On Tuesday morning, we checked out of the Udai Kothi Boutique Hotel and were picked up by our driver Vikram.
A few words about our travel provider. India Kosher Travel is owned by Mosher Goldstein, the brother of the Chabad Shaliach in Pushkar, Rabbi Shimmy Goldstein. He has been our main contact thru the entire planning process and has been very clear and responsive to requests and inquiries. The local tour company that he works with in India is an outfit called Carmel Tours. They are the contact people for local needs and requests. They provide the cars, the travel bookings and the drivers and guides. Carmel is owned by local Indian people but works very closely with a number of Israeli tour agents (like Moshe) and has wisely, imho, chosen the name Carmel.
As such all their guides and drivers are very familiar with kashrut needs, with Shabbat restrictions and with the interests and needs of the Jewish/Israeli/kosher traveler.
In each location there is a different local Carmel guide who shows us the sights of the city or region. You are with that guide for a day or two and then the next regional person takes over.
One of the things that have been enjoying so far, is that our driver, Vikram, has been assigned exclusively to us for most of our trip to India. Vikram, is a very pleasant man, an excellent driver and companion, with a very good sense of humour. He picked us up at the airport, was there on our arrival in Udaipur and will be with us till the beginning of our last week here, at which time we will be flying to a number of different areas of the country.
As well, Vikram has toured with many Israeli tourists and has picked up some of the Hebrew lingo that many of us would be used to hearing on the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
On Tuesday, we would be spending most of the day with Vikram, as we had a 6 hour drive between Udaipur and Jodhpur. When I first saw this on the itinerary, it was kind of unnerving, as this is a long time to spend in a car, even given that the SUV that we had been assigned is very comfortable and spacious.
As well, if you look at Google Maps, you will notice that the distance between Udaipur and Jodhpur is only 259 kms. and yet Google Maps tells you that the time to drive this route will be over 4 and a half hours. So right away, you know that the roads are not going to be too great. Additionally, even though stretches of this route are via a four lane divided highway, Vikram explained to us that most highway speed limits are 80 kms. per hour and that car manufacturers have placed “limiters” on commercial or tourist vehicles that will not allow the car to exceed the 80 km per hour maximum even if the driver presses the accelerator to the floor. Add to that, the cows that meander everywhere and the weaving in and out by motorcycles, cars and huge trucks and one can begin to see that you cannot cover any distance in India as you would in North America, Europe or Israel. This is a world that we have never experienced before.
But Vikram said to us as we left on Tuesday “You will have a very interesting day today as I am going to show you MY INDIA”. Along the way between Udaipur and Jodhpur, the long trip was broken up by a number of very interesting stops. Indeed, it was a fascinating day!
Soon after we left the city limits of Udaipur, Vikram pulled off the highway near what looked like a huge smoking oven on the side of the road. Vikram explained that this was a brick manufacturing facility where all the work is done by hand. We met the brick maker who works for the company that owns the location and who lives together with his wife and a bunch of children in what could only be described as a six foot by ten foot brick enclosure. The wife was cooking on an outdoor fire, the kids were running barefoot among the bricks and the husband was making bricks..... one at a time. He used a metal mould for the bricks, filled it with a clay mixture and placed the bricks in a neat row to dry in the sun. Once the bricks had dried sufficiently, they were placed in the kiln for hardening, stacked into large piles and sold by the company to builders or building supply companies. The brickmaker will earn $2 to $3 a day depending on how many bricks he completes.
What was remarkable was how friendly the kids were. They all gathered around us and while we were warned on numerous occasions not to give them any money, we asked Vikram if we could give them some of the chocolate bars that we had with us. The kids were so appreciative. It looks like a very poor and difficult existence, but like so many other places we had been to in India, the people looked happy and were very friendly and welcoming.
The only source of drinking water that these people had was a rationed amount supplied per day by the government and delivered by pipes. And since there was no well or spring nearby, it was clear that no water was being wasted on things like bathing.
We drove a short distance further and then pulled off the road and Vikram said, “let’s go see a school”.
It was a two or three room schoolhouse with an office, a kitchen and an outdoor toilet facility. We entered one of the classes and they were in the middle of their English class. It was grades 2 to 6 combined, so you had kids who looked to be 6 or 7 and kids who looked to be 10 or 11. When we walked in all the kids rose out of respect and they were all wearing government mandated uniforms although many were barefoot. We chatted with them for a while and then took a group picture. They were clearly happy to meet us. After seeing the facilities or lack of them, we should be so appreciative of what we have in our homes, communities and schools.
