Spicy

16:00

We're back from Pelling after spending the whole morning trying to get a glimpse of the Himalayans through the fog (and failing at it), and especially the great Mt. Khangchendzonga, the third highest mountain in the world (8586 metres) lying along the western border of Sikkim. Sikkimese people regard Mt. Khangchendzonga, "The mountain of five magnificent treasures", as the guardian deity of Sikkim.

The Swedish-Japanese-French team celebrates its exploits of the past few days around a copious meal of yak cheese on tibetan wholemeal bread, chili chicken and local rum. The traditional fermented millet beer is also there, naturally. At around 10pm (All restaurants and shops have been shut since 8pm, it is therefore very late at night by now, to Sikkimese standards), we're kindly asked to put an end to our little party by the waitress, not used to staying up that late. Two men sitting at the table opposite us seem to be having a lot of fun just by watching us finishing our bottle of rum and oredering three more 650 mililitres "Hit" beers and engaging in rather crude talking (I will spare you the details here). In Swedish, they cheer by saying "skull", which means the same as in English, and comes from the fact that the Vikings would extirpate the skull of their victims before cutting the top, to be able to drink in it and celebrate their victory in a proper barbarian way. The expression is still used today. In Japanese, "Pierre" means "bi-mi", litterally "beautiful and delicious". After finishing our drinks we finally call it a night. Both of my comrads are waking up early tomorrow to catch the 6.30am Jeep to Jorethang, while I will stay a few days more in the village.

Sikkim!

4:00
The Jeep picks us up at our hotel, the Bellevue near the Mall. My new Swedish friend, Danny Wennberg, a French and Italian couple and myself.

5:30
From the heights of Tiger Hill, we fail to see any of the view we were expecting due to heavy fog. We drink a few coffees anyway and head back down the hill towards the Ghum Buddhist Monastery. And then back to Darjeeling, quite disappointed.

7:00
Sitting next to our breakfast table at Glenary's, where we're enjoying coffee, fried eggs, sausages et tomatoes, an Amerikan trekker is telling us about his excursions in Nepal and Sikkim. He's just got back from Yuksum, in West Sikkim. I heard about landslides and bad weather in that part of the country. However, the American denies those claims and even say that the weather is far better up there! Road blockages are also cleared in no time.

Convinced, we decide to push it to the North and go to Sikkim to find better weather and new adventures, as Darjeeling didn't really live up to our expectations and we wanna check out what the real North has to offer. A permit is needed, but it can be obtained right at the Sikkimese border in the form of a stamp on the passport. It can be done from Darjeeling but it seems like a more complicated process.

13:00
From Darjeeling, the Jeep takes us around mountains to the Sikkimese border. Quick copies of our passport and Visas at the nearby "Xerox" shop, stamp at the police station and we climb back in the vehicle. In the many booze shops we see on the way, as soon as we cross the border, each bottle is half the price it is in the rest of the country... We're off to a good start.

Within Sikkim, jeeps are the most popular means of transport as they can navigate rocky slopes. Mini buses link the smaller towns to the state and district headquarters.





SIKKIM



Gangtok


16:00
On the way, a young dude is chatting with us fron the middle seat. Casanova is holding a pretty Sikkimese chick around his arm and explains that relationships between men and women are much freer in Sikkim compared to the rest of India.

18:00
We check Danny in the best hotel in town while I find a much cheaper room in darker corners of the town. I negotiate it for Rs200 which isn't so great considering we're off season. However the dark corner doesn't seem so dark and looks actually pretty safe, much like the rest of the city. The people look content and are very smily. According to some office men coming back from work, everyone is satisfied and earns good money here, and unemployment is almost non-existent.

Nestled in the Himalayas bordering Nepal to the west, Tibet to the north and east, Bhutan to the southeast and West Bengal to its south, Sikkim has been the twenty second state of India since 1975. It is the least populated state with approximately 600,000 inhabitants, and the smallest (approximately 7,096 km²). Sikkim decided to become part of India in order to not be won by China after the Chinese Indian conflict of 1962. Nowadays the pressure from China seem to be coming back and there are rumours amongst the youths that China will attack again to conquer Sikkim, a state they never recognised as being really part of India.

