Walking with Satindar

Our days in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are over, and served by the excellent chaiwallahs on the Varanasi-Delhi express we arrived in New Delhi quite optimistic and ready for the third stage of our journey: The long way up to Himachal Pradesh and the residence of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile, McLeod Ganj. This hill station is a bundle of prayer flags, prayer wheels, mandalas and red and yellow clothed monks.

A quick stop in Delhi was necessary though, and making the most of our time here we decided to take a walking tour with a former street child through the organization Salaam Baalak Trust. Thus we met Satindar, an 18 year old living in Delhi since he ran away from an abusive father at the age of 7. Combining his personal story with interesting facts about homeless children in India, taking us through alleyways, crowded streets and pointing out details we never would have noticed on our own, mixing the tragic events of his childhood with small jokes about the Indian government and the corrupt police, he fascinated and impressed us from beginning to end. At the end of our tour we came to the Trust's headquarters. It was swarming with young boys asking for shelter. Lixian got thoroughly impressed, and they certainly gave us something to think about.

Satindar grew up in the countryside in Uttar Pradesh. He came from an abusive home dominated by his father, a powerful politician in the area. One day he watched his father kill his mother. After that he ran off and ended up on the New Delhi railway station, as hundreds of other children do every day. Here, Satindar entered a hand to mouth-life, similar to that of all street children in Delhi, picking up whatever you can get, trying to stay clear of the touts who will take advantage of your hunger. Still, being a child you spend your time and the little money you can get your hands on playing video games and watching Bollywood movies. If you don't spend your money right away someone will take them from you. Thus, there's little hope of moving on, you're in a vicious circle. Sleeping on the railway station, Satindar got picked up by the Trust who first tried to locate his family. Refusing to return to his father's home he started his education with the Trust, both formal and informal. Seeing him today, confidently guiding tourists through the streets of Delhi, really made an impact.
Elise

Satindar pointing out that the holy pictures were put up on this wall to keep men from urinating on the spot.

Beats the hype

I'm sorry, I'm so computer feeble that I can't figure out how to rotate the top photo. But yes, wow, the Taj Mahal is just as--actually even more--stunning than one expects... Here it is just after sunrise. Elise and I hung out by it just awestruck for a couple hours.

Tonight we head to Varanasi!

Love from Agra,
Lixian

Lazy days in Pushkar

Namaste from Pushkar!

Pushkar is a small and beautiful holy town in Rajasthan. Legend has it that Lord Brahma dropped a lotus onto the earth, and where one of the petals landed became Pushkar Lake. Hundreds of pilgrims come every year to bathe, wash clothes, and pray on the ghats surrounding the lake. It's quite beautiful, humbling, and a little mystifying to watch.

The trip is going well, although Elise and I both suffered from the infamous "Delhi belly" or bad stomachs, which put us pretty out commission for a couple days. Luckily after some rest and a diet of bananas, bread, rice, and some makeshift electrolyte solution, we're feeling a lot better.

In general I think we're also just pretty tired. It's been a lot of travelling and a lot of impressions that are hard to absorb as we're moving on from place to place so quickly. To be honest I'm not really sure if I'm suited to this kind of travelling--I feel like I'm "seeing" a lot but not necessarily understanding. There are these huge moments of disjuncture sometimes, like one night when we were having dinner with some other travellers we met. We had this really engaging discussion on differences and gaps of the German and Norwegian welfare systems (okay, nerds I know), and then all of a sudden it hits you that we're sitting in the middle of India and all this social justice talk just seems so absurd. I don't know, I can't really explain it well but I've just been having this weird feeling since the beginning of the trip.

Elise and I were talking a lot about this last night and we're pretty on the same page--we're both really looking forward to heading up to McLeod Ganj in the Himalayas at the end of the month and just staying there for a while--maybe take some courses, check out some organizations, hopefully get to know a place and its context a little better.

Okay, just some thoughts, now onto the pictures! First, some monkeys for Sigurd; our "Pushkar passports" showing that we've done puja for our loved ones; Elise and I by Pushkar Lake. (Sorry, I had actually uploaded more, and then suddenly the computer deleted them.... gahhh internet cafes..!)

Love and miss you,

Lixian

En route in Rajasthan

"Land slides, madame, land slides". Deciding to follow the advice of Lafit, an honest-looking muslim Indian, claiming that this year's long-lasting monsoon is still to be found in Himachal Pradesh, Lixian and I found ourself hurtling down the bumpy roads of Rajasthan, westward towards the border of Pakistan. Hardly being able to talk due to the countless impressions provided by the thousands of pilgrims walking along the road on their annually pilgrimage, we're now getting used to the smell of our own sweat and the constant feeling of being part of an over priviliged class of post-colonial young travellers, of whom there are many.

Yesterday, rising out of the afternoon heat, the magical fort of Jaisalmer appeared surrounded by the Thar desert. PAssing the city, we headed for the barren dunes and suddenly, before we really wanted to, we were riding camels accompanied by a father and son who had long been in the camel driver-business. My camel, a friendly-looking animal named Romalia, had trotted the path with many tourists on her back and knew how to take her time out to the sand dunes. Heading home though, towards her food, was a different matter entirely. A camel can run pretty fast.

India is diverse beyond compare. Experiencing New Delhi and the empty-looking desert under a vast starry sky in the same week, is incredible. Walking amongst devoted pilgrims making their way towards the temple prostrate on the ground for every step, hearing stories of how the Lord Ganesha got his elephant head and listening to the music of the desert make a sharp contrast to the hustling buzz of every city, the trash on the street, and the smell of muck and sweat.
We still love every breath of it.
Elise

Tourist-trapped

It's 3:30am. We arrive in Delhi after a wonderful day in wonderful Istanbul. We've slept for about an hour, and haven't eaten in a while. We negotiate a pre-paid cab, as we've read that taxi drivers can double as touts in Delhi. We ask to be taken to our hostel that we booked beforehand.

So, we think we're really smart. What we haven't done is read far enough in the guidebook. Basically, we fall into every single (and we cannot emphasize this enough) tourist trap in the book. We get taken to various "tourist offices" all claiming to be affiliated with the government tourist office, get sold a trip to the mountains, get told the plane there is "full," get taken to a hotel to stay the night so we can "leave the next morning." Finally we decide to take control of the situation, find the real and ONLY government tourist office in Delhi, and file a complaint.

We meet our hero/surrogate Indian father at the tourist office who is just a dream: an amazing mix of reprimanding dad, police officer, and just super kind person. He has undoubtedly heard the exact same story a million times from a million other tourists. This story ends, however, happily. We amazingly get our money back (our father figure tracks down the shady scammer), and more importantly, we learn a really important lesson.

But seriously, I don't mean to trivialize the story at all. It was a pretty scary experience and we really got lucky and managed to get out of it, by staying calm but also mostly with the help and kindness of others.

And that aside, we actually are really enjoying Delhi after that insane first day. It's hectic, hot, chaotic, colourful, rainy, and personal space has a whole new (and perhaps non-existent) meaning. We are also, as two veggies, in veggie food heaven. Today we went to the Jama Masjid and the Lal Qila (Red Fort)--two amazing Mughal legacies in Delhi, and just as importantly, spacious and quiet (one learns to appreciate space and quiet in this city). We've passed Jain and Sikh temples and countless Hindu altars. We're learning how to cross Delhi streets without being killed--by cars, rickshaws, tuk-tuks, bicycles, horses, carts, and cows.

So, vi lever fortsatt. And the metro, that's our anchor in more ways than one (it can't scam us).

Love and miss you
Elise og Lixian