Jaipur, Day 1

After having slept till 10am, we woke up and tried to find a suitable restaurant for a kind of breakfast. Actually, we already found one in near distance to our accommodation. But once we went out of the hotel, we were surrounded by rickshaw drivers immediately, trying make business. As the restaurant was in near distance, we preferred to go there on foot. From the beginning on, Jaipur made to me a very pleasant impression. Especially, when we approached the Cill Wall. The older part of the city is surrounded by a huge wall made of red sandstone. There are only a few possibilities for entering this part of the city. But once you have left the wall behind you, we will have a great view of Jaipur’s streets, all tarried with buildings made of red sandstone and constructed in very certain manner. That’s the reason why Jaipur is also called the pink city. First we simply were hanging about the Bazaar. It is a real shopping area, where you can find all kind of stuff, clothing of course in particular. At each shop we passed vendors invited us to enter their shop for simply having a look what he is offering. Indeed, we were interested in some clothes, but in order to get a good price you should never show your interest. Therefore rummaged the displays for a while, then asked for the price and decided to move on. He vendors were certain to follow by calling a reduced price.
Finally, I went for 2 pairs of shoes and a couple of shirts, most of them with a typical Indian symbol, like a camel or an elephant embroidered on it. Really beautiful, I tell you. Be anxious, one of them might be gifted to you. After having finished our shopping tour, we more focussed on doing some sightseeing in Jaipur. The building Jaipur is famous for is the Hawa Mahal. It was build by the Maharaja in 1799 for his wifes, so that they were able to observe the processions held on the streets without being seen themselves. The Hawa Mahal is quite an impressive building, almost similar to the Taj Mahal. We climped up the small stairs through its little passages and once arrived behaved like the women 200 years ago by sitting behind the window and watching the goings on the street. After the Hawa Mahal we went to the City Palace, sightseeing in Jaipur worth having a look at it. On the way to the City Palace, we saw a child shitting next to the street. As I was not eager on observing it, I immediately averted my eyes of it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t enter the Palace. But the Palace domiciles two interesting museums exposing weapons and clothes of that time. We really had the feeling being back to the 18th century. Also because of the guardians who were wearing typical uniforms. Next to City Palace the Maharaja built his own planetarium. A few interesting devices were part of the planetarium. Quite striking how the observed the stars in the former time. When the sun was already about to set, we climbed up to the Nahargrat Fort which was a retreat. All the room were painted in the same style with very sophisticated patterns. It was told these rooms were used for the Maharaja love acts with his wifes. From Nahargrat Fort we had a great view over Jaipur and attended a romantic sun set. The day then ended with a nice dinner on a roof top’s restaurant.

Agra, Day 2

The night was very short. The alarm clock started ringing at 6am as we planned to visit the Taj Mahal early in the morning as it would be less crowded and we could see the sunrise. The entrance fee for the Taj Mahal was 20 Rupees for the Indians and 750 Rupees for the foreigners. It is a great injustice, in my opinion. What counts is the height of income and not where you come from. As if each foreigner is wealthy. But that's India and it is ok. Anyway, you can't change it. In order to enter the Taj Mahal area, we were shaked down. No high resolution cameras were allowed. They really take care of their Taj Mahal. As the sun rose behind us and in front of the Taj Mahal, it was not as awesome as it would have been when the sun rose up behind the Taj Mahal. We hung about, took some nice pics of the Taj Mahal and, of course, entered the Taj Mahal. But honestly speaking, there is not much to see inside. It is dark and the tomb can not be visited and it is located in the basement. The two coffins you see when you enter the Taj Mahal are not one of Maharadsha’s wife who died in 1631 while her child was born. In the early afternoon we went to Agra Fort. Before have reached there entirely we had been already asked whether we want to hire a guide. As a little discount was given to us, we decided to take one. All summed up, it was not a worthwile as his English was more or less not comprehensible. But nevertheless, Agra Fort was very interesting and we have seen so many monuments being part of Agra Fort.
We wanted to finish the day by visiting Itimad-ud-Daula, also called the Baby Taj Mahal as it looks similar to the Taj Mahal. It is called Baby Taj Mahal as it is much smaller than the real Taj Mahal. As it was constructed before the Taj Mahal, its appearance must have been copied to construct the Taj Mahal. On the way to the Baby Taj Mahal we had to cross the river Jamuna. This was an adventure itself. We saw people getting cut their hairs in the streets by simply sitting in front of a pole where a mirror was attached. And the bridge we used to cross the river was crowded with vehicles edging their ways through. Simply incredible. Once we reached the Baby Taj Mahal, we were surrounded by some kids asking for money and food. I wanted to give them my water bottle. But as they all of a sudden started fighting for the bottle. Therefore, I decided to keep the bottle. They fighted like hell, as if the would die if I didn’t give them my bottle.
When we returned to our hotel, we simply went for dinner and arranged our luggage. We planned to take the train at 5.30pm for Jaipur. We took a rickshaw in due time for the railway station and awaited the train on the platform to run in. In the train I had a nice conversation with some Indians about their culture and religion. It was quite interesting. During the journey, a little boy tidied up the floor without having been asked for it. Afterwards he asked for some money. That’s evidence, how poor India in some area still is. But it also shows how smart some people are and how they manage to survive every day, again and again. At about 10pm we reached Jaipur and took a rickshaw for the Evergreen hotel which was recommended by Lonely Planet and some other trainees who had already stayed there. It was a very simple double room but settled our claims.

