From Desert to Temple of Rodents

If you are a Charan, this could be your ancestor





We camped in tents - the desert got very cold at night.

The next morning, I decided I preferred to walk out, rather than ride the camel. Riding a camel was fun - for a day. I realized I don't like sitting for a long period of time.

This turned out to be a good decision, not only because I enjoyed the 10 mile walk, but because Ajendra, our guide, ended up walking with me for about half the trek and we had an interesting conversation.

Ajendra had worked in textiles in Delhi. However, the big city was expensive and he was unable to save any money. So his uncle Vijay invited him to come to Bikaner to work as a desert guide. His wife is living with his parents in Andhra Pradesh, meanwhile.

Ajendra had gone to Hindi school, not English school, but he taught himself English. His English is not ideal for a guide, but he makes a good effort.

Ajendra is a big fan of Israel, for multiple reasons. It seems that Israeli scientists have been helping Rajasthan preserve the Great Thar Desert. They planted a bunch of Acacia trees to prevent erosion. Ajendra was impressed with Israeli expertise and grateful for their assistance.

Also, Ajendra is an Indian nationalist - very much against Pakistan, against Muslim extremism. He believes India and Israel have common cause in the struggle against aggressive Islamic fundamentalism.

Ajendra admires how Israel deals with terrorism. He believes India should emulate Israel in its response to terrorists who infiltrate the border from Pakistan. Ajendra's brother is in the army - he serves in a border control in Kashmir.

He's hoping to get a job with a big retailer in Jaipur - after which he would move his wife and parents to join him there. His plans are stalled by the economic downturn, so he continues to work the camel treks.


Karni Mata Temple in Deshnoke. Truly one-of-a-kind. Keep readinng to find out what makes Karni Mata Temple so special!

After we left the desert, we traveled to the Karni Mata Temple in Deshnok. Karni Mata was a 14th century incarnation of Durga, a Hindu goddess. The story Becky told me about Durga is that at the age of 7 she restored the limbs to a bunch of limbless gods simply by looking at them. That is impressive power. So, Durga was sort of like the Dakota Fanning of of the gods.

But this is not a Durga temple, it is a Karni Mata temple. Karni Mata is an incarnation of Durga.

Karni Mata, according to legend, asked Yama, the god of death, to restore to life the son of a grieving storyteller who was a devotee of hers. Yama refused (apparently, the dead body had already been processed and could not be recalled, so in a way, it was like Heaven Can Wait, when Buck Henry tells Warren Beaty he can't have his body back because it's already been processed - so it's nice to know that bureaucracy was alive and well 1500 years ago). So Karni Mata reincarnated all dead storytellers as rats (this somehow got back at Yama by depriving him of the souls of dead storytellers). An alternative variant had Karni Mata reincarnating all her devotees as rats. Either way, the rats are considered holy - reincarnated souls of Karni Mata devotees, who may or may not have been story tellers. In one version, Karni Mata's devotees reincarnate as rats and then the rats reincarnate as devotees. So, if you are a devotee (a Charan), it could be your grandpa scurrying across the floor.

This story is important because Karni Mata Temple - a major pilgrimage site - is overrun with rats. Hundreds of rats scurry about the temple - they are protected, cared for, even cherished as Karni Mata's devotees, the reincarnated raconteurs.

Retired story tellers enjoying a snack - however, many others were scurrying about all over the place.

One must remove one's shoes before entering the temple - so you get to walk barefoot among hundreds of rats.

It is considered auspicious if a rat scampers across your feet and even more lucky if you happen to spot a white rat. Plus, it is said to be super auspicious to eat or drink food that a rat has salivated in (yes, you read that correctly). They feed milk to the rats and it's said that when there was an epidemic in the area, people drank from the milk the rats were drinking and they were healed. Mmm - rat drool!


Drink from this bowl for good luck!

Auspicious is a big word and concept in Hinduism. There are auspicious and inauspicious days and times. Tuesdays and Saturdays are auspicious days. We visited the Monkey Temple outside Jaipur on an auspicious day (full moon) and thus it was a pilgrimage day.