We continued on our way and drove past shepherds herding goats, women working at cleaning up the sides of the roads (a government initiative that pays them a few dollars a day), and soon arrived at what Vikram described as a water wheel.
India is in desperate need of water and rain. We had been told a number of times in the few days since we arrived that the last time it rained was in September, 4 to 5 months ago. It is not expected that there will be any rain until June, when the monsoons arrive.
The farms in the area are mainly irrigated by water extracted from wells that dot the area. There are deep wells with a water wheel operating over the mouth of the well. The water wheel drops many buckets into the well and the double ox driven wheel brings the buckets with water to the top where the water falls into a trough and it is diverted from there to irrigate the surrounding farm land. As well, women from the area come to the well with their metal water jugs, fill them up and carry them back on their heads to the village so that they have fresh drinking water.
We got out of the car and as soon as we began walking towards the well, kids began running to us from all directions. They gathered around looking at us and were eager to say “hello Ma’am” and “hello sir”. And they wanted to pose with us for a picture. Again, very welcoming and friendly.
We drove on and came to a small village shopping area. We walked around the various stalls and stores and at one location, we were approached by a man who looked at my kippah and said “are you a Muslim”?
I responded that I was Jewish and from Israel and he said “oh Israel....great and mighty nation. And Netanyahu is a good friend of India and Modi”.
We then drove through an area on the highway where there were hundreds of monkeys roaming free on both sides of the road. When we pulled over, they jumped on the car and we had the opportunity to take some pictures.
We stopped to see the outside of a Jain Temple. The Jain Religion is an ancient offshoot of Hinduism that preaches non violence, non confrontation, vegetarianism and other noble principles. There are only about 4 million followers of Jainism in the world with three million of them being in India.
We continued to Jodhpur and arrived at our hotel, the first heritage hotel in India, the Ajit Bhawan Palace.
Built in 1923 exclusively for Maharaja Sir Ajit Singhji Rathore of the Jodhpur State, The Palace Resort, was designed by an English architect and was executed in Jodhpur stone. While part of the palace was converted into a luxury hotel, the remaining portion is still inhabited by the Jodhpur Royal Family.
Upon arrival, you get the feeling that you are entering an authentic Maharaja’s palace. Greeted by a turbaned and mustachioed doorman, you are ushered into a panelled study lined with photos of all members of the royal family of Jodhpur, where one attendant brings you a hot towel and another offers you a glass of iced tea. This is no typical hotel front desk check in.
We were taken to our suite, which was actually a unique bungalow like accommodation with its own front yard. It was opposite the outdoor and indoor dining area and further back was the dramatically designed swimming pool and the very well equipped gym.
The concierge informed us that our meals had arrived from Chabad Delhi and asked us when we would be ready to eat dinner. They showed us the instruction sheet that had accompanied our meal and informed us that they had set up a unique and unforgettable location for our kosher dinner.
When we arrived for dinner, they showed us to the upper balcony, just opposite the magnificent swimming pool and totally separated from all the other diners. Our table was placed under a chupah like structure on a pedestal above the pool and they had lit many candles all around the area and had strewn the floor with flower petals. It was magical. We were waiting for a band to emerge playing. “od yishama”!
After dinner we decided to walk the grounds and the surrounding area and heard loud music coming from the property next door which is owned by the same Singh family.
We walking in the direction of the singing and music and realized that an Indian wedding was taking place and so we decided to walk over and view the action.
The bride and groom were seated on a platform on a intricately carved throne. They were dressed in traditional Indian wedding garb and surrrounded by seated guests, were facing a large stage. Every few minutes, members of the audience would be announced on the speaker system and would mount the stage to perform a song or dance. The performers would range from young to old and were essentially being “mesameach chatan v’kallah”. It was very loud, very joyous and very entertaining. The speaker system was what one would expect at a rock concert.
We asked the wedding photographer if we could get a picture with the bride and groom and he said certainly. Then someone from the wedding party came over and told us “do not leave...you are our guests...have a seat and enjoy the entertainment and the food!”.
We stayed for a while and it was indeed very entertaining....almost like a Bollywood performance. Women were very elaborately decked out in the finest saris, which we were later to learn while touring the Sari market in Jaipur, could cost in the thousands of dollars.
On Wednesday, we visited the “Blue City” of Johdpur....which I will cover in the next post.
All the best
Fran and David
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