October 8-11, Thursday to Sunday – New Delhi & Agra

BLOG ENTRY: October 8-11, Thursday to Sunday – New Delhi & Agra

THE CANADIAN CONSULATE IN CHANDIGARH

Wednesday evening Jag invited Saranjit, a condo association board member, Ms. Sabnam Johnson, a Trade at the Canadian Consulate in Chandigarh, and her husband Naveen for a social hour. They brought their 2 year old daughter, who like any young child in our family, proceeded to try to touch and try to use everything within reach in the condo. Finally Sabnam could take it no longer and phoned for her 9 year old son to come to the rescue.

We were surprised to learn from Sabnam that the Consulate has about 50 staff, mostly in the immigration area. I thought to myself, if Jag Trana is any indication, Canada is greater for each person who immigrates. Sabnam and I had an interesting conversation about the economic sectors covered by the Chandigarh office: agricultural and automotive equipment. She mentioned that the Indian government currently has as a priority the development of grain handling and storage systems. I’ll have to pass this information on, I thought, to Bill McKnight, who I often see and chat with at the Fieldhouse in Saskatoon. Since Bill was a Minister in the government of Brian Mulroney, he has working with a consulting company on international projects. He has visited India several times.

Sabnam and Naveen, who sells insurance for an AIG company, live in the same condo complex and Jag and Pam. It did not take long for Jag, Naveen, and Saranjit to be embroiled in a debate about management of the condo complex. I took delight in photographing their animated gestures.

DRIVING TO NEWDELHI

Thursday morning October 8 we got up early to leave for New Delhi by 8:30am for the 6 hour drive. As soon as I heard the delivery people’s whistles, I rushed down to take their photos. One young man had a three wheeled bike with bread, juices (Tropicana) eggs etc. Condo dwellers would come to the balcony and lower a bag with money to collect the products they were buying. Another delivery was fresh cow’s milk, delivered directly to the door of the subscribers by the farmer. The milk was brought to the condo in a small truck with coolers on the back.

As we drove along the highway, which had less traffic than I remembered on the trip to Chandigarh, I reflected on my changing view of India. No longer is the focus of my attention on the dirt, the grime, and the continuous congestion with endless streams of people. Looking beyond those ‘facial features’ I now see a country bustling with small entrepreneurs, where the free enterprise spirit seems to be at the heart of life. Layered over this abundant life, are the larger companies who build toll roads, manufacturing plants, and the other things of a major industrialized society. And along side both these layers of the economy is the Government sector. While corruption is claimed to be rampant, the government, with support from the World Bank, is spearheading major infrastructure projects throughout this massive country. The roads on which we travelled will be completed in a few years, in time for the Commonwealth games in 2010 and the World Cup for soccer in 2011. Just as highways were an engine of economic development in Canada and the USA, they will surely be an engine in India. India is so massive though and has so many different peoples and cultures, its development will always be a challenge.

Arriving in New Delhi Turlochan, our driver, and Jag knew that our internet booked hotel, the “Emblem, a boutique hotel”, was in the New Friends Colony, a ‘well to do area’, but the maps were not detailed enough to get us there, so every so often we stopped at the side of the road, immediately being honked at for slowing traffic, to ask anyone who looked knowledgeable for direction. We found our hotel by 2:30pm.

The Emblem is a new hotel, only operating for three months. After Rose and I inspected and accepted the room, Jag and I settled up our accounts. I had agreed to pay the cost of the hired car and driver, and gasoline for the duration of the visit, about $50/day, and had already paid $US 190 (8800 Rupies) + 15,000 Rupees. We agreed to another 5,000 Rupees which the hotel provided using my VISA card, totally about $655 Canadian for the week. Any currency calculation is an estimate since conversion rates change continually and fees are often charged. Rose and I had a rest. Later dinner at 8:30pm in the small hotel restaurant, situated beside the reception desk on the first floor.

INDIA GATE, PARLIAMENT, PRESIDENT

Friday, we arranged a car and driver for 1200 rupees ~ $28 for the day to see some famous sites: the president’s mansion, the parliament buildings, India Gate, the Red Fort, the Canadian Embassy, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi memorial, and Gandhi Smriti (the place of Gandhi’s assassination).

PRESIDENTS MANSION AND PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS:

The President’s house, called the Rashtrapati Bhavan, ( SEE http://presidentofindia.nic.in/rb.html )was built for the last British ruler of India, called the Viceroy, to show the permanence of the British rule of India. Ironically it was finished the year India became an independent republic, 1947.

We were disappointed to only be able to look through the gate to the mansion which was a long way away. The same was true of the parliament buildings. We took photos but they did not do any justice to these marvellous architectural creations.

