Matheran part deux

Zaz pretty much said it all. The monkey's were cool, they were everywhere. Just these little human-like creatures running around doing their thing. A guy at a restaurant showed me how you could just shake a chair at them or bang a stick to keep them at a distance....just to let them know to give us a little space. We saw a few monkey's aggressively jump at people, so we didn't want to take any chances. I guess mostly because I was thinking about rabies or something. You have to understand, there is hardly a health care system here at all and we already know rabies shots don't even exist here in India let alone on top of a mountain that we hiked past horses to get to. I'm not one to always be worrying about these things, but when I do, it's not a fun road to go down.

Like the other night, on the overnight train we took from Jalgaon I was imagining the options I would have if something went wrong physically. We got on the train and there were people sleeping everywhere--the floor was covered with bodies draped in their blankets- aisles and all....Our good friend at the Hotel Plaza told us if anyone was sleeping in our bunk, we should be strong and kindly asked them to leave. That was a good piece of advice because when I told an entire family of four that they were sharing my bunk, the big guy at the end replied, "sorry this is occupied." I said, "No. You have to get up, this is my bunk---#20."(firmly) and they slowly all got up and moved. There I was on the bottom bunk with someone sitting on the end near my feet (I let that slide), 2 people on 2 bunks above me one on top of the other, 2 people sleeping on the floor in between the same 3 bunk set-up facing mine, and the aisles filled with people sleeping throughout the whole train. I was thinking what would I do if I had a problem with my body....I couldn't think of a specific problem until I heard my heart beating. I was lying down and looking out at this pile of bodies and blankets as rural India roared past from the half open window thinking, what if I had a problem with my heart--oh shit. Not a good thought, and the following thoughts were worse. But I managed to forget about it long enough until I fell asleep..

Matheran was paradise....and now on to our next ....Goa. We've heard so much about it--all good things. The next post should be a juicy one.

howdyasay 'good-bye and happy new years in hindu?"


gregg

Matheran to Mumbai and in between

We are back in Mumbai to meet Teddy tomorrow and begin our journey to Goa. We made it Matheran two days ago getting onto the train at 4am in Jalgaon. Our teacher's uncle made it possible to finally slip out of that town- although we were well rested, we were ready for a new adventure. Matheran was pretty incredible. A moutain village with no cars or bicycles, we took a train to a minivan type vehicle which whipped us (literally) up a mountain to a spot where there were horses and man powered rickshaws waiting to take us up the rest of the way. We chose the cheap option- a teenage boy/porter carried my backpack up while we walked with him. The hike was stunning. A winding path crept along the side of the mountain and the view was of an enormous valley stretching forever to meet more strangely shaped peaks in the distance. Everything was wrapped in a fog-like mist which made it seem so magical. On our way up we started to get glimpses of the monkeys which would become almost too banal... We found our hotel at the top through a strange sort of carnival atmosphere like town- it is a holiday spot for many Indians and so there are different attractions like "chikki" (one of my favorites- a peanut candy) and tons of sandal makers bent over their work. And horses everywhere. I almost enjoy the female status in these situations because everyone approaches Gregg to sell him things and I am left alone. Nice. I will write about the monkeys and then it will be Gg's turn. Our first day we awoke in a huge pink room with tons of windows and sat on our little porch and started my dreads.. We were shocked when a monkey came up and sat about three feet from us. We started to back away when it got on our table and picked up our bottle of water, poured it out, and started drinking... Gregg finally picked up a chair and sort of waved it at the monkey and only then did it slowly leave. After that we were never without a stick of some sort- the monkeys are adorable but not shy and will take whatever you've got. One strange part about the hikes were the giant ramshackled mansions that were quietly tucked away in different parts of the forest. One man (with whom we were lost for a long time- he and his 50 students) told me that the British built them and then Kings hid in them... and I'm not sure, like any story I hear here, whether I am misunderstanding, it is a fabrication, or that is the solid truth- whichever it is, whomever built those mansions were long gone and the stray dogs, monkeys, and poor had taken over their crumbling fortresses... We are back in Mumbai now with the red dust of Matheran still sticking to our shoes. I feel so much more peaceful with that time in the mountains to breath clean air and hike around looking at beautiful vistas.

