On the lake in Udaipur, Part 2 - Pichola Lake, the City Palace, The Lake Palace, and Jag

Click any of these photos to zoom/enlarge

Udaipur is a fascinating town, with a rich and varied history. It is now largely known for its fabulous palaces, but the city has many other claims to fame and charms--both discreet and right in your face.

It's in the high nineties here, but actually gets cold in the winter. It's hard to fathom this town gettng cold, but there you have it.

Over half a million people live here now, and judging from what we find on the narrow streets, nearly all of them drive scooters and auto-rickshaws, and spend much of their time honking their horns (always good naturedly) at each other as they thread their way through cattywompus intersections and crossroads. I've seen many packs (strings?) of donkeys and oxen as well. As always, one of the most fascinating sights are people on scooters in every possible configuration. There are women in Burkas with sunglasses riding scooters and motorcycles, and there is always someone carrying an improbably heavy or tall load. There are families of four on one motorcycle or scooter, and women in traditional dress ride sidesaddle as passengers. Fortunately, no one goes very fast and they always take care to warn cars, other scooters, and pedestrians when they will cross paths. For westerners (at least those of us not from England or Bermuda), driving on the left-hand side of the road poses a potential hazard--you must always remember to look both ways

Compared to other places we've visited, Udaipur's residents dress in both western dress, and a beautifully rich mix of native costumes, with colors, turbans, jewelry, etc., all indicating your caste, martial status, and even whether a woman has had a son. The town is about mid-way between Dehli and Mumbai, and is also known as a center of those famous miniature paintings.

Just now, as I was writing this, I heard singing and bells. I went out our gate to the crossroads where there was a fantastic parade celebrating Krishna. People were dancing, smiling, burning incense, shaking percussion instruments and carrying flags and banners. They were dressed in fantastic colors and robes of linens with variously colored headdresses. Hari Hari Kirshna Hari Krishna Hari Krishna Hari Hari. Wow, and what an assemblage of 150 watt smiles! I was so absorbed I forgot to go grab a camera.

The most famous and notable here are the Lake Palaces along the lake (we are staying in a former palace, although it is not directly on the lake, but a couple of blocks away). Aseries of palaces built at various times since the mid-16th century line parts of the lake, and the tiny islands in the middle of the lake.

Jag Mandir is an island in the lake with a charming palace and sylvan gardens (no flowers right now--it's too hot). You take a little boat over there from the City Palace (300 rupees). We did that today, and that's where most of these photographs are from...

The City Palace is the first in line of the impressive string of palaces. You enter City Palace through a fantastic triple-arched gate built in the early 18th century. To get to the lake, you folow walkways past the inevitable stern-faced guards (aren't cops the same wherever you go?) through a series of courtyards, terraces, sidewalks and gardens.

The Lake Palace was built around 1750 of marble. It sits on Jag Niwas island. It was built as a royal summer palace, but is now a five star hotel.

There are other palaces along the lake: Monsoon Palace, the Hindu Jagdish Temple, and Bohara Ganesh JI--a temple to Ganesh, where thousands of worshipers go every Wednesday.

One thing we noticed about Pichola Lake were numerous areas where people bathe and wash clothes.

Udaipur was named Best City of the World in 2009 by Travel & Leisure. On the more mundane side, it was also the site of much of the James Bond film "Octopussy," (you seem some pretty hilarious posters and memorobilia ariound that) and recently Darjeeling Limited was filmed there.
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On the lake in Udaipur, Part 1 (traveling mates)

Here are the photos of us today as we boated around the lake and stopped on the island. Part 2 will be the photos of the palaces and island gardens. Keelin Curran, Claire Brummet, Jack Brummet, Colin Whitchelo - click to enlarge.

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Udaipur, Rajasthan

--Click photos to enlarge--

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After the best dinner yet in India, they brought out the Hookah

A great dinner to end to our short first day in Udaipur after a flight from Aurangabad to Mumbai and then Mumbai to Udaipur: amazing stewed potatoes, rice, a little mutton, peppers stuffed with paneer (an awesome cottage cheese-like cheese), nan, papadam, a vegetable masala, and Kingfisher beer and red wine (not on the menu...you had to ask). And then they brought out the hookah.

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Drawing: Spooks

jack brummet drawing in Aurangabad - click to enlarge

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Claire Brummet and Colin Whitchelo, fodder for the papparazzi?

Keelin also starred in numerous photos--click to enlarge


It may be because western tourists are in very short supply right now, this being the hot season (we were almost the only westerners in somewhat obscure Aurangabad...but now, reaching Udaipur, there are a lot of Germans). Or maybe it's because Claire and Colin are lovable and photogenic (which they are). But when we visited the Ellora Caves, every one wanted a picture taken with Claire and Colin. Colin thinks they posed for around fifty pictures that day.


Even a geezer like me was approached by many Indians and posed for photos; they wanted to say hello. At least five or six asked for my email address. All the college students I talked to at our fort visit wanted to know about life in the USA, and what we thought of India ("I LOVE it" I told them). They would, to a person, tell us 16 days was not nearly long enough to see such a wide and diverse and historic country--"you need to visit at least six months!" And they're probably right. Fortunately, my daughter Claire and BF Colin Whitchelo will be here a couple of months--they like that very much. I know for sure, like Arnold said, "I'll be back." (Note: when they ask where I'm from, the one thing that seems to register is if I tell them north of California, and south of Alaska).


