James came home in the morning to drive us to the airport. Left at 6.30PM – arrived Tullamarine 8.30 PM. We discussed amongst other things George Pell during the drive. I said I wasn't on the Jury so I don't know if he is guilty or not. After a while James admitted much the same thing. I added that if he had molested 2 boys it is likely he would have molested more. Maybe we don't know. Maybe he did and they wont testify. I didn't tell James that an Anglican Priest had attempted to seduce me into sexual activity when I was 13. It did not affect me. I got up from the bed and left the Priest with a disappointed look on his face. At the time I thought that all Priests were good and I did not understand homosexuality. James also asked if I had listened to any of the podcasts he had downloaded for me. He is trying to wean me away from the BBC. I keep telling him that I am suspicious of TED because there are no black faces or Indians ever as guests or even in the audience. He assures me that America is free. Flight to KL was uneventful. Some announcements of turbulence but no real movement within air currents. Not one film that I wanted to see on offer. Not really any TV shows either. Popular entertainment is all Hollywood or Bollywood. Could not see any decent Chinese films. The airline offered a video/audio of The Koran and I watched that. The Koran was chanted in the background and the words were offered in Arabic and English. Pretty crude translation into English I thought. Whatever - it was interesting for a while and I think helpful in drifting off to sleep. After that I listened to a selection of Mozarts Arias. Not all sounded familiar but were pleasurable to listen to as I dozed. I think this was the best flight we have had. Jenny didn't get – I wont say airsick – but I will say sick. I didnt find the flight as trying as I have in the past. After our last Chinese trip I did say I did not think we would fly again. Mixture of Australia being so big and taking so long to go anywhere and the fact that Jenny always got violently ill to the point where I did not think it was worth it. This time it did not seem so boring. Plus I think I was prepared to accept the inconvenience. Plus I did have a bout of high blood pressure with some atrial fibrillation on saturday and sunday and I was putting myself through a calm down regimen and I think this worked. I did calm down to the point where I took the flight calmly. We think some cheap meat loaf may have triggered the bout. Flying over Malaysia I noted the large area of land taken up with Palm Oil plantations. It is obvious that whole areas are covered with Palm Oil trees. A large party of what appeared to be Pilgrims at the KL airport. They were in a separate section to the rest of us. They had a medical facility set up and lots were wearing masks. All were carrying Arabic Korans. I presume they were going on a Haj. They had a look of excitement. They were wearing special costumes. Spoke to soon as Jenny had a terrible time from KL to Delhi. I question if its worth traveling by air. There is no logic to it. She just says I’m going to be sick and gets sick. Nothing can stop it. She spends all the flight heaving into a sick bag. Going from saying she is shivering to saying she is sweating. I had the window seat and a good view. Flew over ocean and then over India. Flew above lots of big clouds that did not move an inch. Towards the end could see the land. Flat land resembled Australia with a number of exceptions – ground cover was green – inhabited areas were larger - small towns that looked much the same size as inland towns in Australia do but had more buildings - a number of sluggish brown rivers. Thats about it. Paddocks were straight. Rectangular even. Roads were straight. Some paddocks were small. Some were large. It all looked quite fertile. Did not see any desert. I listened to music and read on the flight. Mozarts 20th Piano concerto. The one that goes d dum der dum der dum der dum- der dum der dum der dum der dum - Da da da da da da der. I realise now it sounds like the Papageno/Papagena song in The Magic Flute. I have read Schickenaders letter thanking Mozart for the song and saying the Po PO Po song is quite good. Quite an understatement. Of course Mozart was not the important figure he is now. He was writing music for money with a fellow Mason. Also listened to Strauss Music. All of his waltzes are meant to be played at Deb Balls. Just start with the music and the dances will fall into place. We walked off the plane into fairly intense heat. Changed some money at the Airport. We were given a garland of Marigolds when we got in the bus which was thankfully air conditioned. Our tour guide announced that the hotel was 10 ks away and it would take one hour to get there. He then announced that the tours were are going in the next few days are all 120k or so and the journey will take 5 hours. I thought this was a little strange until we got on the road. Its not possible to go at much more that 10k. Too much traffic of all types. Roads badly maintaines if at all. Lots of small 3 wheeler vehicles. Some pedaled bikes with trailers behind them. Saw a few cows eating grass. First impressions - not much has changed in 50 years from when I was here last. Looks pretty well the same. Roads certainly look the