MEMORIAL TO INDIRA AND RAJIV GANDHI

Indira Gandhi (not a relative of Mahatma Gandhi), was the Prime Minister of India three times, a total of 14 years, prior to her assassination by two of her Sikh guards in 1984. The assassination took place after she had personally ordered the military to quell the occupation of the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar, (during which major damage was done to the temple) by a group of Sikhs trying to establish a separate Sikh country. We visited the Temple, a world heritage site, when we were in Amritsar.

Her memorial is the home and garden in New Delhi where she lived and died. Her last steps prior to being shot are covered in glass crystal, and the place at which she was shot is a piece of clear glass. We were gratified to see the simple way she lived and other personal aspects of the life a great leader of India.

Indira’s son, Rajiv Ghandi, who had avoided politics and was a pilot in the Indian Air Force, became Prime Minister after her death until his election defeat 5 years later. According to Wikipedia he is credited with several moves to modernise India. He was also aggressive in dealing with descent and sent Indian armed forces to Sri Lanka to battle the Tamil Tigers. In response the Tamil Tiger leader arranged Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination by suicide bomber near Madras 1991. A memorial has been constructed at the spot of his assassination. A few rooms in the Indira Gandhi memorial are devoted to his photography, and photos and quotes from his life.

GANDHI SMRITI – the site of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, January 30, 1948

Mahatma Gandhi is credited with a major role in securing India’s independence from the British. During the British imperialist era they ruthlessly and arrogantly ruled India from around 1757 to 1947, according to Wikipedia. During that time there were several uprisings which were put down with great force. For example, in Amritsar, the site of the Sikh Golden Temple, we also visited Jallianwala Bagh, the site of the 1919 massacre of several hundred unarmed people who were protesting English rule.

We visited the site of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. His non-violent protest and philosophy energised the people of India. The change he brought about was so dramatic that it marshalled India’s large population to focus on and achieve independence. After India’s independence, Mahatma Gandhi had been living a very Spartan life in New Delhi. We saw the stark room in which he slept, and the attached study. He would walk to a nearby courtyard to speak to the people. As he arrived on January 30, 1948, a gunman pressed through the crowd and shot him. The path Gandhi took to the courtyard is cast in concrete with raised footprints to mark his way. At the point at which he was shot there is a small obelisk with inscriptions in Hindi, I think. All along the path and afterwards small signs show quotations of his comments and sayings. After the obelisk the history of India’s struggle to rid itself of the British occupiers is recounted along with artwork and photos. Gandhi was very much a man of the people. He praised the ordinary people who are the basis of society, and encouraged education. Further along the area are small live demonstrations of children in school, sewing, weaving, making thread on a spinning wheel, and sculpting marble.

A short video (1:13 min) and other information on the Gandhi Smriti memorial site, is at the following web sites. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi http://www.eternalgandhi.org/index.htm

THE TAJ MAHAL

Saturday was our day to visit the famous Taj Mahal. The trains were booked so we had to take a taxi for 4500 rupees, about $100. We were up 4 am and left at 5:15 for the 4 hour 200km drive to Agra. We were amazed to be able to stop at a McDonald’s restaurant on the way. On arrival 9:30 our driver picked up a friend to personally guide us through the site. The Taj Mahal is a World Heritage site managed by UNESCO. Arriving within 1km of the site, we learned that cars are not allowed because of pollution. We purchased our tickets to the Taj site for 750 Rupees each $17. We decided not to walk in the 35 degree heat and hired an electrically powered rickshaw to take us to the Taj Mahal (100 Rupees). Our guide was excellent and provided much more information than I can recount.

The Taj Mahal was built by a Mughal Emperor in the 1600s, in memory of his favourite wife. To place its construction in a European time line, this was about 150 years after Columbus discovered America. The emperor lived in another world heritage site, the Mughal Agra Fort, similar to the Red Fort, another World Heritage site in New Delhi. We did not visit the Agra Fort since we had seen the Red Fort in New Delhi, and by the time we saw the Taj Mahal, it was getting late and we were getting tired.

Entering the East Gate site we were in a large courtyard with 4 large arches (gates) in the North (leading to the Taj Mahal), East, West and South. The gates are connected by cloisters. Apparently this was a public area in the Mughal’s time, in contrast to the private area around the Taj Mahal. You could see the Taj Mahal, a gleaming white marble structure, through the North gate.

As we passed through the North gate, we were in beautiful gardens in front of this amazing structure. It must have been even more amazing when the construction was finished. Time and weather change things a lot. There are shallow pools leading up to the Taj Mahal and to the East and West about half way between the North gate and the site. Unfortunately they did not have water in them, so what must surely have been a striking effect was lost. The gardens around the temple though were in excellent condition and well cared for. I recall visiting the site in 1990 during a commercial visit for work, and the gardens were well trampled. Now they are cordoned off and the public walks along tiled walkways.