I am blown away by the kindness and warmth (and awesome head bobbing!) of the Indian people--all of them...in traditional dress, in western dress, of whatever caste or religion. It helps of course, that far more of them speak English than in any country in which I've traveled. We can actually talk and connect. I don't know if it is their deep faith, or the tolerance they've developed amongst their many religions, but when you spend a little time with the people, it's not surprising what a hotbed of religion this is, or why Buddhism, Hinduism, and all the other hundreds of religions germinated and flourished here. You know, as Sarah Palin said "that hopey changey stuff"--like, say, Gandhi!


Maybe Claire and Colin remind them of someone else?




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Monkeys in Ellora

...click images to enlarge...

I have never seen monkeys (or any of our other cousins) that were not in captivity before this--an excellent topper to our visit to The Ellora Caves.

These are called hanuman langur in Hindi and sometimes Grey Langurs. They walk on all fours. I don't know much about them, but monkeys are a little bit scary when there is not a window or cage between us.




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In Mumbai: Seeing Love, Sex, and Dhoka by Dibakar Banerjee

Our last night in Mumbai we went to see a new Bollywood film--Love, Sex, and Dhoka, by Dibakar Banerjee...you can see a trailer for the movie here.

As you know, Indians love movies, and Bollywood cranks them out by--literally-the thousands. We were at a bit of a disadvantage, since, while the film did have an English title, it was in Hindi.

The movie opened with the usual announcements about turning off your cell phone and talking during the movie. The last announcement was about terrorism (a recurring and sometimes spooky theme in our visit):

In the event of an explosion,please help the injured
before you exit the auditorium.

The audience was more subdued than we expected, and almost all in their 20's and 30's. The movie itself was a series of interlocking stories, including a fascinating one based around a closed circuit camera system installed in a store and one (pixeled out) sex scene it captures. It was pretty funny (although we missed most of the non-visual jokes). The other stories were about two film students that fall in love while their parents oppose them. A pop star is wasted by a woman he spurned because she wouldn't come across. I'll admit it was not fully comprehensible, due to my extreme Hindi deficiency, but it was fun nonetheless. A review I read in the Mumbai Times the next day said this is a groundbreaking film for the post-modern generation. I'll have to take his word on that. I am looking forward to watching a dubbed or subtitled DVD version when I get back to America. (Note: unlike in Greece or Turkey, Indians call in the United States or USA (like they do in Mexico).
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Marathi, Maharashtra, India: The 34 Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain Carved Rock Caves At Ellora

Like most of the best archaeological sites we've seen around the world, the Caves of Ellora are a World Heritage Site. Marathi: (वेरूळ) is an about 20 miles from Aurangabad in the Maharashtra state (which also contains Mumbai). I'm not sure how far this is away from Mumbai, but the flight here was only about 35 minutes on a 737 (so it is within a couple hundred miles).





[Note: The photos are not great--you are not allowed to use flash in the caves...and remember these are caves! And then, halfway trough, my camera ran out of juice and I was reduced to using a phone-cam--click all photos to enlarge].

These fantastically sculpted caves are a mind-bending example of "cut from rock" architecture. Everything you see is cut from stone. The caves and sculpture were cut out with chisels and other hand tools from the face of solid stone in the Charanandri hills. The 34 caves were successively built by Buddhist, Hindu and Jain groups.

These caves (not the sort of caves we think of in the west) were temples and monasteries, carved out many years from around the 5th to 10th centuries (A.D.). There are 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12), 17 Hindu (13–29) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves, built in a row over six centuries. Some of the caves took 200 years to complete...

Amazingly, each succeeding set of caves builds on the tradition of the previous ones--probably not surprising when you think of the amazing stew of hundreds of religions and sects that still exist (and influence each other) here. You find Buddhas in the Hindu caves; there are Ganeshes in the Jain caves. Some of the caves have two, three, or four floors. Not only did they carve out the caves themselves, but they also carved elaborate sculptures, friezes and the like on many of the walls. They also carved out elaborately decorated and sculpted columns--some of which remind me of Roman and Greek columns.

A couple of hours drive away are the Ajanta Caves, where Claire, Colin, and Keelin traveled to today. I will try to get them to post about these along with their photos. I opted for a cool day poolside (and feel deliciously guilty about it)--it's the first day I've spent here no tromping around for many miles in the blazing sun. It's probably my only chill day of the entire trip! Already, I am eager for more. We have several excursions scheduled for Udaipur (where we fly via Mumbai) starting mid-day tomorrow

Restoration workers on bamboo scaffolding. Not only is it bamboo, but it is fastened together with what is little better than very thick jute twine!

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My Traveling Partners

Keelin Curran, Colin Whitcheloe, and Claire Brummet
at a fortification wall at a massive Fort we visited


Keelin standing at the sea wall with the Bay
of Bengal behind her



Claire and Colin with a pitcher of beer at
Leopolds in Mumbai. They--and many other
watering holes serve these silly "beer towers"
instead of pitchers

Live from Aurangabad: Faces No. 149 - Four scratchboard portraits

click to enlarge

I drew...um, scratched...these faces on the plane ride this morning from Mumbai to Aurangabad. We had another brutal day of sleep. After going to bed after midnight, the four of us had to get up at 4 am to get on the plane. The plane was, of course, delayed, and we got into our hotel around am. This gave us an hour and a half to "freshen up" before our driver arrived to take us to the stunningly beautiful caves at the archaeological site, the Ellora Caves, about which more tomorrow.
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One more reason I love Bombay--an ox cart among the taxis, buses, trucks, and sedans

I couldn't get a good shot because there was too much traffic by the time I got my camera out, but you can see the red horns of two ox, drawing a cart behind a bus in insane traffic. The 70'ish looking oxcart driver (and the oxen) seemed entirely unflappable among the crazy driving, non-stop beeping horns, and exhaust.

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