Some respite in the countryside

We're now in Agra for the next few days, having arrived here late on Monday by train from Kota via Jaipur.  The journey was long but much easier than the bus.

We had a wonderful three days and four nights away from the urban hustle and bustle on a Rajasthani dairy farm just outside Kota.  Col. Sudhir Farm is the home of Victoria and VJ Singh.  Vicky picked us up in the farm jeep in Kota after our one hour bus ride from Bundi.  The first event was afternoon tea, and we felt as though we'd been transported to an English drawing room drinking black tea as we're used to with milk (and lots of sugar for Lloyd--VJ commented on how much he had to refill the sugar during our stay, reminiscent of visiting my parents' home...)

The Singhs have three terriers, and one of them, Misty, had puppies on February 25.  Misty is 1/2 German Shepherd and these puppies are 3/4 fox terrier and 1/4 shepherd.

The puppies are wonderfully soft and fat!  This is her first litter and she is a very attentive mother.

On Saturday morning Lloyd and I went for a wonderful walk for about three hours along the canal which is about a kilometre away from the farm.  The dike is dusty but there are mature trees for shade much of the way and there wasn't much traffic, just a few motorcycles and tractors hauling stones and soil.  This was a pleasant change from city streets.

One of the farms along the canal.  We think these fields are being prepared for rice.

Further along, there is a lake on which there is a former summer palace of the Kota royal family.

We reached the second bridge where Vicky had suggested we could cross and return along the other side of the canal.  We chose instead to turn down a small road past some houses and try and return across country.  We could see the summer palace in the distance and thought it shouldn't be too difficult...  Well, there were a few obstacles in our way, namely gates and walls, through a cattle yard, and quite often we were walking along the little dikes dividing the fields...

We were going to turn back when we saw this gate made out of thorny acacia branches, but realized it was simply tied closed with a strip of fabric on the right.  So, we went through and then carefully retied it. 

The people in the fields didn't seem to be perturbed about us wandering through, and Vicky said they probably all assumed that we were staying with "that foreign woman" (her) anyway.  We never really got lost because we could see the dike in the distance and knew we just had to keep that on our left.  We did try to get directions to a path a few times, and most people just waved us along.  The very best directions were from an old woman who, when I asked the way to the canal, very assertively instructed us to go left and and then right in her language but with clear hand motions.

We went into Kota with Vicky Saturday afternoon to check out the Chambal Adventure Festival which had an arts and culture component.  We were thrilled to meet up with Kukki again who had been invited to come to the arts centre with his slides of rock paintings and his collection of artifacts.  He greeted us like long lost friends.  I also asked Vicky about yarn shopping...haven't seen any for sale anywhere in India.  Do you know what the secret is?  It's sold at shops which also sell underwear!  The selection was small--mainly acrylic baby yarn and chunky acrylic for sweaters, however there was some rayon and cotton crochet cotton which is similar to what I'm using for my current shawl.  I bought some rayon in bright saturated yellow, pink, green and blue--exactly the colours I see in the saris on the streets.

We went back to the festival on Sunday because Vicky is on the arts and culture committee.  They had a painting workshop planned and were hoping to draw in lots of families to participate.  This kind of activity is fairly new here and the committee didn't know what to expect. They rolled out a long sheet of paper on the floor and set up pots of paint (lots of saturated colours of course--this is India!) with brushes. Within a few hours the place was humming nicely, and there seemed to be an assortment of people with paintbrushes in hand on the floor...everyone from established artists in the community to whole families which arrived on motorcycles, and also some street kids from just up the road.  These grubby little boys were initially sent away by the men at the door, but someone on the committee brought them in and they seemed to have fun too.  Then they suddenly disappeared, only to reappear an hour or so later with several more of their friends.

Lloyd and I were mentioned in the local Hindi press the next day as the foreign artists in attendance!  There were so many people painting that we didn't even try to get near the paper.  I guess we were the foreign colour.

Leaving the farm was a bit of a wrench--we're now back in the urban noise and pollution.  Our patience is wearing thin and we're thinking about home a lot...and feeling very fortunate to live where we do.

We were met at the Agra Fort train station by a driver sent from the hotel, and while we were very grateful that he was still waiting for us at 11 PM (the train was 1/1/2 hours late) he turned out to be a very aggressive young man.  He wanted to know what our plans were, and he would drive us everywhere...we kept saying "no decisions tonight!" and he kept pushing...  We were glad to get to the hotel, and while it was clean and comfortable enough, the room was noisy and hot (being above the kitchen) and we couldn't have any extra pillows because the hotel was full...  Breakfast on the terrace above the road on the 2nd floor was a very noisy affair--it felt like we were eating right on the road.  And then to top all this off, the driver met us as we were leaving the hotel to walk the neighbourhood:  "where are you going?  I'll drive you anywhere!"  With that, we decided we were moving!  We're now at the Rajrani Residency but don't be fooled by the website!  This is definitely a three star hotel, and not as luxurious as portrayed on the site.  The bed is comfortable, and the place is (sort of) clean--our room could do with new paint...  The service has been excellent and there are no pushy drivers outside the front doors.  Dinner last night was excellent and we're just about to have breakfast.  On the down side I was awakened at 5 AM (foolish me not wearing ear plugs like Lloyd) by an Indian tour group being roused out of their rooms, presumably to visit the Taj at sunrise.  There must have been two different groups because an hour and half later--I was up by this time and starting the blog posting--our door handle was rattled.  Of course it was a mistake--the tour leader thought some of his group were in here...

