Amazing Ajanta and Ellora caves!

Travelling south towards Mumbai, i stopped to visit two more of India's most famous sites: the unbelievable cave-temples of Ajanta and Ellora...

2000 years back they dug and carved these humongous caves straight inside the cliffs, thus creating huge monolithic monuments.. it is as hard to explain as it is to comprehend but it's truly mind blowing!

Can you imagine this? 2000 years back!.. armed with nothing but chisels and hammers.. that is with exactly the same kind of equipment Indians are still using today!!

Ajanta caves...

Ellora caves...

I'll finish with these two shots of the "small Taj" of Aurangabad, or Bibi Ki Makbar..

In year something and such, king Aurangzeb decided to move his capital city from up north to a city he called after his name, near mumbai.. and when he meant moving the capital, he really meant moving the whole city!.. so as he couldn't take the Taj with him, he made a copy!... A few years back he changed his mind and moved everything back up north!

(at least that's the story as i got it.. !)

It looks pretty much alike on the photos, but don't get fooled.. there's no comparison to the real thing!

Nudge nudge wink wink say no more!

This visit of Khajurao also reminded me of some funny conversations i had in the trains..

As a single foreigner you are addressed by men painfully trying to hide their excitment and eager to know about sexual practices in "the west"..
Is sex "free" or "open"? is usually how they formulate their question.. (what do you answer to that?!!)

If anything, Khajurao suggests that pre-muslim India was a bit less sex frustrated than what it has become today! And we're lucky enough that they didn't discover this long forgotten site before the English did, or it would certainly have been destroyed like the rest..

Anyway, it's a good opportunity to encourage you to watch again this hilarious skid by the Monthy Pythons:


Man: Evening, squire!
Man with hat: Good evening.
Man: Is your...is your wife a goer? Eh? Know what I mean? Know what I mean? Nudge, nudge! Know what I mean? Say no more!
Man with hat: I-I...I beg your pardon?
Man: Your...your wife. Does she go,eh? Does she go, eh? Eh?
Man with hat: Huh, sometimes she has to go, yes.
Man: I bet she does! I bet she does! Say no more! Say no more! Know what I mean? Nudge, nudge!
Man with hat: I'm afraid I don't quite follow you...
Man: Oh, "follow me, follow me"? That's good, that's very good! A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat!
Man with hat: Are...are you selling something?
Man: "Selling, selling"...very good indeed! You're wicked, you are, eh? Wicked, eh? Ho-ho-ho! Whoa! Wicked! Say no more!
Man with hat: Huhuh?
Man: Whoa! So your wife's interested in...in sport? Eh?
Man with hat: Ah, she likes sport, yes.
Man: I bet she does! I bet she does!
Man with hat: As a matter of fact, she's very fond of cricket.
Man: She likes "games", eh? Likes "games"? Knew she would, she's been around a bit, eh? She's been around?
Man with hat: Well, she has travelled, yes. She's from Glendale.
Man: Say no more! Glendale, squire? Say no more! Say no more! Say no more! Say no more!
Man with hat: Well...
Man: Whoa! Is your...is your Glendale wife interested in...photography? Eh? Eh? Eh?
Man with hat: Photography?
Man: "Photographs, eh?" he asked him knowingly!
Man with hat: Photography?
Man: Snap, snap, grin, grin, wing, wing, nudge, nudge, say no more!
Man with hat: Sort of...holiday snaps, eh?
Man: They could be, they could be taken on holiday, you know! Swimming costumes, candid...you know, "candid" photography?
Man with hat: No, we don't have a camera!
Man: Ah. Still, whoahaah! Eh? Whoahaah! Eh? Whoahaah! Eh? Whoahaahaha! Huhuh!
Man with hat: Look, are you insinuating something?
Man: Oh, no, no, no... yes!
Man with hat: Well?
Man: Why, I mean, you're a man of the world, squire, you know...you're...you've been around, you know?
Man with hat: What do you mean?
Man: Well, I mean, like, you've...you know, you...like...you've done it, you know...you've slept...with a lady?
Man with hat: Yes.
Man: What's it like?

Khajurao..

So the vacation is over! (and again i'm way late on this blog!)
After a month of chillin with mom and dad, i finally took off.. for the second half of the trip, through the southern hemisphere!

After two more quick family stops, I started off with Khajurao, a 9th century archeological site famous for its temples ornamented with erotic sculptures!
And i have to say the site is fabulous! At least the better preserved western side..

More than the erotic scupltures themselves -unmistakably present!- and even more than the sculptures of deities, the inner and outer walls of these temples are covered with women! Beautiful women reprensented in their everyday moves and activities with infinite charm and sensuality.. (although in these early times women would spend the better part of their everyday moves in contortions to scratch their back or remove the thorns they had planted in their delicate feet!)

