To New Delhi, 2 July 2004

This is the beginning of our North India tour.

The flight to New Delhi was uneventful. As we stepped out of the airport in NewDelhi, it was refreshing to see someone from the Travel Agency receive us. However, I was surprised by the driver's reluctance to be with us after we reached the hotel at about 11:00 AM. He said that his instructions were to drop us off at the hotel and, only after a couple of phone calls to the Travel Agency, I was able to get the driver to drive us around in the afternoon to several places. Before the afternoon outing, we ate lunch at the hotel; my son was not impressed by the lunch for which, he remarked, we had to pay Rs. 1189.00 (for 3 people); after that, we decided that we would generally eat outside of where we would stay. (That decision proved to be a good approach during the rest of the tour, particularly since that forced us to explore native food preparations). We also had a good taste of Indian TV available in a hotel: The television programming in India provides the viewer with the best of both Indian & western television. Folks like me can easily spend time in front of TV and not get bored.

At about 3:00 PM, we embarked on seeing several places:

1. Indian National Museum,
2. Parliament Bhavan,
3. Rashtrapati Bhavan,
4. India Gate, and
5. Birla Mandir.

The weather during all this time was extremely hot and humid, typical New Delhi summer afternoon. "If you touched someone, that person's skin would stick to you", to quote my son. After this mini-excursion, we got the driver to drop us off at some point in Connaught Circus at about 8:00 PM so that we could eat dinner in a restaurant, leaving me wondering what kind of local transport service we had paid for. We walked back to the hotel after dinner. (Aha, now you know that we stayed quite near the Connaught Circus).

New Delhi, 3 July 2004

The view from the hotel restaurant was a very exciting one. The dining room is in the top floor of the hotel and we could see most of Connaught Circus, the railway station, etc. The breakfast buffet had both western and Indian components, and we all had a nice breakfast at the hotel. Afterwards, we started the day with a visit to the following:

1. Jumma Masjid. This is believed to be India's largest mosque. Here, men were required to don a lungi around their waist as part of the respect to the decorum of the temple. Conveniently, there was a lungi vendor who would rent one out; it was expected that he would be compensated for making the lungi readily available.
   
2. Red Fort
3. Rajghat. It was quite emotional (for me) to see Rajghat; although I had seen it before when I was several years younger, seeing the eternal fire burning alongside this time reminded how everlasting Mahatma Gandhi's contribution to India has been. It was extremely hot to be near the monument, though, because of the temperature and the heat that came out of stone and/or concrete paving.
4. Humayun's Tomb
5. Qutb Minar

Around 3:00 PM, the car dropped us off for lunch near our hotel: the Travel Agency felt it had completed the agreed-upon itinerary and therefore had no obligation to provide us with local transport for the rest of the evening! This was the effect of the 8 hour, 80 kilometer rental that the Travel Agency had arranged for us!!

The hotel had explained to us earlier in the day that we had been given by mistake a room that was considered more expensive than what we had already paid for. Would we please move to a "lesser" room later that day? Talk about excellent human factors relationship! We obliged anyway, although I later pointed out to them that this kind of treatment is not what I would expect of an expensive hotel in the heart of New Delhi.

Thanks to one of my friends, we were able to move around in a car in the evening and, in fact, I was able to buy a pair of slippers for myself: I had forgotten to pack mine into my bags when we started the tour. We had nice dinner at the Saravana Bhavan on Janpath and, by now I had rediscovered the importance of vanilla milkshake along with my son. Janpath, I recalled, was where some of the early Prime Ministers' residence was located.

To Shimla, 4 July 2004

After a nice breakfast, we started driving to Shimla at about 9:00 AM. Shimla is a hill station situated about 375 kms. from New Delhi. (I didn't know this fact regarding the distance and took the driver's word on faith that we would reach Shimla by 4:00 PM). It is also the capital of the Himachal Pradesh state. I had never visited this city when I stayed in India, and was tempted therefore to include it in the itinerary. The drive to Shimla appeared rather comfortable initially, and we were also able to take in a couple of interesting spots along the way:

1. The first place we got off the car was Panipat. The 1st battle of Panipat heralded the Mughal empire in India, and was quite exciting (for me) to see the present day Panipat.
   
