Incredible India

West Bengal is an astonishingly varied Indian state. It has a population of 80 million, its capital is Kolkata (Calcutta) and the state language is Bengali. The geography ranges from the Himalayas in the far north to the world’s largest mangrove forest in the south.

Our first stopover in India was in Darjeeling via Siliguri. The drive there was a story in itself! The jeep driver was a serious speed demon who negotiated hairpin bends as if he was playing an F1 computer game. This was despite the ominous yellow signs every 100m: ‘Donate blood to the blood bank, not the road”, “kill speed, not yourself”; and our favourite: “Time is money, life is precious”.

Anyway, we got there in one piece and realized we had sold our cold weather clothes in Kathmandu and were now at 2000m+ again! We settled in to a surprisingly chilled out introduction to IndiaThis might partly have been due to the fact that 75% of the people are of Nepalese descent who generally have a calm, non-hectic nature.

Darjeeling use to belong to the kings of Sikkimuntil 1780 when the Gurkhas from Nepal decided to opt for a ‘regime change’ (although no weapons of mass destruction were found…). They in turn were given a jolly good bottom kicking by the Brits in the guise of the British East India Company. The land was given back to Sikkim in return for British influence over their affairs. Two British officers found the monastery of Dorje Ling in 1828 and with its panoramic Himalayan views thought it rude not to lease the land and invite more Brits to found a hill station.

Due to this history, Darjeeling has a very English feel to it. Here there is a quintessential clock tower that chimes the famous chime, red post boxes are dotted around; people enjoy ‘high tea’ (also a legacy of the many tea plantations around Darjeeling- now producing 25% of India’s tea) and a toy train links Darjeeling to Siliguri.

Many residents of Darjeeling distrust the West Bengal government and in the 1980s Gurkhas called for a separate state of Gorkhaland; however many would now like to rejoin Sikkim state and separatism subsequently has been an ongoing problem. The issues still have not been resolved and one sees Liberation/Unification with Sikkim graffiti all over some walls.

Nevertheless, tourism hasn’t been affected too much and we strolled around the undulating streets, sipped tea, ate good food and had to convince ourselves that we were actually in India! The Himalayan views included Khangchenzonda (8598m) the highest mountain in India and third highest in the world. We visited Darjeeling zoo, which holds only endangered Himalayan animals. Here we saw Royal Bengal and Siberian Tigers (finally!); Common, Snow and Clouded Leopards; Tibetan wolf, Himalayan Black Bear, varieties of pheasants, as well as many other animals.

We dropped in on the Tibetan Self Help Centre. This is a remarkable place that houses, educates and provides jobs- all accomplished by themselves (with land grants and donations of course!). They weave carpets and produce all sorts of handicrafts and also provide a Tibetan education centre giving all kinds of information about the current/past situation in Tibet. Let’s hope the refugees fulfill their dreams and make it back one day…

As tea-loving people, Laure and I decided to pay a visit to Happy Valley Tea Estate. Here we sampled tea from different parts of the plant. I was surprised to find out that in teabags we all drink tea dust- the worst part of the plant! There are 5 grades starting from the top half of the highest leaf. After picking and being placed on a trough, fans and rollers eventually reduce the moisture content to 3%, with unbroken leaves making the highest quality tea. Every crop is sampled and given a price per crop per kilo depending on its colour taste and fragrance.

Apart from indulge ourselves with tea, we also squeezed in a viewing of the latest Bond movie: Casino Royal- our first time in a cinema since we started travelling. Love scenes were cut out and it stopped half way through for a 2 minute ‘snack break’ but I enjoyed the action and Laure thought the ending left too many questions unanswered! We took the toy train through the mountainous scenery (almost) back to Siliguri to catch another night train to Calacutta- but it was hours late and broke down just before the finishing line…we jumped into a motorized rickshaw with Charles (a nice American chap) and still made the connection.

Calcutta (or Kolkata as it is now known) is a metropolis of more than 13 million people and is the capital of West Bengal. The city was founded in 1686 by the British merchant Job Charnock. It was sited near the village of Kolikata (hence the indianised name). It use to be the capital of British East India and therefore many examples of British colonial architecture can be found all over Calcutta.

