Two faced business

Gangtok is built on the sides of very steep hills, and this gives many of the buildings, and the businesses in them some odd characteristics. It took me a day to realise that, although I was on the same level as the reception desk just by the entrance from the street, with a room number in the 400s, I was on the top floor of the hotel. A corollary of this was that all the other rooms, including the dining room, were down multiple floors. The dining room had an exit into gardens on level 0. Earlier there had obviously been access to the hotel by a path to the dining room before plots had been divided and altered. It also took me a couple of days to realise that other businesses were built on the same plan, so going in by one entrance and out by a different one could result in being some way away from where anticipated.

The other characteristics I noted were more to do with the global spread of technology and the Indian sense of colour rather than things to do with Gangtok itself. Technology is providing a global lingua franca - I needed to obtain some replacement batteries, earphones, and a USB lead at various times during our trip. Eventually I located all of these, mostly here in Sikkim. The batteries (round Li ones) were unremarkable, except for their packaging which was a lurid pink and silver; the USB lead a very bright purple in colour; and the earphones, and their lead, bright pink and white. Quite a change of image for my gear. All of the items were purchased in places where the shopkeeper's English was either non-existent or minimal, and my Hindu or Nepali a figment of imagination. Nonetheless, the technology itself provided the vocabulary to talk about it - asking for a USB lead for instance does not require a commonality of language. Presumably this is bad news for the Academie francaise as most of this new language arises from (American) English.

Surprise!!

A wedding is being held in out hotel in about four days time. This is going to be a big wedding, involving local politicians, military, business people, and other dignitaries. As part of the preparations a marquee is being constructed in the hotel courtyard, occupying the entire courtyard, and  about three stories high. During the period we have been in the hotel, there have been multiple sightings of the bridal party, or some relatives grouping associated with the bridal party, scurrying about the hotel at all sorts of different times. So when I came down in the morning and saw the pictured table in the dining room, I naturally assumed that it was something to do with the wedding.

It was only when I entered the dining room a little later, with Erica, our tour leader, that I realised that this was something prepared by the hotel to celebrate my birthday. They had been notified by Erica, who had all the details from our passports and had come up with the above decoration. The centre of the table consisted of small presents from some of the members of the party - nothing that could not be put together when people are travelling, but very touching for the thought that had gone into them. Erica then asked the hotel to make a cake, which they did, delivering the cake just before we were due to en-bus in order to travel on. After a brief cake cutting ceremony, the cake was cut up into portions and loaded into boxes for consumption on the bus. The hotel also chipped in with a present - a perspex memento of the Bodhi tree stupa.

Anyway there were some discussions in the group about age, birthdays and the like, which lead to the second substantial surprise of the day. One of the women in the group and I found that we had attended the same (small) primary school at the same time, though one year apart. Discussion about this reminded  both of us of memories from those days - now of course a very long time ago. We had not been at the same infants school, as the primary school had feeders from a number of (even smaller) infants schools - me from a three class infants class, her from an even smaller local school.

Once onto the bus, with cake duly eaten, we set off for Patna. The drive to Patna was not surprising, but the traffic in Patna was nearly as bad as any I've seen anywhere in the world, including the infamous traffic jams on Beijing's many ring roads. Erika had arranged for a representative of the Indian tour company she had used to guide us through the traffic of Patna; to take us onto a restaurant to get a meal before catching the train; to arrange for porters for our luggage to take it to the station; guiding us to the platform for our train; and finally waiting with us to ensure we got onto the right train when it eventually turned up about an hour and a half late. This all seemed a bit over the top, but as the hours went on, it became clear what a necessity all this was. I have negotiated on my own railway systems in three countries that do not have a latin script for their writing - Chinese, Thai and Russian - but I am not sure I could have negotiated the railway system here. There appeared to be no display boards with information about the trains; what writing there was seemed to be only permanent notices and only in Hindi; the announcements which were nominally in Hindi (I assume) and English, were inaudible in both languages; it appeared as though the platform kept changing; and our transfer guide was obtaining information by continually phoning a control tower some distance away from the station; and the station was absolutely heaving with people everywhere.

Eventually we caught our train and sorted out our berths, and so to bed and a journey that would end about midday the following day. We then were picked up by jeeps to be taken on to Gangtok. Total journey time ended up being about 30 hours. A tiring journey, taking us to much more interesting terrain.


