Delhi and Vani and Ian’s Wedding – 17 March

Well, it is Saturday March 17^th, St. Patrick’s day, and we are going to an Indian wedding ceremony this evening in Delhi, India.  We could hear no less than 3 different events booked at our hotel; a wedding, a corporate event, and an unidentified event.  Each event was competing to ensure their attendants could hear the festivities, so as time marched on, all 3 events increased the volume on their sound systems and we realized how important it is to celebrate just about anything here in India. 

Let me digress a bit with the Coles Notes version of St. Patrick’s Day.  First of all, St. Patrick wasn't even Irish.  He was born in Britain around A.D. 390 to a wealthy family.  At 16, Patrick was kidnapped to tend sheep as a slave in Ireland for seven years.  He got a religious conversion there and became Christian.  Despite escaping his slavery and returning back to Britain where he was reunited with his family, a voice told him to go back to Ireland.  So he did and he was ordained as a priest, then spent the rest of his life trying to convert the Irish to Christianity.  According to lore, Patrick used the three leaves of a shamrock to explain the Christian holy trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  It was tough work because he was constantly beaten by thugs, harassed by the Irish royalty, and scolded by his British superiors. After he died on March 17, 461, Patrick was largely forgotten.  But slowly, mythology grew around Patrick, and centuries later he was honored as the patron saint of Ireland.  Until the 1970s, St. Patrick's Day in Ireland was a minor religious holiday where families would celebrate with a big meal.  But in America, Irish charitable organizations celebrated St. Patrick's Day with banquets.  Parades were held in cities with significant Irish populations like Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago and wearing the color green showed a commitment to Ireland.  In Chicago, in 1962, they dyed a portion of the Chicago River green (this story paraphrased from National Geo).  And I’m guessing that’s where the idea of dyeing the Guinness green comes from.  It is estimated that the normal 5.5mil pints of Guinness consumed every day, increases to 13mil pints on St. Patrick’s Day.  Have you had yours yet?

A wedding in India is very exciting and finally the time had come to leave for the grand event.  We hired a taxi again through the hotel and he opted to wait for us until after the wedding was over.  We arrived in good time, but were not the first ones to arrive like last night.  We mulled around with Ian and his family/guests.  Ian wore an awesome gold outfit with a crimson/purple turban and some traditional shoes.  All of a sudden the elephant arrived.  Yes, the elephant.  Grooms don't usually enter the wedding garden on the back of an elephant but for a wedding on St Patrick's Day the Elephant seemed to make sense, so Ian fulfilled that duty perfectly along with the accompaniment of a young guest.  Guests walk alongside the elephant while a band plays crazy music, much like Engineering's notorious Lady Godiva Marching Band.  People hoot, holler, clap, cheer, and generally get the groom ready for his big leap into married life.  Some place money in the elephant’s trunk and he flings it up to his master.  I’m not sure what happens to the money, but it was fascinating to see the elephant perform his duties.  That in itself was completely awesome!

Raju, our hotel driver, drove us to the wedding and we arrived at 6:15pm.  Once the groom arrived and we all slowly entered the wedding garden, things unfolded in good old “Indian Time”.  There were drinks and hors d’oeuvres to keep us occupied until Vani arrived.  There was no grand entrance or anything.  She just arrived and walked towards the stage to sit with Ian, but once guests noticed her and all her gorgeous attendants, everyone quickly ran for their cameras to capture her radiant smile and stunning wedding dress (fuchsia and gold theme covered with some awesomely sparkling bling) and amazing jewellery.  I’ve seen a lot of brides before, but she was ultra-radiant.  The wedding garden was decorated with miles of gold and purple valances, gold table cloths with beige cloth covered chairs with fuchsia bows, and the most colourful floral centerpieces (pink/purple orchids, yellow sunflowers, and little white flowers). 

The happy couple sat on the stage surrounded by family members and other than people taking photos, I didn’t notice anything of a ceremonial nature happening.  Then Vani and Ian walked over to a ceremonial tent where an Elder spoke at length with them and took them through some rituals which (from an ignorant but attentive observer) appeared to be using various herbs and medicines as mediums to solidify their union.  At one point Vani’s Mom held her hands, palms upwards while holding herbs/medicines which seemed to be a garnering of her Mother’s support and possibly the joining of families.  Then there was some cloth tied together by their attendants and looked like it signified “tying the knot”.  A fire was lit and medicines thrown into the fire, then they walked around the tent area in a clockwise direction several times, before the female attendants left and the male attendants arrived.