same. People still living on the sides of the road. Beggars at some big cross roads. Lots of scratches on vehicles. Vehicles have a battered look about them. Our tour guide for today – Sanjeev – reminds me a little of Owen. Looks a bit like him. Same serious nature. Always willing to help. We got to our room which was cold. We put the temperature up. Could not get the TV to work as the screen needs a separate flicker but of course was not available. Had to go to the desk and get someone to come and show me. TV is something that has changed in 50 years. News is now POW POW POW. Thundering background music. Many lines of written material running across the screen. All sensational. The ads are all very much over the top. I think Indians must lead fantasy lives if they are impressed by these ads. They all seem to be set in a weird fantasy land. Every product offers lasting happiness. Lots of overacted domestic dramas. All full of extreme ham acting. Lots of threatening looks. Lots of what appear to be curses said. All actors look like they are wearing loads of makeup. All men seem to have dyed hair. Finally found a news channel that is more western in its approach. Mostly Indian news but some concerning Trump. They are definitely less sycophantic towards Trump than Australian TV is. One can see the difference. They concentrate on different facts. Wednesday 28th August Blood Pressure 136/75 Pulse 81 Breakfast was quite good. I liked the food. It tasted authentic. It did remind me a little of what was served up at the wonderful canteen at India House. So it must be good. Read The Times of India over breakfast. Full of stories. Full of news. A serious paper. In the tradition of The Times. One Indian MP - a woman – has claimed that the opposition parties are casting spells on BJP members and one BJP MP has already died from sorcery. This is another example of how all over the world new right political parties are accusing opponents of the left of weird things and it seems normal. Donald Trump has made it acceptable. There was one story of a man who was lynched for suspicion of killing a cow and his family are now worried about their safety. The Police will not give them security. Apparently it is a capital offense to kill a cow – its in the Indian Constitution – and a faction of the BJP party have passed a motion in Parliament making it law. Paper reported two separate lynchings have taken place in the past week. Today we went to The Big Mosque. The Red Fort. The Government Section of New Delhi. Parliament house, Government House etc. A Rickshaw drive through Old Delhi. Passed through some Slum Areas. Went to the Palace of the same Moghul Emperor who built the Taj Mahal – he built a large Palace area in Delhi. Went to where Gandhi was cremated. Also went through The Bahai Temple. Ate at a swanky restaurant. Saw a largish Monkey walking along the sidewalk. We were in the bus. Guide told us not to ask it to stop so we can take its photo. It would probably steal our phone. Saw a number of cows completely at home in traffic clogged roads. Just walking at their pace ignoring the cars. Saw a lot of dogs completely ignoring humans. Made no gestures of acknowledging human beings and no wagging of tails. Did not respond to my whistle. Saw some sprightly little squirrels. Saw some bird not seen before. Same size as magpies but with slightly purply looking colour around their necks. Had our photo taken a number of times by visiting Indian Families. Wanted their children photographed with westerners. Spoke to some schoolchildren until their Teacher came up and admonished them sharply. We spoke to a young woman who worked for Goldman Sachs and she said their preferred form of communication at work was English. Went past a gathering of men squatting patiently on the sidewalk showing that they were cement workers by showing their trowels sticking out of their carrying bags. Waiting for offers of employment I presume. Lots of schoolchildren visiting Gandhi’s cremation site. Both boys and girls but not together. Very well dressed. Stylish Uniforms. Elegant looking girls. All of the same skin tone. All thought provoking. The elephant in the room is what would India be like if the British had not come. Or were still here. Were they good rulers of other countries. Was this their only skill. Maybe the British were irrelevant. Maybe India is never changeable. They have retained a lot of British Customs. British Institutions. British Buildings. Thursday 29th August Blood Pressure 146/97 Pulse 84 Jenny is ill. She has a headache behind her eye. Boris has suspended Parliament. The Queen has caved. We drove from Delhi to Jaipur. Thankfully Jenny did not stay ill. We saw lots of animals. Cows. Sheep. Goats. A few camels. Some small monkeys. Occasional pig. 3 dead cows that had been hit by a car. Looked like they had been dead for a week or more. One dead dog. Amazing that there are not more dead cows. They stand on the freeway facing the traffic and they would only have to move their heads a few centimetres to get a fatal knock. We saw herds being looked after by men dressed all in white – maybe some religious figures. We saw lots of Millet being farmed. We saw lots of Pilgrims walking along the road. Sometimes large groups – sometimes in 2’s and 3’s. All were on some Pilgrimage