2. Kurukshetra was the second place we got off on the Delhi-Chandigarh highway. As any serious student of Bhagavad Gita would know, this place is considered to be where Lord Krishna imparted eternal wisdom to his protégé, Arjuna, as the epic battle of the Mahabharata is fought. The city of Kurukshetra has created a nice panorama of the battle, about 7 kms. off the main highway.

The highway drive is peppered with dhabas - Punjabi-style restaurants - and sometimes the smell of the food is quite inviting. It was during this drive that I discovered that, even though the tourist car had a cassette player, it was rigged to provide music only to the occupants in the rear seat! As the head of the touring family, I got to sit in the passenger seat next to the driver, and was robbed of the pleasure of listening to fine music from the Hindi film Kal Ho Na Ho, a copy of which I bought in one of the music shops on the highway.

Near Kurukshetra, we stopped for lunch and, after the meal, felt ready to tackle the next portion of the journey. Little did I realize at that time what was in store for us in the rest of the journey. The time was 2:00 PM or so.

At about this point, the driver branched off to a less prominent highway that was undergoing considerable reconstruction. By the manner the early portion of this road appeared and felt during the ride, you would not know that this was a highway! The road signs assured us that this was indeed a highway, however. Eventually, by 7:30 PM, we reached Shimla, and we were all very ready to check into a hotel room. It was here that the worst part of the trip unraveled: The hotel that we had accommodation in was not in the main part of the city of Shimla, but rather in a little known resort town called Shilon Bagh, a resort hotel named Toshali Royal View, and the drive to this resort town beyond Shimla is the most treacherous that I have experienced! The fact that it rained during this time didn't help infuse confidence in safe driving!! The driver, for his part, was surprised at my discomfort, and tried to calm me by saying, in Hindi, Tension Mat Lo, Saab; I was not at all comfortable, however, and my children were kind of speechless.

All through this driving, I was not at all certain we were going the right way, particularly since the driver himself felt obliged to check with local folks every once in a while. I felt a sigh of relief when, eventually, at about 9:45 PM or so, we reached the resort hotel. The hotel was live with action, and there was some music and dancing that went on in one of their banquet rooms.

The room that we were shown into was not a particularly inviting one. The toilet didn't flush and, although someone came by and got it "fixed", we didn't realize that it didn't work properly until sometime in the morning. The "fixing" person was called in again and, after about 30-45 minutes later, left hoping it was really "fixed" this time. These resort hotels are so badly managed that I am amazed that people patronize them quite well. This particular resort hotel has been in business for more than 30 years, I believe.

After a brief snack for a dinner, we slept hoping the next day would be more enjoyable.

Shimla, 5 July 2004

As I woke up in the morning, I peeked through the curtains and, I have to admit, there was indeed a breathtaking view of the hills through the window. It still bothered me, however, how people would enjoy such views when, in reality, highly treacherous driving is the price they have to pay for such a view! A barely visible note on the window warned us to be careful about leaving food in the balcony: it would invite the stray monkeys and there was no telling what could ensue once you had them as guests!

The children woke up an hour after I did, and we all showered. I had told them we would meet the driver at around 10:00 AM. We had breakfast at the hotel room: the restaurant dining area was being remodeled and, even if it were not, the amount of flies in the dining hall and in the neighborhood didn't inspire one to dine there.

I was not at all certain I wanted to engage in more treacherous driving for the day. However, it seemed necessary to do some driving to get to any interesting place. Thus, we set out to a place called Kufri - we had driven through that town the previous night to get to the resort hotel - where the driver recommended that we could do some horse riding. We went there, got out of the car, but the children felt that was not indeed going to be enjoyable, and decided against it. (I was not interested in it any way). It turned out that it was a good decision for another reason: it rained so heavily in a few minutes that it would have ruined the horse ride.

The next stop was for us to take in the city of Shimla: I had decided that we had enough of these breathtaking views with their attendant treacherous driving. The best suggestion that the driver had for us was the main mall in Shimla. We got off at the foot of the mall - remember Shimla is a hilly town - and we took some steps all the way to the top, where the mall area was located.

The mall was really nothing but a row of shops on a hilly road, not much of a mall - I felt - based on my experience with malls in the United States. By now, my children had gotten a special liking to dosa and chow mein, and we found a restaurant where both were served, and we had a nice lunch.

