Mauritius

Many of you know that I’m lucky enough to have family in Mauritius. My mom was born and raised here, and almost all of her family is still here. I’m staying with my Aunt and Uncle and my three cousins all live close by. I visited Mauritius much more often than India in the past, so I’m pretty familiar with everything and everyone here. I also have seen all of the touristy things here, and so I’m looking forward to having a relaxing and laid back end to my trip. Because we are below the Equator, it’s summer here and peak tourist season as all the Europeans flee winter for the amazing beaches here.

Today I went on a day-trip to Isle Au Cerfs – another small island that’s accessible by boat or ferry. It’s part of Mauritius and is a tourist destination with beaches and restaurants. We went by speed boat, which I had never done before. It was exhilarating bouncing up and down on the water, taking sharp turns with the wind rushing in your face while seeing the beautiful scenery go by. After having lunch we hung out on the beach and then took another boat ride to a different part of the coast to see a waterfall. We later headed back to the coast where we first embarked and headed back home. I’m having a great time with my family here, and although it’s hot at times, I keep reminding myself how cold it’s going to be when I get back home. I’ll keep adding pictures as the week goes on.

At an outdoor concert venue on the northern coast

At a lighthouse built in 1910 on the western coast

I got brave enough to take out the camera on the speedboat

On the beach where we had lunch

At the waterfall - before we all got soaked

Coimbatore and Bangalore

Flower market in Bangalore

After returning from our trip in North India, my Dad and I headed to Coimbatore, a city in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India. It’s just a 45 minute flight from Bangalore. My dad was born and grew up in Coimbatore with his brother and two sisters. My Aunt and Uncle from Bangalore came with us, making it the first time all four brothers and sisters were together in a long time. My dad had a photographer come to the house to take some family photos while we were all together. The rest of our time in India was mostly about visiting family, and I enjoyed it a lot especially because I hadn’t seen some of my relatives in 15 years. While in Coimbatore, my uncle took me to visit a temple where he is very involved and which my grandfather helped to found in 1942. It has since become a large and well-known complex, thanks in part to my uncle undertaking a large expansion project. Having never met my grandfather, I enjoyed visiting the temple that he often went to and seeing his name engraved on a wall listing the founders.

After a three-day visit, we headed back to Bangalore for another couple of days. On my last day, I went on a walk at 7am with my cousin’s husband in Lalbagh Garden. It’s like the Central Park of Bangalore – a huge green space in the city center with ponds, numerous kinds of trees and birds, and beautifully landscaping. About 8,000 people walk around the park every day, and I could see why. It was peaceful and the air was clear. It’s now known as the “lungs of the city” because of the fresh air inside compared to the smoke from the ever-present cars and motorcycles outside. I was glad I went on the walk, even though I was questioning the decision when I woke up at 6am.

That night I left Bangalore for my next stop – Mauritius. I had to go through Mumbai, where I was to catch a 4am flight to Mauritius. I arrived in Mumbai at 1am, only to find out that my flight had been delayed until 7am. Staying up all night and hanging out in the Mumbai Airport wasn’t exactly the most fun I’ve ever had. To top it off, we spent another hour and a half on the runway waiting to take off and they only had vegetarian meals left when they got to my row. But all of this could not ruin a truly great trip to India.



Plaque at temple listing my grandfather's name, K.V. Narayana Setty



My cousin taking his two daughters to school

My cousins and me in Coimbatore

Stereotypical pic of cows on the street in Bangalore

Bangalore traffic

Lake at Lalbagh Garden

With my Aunt and Uncle in Bangalore before I left for the airport

Jaipur

Hawa Mahal

Jaipur is known as the Pink City because all of the buildings in the old downtown area were painted pink – a color that signifies welcoming guests in Hinduism – by the former Maharaja on the occasion of Prince Albert’s visit. Jaipur is also known for its many palaces and for being one of India’s first (and only) master-planned cities. Hundreds of years ago, the Maharaja planned the city on a grid system and built wide streets (so wide that they handle the heavy traffic well today – and are wider than most streets in any of the other cities we visited).

One of our first stops was Hawa Mahal (Wind Palace). I was told it’s an engineering marvel because no pillars were used to build it. It faces a busy street and looks like a huge palace, but it’s actually just a façade. It was built so that the women of the royal court could look out the windows and watch the every-day city life go by. There’s nothing behind it but ramps that lead to all the screened-windows.

 We visited the Amber Fort and Palace – a huge complex built in 1592. At this point, I was pretty sure I had mastered all the details of palaces in India, but the Amber Palace is a little different because it was built with more Hindu influences than the previous palaces we had seen which were all built by Muslim rulers. The palace had numerous ingenious details such as water drainage systems, fountains, and sort of a pre-air conditioning cooling system. One room known as a Sheesh Mahal (Glass Palace) was added in 1639 and has intricate art work that featured glass, mirrors, and gem stones.

