Adventures in India, Part 38 -- Leaving Chitwan

After a few days walking and riding through the forests and swamps of the preserve, and having a number of close-up encounters with extremely large animals, we began our return to civilization.

A bus trip through the fields and villages of Chitwan.

Kids on the way to school.

Waiting..., waiting.

At last we arrived in the town of Narayani where, in what is essentially a peasant culture with a radically left-wing political culture [the Maoists are still a force to be reckoned with], it was interesting to see manifestations of Western bourgeois culture -- rotary clubs and Jaycees. Nepal is a fascinating and often bizarre place.

Then onto a plane for our return to Kathmandu.

Adventures in India, Part 31 -- The Beginning of Buddhism

Once ashore we once again trudged through the streets of Bernares and boarded our bus. We then off for Sarnath, about ten miles away, the place where Buddhism began

The Buddha was born in Lumbini, Nepal but began his ministry at a deer park in Sarnath, India. It was there that he met with his first five disciples and preached to them his first sermon, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. It remains today a site of pilgrimage for devout Buddhists.

Wall paintings illustrate scenes from the life of Buddha.

Statuary commemorates the first teachings of the Buddha.

 This stupa supposedly marks the site where the first teachings occurred.

Then it was back on the bus for a visit to the nearby Mother India temple.

And then, as darkness fell, we wandered through the narrow byways of Varanasi to a local music school where we were treated to a sitar concert.

Then back to the hotel to rest up for our next day's journey to Nepal.

Adventures in India, Part 30 -- Sunrise On the Ganges, Part 3 Bathers

For many Hindus bathing in the Ganges is a religious act. The morning we were there thousands of people gathered along the banks of the river to cleanse their bodies, and presumably their spirits.

Prayer before entering the water.

Lamps on the water.

Doing the laundry in the river.

Bringing laundry to the river.

Net fishing in the river.

Drying laundry.

The interesting thing here is that everyone in the shot is averting their eyes to avoid seeing this guy, who seems to be enjoying himself thoroughly.

Adventures in India, Part 23 -- Dancers

Continuing our exploration of the Heart of India. We arrived at Khajuraho and checked into the hotel Taj Chandela, ate dinner, and then attended a performance by a local dance troup.

The dances were certainly energetic and the kids were attractive -- it was a pleasant way to spend an hour or so. Then it was back to the hotel to rest up for tour of the "Kama Sutra Temples" scheduled for the next morning.

Adventures in India, Part 22 -- Into the Heart of India

After lunch we climbed again onto the bus and struck out for Madhya Pradesh, which proclaims itself to be the "Heart of India". The specific destination was Khajuraho [more on that later]. Our journey took us through some desperately poor rural regions. The World Bank estimates that there are 400 million people in India living in poverty -- more than in SubSaharan Africa.

As is common throughout the developing world there were a lot of men sitting around watching the world go by. In this nation of more than a billion people under- and unemployment is a big problem.

A village market.

Madhya Pradesh is the great watershed of India, from which several great rivers flow. Here we are crossing one of them.

A middle-class home.

A village well.

Working in the fields. Note that most of the agricultural workers are women.

Believe it or not this was the road we followed as we penetrated into the Heart.

Heading home from the fields.

Here we are approaching the Ban Sagar reservoir, which provides irrigation water to much of central India.