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We woke up at 6:45 a.m., showered, and met Mukul for breakfast at 8. The hotel restaurant didn’t have much for Indian breakfast food except for poori and bhaji. We supplemented it with pancakes with honey, omelettes, bananas, cheese, tea, and coffee. When we were finished with breakfast, we made a quick stop at the room and then headed to the car.
Prakesh drove us to Jahangir Mahal, a nearby palace. Raghvendra, the guide we had met in town last night, was waiting there for us. He guided us around the palace, and Mukul acted as a mentor to him. We learned that Orchha ruler Vir Singh built this palace in 1606 to receive his good friend, the palace's namesake, Mughal Emperor Jahangir. It was a gorgeous structure, a palace five stories tall, and every part was symmetrical. We entered a stone courtyard at the center of which was a large square basin, which used to be filled with water to keep the courtyard cool in the summertime. There were chhajja (eaves) supported by brackets carved to resemble elephants. Walkways along the inner perimeter of the upper story overlooked the courtyard. Jali screens provided places where women could see the goings-on in the courtyard without being seen themselves. Chhatri-capped balconies dotted the tops of the ramparts. Walking through an archway we found ourselves in hallways and stairwells which twisted and turned corners to make seige difficult for an invading army. We exited the palace and walked down a path to a stone structure which had very tall archways. It is believed that these were used as stables, for both horses and elephants. From here we overlooked medieval roads, city walls, and gates. From the stables we looked back at the imposing structure of Jahangir Mahal. We could see the front door - a heavy wooden door with ornate stone carvings surrounding it including elephant statues standing in profile on either side. The sprawling grounds were a bright verdant green. The weather was dreary and gave a rather drab appearance to the buildings. It was very humid and we became sweaty as we explored the complex. It seemed so abandoned, and we tried to imagine what it must have been like when it was bustling with courtiers. We left the stables, walked back up the path and then re-entered Jahangir Mahal. As we explored more rooms we found little bursts of color - deep blue and turquoise mosaics inset in the walls. These merely hinted at the grandeur that the palace once had, when extensive areas were covered in this brilliant blue and turquoise glazed fiance. There were niches in the walls, and we saw a frieze of Ganesh next to a doorway. Every room had details waiting to be noticed. We saw some paintings of animals, birds, and flowers. They were faded and could probably use some restorative work. Marble was inlaid in geometric patterns on some of the ceilings. The interiors of domes were carved to look like lotus flowers. The building was of incredibly large scale, yet it also contained many minute details. The more closely you looked at anything, the more details you noticed. We meandered up staircases and through hallways onto balconies. The whole experience was rather overwhelming, and I took many pictures, trying to capture all of the details. I am including many of them here. Architecture of this scale and age simply doesn't exist in the United States. And yet for such a massive building that could obviously sustain a large population, it was now empty except for a few tourists and staff. The scale of it was so massive that we pondered how much effort it must take to maintain it, let alone restore it, let alone sustain it as a living, breathing palace back in the 17th century. It was hard to wrap our brains around the fact that this huge palace was constructed for a one-time visit from Mughal Emperor Jahangir. It seemed so...extravagant. As we stepped into one particular room, overlooking the parking area, Craig noticed that the building itself was vibrating because of the generator being used to power the hotel in the adjoining Sheesh Mahal. That can't be good for the preservation of this architecture. After exploring Jahangir Mahal, we headed to the palace next door: Raja Mahal. This palace's construction began in 1531 with Raja Rudra Pratap and continued after his death during the reign of his son, Bharti Chandra. Finishing touches were added by Bharti Chandra's successor, Madhukar Shah. We entered the courtyard, which featured whitewashed walls and scalloped archways. We walked up staircases and through passageways. Raja Mahal is known for its beautiful frescoes which were painted with mineral paints using Arabica gum as a binding agent. The paintings are from the Bundela school of art. As we wandered around we stepped into a room which featured beautiful paintings on its ceiling. There were intricate floral patterns with mounted horsemen around the perimeter. As we traveled from room to room, the art just got more and more extraordinary. Rama, Krishna, and Vishnu were depicted in vibrant hues of yellow, red, blue, and green. Mukul pointed out Vishnu's incarnations as a turtle and a fish. We saw Krishna depicted