We stopped by the Lake Palace which was built as a summer residence. After it was built, a man-made lake was built around it and so the palace appears to be floating in the water. It’s only accessible by boat and is currently closed to tourists. Other sites we saw were the City Palace and Museum (which includes the palace where the current Maharaja lives), a fort that houses the world’s largest cannon on wheels (supposedly), and Jantar Mantar, a large space with numerous astronomical tools including a sun dial that tells the time within a two-second accuracy. There were a lot of other instruments there, but as much as I tried, I didn’t understand how any of them worked, but I definitely acted like I did.

On day 2 we headed back to New Delhi for our flight back to Bangalore. We got stuck in some legendary India traffic and the drive ended up taking 7 hours. As an added bonus, our flight was delayed for about 2 hours when we got to the airport. But the delay gave us plenty of time to reflect on our fast-paced golden triangle tour - which I think was a success given all that could have gone wrong.

Hawa Mahal

Elephant rides at the Amber Fort entrance

Ganesh post at Amber Palace entrance

Copying Euro tourists who were lined up taking pictures in this opening at Amber Palace

Detail of glass and mirror art at Sheesh Mahal

Amber Palace courtyard

Lake Palace

Jantar Mantar and world's largest sundial

World's largest canon on wheels (?); protects the Amber Palace and was only fired once during a test and supposedly the person who fired it died (???)

With a Rajasthani dancer at a touristy dinner-and-dance show

Agra

It’s wedding season in India. In Hinduism, the several weeks that follow the Diwali holiday is an especially auspicious time to get married. As such, there are weddings literally every day of the week. Anyone who has been to an Indian wedding knows they are no small affair. As we arrived in Agra, we were held up in traffic by at least three wedding processions  that included grooms on horse-back and marching bands. All the wedding venues were covered in flowers and Christmas lights and apparently more than one bride’s father decided to spring for fireworks to mark the occasion.

Our hotel in Agra was supposed to resemble a Maharaja’s palace, but more importantly, we had our best meal in North India at the hotel restaurant. Chicken Tikka Masala, Naan, and Saag Paneer. I was worried that we were ordering all the American-ized Indian dishes, but they were so much better than any Indian restaurant at home. For dessert I ordered the Gulab Jamun, which I don’t normally order, but I’m glad I did. It was different than any I had tasted before – it had pistachios and saffron inside each ball – it was delicious.

The next day we headed out early to see the two major sites in Agra: the Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal. The fort was actually a huge complex that included several palaces inside. The palace was home to the emperor who built the Taj Mahal. The remains of the rooms are all incredibly ornate and intricate. There were fresco paintings, marble carvings, and marble in-lay work in which gem stones were used to create flowers and other designs. This same type of marble work adorns the Taj Mahal with tens of thousands of gem stones.

The Taj Mahal is difficult to describe in words. Like the Treasury building at Petra, it was one of the places I was most looking forward to seeing. Our tour guide said that when President Clinton visited the Taj, he wrote in the guest book that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who have seen the Taj Mahal in person and those who haven’t. He has seen much more of the world than I have (and is obviously smarter and more eloquent), so I don’t know that I can make such a sweeping statement, but it was as striking to experience in person as I thought it would be. Everyone knows the story of how it’s a monument to love, but it was its sheer beauty and intricate detail that I was struck by. Seeing it in photos, you don’t see all the intricate carvings and marble in-lay work that surround the entrances. Arabic writing is carved in the white marble and inlaid with black marble and there are floral designs with gem stones. The four minarets that surround it are aren’t perfectly straight – they were built at slight angles so that if there was an earthquake they would fall away from the main building and not destroy the tombs.  The gardens are perfectly landscaped and it wasn’t too crowded when we were there. There were, of course, the usual hawkers and scammers trying to sell you things or take “professional photos,” but somehow they couldn’t ruin the experience

Entrance to Agra Fort

Palace at Agra Fort - my dad not looking at the camera

Agra Fort

View from top of Agra Fort

Palace with gem stone marble in-law work

Entrance gate to Taj Mahal

Arabic writing and floral designs in marble in-lay around the entrance to Taj Mahal

View of entrance gate from Taj Mahal

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New Delhi

My dad and I arrived in New Delhi at around 10am and headed to our hotel. It was my first time in the capital city, but my dad had visited about 25 years ago. The first thing I noticed was the hazy/smoky air. We asked the driver if this was typical weather and he said that about 4 days out of the week it was hazy.

That afternoon we headed out to see some sights. Our first stop was Kotar Minar, which translates to Victory Tower. It was built by a Muslim ruler after his victory in a battle against the local leaders. Hindu temples were destroyed to build it and there are still ruins of the temples around it. When it was built, it was the tallest tower in Delhi.

We then headed to “new” New Delhi. This neighborhood was built by the British during their rule of India and includes the Parliament buildings, the Presidential Palace, and the India Gate. There were beautiful homes on huge lots that all belonged to government officials. There were also several embassies around. The streets were lined with trees and there were gardens at intersections – it was much cleaner and green than any other area in Delhi.