All the while guests were eating, drinking, and socializing.  I was told that there were 127 different dishes available, if you could imagine!  Someone mentioned that the caterers also provided food to all the drivers lined up outside waiting for their fares.  After Vani and Ian completed the ceremony in the tent, they came back to the stage, only this time Vani sat on the left hand side of Ian which may signify something.  At any rate, it was completely fascinating, colourful, and charged with positive energy.  A band was playing some excellent music and everyone was having a super-amazing time.  The music had to wrap up at 11pm because they are not allowed to play longer than that due to a city by-law.  That was too bad because it was an amazing wedding.

Groom's folks awaiting the arrival of the elephant

India's tight and competent security

An ancient groom and a brand new one!

the elephant was all adorned for this very special day

with his nimble trunk, the elephant picked up cash and flung it up to the master

not your average limo

When at an Indian wedding, get right in there!

let's get this party started

just because no one pays attention to an elephant's behind (see no paint or anything)

I suppose he could not sit still for the entire pedicure.

how to get off an elephant... first, get a ladder, then get some friends and family to help

just a small sampling of the flower petal decor throughout

note the train car in the background

Isn't Vani just stunningly gorgeous?

clearly getting married is a lot of fun!

I believe they literally tied the knot.

now they are married and ready to pose for endless photos with guests

Ahmedabad to Delhi and Vani and Ian’s Sangeet – 16 March

Our transfer to the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel airport in Ahmedabad went fairly smoothly.  Our wake-up call was about 10 minutes late, but they were at our room about 10 minutes early to pick up the bags.  It almost felt like “don’t let the door hit you on the way out”. 

At security, Greg had a thorough search and had some batteries confiscated.  I was upset about my experience in the women’s security check, where I was moved over to the men’s security scanner and then moved back to the women’s line up.  My laptop and all other important carry-on items went through the men’s scanner and were sitting unattended at the scanner exit for at least 10 minutes, or at least I hoped they were sitting there.  It made me very nervous to have my bags out-of-sight.  Once I got through the women’s security scanner, only then was I asked to remove my boots.  So I figured, I’d just get right back in front of the scanner line when I removed my boots.  But other passengers were literally nudging me out of the way, so I gave the pat-down security women a look of desperation and she waved me through.  All this time, my laptop is just sitting unattended at the men’s scanner exit.  Being in a foreign airport, I did not make a fuss, but it was very stressful indeed.  I was reunited with my laptop and all was good.

On the Jet-lite flight, we had to pay for the coffee which was consisted of a ½ cup of hot water with a convenience kit containing 1 instant coffee packet, creamer, sugar, spoon, and napkin.  Yuk!  I couldn’t even drink it.  Well, it seems when the cup is ½ empty, the cup is ½ empty… just before we took off, the passenger in front of me abruptly reclined his seat and it smashed right into my knee (and aren’t seats supposed to be in the upright position during take-off?).  So, I hoped this would be the one and only challenging flight.  All else went very smoothly and before you could wink, we were in Delhi.

Sandeep Sing Minhas, the Assistant Manager and Altaf, the Driver from Worldwide Adventures India were there to pick us up at this very impressive Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.  Although it was rush hour when we arrived, they sailed through traffic and we were at our hotel, The Uppal in no time.  After settling into our room, Greg took off for his meeting at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (India’s premiere engineering school) and I caught up on blogging, e-mails and other writing.

We hired a hotel car and driver to get us to Vani and Ian’s Sangeet (an evening of music, dancing and fun to celebrate the wedding).  Sudish, our Driver waited patiently while we enjoyed ourselves at this entertaining and fun party.  Even though we were 20 minutes late, we were the first ones to arrive.  Vani’s Mother greeted us warmly and told us people were always late and called it “Indian Time”.  Note to self; there really is a thing called Indian Time, so we Aboriginal Canadians are actually following “Fake Indian Time” back home, haha. 

The party was so much fun and people were very friendly.  The Hotel Vista was decorated beautifully in a purple, gold, and orange colour theme.  There was inside and outside seating, but the dancing performances were held inside.  These dances, performed by family and friends, were choreographed specifically for the wedding and were very polished.  I thought they were traditional dances.  After each dance, the dancers would greet the bride and groom.  The canapés were endless and the buffet dinner was a palate pleaser.  Unfortunately, Greg’s camera ran out of batteries just when Ian got up to dance with Vani.  All in all, it was an excellent evening indeed and we are looking forward to the wedding ceremony tomorrow.