Getting back to the rats...during the camel trek, I'd been impressed with the camels' ability to avoid stepping in camel droppings. Camels produce a great deal of shit and they don't let it slow them down - they just keep walking and let it drop. In a camel train, the camels are walking in single file - yet the seem pretty adept at effortlessly avoiding stepping in the droppings of their predecessor (and always in stride - you never see a camel ABOUT to step in shit and then move its hoof, as a human would - instead, it's as if they know where the camel shit will be and they just always miss it - they've got good shit radar).

After Karni Mata, i must say that avoiding camel dung is not a big deal - it's large and easy to spot. Rat droppings, on the other hand...

Now, I would like to say that i was wholly present at Karni Mata and open to whatever spirituality of the place would flow into me. The fact is that I was primarily focused on the task of not placing my bare feet in rat shit. And, I guess I would say that the flaw in the system was that my focus on this earthly matter got in the way of my spiritual awakening at Karni Mata. But perhaps that is just me. Perhaps other pilgrims can get swept up by the spirit of Karni Mata's devotees and not worry about their bare feet intersecting with the devotees' droppings. Or perhaps they are like the camels, and they can effortlessly walk barefoot across the floors of the Karni Mata Temple without soiling their feet in the excrement of Karni Mata's reincarnated devotees. Maybe they were even able to eat some rat saliva. As for me - I was looking down the whole time and, somehow, I didn't have much of an appetite for rat drool-enhanced milk or, for that matter, any food at all.

Still, it was kind of cool. I wasn't grossed out by all the rats. It was fascinating really, and interesting how all the pilgrims seemed to be totally ok about the rats. It was entertaining to imagine how certain friends and relations might react to Karni Mata's drooling devotees, the rodents who once were or weren't tellers of tales.


Karni Mata and her devotees

After Karni Mata, we returned to Vijay's Guest house to pack up our stuff, shower and head to the train to Agra. vijay gave us the run of the kitchen and the kids made peanut butter-banana sandwiches. Vijay gave me a half-drunk bottle of rum for the road and told me if I come back, my stay is on the house.

We boarded a 6:30 pm train - to arrive in Agra at 6:30 AM Tuesday. It was kind of a hellish ride, 3 berths to a side and the train kept stopping and people were getting on and off all night. None of us got much sleep, so when we got to Agra, we went to the hotel and spent the morning resting or napping.

Desert Birthday

December 14

Woke up early and went for a run down the sleepy back alleys of our neighborhood on the outskirts of Bikaner.

Bikaner is a Rajasthani desert town near the Pakistani frontier. It is home to a half million people, but after Mumbai and Jaipur, Bikaner, at least our part of it, is downright bucolic.

White people are uncommon enough in this neighborhood; a 6'3" man with sunglasses running - that is an exotic site to the men, women, children, cows and goats with whom I share my morning - acutely aware that I am running within a context in which they are normal and I am VERY weird.

Returned to Vijay's Guest House and Vijay was waiting for me - to congratulate me on my birthday and present me with a birthday gift - a leather bound journal.

Vijay (also known as "Camel Man"), has been running camel safaris since 1982 along with a 10 room inn. Vijay is very old school - hospitable, friendly, efficient; he embodies an India that I've imagined - warm and friendly and correct and proper, with heavy British colonial influence - but I'm not sure how much still exists. His dad was a colonel in the British, then Indian army, and photos of his dad in various military scenarios and marches and hob-knobbing with Indian and British leaders abound around the inn, interspersed with pictures of Hindu gods.

Vijay offers home hospitality - his wife cooks the meals and the guests sit around one table together. You don't have to eat there, but it was convenient, friendly and the food was good. It's their home as well as ours, and it has a very homey feel.

After breakfast, we left for the desert. 3 of us, 4 camels (one to shlep the cart), 4 camel drivers and our guide, Ajendra.

The Great Thar Desert spans northwest India, northern Pakistan and even some of eastern Afghanistan. We were on the eastern edge and Ajendra believes Osama bin Laden is living on the western side of this desert.