Day out not at Vulture Peak

We set off to Vulture Peak in the bus. The journey was through Bodh Gaya, Bodh, and other towns, all of which were extremely congested, with narrow town streets. The journey thus took a time, though the impression was that it was not a vast distance. 

The three places we were going to visit were Vulture Peak, the Sattapanni caves, and the Bamboo Grove. When we got there, it was clear it was going to be a hot day, that Vulture Peak was accessible by cable car or on foot, that the cave only by foot, and in terms of relevance, the caves were more interesting. As a result, the group universally opted to do the caves first, and follow these up with the other sites. So, after a little preparation, we started off up the hill - a climb of 2-300m with steps all the way up. Among other things, I was using the assent to assess my level of fitness and stamina ready for the Himalayan trekking I intend to do in July/August. I was not surprised, but was a little disturbed to find that these were poorer than I thought, even though I had thought them bad. At the same time, I was getting comments from the others in the group about my racing ahead  so much faster than the rest could manage.

The caves and their immediate surroundings, which is where the first Buddhist council was held, must have changed over the years. The caves are very small, and the only real place to meet is the small plateau in front of them. In modern times there just isn't enough ground to hold any size of gathering. 

The picture above may include the Bamboo Grove, as I was not sure exactly where it lay when I took the photo. It does show something I haven't seen before - a Jain temple.

On our return to the valley most people went onto the Bamboo Grove, but nobody was motivated to go up Vulture Peak. Just too hot and tired after going up the peak with the caves.

Place of enlightenment

Mahabodhi Temple
Bodh Gaya is the location of the Bohdi tree under which Buddha attained elightenment. As a consequence, temples of all varieties of Buddhist have sprung up around the temple celebrating the enlightenment. The major ones seem to the Thai Theravada monastery and the Tibetan Kagyu monastery. The Kagyu site also includes a huge prayer hall which is used for the annual Monlam prayer festival which is held annually at the Tibetan New Year. At this time of year the hall is a totally empty, echoing building capable of holding about 10,000. In addition to the major sites all of the following are represented (and probably many more that I did not see): Burmese, Japanese, Sri Lankan, Korean, and Vietnamese.

The temple area itself is very peaceful area, and although there were a fair number of people there, there was no sense of crowding, even round the Bohdi tree. Here the entire space was taken up by sleeping /meditation mats occupied by those spending a period of time there.

Outside the temple complex there was some, but surprisingly little, religious tourism tat. 

Onwards to Bihar


Today was a travel day. We arranged our luggage in the lobby of the hotel; porters materialised and started the procession through the alleys and passage ways from the ghat to the road. Then along the road, still in procession, to the coach. We had said goodbye to Ani Dolkar yesterday, and today we said a temporary goodbye to Egle, who was flying across India to attend a friend's wedding, and then will be rejoining us in a few days time. 

Then it was off to Bodh Gaya through the centre of Bodh. Lunch time provided its own share of interest. The truck stop we arrived at was on the opposite side of the road from which we were travelling with a concrete barrier between the lanes. No problem - onto the next junction and turn around to get to the pit stop. After a good meal, and lots of soft drinks, it was time to start our travels again. So off we went down the wrong side of the carriage way until we reached the junction where we had previously turned round. All parties, including oncoming traffic that was going the correct way, regarded this as normal practice. 

Arriving late at Bodh Gaya and went to explore the local area. One way from the hotel was the bustling centre of Bodh Gaya, while the other direction tailed off into a very poor looking area edging from the town into a rural area.  It was very apparent that Bihar was, as I had gathered, a very poor state, largely agricultural, and with a very high crime rate because of the poverty.


The Ghats of the Ganges


Erika, our group leader, spent all day at the Institute trying unsuccessfully to arrange an audience with the Karmarpa. The rest of us spent the day walking along the Ghats, or shopping, or visiting silk factories.

One of our party did cause a religious dispute, interfering with the national religion, whilst out walking along the ghats. She inadvertently stood on a marked out cricket pitch that some of the locals were going to play on. Big mistake.

A small group of us visited the burning ghat where we were guided by a very knowledgeable Hindu who worked there as a guide one morning a week to benefit his own karma by raising charity money to buy the wood for cremation for those destitute people who arrive at the ghat and wait there to die, hoping that they will be cremated. He was excellent at his task of extracting money, and did make it clear that the money was going to these charity cases.

