Good morning! Before I go to the gym (much better here than in Delhi hotel!) I wanted to write about a couple of things. Abhi (who is 37, by the way) has been teaching us so much about the different religions practiced in this country. Usually on bus rides, Abhi takes the opportunity to educate us about everything! He is very knowledgeable and charming, and handsome too. ☺️ He comes from a noble family, which he didn’t tell us until later in the trip, but once he did, it all kind of makes sense (the way he carries himself, etc.). He went to boarding school with “British kids and a lot of rich Indians” and he graduated college with a degree in economics. He owns a horse stud farm and some sort of bridal clothing shop AND does tours for OAT 4 times a year and also does some private tours. We’re lucky to have him!
[Now it’s the evening! Time got away from me....] Most Indians are Hindu, and Abhi is too. His marriage was arranged and on the bus today he told us his whole story. It was absolutely fascinating. He said there’s a 10% divorce rate in India, but feels that if women had the education and skills that the men had, the rate would be more like 40%. He is pretty open and honest about the negative aspects of arranged marriages.
Indian weddings, as I’m sure you know, are very extravagant. We’ve already seen the procession for three of them and the set up for another one in the City Palace in Jaipur. It’s not unusual for there to be 500 or more guests—usually it’s around 1,000 and the cost can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Right now there is a wedding reception happening in one of the courtyards of my hotel in Ranthambore. I can’t even begin to describe the decorations and lights and music all over the hotel! Flowers hanging from trees, pink lights everywhere, flowers in the shape of you name it, it’s unbelievable. A few of us walked over to the reception and watched for a while. I love being here!!
Talking to our host family last night was really enlightening. Vijay and Megna had an arranged marriage and are now in their early 30s with 9-year-olds twins. They’re educated (he’s a lawyer and she has a degree but doesn’t work outside the home). They come from a conservative family, though, and follow many strict Hindu customs. For instance, Megna isn’t allowed to speak to her father-in-law, and if she is in the same room with him, she has to cover her face with a veil. That means the entire family doesn’t eat together. Vijay’s parents live downstairs; they eat at 6:00 or so. Then the twins eat around 7:00. Then the two of them eat at 8:30 or 9:00. When V and M eat, they share a plate. These customs, including arranged marriages, are hard for me to comprehend! When Megna, and later Abhi, was saying that one of the criteria for choosing a partner for your daughter/son was horoscope points, I couldn’t believe it. The ideal number of points can be as low as 18 and as high as 36; M and V’s points totaled 24 so it was a no-brained to get married. I try to be open to all cultures and customs but sometimes I just want to say, “Seriously?”
V and M have never been to the States, but it is their dream. They said it’s very difficult to get a visa. They have traveled to Europe, however: Germany and Switzerland. They couldn’t believe how clean and crisp the air was there. This even had an effect on the photographs they took, which amazed them.
The pollution here is horrible, although I don’t really notice it the way some of my travel mates do. Hardly any Indians wear masks. I think they’re just used to it, which is so sad. There is trash everywhere. Everywhere, especially in the little villages we drive through. You hear the word village in Europe and it conjures up an entirely different picture than the villages here in India. The poverty is heart-breaking. Cows, goats, wild pigs, and dogs wander around. (Abhi told us that the first food of the day goes to the homeless cows and dogs and other animals. That why you see piles of alfalfa on the streets of Jaipur in the morning, for the cows. He and his fellow Hindu worshipers really do believe in karma, so feeding the animals first is good karma. He had talked about Jainism on another bus reside—those worshipers have very strict diets. Basically vegetarians but no dairy either, and no vegetables that grow in the ground because the act of pulling them out is so violent.) Camels, some with beautiful designs shaved into their fur, pull carts down the road, in the midst of cars, trucks, and sooo many mopeds and motorcycles. And everyone honks. Relentlessly! I thought it was just a busy-traffic city thing, but it’s not. People (mostly men—I’ve yet to see a female driver of anything) honk just for the sake of honking.
Because the tap water isn’t potable, even in our 5-star hotels, plastic water bottles are what people drink from. So it’s pretty ironic/sad that in order to combat poor drinking water you have to use bottle after bottle after plastic bottle. I’m getting pretty good at brushing my teeth with bottled water and keeping my mouth shut in the shower.