The whole city seems stuck in a time warp- people walk around in what seems like 1950s clothes, the transport is prehistoric, and hand pulled rickshaws are still used here despite being phased out almost everywhere else in the world. Walk in the India Museum and you step into a museum that hasn’t been refurbished or updated with any stimulating displays since 1960 (might be an exaggeration but can’t be far wrong!) causing a culture vulture like myself to be bored after 5 minutes. The splendid Victoria memorial made up for this though.

Park St. Cemetery was very atmospheric with its gigantic stone columns and pyramids- memorials to Calcutta’s colonial high society. One thing we found shocking here was the average age of death in the 18th and 19th century: probably around 25 in the 18th rising to 30 years old in 19th century- ridiculously high mortality rates. Most deaths would have been caused by disease.

Another interesting visit was to Kalighat Mandir in south Calcutta, near where Mother Theresa worked in the House of Dying. It’s not the most beautiful temple but it was a great opportunity to experience Hindu worshipping rituals (most Hindu temples don’t allow non-Hindus inside. Shri Swarminaryan Mandir in northwest London is the largest one outside of India and also a great place to experience this interesting religion). The Pareshnath Jain Temple was equally a great introduction to Jainism. Only 1% of India’s population are Jains. They believe liberation can only be achieved by complete purity of the soul and one sect believes nudity is one method of attaining this- they would feel very much at home on some beaches in the south of France!!!

One thing that catches one’s attention in Calcutta- the food, it’s a real delight for the taste buds and all for the price of half a pint of beer in England! Another thing that is striking: the poverty. It’s hard to ignore because it’s extreme and in your face. We give food every now and again, but if you give one banana 10 more pairs of hands suddenly appear. Hopefully India will allow more of the fruits of their economic development to reach these people. Some of it is also cultural, there is actually a caste of beggars and some people are deliberately harmed to give them even more begging power. India is definitely far from our western concepts of ‘normal’.

From Calcutta we went on a 2 day trip to the Sundarbans. These are mangrove covered islands that form the Mouths of the Ganges. This vast wetland area stretches across the border into Bangladesh (40% and 60% of the Sundarbans are in India and Bangladesh respectively). The Sundarbans Tiger Reserve is home to largest concentration of tigers in the world (currently about 287 in the reserve); however a sighting of these nocturnal lone rangers is still very rare. Here they also have an unnatural appetite for humans, studies have been inconclusive as to why but our local guide told us it’s normally the old and weak who attack people- he should know, his uncle got killed and he got clawed in the same attack years ago. Up until the late 1990s more than 200 people a year were getting killed by tigers, now with strategic fencing it’s down to 37, maybe less.

The Sundarbans captured our imaginations after reading the phenomenal ‘Hungry Tide’ by Amitav Ghosh, which delves into the history, mythology, geography, geology, ecology, zoology and sociology (running out of ologies….) of the islands. It was great to finally see the place. We got packed onto a bus of party animal socialite Indians on a corporate trip. All were nice people and definitely up for a good time (they started drinking vodka, whisky and gin at 9am- reminds me of my college days!!!). Our bus broke down and we lost several crucial hours of daylight, but transport in India is almost as bad as the English train service so what did we expect?! A suicidal Land Rover driver picked us up and delivered us to the boat terminal (in one piece). One of the party animals told us their Land Rover killed a goat on the way, as one does.

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Chapter 22 - Orissa

By this point Laure and I made a conscious decision to leave the hectic north and head for the reputedly chilled out south of this continent sized country. The north will have to wait for a future journey. A stop-over in the state of Orissa broke up our railway peregrination to Bangalore and enabled us to see another part of this colourful place.

We used the coastal town of Puri as a base and splashed out on a good spacious room with a seaside view. Puri is a relaxed town with a wide beach of orange coloured sand. The ambience was very calm- just what one needs after Calcutta! Here we relaxed, ate great seafood (especially prawns and king tuna) and gossiped with other travelers. We met more French travelers here and I had the chance to practice the language a bit. Many of the backpackers we met got stuck in Puri like insects in a spider’s web. We already had our train tickets booked so we didn’t suffer that very pleasurable fate!