Vani and Ian - aren't they such a gorgeous couple?

Ahmedabad – 15 March

Our guide Narendra Singh Rathore arrived at 10am to pick us up for our tour.  He was very friendly and eager to showcase the sites of Ahmedabad. 

The first stop was to the Sabarmati Ashram, home of Mahatma Gandhi.  The Ashram is located beside the Sabarmati River and is where Gandhi’s ashes are stored.  We spent a lot of time in the museum, library, and bookstore, before heading over view Gandhi and Kasturba’s Ahmedabad home from 1918 to 1930.  In addition to that, we also saw the hut where Vinoba Kutir lived for a few months from1918 to 1921 and Mira Kutir (disciple of Gandhi and daughter of a British Admiral) who lived here for 8 years between 1925 and 1933. 

We visited the Adalaj Stepwell which is a unique Hindu 'water building'. The stepwell was built in 1499 The stepwell is intricately carved and is five stories in depth.  It was wonderfully cool inside and that was a relief on this hot day.  The fellow who maintains the stepwell was very proud of his work and happy to accompany us on the tour.

On the way to our next stop, a young boy in a motorized rickshaw beside us was waving madly and smiling so I nudged Greg to film him and he gave us the thumbs up for doing so.  It was really cute.

Our next stop was the Hutheesing Jain Temple is a Jain temple, constructed in 1848 with a dome of white marble.  It was supported by 12 pillars surrounding the dome and had 52 shrines in that square.  Recently, a stambha (tower) was constructed at the entranceway.  There were dozens of workers, male and female, smoothing the white marble dome when we visited and they were all smiling and equally curious about the tourists.  An older local couple actually approached me and asked me to take their picture.  They didn’t seem to be concerned that they wouldn’t get a copy of the picture, but they did enjoy seeing it through the viewfinder.

We stopped for lunch at the Gopi restaurant where we had a traditional Gujarati lunch.  A large tray filled with samples of various vegetarian dishes was presented along with various breads (crisp, naan, pita) and refills were offered several times, along with some delicious deserts to finish off the meal.  The staff were extremely friendly and attentive which led us to stuff ourselves a little more than usual.  In this region of Indian there is prohibition on alcohol and almost the same goes for meat.  Tourists can get a permit to consume alcohol, but can only do so in their hotel rooms.  Narendra says that’s one of the reasons why Ahmedabad is such a calm and safe city.

Since I really wanted to get something a bit “Indian” to wear to the wedding in a tomorrow, we went to the Calico Craft Centre where I purchased a beautiful silk scarf.  I hope it makes me look a bit more “Indian” (chuckle, chuckle). 

One of the most famous mosques of Ahmedabad is located right across the street from our hotel.  The Mosque of Sidi Sayed Jaali, built in 1573, is a series of arches and is famous for its beautifully carved ten stone latticework windows (jalis) on the side and rear arches. 

We had a late dinner at the Green House restaurant at the hotel.  Although it is considered fast-food snack fare, there are pages and pages of healthy options for snacks. 

an amazing poster at the Sabarmati Ashram

Gandhi's room

Gandhi and Kasturba's home in Ahmedabad

hut where Mira Kutir and Vinoba Kutir stayed at separate times

Sabarmati River

Adalaj Stepwell; a unique Hindu 'water building' 5 stories below ground

Greg at the Adalaj Stepwell

Adalaj Stepwell

Adalaj Stepwell from 5 floors below

bottom of Adalaj Stepwell

Adalaj Stepwell, pretty amazing!

Hutheesing Jain Temple tower (stambha) 

Hutheesing Jain Temple

a really dear couple who asked me to take their picture

Hutheesing Jain Temple

purchasing a lovely silk scarf at the Calico Craft Centre

Mosque of Sidi Sayed Jaali

stone latticework window at the Mosque of Sidi Sayed Jaali

the House of Mangaldas Girdhardas heritage hotel

Greg and our Guide Narendra

a short video of a young boy in a motorized rickshaw beside our van

Mumbai to Ahmedabad – 14 March

During our transfer to the airport, our driver stopped so we could take a picture of the amazing Haji Ali Dargah Mosque.  The transfer went smoothly, but we encountered problems at the check-in counter because our bags were over the maximum allowed weight.  Well, there’s a first time for everything.  We’ve been over at most check-ins and there hasn’t been an issue as yet.  We took a bunch of stuff out of our bags and put them in the "bingo” bag I tucked in the case.  It’s really that big $25 promotions purse you get at the Body Shoppe filled with various products.  I knew that darn thing would come in handy.  We tucked a bunch of heavy things like the hikers, shoes, books and such to bring the luggage weight down, then we took it with us as carry on.  Really, I am not sure what difference it makes?  It’s the same weight going onto the plane.  At any rate, rules are rules.