Happy Christ Much

Well, I just spent over an hour writing a post describing our last three days --then the power went out. Gotta love that--I'm used to that by now though....so, as of right now I don't feel too up to writing another one. I'll try though......We left Mumbai on a train to Nasik. We transfered at a station in a suburb of Mumbai that was easily the poorest city I have ever seen. The houses were smacked together with scrap parts, the streets were filled with garbage, and the river was mixed with tons of garbage and foreign liquid colors. Again the discrepancy right on the platform of the train: women dressed in beautifully colored and knitted saree's with healthy looking children, men in their 20's dressed in gucci-like gear on the most high tech cell phones, and families wearing clothes that literally looked like they had dried after being mushed in the mud. I guess this is the result of India coming out of its economic shell and we can see it right in front of our faces.

The train ride (4 hrs for 4 bucks) was wild. After a few hours of sleeping and looking out the window (the scenery changed from dismal to beautiful landscapes), two late teenage girls jumped into eliza's lap and wanted to know everything about America. They were followed by their two brothers and we all exchanged questions from religion to history to fashion to bollywood to hollywood all while cracking up at the differences and similarities. Their father treated us to Indian "hamburgers" at one of the stops, which was basically like a samosa (still heavily hindu therefore vegetarian). They all gasped when I ate with my left hand--a big no no here--that's the hand you wipe your ass with. They also went crazy when I told them that eliza was on Sex in the city...because we said "sex" and because she was on the show. The language barrier is easy here because of the former British rule and the mandatory english schooling. We stayed in Nasik for a day (just as dirty as Mumbai but smaller so more bareable), saw some ancient caves carved into granite with hand tools. That was intense...2000 years old---rooms the size of a house inside of a rock dug out with a hammer.... We drove by a motorcycle accident where it was impossible not to look because we were in a rickshaw (open cart pulled by a three wheeler). I saw a man lying in the middle of the road with his body bent in an unfamilar way, with his head completely ripped open for the entire street to see. His eyes were wide open. The rickshaw driver turned around to us and said, "end, end", we couldn't say anything. I have been thinking about that guy a lot lately and thinking about how lucky we are in the States. It just seems this wouldn't have happened so easily in the U.S.....a helmet, a traffic light, a painted lane, something would have prevented this guy in his mid 30's from never seeing his family again.

Then we hopped another train to Jalgaon, where we are now. We hoped to see more caves with paintings on the inside that we heard about but the timing didn't work out. Although the level of poverty is still difficult for us, we are getting used to it suprisingly. The reason for this is the overwhelming sincerity of the people, the lonely planet guide book, and the other part of the population that seems to be doing pretty well. We went to a restaurant last night that looked like something out of the tribeca trendy scene. And when we left we were surrounded by 10 teenage guys that wanted to say "hi" and talk in english for a bit. Its easy to make them laugh, pretty much anything we say--they love...who wouldn't like that? And the closer is "namaste" which means "peace be with you" I think--that sends them over the edge.

This town is difficult to get out of. The holiday season(people get a few days off from work for xmas) is making travel hard. Not only are we making the most of it, we have had some pretty good times in this little town. It's way cleaner than anywhere we've been so far, and we splurged on the fanciest hotel in town (400 rupies a night= 8 dollars a night). The place is very clean and the guy that runs it knows everything you need to know. He also gives you a heads up on what stuff costs so you don't get ripped off. For those that are interested in the prices of things (I always am) here's a short list of things we've purchased: lunch-huge meals with two cokes=less than 3 bucks.........haircut=less than 50 cents........cab 20 min ride=less than 50 cents......train to our next destination 8 hours away=7 bucks. We're keeping our hotels under 10 bucks each, but if we wanted, there are rooms for around 3 dollars a night that actually don't sound bad. But we're trying to ease ourselves into them- naa mean?

I met a guy yesterday who is a english teacher at a local middle school. He asked me if i would come to visit his school and just talk to his students for a short time. I agreed and the next afternoon eliza and I pulled up on rickshaw to a large school festival with costumes, traditionally dancing, a performance stage, and thousands of kids. I asked for CA Paatal and we were whisked into two chairs on the lawn. One by one the kids came over and before we knew it eliza and I were surrounded by 20 -30 kids all asking questions in english. "where are you from", what is your name", "do you like cricket", "tell me about jesus".....We got a full formal guided tour of the school by one of the principals (I think) with kids in tow screaming and laughing the whole way....Each student wanted us to see their painting, or their science project, or their writing sample...