We had a good day of sightseeing yesterday to Agra Fort and to the Taj at sunset.  I'll post images later today.

India Wrap, Part Two

I thought I was going to write a bit each day, but it's now Sunday...I'm still enjoying the most amazing sunrise here in the Eden Valley just south of Carlisle. I work up this morning to see a band of luminescent orange and yellow across the horizon. I bounced out of bed to have a better look. Even 45 minutes later, the light is incredible...softly pink and violet... I'm on a dairy farm cum sculpture gallery (see www.highheadsculpturevalley.co.uk) until next Friday when I fly home. I'm visiting old friends, Bernadette and her husband Jonathan. B & I worked together in a restaurant called Yan Tyan Tethera (1-2-3 in the old Cumbrian dialect) in Keswick from 1973 - 76. We're having a reunion of staff and customers to celebrate our former boss' 70th birthday next Wednesday. There will be about 30 people coming for tea. We've been planning this since my visit last June.

I spent last weekend on another dairy farm, this one in Rajasthan just outside the city of Kota. Vicky, our escort for the Magical Mystery Textile Tour, also runs this family farm and hosts guests when she's not leading groups about the countryside. Her website is www.colsudhirfarm.com We had two nights on this peaceful property, such a welcome respite from the sounds, sights and smells of urban India. The first thing we did upon arriving at the farm was have a "proper" cup of tea...darjeeling tea steeped in a pot, covered with a tea cozy and eating wonderful fruit cake and chocolate chip cookies. I hadn't realized until that moment that as much as I had been enjoying the chai masala that I had missed my usual beverage.
The next morning we went on our last textile excursion--a visit to the neighbouring village of Kaithoon where there are many people creating the famous Kota Doria fabric. This is a gossamer-like weave, and I bought a few "dupatta" sized cotton pieces. The most amazing lengths were in silk for saris--one spectacular piece was a new original design of peacocks and paraqueets in a Jacquard weave. This was the first place we've visited where new designs are encouraged (rather than continuing to weave only the traditional patterns). We met the young designer, and he took us on a tour of the village to see the warping (in the narrow lanes outside the houses), dyeing, plain weaving and jacquard weaving. The weaving is still by hand on pit looms, and the weavers were all women. This was a Muslim community and it seemed like everyone was involved somehow.
We then stopped off at a small workshop where lac bangles were being made by hand...the resin is heated over coal and the cooled "dough" is rolled by hand. Like every workshop we've been welcomed into, it seemed a rather dicey place to work in terms of safety! Bare feet, no eye protection, etc. None-the-less, I enjoyed seeing the process and selecting a few bangles...

Later that afternoon we were in a boat speeding down the river at Kota. We saw the remains of the bridge that collapsed Christmas Eve (over 40 people were killed and one of the foreign contractors has just received bail to get out of jail), but further up the gorge we enjoyed the wildlife especially the turkey vultures and TWO CROCODILES sunning themselves on rocks.

The next day we enjoyed playing Holi with the farm workers and people of the neighbouring village--sprinkling coloured powder on ourselves and others to celebrate the lunar new year. The boys arrived first around 9AM and sprinkled powder on Vicky's feet in exchange for a chocolate biscuit, then the men started arriving and received a tot of rum, and finally the best part were the women and babies around 10:45 who sang and danced. I'll be sure to post pictures of this when I get home.

We spent our last afternoon and night in Kota at the Sukhdham hotel (http://www.sukhdhamkothi.com/) before catching the 11:20 "Golden Temple Mail Train" to Delhi. We were met at the station in Delhi by another man holding a JANET/WENDY sign, a most welcome sight amongst all the touts trying to sell us stuff and take us to their taxi or hotel. This pick-up was again arranged by our Delhi hostess. The same fellow picked us up again the next morning at the dreadful time of 3:45 for the trip to the airport to catch our 06:55 flight. The only good thing about this was that we were able to enjoy good espresso coffee and browse in the book store before departing!

As for culture shock...I am still astounded at the litter on Indian streets (but definitely not on Col Sudhir Farm--that's a litter-free zone) and as I made my way across London to Euston station I marvelled at NO LITTER anywhere. And at Euston, there were no litter bins! So how does it keep so neat and tidy? Answer--an army of custodial staff pushing carts sweeping up anything. I deposited my sandwich wrappings in one of these carts.

I've been enjoying my downtime knitting, reading, snoozing, walking--Jonathan and I went on a wonderful walk yesterday from Threlkeld to Keswick around the backside of Latrigg--and I've cooked a dinner of plain food (roast chicken and vegetables). I really enjoyed the Indian food, but plain is good too!

Thanks for staying with me, dear readers! I'll post pictures when I get home.