Pune – March 15

Joan and Goats

Our scheduled tour began at 9:00 and we started with a drive into the surrounding hills to visit a fort. The city of Pune is 5 million people and 9:00 is still rush hour so it was an interesting drive. Once we hit the hills the traffic dropped as the scenery improved. At the top we were faced with an uphill walk of 1 kilometer until we reached the 3^rd gate and entered the Fort. Along the way we were entertained by goats and goat drivers. They are restoring the fort and the rocks, sand and cement go the last 2 km via goats. They are sure footed on the stairs and can carry about 40 kilos each.  Each donkey herder manages 5 donkeys on a trip. On the way up the donkeys seem to respond well to the herders commands, but on the way down they are a bit more frisky. We saw some donkeys hobbled on the way down. The Fort was build in the 16th century and sat on a mountain top. It had changed hands several times but the last victors built the Martha empire in this area and ruled until the British came along.

Carrying Rocks for re-construction

    In the afternoon we visited the Aga Kahn palace. I finally found out what is the Aga Kahn. He is the leader of an Islamic sect of liberals and traders. They come from both Shias and Sunnis and have existed only a short time. The current Aga Kahn is the fourth leader. The sect is respected in India for its good works and generous donations. The palace was offered to India for use during independence and now is owned outright by India and houses a Gandi Museum.

The Aga Kahn Palace

Fort Back Door

Pune – March 14

Mother and Child

Old Woman cooking breakfast

After a leisurely breakfast we went for a walk in the streets behind the hotel. The streets were lined with small houses with doors directly onto the road. The people seem to live and work outside, with washing and cooking taking place directly on the road. Scooters go by, but the streets are dead-end and the traffic is light and slow. The people are friendly but most don't speak English.

In the afternoon we took a auto-rickshaw to the Parwati Temple. The temple sits on the top of a hill so Joan and I climbed way up. Their was a nice complex of buildings at the top and we watched the sunset behind the turret. I was hoping the temple would be lit at night, but it wasn't. We had a lot of interaction with the other people at the top. There are a lot of young Indians who visit the temples at night as a social past-time.

The Parvati Temple

Nanded - March 13th

Our Hospital Visit

When we visited the Sikh temple yesterday we removed our sandals before entering (standard procedure). Joan picked up some glass in her foot within the first three steps. I removed some at the temple but she still had 2 pieces left last night. Joan is a coward when it comes to physical pain, so she refused my offer of surgery with a dull knife!. We found a hospital which called itself a low cost hospital and paid $2 to get Joan fixed. Our first stop was outside the doctors office. Then a nurse collected Joan and brought her upstairs to sit on a bench outside another doctors office. The news spread and 3 more nurses came from nowhere , gathered around, talked about Joan and pointed at her foot. I was thinking they were talking about the glass problem but then they brought Joan, myself and the driver/translator into the office. They sent the driver back outside and then stripped off their uniform aprons. I was getting excited but they all pulled out their cell phones and took selfies with us. After that they took Joan downstairs again to see the doctor. The doctors did a quick scan, found no glass, told Joan to wear sports shoes, prescribed a medicinal spray and sent us on our way.

Addendum : I had soaked my foot in hot water and scraped at it before our doctor visit and must have removed it myself. My foot is still a bit tender. Our drivers answer to the fact that the doctor found nothing was that it must have been all in my head - grrrr|

In the afternoon we visited 2 more Sikh shrines and then headed to the train station.

Joan playing with children

Our Sleeper Cabin

We boarded the overnight train for Pune. We were assigned two bottom sleepers and we would arrive in pune at 06:15 the next days. We were joined by an Indian couple , who both spoke perfect english. We had a pleasant conversation and then they showed us how to make up the bunks. The bunks were rock hard, the pillows were small and the night was warm. I was comfortable but the stopping, starting, and screaming trains we past in the dark made sleeping fitful. The screaming passing trains didn't bother Joan at all, but the rock hard bed did. We arrived in Pune early and both Joan and I were awake but we didn't know we were in Pune. Forunately the gentleman got out of his bed and quickly rushed us off the train. Then he phoned our contact number and sorted out our pickup point before returning to the train. Our pickup contact arrived 5 minutes later and we were checked into our hotel room before 7:15.

