Lecturing tourists
Our next two stops were part of dad's lecture circuit so I saw him give two different lectures on Genesis 19 (his PhD topic) in two days. In Nagpur we stayed at the Mar Thoma (Church of St Thomas) Orthodox Seminary. Here we found a fairly progressive group of lecturers and students in the midst of preparing for a 5 yearly gathering. However they received us warmly and asked some interesting questions in the lecture. In Jabalpur Dad presented to a quieter group of students from a more ecumenical although predominantly wesleyan background. Their version of welcoming was not to ask any questions at all so I took it on myself to ask one to some surprise from the others.
In Jabalpur we were also stayed with the Vegad family. Now grandfather Jawahar Vegad had often visited my grandparents during his studies in NZ in the late 1960s. My father and Jawahar had not seen each other for more than 40 years but had re-established contact in recent years thanks to the internet. Jawahar, his two brothers and their children and grandchildren (21 in all) share their family home. This is traditional but now very unusual in modern India, especially amoungst the upper-middle classes where the Vegads find themselves. It made for a fascinating expereince for us though to experience life amoungst the wider family.
After the lectures it was back to the tourist trail with visits to Varinasi and Agra. Personally I can't say I found Varinasi all that interesting. Life on the great Ganges River is much what I had come to expect of India at this stage. Still it was something to see the dead bodies burning on the funeral pyres while a few metres away a couple of men sifted through the ash for the jewelery traditionally burnt with the bodies. Other than that Varanasi is just another city - and with worse traffic than most.
We took another overnight train to Agra. I'd done several of these now but as we discovered the hard way this particular route is notorious for theft. Dad had his bumbag taken from beside his head, losing cash, credit cards, camera, phone and reading glasses. Luckily the only thing he really needed, his passport, was in his pocket. Meanwhile the thief went through my wallet, but only took the cash, leaving the credit cards. This meant that we still had access to cash and given dad only had one day before returning home he didn't bother replacing stuff until he got there. Others on the train were hit too, losing credit cards as well, so I can't explain my luck! Part 2 of this expereince was trying to get a police report so that dad could claim on his insurance. After writing the same thing out three times (with different report headings) and waiting around for an hour dad got angry at the time taken and said "I came to see India!" to which the Sargent responded "This is India too". So it does provide some perspective - on the bureaucracy! Even then we had to leave and come back later to get our copy of the report.
Agra I did enjoy, perhaps because we only had a day there. The Taj is the thing of course, but there is so much expectation about it I can't imagine it lives up to it for many. My expectations weren't particularly high, but it struck my as just another palace, albeit with its distinctive style. The Agra Fort though, now there is an impressive building. It has colour, size, a certain maze like quality and some interesting design elements (and I don't just mean it's ornate). This I had not expected so I left feeling pleasantly surprised. Dad even talked me into climbing a fence so that I could sneak up onto the battlements. Given the place is still an active military installation this gave one a bit of a thrill, not to mention the view, but noone was really looking.
Final stop with Dad was Dehli. We we're pleased to be met by Cara and three of us had time for a market walk and a meal before it was time for dad to head for the airport and home. It had been great travelling with dad, seeing him do his thing in various places and sharing time and experiences together as traveled across India. We don't often get the opportunity to share expereinces like this with family in a one-on-one way so I'm really glad I did.
In Jabalpur we were also stayed with the Vegad family. Now grandfather Jawahar Vegad had often visited my grandparents during his studies in NZ in the late 1960s. My father and Jawahar had not seen each other for more than 40 years but had re-established contact in recent years thanks to the internet. Jawahar, his two brothers and their children and grandchildren (21 in all) share their family home. This is traditional but now very unusual in modern India, especially amoungst the upper-middle classes where the Vegads find themselves. It made for a fascinating expereince for us though to experience life amoungst the wider family.
After the lectures it was back to the tourist trail with visits to Varinasi and Agra. Personally I can't say I found Varinasi all that interesting. Life on the great Ganges River is much what I had come to expect of India at this stage. Still it was something to see the dead bodies burning on the funeral pyres while a few metres away a couple of men sifted through the ash for the jewelery traditionally burnt with the bodies. Other than that Varanasi is just another city - and with worse traffic than most.
We took another overnight train to Agra. I'd done several of these now but as we discovered the hard way this particular route is notorious for theft. Dad had his bumbag taken from beside his head, losing cash, credit cards, camera, phone and reading glasses. Luckily the only thing he really needed, his passport, was in his pocket. Meanwhile the thief went through my wallet, but only took the cash, leaving the credit cards. This meant that we still had access to cash and given dad only had one day before returning home he didn't bother replacing stuff until he got there. Others on the train were hit too, losing credit cards as well, so I can't explain my luck! Part 2 of this expereince was trying to get a police report so that dad could claim on his insurance. After writing the same thing out three times (with different report headings) and waiting around for an hour dad got angry at the time taken and said "I came to see India!" to which the Sargent responded "This is India too". So it does provide some perspective - on the bureaucracy! Even then we had to leave and come back later to get our copy of the report.
Agra I did enjoy, perhaps because we only had a day there. The Taj is the thing of course, but there is so much expectation about it I can't imagine it lives up to it for many. My expectations weren't particularly high, but it struck my as just another palace, albeit with its distinctive style. The Agra Fort though, now there is an impressive building. It has colour, size, a certain maze like quality and some interesting design elements (and I don't just mean it's ornate). This I had not expected so I left feeling pleasantly surprised. Dad even talked me into climbing a fence so that I could sneak up onto the battlements. Given the place is still an active military installation this gave one a bit of a thrill, not to mention the view, but noone was really looking.
Final stop with Dad was Dehli. We we're pleased to be met by Cara and three of us had time for a market walk and a meal before it was time for dad to head for the airport and home. It had been great travelling with dad, seeing him do his thing in various places and sharing time and experiences together as traveled across India. We don't often get the opportunity to share expereinces like this with family in a one-on-one way so I'm really glad I did.
posted by James Tonson | 12:35 am
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