Goodbye Dinner

Elisabeth wrote a brilliant song, to the tune of "le pont d'Avignon", which she sang for us at our goodbye dinner.  It was totally delightful, clever, witty and created another memorable moment.


CHANSON DU REPAS D’ADIEU

(Sur l’air de « Sur le pont d’Avignon)

Refrain : Loin du Pont d’Avignon

On découvre, on découvre

Avec joie et passion

Tout ce que les Indiens font.

Ils ont de jolis marchés

Des grands bus climatisés

Des hôtels dans des palais

Des boutiques achalandées.

À Bikaner, on prend l’air

À Udaïpur il est pur

Mais moins léger qu’à Jaïpur

Plus étouffant à Johdpur.

Refrain : Loin du Pont d’Avignon

On découvre, on découvre

Loin de notre maison

Que les voyages ont du bon

Sous la tente on a dormi

Sans avoir à faire son lit

On a r’gardé les étoiles

À travers nos voiles de toile

On a fêté « Happy Holi »

Des apéros on a pris

Les femmes on a célébrées

Nos hommes ont été parfaits

Refrain : Loin du Pont d’Avignon

On découvre, on découvre

Le plaisir, le bonheur

D’un groupe de bonne humeur

Mais le meilleur c’est Amar

Qui ne laisse rien au hasard

Encouragé par Noëlle

Cela nous a donné des ailes

Grâce à eux et à leur zèle

Nous trouvons l’Inde très belle

Le mariage ou la naissance

La famille, les préséances

N’ont plus de secret pour nous

Ils nous ont parlé de tout

Refrain : Loin du Pont d’Avignon

On découvre, on découvre

Dans les forts, les palais

L’envers des moucharabiés

L’époque des maharajas

Les soucis y’en avait pas

Les diamants étaient très gros

Les miroirs étaient très beaux

Les palais en bas, en haut

Sur la terre ou bien dans l’eau

Refrain : Loin du Pont d’Avignon

Sur la route, sur la route

Le chauffeur est un as

Et dans tous les cas ça passe

Il nous amène à bon port 

Pourtant c’est un sacré sport

Dans les montagnes ou les plaines

Il s’est donné de la peine

Bientôt l’heure de se quitter

Nous voilà bien attristés

Tous ces visages familiers

Vont très bientôt nous manquer

Refrain : Loin du Pont d’Avignon

Nous on chante, nous on chante

Il faut rire, il faut rire

Même si on voudrait pleurer.

Delhi and final thoughts

Our return to Delhi was bittersweet.  I think that we were all looking forward to getting back to our homes, unpack, get out of the bus...I know that I was.  That being said, I loved every moment of the trip.
I adored being in India. I was blown away by the history, culture, magnificence, the gentileness and sense of humor of the people and the food that was delicious and caused no digestion problems.  I was surprised by the noise, of course the poverty and also the congestion.  Our guide, Amar Garg, was a very intelligent and charming young man who constantly amazed me with his knowledge about everything - history, culture, plants, medicine, and so much more.  He certainly enriched our trip tremendously and tried very hard to get us to understand/accept the caste system.  Our group was terrific and I think that we all appreciated the cohesiveness and camaraderie that we all felt.  I would definitely take such a trip again.

I'll finish with a couple of pictures of India Gate in New Delhi, which is a lovely city.

Agra

Agra is where you find the Taj Mahal.  It was truly sublime.  It was also while visiting inside, in the mausolium, that a pigeon shat upon me and I took it to be a sign of good luck, especially having it happen in such a revered and majestic place!  There is not much that one can say about the Taj Mahal that hasn't been said.  Suffice it to say that it is totally breathtaking.  The luminosity of the translucent white marble is not always captured in pictures.  The Taj is framed on 3 sides by huge structures (1 housing a mosque, the other for symmetry), the center one being the main gate through which visitors enter.  Shah Jahan built the Taj as a memorial for his beloved third wife, who died giving birth to her 14th child.  He wanted people to be obliged to pass through the gate, so that their immediate view of the Taj would be restricted and only become full, once they have passed through the gate - like lifting the veil slowly on a beautiful face.

On the way to Agra

On the way to Agra, we stopped in Abhaneri, to see a ruined water well, unlike any well you have ever seen.  Unfortunately, I did not realize that I had changed the setting on my camera, so most of my pics did not come out.  There is one that shows the incredible geometric pattern and size of the well.  There are apparently 11 levels of zigzagging steps that go down to 20 meters in depth.  This well was built in the 10th century.  There is a palace (in ruins) attached to the well and many relief sculptures from an adjoining temple.

Jaipur continued...

We saw two major sites in Jaipur. The Amber Fort ( construction began in 1592)is a gigantic fortified palace built from pale yellow and pink sandstone and of course gorgeous white marble from the area. There are courtyards with beautiful gardens, too many rooms to count and the spectacular Jai Mandir, which is a very large reception area that is covered with carved decorations, which are then covered with inlaid panels of mirrors. It is spectacular and breath taking. 

 We then went to see Jantar Mantar, which is an observatory constructed In 1728. Totally mind blowing. It is comprised of different structures, all carefully laid out and all looking extremely contemporary in design, and each serving a specific purpose. There are instruments to tell time from the sun, to measure positions of the planets, calculating eclipses, and more. Astronomy plays a very important role in Indian life - determining the date to get married, buy a car and other important decisions

While in Jaipur we also attended the Elephant Festival, participated in the Holi festival celebration, celebrated Woman's Day, saw a Bollywood film, saw how block printing is done on fabric, saw how gem stones are cut and, of course, we shopped.

Jaipur

Finally arrived in Jaipur after much anticipation. Before going to the hotel, we stopped at at huge fabric, everything store where I bought 4 lightweight bedcovers, 3 shirts and ordered 4 very lightweight bathrobes to be made. Elizabeth was much better behaved and only bought 1 bedcover, a dress, and a couple of shirts. Oh well, who knows when we will get back to India. It was a lot of fun though, because before the buying started, we were given an interesting demonstration in fabric block printing. Everything we purchased is made on the premises. Our first day in Jaipur was jam-packed. Up at 6:30 to get to see the Amber Fort early. We drove to the Fort with the bus, and then took Jeeps to get up to the Fort, which is very high and very impressive. I'll write more about this later because MUST tell you what we just experienced.

Today, March 8th is a festival called Holi, one of North India's most exuberant festivals. It is a celebration of the end of winter and beginning of spring. We all dressed in white trousers and tops, which we bought just for the occasion. We celebrated on the hotel grounds and none of use really knew what to expect except that people throw colored powder and water at each other. Well we all got into the act fairly quickly and it became absolutely hysterical. There were several long tables set up each with big containers of colored powder - bright yellow, red, blue and green. We throw the powder at each other, smear it on each other's face and hair (we prepared our hair before by rubbing oil on it, which I didn't have so I used conditioner-anything that would help get the color out) and throw it at each other. Then when we are all multi-colored and almost unrecognizeable, then comes the colored water. I really wish I had the pics to post now, because they are priceless ( I think, haven't seen them yet). We laughed a lot and it was really funny seeing some of the quietest people in the group become the most exuberant. We finally were able to rinse off a bit, walk gingerly to our rooms and then try to get most of the color off. In the past, the colors were vegetal which was easy to remove, but now they are synthetic and VERY difficult to get out. We are hoping that bleach will do the trick when we get back. Now off to the souk. To be continued...

The pictures show the "before and after" Holi festivities.  I think the "before" makes us look like inmates in a psychiatric facility and the "after"...well we are definitely smiling!