The most fun part of riding a camel is getting on or off. A camel is a very large accordian - it folds down so you can mount it, then - up-up-up fast, like an amusement partk ride. Riding the camel is not such a thrill experience, but it can be meditative.


This camel is ready to be mounted -then it straightens its legs and rises.
I have a feeling you will be seeing a lot of camel photos in this post...


And here's Becky, ready to go

Most interesting aspect was seeing the desert wildlife - gazelles, musk deer, quail (I think it was quail - Ajendra tried very hard but his english is not so good, so when I'd ask him about an animal or plant, he could tell me the Hindi name -- the bird I think is a quail is called a teeter in Hindi).

After an hour or so we hit a little desert village. Homes constructed from straw and dung.

The little kids in the village got a kick out of seeing our little camel caravan, as the camels stopped at a well to stock up on water. No English here at all.

Raphael took the opportunity to teach them the words, music, and dance moves to "YMCA" by the Village People.



Our little desert village


Our welcoming party. Soon these village people would be twisting into "Y-M-C-A"






Feeling far away from the Mumbai crowds


...very far...

At the end of the day we reached camp - a clearing on top of a large sand dune.

Watched the sun set over the desert and went for a run across the sand dunes (people don't run here and they find my propensity quite odd). Found a really big one to roll down - which is always fun.



When I returned to camp, everyone was lined up to sing Happy Birthday - Raphael and Becky, Ajendra, the camel drivers, and the other guests from the inn who had been driven out to meet us for dinner and my birthday celebration.

We were serenaded by Rajasthani musicians playing Rajasthani music on harmonium and drum, as we watched the sun set over the desert and danced to the music.


Rajasthani music in the desert


Dancing in the desert

After dinner, they brought out a cake on which was written - "52nd Birthday Mr. David." On top was a plastic flower with a candle in the middle - when the candle was lit, the flower opened to a bunch of separate lotus petals, each with its own candle - and it played "Happy Birthday" (incessantly - we eventually had to kill it in order to go to sleep). I made a wish and blew out the candles and the musicians played some Rajasthani birthday song in my honor (i could tell because the Rajasthani lyrics went - yada yada yada mr. David yada yada yada).

Then, a series of fireworks were launched - they make a big deal out of birthdays around here. Meanwhile, the desert sky was lit up with stars - from from the light pollution of the city. We laid down on sand and stared up at the brilliant starry sky.

Then, as if on cue, the moon rose - full and burnt orange - providing the finale to the evening light show.

Thus, in the Great Thar Desert, I celebrated by 52nd birthday.

Bikaner: Wildlife & Lake Gajner

We night-trained to Bikaner from Jaipur. Our plan had been to embark on a camel safari the next morning, but Becky was sick when we pulled into Bikaner. So we postponed the camel safari and let her sleep.

After a quiet morning at Vijay's Guest House, Raphael and I took a car out to a game preserve and did a jeep safari. We saw lots of antelopes, black buck, wild boar, and other game. After, we hung out on the patio of a grand old hotel on the shore of Lake Gajner. We sipped tea, ate cookies, read our books, watched flocks of birds graze the lake as the sun slowly set. Very serene and beautiful.


Wild boar at the wildlife preserve


Neelgai - Indian antelope


Raphael enjoying tea and biscuits and a good book on Lake Gajner

Returned and dined with the other guests - a British expat who lives in Switzerland, and a young couple from Belgium.


I took this shot as we were stuck in Bikaner traffic on the way back from Gajner. Our car was stopped at a railroad crossing and this was the vehicle next to us - as interested in me as I was in it. An apt ending of the day and preparation for tomorrow's camel safari.

Temple of the Sun God (and monkeys)

After visiting the school, we took a trip to the Temple of the Sun God at Galta - a few kilometers outside Jaipur.

It is also known as the Monkey Temple - because it's crawling with monkeys.

The temple was first built about 1200 years ago, over a natural spring on the side of a mountain overlooking a gorge. The spring is believed to produce water as holy as the water from the Ganges River. The temple was built on the site where a sage came to meditate.