to some Temple. Same kind of thing as what was described in Chaucers Canterbury Tales I would imagine. We went from village to village. Endless number of villages. Road was a double highway clogged with all types of traffic. Sometimes an individual on a motorbike was going against the flow. Sometimes even a car. Road in bad repair. Roads not up to much in India. Lots of rubbish on the sidewalks. Lots of eating places. Lots of places that called themselves hotels. People sleeping on the sidewalks. But no evidence of traffic accidents. Only saw 2 cars that had previously had their fronts stove in waiting for repair at a repair centre. Did not see any damaged cars on the road. Saw some water buffalo in the distance basking in water being tended by 2 women dressed in white. I remember a number of years ago I was taken from Brisbane to Surfers Paradise along the old Highway. Every so often – quite a number - there were forlorn looking people standing beside their car that had been stove in – either at the back or the front – waiting for assistance. None of that today. Lots of horns but no collisions. So bad roads and lots of traffic does not mean more accidents. I think the drivers today were quite skilled. No sense of Road Rage either. Except for one motorcyclist who took offense at our driver for scraping him and carried on far to much. He was the bad driver who nudged the bus. My conclusion is that maybe Indians have driving skills. Our tour guide has on at least two occasions advised us of the religious breakup of India. Hindus 60% Muslims 15% Christians 10% etc. I asked him if there was a box on the Indian Census form that said NO RELIGION. He did not answer. No doubt he thought – another smart alec tourist. But I think the point is valid. Why is religion so important to Indians. Yesterday I thought our guide was Muslim but today he informs us he is a Sikh. I wanted to ask him if he defines himself as a Sikh first and an Indian later. But I didnt. Like all travel guides he doesnt like questions. We passed lots of Temples. Mostly on the top of hills. Tour guide didn't hesitate to tell us about them – year built etc – who built them etc. We stopped for lunch at a western style hotel. Garish on the outside. Garish on the inside. Large place and we were the only customers. We had a soft drink and some small vegetable buns. Have driven through Jaipur. Heavy traffic. Schoolchildren going home. Seems to be more of a Muslim town than Delhi. Centre of town isn't much. Does not look like a wealthy place. So why were the Rajastan Royals stationed here? Maybe the cricket club has connections. Lots of missed photo opportunities. Takes too long to get the phone camera set up. We went to a jewelry factory where we looked at a diamond ring worth $3200. I did not think it would be that much but diamonds do look nicer than any other stone. It looked good. Very nice diamond. Salesman was quite adamant we would buy until I disarmed him by showing him photos of where we lived. How dry it is. What its like after a bushfire. Jenny felt sorry for him and thought I had acted inappropriately. We went to an interfaith Temple in the centre of town built only in 1985 by the most wealthiest family in town. It had to be all encompassing. No keeping Dalits out. Saw a man make the sign of the cross when he came out. Lots of Indian Tourists for once. Jenny spoke to a young bloke who does some kind of volunteering and he said he had been trying for 2 years to get employment. Spoke pretty good english. Watched a bit of TV. Lots of public affairs shows with people shouting at each other. Kashmir is on everyone's mind. If any politician so much as mentions the name Pakistan they are accused of treason by the BJP. Another example of right wing parties making sensible behavior questionable. Friday 30th August Blood Pressure 123/76 Pulse 88 Slept OK. Loud car horn with variable pitch heard often. Different type of breakfast to last hotel. Mainly western food. I had a cheese omelette. Quite good. I had Chai which was also quite good. Only had it once before at the famous restaurant at Collingwood Farm. This mornings was better. We stopped at some Temple in the middle of the city where there were snake charmers. Snakes are supposed to have their venom sacks removed and are also supposed to be drugged. But all snakes seemed to me to be very much nervously on edge. Always trying to get away. Slithering under the snake charmers legs etc. Snake Charmer constantly picking up the snakes and putting them back into their basket. Snakes constantly flattening their necks. I took some photos and gave the snake charmer 10 Rupees. Today we went from Palace to Palace. All built by various Hindu monarchs – they were great builders - finished up in the Palace where Mountbatten held the last Dergha before independence. I have had enough of past Indian glory. I would like to see more modern glory. Not much recent glory to be seen. We did go to the museum of solar instruments. A ruler from the 16th century set up a series of instruments that measures time of day etc. Position of stars etc. I have seen it on TV before. Peasant woman cutting the grass by hand and I mean by hand. Pulling it out strand by strand. Took Photo and gave her 10 Rupees. We then went to a carpet factory were we spent over $1300 on a