Calm waiting


We returned to the Institute in time for the audience with Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. Again there was time spent waiting in the gardens before we went in to see him, but again it is a haven of calm and peace. Eventually we had our audience which was impressive. Khenchen Thrangu has been the Karmarpa's teacher and has taught very many of the most senior Buddhist figures. After this we enjoyed the calm and beauty once again.

The monastic and permanent lay community were being calm in a very hurried way preparing for the arrival of the Karmarpa in the late afternoon. Their tasks were manifold, but did include altering the garlands of marigolds that had been placed on the hedges by making them into heart shapes; drawing out welcoming pictures on the paved paths; and lining up all the smallest monks in order of height from near full grown down to miniscule.

Then it was the arrival of the Karmarpa - first of all the clearing of all the laypeople from the grounds of the Institute, leaving only monks and nuns to welcome him.  The laity lined the road outside. The band assembled. The Indian Army security team came around, followed by the intelligence types providing a security cordon of their own and finally the security detail of monks. Then after much waiting came the arrival. A couple of security cars, the band in full flow, then some of the entourage vehicles and the the Karmarpa followed by more vehicles. I cannot imagine that anyone caught any glimpse of him before he was into the temple and his apartments. I certainly did not. It did mean a lot to be there for a great many people.

Then it was time to return to the hotel (the last part on foot this time) and so to close.

Peace and Frenetic Activity

 
Because it had been suggested that the Karmarpa was to arrive the following day, we decided to go straight to Sarnarth and the Vajravidya Institute, to find out what the arrangements might be on the following days. The monastery, temple and associated learning facilities - this is a major Buddhist academic site, teaching from 5 year olds to post-doctoral students - is very large, but an oasis of peace and beauty quite distinct from the hustle and bustle of its surroundings.Formal gardens with monks, nuns, and lay people, gliding round the place, while our tour leaders went off to find out what might be arranged. 

Sitting in the gardens was enough - as one of our party said - there is no where where I would rather be than here at this moment. A true summary.

Erika, the tour organizer, and Ken, our tour leader, came back and were able to tell us that an audience had been arranged with Kenchen Thangu Rinpoche for the following morning. The Karmarpa was arriving at four pm the following day and that it was possible that an audience might be arranged.

Fairly late in the day we set off to go to our hotel. The bus journey was fairly uneventful, though on very crowded roads. That is it was uneventful until we got close to the hotel. The bus driver the told us we had to disembark, carry all our luggage down the steps of a ghat and load ourselves and our luggage onto a super (!?!) power boat, to complete our journey on the Ganges.

(The explanation for this, which only came the following day, was that streets are so narrow and congested near the hotel that there is no possibility of vehicular traffic; for a somewhat wider zone traffic if forbidden; and for a wider zone still, by the time we got there, traffic is congestion was so acute that there was no possibility of a large bus getting through.

We got onto the Ganges eventually where the knowledge I have of boats proved to be a handicap. I was sitting at the rear of the boat, and could see the propeller shaft, which had no stern gland, or anything like one. This meant that every revolution of the propeller put more water into the boat. By the time we landed I reckon the boat had taken on two more inches of water than when we started.

I can only describe the Ganghes and Varanesi in cliche - a seething mass of activity with thousands of people doing their thing - usually in the noisiest, most flamboyant way possible.

And bed beckoned once more.

Flight from Winter


2015-02-25 Tuesday

I had judged my coal consumption pretty well,as I completely ran ou t of coal the day before my flight to India. This meant that the stove went out in the early afternoon. As a result when I got up on the 17th, the roof of my boat was a flourish of ice and frost patterns. Quite impressive. Then of course, once I started travelling, everything was enclosed and generally too hot for me - a taxi, the train, the underground, Heathrow Terminal 4. All in all, a demonstation of the distance between winter and the layers of protection we put in place for ourselves.

When I got to Heathrow, I realised that I had not previously been to T4 - all my previous flights had been out of T3. As always, I got there with bags of time to spare, so among other things, I went up to the observation deck and spent a little time looking at plane preparation and the lights of Heathrow. A pretty sight.

Then collected at Delhi airport for transfer to the hotel. Sorted out an ATM that worked with my currency cards - only the forth one I tried.

And so to bed, having left winter behind me.