It was a short uneventful 1 hour flight to Ahmedabad (pronounced Am-da-bad).  Anything that does not involve a landing strip that ends with a mountain, like the flight to Lukla, is uneventful.  J

We are staying in another Heritage Hotel, the House of Mangaldas Girdhardas (or House of MG, for short) and it’s just gorgeous.  Our room is so large with high ceilings and fully netted bed.  It includes an awesome jhula swing (fastened to the ceiling) and I could lie down and swing on that thing all day.  The hotel was formerly a family home and there are family trees and old pictures of the family throughout the hotel and in the suites.  It’s really interesting to see the family growth and events.

After settling in, Greg went to his meeting at the Civil Research Laboratory, where he met with a former graduate student Nirag and presented to a group of his colleagues.  I spent the afternoon blogging, catching up on e-mail, and you guessed it, swinging.

We went for dinner at the Global Desi restaurant with a Nirage and a couple of his colleagues.  The food was all vegetarian with various levels of spicy and hot, which we topped off by sharing a chocolate decadence desert including ice-cream, truffles, cake, mouse, sticks, and sauce.  It was a nice way to wash down some of the hot stuff that actually, and embarrassingly, made my nose run.

Haji Ali Dargah Mosque in Mumbai

Mumbai – 13 March

We saw so much today, so pardon the long entry.

Meena, our Guide was at the hotel promptly at 8:30am to pick us up, but we were late as usual.  Fortunately, this did not result in us missing the first ferry to Elephanta Island. 

The dock is located in front on the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower which endured a terrorist bombing in November of 2008.  The incident started when 10 Pakistani terrorists entered the city by hijacking a fishing troller and executed a well-thought out diabolical plan.  The city was held captive for 30 hours while 11 bombings and shootings occurred before police could subdue the terrorists.  There have been other attacks in 1993, 2003, and 2011, so it is no wonder the security is so tight in this city.

The ferry to Elephanta Island was very old and rickety, but in an hour, it accomplished its job.  We scanned the ferries nooks and crannies, unable to find a single life jacket.  When in Mumbai…  Meena says, the residents believe and behave like “there’s always room for 1 more”.  Unfortunately, we could not get a good view of the city skyline due to the smog and residents look forward to the rainy season which purifies the air and provides a stunning view of the city. 

We visited Elephanta Island, originally called Gharapuri Island (or place of caves) is one of a number of islands in Mumbai Harbour, east of the city.  The Elephanta Caves were painstakingly carved out of rock.  The present name Elephanta, was given by 17th century Portuguese explorers, after seeing a salt sculpture of an elephant found near the entrance.  They occupied the caves and amused themselves by shooting at the carvings.  How heartbreaking it must have been to the carvers and residents.  Only one carving was left intact.  It was hidden behind a door and when the Portuguese saw the carving, they thought it represented the “trinity” because it had 3 heads, so they did not wish to destroy something representative of their own religious symbol. 

A Maharastra Tourist train takes passengers on a short 600 meter ride from the ferry to the island entrance.  Monkeys can be very bold and will steal food from you and it is best not to fight them for it because they will become very aggressive.  There are also uncovered palanquins (wheel-less vehicle) available for hire if you need assistance climbing the steps to the caves.   

We stopped for a very short glance at Mumbai University where it is forbidden to enter the grounds unless you belong there or have business.  We managed to get pictures of the clock tower from the street despite it being under construction.

Next, we visited the train Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus “central train station” around 2pm and it was just packed, so I can only imagine what it must be like during rush hour.  Between 10 and 20 people are killed each day on the trains either by suffocation on very stifling days, but mostly from falling out of the train in the “door-less” doorways of overcrowded trains.  Can you imagine?  This station was also the site of a shooting attack during Nov 2008.

Depending on who you talk to, the percentage of of Mumbai citizens live in the slums ranges from 45-70%.  Meena likened it to a fusion of New York and Los Angeles where business and Bollywood reign.  Mumbai is a safe city to walk around in due to the religious beliefs and cultural values around family and community.  That is why there are no “rich” or “poor” sections of town.  The rich and poor live in the same neighbourhood.

