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INTRODUCTION
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The first week in March saw
the ASATA Annual Congress being held n India. After congress I went on a
tailor made tour to remote rural areas in RAJASTHAN and UTTAR PRADESH: for a
period of three days it was me, and my driver, Dwermentah, who was both
guide and interpreter in a very poor English, that introduced me to a very
different face of India.
Being my second visit to
the country with over a billion people, I was a bit more street wise to
deal with crowding hawkers, irritating bargainers, begging children and
shrewd schemers. In India there is always “another story and another
price”. Whether it is to know that a choice with a cost difference does
exist between “air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned” vehicles
(whether you ask for it or not), “special” places to take unfamiliar
photos of specific monuments, or just above the average level of
service. My advice to any visitor to India would be to deal only through
knowledgeable tour-operators, and insist on a detailed itinerary
specifying every aspect of the trip, in detail, of what is included in
the quoted price. |
The romantic Taj Mahal in Agra, seen at sunset from a totally different
view spot
across the Yamuna River |
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A typical Indian family of six on a daily excursion on their moped |
The
Indian way of transport can be very innovative and exciting: anything
from bicycles and tricycles, rickshaws and automised Tata/tuck-tucks,
wagons drawn by man, goat, camel water cow and tractor; queuing and
lanes mean little to the Indian people: in the major cities like Mumbai
and Delhi six lanes of traffic, all inclusive of the above means of
traffic as well as cars and lorries and busses squeeze and converge into
a maximum of two lanes, without creating a major traffic jam!
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After congress I left
Mumbai early Saturday morning on Jet Airways to Jaipur. I had the
privilege to share to flight with JP Shaw, director of Tourism India
(Incredible India) in South Africa. This seems to be a silent comfort on
my first encounter with India on my own. At Jaipur airport I was met by
my driver and his small Tata vehicle: my companions for the next three
days.
RAJASTHAN
The Jaipur region
of Rajasthan lies on the eastern fringes of the Thar Desert, a
semi-arid land cut southwest to northeast by the craggy Aravalli
Hills. Studded by hilltop and jungle forts, its valleys and
plants glitter with palaces and pavilions, pleasure gardens and temples. |
Exciting modern architecture in Mumbai’s
financial suburb of Bandra |
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The Water Palace rises like a mirage from the
calm waters of the lake
Man Sagar |
The historically rich
territory is centred around the old capital of Amber and the “newer”
city of Jaipur, with some 3 million inhabitants. Well-known for its Pink
Palace,
the Jantar
Mantar
observatory, various temples and bazaars around Johari and Tripolia, the
eary Jal
Mahal
water palace, as well as impressive modern buildings like the Rambagh
Palace Hotel and Regional Parliament Building.
A labyrinth of
fascinating bazaars (selling anything from blue pottery to briyani
chicken, monkeys to meenakari jewellery, malai kofta to masala baingan;
tandoor pots to textile block prints), opulent palaces and historic
sights, Jaipur offers a chance to see the old alongside the modern. |
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The Badi Chaupar
square is at the one end of the Tripoilia Bazaar. Narrow pedestrian
streets branch out of the main streets where artisans fashion puppets,
silver jewellery, as well as other local crafts in tiny workshops. Next
door is the Hawa
Mahal
or Palace of
Winds: this ornate façade has become an icon of Jaipur, a tiered
baroque-like composition of projecting windows and balconies with
perforated screens
UTTAR PRADESH
On
route to Agra, we stopped at Fatehpur Sikri, a Mughal
capital for 14 years. The principal buildings of the imperial palace
complex, clustered on a series of terraces along the sandstone ridge,
formed the core of Akbar’s city. It is fascinating to see the effective
use of pivots in stone, the same way they are executed in wood. This
style of construction is not usually used in arch construction. This is
seen only in stone temples built by Hindus, without using the principles
of masonry construction.
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The Hawa Mahal façade designed to enable the purdahed ladies of the
harem to watch unnoticed the colourful street scenes on Sireh Deori
Bazaar below |
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A view of the five storeyed open pavilion, Panch Mahal, with the Talao
Pool in the foreground, where it is said that the court musicians could
light oil lamps with the magic of their voices |
One of the world’s most
important bird sanctuaries and a World Heritage Site, the Keoladeo
Ghana , is certainly worth visiting. Today, the park spreads
over a small 30 square kilometre area of wetlands, and attracts a wide
variety of migrant and water birds which fly in each winter from places
as distant as Siberia.
Agra
lies in the centre
of a rich and varied cultural territory. Obviously this is home to one
of the world’s most popular and written about buildings, the
Taj
Mahal.
The English novelist and poet, Rudyard Kipling, said of the Taj after
his first visit:
“As the mists shifted,
and the sun shone upon the mists, the Taj took a hundred new shapes,
each perfect and each beyond description. And over and above concrete
comparisons, it seemed the embodiment of all things pure, all things
holy and all things unhappy.” |
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The white marble of the
Taj is extraordinary luminescent and even on dull days seems bright; the
whole building appears to change its hue according to the light in the
sky. In the unique beauty, subtlety is blended with grandeur and a
massive overall design is matched with immaculately intricate execution
and attention to detail.
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The camera might record but only an aspect of its outward truth, its
totality, the real spirit remaining beyond its focus:
a prayer, a
vision, a dream, a poem, a wonder magical memory to take home and nurse
forever… |
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All contribute to the
breathtaking first impression as you pass through the arch of the
entrance gateway. You will already have seen the dome of the tomb in a
distance, looking almost like a miniature, but as you go into the open
square before the main entrance, the Taj itself is so well hidden that
you almost wonder where it can be. The glorious surprise is kept until
the last moment, for concealing it is the massive red sandstone gateway
of the entrance, guarding the wealth and beauty inside and symbolising
the divide between the secular world and paradise.
I forced myself to
leave, and looked at it from every side, unable to make up my mind which
was more beautiful.
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Johann Beukes |
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