On many levels, it is an exemplary state, and it could easily be used as a model to the rest of the country (I'm talking here about the India I visited, being all the Northern states from Maharashtra to West Bengal and excluding Maddhya Pradesh). The litteracy level of 82% is higher than the national average (90% of Assam's population is litterate). Sikkim was the first state in the world to ban the use of polythene carry bags. And with the recent ban of fertilizers and perticides, it is the first state with an all-organic food production. Another contrast with the rest of India (Again, I'm only reffering to the India I've encountered), there are rubbish bins everywhere, around every street corner and especially along trekking routes. The inhabitants also have the upmost respect towards theirs villages and nature. The huge influence of Buddhism, the second state religion after Hinduism, surely has something to do with this respect for the environment.

Transportation

06:40
Feeling like travelling further in the countryside, we leave our hotel the "Bishnupur Tourist Complex" planning on exploring the village of Garpancha, a dozen kilometres away from here. The bus leave Bishnupur for Bakura and takes 40 of our Ruppees. In Bakura we change for Shaltora, another Rs20 trip. The journey is already getting longer than expected and, a few hours after having left the hotel, we realize that we've only traveled half of the way!

11:35
From Shaltora we ask the driver of a Trekker (a shared Jeep) to take us somewhere on the way to Garhpanchkot. He's going in the right direction but stops at Sarbarimore. As far as they go but it seems that Sarbarimore is close to ouf destination. Perfect. Except maybe that the Jeep's full. I understand by the word "Ooper" in Bengali and a finger pointed at the hood of the car that we will have to travel on the roof of the vehicle. Sitting comfortably in the middle of a spare wheel, between two bags of potatoes and a banana tree, I enjoy the wind in my face and a priviledged view of our driving through the jungle, with the green hills of Garhpanchkot in the background. The jeep driver will ask for Rs12 to drop us at Sarbarimore train station. The village itself is a little further down, so we ask a young guy on a motorbike for a lift. The road is in a very bad state (I understand why the Jeep doesn't go that far), so the bike has to slow down often.

12:50
Lunch time! Sitting at a friendly Sarbarimore table, we feast of a generous portion of steaming hot white rice, delicious chicken curry with the usual daal as a starter and a few unidentified exotic vegetables. The rice is in the middle of the dried banana leaves plate (probably to avoid the washing up), while the daal is served on a side of it. We mix it using the whole hand (the right one) in order to have the rice taking taking the colour of the daal. Once the mix daal / rice has been enjoyed, I pour the chicken sauce (served with a drumstick on a tiny banana leaf plate) on the remaining white rice to start the same process. I place the piece of chicken somewhere on a corner of the plate, where it can easily be carved with the forefinger and thumb while being hold to the plate by the other fingers. The small pieces can be combined with the rice / sauce mix. The chicken can also be consumed on the bone, before or after eating a small portion of rice that has been assembled by 3, 4 or 5 of the right hand fingers. The hand is then shaken in a quick up and down movement to let the grains of rice stuck to it fall on the plate. The same grains of rice can also be licked straight from the fingers. It is common, during the meal, to gather sauce, vegetables and rice to the middle of the plate so to make it look more tidy, as well as ensuring that nothing will be left aside. At the end of the meal, we go outside to use pitchers of water to wash our hands and bring handfuls of water to our mouths and around the mouth to clean it. We also rub our faces with water to wash away the dust and rehydrate the skin. We then put the pitcher back on the wooden tables inside or on the counter.

13:30
Some more hitchicking (a car, this time) to reach our destination, Garhpanchkot. The Forest Department Lodge to be exact, in the middle of the jungle. It is getting slightly late and we're considering staying here for the night, even though our stuffs are in Bishnupur. However the hotel is quite famous and booked out today. We meet three Bengalis leaving the hotel to stroll around the area with their local guide. We crowd ourselved in the car to accompany them.