Those are my thoughts as I sit here in this gorgeous courtyard with crazy Indian music in the background. I’m not in the same courtyard as the wedding but I can sure hear it. Check out my hotel! https://www.nahargarh.com/
We went on our safari for several hours this afternoon. So bumpy! We hoped to see tigers (there are 70 in the Ranthambore Preserve) but only saw lots of different types of deer and antelope, a sloth bear, some flamingos, and the highlight: monkeys! Our guide said they were lungar monkeys, the same as in the Kipling books.
[Now it’s the evening! Time got away from me....] Most Indians are Hindu, and Abhi is too. His marriage was arranged and on the bus today he told us his whole story. It was absolutely fascinating. He said there’s a 10% divorce rate in India, but feels that if women had the education and skills that the men had, the rate would be more like 40%. He is pretty open and honest about the negative aspects of arranged marriages.
Indian weddings, as I’m sure you know, are very extravagant. We’ve already seen the procession for three of them and the set up for another one in the City Palace in Jaipur. It’s not unusual for there to be 500 or more guests—usually it’s around 1,000 and the cost can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Right now there is a wedding reception happening in one of the courtyards of my hotel in Ranthambore. I can’t even begin to describe the decorations and lights and music all over the hotel! Flowers hanging from trees, pink lights everywhere, flowers in the shape of you name it, it’s unbelievable. A few of us walked over to the reception and watched for a while. I love being here!!
Talking to our host family last night was really enlightening. Vijay and Megna had an arranged marriage and are now in their early 30s with 9-year-olds twins. They’re educated (he’s a lawyer and she has a degree but doesn’t work outside the home). They come from a conservative family, though, and follow many strict Hindu customs. For instance, Megna isn’t allowed to speak to her father-in-law, and if she is in the same room with him, she has to cover her face with a veil. That means the entire family doesn’t eat together. Vijay’s parents live downstairs; they eat at 6:00 or so. Then the twins eat around 7:00. Then the two of them eat at 8:30 or 9:00. When V and M eat, they share a plate. These customs, including arranged marriages, are hard for me to comprehend! When Megna, and later Abhi, was saying that one of the criteria for choosing a partner for your daughter/son was horoscope points, I couldn’t believe it. The ideal number of points can be as low as 18 and as high as 36; M and V’s points totaled 24 so it was a no-brained to get married. I try to be open to all cultures and customs but sometimes I just want to say, “Seriously?”
V and M have never been to the States, but it is their dream. They said it’s very difficult to get a visa. They have traveled to Europe, however: Germany and Switzerland. They couldn’t believe how clean and crisp the air was there. This even had an effect on the photographs they took, which amazed them.
The pollution here is horrible, although I don’t really notice it the way some of my travel mates do. Hardly any Indians wear masks. I think they’re just used to it, which is so sad. There is trash everywhere. Everywhere, especially in the little villages we drive through. You hear the word village in Europe and it conjures up an entirely different picture than the villages here in India. The poverty is heart-breaking. Cows, goats, wild pigs, and dogs wander around. (Abhi told us that the first food of the day goes to the homeless cows and dogs and other animals. That why you see piles of alfalfa on the streets of Jaipur in the morning, for the cows. He and his fellow Hindu worshipers really do believe in karma, so feeding the animals first is good karma. He had talked about Jainism on another bus reside—those worshipers have very strict diets. Basically vegetarians but no dairy either, and no vegetables that grow in the ground because the act of pulling them out is so violent.) Camels, some with beautiful designs shaved into their fur, pull carts down the road, in the midst of cars, trucks, and sooo many mopeds and motorcycles. And everyone honks. Relentlessly! I thought it was just a busy-traffic city thing, but it’s not. People (mostly men—I’ve yet to see a female driver of anything) honk just for the sake of honking.
Because the tap water isn’t potable, even in our 5-star hotels, plastic water bottles are what people drink from. So it’s pretty ironic/sad that in order to combat poor drinking water you have to use bottle after bottle after plastic bottle. I’m getting pretty good at brushing my teeth with bottled water and keeping my mouth shut in the shower.
Those are my thoughts as I sit here in this gorgeous courtyard with crazy Indian music in the background. I’m not in the same courtyard as the wedding but I can sure hear it. Check out my hotel! https://www.nahargarh.com/
We went on our safari for several hours this afternoon. So bumpy! We hoped to see tigers (there are 70 in the Ranthambore Preserve) but only saw lots of different types of deer and antelope, a sloth bear, some flamingos, and the highlight: monkeys! Our guide said they were lungar monkeys, the same as in the Kipling books.
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| My courtyard dressed up for the wedding |
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| View of the procession from the bus as we arrived. Everyone had to move out of the way! |
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