From Puri we caught a local bus to Konark. This town hosts the famous Sun Temple- a World Heritage Site. This stunning temple makes an impressive sight. Here we hired an official guide to explain some of its history. Built in 1255 CE by King Narashimhadev I, it was in use for several centuries and was dedicated to Surya the Sun God. The temple was built in the shape of a chariot pulled by several horses, symbolizing seven days of the week. The Sun Temple and surrounding structures were designed to channel sunlight into the temple in all of the seasons; and around the base of the temple is a continuum of elaborate carvings based on love and life (basically a large amount of erotica, in which the guide was more than pleased to point the finer details!), leaving me with a sense of disbelief at how athletic people can be!

On the 14^th December we packed our bags in order to go to Bhubaneswar. We were to catch a night train from Bhubaneswar to Bangalore via Chennai (Madras) so we would have all day to visit the medieval Hindu temples in the Bindu Sagar district. Only one problem: national strike day! Trains, bus and auto-rickshaw drivers were striking against unemployment, inflation and low wages. Laure and I almost created a riot when (not knowing about the strike) we proposed a ride from Puri to Bhubaneswar (65km) to an auto-rickshaw driver. The mob descended so we walked away but were given another option: a ride there by bicycle rickshaw (very hard sweaty work for the drivers and at least a 6 hour journey!). At the same time a different auto-rickshaw driver came over to make an offer. We agreed to it in the heat of the moment, then just as quickly changed our minds as 2 other men with the driver didn’t look at all trustworthy. We consequently got heckled by those men for the next 4 km as they chased the cycle rickshaws we had jumped on. Seeing another possibly messy situation, we turned back and on route passed a police motorbike that chased the men away. Eventually we found a nice auto-rickshaw wallah to take us to Bhubaneswar and we didn’t suffer any more (already enough for one day!).

We enjoyed viewing the historic temples of Bhubaneswar but the experience was dampened by the fact non-Hindus are not allowed inside the temple complexes. After contenting ourselves with the temple viewing we caught a ride to ‘Mayfair Lagoon’ a five star hotel of exceptional quality and surroundings, so we could take advantage of its English theme bar - a great way to kill a few hours (and to stay the night if you’re rich!).

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Chapter 23 - Bangalore-Mysore-Ooty

Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley of India as overhalf of it's softwear exports come from here. Throughout the 1990s the IT boom has helped propel India's economy forward and has created millions of jobs directly and indirectly. The boom time money doesn't always filter down and many residents of Bangalore still live in relative poverty. Overall Bangalore has the highest Human Development Index (HDI) ratings in India i.e. it's the most developed area. It can seem like an island of economic development surrounded by a sea of poverty.

The change is palpable when one cruises around the streets of Bangalore. Houses are freshly painted in bright colours, there aren’t many beggars on the streets or noisey street stalls cluttering the pavements. The roads and pavements are kept clean and are missing the ubiquitous potholes characteristic of other Indian towns and cities. Here the inhabitants come from all corners of India to take a bite out of the IT pie. Therefore although the province of Karnataka’s main languages are Kannada, Telugu and Urdu; English is the most spoken lingua franca in the hi-tech bureaus.

Laure and I spent a bit of Christmas money on some new, clean fashionable clothes. We had a rendezvous with an old London (Trucost) colleague of Laure’s called Jaydeep and we decked ourselves out in Bangalore’s finery for the occasion. It was worth it for our first night out on the town since we had started travelling!

We had roast lamb and fruity Indian wine to kick off the night with. In the restaurant we met some other friends of Jaydeep and progressed to an ultra-modern night club that wouldn’t have been out of place in London. One difference: a guy can only enter with a girl on his arm; a policy to keep out the leerers. In London they let the leerers in! Needless to say, we all got a bit merry and enjoyed the densely populated dance floor.

The next morning vague memories of a mainly expat after party flooded back and we got ready quickly to meet Laure’s mother and stepfather (Marie and Henri) for breakfast. They were on a whistle-stop visit to India, and being the travel beaten weary wanderers that we were, we more than willingly jumped at the chance for a thorough spoiling at the hands of Laure’s parents!!!