We visited the temple on an auspicious day - that night would be a full moon. Thus, hordes of pilgrims were there, mostly bathing in the temple. It was quite a scene. People were purifying themselves in the holy water with gusto. And the colors - saris of every hue hanging everywhere, it was kalaidoscopic.













Next - night train to Bikaner - frontier town near Pakistan border - for a 2-day camel safari and then a visit to a temple with holy rats!

Jaipur, Rajasthan

Raphael with snake charmer near Jaipur (I learned how they get the cobra to perform)



I am on 3 trips -

1. I'm experiencing each place we visit, seeing the sites, meeting people, etc.;
2. beyond that, I'm experiencing the gestalt of India - the subtext of all these experiences, and how they all fit together to comprise my overall impression; and
3. an adventure with my two older kids - regardless of the backdrop. We are sort of like the 3 musketeers (or, perhaps, the 2 musketeers and their dad).

Jaipur, Rajasthan

Rajasthan is a rugged area in northwest India. It was populated and ruled for a long time by the Rajputs, a warrior class (or caste) who resisted foreign domination for a long time. Thus, Rajasthan is full of old forts and still retains a distinctive regional flavor.

Jaipur is known as the pink city. The old city was built by Maharaja Jai Singh in the 18th century (it is Jaipur after him) and it was painted pink by a later maharaja to honor the arrival of the prince of Wales.

What we did in Jaipur -
- visited the Amber Fort and the Winter and Summer Palaces of the Mahajaras (very cool and beautiful)


The palace at Amber



Amber Winter Palace Gate


Detail of Ganesh in the Amber Winter Palace

- rode elephants


Raphael and Becky riding the elephant

- visited the old city, the city palace, and lots of stuff within it


Old city - Jaipur


Raphael and Becky with our guide, Najendra at the observatory in the old city - built in the 18th century for astronomical and astrological research


world's largest sun dial in the old city of Jaipur


- visited a gem polishing workshop (along with the requisite visit to the shop) and a textile workshop (along with the requisite visit to the shop)

- visited a private school for disadvantaged kids (Len Lehmann connected us to the Mamta Vidhya Mandir School). We met with the headmistress, the president of the board (the headmistress's brother) and visited some classrooms. Even the the government provides public education, there are no schools in the area where many poor Jaipur people live - without this school, those kids would not get an education. $30 covers costs to educate one child for a year.


Raphael with a teacher at a private school for disadvantaged children in Jaipur.


The very polite students of the Mamta School - this is a typical classroom


Becky with a couple of kids at the school.

- visited the outdoor bazaars in the old city

- visited a tribal arts and crafts festival

- visited a Hindu temple at a holy site during a pilgrimage day (see next entry)

- ate lots of Indian food

- dodged lots of honking cars and auto rickshaws

While I was riding the elephant, I felt my Blackberry vibrate - a message from Carol Winograd (who'd been in Jaipur a few weeks earlier). I thought it would be cool to email her back and let her know I was riding an elephant at that moment. This (me checking my Blackberry while on top of an elephant) was captured by my children on camera - a photo that no doubt will richly come in handy for future abuse of their dad.


Riding an elephant to Amber Fort while reading an email from Carol Winograd on my blackberry

Ellen later wrote to me that she thought using my Blackberry while riding an elephant must be at least as dangerous as using my Blackberry while walking. I have to report that this is definitely NOT true. here is why -

Walking outdoors in India requires tremendous concentration. If you are not alert, you will very likely -
1. be hit by a moving vehicle
2. bump into a human or animal
3. step in cow, camel, donkey, elephant, dog, or human shit
4. step on a human who may be sitting or lying on the sidewalk
5. fall into a hole
6. stumble over a pile of bricks, sand, dirt or trash

Any of these things are likely if one is walking and not alert. NONE of these things will occur if one is simply sitting on top of an elephant. Sitting on an elephant requires one thing - making sure you don't fall off the elephant. That is not very hard. Thus, to summarize - using my Blackberry while riding on top of an elephant is far LESS dangerous than using it while walking.

