[JPM Travel Journals] INDIA and NEPAL 01 Intro to India Holi Holy Vrindaban The Sadhu in Taj's Shadow Pushkar's Respite A Sitar & a Vespa in Udaipur The Clean-Bombing of Mumbai Goa Beach Hippie Sighting Tours Unequal Vision in Benares Everest, Out the Window Into Their Thin Air Anna Purr Now Within You Without You Rishikesh Part 2 Amritsar: Bold, Gold His Holiness of Dangerous Liasons Delhi Visit #5 New Delhi Turns to New York [ PHOTO ARCHIVE ]

A Sitar and a Vespa in Udaipur 26 March 01 Lal Ghat, Udaipur. Been here for three days so far, and enjoying the more or less calm. This is to say that I wake up without the assistance of barking dogs, yodeling children, or chainsaw-ripping mufferless scooters. Its been nice. I'm still in the typical simple room with the tidy bathroom, mosquito net, ceiling fan, high ceilings like I like it. Might move to this cheap, austere, but very cool quirky guesthouse a bit further from the tourist hub here. A few days earlier, Jaipur. Palace of the Winds. I took my first sitar lesson today, which was quite a treat. My teacher is the son and 15-years-studying student of a famous, 80 year old, blind sitar player from here in Udaipur. (Suresh Prajapat) My lesson lasted an hour and a half, and I think I'm doing pretty well. I can play about four variations of a basic scale, and am getting used to the different playing styles, movements, holdings, etc. I expect to take a few more lessons, each day, here in Udaipur, and then move on. I'm looking forward to getting to Varanasi as I hear there are good sitar teachers there. I might even slip in a visit to Calcutta as that apparently is where all the sitars come from. I'm relatively annoying to listen to at this point, but alas, this is a sitar, and like most exotic string instruments, usually, even beginner butchery sounds strangely interesting. I hope to pick up a sitar somewhere along the way, here or about, and perhaps travel with it so that I can practice. Or I'll just rent them in the cities I stay. The lesson today was odd.. flashing me back fifteen years to adolescent violin practicing and lessons-- the concentration, the discipline, the intense pressure and yet sweet reward of it all. But what of this ending each exercise with lighting incense and asking me if I want to talk about sitar prices? Also been thinking, talking to more people, about renting or buying a 500cc Enfield motorcycle and touring the Indian Himalaya, going to Dharamsala (Dalai Lama) and Rishikesh (Yoga) after I come back from Nepal. I keep meeting people that have bought motorcycles and are getting around that way, but as exciting as it sounds, I don't think I'd want to be doing it down here in the more hectic parts of the country. In a lesser populated road situation it might be very good. And yes, somewhere, I will find a good helmet. Jodhpur. Looking down on a blue town. I did rent a bicycle in Jodhpur, and rode around for three hours, gettting chased by the children, and lost half a dozen times. Somehow when you are on wheels you are more famous to the locals. I might rent an old vespa/bajaj 150cc scooter here in Udaipur, they are a reasonable $5 a day to rent. There are some villages and temples north of here by 20km that I want to see. Erotic sculptures in the temples. It's that Henry Miller fix, you know how it is. In Jaisalmer, a few days before this, the highlight was going on a two day camel safari. Was driven in a jeep with a few others-- two germans and one swede-- to visit a Jain temple first, and then a way's further to meet the camels and driver. He took us several hours into the desert, onto the dunes, where we built a fire, set up camp. After dinner we slept under the stars. It was one of the most gorgeous skies I ever looked upon-- unobstructed by any noise, light, or structures. Woke early, had breakfast and saddled back up on the smelly, unusual creatures. Can I just say how painful it is to ride on a camel? Maybe I am too used to motorcycles which don't really bounce you up and down so goddamned much. I ended up having to sit side-saddle, which turned out much more comfortable. We stopped and hid under a tree during the heat of the day, for lunch and then a snooze. And then we continued on to a meeting point to catch back up with the road transport. Desert, Dunes, Camels. On the dunes, sunset. Jaisalmer. Here in Udaipur, last night I went to a dance and music performance that was very intense. Performers climbing trees, holding hot coals between teeth, balancing seven water pots on the head and dancing with bells. Nice. Met some [interesting] Americans and we cruised around the town a bit on a late night trip to a Muslim eatery, where I watched, but certainly did not partake, in the consumption of some interestingly prepared goats and lambs (not in the recognizable anatomical format, thankfully.) and then down the road. I had my 25 cent glass of pomegranate juice, which is 'the bomb', by the way. Jaipur (Rajasthan) - Interesting Street Corner. As the sun set tonight over the floating fortress Lake Palace Hotel off in the distance, I watched my sitar teacher's brother, also a master, playing out to the German package tourists on some flash balcony bar place. Soda was a shocking seventy-five cents, the nerve! But the sitar was good, the wooden flute was bad, and the tabla (percussion) player was very cool. Before that I was walking through the palace dining hall, which was empty, and came upon a little cushioned couplet of traditional musicians playing to an afternoon English tea party. I talked with them for a while. Later I stumble on a cluster of culturally insenstive, unimpressable true-to-negative-stereotypes "tourists." It's fine to want macaroni and cheese (or falafel) once in a while, watch a Hollywood film with bad, blurry japanese subtitles to get away from the insanity, or make the break for a seashore's respite. After all why shouldn't this be something of a holiday-- relaxing, enjoyable, and comfortable as well as an adventure, experiences, and challenge. But it just grates my nerves to hear some of these kids talking their dreams of India-without-the-India. Complaing of hating Indian food, seeking hotels with no Indian presence, sitting in McDonalds (you better believe it-- lamb, not beef for their precious take-me-home, pile on my karma Big Mac,) never taking any regular class train compartments, repeating and raising the volume of speaking instead of trying to learn a few phrases in Hindi, and just basically treating India like a giant playground. Damn. Bitterness, over! Shanti, Shanti. (Repeat calming mantra, reconfirm not-a-hippie self..) So it goes. I think I'm off to sit on the roof deck and listen to the temples' vocals into the night. Every night is like a concert and choir, the worships, the prayers, the singing, the kartal-cymbals. A few more days of this, then to Gujarat for a night, Mumbai for two nights. But haven't decided if I'll head to Goa for a few nights and see some of the famous beaches, or skip it and ride up to Varanasi instead and get on into Nepal. The Clean-Bombing of Mumbai >> ©2001 JPM. All photography and writing copyrighted.