Amongst Indians, Bengalis have a reputation of being big travellers. It is said that you can find them anywhere in India, playing tourists. Indeed, our three friends all have a passion for travels and adventure, and they've been all around India. They tell me that they would like to go outside as well, but not before having saved enough money.

15:30
After going around all the main spots of the area, hills, temple, we decide that it is early enough to go back to Bishnupur, and our friends are kind enough to drop us at Sarbarimore so we can get train tickets to go back. We'll leave Sarbarimore by the 17:50 express train to Bishnupur (!)

21:20
One thing I've learnt during the short trip from Bishnupur train station back to the hotel, is this: If you don't mind having only one half of your ass sitting in the front seat of an auto-rickshaw, the one next to the driver (which is in fact already taken, so you have, to your right, one person between the driver and you, with another person to the right of the driver), having half of your body actually outside of the vehicle, sitting on nothing but wind, with your left hand holding tighlty the handle on on top of the rickshaw as if it is holding your life (because it is! The auto driving at full speed through the damaged alleys of the town), and with your left foot struggling to half fit inside of the rickshaw, sliding at each sudden turn or nest-hole on the road ; And holding this precarious position for the two kilometres that lasts the trip, then you will only pay Rs7 for this fare! The driver kindly taking in consideration that you shared his auto with 6 other passengers and that, technically, only half of your body actually travelled IN the vehicle... They call it a "shared rickshaw".

East!

WEST BENGAL


Kolkata


Arrived at 9am, already feeling much better.

I take a rest at my host's place, Ruchira, mother of two lovely daughters of 5 and 6 years old. After a light but filling enough meal of daal and rice, I shower and lie down before waking up and dressing up for going out. We leave with the three girls to go watch a classical dance show, Manipuri dancing and Indian classical music. Lovely evening and a perfect introduction to the cultural liveliness of Kolkata. Also in perfect opposition with the events of the past few days.

The next day I feel happy already to be in West Bengal, which i think will turn out to be my favourite state I visited in India. A nice and honest cycle rickshaw wallah takes me through a shortcut of small alleys to make me reach my destination. He takes Rs30 when the taxi was asking for Rs120 to get to the same place.

Meeting up with Rimjhim, who's been running a travel agency for 17 years and offer to help me with my trip to Darjeeling up in the mountains, famous for being the biggest provider of Indian tea and one of the biggest in the world. She gets me a healthy juice of raw mango and a few spices, good for the belly, as we sit and chat in her home nearby the Big Bazzar shopping Mall. We will meet again next week as she's currently quite busy with work.

I book a bed in a dormatory around the corner from Sudder street, in the city center. Much needed rest, to be ready for a big day of exploring Kolkata tomorrow.




There is 7 kinds of Indian classical dances : The Manipuri (from the state of Manipur), the Bharat Natyam (Tamil Nadu), the Kuchipudi (Andra Pradesh), The Odissi (Orissa), the Khatakali and the Mohiniattam (Kerala) and the Kathak (Uttar Pradesh, generally quite spread accross Northern India).

Delhi

DELHI


Delhi

Mere Belly

19:00
Dinner with some students from Alliance Francaise, where they learn French. Dilip Singh is fluent ; Deendayal (Denish) has a good French for a beginner and the others are still learning, Rajendra Singh, Jashwant, Kan Singh and Bharat Singh. They're all from the Rajput caste (caste
of warriors) except for Denish who's from the tree cutters caste.

IIT Campus

I'm being hosted by Jaya Joshi over the week-end. She's head of PR for the IIT Campus (Indian Institute of Information Technology). We watch Dil Chahta Hai and the next day we treat ourselves and some of her friends with Chicken curry Bengali style.

Krishna and Ganesh

8:00
Every morning and evening Ashok prays to Ganesh (God of prosperity and success), at the little temple that his dad, Arum Sawand, set up in a corner of their kitchen. Arum also decorated it with flowers, and he changes them every Tuesday and Thursday. Still in the kitchen, Arum has a picture of his late parents on which he put a bit of yellow powder on their foreheads between the eyebrows.