Tata Group is a diverse Indian multinational company headquartered in Mumbai; one of the largest in India with 2/3rds of its income generated from outside of India.  A socially minded corporation, 66% of its ownership is held in charities. It has interests in communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals.  The corporation has established and financed numerous quality research facilities, educational and cultural institutes in India.  When in Bhutan, most of the tractor trailers were all Tata trucks.

Antilia is the name of a twenty-seven floor personal home in South Mumbai belonging to businessman Mukesh Ambani, reportedly the most expensive home in the world at an approximate cost of $2bil.  This home is 400K square feet of living space which includes the following; parking space for 168 cars, vehicle maintenance facility, nine elevators in the lobby, three helipads, an air traffic control facility, health spa, yoga studio, small 50-seat theatre, swimming pool, three floors of hanging gardens, ballroom, and an ice room where snow flurries are created.

Can you imagine what the socially-minded Tata Group thinks of that?... "The person who lives in there should be concerned about what he sees around him and [asking] can he make a difference. If he is not, then it's sad because this country needs people to allocate some of their enormous wealth to finding ways of mitigating the hardship that people have."  The ironic part of it is that the house was built inconsistently with astrological and religious beliefs (guess they didn’t plan for that) and based on those beliefs, is poorly situated for business success.  Therefore, no one lives in it.  What a waste!

We briefly visited the Hanging Gardens, also known as Pherozeshah Mehta Gardens which are terraced gardens featuring numerous hedges carved into the shapes of animals.  We met “Lingokid” there when he approached Greg to sell him a peacock feather fan.  His name is Ravi, he is an authentic slumdog, and is remarkably talented in that he speaks 10 languages (self-taught).  What a remarkable young man and unofficial tour guide.  Greg purchased the fan!  Check him out….   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-URtZfIgKAU&feature=fvwrel 

Jainism community believes in a path of non-violence towards all living beings.  They believe in the eternal laws of nature; the 4 elements.  They leave their dead on the roof of two tall buildings to be eaten by eagles as a way to give back for the life-giving of nature during their lives.

We visited Gandhi’s home which has been turned into a museum.  It was filled with all things Gandhi; books, quotes, the room he lived in, the balcony from which he would converse with people (unless there were too many in which case he would agree to meet them at the beach), a complete set of miniature models depicting significant moments in his life, a library, picture gallery on the staircases, and much more.  On the way out, we purchased a handmade paper book about Gandhi and signed the guest book.  The Obamas visited November 2010 and gave them a “stone of hope” from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington.

In March 1922, while being tried in an England courtroom for sedition, Gandhi pleaded guilty by saying, “I hold it to be a virtue to be disaffected towards a government which has done more harm to India than any previous system.”

We visited one of the city’s laundry slums.  At the entrance was a string of laundry delivery trucks.  Tiny one-room homes are rented for 100 rupies per month.  In these tiny multi-purpose dwellings; the single bed becomes an ironing board by day and a bed for everyone at night.  A small community school is located on site as well.  Most laundry is done by beating the laundry repeatedly to clean it in cement pools, while there are some industrial sized washers and extractors.  Clothes are hung up on a double-layer of thick chord, with the laundry being secured between the chords, thereby eliminating the need for clothes pegs.  Most hotels, businesses, and some households use these laundry services.  You might wonder how can they get whites clean?  Well, I’m not sure, but trust me, they do.  Folks must be doing well enough there because many of the tiny dwellings have air-conditioners.

Our last stop of day was at an authentic arts and crafts store where they sold wood carvings, designer clothing, pashmina clothes and scarves, and jewellery.  There was a lot of nice stuff, but we didn’t purchase anything from this very upscale store.

We decided to stay for dinner in the hotel again this evening.  It was so darn tasty.  Afterwards we went out for a nice long walk along the waterfront on Marine Drive.  It was full of people strolling, running, and socializing.



sign kinda says it all

Taj Mahal Palace and Tower

really, I took this picture on the ferry

tide is out

palanquins if you prefer to get a ride up the steps

Trimurti, the three faces King Shiva; creator, protector, and destroyer.

an oil tanker likely picking up a load

a barge of coal

Greg by Mumbai University's Tower Clock

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus “central train station” - like Union Station in Toronto 

powerful gargoyles

no, it's not rush hour, it is 2:10pm

Hanging Gardens, also known as Pherozeshah Mehta Gardens

a replica of Gandhi's room, the telephone is the only original piece 

the famous balcony from which Gandhi would converse with the people

laundry slum, check out the air conditioners, this is the centra area from which the hand washing is done

carts used to transport bags and bags of laundry

gorgeous, happy laundry slum children