We took photos along the pathway to the Taj Mahal. Arriving we donned our ‘shoe covers’ and proceeded onto the temple itself. Being made of high quality impervious marble, the stones were not hot even thought the temperature was high. Inside we saw replica’s of the tomb of the Emperor’s wife, for the love of whom the mausoleum was built, and the Emperor himself. The actual tombs were below. I had seen them during the 1990 visit. As we walked around the structure we could see how the 4 minarets around it were built so that they leaned slightly outward. This was done so that should the ever fall they would fall outward and not damage the mausoleum. It is hard to imagine the number of slaves it took to hall all the marble to the, then to carve it into the intricate patterns we could see on the stones. When it was first constructed precious stones and gold were used, but later generations of rulers removed them for their own benefit. You have to be moved to see such a marvellous structure, despite the exploitation required to create it.

Following out visit to the Taj Mahal, our guide took us to a craft store, J. K. Cottage Industries, makers of handmade marble inlaid articles and handicrafts. We explained that we were on a world tour and could did not want to purchase anything because of luggage limitations. They had a ready answer – they would deliver any item purchased by DHL so there would not be any luggage problems. We were shown the craftsmen and how they did their work, and told the difference between marble, the high quality product, and soapstone, its inferior alternative; and the difference between semi precious inlaid stones and plastic used in many soapstone inlaid products. During my 1990 visit I purchased several soapstone jewellery type boxes. Most were broken by the time I arrived home. Perhaps if I had not packed my bags with so much leather and other products for family members during the trip, more might have arrived home in one piece. Then came the sales pitch; for example just $US 300 for an intricately designed plate, and a smaller ‘cheese’ tray place for $US 200, or a package deal for $US 450. And the offers continued. The items were spectacular and very beautiful and we were surely tempted. But we realize that our jewel is our trip itself, and beautiful as these pieces are, they would be expensive stuff for us at modest home with little function in our egalitarian approach to life.

The drive home was long, another 5 hours, during which our driver was getting very tired. On one occasion he stopped and quickly exited the car to vomit on the side of the road. We could not question him since there was a language problem but we did our best to encourage him to stop for a rest. Later he did stop for 15 minute at a bar under a big sheet on the side of the road
On the way home our drive showed me some text messages on his cell phone with an offer he had to work in Nigeria. Difficult as communication was I described the Nigerian scams we see in Canada, which come by fax, email, and letter, and the problems encountered by the few people who accepted them. He was anxious to accept the offer since he thought it would allow him to provide a better life for his wife and two young children. I suggested that he could do more for them by staying in New Delhi for his family and trying to train for a better paying job. How would you feel I suggested, if you went to Nigeria, the deal was not as described, and you became a virtual slave to your ‘friend’ without any ability to return to India or provide support to your family. Not only greed, but also poverty makes people take desperate chances.

OUR LAST DAY IN INDIA

Sunday October 11 was our last day. We planned an easy day, see the Baha’i Lotus Temple, and a modern mall. We arrived at the Temple to find it closed, even though the tourist information said it was closed on Mondays. Our next stop was the Satek City Walk mall. Modern like any in Canada, and architecturally unique, we felt at home. While open the stores did not open until 11 and it was only 10am. We got our mall fix walking the mall, and found an eyeglass store which was open, a perfect time to get my glasses fixed. They had fallen apart in the previous evening. They were fixed in no time and for no charge. Finally, something that operates like Canada. We had a coffee in a modish coffee bar which was playing Pump It by Black Eyed Peas, a favourite song of our children John and Jolene Rogers at their wedding.

We were getting tired of visiting tourist sites, and wanted to return to the hotel to pack. We decided to visit a more modern Hindu temple in New Delhi, the Birla Mandir, built in the 1930’s by the Birlas, a wealthy industrialist family. It was opened and attended by Mahatma Gandhi. Like the Taj Mahal, much of the building, particularly the floors, are in white marble, keeping them cool even in the hot sun. The temple is dedicated to Vishnu, Dirga, Shiva, all Indian deities, and has painted scenes and elaborately adorned statues depicting my events and personages in Indian mythology. It is a beautiful temple constructed in a more modern way. Like other temples and sites we visited in India, seeing this temple just whets the appetite for learning more about this great nation and its history.

After the visit we returned to our hotel, rested, packed, had dinner, and settled accounts with the hotel, total $920 for our 5 nights at the hotel, dinner and breakfast each day, and car and driver to see the sites.

We rose at 4am and left for the airport at 5:30am for our 8:15 flight.