2019 - India - Horn Bill Festival

29 November - No entry

Above; Toronto. 30 November 2019.

Last in Toronto, summer 1976 for job interview with Country Boy. Job was to run Field Operations Division (FOD) for Citicorp Australia in Sydney. Got the job. Worked for Country Boy for two years before moving to a senior lending position in the company. Then, on to Manila in 1979 to become COO of FNCB Finance working matrix for Sonny and Pete....whose boss was The Archbishop, based in Hong Kong. Archbishop moved me to Tokyo in 1982 to run a two year old Citicorp, de novo finance company, CCKK. — at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

Above: Doha, Qatar. 01 December 2019.

From air.

Above: Sheikh Al Zayed Mosque. Abu Dhabi, 01 December 2019. (file image)
Abu Dhabi home of, arguably, most spectacular, modern religious edifice in the world. Sheikh Al Zayed Mosque. Speaks to the burgeoning awakening of Islam today. Are the Five Pillars of Islam so bad? In our standard free world today, we could all take a lesson, no?

Addendum:

Great post…Thanks
Have a great time in India

‘Cake
Park City, UT

Above: Drums and Granny. Sikh Golden Temple. Amritsar, India. 02 December 2019.

SIKHISM...Throng; Devotion; Aspiration; Tabla; Chant (Kirtan); Faith; Service; Spirituality; Scale; Energy; Color; Scent; Trumpets; INDIA. Nothing like it in the world.
Add, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Christianity Zoroastrianism, and concomitant, ubiquitous venue and ritual and the head explodes in a kaleidoscopic cacophony of spiritual energy.

INDIA.
Its beyond comprehension.
It's why we come so often.

Above: Guru Granth Sahib ceremony. Golden Temple. Amritsar, India. 02 December 2019.

Drums and TIMDT observe end of day return of Guru Granth Sahib scripture from Golden Temple, original, three hundred year old holy scripture of Sikhism. The original, holy scripture was damaged by a bullet in 1984 during Indian Army assault on Sikh terrorists inside the Golden Temple.

Shortly after the Indian Government's assault on terrorists holing up in the Golden Temple, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated at her Delhi residence by her two Sikh bodyguards.

Indira Gandhi had been encouraged to shed her Sikh bodyguard detail. Her handlers feared retribution from Sikhs for the temple desecration. Gandhi kept her two Sikh bodyguards on, notwithstanding, declaring that the Sikh terrorists killed in the Golden Temple were not representative of the thinking of most Sikhs, who, she believed, probably accurately, identified more with the Indian national interest than with the terrorists. Still, there are exceptions to every rule. Indira Gandhi paid with her life for her stratagem to respect Sikhism by separating the national interest from a perceived government assault on religious liberty.

Our societal penchant to receive information at best curated by a narrow cultural data filter and at worst by venal, ideologically riven media institutions, leaves us ignorant of much of which is really significant.

Who knew that here in Amritsar there are up to ten thousand devoted adherents to the Sikh religion who visit their revered Golden Temple daily (!) to affirm their beliefs, first codified over three hundred years ago. This daily temple veneration alone, in scope, is an event of world significance, yet, because of media curation of religious themes, few "in the world" are aware of it occurring.

Above: Turbans. Golden Temple. Amritsar, India. 03 December 2019.

AM visit to the Golden Temple. We channel Sikh life with turbans and participation in Golden Temple communal meal.

There are 24 million Sikhs in India, 1.72% of the total population. Up to 500 thousand Sikhs are believed to be living in the USA. Sikh's have proven adept and resourceful in the United States. Increasingly, for example, they are successful participants (owners, drivers etc.) in the US trucking industry.

The Five K's: There are five items that Guru Gobind Singh commanded Sikhs to wear at all times in 1699. They are Kesh (uncut hair), Kangha (a wooden comb for the hair), Kara (an iron bracelet), Kachera (100% cotton tieable undergarment, and Kirpan (an iron dagger large enough to defend oneself)

Above: Jalawallian Bagh. Amritsar, India. 03 December 2019.

THE AMRITSAR MASSACRE- 13 April 1919

Here. Jallianwala Bagh. A park in the center of Amritsar. Eight hundred unarmed Indians killed by fifty Punjabi and Gurkha soldiers in the British Army, under the command of Brevet Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, who was putatively enforcing curfew and assembly violations by Indian citizens, 13 April 1919.

Post WWI. Indians agitated for independence. They had supplied two million troops to the British war effort in the recently completed WWI. They believed that they deserved their freedom from colonial rule.

Some of the independence seekers were militant. Others were not. Whatever the case, the Brits were nervous. They couldn't cave to the wishes of these rabble rousers, at least right away, could they?

General Dyer, didn't want to take any chances of allowing for insurrection. For what seemed to most to be overreach, Dyer was relieved of command but acquitted of wrong doing at court of inquiry in Lahore.

Dyer maintained the rightness of his action for the remainder of his life. He died in London in 1927 of a series of strokes during the last years of his life. Dyer's position that he was doing his duty seemed to be backed up by the sentiments a majority of his countrymen. He was even given an award, Companion of the Order of the Bath, by military officers who continued in strong support of maintaining the Raj after WWI.

The tragic event remains an open sore to this day with a now independent India periodically demanding a British apology and Britain, periodically, expressing its regret, but not apologizing for the massacre..

Image shows the Jalianwalla Bagh well (pink in distance) into which women and children were thrown to keep them out of the way of the bullets from the Lee Enfield rifles. Tragically, many of them were killed, crushed by those later thrown into the well.

