Colorful Orchha

From Wednesday November 10, 2010

On our eighth day in India, we emerged from our quaint bungalows to find the staff of the Shri Krishna Jungle Resort setting up tables on the grassy compound lawn for a buffet breakfast. It was really a nice idea, dining al fresco in the cool, quiet Indian countryside. Unfortunately, they tried to fix us a western breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and oatmeal. The eggs were OK but the Indian cooks didn't quite get how we eat oatmeal in the West, and served just that - oatmeal without the milk and sweeteners that make it edible to us. And someone forgot to tell them that toast is not just warmed bread and comes with things like butter and jam. I would have loved some of the delicious puri that I had learned to look forward to at breakfasts.

Our first stop of the day was a short tour of the Khajuraho Eastern Temple Group. This group was a Jain Temple complex with no erotic carvings and was not nearly as interesting as the temples we saw the previous day. There is a beautiful idol in one of the temples that we weren't supposed to photograph, but, hey, stuff happens. To see all the pictures from this stop, click here.

Our destination for the day was Jhansi, where we would catch an evening train to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. But first we would stop in the town of Orchha. This turned out to be a highlight of our trip. We wandered into a festival celebrated by the followers of Lord Krishna on the fifth day following Diwali. The festival is dedicated to women, girls and children. On the road, we encountered hundreds of women of all ages heading into Orchha, most in wagons attached to farm tractors. They wore their best most colorful saris and that provided the most amazing, mesmerizing display of color.  In town, everyone was in a most festive mood, women waving at us girls saying hi, waving and clamoring to get our photos as much as we were scrambling to get theirs - just a wonderful welcoming atmosphere.

The festivities included a ritual bath in the Betwa River.

Charlotte made a new friend.

We were all so caught up in the festival, we hardly noticed the Orchha Fort, the site we had come for.

But even there we enjoyed the company of the colorful pilgrims, as they demonstrated to correct way to carry your luggage.

Click here to see all of the pictures from Orchha.

We did finally make it to the Jhansi train station and had a comfortable two plus hour train ride. The train was quite fast; I clocked it at over 80 miles per hour on my GPS. Price of the ticket included evening tea of a sandwich, an amazingly tasty samosa and, naturally, tea. We got a kick out of the name of the company supplying the meal.

Land of the Kama Sutra

From Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Khajuraho is a place where the Kama Sutra is illustrated in brilliant 3-D in the reliefs and statues adorning the exterior of numerous temples in the area. On our seventh day in India, we boarded a Kingfisher Airlines jet to take our libidos on the 200 mile trip from Varanasi to Khajuraho to see what all the fuss was about. The town itself reminded me of the sleepy little tourist destinations you find in the desert regions of the Southwest Unites States. There is one major street running through the middle of the town, curving to the north when it is blocked by the Western Temple Complex. Pretty much everything you need - hotels, restaurants, cafes - is on this strip, but not a whole lot of it.

In a nut shell, there is nothing in Khajuraho except the temples. But that's like saying there's nothing in Siem Reap except for Angor Wat. What else do they need? The temples are spectacular, well preserved 1,000 year old structures. But I think the real fascination is the opportunity to view the most graphic displays of sexual activities possible, without shame or guilt because, hey, we're looking at millennium old high art, right? We're just enjoying history here, aren't we? As for me, I find it fascinating to contemplate a culture that, 1,000 years ago, embraced sexuality as a basic human trait, and did not attempt to hide this side of humanity behind a shield of modesty and obfuscation.

There are a number of temples in the Western temple group, which we visited that Tuesday. We visited 4 of them. The grounds of the complex are expansive, with plenty of grassy lawn between the temples. As with most of the sights we have visited in India, the complex was peaceful and calming. All the erotic depictions are on the exterior of the temples; interior space is pretty much like any temple interior. Our guide gave us a couple of explanations for why the images were put on the temple walls. My two favorites are that the images keep away evil spirits or that they are intended to help a worshiper get rid of prurient thoughts before entering the interior of the temple. I think the images would actually attract evil spirits and that a worshiper would enter the temple horny as hell after viewing these images. I prefer to believe that these buildings were erected by a culture that was not sexually repressed and knew how to enjoy themselves. I'll just let the photos speak for themselves on Flickr.

We had one of our "best Indian food ever" experiences in Khajuraho at the Safari
restaurant. I had what the menu called "egg with mushroom kofta," which was like an omelet smothered in a tomato-based curry. Carol ordered egg curry, in which the hard boiled egg was minced, rather than halved or quartered. The dishes were extremely delicious and exquisitely fiery. Just love the food in this country.

Our accommodations in Khajuraho were more than a little interesting. I can see why Reid picked the Shri Krishna Jungle Resort; it is in a large, walled compound with a dozen or so bungalows. The grounds are beautiful, except for the half-dug swimming pool. The path to the bungalows is lined with flowering plants and papaya trees bumpy with ripening papayas. The problem was that the resort wasn't finished. It looked as if there was a rushed effort to make everything habitable for us. For example, the cheap mattresses were still encased in plastic. And although the buildings were new, the furnishings were old and used up - like someone went to a garage sale to furnish the hotel. Most of the units did not have air conditioning, although this was not a problem because the nights were still cool in this area.  Our room had a space and wiring for the A/C but it was not yet hooked up. But it was a comfortable stay, especially after helping Charlotte and Eileen get rid of a bottle of Gran Marnier that was weighing down Charlotte's luggage.