Nanded - March 12

The Brutal Barber

Last night was a bad night for Joan and I. Joan had the runs and I had a blocked nose. I canceled the scheduled visits to the multiple Sikh sights and we had a leisurely breakfast and rested. Feeling better I went to the barber shop next door. Joan, the rock star, sat in a chair just outside the shop. During my hair cut the crowd collected and we had an audience of 20 or so. The barber's chair did not swivel or go down and the electric clippers had a short chord so the ham-fisted barber twisted my head in all sorts of uncomfortable positions. He cut my hair and then shaved my neck. For the shave he unwrapped a broken razor blade and inserted it into a paint scrapper. The shave wasn't too bad, he did use some water. After he finished, he massaged my head. That was nice, but then he put on a show for the crowd . He started slapping my head, judo chopping my shoulders and pummeling my back. He finished with a flourish as he cracked my neck in both directions. I still had feeling in my fingers and toes so I reckon no major damage was done. I paid my 200 rupees (4$) and then posed for selfies with members of the audience. I guess everybody liked my haircut.

The Main Sikh Temple,  Nanded

Nanded is 1 of the 4 holiest cities in the Sikh religion. There are several temples in the city honouring Gurus. In the afternoon we went to the main Sikh temple in Nanded. It is a compound with 6 entrances, a large courtyard, and a temple inside, The compound wall is composed of residences that house Sikhs from all over the world. They come to study and to volunteer for work. In the evening I climbed up the stairs to the top balcony to take pictures. I was approached by a scholar who came out of one of the rooms. Instead of telling me I was off-limits he invited me in to the room where several men were bent over small desks reading large books.

The white buildings are the compound walls

Drive to Nanded March 11th

Our drive from the last 3 days will be with us for 3 more day and he drove us to Nanded today. The drive was 275km and it took us 5 ½ hours. We used secondary roads the whole way and we had 50km of construction near Nanded. I like this driver – he is the safest on the road so although we had exciting times, we never feared for our lives. We enjoyed the views of Indian life as we travelled. It is haying season and cotton picking seeason and the fields were full of workers. Because cotton is so light some trucks are way overloaded with their load. We also see women walking along the roadside the bowls and vases on their heads. Every where the women are dressed in saris which are clean and brightly coloured. India is a land of colour.

Haying Season

The Cow on the right won

Cows at rest in the main road

In the late afternoon we went for a walk. The sidewalks don't really exist – if they are there, scooters are parked all over. So we walked on the road edge like everybody else. I was on the ro

ad when a cow just about ran me over. She headed into a field and immediately started fighting with a bull. I beat a hasty retreat, she knocked the bull into a ditch and sent the piglets scurrying in alarm. There are animals everywhere in India.

In the evening we went to a laser show in a park, which tells the story of sikhism. The show was canceled for maintenance but we entered a sikh shrine which honours a saint from 3 centuries ago. There was a service going on so we sat down and listened. There were 3 musicians playing sitars and singing. The music was very easy to take and the ritual was fascinating. Lots of fire and dancing. At the end we were approached by a Sikh lady from Canada who gave us a bit of Sikh history, but they turned on the recorded music and I couldn't hear much after that.

Joan - The ambassador from Canada

Tim teasingly tells me that I have achieved “rock star status” on our travels. The reason is that I am very often(10-15 times a day) asked if I would let people have their photo taken with me. I think it must be my very gray ,very curly hair that is the attraction . People of all ages ask and I always say yes. It is a lot of fun to have the small personal interactions with people.

The Ellora Caves March 10th

A Buddhist temple cut out from the mountain

The temple with good acoutics

Buddhist monastery with cells for the monks to meditate

Similar to yesterday, the Ellora caves are carved out of basalt rock. The caves were dug into the mountainside between the 6^th and 8^th centuries AD . We found it absolutely amazing to see these rooms, murals and sculptures that were carved so long ago. There are 34 caves in this complex and again we only saw a few. We did walk up the mountain and view the first cave from above. This made it easier to see it was one piece of rock. The third cave had been a temple rather than a monastery. The guide had told us that the acoustics were good, but while we were inside another group of men started singing and the sound was eerie. The reverberations tingled my skin. Everyone in the cave just stopped and stood still until the singing stopped.

In the late afternoon we took an autorickshaw to the mini Taj so I could take pictures during sunset. The trip was like a carnival ride – thrills and chills due to chaos in the traffic. The trip back was another level of exciting, since it was dark and traffic was even worse. We drove home in the dark with no lights on. At one point we were stuck behind 2 other autorickshaws also without lights. 1 least 1 vehicle in 10 didn't use headlights. Fortunately the other 90% shed enough light so you can see most traffic. We did scare a few pedestrians along the way.

The Mini aj at night