Agra, Day 1

The Taj Mahal Express arrived in due time in Agra. The first thing we did, was to get a rikshaw, which was of course again related with doing some bargaining. After having arranged a good prize we drove to the main city. Karolina and I decided to stay in a hotel close to the Taj Mahal, in a area called Taj Ghat. It was pretty obvious by the first view that Agra was completely different from how I imagined it to be. Anyhow, it is the city of the Taj Mahal. It was very polluted and all summed up, a very messy city. One the way to our hotel, we were stopped by the police. I was so excited to see the Taj Mahal that I got angry because of this stop. What on hell could the driver had done to be fined by the police I asked myself. I was very startled as the driver told me the reason for the stop. It was all because of the Taj Mahal. Due to acid rain the Taj Mahal loses it beauty and pureness of the white marble. Therefore, only rickshaws those engines accord to a certain standard are allowed in the area around the Taj Mahal. When we arrived at Hotel Kamal, I could bear to see the Taj Mahal. The hotel’s roof top is to have a great view to the Taj Mahal. Hence, after having checked in, we climbed up to the roof top immediately. I still remember what I thought, when I climbed up the last steps to the roof top. As I reached the top, I was looking around, to the east, to the west, in each direction, but couldn’t find the Taj Mahal. It was like a desperate search for something you have missed for so many years, for example. The reason, why I couldn’t find it was because of a tree standing in front of the house and constraining me to see the Taj Mahal. After taking some steps forward, I finally saw it. It was awesome and breathtaking. To be honest, I can’t describe it in words. It is definitely the most beautiful building I have ever seen. And I don’t think that any building in the world is more beautiful than the Taj Mahal. After so many years of simply hearing that there is supposed to be a building called Taj Mahal which is supposed to be so beautiful, now it was me standing approximately 500 meters away from it. I mean, this building is what India famous for. And all Indians are proud of it, and they are right to be. We had a breakfast at the roof top and kept on staring on it all the time. We decided to visit the Taj Mahal the next day in the morning as it would be less crowded then.
Thus, the first day we took a bus to Fatehpur Sikri. Before the bus left Agra, a man entered the bus delivering a speech. At least, that’s what I thought at the beginning. But actually, he tried to sell some stuff. Fatehpur Sikri is a city close to Agra, those monuments have become a World heritage. Mogul Akbar ruled from here in 16th century before he moved to Lahore. We have seen monuments like the Jama Masjid or the Diwan-i-Am, the main palace. It was all very impressive, especially because the monuments were carved elaborately. We took some pics and went back to the bus stop were we waited for the departure of the bus. As it was already dusk when we reached Agra again, we simply decided to have dinner on another hotel’s roof top while again starting to stare at the Taj Mahal.

Train to Agra

On Monday morning we took the train to Agra. At 6.30am we waited on the platform of Nizamuddin Railway station for Taj Express departing at 7.15am. The railway station is of course a polluted area. I have seen rats wandering around on the railways searching for something to eat. Even a cow was roaming on the railways, not bothering about prospective incoming trains. We haven’t been alone on the platform; we have been surrounded by tourists, Indians sleeping and lots of goods including herbals, vegetables and so on. All those things were packed in sacs. At about 7am our train arrived. Usually Indian trains are delayed, but fortunately not this one.
We went to Agra by taking Taj Mahal Express. The train promised what his name has got supposed to, it was a really fast train; it only took 3 hours to Agra. On the way to Agra the surroundings of the rails have been polluted with different kinds of garbage. People even stood up to throw their garbage out of the opened doors, instead of keeping it and tiding up it correctly. But obviously, it was their way of tiding up their garbage correctly as first everybody did it like that and second, the environment seams to be simply their garbage can. Otherwise, I suppose, they wouldn’t have made such an effort to get rid of it. I noticed at once the numerous fans hanging on the ceiling. Fortunately, they were out of order as I might have blown away if they had worked all together. Anyhow, it was really sultry or hot as if we would have needed them.
A lot of business was made on the train starting with people selling coffee and Chai, the most famous and most tasty Indian tea and followed people selling papers, newspapers and crisps. Moreover, kids were roaming through the train playing the drums and the flute. But that’s not the end. I could have even got fixed my shoes or my clothes! Tailors and shoemakers were also going to Agra. I don’t know if the paid a fare or if they are tolerated by the Indian Railways so that they are able to earn some money.
The trip was going on quite well, apart from the fact that the Indian woman sitting next to me was snoring most of the time and the train was shaking slightly back and forth, left – right, left – right. If I had been a baby I would have easily fallen asleep on the way to Agra ;-)