carpet. Typical impulse buying that I normally critisise.. Had lunch at a western style restaurant. Had to wait over an hour for our meal. Had to indulge in small talk. Had previously had to listen to one mans rave about inner city Melbourne Greens and how dangerous they were so I was not inclined to talk to him. We finished up with an hours walk through the retail area. Thousands of shops all selling the same thing. Fabrics. Tee shirts. Dresses. Trinkets. Every shopkeeper trying to show you his wares. I mean every shopkeeper. Plus some single hawkers trying to sell souvenirs. Got talking to a young boy who said he went to school a half day each day. Tomorrow he would go to school after he had sold his quota. I tried to give him a donation but he was too proud. Would not take money unless I bought something. I refused to to buy anything so we had a conundrum. Yesterday this appeared to be a city with a large Muslim population. Have not heard the friday call to prayers. No Muslims to be seen on the streets today so they must all be in the Mosque. Saturday 31st August Blood Pressure 130/96 Pulse 89 I did not sleep well. Dont know why. Maybe the 2 cups of Marsala Chai I had last night. I expected my blood pressure to be well up. Maybe after a shower I will feel OK. I would like to have a day off today and just relax. Today we went to Pushcar. Quite a long drive along the main Delhi Mumbai Highway. Lots of traffic on the highway – not all going the same way. Lots of animals on the road. Finally finished up at a Hindu religious festival. Thousands of people there. Quite crowded. Saw a holy man fully naked riding a motorbike. Black skin covered in white powder. Saw a woman symbolically washing herself with her hands. I was surprised when she let down her sari and showed her breasts for a second or two. We went to the festival area and watched some people being blessed by Hindu clergy. Jenny got a dot on her forehead. We then went for a camel ride. Saw a Gypsy camp. We talked to 2 gypsy woman and Jenny thought one of them tried to stab her with a Henna Pen. We went to a relic of the Raj for lunch. $20 dollars for a fair meal. Saw a bus with at least 30 adults and children sitting on the roof. This was on the main freeway. Animals everywhere at the festival. I tried patting the cows and most responded but I was the only person doing this. Indians do not befriend cows. I don't know why. Saw 2 high rise apartments that were up to China standard. There should be thousands of them littering the countryside. But no – people live in hovels at the base of these high rise buildings. I wasn't quick enough to get a photo. The high rises are either all empty or hardly any tenants. Our guide proudly explains how Indians want to live in their own home. I didn't ask him if they would rather live in hovels instead of proper housing. Sunday 1st September Blood Pressure 154/102 Pulse 94 Did not sleep well if at all. Woke up with blood nose. Very hot night. Will try and sleep on bus. I should have taken the day off yesterday. Blood nose stopped at breakfast but was start stop for rest of the day. We spent all day traveling. I did some sleeping on the bus. We went to the deep well built by a Hindu Prince. I have seen it previously on TV. A deep hole with steps all the way down. Like an inverted pyramid. Slimy water at the bottom. But of course the water was holy. As usual it was a pleasure palace for a Hindu Prince. When the Moghuls took over they converted it to a Muslim site and knocked the faces off all the statues. They did this a lot. The Hindus got the sharp end of the stick from the Moghul Muslims. But no matter – we will make them all a religious site. This was a recognised holy place with lots of pilgrims. Buses pulling up and leaving extremely full to overflowing. They seem to be rebuilding the temple by just putting half broken figures on top of one another. Concrete figures lying around all over the place. 2nd September Blood Pressure 148/86 Pulse 99 Not much sleep but better than the night before. I did go to proper sleep watching TV at about 5PM for half an hour or so. I am both exhausted and in pain. My body is packing up. Cold shower. We are up at 5AM to see the Taj Mahal at dawn. A bit after dawn when we got there. It was quite hot. Well laid out gardens. Our guide explained the story behind the mausoleum. Maharajah loved a commoner and had problems in arranging marriage between the two. He was Muslim and she was Hindu. But persisted and they were married. Maharajah loved his Hindu Queen so much that when she died he put up this monument to her and gave instructions that he was to be buried next to her. She is in the very centre. He is beside her. They are not in the coffins we see but they are deep underground in the same spots. The building is impressive. Simple look about it. It has a look of perfection. It is symmetrical. It can certainly be called beautiful. A work of Art. Lots of people in attendance. Also dogs fighting. Also monkeys looking for food. We spoke to a woman and her mother from Korea. A number of Indian tourists. Not many westerners. Some people asking if they can take our photo with them in it. The building is very simple in its own way and dominates the whole area. I think humans are intimidated by it. It is definitely impressive. You