playing his flute, and also recognized the monkey god Hanuman. Elephants and horses were depicted in the paintings as well. We saw the chambers of Madhukar Shah's Queen Kunwar Ganeshi. Her bedroom window looked to the Sanctum Sanctorum of Chaturbhuj Temple, which her husband had built intending to house her idol of Rama. (However, as we had learned yesterday, Rama did not want to move into his new home at the freshly constructed temple, and instead opted to stay at Shri Rama Raj temple, where we had seen his idol last night). We saw the lavatory next to the queen’s chambers. She had 3 water basins – hot, cold, and lukewarm - so civilized! We walked outside and passed an outbuilding with archways facing in 4 directions. It was a shrine to Hanuman, the monkey god. We came to a pavilion with more elaborate paintings. We then walked past the adjoining Sheesh Mahal hotel, down a path through bushes and shrubs past the ruined facade of a building. Goats had somehow climbed up onto the roof. We looked back at the hotel and could immediately tell which balconies belonged to guest rooms because they were restored and painted white. Although I'm sure that it is cool to be able to stay right here, and I'm sure the guests at the hotel appreciate having plumbing, the retrofitted pipes clinging to the outside of the building are an eyesore. We walked further down the path to Rai Praveen Mahal, a small 3-story palace. Rai Praveen was known as the Nightingale of Orchha. In addition to being extremely beautiful, she was also a talented musician, dancer, and poet. She was a concubine of Prince Indrajit Singh. Akbar had heard of her reputation, and sent for her to be brought to his court in Delhi. He offered her the riches of his kingdom but she remained faithful to Indrajit Singh. Her loyalty impressed Akbar, and he let her return to Orchha. There were several goats lounging on the ground floor of her palace. They ignored us as we walked past them and up the stairs, where we saw paintings of Rai Praveen in Nritya Mudra (Indian classical dance) poses and also paintings of men on horses. Next we said goodbye to Raghvendra and drove to Laxminarayan temple, dedicated to Laxmi, the goddess of wealth. The temple was built in 1622 by Vir Singh Deo and is on the top of a hill. After it had fallen into disrepair, Prithvi Singh extensively renovated the temple in 1793. The temple contains some architectural elements usually associated with a fort. There were reddish brown paintings on the walls as we first entered. The top of the temple was lotus-shaped. Inside, the life of Krishna is depicted in paintings on the walls. Peacock statues adorned the corners of the ceiling. Some of the floral motifs on the ceiling reminded us of the elaborate paintings in the ceilings of our hotel. Not all of the paintings are from the 1700's. Some are from the 19th century, including the one of a British siege of a walled city. In the sanctum sanctorum of this temple, Vir Singh built a peeth (seat) for offering sacrifices to Laxmi. After exploring the temple, we got back in the car and Prakesh drove us toward Chaturbhuj Temple. Soon before coming to India, we had received mail from an organization called Smile Train. They had sent us their award-winning documentary DVD "Smile, Pinki" which documents their work giving free cleft lip and palate surgeries to children around the world. We watched the film and were quite moved by it. Two of my cousin were born with cleft palates, so the condition hits close to home. In the movie, they show that they hang posters around India and other countries with photos of children with cleft palates, trying to educate the population that anyone with this birth defect is eligible for free surgery from Smile Train. As we got out of the car and approached an alleyway leading to Chaturbhuj Temple, I spotted one of these posters affixed to a CocaCola advertisement on the wall of a food stall. We had only learned of this charity a week before, and here was one of its posters, informing people in Hindi about their work. We learned from the movie that such posters can help to spread the word to villages miles away. Smile Train tries to treat every patient who shows up at their clinics, and they also teach local doctors to perform the surgeries, so that after the clinic is over, patients can get the same treatment in local hospitals. I couldn't help but snap a photo of the poster. We then followed Mukul up an alley and into a courtyard. Various people had their goods displayed in the courtyard. Many were selling kumkum powder, which was piled up in brightly colored conical volcano-shaped piles in shiny silver bowls. This was the make-up that sellers had been showing us yesterday, which could be stored in their little metal compacts. The vividness of the colors was unbelievable and they were just calling out to be photographed. Vendors also sold small trinkets, carved wooden stamps, and bottled water. We climbed up a tall staircase and entered the temple. We took our shoes off and approached the altar. We noticed a bees nest hanging high overhead in the main entrance archway. There was a blind man sitting in a niche, playing a stringed