Because of intense security, tourists aren’t allowed to tour the Parliament building or Presidential Palace – unlike our Capitol and White House tours in the U.S. They don’t even like for you to stop and take pictures in front, so we had to do it quickly.  India Gate is a major attraction in Delhi. It commemorates India’s participation in World War I and has an eternal flame guarded by members of the military at all times. Like many of the major sights in India, it was also packed with people trying to sell you things or take your photo. Luckily, we weren’t harassed as much as other tourists that were around.

Our next stop was Cannaught Place – a major shopping area in Delhi. It was our last stop for the day and so we told the tour guide and driver just to leave us there and we would take a taxi back to the hotel. That turned out to be a bad idea, because we quickly realized that the shopping wasn’t that great, it was starting to rain, and rush hour was beginning. Luckily, we got a cab and made it back to the hotel. There weren’t too many restaurants around our hotel, so that night we took an auto-rickshaw to a big shopping mall to have dinner at a restaurant. This also turned out to be a bad idea. We thought it was about a 10 minute ride at-most, but it turned out to be closer to 40 minutes, and at one point I was convinced the driver (who didn’t speak English) was taking us to the middle of nowhere. Not to mention the traffic is crazy in Delhi (just as it is all over India), and there were way too many close calls for my comfort – especially because in an auto-rickshaw there was nothing between me and other cars. Luckily we had an excellent dinner at a restaurant called Punjab Grill – butter chicken and naan, which I was hoping would be better than in the U.S. and it definitely was.

The next day we visited the Lotus Temple – a Baha’i temple built out of white marble in the shape of a lotus flower. We also went to Chandini Chowk – an old market place that is similar to Avenue Street in Bangalore. We went to one of the quieter sections where they sell all the flowers and decorations for weddings. While the market place is old, crowded, and not exactly clean in many areas – this particular area was calm and the bright colors of all the flowers and silks contrasted beautifully with the surroundings. Our next stop was Raj Ghat – a huge green space in the middle of Delhi where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated and where the subsequent funeral pyres for Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were. It was beautifully landscaped and all the noise of the city faded away.  I think it was my favorite place in Delhi. Our last stop in Delhi was a Gandhi museum which included the house where he spent his final days and the garden where he was assassinated.

After lunch we began our 5-hour drive to our next stop: Agra.

Ruins of temples at Kotar Minar

Sneaking a photo in front of Parliament Building

India Gate

Lotus Temple

Largest Mosque in Delhi

View of Chandini Chowk market

Gandhi cremation site

Gandhi cremation site again

Gandhi assasination site

India - Day 1 (of 12)

Avenue Street - only a percentage of the
chaos is captured

I arrived in Bangalore at 3am – which is the recommended time to get there so as to avoid the huge traffic jams from the airport into the city. For the India portion of my trip, I’m travelling with my Dad, who arrived a day before me. Our itinerary includes visiting family in Bangalore and Coimbatore (both in South India) and doing a tour of the “Golden Triangle” – New Delhi, Agra and Jaipur (all in North India).

We are staying with my Aunt and Uncle in Bangalore and my cousin and her husband have been drafted as our tour guides. After catching up on some sleep, they took me and my dad around Bangalore. I haven’t been here in 15 years and it has changed a great deal. Bangalore was once known as the “Garden City” because of its public gardens and tree-lined streets. In the past ten years, however, it has also become known as the Silicon Valley of India and has grown tremendously. The most noticeable aspect of this growth is the major traffic problem – it can take about an hour to go anywhere in town during the day. There are several major infrastructure projects going on – including road widening and the installation of a new metro system – which should ease the problems, but their construction is only adding to it. Bangalore still has much of its charm though and doesn’t feel like a huge city such as Mumbai or Delhi. There are also still plenty of trees and gardens around.

We checked out a couple of sights – including the Tippoo Sultan Palace which was a summer palace for a former Maharajah of Mysore, the prince that used to rule Southern India before British rule. The palace was mainly used in the late 1800s and a large fort that surrounded it has since been destroyed. We also went to some of the major shopping areas of Bangalore. One area, Avenue Street, has to be the most chaotic street in the entire city. I don’t know why they still allow cars to go down it, but I’m still amazed that my cousin’s husband, Hari, was able to drive it. There are people walking everywhere, motorcycles, bikes, auto-rickshaws, etc. I was white-knuckling it the entire time.  My dad pointed out a shop that his Uncle once owned on the street. My dad spent a couple of years in primary school in Bangalore and he used to hang out there after school. He said the area was just as chaotic back then. We also went to Commercial Street, a major shopping area, where we had lunch and dropped in on some relatives who lived in the area.

Then it was back to the house for dinner and to pack. My dad and I had to be up at 4am the next day for our 7am flight to Delhi – once again, booked at an insane hour so as to avoid traffic.



My cousin, my dad, my uncle and me in front of the summer palace



My cousin and me at an outdoor art exhibition