New Delhi, Day 2

The next day then we woke up early in the morning as there was still a lot to see and a lack of time. I have slept well which is no wonder after spending the whole last day with sightseeing and Karolina didn’t complain about a prospective snoring of my part. Hence, day two could start. After having had breakfast in our hotel again, we quit for Old Delhi, crossing again this great messy area called Paharganj. Arrived in Old Delhi, we first paid a visit to Jama Masjid, India’s biggest mosque. I was impressed by its size and beauty as well. Build out of red and white sandstone, it can house at about 50.000 believers at the most including the whole courtyard. We were roaming around and have been asked whether it would be allowed to take a snap of us or in particular Karolina. We refused each time but have been bothered again and again by the same people who either didn’t understand the meaning of the word “no” or were deaf. So what, the choice is yours. As for us, we took a cycle rickshaw to Red Fort. Red Fort has been a resort hundreds of years ago in case of wars. One the way to Red Fort I say another cycle rickshaw loaded with to huge carpets. The driver had to make a lot of efforts to move on – incredible India. Red Fort was build completely out of red sandstone. It actually comprises several buildings including temples, tombs and so on. No wonder, as it had to be used as a town itself in principle. When we saw hundreds of people standing in line waiting for admission, we expected to wait for hours. But as we had to pay a higher entrance fee than Indians it has been allowed to us to overtake all the others. We hung about at Red Fort for almost two hours before we moved on to Raj Ghat where Mahatma Ghandi was burnt after his death. Unfortunately, the gate was closed, so we couldn’t visit the place. The only this we could do, was to behold the beautiful green garden of Raj Ghat and to cross the street and pay a visit to the Gandhi museum on the opposite side. It was rather interesting; especially the chronicle of his life represented in pictures is recommendable. As we had covered the most important monuments in Delhi, we decided to take a rickshaw to Connaught Place, where we wanted to have lunch. After a lot of bargaining, we finally found a rickshaw driver asking for a reasonable fare. “It was the last time we took a cycle rickshaw”, I promised myself. I don’t know why but when these partly old cycle rickshaw drivers convey me and Karolina, I always had the impression that we will be the last customer; they had to strain themselves and it was a wonder they survived. After all, Karolina and I weigh at about 150 kilos. I pitied them, these poor guys. But however, it may be better to go by cycle rickshaw, so that they earn at least some bugs. The late afternoon and the evening then we spent with shopping again. Here and there we bought some cheap gifts like jewellery, shirts and blankets and so on. After a late dinner including a bottle of King Fisher bear. This had to be hidden as it is forbidden to drink in New Delhi even though we have been in a restaurant. Hence, the waiter wrapped some sheets of newspaper around the bottles; smart isn’t it? Since we had to wake up early the next morning in order to get our train to Agra, we went to bed early and dreamt of the Taj Mahal which we would see the following day and which as for me, I will behold for hours, I thought.

