It's not dull to start a trip with a stupid song and learn the lyrics during the journey. Especially, if one buys yo-yos along the way. It couldn’t be a bad holiday.
Evidently, it wasn’t.
We started in Gujarat, and were greeted at the airport by Dheeraj, our driver for the next 3 days. We drove to Bhuj, the capital of Kutch. It’s a small town that suffered a big earthquake in 2001. The town looks like it could be anywhere in India, with its crowded market, small shops, pollution and dust. It had one average cum fancy hotel, and that’s where we stayed. From Bhuj, we drove to the salt desert, where the Rann Utsav was held. On our way (and why not), a police officer jumped in our car without asking if he could, and drove with us until the festival.
Freaky? For the first couple of minutes, yes, but then, you just learn to put it past you and he could end up giving good traveling tips. The Rann Utsav was a little strange. Big tents set up everywhere, very into your face tourism traps and yet, empty. There were barely a few Indian tourists, and that, made it quite interesting. The salt desert, on the other hand, was incredible. Vast planes of just whiteness. Pure whiteness. It felt like the ground was covered with snow.
It’s not too difficult to see mirages and also quite easy to get lost. On our way back, Dheeraj drove the wrong way, and while trying to briskly do a u-turn to go back to the right track, our tires got stuck in the soft sand. Fucked? No. Our immediate reaction was to laugh! We flagged down a Horn OK Please truck and they pulled our car out of the ditch. Dominik tried to offer the truck drivers a tip, but they out-and-out rejected it. And that (them rejecting our tip), in a nutshell sums up our experience in Gujarat. It was not the only time someone rejected a tip from us. The Gujaratis in Kutch don't smile a lot, and when they speak, it appears as if they are shouting, but they are essentially kind and surprising! As it seems, Kutch is not infested with tourists, and this may be the result of these pleasant surprises.
Our next stop would be Varanasi, but not before we spent a night in Ahmedabad and bought our yo-yos. From now on, we would yo-yo everywhere, except in Bodhgaya, but that’s a different story.
Fog alert. Delhi was under fog. Our flight got delayed, and we missed our connecting flight to Varanasi. Jet Airways arranged for our transport and hotel and rebooked us on a flight the next day. Dominik’s bag went missing. But that’s ok because we had our yo-yos. When Dominik’s bag was finally retrieved, he had the entire belt working for just his bag. He really enjoyed that.
Another couple of hours delay the next day and we were finally off to Varanasi. In Varanasi, we had a quick dinner and caught the evening puja before going back to the hotel. On 31st we caught the last sunrise of the year over the Ganges from our room, had a quick breakfast and went to the station, waited for the delayed train, entertained beggars with our yo-yos and caught our train to Bodhgaya.
Bodhgaya was crowded. No, this is an understatement. It was overcrowded. Is there a superlative to overcrowded? That’s what it was. The whole village consisted of swarms and swarms of monks walking on the streets. It felt like a flowing river of maroon robed people. I loved it. Forget yo-yoing here, there was no space to walk, no moment to think. It felt like a huge movement, or some kind of demonstration that pulled you in and you had to start walking too, in the massive flow. 300000 people came here to attend the Kalachakra (Time-Wheel) teachings by the Dalailama.
The best was New Year's eve. We started our evening at the root institute, a monastery in Bodhgaya, for a meditation session. Later, since we couldn't find any wine, Darima, Shanti, Dominik and I sat outside a small tea stall, and greeted the New Year with chai while looking at a monk playing with fire crackers and being so excited and happy. I consider myself lucky to have been able to greet the New Year with 2 of my favorite people for the second time! When we went to sleep, there were monks on the terrace outside our room singing Buddhist songs. Really nice.
On 1st January, the swarm of people got to me, and I decided to join Dominik who had already chosen to get away to a place much calmer than Bodhgaya. So we visited a few temples in Bodhgaya and went back to the beautiful Mahabodi a few times and on 2nd we left for Rajgir, in a fancy hotel where we would relax for 3 days. Besides visiting Nalanda and Vulture’s peak, we practically did nothing. It was perfect.
We then went back to Varanasi, walked by the ghats, over a pontoon bridge that I didn’t know existed, and I got my hair shaved in probably the most colorful setting with bhajans playing on loudspeakers in the background.
Oh, and it’s already been a productive year! On 2nd January, I learnt to yo-yo!
Link to pics