At the rendezvous - a bus stop - we had arranged to be picked up, the driver joined us and it was decided that the best thing we could do for the rest of the day is to go back to the hotel: it was still raining anyway, and I felt it was not conducive to any more driving around. I suggested to the driver that we would want to leave to New Delhi the next day rather early: I didn't want to get back into New Delhi rather late.

In the rest of the afternoon, my son and I played a little table tennis in the hotel premises and, with a simple dinner served in the room, we finished the day.

Later in the tour, my children would ask me whose idea it was to visit Shimla: I would admit, of course, that it was my idea; but, I had a different imagination of what the experience would be like, based on my knowledge of Shimla from Hindi movies.

To New Delhi, 6 July 2004

As we set out in the morning towards New Delhi, we decided to drive through a town called Chail. It was said that this town had a nice palace, and a cricket ground at the highest altitude in the world. When we got to the town, however, it seemed uninteresting and we simply drove through the town.

By about 11:00 AM, we were more or less out of the steep hilly regions, and the drive now was beginning to be comfortable. When I suggested to the driver that we can perhaps drive through Chandigarh, he politely pointed out that Chandigarh was not on the itinerary and, moreover, the cash he had with him would not cover the toll that he would have to pay to enter Chandigarh, a city in another state. (In India, every time you enter another state by road, you pay a toll). We focused, therefore, to drive straight towards New Delhi and, when we got to the main New Delhi - Chandigarh highway, stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant.

The restaurant we stopped by for lunch is a marvel of a place for dining: a swarm of flies, and a litter of dead flies, greeted us as we strode into the restaurant. It was unbearably hot and the place was not air-conditioned; a hum of fans tried to provide a comfortable environment, and it was not very pleasant. The buffet was good, though, and we ate a sumptuous Punjabi meal.

By the time we arrived in New Delhi, it was about 6:00 PM. The driver went away agreeing to pick us up the next day at 8:30 AM, we checked in, and my friend obliged us once again with his visit. My children would have dinner at no place other than Saravana Bhavan, and we drove towards another restaurantof the chain, in Connaught Place. We enjoyed the meal very well, topped it with vanilla (or other) milkshake, and retired for the day.

To Agra, 7 July 2004

The New Delhi-Agra highway is probably the best road on which we drove. The road quality assured me that good roads can be found in India after all. (This is the first time I had opportunity to experience good roads in India in about thirty years). It was also on this highway we had a brush with a near accident. The drivers in India do not seem to care to observe lane marks. Everyone drives as if the only concern they have is whether the front of the automobile they are driving can fit in the opening they see in front of the vehicle. My son once described this driving behavior as a stampede, particularly after seeing how the traffic starts at a green light in Bangalore.

The particular incident occurred as a lorry - truck, for the American reader - decided that it needed to overtake a slower moving vehicle in the slow lane. (The highway had 2 lanes in each side at this point). We were driving in the fast lane, the lane closest to the median. The lorry driver saw the possibility of pushing his vehicle between the slow moving vehicle in his lane and our car, forced his way with a huge honk, unmindful of whether our car driver would feel forced to get our car ever closer to the curb of the median! For a few split seconds, this was not a pleasant experience. Luckily, nothing untoward happened.

As we got close to Agra, we spotted a McDonald's, the American eatery icon, and we decided to stop by for a snack. A few more minutes later, it was time to get off the highway to get to the hotel. And, this portion of the drive was a marked contrast to the highway drive. The road was extremely narrow, with puddles from previous day's rain, and extremely uninviting as a reception to one of world's greatest wonders!

We checked in at the hotel, and we were welcomed to the hotel with a lemonade drink, a drink that was more water than lemonade. But, the view of the Taj Mahal from the hotel room was pleasantly surprising, and we were all ready to take in the monument.

1. Taj Mahal. The drive to the Taj Mahal from the hotel was a short one. Due primarily to security reasons, private vehicles are required to park away form the monument, and a separate shuttle bus, operated by the monument and electrical powered, takes the visitors closer to the monument. Electrical power, of course, avoids the pollution that could otherwise occur near the monument. Elaborate physical checks are made at the entrance of the monument, and you are admitted after you pay the admission fees. The monument is definitely breathtaking, and it takes about 2 hours to visit various interesting aspects of the monument. Mumtaz's tomb is several meters below the ground floor of the Taj Mahal, and visitors are not allowed near the tomb. While the monument itself is definitely awe-inspiring, my personal wonder is how Agra as a city continues to be so dirty everywhere in the city except near the monument.
2. Agra Fort. The Agra Fort was nothing particularly remarkable.

