since we departed in November 2006.. Time flies… So much has happened over the last few months...

We had a chance to visit Rajasthan in September. Rajasthan is the desert state in the north of India and borders Pakistan. There are quite a few magical places to visit and with the time we had chose a few days in Udaipur The Lake City and Jaipur the dusky pink, State capital.
Udaipur was a great get away from Mumbai. Built around Lake Pichola (named for the village which was flooded), Udaipur dates back to 1559, and with only 300,000 people, time seemed to move slower it was soooo quiet by comparison to Mumbai.

After a morning of walking the narrow village/city streets to the city sights of the City Palace and the Jagdish Temple it was great to escape to our hotel with a rooftop pool with a view over the Lake Palaces on Jagmandir and Jagnaiwas Islands.


We’d been told the hilltop view from the Monsoon Palace on the outskirts of town was a must see so we journeyed up in an underpowered rickshaw which had to cool down half way up. The open ess at the top felt amazing, the setting sun perched over the horizon and the fresh breeze rising from the trees below.


The palace was a palace no more, under partial reconstruction after being left to the hands of lovers inscribing their names and the elements. Day two we joined the many on bikes hiring a Hero Honda and headed out into the country for a ride and some more space. Actually we were heading to a small theme park billed as a craftsman village just out of town. Luckily we got completely lost and just kept going out along the rural roads surrounded by rolling green hills as the village which we later found was nothing special. Udaipur was the backdrop for the '83 Bond flick Octopussy and every rooftop café had nightly screenings on 'big screen' TVs.. We couldn’t resist a beer in front of the tube watching Bond race through the streets in a supercharged rickshaw..

Jaipur, the ‘Pink City’ was a totally different experience. This city which seems more like a dusty trading post which has outgrown its old city walls of 1727 sprawling out in to the surrounding valley. Tourists are told of the fantastic bargains to be had in the bazaars, from textiles to jewels and every man and his stray dog will “just want to ask you something friend”…

Pedal rickshaws and camel drawn carts compete on the potholed streets with speedy motorbikes and overcrowded rickshaws all the while the street sweepers are shifting the dirt from one place to another keeping Jaipur clean. We got an understanding of the city layout by walking up to the Tiger Fort (1772) overlooking town, this should not be attempted after 10am because it’s bloody hot and the old water reservoir was a bit green for a dip!!

The view over the town got better with each step closer to the fort, which was still in good nick with empty rooms being explored by tourists of all sorts.

The city called us from the streets below, so it was to partake in the luxury of a pedal rickshaw and the back alleys of the old town. One fellow who wanted our business had eyes as blue as Sharon, we're told this is a throwback to the days when the Greeks were roaming around.

September is early in the tourist season and it seemed that half of the shops shutters were down but the ones that were open were making up for it. Shaz started a blue with a few of our new ‘friends’ when for the 100th time that day we’d been asked our name and country and we were slammed for being rude when we didn’t wish to stop to talk.. A mixture of the heat and the frustration of being a tourist in India lead to a crowd gathering as we gave them an education. I doubt the next tourist gained any benefit from our effort.. From here we were fired up for bargaining for treasures in the bazaars, making the shop keepers work hard for their rupee.

It was random and lucky that our mate Darren from Mumbai was in Jaipur for a photo shoot, so we caught up for a plate of meat cooked local style and a few cold beers after a few days in the dust..

"You may never know what results come from your action.
But if you do nothing, there will be no result."
Mahatma Gandhi

Read all about it...

India has new heros!
After the Indian Men in Blue saw off the Aussies from the T20 finals, all the talk built up the Final with Pakistan.
5.30pm yesterday the streets went quite, the crowds formed 10 deep at a shop fronts in malls, packed onto the footpaths, yes every cricket mad Indian had to find a TV to watch this all important match. The text messages were flying throughout the match, Indians telling the Aussies that Pakistan were next.. The match went down to the last over and as soon as the last Pakistan wicket fell, the crackers and fireworks boomed out across the neighbourhood, letting everyone share the joy and scaring the crap out of the stray dogs...
The news channels and the papers are awash with praise for the win, which comes on this the final day of celebrations for the Ganpati, Ganesh Festival. Where devotees invoke the blessing of Ganesh.
Some of the Headlines
"We Are The World"
"Pakistunned!"
"WINDIA"
"Superpower: India 2020"
"The Heroes"
We'll be hearing about this one for a while... but the Aussies have a chance to redeem themselves with the one day tour of India throughout October..
C'mon Aussie C'mon!!