New Delhi, Day 1

On the 18th November, finally, I took off from Bangalore for New Delhi. It was the first destination of my two weeks trip around Rajasthan, one of India's most impressive states. New Delhi itself like Agra by the way are not part of Rajasthan. But in any case, being in India includes having seen the capital as well as the Taj Mahal, located in Agra. After a 2 1/2 hours flight I landed in New Delhi on time, more or less at least. When we were about to land, the aircraft soared up again. Nobody was wondering why this had happened as it would have been something normal. Well, as for me, I was wondering, if we have been hijacked. Actually, I was pretty sure about it. But then, after one minute of incertainty, the pilot informed us, saying there had been some birds on the runway all of a sudden.
As I switched on my phone, I noticed that it was not working anymore. The day before, I activated "roaming"; at least I thought I would have done. "How to get in touch with Karolina now", I asked myself. Karolina is from Poland. I met her in Bangalore. She is also a trainee. As we both wanted to travel around Rajasthan, we decided to go there together. But she arrived in New Delhi already the day before. "So what, first I have to go to New Delhi Train station", I said myself. Karolina and me arranged an appointment at New Delhi Train station for 10 o'clock. In front of the airport, I was asked by taxi drivers where I would like to go. I refused to go by taxi as I had planned to go there by metro. But unfortunately, there is still no metro going to the airport. I was pretty sure that there is one, but I was mistaken. All of a sudden, I guy offered me to go there by his own shabby bus for 50 Rps and I agreed. After some time the bus built for 8 people has become crowed. At the end, he conveyed 14 people in the bus. During the way to the train station I was surprised about the cleanness in the streets. "Well, it is the capital of India, so it has to be clean", I explained myself. To be honest, I was missing the garbage and the cows in the streets. But I can already reveal, the garbage and cows would be still coming. Arrived at the train station, I had an impressive view of Paharganj, a messy and polluted area of Delhi. This area is what I consider to be the real India; bustling people trying to sell their stuff, Indians hanging about and cows and dogs rummaging in garbage for something eatable. And then this nice taxi cabs standing in front of the rainway station, the body in black and the roof in yellow. I decided to make a phone call from one of the public telephone cabins, called STD/ISD as couldn't find Karolina. After a while, I finally found Karolina then. We edged our ways through the main street of Paharganj while we were asked by more or less all the vendor whether we would be interested in their merchandizes. We refused every time. After having checked in at Vivek Hotel, we had a breakfast on the hotel's rooftop restaurant. From there, I had an awesome view in this bustling street. In the late morning, we decided to hire a cab for 600 Rps for a sightseeing tour in Delhi. Our driver promised that we would see all the important monuments, which, we noticed later, is impossible because of two reasons. First, there is too much to see and second, the admission is only possible till the sunset, what is at about 5.30pm. Nevertheless, we have covered quite a good many things like Birla Temple, built by the Birlas, an industrialist family in 1938 or the Parliament House. Close to the Parliament House, India Gate, also known as All India War Memorial, is located. It looks similar to the "Arch de Triomphe" in Paris and is dedicated to the 80.000 soldiers who died in the World War 1 and the Afghan wars. In addition to that, we went to Qutub Minar, a monument built in 1199 by Qutub-Ud-Din-Aibak in order to give calls for prayer. Built out of sandstone, it is India's highest tower with a height of 72,5m.
It is one of New Delhi's most attracting sightseeing. Therefore, it was very crowded by tourists and Indians scattering themselves. As the sun was already about to set, we rushed to the Lotus Temple. It is a place of praying for people of all religions. The fact that it looks like a lotus blossom, gave the temple its name. It is surrounded by a beautiful green garden. The monument we were able to see, was Humayun's Tomb. It was designed and erected by Humayun's queen Hamida Banu Begam in 1570. Humayun's Tomb was the first garden tomb in the subcontinent. With its red and white sandstone it looks really overwhelming. As it is believed having inspired several other Mughal architectural innovations like the Taj Mahal, I was anxious to see it; but I would not see it before the 20th. While we were hanging about at Humayun's Tomb, the sun had set completely. Therefore, we requested our driver to drop us at Connaught Place, a big shopping and business circus, from where we took a rickshaw to Paharganj after having gone for a walk. The evening then we spent at Paharganj, went shopping and ate some good food in one this cheap restaurants. Especially shopping is recommendable there. It is cheap and you have big offer of things like jewelry, clothes, carpets, tissues and so on. I bought some stuff, of course which might have meant for you. Be anxious. In comparision to Bangalore, at Paharganj, it is much fun to bargain. If you have a glance to one of the shops, you will be asked to enter the vendor's shop, for sure. Well, and then you show a little interest, the vendor utters a prize, you reduce it by the half and try to move on. After having told a prize in between yours and the vendor's at the beginning, the vendor now all of a sudden accepts your prize and you get what you want. You can be sure, it works - always. And if not, don't worry, there are so many shops. You will get what you want for a reasonable prize.

5 minutes at Bandra Railway station

Bandra is a quarter in the heart of Mumbai. It is the final stop for long distance trains. Apart from that is has also a railway station for local trains. I had the pleasure to wait at the main entrance of Bandra railway station for five minutes. My impressions and feelings I would like to share with you. Be anxious.Bandra railway station is a messy and polluted area. Everywhere around I see garbage, every now and then some shit, probably from cows. It is very hot and sultry as well. I stand close to a pillar, lean against a pillar to avoid being rubbed from behind as I am carrying my trekking rucksack on my back. Next to me a guy is selling shabby shirts, all are displayed on a kind of table. It doesn’t take a minute and while I am looking around I am asked whether I want to buy one. “Very, very cheep!”, he praises his merchandize. I shake my head for negation while some other perspective costumers rummage about the heap of shirts. A worn off bus arrives. Not even stopped, people jump out of the bus which has neither doors nor window panes. As I am probably the one white human being around, they are looking at me and behold me unceasingly. To my right, another guy is sitting on the floor selling vegetables. He doesn’t offer a lot, just some onions, tomatoes and potatoes. He had made an effort in stringing together the vegetables thoroughly. “CCCrrrrrrooooaaaaakkkkk, pffffffttttt!”. Just in front of me someone spew. While seeing his spittle, I notice that there is spittle all around me. Some are even in red colour as they had chewed betel nuts along with some tobacco. After a while, certainly due to the heat, my heavy rucksack and the air pollution I can hardly breathe. The noise is indescribable, caused especially by these noisy and honking rickshaws arriving almost every 20 seconds. After having dropped their costumer, they have a look at me asking me with a gesture if I want to be conveyed. Again, I shake my head for negating. While I am beholding the enormous movie poster on the other side of the road, I little boy touches me showing me a wound on his right elbow and begs for some bugs – again I shake my head. He goes on and asks a customer recently arrived with a rickshaw and who is being about to pay the fare. All of a sudden, a black, air-conditioned Toyota Corolla stops just in front of me. One of these lucky Indians who is earning a fortune for Indians standards is dropping his girlfriend or wife or whatever. She is being asked for some bugs by an aging, grey haired man basing on himself with crutches as he has only one foot. She goes on without giving some money. On the opposite side I notice a guy kneeling while he is peeing against the wall. “Ooooiiiiiippppp, oooooiiiiiippppp!!!”, again a rickshaw almost reached the railway station but cannot move on due to the traffic jam which has been caused by a cow being about to cross the road but doesn’t care about. The people around seize this opportunity to cross the road more secure. The rickshaws now all try to edge their way through by driving around the cow while the cow itself now decided to clear the road slowly after having beheld the road users boringly. Now, Faiz, my friend is arriving, picking me up for a coffee at the café “Just around the corner”, where Zarine used to have her coffee when she was about to go to college. As I have been staying in India for almost six month, all what I mentioned doesn’t cause any problems to me. It has become normal and I have become at least half Indian.

