March 30, 2000

My son, Greg, and I arrive in Bangkok, Thailand. We have learned that we will not be able to take our connecting flight to India because we did not obtain visas in advance. This means it will take 4 business days, plus the weekend, to obtain our visas, and we must pass our time in Thailand while we wait. We cancel our plans to Nagpur, much to my disappointment. Our apologies are sent to Arun Dolke, who spent so much time arranging our Nagpur visit.

Bangkok to Delhi - April 7th, 2000

We arrived at the Delhi airport at 10:30pm. We had not located a good place to stay, so made arrangements for a hotel with the tourist bureau at the airport. There we also arranged for a driver/guide to take us to Agra the next day.

Our rooms were mildewed and disappointing, considering they were $35 a night for much lower quality than the Bangkok hotel for $20 a night. They were located in a residential area and we had asked for nearby accessibility to shops and restaurants. Maybe we were asking too much.

Delhi to Agra - April 8th, 2000

After a decent Asian breakfast at the hotel, our driver arrived at 8:30am and drove us to Agra.

Travelling by car from Delhi to Agra (destination: Taj Mahal) is an adventure. Trucks, cars, small taxis, pedestrians, bicycles, cows, horses, oxcarts, and tractors pulling harvesting blades compete for the road in one contentious melee. Sometimes the driver takes the car on the wrong side of the road. There seem to be no well-defined traffic lanes. At times it all gridlocks, with every square inch of roadway taken, vehicles only inches apart, and pedestrians streaming through the gaps. Fumes belch from most vehicles - smog controls seem to be non-existent. The air is thick, and to come to a stop in gridlock means gasping or breathing through a handkerchief or one's shirt.

And yet, the alternative is to travel by air, bypassing not only the congestion and fumes, but also the sights and sounds of India. Ladies in brightly colored clothing - all colors of the rainbow. Some women carry burdens on their heads: cooking pots, huge bundles or baskets of grain, road dirt, or garden greens. Some carry on the most menial of chores, dressed in their finery. You see men in turbans and long beards, colorful displays of fruit and melons on stands along the road, carts pulled by camels, horses, or ox; grain such as wheat growing in the countryside, and people harvesting it by hand, many small buildings made of mud and dung and sculptured with some mysterious design, people sleeping on cots in front of shops, business men and students commuting by bicycle, dirt streets and squalor, and cows wandering about city streets oblivious of traffic. You hear music playing and horns blaring with many variations of tone and melody - no one drives without sounding the horn every minute or two.

The traffic was very heavy in Delhi, probably rush hour. It seemed to take an hour to get out of the city. Even in the middle of the city were people living in makeshift homes - tents, or shacks with walls made of corregated tin panels or plastic sheets. Once into the country there was a constant parade of people on foot along the road. Their homes were alongside the road, and were made of straw or corregated tin, or of mud or dung. Westerners are used to going about their daily business in the privace of their homes or offices, but these people's lives were out in the open - for all to see. Washing in an outdoor watering hole (usually with well water), planting or harvesting, combing children's hair, and so on.

Along the way we passed many small mud huts made of stacked mud or dung patties. We thought the dung might be for burning, but most of these small huts seemed to have no doors or windows, were well formed, and had decorative patterns scupltured on the exterior.

We passed carts pulled by cows, ponies, oxen or water buffalo, and occasionally a camel. Harvesting of wheat, barley, or rice was under way. Some farmers were wealthy enough to have tractors and harvestors, but most harvesting was done by hand. We shared the road with tractors, harvesters, truck loads of people, and small vehicles carry tremendously big bags of grain.

Once in Agra, we visited the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. The Red Fort was a large set of buildings in a park. Near the entrance, large monkeys gather. We were reassured that the monkeys wouldn't bite, but just the same I kept my distance and took pictures with my zoom lens camera.

The Taj Mahal was indeed wonderful. What I hadn't learned before is that it is a tomb, not a home. The marble of the entire sturcture is of fine transulcent marble, much of it inlaid with semi-precious stones in a floral pattern.

We made a few obligatory stops at souvenier shops, but the prices were high and, usually there was no pressure to buy. (except in the marble store).

Sometime around 5:30pm our car broke down. Our dirver puttered and bumped around for about an hour, while Greg and I sat inside and got eaten by mosquitoes. We were able to drive on. The driver went much faster in order to make up for lost time. However, it was now festival time, and the streets were crowded. We were stalled in traffic quite a few times, sometimes between two trucks or buses belching fumes. Greg and I took to breathing through our shirts. Finally, about 9pm, we made it back to our hotel rooms, where we stayed until the next morning when we went for our flight to Kathmandu. We were very happy to get on the plane and fly to Kathmandu.

News Item from the local paper:

Women's panels fear US Bill may backfire. U.S. Congress may cut aid to countries that fail to take adequate measures to curb trafficking in persons, including the sex trade, slavery, and slavery-like conditions. The bill seeks to authorise US representatives on multilateral development agencies and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deny them loans or other funds. Women's groups in India have opposed sanctions and aid-denial clauses. Meera Khanna, joint secretary of the Guild of Service said: "In some countries, foreign assistance is actually a lifeline. Take the case of Afghanistan ... Denying aid here will push people further into poverty, and poverty is identified as one of the major causes of trafficking."