T-I-I....

We've taken many a picture of the street where we live. Photos when we arrived, the many wedding and the many festival processions, friends and family coming and going, our first monsoon flood... But today I think we have the winner.
Before dawn this morning, say 5am, there was a bloody grate crashing sound followed by the sound of a truck engine revving. We jumped up to see the what was the making all the noise only to see the truck speeding off lowering its tray after dumping a pile of building rubble right on the street below. It is not uncommon to see rubble strewn around building sites but this is new in the Mumbai Madness...

The added bonus in the pic is the scene we see so much of but still don't fully understand. Grown men and teenage boys holding hands in public like lovers that cannot bear physical separation from each other. This, in the same society where even incidental contact between the opposite sexes is still taboo.
Yup, T-I-I...This is India...

Quite a stir...

We were in a restaurant in Jaipur recently called Peshwari. A nice place serving tandoor cooked meats and veg dishes..
The custom in Peshwari is to eat with your hands, nothing out of the ordinary until they brought over the bib/aprons to wear as we enjoy the food.
Well, nothing out of the ordinary until Shaz put the bib/apron on creating quite a stir, yeah she looks happy in the pic but the rest of the place was aghast, the moral police were called to arrest a naked woman dining in the restaurant...

Ganpati Bappa

The grandest festival in the Mumbai calendar started yesterday when Lord Ganesha (गणेश) the giver of peace and prosperity was welcomed into the homes of Hindus all over the city. The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi following monsoon, heralds the beginning of the festive season. It is an exciting time in India especially in the packed city of dreams, Mumbai.
For the next six months the mood of the city is said to stay upbeat and the trials of the monsoon are forgotten.
On Friday we took a drive into South Bombay and saw a large Ganesh image being towed up the main street on the wrong side of the road to a place where the locals can come and pray. As tradition dictates, in 10 days time this and other large community images will be immersed in the most convenient body of water to signal the end of the festival.

The Ganesh images come in all shapes and sizes and for this festival are made from clay mostly but more are being made of toxic plaster now due to the intricate work of shape and paint. Craftsmen take months to make the idols which range in price from Rs80-Rs300,000 ($2.50-$8000+) Thanks to Shagga who visited us during monsoon we have a Ganesh on the dash of Noddy the Ambassador..

Today we were fortunate to be invited to take part in the family celebration of owners of our apartment. We rolled around to the family house with Lif and Ash after watching the North Queensland Cowboys beat the NZ Warriors in the Juhu Pavilion with the Mumbai mob.
We were warmly welcomed and made our way to the family alter to pray after sprinkling Ganesh with red and white sandlewood powder from a carnation flower. We learned that Ganesh is the favored God in Hindu religion for if you pray to him your prayers are surely to come to fruition. Good God to know...

The Ganesh is draped in flowers and surrounded by offerings of food, gifts and money. This is a time for families to get together and this house felt a lot like an Australian house at Christmas/Boxing day... There was plenty of food and the TV was on with the Cricket, India v NZ..

It's said that on the last day of the festival, millions of people of all ages descend onto the streets leading up to the sea, dancing and singing to the rhythmic accompaniment of drums and cymbals. Around our way there was no waiting. The drums were beating and there were hundreds of thousands of people making their way to the beach late in the afternoon bringing their day of celebration to an end.

We joined our surrogate Indian family once again on the beach this time for the finale. Songs were sung to the clash of cymbals, a coconut was broken as part of a blessing and it was time for the lads to put the image of Ganesh on their shoulders and walk out to neck deep water where they dunked him into the ocean. This scene was being repeated up and down the length of Juhu beach some families louder than others with fireworks booming every minute or so..

Something else we learned today, in 1893, a fellow named Lokmanya Tilak transformed the annual Ganesha festival from private family celebrations into a grand public event. He did so "to bridge the gap between the higher caste Brahmins and the non-Brahmins and find an appropriate context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them" in his nationalistic strivings against the British in Maharshtra. Tilak chose Ganesha as a rallying point for Indian protest against British rule because of Ganesha's wide appeal as "the god for Everyman." Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in pavilions, and he established the practice of submerging all the public images on the tenth day. National pride gave the Indians another reason to celebrate.

There are four essentials for the festivals, family, colour, music and fireworks.. lots of fireworks. stay tuned for more festivities...