Streets, traffic and everything around

It is worth dedicating the traffic in India an own chapter. Everything you know about traffic in Germany, forget it when you should come to India one day. There is so much to tell about Indian traffic that I don’t know to start with. Well, first of all, due to the fact that India was ruled by the Britain decades ago they use the left trace and the steering wheels are all on the right side. To get a driving licence either for two or four wheelers or both of it you have to pass an exam of course. Taking driving lessons in advance is not required. Those who want to learn driving ask their relatives or friends to show them. As for the two wheelers, to get the driving licence you have to drive on a wide road and on a narrow road very slowly in order to prove that you are capable of holding the balance. Well, but apart from that there are a lot of differences between German and Indian traffic behaviour and appearance. On the roads you find more or less the same vehicles like in Germany, including cars, buses, lorries, some bicycles and lots, lots of rikshaws and bikes. Bangalore is supposed to be the town with the most bikes in the world. They cause a lot of pollution and leave a lot of stinking cloud behind them as well as the rikshaws by the way. And what about traffic rules? Are there any? There are not many but there is at least one very important one – honk whenever you want. Of course the meanings are different depending on the situation. Basically, there is always a reason and if not, congratulations then you have invented a new one. The most common use of honking is for overtaking what will mean you announce when you want to overtake. The other reason for honking is when you are standing in a traffic jam. Due to the fact that the Indians overtake all the time and there are traffic jams almost the whole day, you can imagine how loud it is in the streets. On big crossings you will find traffic lights or traffic police officers. If there is nothing of the sort you just enter the crossing. Of course that will cause a little traffic jam and will induce the others to start honking but it works. I have never seen an accident caused because of that. The road users certainly apply the brakes, start honking and wait impatiently till you have immersed into the traffic. It assumes to me to be a kind of war. Nobody wants to loose his position or surrender. It is always a tug of war for the best position in order to move ahead faster than the others coz nobody wants to waist his time in the traffic jam.
The roads by the way don’t deserve to be called roads, they look more like agriculture fields, full of holes and dust and every now and then little speed breakers which force the road users to slow down. It is really awful. In addition to that the roads are too small. Bangalore has grown and is still growing so fast that there is not enough space for the vehicles although currently some of the roads are maintained or widened. In order to gain space, Indian drivers clap their mirrors, use the sidewalks as roads as well in case there are any or the traces are simply divided according to the strength of traffic for the two directions. By the way, in case there is a sidewalk, it is usually in very bad state. Therefore, even in this traffic, you would prefer walking on the street. At least this applies to some sidewalks. One of the reasons for that is the fact that Indians throw everything in the streets. Hence, the sidewalks are full of garbage which I have to admit is tidied up at least in Bangalore by some old ladies every morning in some streets. But nevertheless, streets are dirty in whole India. And the second reason is peeing. You don’t have to read it twice. Yes, it’s true, Indians pee in the streets. Of course, not each Indian is peeing in the streets whenever he has to. But you will see at least one Indian peeing in the streets when you go around for some hours, believe me. At the most frequently used walls and sidewalks you can even read the sentence “Don’t urine here”. As if it is necessary to mention it. Well, unfortunately, it is but some still don’t care. Logically, there is sometimes a horrible perfume in the streets also because the cows join them. Well, what else is different concerning Indian traffic? I have made an effort and have taken notes whenever I have seen something incredible in the streets. Here is my schedule. Buses are usually crowded because it is the cheapest vehicle to go from one place to another. I have seen Indians both standing on the step with one leg and holding down on a rod and even sitting on the roof. Thus, buses have neither doors nor windowpanes; at least the public buses in the cities. Anyway, it is not necessary coz even if there were windowpanes you would open them. Having no windowpanes is the Indian way of providing air conditioning. By the way the same applies to lorries, especially when it deals with construction workers. The workers sit on the back of the lorry, which is usually much too small. It is so dangerous, I tell you. But not less dangerous is the carriage of gas bottles, ladders or windowpanes on a motorbike. But the funniest thing was a man with a sheep on the bike. I don’t know if it was still alive but I assume it was. I have even seen a complete family including three children sitting on a motorbike whereby the mother sits lengthwise on the bike and holds her baby in her arms - incredible. In Bangalore’s traffic you will find a lot of company cars conveying employees to work and back home. At the back of these cars there is usually a phone number mentioned which you can call in order to complain about the driver’s manner of driving. Sometimes even the victim brings the driver to justice himself. One day our driver almost touched a pedestrian and on another day almost a motorcyclist. In both times, the driver has been hit fiercely. The first time, I interfered but then the alleged victim also tried to hit me. They just want to get rid of their anger. As long as they haven’t got rid of it, they won’t stop and honestly speaking, you can't do anything against it. It is because of the casts in India. The driver is definitely in the lower cast than the pedestrian or the motorcyclist. Even it was told to the drivers by the our company, not to fend. The simply have to endure the hits. Let me lose one word about the rickshaw drivers. Judging what I have experienced in India, they always try to cheat you. Either they charge you a higher fare without going by meter or they take you for a ride when you go by meter. The only way to escape it is to know the fare or the shortest way.
The funniest story happened when we had to stop at a level crossing barrier on the way back home. In fact, it was not a level crossing barrier. It was more a gate, which was closed by a guard on both sides of the railways. Well, due to what happened then, I understood, why the unique traffic rule in India seams to be “There are no rules!“ On both sides of the railways they started waiting also on the trace for the oncoming traffic. Hence, you can imagine what happened when the gate was opened – a huge traffic jam and chaos. Everybody tried to edge his way through to cross the railways, the bikes and rikshaws first as they are small. All I could do was to smile and shake my head.

