Rajasthan part I

We arrived to Rajasthan. Arriving into new state in India is like arriving into a different country. You need first to get used to the new rules, new habits of people, new bus system, new street picture in general.... Although Rajasthan is a desert state of India, the temperature was much more pleasant than in Kerala or Tamil Nadu - no sweating 24 hours, actually no sweating at all. Elephants in the street picture had given place to camels and men did not wear skirts anymore, but they wore huge turbans now. Women however looked more colorful than in anywhere else in India.

First we wanted to make a stop in a hill station Mt. Abu just south of Rajasthan.





























Mt. ABU

Mt. Abu has become another tourist hub, because of the higher altitude and thus better climate.

To enter to Mt. Abu, white people have to pay a fee 10 Rupees, so did we. But we had no idea when paying, that our stay will be very short.

When looking for a hotel, it started to seam to us that something is wrong with the town. Hotel workers were sitting in front of their hotels, but all saying like from one mouth "no rooms !"

Finally we found one, whose manager showed us some rooms. He enlightened us about what was going on in the town - workers of the service sector (so basically all people of the town) were having a STRIKE and when we learned what they are striking against, we could not believe our ears.

The reason was that the government wanted to change Mt. Abu into eco-sensitive zone.
Imagine ! What a blessing to the town....
But ....

...locals did not think that way.
Furthermore...
They were protesting against it. How crazy is that !
First we were not sure if we understood it correctly.....
We tried to ask, why are they protesting against such a thing, it should be celebrated instead !
Nobody could give us any reasons why this government's decision did not seam suitable to them.....
Maybe they had to stop burning plastic rubbish on the streets, or were not allowed to dump it into the streams anymore....

Later on we made a little research in Internet and this is, what would change in Mt. Abu:

• Only non-polluting, non-hazardous cottage industries or agro-based industries shall be permitted in the protected area.
• New traffic regulations will also come up and there is a possibility that the entry of vehicles near tourist places will be restricted.
• No person shall use plastic carry bags within the notified area
• Restoration of denuded areas, conservation of existing water bodies including Nakki Lake, management of the catchment areas, watershed management, groundwater management, soil and moisture conservation

How bad can it be for hotel and restaurant owners ???

Anyway, the state of mind of the locals in Mt. Abu stayed a total mystery for us.

About the hotel room - we were about to take it (after all it was the only one that seamed to be available) until Kadri made a fatal mistake, asking if there is any place open where they sell food, since we had not eaten since early morning. The manager called to boss to ask him. But when the boss got to know that his manager is taking new guests and not striking together with all the others, hell broke loose and in the end the manager had to ask back the keys from us and return our money.

We were thinking what to to - no place to sleep, no place to eat or buy food....
More than anything, the big question hunted our minds : WHY
So, we had no other option than to hope that buses going out of Mt. Abu still operate and we can escape from this weird place.

We were only wondering later, why did they took entrance fee from us without any warning that most probably we would have to leave at the same day ?!















Road to Mt. Abu















Quiet street of Mt. Abu














Leaving disappointed and never about to return into this ecologically unfriendly town



UDAIPUR

All day on biscuit diet, we reached to Udaipur in the evening. It was a good atmosphere there and we quickly found a cheap room.
Udaipur came out to be the best and nicest city in all Rajasthan.

However, the most of animals seamed to have some kind of addiction:














Cow suffering in glue addiction















Goat suffering in petroleum addiction




















Birdy suffering in narcissism (he was really angry and attacking when we were simply walking by with no bad intention, but most probably disturbed him.)














Rajasthani pots













Typical Rajasthani wall art













Rajasthani colors













Muslim neighborhood














Beggar kids














Tourist clothes shop with some unexpected clients














View to our hotel yard - donkeys in action














Floating palace and some kind of 100 star hotel, where we had no business to














Another palace of maharaja, where cup of coffee cost more than in any cafe in Paris




















God














Vampire ?


One evening we went to see a show meant for tourists about traditional Rajasthani music and dances. It was quite impressing. Especially the woman dancing on a plate and pieces of glass with more and more pots on her head.














Dancing with fire



We thought that 3 pots are already quite much, but in the end she was dancing with 9 pots on her head



After another successful fight with the train station manager about getting a resting room for our last night in Udaipur (since our train left early morning), we moved our stuff to train station.
Kadri was having another cold with little fever and running nose. In Europe it happens maybe once in every two years, but in India it was already third time during our three moths stay.....
Well, good at least that it wasn't any other of the millions of different viruses lurking around on Indian streets.













Train station luggage men waiting for clients


Our next destination was Pushkar.

On the way we saw a horrifying train accident scene. Fortunately it was a cargo train.

































PUSHKAR

Next day arriving to Pushkar, we found ourselves in the middle of the Shiva festival.



