We are heading to Matheron tomorrow--supposed to be a beautiful mountaintown with nice views. I found out the new school teacher friend I made has a relative at the train station and it looks like he's going to pull some strings tonight.....There are no cars allowed in this town so maybe it will be pretty cool, but we're getting used to not getting what we want now anyway--so we'll see. The only way that I'm reminded of Christmas here in Jalgaon is everyone stopping and wishing us Happy Christmuch, and the Jack Frost movie that we watched on HBO last night from the Hotel Plaza. Hope everyone is doing well....Merry Xmas from north west of Mumbai.

Gregg

Christmas Eve in Jalgaon

Where to begin describing the last few days? Maybe by our untraditional Christmas Eve. We are in a town called Jalgaon- known for its proximity to the Ajanta Caves. We, however, have not made it to the caves- in fact we probably will never make it there. We have gotten a lesson on traveling in India in the past few days. The first was Gregg's presence in an all woman's car on the train... We didn't see the sign on the outside and hopped in with another male who happened to be a policeman. He actually didn't seem to care, but the older women did. They scolded us through the younger women who spoke to us. It did seem to be a generational thing- the younger women giggled, the older ones were angry. After making it off that train, we waited in a station for too long for our next connection. Too long because our presence anywhere causes a stir and usually it ends up with us being surrounded by the curious.

Here the poverty was heartbreaking and a tiny naked starving child sat in front of me for a long time before I had to walk away. We have found giving small amounts of money prevents further harassment, but the children are particulary painful to deny. I knew that this country would be difficult that way, I've read it in the novels, the newspapers and the travel guides, but there is nothing quite as real as the hungry child at your knee. I guess it makes me more determined to solve the larger problems- if not more capable. The sights leaving Mumbai were amazingly colorful absolute poverty. It is as if the poor weave their homes from scraps of old sarees- the huts or small box dwellings are so terrifyingly small and the children covered in dirt, garbage is piled as high as their homes. Watching these rainbow homes of sadness was almost too much to stand. My time on the computer has ended, so I will let Gregg tell of the happiness we've encountered- which has also been abundant. For Christmas eve we are eating Cadbury chocolate we've found at a little store and talking about how we've changed. The horns and voices and smells from our window remind us of the strangeness of our lives right now, but we feel like we are in the right place for gift giving and resolution making..
gregg will post tomorrow.

We've Arrived!! Mumbai, India

Here we are in Mumbai. As I expected- nothing like we had imagined. No real way to describe the foreign feeling of this city. Nothing is expected- the smells, the stares, the crumbling fortress like buildings.. Much more beautiful than I had thought it would be, everything is shabbily elegant and insanely dirty. Our first room had wrap around windows and I woke up in the middle of the night with a feeling of extreme loneliness, stared out into this world that will hold us for the next few months and felt a stirring of immense anticipation. I just cannot predict who will emerge from this experience.. when the surroundings are so unpredictable, how do we know our reaction? As I watched the dark city (no lights remain on at 4am) a window lit up in the distance and then off again, like a wink. I lay back on the sweaty pillow and dreamed of the world teasing me, leading me on a journey through such foreign lands that the only stranger there is me... I can't wait.

Oh it's really hot and the food is amazing. xxeliza

No exaggerations anymore, none needed. The cab ride from the Mumbai airport to the hotel was 1 hour and fifteen minutes and the entire time we were on city streets with scattered high rises, shops, stop lights and chaos. This city is gigantic. It just goes on and on--has 16 million people. Really no one follows any traffic laws so it seems to work. Its like New York where we are defensive drivers--times 700. I swear the car was scraped by passing cars a number of times.

Zaz speaks of "shabbily elegant" and you try and wonder the heck that means. Its a perfect description. Mumbai, as we've learned, is a city with enormous wealth and devastating poverty literally right on top of each other. There are restaurants and clubs that charge New York prices with Mercedes parked right in front, with extremely young mothers and their children begging for money completely covered from head to toe in dirt. There are amazing restaurants, cafes, and markets, right next door to alleys filled with garbage and people's self built shacks...The architecture follows the same path---intricate, 19th century British/ Indian buildings and filthy squares of concrete....

I am loving getting to know this city. Because of all this diversity, there is so much going on underneath the surface. If someone speaks to you, you don't know if they are trying to get money out of you or just saying hi. They are really friendly....many people have just come up to say hello and ask us if we enjoy their city. We even had a group of men ask zaz and I to take a picture with them. We thought they wanted something from us, but all they wanted was a photograph of a couple of whiteys....we died laughing...

we are taking a train into the country tomorrow---talk soon!

gregg