Pray to the equipments or Ayuda Pooja

On one day when I was on my way to work I was very surprised seeing all the cars adorned with flowers and paintings. It was really gorgeous. They have put palm leaves all around the cars. Inside the cars they installed light chains flashing on and off. At the beginning, I didn’t thought about what I could be. Then at work, the same view. Now, even the systems had been adorned by having put a little colourful pattern on the top of the system. It is a kind of festival at which the Indians pray towards the equipments. It is called Ayuda pooja. Well and this also takes into account that all the equipments are being adorned for the time of the festival. It is done because the equipments contribute enormously to everyone’s success. Without having equipments working when they are required to work, Indians were lost. So they pray to them hoping that the equipment won’t break down. Ayuda pooja traces back to a legend. It is said that a man had to pray towards his wife to get her recovered from an injury. But he was only allegedly praying to her. In fact he was praying to arms and rifles. Since she recovered from her injury, Indians follow now the same rule. Actually, I don’t know if it has really happened or not. But it is strange that people pray to equipments. But it is like that and that’s why India is different but admirable.

Unveil the secrets of your future

Sunday the 12th of November Simon, Daniel, James, Steffen and I went to the palm leaf library. Palm leaf library, you will interfere now, what is that? Well, actually, it is exactly what you would assume it to be, when hear the name. It is a library with palm leaves instead of books. Hundreds of years ago some guys wrote the people’s destiny down on palm leaves. The destiny of the people lived at that time and even the destiny of the people who will be born in the future, maybe hundreds or thousands year later. Strange, isn’t it. Well, we wanted to check it out and therefore went there. Honestly speaking, at least as for me, I didn’t want to know anything about my future. I think, if I knew what will happen next, I would just relax and say to myself, I can’t change the future, so what’s the use anyhow? At least if I believed in it. But, I am not quite sure of it. The palm leaf library was hard to find. Even as we arrived in the quarter, where this palm leaf library is supposed to be, nobody knew it. We supposed to enter an old building but what we found was a small office in the corner of a parking garage. Should this really be the “Nadi Gruha” (palm leaf reader); impossible, I thought by myself. But, obvious, we were right here as there were some people waiting for their session. They were German and so we introduced ourselves and had a little conversion about this palm leaf library. Fortunately, this guy we spoke to could tell us a lot over it. He actually manages trips for people who are interested in their future. He also meant, it would useless to try to get an appointment for today as the “Nadi Gruha” has only about six sessions per day. One session takes at about 1 ½ hours, so it is hopeless today. We should have arranged an appointment in advance, but nobody told us, I am afraid. Daniel also meant that he actually already knows when you will be coming as it is predetermined when you have to come. But I am not sure about that. Anyhow, the guy we met told us that the forecasts he made, all came true. He told us about one man who came having an appointment and it was told to him that he is going to die in half a year and it came true. Also the stories he told about the past were all true; it is all written down on this palm leaves. So, what do you think of it? As for me, I am not sure, what to think any more. It cannot be true that people thousands of years ago already knew about the destiny of people who were not born yet. Maybe, it is all a big fraud and a big business coz usually people donate at about 1.500 Rupees for this service. So let’s sum up the money he earns per day. 1.500 multiplied with 6 makes 9.000 Rupees per day. Then, this guy has a day’s week; so that will be 45.000 Rupees per week. And finally, 45.000 Rupees multiplied with 4 makes 180.000 Rupees per month. This 10 times more than I earn and more than some Indians earn in their whole life. I don’t want to start a conspiracy against this guy but I have my doubts, that’s it. It is all very mysterious. But, come to your own decision and visit “Nadi Gruha” in Bangalore. His garage office is located in Chamarajpet, 5th main road No. 33. Good luck.

