Archives for February 2020

India Field Report #4

February 3, 2020

We went to the caves of Elantra and to the tiny Taj Mahal.

To call them caves is in some ways a misnomer.

They are actually carved out of the cliffside.

So they are manmade cavesI think originally there were natural caves here.

In India there is a rainy season and it rains so hard and so much that travel is impossible.

In the old days the Buddhist monks would stay in caves during the rainy.

Eventually, these sites became permanent and they carved out more and mor rock.

At Elantra there are two sites: one Buddhist and a short bus trip away are Jain caves.

The Jain caves have figures with different head gear than the Buddhist/Hindu caves.

They look more like the head dress of a Thai dancer, that is if you stripped the hanging ornamentation and left the central core.

The Elentra caves on the Buddhist side number sixteen and are generally three story affairs.

They appear to be pillared equally spaced rectangular units laid out in long horizontal rows.

Each level has row after row of column going back into the spcae for three or four rows.

At the end of each row is a carved sculpture standing in bas-relief.

In the center of the back rowis a chamber with a Buddha in it.

The main attraction at Elantra, which I forgot to mention is a temple carved out of the rock cliff. It is a large carved out square surrounded in balconies of rooms that go up for three and in some places four stories.

The entrance is flanked on either side of the courtyard by carved elephants. One of the elephants has lost its head and trunk. I was told by one of our travel companions when they were here thirty years ago that it was whole.

Apparently, rocks fell from above and decapitated the fellow.

The central area is made up of a large square temple and a smaller one connected together. The larger temple has a linga in it. The largest I have ever seen.  I’m guessing two and a half to three feet in diameter.

There is also a four sided obelisk that rises to the height of the cliff top.

We then went to the caves at Ajanta. Similar idea, but all the caves are carved out of the cliff face and appear to be long horizontal condos with neatly formed pillared rectangular spaces retreating into the cliff for four rows. Two of the caves are carved as single recesses and look like naves of cathedrals with what appears to be ribbed vaulted

ceilings and where the altar should be is a huge round object, whose name I forget at the moment. Originally, these round objects would have held the sacred objects left by the Buddha, held in a small housing atop the round piece.

We then went on to the little Taj, known as Bibi-Ka-Maqbara. 

I discovered if I put into Google “Little Taj” a whole bunch of places came up.

Built by the same folks that did the Taj, just a generation different.

That’s it for now. I’m days behind and these adventures seem miles and months away.

 

 

India Field Report #3

We flew into Aurangabad yesterday afternoon after having a brief bus tour in the morning of Mumbai. Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay is the commercial capital of the country. It’s New York City. Generating one third of the revenue of the country. It is the home to many of the Bollywood studios.

Located on the west side of the country on the Arabian Sea the climate in February is dry with the temperature in the mid seventies. At least that’s the way it was in the part of Mumbai we were staying in. Our hotel, one of the oldest in the city, overlooked the Arabian Sea right at The Gateway to India. The Gateway to India was built in 1911 for the reception of George V. Bombay id the place where the British entered India and where they left the country in 1948. Our Hotel, The Hotel Taj Mahal, is the place where all the big named folks stay when they come to the city. There’s a picture of Angelina Jolie and of Mic Jagger, and many politicians. The man who led our yoga class was a personal trainer for Oprah when she was in town.

Naturally, the rates reflect the poshness. There is a young man in the hallway in the mornings who informs me he is at my service and asks if I need anything. I say no and thank him. When I come back to my room everything that I threw on the other side of the bed in an effort to find something that I knew I packed but has eluded me is now neatly organized across the foot of the bed. The stack of U.S. coins that I stacked near the television is now laid out on a serviette coin by coin. My book has a ew bookmark, replacing the top of a torn of tab of a sugar packet. My pair of shoe I left one atop the other are now neatly placed side by side with brown cloth bags marked with a sign saying “Shoe Freshener.”

The second night after I arrived I ate by the pool. They setup a barbecue stand near the water. The menu said Ponfret and I assumed Pomme Frites and assumed it was French fries with steak. I ordered red wine. I was surprised when a fish showed up. It looked like a flounder, a thick meaty flounder and probably one of the best white fish I have ever had in my life. I saw the head chef, a tall Shik with imposed headpiece, come out to check on the guys at the grill. I told him how good the fish was and he turned right around to let the men at the grill know. I exchanged “thumbs up” with them. I told the waitress I wanted to switch to white wine. She poured me more red.  

 

 

Dateline: Mumbai February 1, 2020

Made it.

I wasn’t sure when I landed if my tour company had arranged to pick me up. Once I cleared immigration and got my bag I went out to the line of people with signs waiting and there was my ride! Great graphics help. The rid to the hotel was 45 minutes to an hour. 

The hotel is a famous structure and very up to date. This is where the glitteratzi and big name politicians stay when in Mumbai. 

I went to early morning yoga and the instructor showed me pictures of many of the famous people he has instructed: Oprah, one of the heads of Google, numerous politicians from India.

There was a fellow who showed up by the pool while our yoga class was in session. He held a triangular red flag on a short pool. He rested the pole on his shoulder. I don’t know what his purpose was. I finally decided it was to warn people about the step down to the pool area. It’s the only thing that made sense to me. However, now it’s near four o’clock and the place is quite crowded and there’s no red flag man. 

Having recently seen a brief video clip with Larry David from “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” wherein he confronted a bathroom attendant telling the man that no one wanted to see him, I think India is not the place for Mr. David. At least not the high end hotels would suit him. I have to wonder what he would say to the red flag man?