Blue Shiva on the car


Pushkar is a small touristic village and like all small touristic villages in India, it has turned into low-quality, high-price place. However it is a shoppers paradise, as they suggest in Lonely Planet.

Pushkar lake, which is the most sacred place in the village and one of the most sacred lakes in the whole India, was according to the legend, created when Brahma (the second of the three main Hindu gods) dropped a lotus flower from his hand.
Pushkar is also one of the very few places in India, where it is possible to worship this god Brahma. Supposedly his ex-wife put a curse on him that he will never be worshiped anywhere else, after Brahma married another woman out of impulse.

Maybe we came to Pushkar in the wrong time, but the "drop of Lotus" had shrunk into an ugly pond, revealing all the rubbish underneath. Besides, the village was full on small flies, flying into ears, nose, mouth and eyes and staying stuck in the hair.














The sacred Pushkar lake (Hindu priests on its shores trying to squeeze some money out of foreigners)




















Camel from front.....



















.....and from behind


Some random pictures:

































































Rajasthan continues.....

Mumbai

First we thought we will skip Mumbai, as we were not so fond of getting lost in such a huge city as Mumbai is, but somehow things developed so that we finally went there and were hosted by an Indian guy Shivam, who had just few months ago hosted our good friend Xavier.

When arriving to Mumbai early in the morning and walking along the downtown wide and long streets, the city did not look so hectic, busy and crowded, as we expected. It actually looked quite pleasant.












Victoria train station














Mumbai is a paradise for book-lovers



When looking for a restaurant for some morning snack, the smell of fresh bread on the street lead us to a Zoroastrian bakery. Soon we were sitting behind table and fresh warm breads with butter were immediately in front of us. After eating them, new ones were brought, and then again new ones and new ones, so quickly that we had no chance to refuse. The boss sitting next to the door, owner of the bakery, was in command. In a good hope to make us stay longer, he put a piece of paper with sex-jokes into Branko's hand.... After some time, totally full of bread (but they were really delicious !), we find the strength to say that it's enough, payed our bill and continued our morning walk to the seaside.













with the boss of bakery














quick waiters














Gate of India. Most important port during English colonial times, also the place through which English left the India for good.













Taj Mahal Palace hotel next to the Gate of India, which suffered bombing during 2008 November attacks, still under renovation.


After leaving the downtown and getting into the "real Mumbai", we had to admit, that Mumbai is actually a big slum. Quickly raising sky-scrapers however, are continuously taking over the land under the slums, but were else can those people go, than simply to some other place and create another slum.













View from Shivam's flat window














Former railway, present-day slum street.

Life in slum, however, is tough. Not only because of the conditions, but also because of the relationships. We, of course, have very vague understanding of it, but every slum we passed we saw somebody beating somebody else up - a man beating a woman, a mother beating a daughter....we wondered, if the russian saying - "If he beats, then he loves" also applies to Indian slum people....

The most dangerous thing to do in Mumbai is to take the suburban train!
Even after few months in India and already familiar with the most common fighting rules, we decided to back away little, after Kadri got on the train, but Branko almost fell under the already moving train together with the mass of the rest of the people that didn't managed to get on.

There are so many people using suburban trains in Mumbai and at the same time there are so many people getting killed every day in an on-and-off-jumping accident. People are literary hanging out of the doors, because the trains are so stuffed. So, it is better at least to avoid rush hours.















Suburban train stop (not in a rush hour !)


In Mumbai there's quite a nice planetarium. We recommend everybody to go to visit it.













Pineapple house near the planetarium

Suddenly there was a wedding on the street. Young groom, who looked not more than 16 to us, was sitting on the horse, drummer boys taking the last breath out of their drums, men dancing around the groom like on drugs and some beggars trying to get their part. Well, it was quite fun actually. After some time of observing, we were also drawn into the dancing masses, Branko among the men and Kadri among the women. We were told, that attendance of the white people in Indian wedding has a very positive effect according to some beliefs, so we'll hope that the young husband and the wife (that we never saw) are doing great now and forever !
















Groom on the horse














Women observing the dancing men


On the way back to Shivam's place, we stopped by at one of the most fascinating sight in Mumbai - the washing ghat (Laundry in our concept).
This in Mumbai is the oldest washing ghat in India. Many restaurants and hotels use this service, however they will be charged more than a local person, who brings his cloths for washing. One worker (due to hard work only men) washes about 400 pieces of clothes every day.
As it was already afternoon, we missed the main action, since afternoon is mostly for drying the clothes. The most fascinating will be the sight surely early in the morning.













Washing ghat














Men in action

















After 3 days in Mumbai, leaving with the night train:













Evening atmosphere in the train


In the next post some stories from Rajasthan........