After a great breakfast in the best hotel we’d been in since Hong Kong, we met our very commendable driver Pradeep. He was to be our guiding star for the next week and he risked his job several times to please us (losing favour from his bosses in the process!).

On the way to Mysore we stopped at a Jain statue called Saravanabelagola (try saying that after a few drinks!) perched on a huge monolith, from the top of with we could see across the Karnatakan palm tree dotted landscape. Below the enormous statue, some sadhus chanted their prayers. They were clothed in white except for the one naked ascetic (I mentioned earlier that one sect of Jains believe in nudity as part of the path to attain complete purity of the soul) - whose hairy buttocks will probably be pasted on this very website page!

From that night onwards we had a solid program of visits and activities. We visited the Maharaja’s Palace in Mysore; vegetable and flower market; Chamundi Hill to get blessed in several Hindu temples and take in the views of Mysore from above; and we paced around the tranquil Keshava Temple in Somnathpur.

We managed to behold the Maharaja’s Palace at night and day, lit and unlit. It’s exterior is decorated in an array of light bulbs that shine bright to stun the onlookers every Sunday evening. After the old palace burned down in 1897 leaving behind four wooden doors, the present palace was completed in 1912. It is spacious inside with Victorian ceramic tiles decorating the floor, Parisian statues and glass mosaics adorning parts of the interior. There is also a large collection of paintings that depict ceremonies and life during the Edwardian Raj. Hidden within the palace and under tight security are the 280kg gold throne and a marginally less valuable gold palanquin.

From Mysore, Pradeep drove us through the savanna of Bandipur National Park where we passed spotted deer and a playful group of elephants; and to the hill station of Ooty across the state border in Tamil Nadhu. Ooty is a charming town with a very agreeable winter climate. We spent an afternoon seeing the sights: a hilltop view, rose and botanical gardens. Dinner that night was very rich indeed and it was washed down with fancy cocktails (the next day I suffered stomach pains from binging on too much rich food- served me right!).

We had a day’s hike in the beautifully pine and eucalyptus forested hills with a guide whose knowledge consisted of ‘jungle tree’, ‘jungle plant’- funnily enough everything fell into this category! During the trek we came across the Todas tribe. The women had curious marriage tattoos covering their bodies and their houses were uniquely arch shaped made from twigs compressed and tied together. In the eucalyptus woodland we passed a one-man distillery manufacturing pure eucalyptus oil. We also discovered an Indian Naval Officer’s training base next to a reservoir and used Henri’s French naval credentials to talk our way in for a visit.

Masinagudi below the Niligiri Hills back in Karnataka State was next on the agenda. Henri and Marie experienced the ubiquitous ‘promise unfulfilled’ feeling when, after paying a lot of money for a tour, the agency provided accommodation that was well below expectations. I’ll spare the details; we changed places to a fantastic private reserve surrounded by woodland and stayed the night in 12m high tree houses. The agency failed to deliver again when we went on a ‘safari’ that was actually just a drive on a public road that didn’t even venture into a reserve. Luckily a government tour and a real night safari offered by the reserve owner (where we were staying) compensated for the agency’s shortcomings. We saw a wild elephant, a herd of bison and dozens of spotted deer.

The night in the tree house was quite an experience. We heard peacocks, languors and giant squirrels creeping in the branches and we were woken by the sounds of the animals and more creaking branches. That day we went on two walking safaris. In the first we spotted bison, elephants, deer, languors and giant squirrels- all within 20 minutes! During the second walk we weren’t as lucky but we found a tribal temple surrounded by flowers and trees.

For that last evening together; Laure and I bathed in a Jacuzzi on a terrace opposite a drinking hole for animals. Here we saw spotted deer and languors- tigers have been known to use the same pool but not while we were there! We all dined together on the terrace that evening. Henri and Marie treated us to red wine and foie gras as an aperatif. We finished off a really nice evening with Belgian chocolates.

After an emotional goodbye for Laure and Marie we waved from the car as Pradeep drove us back to Ooty. From there we took the scenic toy train to Coonoor and on eventually to Fort Cochin via Coimbatore in time for Christmas.