Things disappear at Robertson House

All of a sudden, some guys at Robertson house were missing some stuff. Among other things food including rice, bread, chocolate, instant coffee powder and so on. As for me, I was missing two also some provisions. But what was even worse, I was missing my two vouchers the company gifted me due to my good work I provided ;-) and my mp3-player was disappeared as well. Both things were stolen out of my chest of drawers. And 5.000 Rupees had been stolen from Hans out of his unlocked wardrobe. But the worst, Deniz one morning couldn’t find his mobile phone anymore. It was pretty obvious, that our house guard who is supposed to keep an eye on us so that we don’t have parties in our house in the last evening, stole at least some of the things. We also suspected the cleaning ladies having stolen at least some provisions. Who else should steel rice and instant coffee? As if it was one of us, he would have to prepare the coffee and the meals at Robertson house so that he would have been revealed as the thief. No, it is proven, at least to us, that the cleaning ladies and Murthy stole the things. We have seen Murthy rummaging the shelves and seen the ladies wearing our slippers. As I asked the ladies whether the stole the things, they claimed not to understand English – ridiculous. Hence, we complained at Sharan, the house-keeper about the happened incidents. He was supposed to come in between 1pm and 2am but was more than 2 hours delayed. Murthy, who actually, shouldn’t have been at Robertson house at that time wanted to attend to the appointment with Sharan as well. He assumed that we suspected him and therefore he fought for his job which he was obviously about to loose. As he didn’t want to go, even though we requested him to go, Simon became very angry and threw him out of the house applying violence. But still, Murthy retorted and insisted to attend to the appointment. I was very surprised about Simon’s behaviour as I detest every kind of violence. Later on, Simon explained why he had to do that. In India, strong hierarchies exist. And Murthy as a simple house guard with no education is definitely in the lowest hierarchy. He has to follow the rules anyone else orders him to do. If someone of a minor hierarchy doesn’t follow, there is no other way as to apply violence. It would be seen as a kind of weakness if someone of a superior hierarchy didn’t apply violence in such cases. Well, finally we got rid of him coz as Sharan came he also requested him to go. Sharan then was very cooperative and promised us to change the cleaning ladies, to provide a lock to each wardrobe and to let Murthy move out. As for me, I was much more comfortable afterwards. But, unfortunately I haven’t seen my voucher again as well as my mp3-player.

“Dal fry and one sweet Lassi, please”