As was customary, we went out for dining in a local restaurant because of the belief that the local restaurants are better representatives of local foods, and not the hotels in which we stayed. The restaurant, although not inexpensive, did not serve particularly inviting food. The children, however, liked the food and that is all that mattered to me. We finished the evening after going around the hotel a bit; the hotel did indeed have quite a bit of recreational activities in its premises.

To Jaipur, 8 July 2004

Fatehpur Sikri is about 40 kilometers from Agra on the Agra-Jaipur road, I believe. This was quite an interesting fort; several significant aspects of emperor's lifestyle were pointed out by our tour guide, who was very knowledgeable about these monuments; he is the same person who guided us through the Taj Mahal the previous day; when asked what kind of educational preparation he had for this job, he mentioned he had a Master's degree in History: quite appropriate for a guide, I thought.

After a brief stop for a lunch on a roadside restaurant, we began to be curious about what was in store in the Rambagh Palace. Rambagh Palace is an imposing building set out well inside a large compound; it was, after all, the palace of Sawai Jai Singh. It was here that I realized how some of the emperors were quite knowledgeable in Vedantic concepts: the motto of the emperor was, in Sanskrit, यतो धर्मः स्ततो जयः [Transliteration: Yato Dharmah Statoh Jayah]. That is, victory is only as much as there is righteousness in the approach to the task. You can double click the icon shown here to view it in a larger version.




The hotel management offers a "wine tour" of the palace hotel, intended to familiarize regarding the various aspects and conveniences of the hotel. We took this tour around 6:00 PM and were quite impressed by the history regarding Rajmata Gayatri Devi.

We then set out to visit Chokhi Dhani, which turned out to be probably the most enjoyable experience we had during this tour. A private entrepreneur has very nicely put together a place intended to bring to you, the visitor, a total experience of native Rajasthan, beginning with a traditional Rajasthani welcome, the camel ride, and many of the assortment of activities that you may find among native Rajasthanis, complete with a Rajasthani meal. The place has a native Punjabi portion as well, but we chose to go to the Rajasthani side.

The best day of the tour ended with a very comfortable sleep in Suite 101.

Jaipur, 9 July 2004

The banquet hall where the breakfast served can only be described as royal; tall ceiling, huge wall carpets and paintings greeted us. (I don't remember if they there was some music too). The food for the breakfast was a generous variety of both Indian and western materials.

We started the day by first visiting Hawa Mahal. The word Hawa in Hindi refers to wind; thus, the wind palace. We only saw it from a distance, from across the street; I wished we could examine it from a little closer vantage point.
Jantar Mantar
City Palace
Amber Fort

By the time we finished our tour in early afternoon, our driver suspected something was not quite right in the car; he wanted to make the Agency aware of the problem and take the car to a garage for possible fixing; luckily, we were able to find an alternate car. My children were longing to eat some dosa and we finished our dinner at a South Indian restaurant in the main part of the city.

In the evening, before we retired for the night, we prepared our luggage to be ready for an early flight to Goa, via Mumbai.

Back to Bangalore, 12 July 2004

We repeated our pleasant experience with the Goan breakfast on a second day. For the rest of the morning, we had planned mountain climbing organized through the hotel. All three of us started on it, signed on with all the paper work, etc., but my daughter decided to go back to the hotel room. Thus, my son and I were the only adventurers for the morning. We both did mountain climbing; but, when it came to rappelling, i.e., going down a cliff, and the subsequent climbing, only my son braved it. For my lack of participation, he greeted me, as he came up the cliff, by awarding the title "chicken."

The travel from Goa to Bangalore, to get home, was quite uneventful until we got on the ground. Hiring a taxi at the Bangalore airport is not for the faint of heart. Even though all taxis are metered, a certain economic subculture has so developed that none of the taxi drivers near the terminal exit will agree to be paid according to the meter, particularly if your destination is J.P.Nagar or some similar location on the outskirts of the city. Certain unmetered taxis want your business too, and they will ask for a fare that is almost 200% of a what a metered taxi would charge. Then, there is also a parking fee that the taxi customer has to pay that you'd think the taxi must own up to.

Anyway, we got home quite in good shape, thus ending our trip.