Wednesday Oct 12, 2005 -
day 13 - Jhansi to Khajuraho - Kathy: 115 photos, Bob: 105 photos
Today was pretty much just a travel day. We got up very early, took a bus to the
We took the train for a
couple hours to the town of
Eventually our train ride was over and we got on another bus. We rode the bus to Orchha, which Sujay called
“
Perhaps one of the most interesting highlights of today
was the festival. There is currently a
Hindu festival going on today for the goddess Durga.
Today is the ninth and final
day. So out in the streets, there are
hundreds of people partying and having fun.
They are literally dancing in
the streets, chanting, and throwing colored powder on each other.
So some of the people have
blue or purple hair from this powder, and you can tell they’re having lots of
fun.
Others are wearing demon
masks, representing the evil that Durga will vanquish, I imagine.
They are also parading their
Durga statues in the backs of their trucks,
loaded with people too, in a
kind of parade.
Sujay said that they are
taking the goddess to the river where they will release her. Apparently, they are made of clay, so the
clay is dissolved and the goddess thereby is given to the holy river
Our bus was stopped several times by these trucks full of
revelers. At one point, all traffic
stopped completely for a long time, giving us a good chance to study what was
happening. In amazement, we witnessed
one of the most unusual things I’ve seen.
This is how it was explained to me:
apparently, a certain man in the crowd had prayed to Durga to grant him
a very big request, and he bribed the goddess saying that if his request was
granted, he would make a big sacrifice:
he would have a ritual spear driven right through his cheek. His ability and willingness to endure the
pain was a sign of his devotion and thanks.
So as we stood on our stopped bus, we witnessed this guy having what looked
like a dirty iron spear pushed through his open mouth and through his cheek!
This was very graphic, and some people couldn’t bear to
watch. While it was happening, the man
seemed to go into a deep hypnotic trance, or perhaps a deep mystical
state. At any rate, he did not flinch or
show any signs of pain. I just watched
in amazement and hoped that he had gotten a tetanus shot.
Finally,
after waiting a long time, Sujay got out and went to investigate why. It turns out that the Minster of States had
flown into town in her helicopter to pray at the temple. This woman was a very high person in the
Indian federal government; the equivalent of our Secretary of State. An important person. So the security forces had secured the area
and stopped all traffic for her. After
about twenty minutes, the traffic started moving again, and we saw her helicopter
sitting in a field nearby. The traffic
was detoured away from the temple where she was playing.
Our bus drove to another temple area where we got out and
took photos of the nearby fort, temple and street vendors.
From Orchha, we took the bus farther and farther, and the
roads got worse and worse. Eventually we
stopped for a tea and toilet break at a building in one particular
village. Kathy and I took lots of photos
of the nearby village. There was a cool
old millstone outside, and you could also see the village people partying in
the name of Durga.
Then Sujay had a surprise for us. He asked if we wanted to meet a real Raja,
which is the word for King. Of course we
said yes. So we met with this guy, and
chatted with him a while. He seemed like
a very nice guy. He had a small
granddaughter at his side always. On the
wall, there was an official plaque from the Government of India that said he
was officially granted the title of Raja, or king. I took his photo when we were done.
Back on the bus, Sujay explained the different kinds of
kings to us. It turns out there are four
kinds of kings. The first is a Thakur, a
small king over five to ten villages.
The second is a Raja, a medium king over twenty-seven to fifty
villages. The third is a Maharaja, the king
of a whole state. The fourth is a
Maharana, the King of Kings.
So this guy we met was the king over twenty-seven to
fifty surrounding villages. In the past,
this title meant a whole lot more, but now he doesn’t have as much power. He still has a lot of influence though. He can, for instance, command all the people
of his twenty-seven villages to vote for a particular referendum. That gives him a lot of pull.
Back on the bus again, the roads kept getting worse and
worse. After a while, the blacktop was
barely wide enough for one bus, and certainly not two lanes. So whenever we had to pass a truck, we would
just honk the horn and run him off the road!
Whenever we encountered an oncoming vehicle, truck, cow, oxcart or goat
herds, we would go right off the road and onto the sand shoulder in order to
pass. We passed countless herds of
cattle, bicycles, rickshaws, pedestrians, etc., in an amazing onslaught of
traffic horror, but our bus driver somehow managed to drive through this, often
with only a half-inch or a centimeter to spare between us and certain
death. Pretty soon, the sun went down
and it became dark. Let me tell you:
huge black water-buffalo are nearly impossible to see in the pitch black of
night especially walking on the blacktop.
Kathy made a joke that the little stone signs with Hindi
writing on them were not mile (or kilometer) markers at all, but really
gravestones! (Ignoring the fact that
Hindus do not bury their dead, they cremate them.) Sujay roared with laughter.
When we got to the end of the day, I gave the driver five
dollars and told him to get a good stiff drink, because I imagine his nerves
were shot. This was the most noisy,
bumpy and nerve-wracking drive I’ve ever had, bar none. Two of the people on our group–Leone and
Dale–actually got sick because the road was so bumpy. All in all, the driver should have earned a
metal of honor for bravery and keeping us all safe under adverse
conditions. He deserved combat pay.
At the end of this bumpy ride, we arrived in the city of