If you ask me -who said "we don't!"??- i think this genuinely indian celebration of love and the grace of women should be the symbol of India accross the world, much more than the Taj Mahal, symbol of the Moghol invaders!

OK.. I can't advertise erotic sculptures and not show you any! so here it goes..

They even pushed the concept pretty far!

Vishnu's incarnation as a boar.. symbolizing that man is a sex craving pig! (although that may not be the real meaning!)

Khajurao cuties...

This morning..

.. i found a dead bat on the bed next to mine! Brrrrr...

There's a Dengue epidemic these days..

I wonder where it may come from...




(although honestly, i'm not sure there's that much more of an epidemic that before, but since the prime minister family got infected it suddenly came all over the news!)

Our family trip down south..

'Been having some problems for uploading pics lately, so i got late telling you about my little family excursion, with my mom and dad..

To escape the Lucknow heat for a few days we decided to head down south, to Bangalore.. "the India silicon valley" they call it.. honestly, had it been for that first cow i ever saw stopping at a red light, it wouldn't have felt so much different than Lucknow!..
except for the temperature of course.. that was awesome!..

So from Bangalore we went to spend two days up in Hampi; a beautiful archeological site about 300km north of Bangalore (of which you could already admire the pricing sign in an earlier post!)
Back to Bangalore we headed west to see two old temples, Halebeed and Belur, and then south to Mysore, just in time to take a good "crowd bath" (i'm not sure this expression translates!) for the huge Dussera festival..
Mysore itself (in spite of the crowd) felt like a more pleasant town.. bit more quiet and green..

So here it is in a few pics..

First i'll take the opportunity to introduce my parents..

..and me desperatly trying to find the right angle in all these steps!

the site of Hampi..

a couple of shots caught as we were driving..

cute Hampi kids..
i found the southern cows much different than in the north.. what do you think?!

the only temple still in use in Hampi..

and my mom receiving a blessing from the temple's elephant!

Now i'll have to quote my dad on this one, for i'll always admire his sense of observation and analysis, and if anything, i whish i could inherit that much from him!
"See my son, this is a true symbol of India: individual excellence subordinated to cheap and brainless commanders!.. the whole compound wall is made of crooked stone blocks exactly adjusted to one another without any cement.. imagine how difficult it was to adjust perfectly all these inclined and curved planes one to another.. instead of making square blocks like anyone else.. all this just to use less stones??"

Talking of extremely fine work, the old and never finished temple of Halebeed is unanimously the one we found the most impressive.. every inch of it is beautifully sculpted..

We reached Belur a bit late, so you'll only get these two stupid night shots.. our embassador in front of the main gate..

and a blurred view of the site..

After that we reached Mysore and got lucky enough to find tickets for the Dussera procession..

these last two definitely belong to the "why-the-hell-did-i-shoot-this-digital" series!

Last but not least (although i agree, this expression has had its time!), there was this funny "vehicle festival in Bangalore.. people (and mostly those who make a living out of their vehicle) do prayers for their vehicle and decorate it with banana tree leaves and flowers.. so the whole city ressembles a funny motorized jungle!

Flower power

It's not so much that India has more pretty girls than other countries -true beauties, like everywhere are difficult to find- but women, of all ages, display so much grace and elegance, such taste and cheerful colors.. it feels like living in a permanent fashion show!

"Government's work is God's work"!

Hinduism part 2..

To understand India it is very important to understand that equality is not part of the game and Indians are incapable of thinking in terms of equality!.. Hinduism is based on the idea that nature is not equalitarian: some trees are bigger, some are smaller, and some are crooked.. and the small crooked ones that grow in the shadow of the bigger ones don't complain!.. If God created nature unequal, why should we think better?

Even corruption finds its roots in this well-thought religion.. One shall pay money to priests and temples for God to reward with good health and good harvest...
Now on the House of Parliement of the state of Karnataka, you find these words carved in the stone in big letters: "Government's work is God's work"!!.... you make the link!

The latest achievement of "God's work" that is all over the newspapers these days is the new "Garib Rath" or "Chariot for the Poor": a new type of 3rd class air conditionned train coach aimed at "making A/C travelling available to the poor"...
Although the idea of making cheaper travels is fine, it all sounds like the government has no idea what "poor" means in this country.. I don't see a rickshaw man, a farmer or a vegetable reseller affording this.. not to mention the countless who don't even have a job..

So for the government of India, "poor" starts with the middle class!

The rest and majority of the population can continue paying for their previous life sins... until the government notices them!

Reincarnation or humanity's most evil plot!

Something like 5000 years ago, Indians have come up with a superbe idea.. magnificient in its simplicity and evil perfection.. pure genius! To such extent that to this day it still drives the Indian minds in spite of any external influence...