I had not run since coming to this country. Last year I visited Becky in South Africa and I ran almost every day near my hotel. Here in India, the streets and sidewalks are clogged. Trying to run around here would be like trying to drive fast on the Long Island Expressway during rush hour.

Two discoveries helped. First - I found a park, about 3 km from my hotel. Second, it turns out that India is a late-rising country -the roads are pretty empty early in the morning. In this sense, India is like a country of teenagers.

No one at the hotel could give me directions to the park, but I found it myself. I ran the 3 k - leaving at 7:30 and the roads were, well, like normal for Palo Alto, which means - totally empty by Indian standards - then I ran around the park and then got back for breakfast. It was great!

I'm struck by the juxtapositions - walking along the street I can see on the sidewalk an altar to Ganesh, and nearby a billboard for thin crust pizza.

People often say what a religious country the U.S. is - and it certainly is in comparison to Europe. Walking around India, it's common to see altars to Hindu deities everywhere. I would walk in the neighborhood of my Mumbai hotel and pass someone doing a puja (Hinda prayer ceremony) in a storefront or even outside.

On the other hand, while Hinduism seems more present in public life, Becky says it is a more laid back religion than Western religions. Hinduism is more about the practice and about one's relationship with the deities. But there is less about one's relationship with other humans. There is certainly dharma - righteous path, but dharma can be different for different groups and people. There doesn't appear to be halacha, in the sense of codified laws that everyone must or should adhere to. On the other hand, Indian society is full of taboos. The taboos seem more cultural than religious, but it's hard to know where religion ends and culture begins. And there are numerous different strains of Hinduism. So - Becky would argue with my observation that India seems more religious than the U.S. Of course, what do I know? I've only been in this country 5 days .



Pool of water at Hindu temple in Amber, outside palace. Looks like an M.C. Escher painting.

Wednesday, December 10: Mumbai Markets

Wednesday, December 10

Raphael and I visited outdoor markets (bazaars).

Traffic in this country is very interesting. Take Mumbai. 18 million people in this city. Many cars. And a LOT more pedestrians. Traffic lights? Not so many. Most intersections, like so many aspects of Indian society, are not controlled.

"Public safety" means something different here. People are constantly taking their lives in their hands when they cross the street.

It is sort of like a game of dodge ball. Instead of dodging balls, one dodges vehicles and people. And, unlike dodge ball, if the dodge is successful, everyone wins. If not, everyone involved loses. But the magnitude of the loss is in inverse relationship to the amount of armor you are wearing. At the top of the food chain are trucks and buses, then regular cars (including taxis which constitute a significant percentage of the traffic), then auto-rickshaws and motorcycles, then rickshaws and bikes, then pedestrians. There's no right of way for pedestrians - "right of way" just goes to the larger vehicle.

Because most intersections are not controlled, people just cross anywhere and they have to dodge the cars that barrel down as fast as they can. Drivers and pedestrians engage in behavior that would seem completely nuts in the U.S. - about every 2 minutes you see something that in the U.S. would provoke a "you wouldn't believe what I saw someone do on the road today..." conversation.

Rickshaws are grownup tricycles with a 2 seat bench in the back - the driver pedals and carries passengers. More common are auto-rickshaws, a 3-wheel covered motortricycle that can take 3 passengers (even 4 if someone squeezes in with the driver, sharing his seat).

One must always bargain for a taxi or auto-rickshaw ride. If a taxi driver tells me the cost will be 50 rupees (about $1) I risk Becky's scorn if I don't reply - "30 rupees."

The outdoor markets in Mumbai are a wild scene. We saw a Hindu demonstration against the terrorist attacks - a bunch of young men in matching T-shirts waving fists in the air and shouting slogans in Hindi.

Hindu rally against terrorism

Feelings were still raw throughout the city. It was not uncommon to see impromptu, hand-made signs or banners denouncing terrorism.

