On January 13 Brittany received three visitors from home who came for a whirlwind tour of India. The first to arrive were Aunt Kate and I (Aunt Margaret) who came on an early flight. Kate came from Boston, me from New York, and we met up in Istanbul to fly to Delhi where Brittany was working for a few days. The late arrival was Maire Buckley who flew from DC via Dubai and landed at 9:30 pm. Our itinerary covered a lot of territory and some really great places and events. This is what our schedule looked like: First Delhi, then a road trip the next day to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, afternoon drive to Jaipur (where we stayed two nights), then a drive to Udaipur for two nights there. From Udaipur we took a flight to Cochin (via Delhi) where we stayed 2 nights. Then a drive to Alleppey where we boarded a houseboat for an overnight stay. After disembarking, we drove to a real swimming beach and spent the day. From the beach we went back to Cochin and stayed at a hotel near the airport. The next morning we all flew to Bangalore and spent the day at Brittany’s place. Maire left early the next morning, Kate that afternoon, and I left on the 26th after a few days exploring Bangalore. Brittany planned the trip with a local travel agent and everything went smoothly. We had drivers for all our rides and local guides for every place except Cochin, where we really didn’t need one. Our first guide came up to us and said “Hello, is this the Brittany Family?” And so we became the ‘Brittany Family’ for the rest of the trip.
You can see we did and saw a lot. There is too much to tell you everything that happened so I will pick out some of the highlights.
DELHI
Only Kate and I got the tour of Delhi. Brittany was working and Maire didn’t arrive til late in the evening. We met out guide, Raj, at the hotel and off we went with Kumar driving. Now, Kate and I had been awake for nearly 24 hours by now and were getting a bit punchy. Driving in Delhi traffic is almost impossible to describe without using adjectives like chaotic, life-threatening and terrifying. The road is shared by cars, rickshaws, tuk-tuk (small bicycle driven cabs), people, bicycles, dogs, oxen and cows. And generally all of the above is in any given lane. Pedestrians don’t really cross a street as we know it, they just dart or thread their way through the traffic, kind of daring anyone to hit them. It is unnerving. We visited Old Delhi and New Delhi and the Gandhi Memorial. We took a rickshaw ride through the old town (terrifying but fun in the way that death-trap roller coasters are) and visited a tea and spice shop and then went up a stairway to visit the flower dealers. An ancient man in a turban was very intrigued by us. Speaking through the guide, he said he didn’t believe we were American- we were too short! Then he asked about our husbands- we figured it was diplomatic to say we left them home. He asked another question, speaking directly to us in Hindi- “How many husbands- one or two?” using his fingers to count. Kate put up her hand and put up three fingers. The ancient hooted in laughter, calling good-by to us as we left
ELEPHANTS
To Kate and I, Jan. 15 was a special day, our birthday. But to Maire, it was even more special. It was the day we went to see the elephants. We were in Jaipur. The morning was spent visiting the City Palace, Hawa Mahal (also known as the Wind Palace), Jantar Mantar, a phenomenal open air observatory built in the 1700s that is amazingly accurate in telling the time and seasons, and doing some shopping. And in the afternoon we went to the Elefantastic Elephant Sanctuary. For Maire, this was something she has dreamed about for a long time. For Brittany, Kate and I – not really. But there we were, with Anu and Moti, speaking calmly and making eye contact. Somehow, Brittany and Maire got the baby elephant, who was not much taller than them. Kate and I, too short to even be American, had this enormous elephant that they could barely reach. And so much for eye contact- the poor thing had cataracts and couldn’t see a thing. M&K were concerned she was going to take a little stroll and just step on top of them. But Maire’s enthusiasm, and the realization that the elephants were pretty docile and content to stand around being hand-fed alfalfa and hay gradually made the experience somewhat relaxing. After feeding our elephants we got to paint them. Kate and I simply wrote Happy Birthday down Moti’s trunk. Maire got really into it and wrote a little tribute to her dad on her elephant, along with lots of shamrocks and green decorations. After painting, there was bath time which the elephants seemed really to enjoy. This is what happens after a while. You start feeling like you know your elephant and know when she is happy. Then you are happy too. And last but not least, there was the very long ride on the elephants, out of the compound and into the desert. All in all, it was a day to remember for all of us and a very memorable birthday.
TAJ LAKE PALACE
After Jaipur, we went to Udaipur. We did the usual tourist highlights, the City Palace, a dance show, and walked around town. Then we went to the Taj Lake Palace to spend the night. I will let the guide book set the scene: “The world-famous Lake Palace hotel island of Jagniwas is about 15,000 square meters in size, entirely covered by the opulent palace built by Maharana Jagat Singh II in 1754. Once the royal summer palace, it was greatly extended and converted in the 1960s by Maharana Bhagwat Singh, and is now in the hands of the Indian-owned Taj hotel group. One of the world’s top luxury hotels, with gleaming courtyards, lotus ponds and a pool shaded by a mango tree, it has been largely responsible for putting Udaipur on the international tourist map.” And that is where we stayed one night. It was a beautiful hotel. We swam in the pool, ordered drinks. Ate a really good dinner. Walked around. Took lots of pictures and watched the sunset over Lake Pichola. In the morning, it was Maire’s birthday. She woke up feeling like a princess.
There were so many more things we saw and experienced but there is not enough time. The north was busy, crowded and noisy. As we went south the crowds thinned and the pace was less frantic. By the time we got to Brittany’s we were ready for a day of relative quietness. We ate dinner around a big wooden table on the rooftop of her building. We were joined by some of her friends from Bangalore, including a couple with a rambunctious 3 year old. It was not too different from being on a deck at Breezy.
- Margaret
brittany d takes on india 