If you are vegetarian you can eat quite good meals in India. The Indians like vegetarian food due to two reasons. One reason is that vegetarian food is much cheaper than non-vegetarian food. And the other reason is that Indians don’t eat beef at all coz cows are holly in India. Hence, dal, which consists of beans and peas, is the most popular food also coz it is cheap, very saturated and full of energy. When Indians eat meat then they eat chicken at the most. As a guy from Europe I had to form a habit of Indian food at first coz Indian food is usually except for some dishes, very spicy. You can not imagine how spicy it is. If you added just some pepper or curry on your dish in Europe, the Indians wouldn’t taste that kind of spice. In India it is much worse. An Indian sometime explained me why all the dishes are so spicy. In former times, the Indians were forced to eat more or less rotten vegetables coz hadn’t anything else to eat. So they added quite a lot of spice to the meal in order to digest easier. I have had some upset stomachs at the beginning, but that’s normal. A lot of us had problems and even diarrhoea, also due to the fact that the meals are often not so hygienically prepared than they are in Europe. In the meanwhile I have three favourite dishes. One is Paneer butter masala. It is made of cheese added with some gravy and masala. Masala is just a kind of spice which gives the dish a really good flavour. Usually you eat it with some bread. I prefer parotha, but chapatti is good as well. The bread does not look like the bread you know from Germany. It looks merely like a pancake as it is flat and round. The second one is chicken tikka gravy. You eat this dish with a kind of bread as well. And the most favourite one is masala dosa. It is just a dosa which is a kind of bread, I would say, flavoured with some malasa. Then it is wrapped and inside smashed potatoes are added. To flavour it even more, two tasty sauces are offered as well. Usually you eat all the Indian dishes with your fingers. Hence, you immerse the bread in the gravy and wrap the chicken or whatever with it. A spoon is usually offered to you but as for the Indians, they only use it in very rare cases. Indians are poor people, so having spoons or forks is a kind of luxury. And there is another reason for avoiding taking any cutlery. The Indians assume the cutlery not to be clean. Well, actually, they are right, coz you never know what has done with the cutlery before; if it has been really cleaned and if yes, how. So, when the Indians have washed their hands before eating, they know definitely that at least their fingers are clean. When they eat, they make sure that the food doesn’t touch their palm. The food is supposed to touch only the tip of the fingers, nothing else. For that reason they eat everything with their hands, even rice. It looks really disgusting when they mix the rice with gravy by using their fingers. Bye the way, as the Indians use the left hand for toilet affairs, only the right hand is used for eating, never the left hand. Of course, you have dirty fingers when you don’t’ use a fork or spoon. Therefore, after having finished your meal you will get a small bowl of hot water to which a little piece of lemon was added. Then you rub your greasy fingers on the lemon and bath them in the hot water and that’s it. The fingers become more or less clean, especially when you wipe them afterwards with a napkin. For drinking you get water from the tape for free. For any sealed water or soft drinks you have to pay. What I‘ve mentioned regarding the cutlery applies to the glasses as well. From this it follows that Indians drink out of the glasses by just pouring the water in their mouth; the egde is never touched with the lips. I tried to eat with fingers as well as to drink in that manner; I failed in both. Ok, I managed to eat with my fingers but you don’t want to know how it looked like. And I poured the water more or less over my shirt than in my mouth. A typical Indian or even better Asian drink is Lassi. It is made out of water or milk and yogurt which are mixed in a proportion of one to one. Apart from the most common ones, sweet and salt Lassi, it is served both with crashed fruits like banana, mango or pineapple and spice if you ask for it. I only can recommend you to try it once, it is very tasty. The dishes usually don’t cost more than 100 Rupees. Thus, as for me, I go out for dinner quite often coz I am not a good cook and in addition to that I don’t feel like cooking when I come back from work at about 8pm. Once you have finished your meal, you will get the bill immediately. But don’t be surprised when you ascertain an additional amount to be added to the regular prices of you dishes – it’s the tax. The tax is 12,24 % for food and is not included in the prices which you find in the menu. The bill is presented to you in a kind of wallet. Then you put some notes inside and return it without saying anything. After a while the servant returns and hands over the wallet including the change to you again. Then if you want to you can take the change of course or give the servants a small tip. We usually do the second one. By the way don’t be surprised if you sit close to Indians and all of a sudden hear them belching. In India it’s not unusual and nobody bothers about it. Thus, if you have ever searched for an opportunity to belch at table or in a restaurant, here it is. One day I went to McDonalds. Actually, I don’t like that food so much but when you spend some months in India, you feel like having this stuff. But I was a little bit surprised as I saw the menu. No Hamburger, no Big Mac. Instead the menu included some additional vegetarian items and for non-veg chicken is offered. Well, in fact, I should have known that as Indians don’t eat beef. Indians or better Hindi believe that they are reborn as cows. Not at McDonalds but of course at some places you get beef.

Troublesome work on sites

As you can imagine the work at the sites is different from Germany. Believe it or not, I have seen Indians destroying a complete house which had two floors by using nothing but their hands. First they removed the roof and afterwards they used a hammer to destroy the walls. Of course, it was very exhausting for the work men. Due to the fact that the site was in our neighbourhood, we suffered of the dust ;-). I also had the impression that they recycle the house in a certain extend coz they gathered steel and bricks of the house. Maybe some weeks later they have rebuilt the house somewhere else, who knows. All together it took much more than one week till the house was disappeared.
And when the worker men have to open a street they open it with a rod of steel. Hence the soil becomes looser so that they can dig afterwards. The soil then is removed by using a little plate which is lifted above the head. I am sure they have diggers, even though I haven’t seen any for instance. But instead of using them, they use their hands. It might be much cheaper because of the lower labour costs.
Sites, which leave a hole back on the road, are secured by putting some stones or tyres around the hole, that’s it, no lights warning you about the danger. By the way, it is not only the men working on sites. I have also seen quite lots of women. The workers earn at about 75 Rupees per day one of my colleagues told me. This applies to those who have no education. It is subject to the construction companies whether they use steely or wooden poles for scaffolds. I have seen quite a lot of scaffolds made out of wood. The poles are tied together with ropes. I was wondering how it works. But obviously, it works.