Impromptu street signs denouncing the Mumbai attacks

The neighborhood is mixed and we saw a number of Hindu temples and mosques. Outside a mosque was a declaration against terrorism, signed by prominent Muslims.

Banner outside a mosque denouncing terrorism



India images wouldn't be complete without at least one cow - one doesn't see that many cows in this city of 18 million people. Unlike cows we saw elsewhere, wandering aimlessly or just hanging around, this was a beast of burden in the Mumbai bazaar.

In the afternoon, flew to Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan. Rajasthan is desert terrain - as I entered the city, it felt more like Central Asia, reminded me a bit of Kazakhstan. Passed camels, donkeys, and other beasts of burden in the road (Jaipur is a city of 3 million people).

Hotel is lovely, unassuming, and feels very Rajasthani.

Becky's friends blew into town from Agra, on their way to Jaisalmer and we had dinner together at the rooftop restaurant at our hotel.

I heard all about their various host families - I think Becky lucked out. Some of them didn't have quite such a good situation.

It's often said how ignorant Americans are of other countries, but we assume everyone else knows all about us. India is very far from here, and knowledge of American, even Western history is uneven there. For example, Becky's host dad was surprised to hear that Obama is the first African-American president - he thought Lincoln was. One of Becky's friends had a huge argument with her host sister who refused to believe that Lincoln was white.

Another friend's host dad is an admirer of Hitler. While that is shocking, bear in mind this guy has no knowledge of the Holocaust. He's not like a neo-nazi who admires Hitler for having murdered millions of Jews and others. He had no idea. He just admires Hitler for being a "strong leader" - or so he says. On the other hand, it's not hard to find Mein Kampf in bookstores in India - we saw one in an airport bookstore - and Mein Kampf is pretty explicit about Hitler's racist views.

Becky's friends had a bad experience in Agra. Unfortunately, Agra was totally fogged in the morning they were there - so they couldn't see the Taj Mahal when it was right in front of their noses. Hope that doesn't happen to us...



Becky's friends and (before we arrived) travel companions.
Trudy, Kelsey, Emma, Becky, John

Elephanta Island

Elephanta Island is about an hour boat ride from the Gateway to India. What distinguishes Elephanta Island are a series of cave temples, with beautiful sculptures cut out of the rock, from about 1500 years ago.

These rock-cut temples were a Buddhist tradition that ported to Hinduism as Buddhist influence declined here. The rock sculptures are all in worship of Shiva and they express various manifestations and tell various stories about Shiva - Shiva, lord of yoga, Shiva, lord of dance, Shiva and Parvati, etc.

Before you get to the caves, of course you must run a gauntlet of what seemed like a hundred vendors selling various souvenirs, jewelry, T-shirts, etc. This would become something of a sub-theme - in the heavily touristed areas, India can resemble a giant bazaar.

One cultural issue is that shaking one’s head from side to side does not mean "no" here. I’m not sure what the non-verbal cue for "not interested" is, other than looking away and ignoring, which is what I’ve come to do.

The rock sculptures in the caves are quite impressive. The best part was that Becky was able to show off her knowledge - having studied Hindu art. So we had our own personal guide.

1500 year old stone sculptures of Shiva and friends


Raphael and a little friend on Elephanta Island


No elephants on Elephanta Island, but LOTSA monkeys!

After Elephanta, we came back to the hotel to chill (well, rest - one can’t exactly "chill" here - it’s hot and humid all the

We were invited for dinner with Raell Padamsee. Raell’s mom was a well-known actress in the English theater scene here (and cousin of Abe Sofaer). Raell is a well-known theater person in her own right - she's written plays and runs after school theater programs for children in 15 centers throughout Mumbai.

She has a beautiful apartment in the center of town, with a rooftop terrace, where we dined.

We talked about the events of 10 days ago. Raell's apartment is in between the Taj Mahal hotel and Chabad House, so she was in the thick of it. She said there is dissatisfaction with the police response, which, Raell said, was ridiculously ineffective - people are shocked that 10 people could inflict such damage on the city for several days - and also with politicians on all sides who, from her perspective, have done a lot of posturing for political gain.