cannot help looking at it. We went through the centre of the building and were well catered for by a guide who when he had explained everything asked for backsheesh. They do it by a hand gesture. He was inside the area that contains the coffins. A wall separated us from him. India has lots of these moments. Seemingly authentic people taking care of things – sweeping the grounds etc – cutting grass - but all have probably paid to be able to be where they are and be in the position to ask for backsheesh. A virtual franchise system for beggars. Dogs and monkeys in the grounds. A number of dogs attempting to work out the pecking order. Sporadic fighting. We went down the river a little to another Moghul Mosque where we had a good view of the Taj Mahal in the distance. Saw a Hindu woman flirting with a man which was most unusual. During the time we were in India a number of things occurred that were noteworthy. There were two people lynched who were accused of being cow killers. The ruling Party has recently re stated a law that says cow killing is a capital offence. In these two instances a crowd gathered around a person who had allegedly killed some cows. The crowd became agitated. The person was lynched by the crowd. There were two people who barely escaped lynching after being accused of child stealing. For some reason it is thought that India is going through a period of child stealing. This is where it is believed small children are stolen by one group of people – mostly Gypsies. And I presume Dailits. Different skin tones between children and adults are thought to be the give away. In one case an elderly woman with dark skin was carrying a small child with light skin. A crowd gathered. The crowd became agitated. The woman was physically attacked. The woman barely escaped with her life. In another case a young woman had a child that had lighter toned skin. In this case she was probably a Gypsy. She was beaten by the mob and had to be hospitalised. Her child has been removed from her. Both these cases were reported in the papers. I presume they are not fake news. I mentioned earlier the a female member of Parliament has accused the opposition of using sorcery to kill one member of the ruling party and make another ill. This has been said in Parliament. And reported with not much surprise. India has too much religion. People are defined by their religion. There are too many poor people. There has been no effort made to lift these poor people out of their poverty. Roadsides are covered with litter. Sidewalks are crumbling. Freeways do not have smooth surfaces - they have been badly made. Toll booths are always in need of repairs. Broken windows etc. One thing I noticed and asked our tour guide about was why do trucks have talismans hanging outside their windows. These are approx a half metre long and look like short streamers attached to various parts of the truck and are made of a long thread with small pom poms attached at intervals. They are always grey. They are mostly rigid but they can bend. Some of the pom poms may be red. These adornments can be attached to windows – to mudguards – to roofs. I asked our guide what significance they had and he replied decorative. I asked if they had some religious significance and he said no. He did not like me asking questions because I guess he figured out I was skeptical about everything. I also asked him if the Indian Census form had a box for No Religion and if it didn't then why didn't it. He didn't answer. He often quoted the percentage breakup of religion in India. He was inferring that this was a good thing. He said that if we asked a Sikh to do us a favour such as look out for a female we could be sure it would be carried out. I realised after a few days where I had seen the decorations on trucks before. They are adornments that are attached to the harness of elephants. They have the same grey colour as elephants. Obviously truck drivers see themselves as descendants of elephant handlers. And they probably are. They do the same things. They transport things around the country. Their trucks are the modern day equivalent of elephants. The drivers attach the same adornments. Before I finish I want to mention certain things about India that appall me. Lots of poor Hindus go on pilgrimage. They walk along the side of the road in groups – sometimes with a motorised sound system blaring out bollywood sounding music. People are resisting moving into high rise. Its not unusual to see a half or quarter full high rise surrounded by hovels that are full. Our guide advised us this was common. He said it with a hint of pride. There are no shopping malls in India and those that exist are are mostly in Liquidation and empty. Once again our guide told the story with a hint of pride. Indians are resisting shopping malls. There are people living in the street. Quite near our hotel in Delhi people were living in hovels on the sidewalk. Some families just had a bed on the street. There are lots of beggars in the streets. Some with missing limbs. Some with half limbs. Of course they are very appreciative when you give them money. The footpaths are strewn with rubbish. Most footpaths are only half finished. They have deep holes in them. Most people walk on the road.
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