Indian Stories - Part 2

Patience, Yoga, and Yellow Food

I’m thinking a lot about patience these days. We’ve never traveled on a package tour before with a set itinerary. Probably, for us, the greatest benefit has been having a leader who arranges all transportation (so we avoid scams) and as mentioned before, coaches us on how to “behave”. We are covering a fair bit of ground: Jaipur, Madawa, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Osian, and in an hour or two we leave for Jodhpur. By now we’ve utilized a wide range of transportation vehicles (including camels) and had some interesting experiences, but the key word here is “vehicle”. It’s a catch 22 for us: we are seeing a lot, but to travel in this way also means quite a bit of sitting! Travel times have commonly been 3-4 hours, and the train ride to Jaisalmer closer to 7. To sit has become a practice of patience, and while we are desperately missing walking, I’d say we’ve embraced it. We sit, we watch desert scenery roll by, we may close our eyes for a time, and then we keep sitting. I am reminded of Gerda’s words as a fairly new yoga student in the early 1980s. She would tells us that when we wash dishes, for example, we should be very present and simply wash the dishes – no need to be doing or thinking about anything else, just wash dishes. Sitting in a seat that moves us from A to B, I practice just sitting in the seat. Travel yoga.

Our train ride was memorable. It was our 2^nd one here in India, and both have been early morning trains. An early morning tuk-tuk took us to the station in Bikaner as the sun was rising. This means streets are quiet, and we only have to dodge wandering or sleeping cows. There is a calmness that is hard to find at any other time. Just like we saw in New Delhi, the entrance to the ticket counter, at that hour, is a shelter – it is open air, but there is a roof. The tile floor has become a sleeping surface for many people and we walk our way around bodies covered head to toe in dirty blankets. As always, mangy dogs or puppies wander in and out nosing around for crumbs. At a certain point a guard will rouse them and shoo them away. These homeless people are a fact of life here, and no-one seems to begrudge them the space.

Vivek purchased tickets for a sleeper car. However, when the train pulled up there were only 2^nd class cars so that is what we took. These trains have lightly padded bench seating for 4 along one side: double benches that face each other, although if crowded I can now imagine 6 or more people crammed on a single bench (Indians are very good at packing many people in a small space. A jeep driver told us that he has carried 35 people in his vehicle – he hangs out his side to do this). No doubt perfect for families. Across the aisle, pairs of individual seats face each other and we were quick to snatch a pair when the chance arose. Windows are 3-part. First there is a glass pane, dirty and grimy, that can be opened upwards. Behind the glass is a slatted metal shutter that provides shade while letting air into the coach. This too can be opened upwards to reveal a set of bars that would prevent one from sticking their head out the window, unless of course, the bars from your window were gone. The doors for entering and exiting the train were always open which meant one could stand in the doorway, hanging on of course, and watch the scenery roll by. Thank goodness we were not expecting western safety standards! The upshot of all this was that the train ride was airy and breezy, the layer between inside and whizzing scenery relatively thin. The other repercussion was dust and dirt. There was grit in our teeth and literally, a layer of sand on our pants. No wonder the entire train is so dirty. The toilet (always thankful when I find one) was a “squatter” and I could see the ground whizzing by beneath the hole. Sometimes we stopped at a station, waiting for another train to pass. Stopped, in the apparent middle-of-nowhere, challenged our patience.

Our leader Vivek hard at work

 

The remarkable thing was, about ½ way through the trip the train almost completely emptied out. There were only 4 people in our entire coach. When we stopped for almost 30 minutes, waiting, hot, dry breeze blowing in through windows and doors, I could see Vivek getting restless. For me the stop, and emptiness of the train, created a perfect yoga opportunity. A bit of toilet paper and drinking water let me wipe the grit off a bench which turned out to be perfect for downward dog, bridge, child’s pose and sphinx (which says something about the amount of padding). Being open to the moment.

The food here has been fantastic, although often less spicy than we would like. Vivek tells me that in his experience, most tourists do not like spice. This means that hotel buffets, omit chilis. No chili, means lots of turmeric, which means mostly yellow food. It is good, but we have really enjoyed some of the special, spicy treats Vivek has bought us on the street (names have escaped me), the small whole in the wall restaurants he has sent us to, or the special order of onion, garlic, and chilis he asks the staff for and then shares with us. We are eating very little meat, but have had some great potato, vegetable and lentil dishes. We have fallen in love with roasted paneer in various sauces. We are, however, finding the food rich – beware of too many tasty, deep fired pakoras. Everything is in a sauce, often thick with oil or ghee. Vivek almost always invites us to try interesting food he has ordered (like chick-pea flour dumplings in sauce) and Barry has developed a fondness for parathas (flat breads stuffed with potato, or spice; I had one stuffed with banana). I have been a bit sick which was a minor setback (and caused me to miss the trip to the movies – action flick though, so not really my thing). So we are also learning to practice patience around food. We have to be modest in ordering and work at not overeating. On days when someone has a less-settled stomach, we must patiently eat soup, rice, or boiled vegetables. Our best bet is consistently dal, vegetable curry, rice or chapati. We must patiently endure, and not indulge, our cravings for salads. I have started to eat cornflakes with milk (and sugar) in the mornings because it is cold and I crave cold food. Lassis have become a favourite for this reason. Thanks to Vivek for turning us onto the BEST saffron special lassis with cream, along with the most amazing samosas in Jodhpur. Calorie count – pretty high I figure! We also practice patience with the few extra pounds or “handles” I think we are gaining. If I eat another gulab jamun, I may start to look like a little gulab myself. These are delicious, little balls of sweetened condensed milk, mixed with flour, deep-fried and served in a thin syrup. Hard not to like, even harder not to eat. The good news is, that even when we think we have tired of curry, every time we sit down to a meal we delight in the tastes.

Here are a collection of photos from the last number of days;

Mandawa haveli - 2nd floor, just outside our room. The following
5 photos are from the same place.

 

Fun bus riding - sitting right up front, crammed in with
8 others right beside the driver.

Bikaner

 

View from roof top - the fort in Jaisalmer

In our swan paddle boat. Jaisalmer.

 

 

This and the next few photos are from the Jain temple in Jaisalmer. Amazing carved sandstone.

Queen of the desert

Cheap food and reasonable coffee. Jaisalmer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon we ride the overnight sleeper to Delhi, which means that soon we leave India. A complex country that where we have had a truly wonderful time. A very good leader, excellent accommodation and great food have made this feel like quite a holiday. So once again, time to “change ‘er up”. XOXO D

Post Script: The overnight sleeper train was a good ride. Mild AC and 6 sleeping berths to a small compartment, stacked 3 high. Everyone gets a sheet, pillow, and blanket. There was quite a feeling of camaraderie; a small boy walking up and down the aisle poking his fingers into peoples laptops and checking everyone out. In India, apparently, this is quite acceptable and some might even offer him food. Beds were not exactly comfortable (so far our entire experience in Asia has been of hard beds) , but we both slept fairly well. Good practice for future overnight travel.

We had a free day in Delhi, thankfully. We visited the fantastic National Museum and the Gandhi Smitri (museum and the small room he spent the last 144 days of his life in, before his assassination in 1948 (or was that 1947?)). Both were fantastic and took us into a much nicer part of Delhi; wide tree-lined streets, parks and big homes. It was easy to walk around and we even ate ice-cream from the ice-cream truck (mostly because we could not find a restaurant for lunch). Both museums had excellent multi-media, interactive displays. The whole experience was a good counter-balance to a lot of what we had seen in the city to that point. I think India will take some time to “digest”.