This idea is the theory of reincarnation.

How do you secure the leaders place, keep the wealth for a few chosen ones, keep the poor poor and exploit the population.. all this without raising discontent and revolutions? Think about it, it's not easy!
It has been the goal of all leaders of all times, but no one ever succeeded like indians do. Dictators spend loads on military power to keep the population quiet, while democrats compete in hypocrisy and communication skills to make you think you're being taken care off...

In India none of this! Maharajas where no more tender than our european kings.. while today's Indian administration is corrupted to the core and has no regards for the millions of people sleeping in the streets in miserable sanitary conditions.. crippled beggers everywhere are ignored by their fellow citizens... and Indians are happy with the way things are! No one would ever think of a revolution, and when asked where they would whish to be reborn, 89% of Indians accross all layers of the population would do it again.. (against only 36% in China for the comparison)

How do they manage?? So many leaders have been killed for much less!

Hinduism is the magic key..

Hinduism teaches that life is an eternal cycle and you will be reborn after death. And the conditions in which you will reborn depend on your balance of good vs bad actions in your current life. It is a wonderful way of making people responsible and self conscious of their actions. They don't need to refer to a Pope or any other high commander in chief, they just need to make sure that their own individual actions do not harm others, to secure comfort in their next life. The idea makes so much sense i'm about to drop a tear!

Now the real beauty comes in the counterpart of this law of reincarnation: Your current life accounts for your actions in your past
life! If you are poor, crippled, exploited.. it is certainly not the fault of your corrupted leaders: you shouldn't blame anyone but yourself for your past bad actions! And you better keep quiet and docile or your next life will be even worse!
If i see a poor man dying in the street, i know he is paying for his past life and it's only fair! I shall pay the same price if i act bad! So why should i care? You don't spend your days visiting murderers in their cells, do you? And if he's dying it's even better; he's about to be liberated! Good for him!

I don't know what true genius originally came up with this idea, but i would like to pay tribute for the priests and Brahmins who managed to keep it alive for 5000 years and make of India the wonderfully peaceful country it is today!

As the saying goes: "You may survive the bite of a snake, but never that of a Brahmin!"

Gandhigiri.. or not!

(Expression made popular by the recent Bollywood movie "Lage Raho Munna Bhai", meaning "a man acting according to the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi")

In the very country where Mahatma Gandi fought against racial discrimination, people still get judged by the color of their skin: In every monument or touristic attraction you will find two different prices on display: one for "Indians" and one for "Foreigners". With the foreigner's fee being of course at least 25 times higher.

Now how does the cashier make out between an "Indian" and a "Foreigner"? In a country where noone is required to go around with an ID proof.. The cashier will never ask dark skin people for their ID, whereas white skin automatically means full price. If someone comes from Bangladesh, Nepal or Pakistan, he'll look Indian enough to get local price, while, say, a chinese looking man from Sikkim could be bothered and required to show a ID proof..

So this is the way the law is implemented.. and I call this straight up racial discrimination!

Now of course, when you argue about it, the official reason is not racial discrimination.. the official reason is that foreigners (understand "not indian looking") have "more money"..
So it is a money problem.. Fine! make the discrimination on money: "10 rupees for the poor and 500 for the rich"... But then the government officials and IAS officiers, who are heavily paid by taxpayer money to come up with these stupid rules should also be charged full price!..

And actually, the few Indians who can afford to travel to France are essentially amongst these, so I would suggest the entrance to the Louvre should be 25 times higher for Indians than it is for the rest of us.

Alternative current in India..

..sometimes it comes..
..sometimes it doesn't..

I didn't kill no one!!

A week of driving my dad's car around the hectic streets of Lucknow, and i haven't killed anyone... so far!

First of all they built this stupid car completely the wrong way round! Steering on the right, gears on the left, blinkers on the right.. what's wrong with these people?? They even drive on the wrong side of the road!.. although that's not true, they actually drive on any side of the road, and even sideways and backwards!

So the first couple of days were pretty tough.. as i was struggling with the damn commands -banging my right hand against the door as i looked for the stick, turning on the windshield wipers everytime i wanted to turn..- bicycles, scooters, cows, goats, kids and dogs would jump right under my wheels, while trucks and elephants would try to crush me down!

By now i am starting to feel more confident and i'm proud to announce that i managed to pass the fourth gear! Although at 40km/h you already feel you've mastered level 19 of a car racing video game..

The rules after all are pretty straight forward:
- if it fits, go!
- if you see a red light, go!
- if in doubt, go!
- in any case, horn louder!

There's brand new mall in Lucknow!

.. with just a few education issues to clear..

Guess who lives in our street?

..Albin, when do you plan to visit?!