Ashok, facing the temple, bend on his knees on a little rug. He pours a spoon of oil on the flame which is in a piece of cotton dipped in oil. He then lights a incense stick with the flame (Dia=light). He then prays silently with his two hands joined against his torso. He does the Sashtng Namaskar: putting his two hands on the floor before him, he stretches his body as to do push ups, touches his forehead on the floor in direction of the temple.

13:00
Lunch with Rahul's family, they're Gujaratis. The 14 of them occupy a 2 rooms appartment near Cotton Greens station, plus another little bedroom for Rahul. We were 9 at the time of eating, with the men on one side and women and kids on the other, but next to each other, sitting on the floor. We help ourselves to se dishes placed in the middle. Good ambiance, very friendly. Rahul's uncle, an architecte who's worked in Dubai for three years, chats me up. The chappatis are delicious.
Rahul is 19 years old, he has a Rock/Metal band and hides from his parents to smoke cigarets. His family are all Krishna followers and I witnessed his mom whispering the mantras to herself a couple of times during lunch.

20:00
The Sawand's appartement is of a very decent size for Mumbai, situated in a nice area of town. Ashok's parents share it with him and his wife, each couple having its own room.
At dinner time, the three men, including me, are being served by the two women. In our plates, served on silver trays, are little portions of tasty looking food. Arum is very joyful and he jokes around while we eat. He even sang something from a Dilip Kumar movie for me. The women will eat after us, helping themselves from the dishes.

Hare Krishna

7:30
Breakfasts with my friends the Krishna monks. Very simple and vegetarian food. Yuk. Before serving the food an offering is made to Lord Krishna in the form of a little amount of the food we're going to have, so he can have a bite and give us His blessings in return. When I ask about the meaning of this (How does it actually purifies the food to leave a plate on the floor for a few minutes? Do they really think a superior being purifies it?), I'm being told that "it is not like Lord Krishna is coming down on Earth just to help himself to some rice, it's more of a symbol". Trying to reason scientifically, I then suggest that we could weight the plate before and after the offering to see if it is lighter after we take if back. But, once again, "it's not like that", Lord Krishna only eats a tiny portion of food, like a single grain of rice. Moreover, he's got a lot of plates to bless all around the world, so he better keep some of his apetite. I reply that it'll be possible to weight the plate precisely enough to see if, yes or no, a grain of rice has gone. They laugh.

By trying to see how far they go to rationalize their beliefs, I find that they justify scientifically some concepts (soul, rebirth), but at first look it seems there is no actual explanations to most of their rituals (prayers, offerings), rituals which are more mystical and beyond reason. Which they simply believe in, and therefore doesn't call for a rational explanation.

Jean-Paul, Canadian, named after Sartre, has been a monk at the ISKCON temple for over a year. Like his comrades, he wakes at 4 in the morning. He prays for 2 hours, then meditate individually for an hour and a half.


The prayer, or Maha Mantra, consists in 108 "beats" which you have to say 16 times a day. A "beat" is this:

Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Ram, Hare Ram
Ram Ram, Hare Hare

To be said no less than 1728 times each day! It takes about 2 hours of their time. If you skip a beat, you have to start all over again. By singing this mantras, they liberate their karmas to achieve happiness. They extract the purity of the soul by cleaning away the mud that covers the diamond, the pure soul. By starting singing those early in life, everyday, we can hope to join Lord Krishna in His Kingdom at some point, liberating our soul (Jiva Muktha) and achieve wholeness. Some chosen few accomplished this in their lifetime, like the prophet A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who liberated himself and could therefore start spreading the Krishna Consciousness. Orelse liberation can be obtained at the time of our death, in which case we're freed from the cycle of reincarnations. Otherwise, of course, we can start in this life and carry on our faith in Krishna and singing of the mantras in our other lives, in order to attain the Nirvana (Nir=negation, Vana=forest ; "Come out of the forest of the material world").

11:00
Jean-Paul takes me for a tour around the temple and its pretty garden, their miniature version of Vrindhavan, the birthplace of Krishna.



20:00
I'm meeting up with Ashok Sawant, who will host me from now on.