instrument made out of a pumpkin covered in goat hide. He had a long white beard and was wearing a turban. His left eye was obscured by a milky white cataract. He was barefoot, and was sitting cross-legged on a little mat. Mukul asked him to play for us and he played a nice song. Mukul explained to us that all blind musicians are all called "Soordas", in honor of a 15th century blind poet and composer. He explained that this was the source of a joke in "Slumdog Millionaire" that non-Indians probably didn't get. Two little girls approached us, selling knotted string bracelets with jingle bells on them. The girls reminded us of our goddaughter and her sisters in Guatemala. We decided to buy six of their bracelets to bring as gifts the next time we visited Guatemala. Mukul took our picture with the girls on the temple steps. The girls then skipped down the steps with their money, and we saw them heading into a shop. As we walked back to the car, we saw a toddler standing nearby who had dark charcoal lining his eyes. We had seen this on children before, and asked Mukul about it. He explained to us that this is done to protect the child and ward off the evil eye. We thought back to our time in Bhutan when we had run into many Indian Tata trucks which had eyes painted on their bumpers for the same reason. Truckers also hang black tassles frpom their side mirrors as an attempt to distract the evil eye. Next we went down to the Betwa river and across the picturesque stone arched bridge. People were swimming and some were washing their laundry in the river. There were granite rocks all around and a little shrine positioned on the rocks. We crossed the bridge on foot. When we got to the other side I realized that I only had a couple of photos left on my memory card. I had left my spare cards in the car. No matter how prepared you try to be, sometimes it's inevitable that something goes wrong. So I rationed the last couple of photos as we walked down to the water's rocky edge. we stepped onto some flat rocks and enjoyed the view across the river of the 18th century cenotaphs and their reflections. Mukul said that sometimes the river floods way up over the bridge and the whole thing is under water. We saw the remains of an old hotel which had gotten flooded out. We saw some palm squirrels running around, and Mukul told us that a palm squirrel brought sand to Lord Rama to help him build a bridge. Rama pet him on the back, which is where he got his striped back. We crossed the bridge again, back to the car. Next Prakesh drove us over to the cenotaphs. Each monument had 4 chhatris (domes) on the corners and a sikhara (spire) in the center. Nature was starting to encroach on them them...green grasses sprouted from their domes. The weather was rather dreary, and I must admit that it gave all of the architecture a rather melancholy tinge. We got back to the hotel at around 1 o’clock. Mukul had scheduled a massage. Craig and I decided to take advantage of the pool which was in a courtyard separating our suites from some of the other guest rooms. It was quite refreshing after a morning of siteseeing. Nobody else was around; just a few employees wandering by once in a while. We were headed to Agra, where things were bound to be more busy and hectic, so we decided to enjoy the solitude while we could. The sky was completely dark in one direction, and it had just started to sprinkle as we were getting out of the pool at around 2:30. We were just drying off when we saw Mukul emerge from the spa. Perfect timing! We went back to our room and changed clothes. We looked at the framed artwork on our walls and recognized some of the paintings as reproductions of what we had seen this morning at Raja Mahal and the Laxminarayan temple. Just as we were about to break out some snacks (moong dal and peanuts), we heard a soft tapping on the door. It was Mukul asking if we were hungry for lunch. He ordered banana lassi (yogurt drink) and eggplant tempura. We sat outside in the courtyard between our two rooms under a roof which protected us from the light rain. A hotel employee brought us our lassi and fritters. This was our first taste of lassi, but not for the last time! Lassi and fritters would become our lunch tradition for the remainder of the trip. At 4:15, we went to the front desk to check out. Their credit card machine was not working. Mukul went to a nearby ATM to try to get cash to pay the bill, but the ATM was not working. So we tried to pay the bill with US dollars and they said that they don’t exchange currency. They were being difficult, and Mukul told them that if they weren't able to accept payment, then maybe they should be closed. They wisely decided they would take our dollars after all. Prakesh drove us half an hour to the train station at Jhansi. The place is so hectic that you never know which platform is yours until the train actually arrives. Mukul recommended staying in a neutral place with a bird's eye view. We waited on an elevated walkway, people watching while waiting for our platform to be announced. We all found a particular policeman particularly funny, as he had bright new white sneakers and seemed to be walking in such a way as to show them off to the full extent possible. He high-stepped around the station, up and down the stairs. We saw all walks of life at the train station, from western-attired businessmen to children who would dance and do acrobatics for tips. We watched rats scurrying along the tracks. Eventually it was announced that the train to Agra would arrive on track 4, so we headed down to the platform to wait there. We ran into Mukul’s niece’s husband, a Colonel in the Indian Army, and were introduced. When we boarded the train, Craig and I sat in seats 41 and 42. Mukul sat at the other end of the car with the Colonel. We were served a nice meal: a piping hot samosa, a cole slaw sandwich, a soam cake, cashews, a Bar One candy bar, a bottle of water, and a cup of tea. It was a lot of food and it was quite tasty. After eating, we settled in for the journey. A group of young adults were huddled around a laptop watching a DVD. You could hear the sound coming from the laptop's built-in speakers. All at once an uncharacteristic hush fell over the train car just a woman in the movie shouted, "You never loved anybody but yourself and your stupid penis!" Everybody on the train started to laugh; it was just too funny and it seemed as if everyone had heard it. Soon they served us some soup along with a roll and butter. We were the first in the car to be served. It was quite delicious, but by now we were feeling full. Mukul came by and said that we should order the chicken. We were confused...we had just finished eating. “That was just your appetizer!” Mukul said with a laugh. Sure enough, minutes later we were the first to be served the third course. Craig got the chicken masala and I had the paneer. Both were served with two pieces of royo, rice, vegetables, yogurt, and a salad. We couldn't believe it! We were served more on a several hour train journey than on a cross-country flight in the USA! It turned out that the Colonel (a frequent commuter on this train) had asked the conductor to take care of us, so that was why we were served first. Watching us get bombarded with food gave Mukul and the Colonel some good entertainment to pass the time. Before we knew it, with full bellies, we arrived in Agra at 8:20 pm. We packed up our leftover food and gave it to Mukul and the Colonel, asking them to please give it to someone needy when we got off the train. The Colonel insisted on carrying my bag to the parking lot, which was quite kind of him. There we met Rajendra, who would be our driver for the remainder of the trip, and got to ride in our “palace on wheels” as Mukul called it, a very comfortable roomy Toyota Innova. We thought back to our last trip, when we had arrived in busy Agra by train, and hadn't known what to expect at all. We had seen the sites in a whirlwind. Now we would be staying for three nights, getting to meet and spend some relaxed time with Mukul's family. We drove through Agra to Mukul’s house. The power was out when we arrived, and Mukul’s wife Sunita met us outside with a candle. She gave me a big hug and gave Craig a friendly handshake. We went into their front room and met their son Sukumar as well as Sunita’s mother, who is staying with them. She has complications from a broken femur, and Sukumar is a physical therapist, so it works out well for her to live with them. We also met Sunita’s mother’s night nurse, who had just arrived for her shift so that Sunita can get some sleep. They have a lovely home at the end of a dead end street. They led us into the dining room and showed us their newly renovated kitchen, which Mukul had given Sunita as an anniversary present. Sunita had hoped to feed us dinner, and was a bit disappointed when she learned that we had been fed (so much) on the train. She did, however, serve us delicious malpua and mango juice for dessert. We sat with Mukul and Sukumar while we ate. Then we went into the sitting room. We were admiring the paintings on the walls and Mukul pointed out some watercolor paintings of birds which he had painted himself. They were lovely. The power came on and then went out again for a short while. Mukul then took us outside to see his pride and joy – his beloved garden. Is there no limit to his talents? The more we learn about him, the more of a Renaissance man he seems to be. The gardens were gorgeous. He has over 100 species of plants, several ponds (some with fish, some with turtles he has rescued from the road), a fountain, beautiful little bonsai trees, and pieces of terra cotta which he describes as his passion. The property is a green and quiet oasis within the city - the best of both worlds. Mukul and Sunita showed us to our bedroom on the second floor, with an en suite bathroom. It also had nice air conditioning. They even had little slippers for us to wear! We felt like we were at a resort. We dropped off our things and then followed them back down the marble steps to the sitting room. We enjoyed a nice chat and retired to our room at around 10:45. I wrote in the journal and went to sleep at 11:20. |
             Blind Musician Singing at Chaturbhuj Temple (20 second clip)    
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