The movie "Gandhi," starring Ben Kingsly, has a scene representation of The Amritsar Massacre:

https://youtu.be/345aojByoGk

Above: Indo/Pak border crossing ceremony. Atari, Punjab, India. 03 December 2019

Famous (as indicated by You Tube hits) Indo Pak border crossing ceremony more than meets expectations.
To near ear popping, militant percussion sound track, coordinated on both sides of border, Indian and Pakistani soldiers kick and strut as they mock their counterparts right at the frontier of their respective, belligerent nations.

Like colorful birds preparing for a cock fight, the soldiers, all of a certain size, preen and taunt. Mutually glaring at their counterparts across the border, the soldiers of each army sullenly, arrogantly burnish their cockades with a flip of their fingers.

Pre border ceremony, an amplified cheerleading soldier from India's elite Border Expeditionary Force (BEF) builds the ten thousand strong Indian crowd's enthusiasm into a patriotic fervor. "Long live!, screams the soldier/cheerleader. "Hindustan!" the worked up crowd yells back.

A similar crowd building exercise happens on the Pakistani side of the border. We are seated on the Indian side, but closest to the border, so we can see the Pakistani cheering section and hear the building cacophony of chants from both sides. At one point, cheering citizens from the two belligerents compete directly in a near paroxysmal scream fest:

From the Indians to our left: "Hindustan!"

From the Pakistanis to our right: "Pakistan!"

Hindustan!!

Pakistan!!

Hindustan!!!

Pakistan!!!

Hindustan!!!!

Pakistan!!!!

I am caught up in the enthusiasm of this primal moment. I yell "Hindustan" with the Indian crowd. And, then only do I realize that this is not a football game. These are two countries on the brink of nuclear war. The sensation of this realization, while the chants continue, is surreal.

Note: Kudos to Mohan at TravelScope India for arranging these great seats!

Above: Indo/Pak border crossing ceremony. Atari, Punjab, India. 03 December 2019.

Indian (left) and Pakistani commandos, each armed with an automatic rifle, face off on the Indo Pak frontier. Pakistani spectators are seen in the background. We are watching the ceremony from India.

Irony. The two countries working together to choreograph this spectacular border ceremony, are also deemed the two countries most likely to start the next nuclear war.

The Atari/Wagah border is not the only formal land connection between India and Pakistan. There are two other crossings along the border where similar ceremonies are held. But, here at Atari, along the Grand Trunk road, the road of the Raj connecting Delhi and Lahore, is the major, and best known of the Indo-Pak border ceremonies. Considering the razor edge belligerence between the two nations, not much happens at the border other than these ceremonies, practiced here at Atari, daily, since 1959. There is virtually no overland commercial exchange between the two antagonists.

The two nations dispute the "rightful "ownership of the former Indian princely state of Kashmir, whose Hindu ruler, at time of Partition in 1948, legally declared the majority Muslim Kashmir to become part of India.

Because of Kashmir's being adjacent to the new nation of Pakistan, and considering Kashmir's 90% majority Muslim population, Pakistan had a colorable argument that Kashmir should have been included within the borders of the new Pakistani state.

Pakistan, a nation born out of a movement to create a true Islamic state, cried foul about India's putatively legal claim over Kashmir. After all, when the Muslim Nazim (Maharajah) of the majority Hindu principality of Hyderabad declared his central Indian state to join Pakistan, the Indian's said, " No way!," and sent in their military to kick out the Nazim and take possession of his "former," majority Hindu, princely state.

On Kashmir, Packistan says turnabout is fair play. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. After military skirmishing in 1948, and hot wars in 1965 and 1971, India still holds onto the majority of Kashmir...but, not without engendering an enemy which regularly threatens her very existence.

Note, at left in image, the female Pakistani soldier in hijab. The Indian Border Expeditionary Force (BEF) introduced female soldiers - no hijabs - into its border routine two years ago. Female soldiers entered the Pakistani border performance routine only within the last two months. — at Atari Wagah Indo-Pak Border Between Amritsar & Lahore.

Notwithstanding the movement towards multiculturalism and political correctness in the West, nationalism/tribalism remains the dominant paradignm for societal organization in the world today. Han Chinese culture, Hindu culture, Islam, Russian culture are all on the ascendancy (Russia struggling from a low base). These cultures represent three quarters of the world's population and they show no inclination to shed their nationalist thinking. Just the opposite. The multicultural, globalist West is an outlier, bending, fruitlessly, I believe, against the arc of history as it embraces kumbayah cultural relativism. Donald Trump, the anti-globalist, is a nationalist as he pushes his America first policy. This is why he is hated by the globalists so much. But, Donald Trump is more in synch with the arc of history than are his globalist, multicultural critics. To progress, people need a cause around which to rally. They will continue do this under the banner of culture, aided by the nation state.

So, no, while I see a theatrical ceremony here that many would call jingoistic, if not irresponsible, I don't condemn it. It is of the natural order of things.

Above: Temples. Old Delhi. Chandni Chowk 04 December 2019.

Visible in this image, on Chandni Chowk Street, are a Sikh Temple, a Jain Temple, and a Hindu (Siva) Temple. Down the road, not visible in the image is a Baptist Church and a Mosque.

Hinduism is by far the dominant religion of India with over 800 million adherents. But, there are also 200 million Muslims, 25 million Sikhs, 25 million Christians and nominal numbers of disproportionately influential Parsees and Jains.

Where, at the time of Indian and Pakistani independence in 1947, Pakistan's Mohammed Ali Jinnah envisioned Pakistan as a Muslim state, Gandhi and Nehru believed India should be/remain a secular state, where there would be freedom of religion, whatever the creed.

The Ghandi/Nehru dream has held fast for over sixty five years, but, now shows signs of fraying. In 2014, the Congress Party of Nehru lost power to the BJP party headed by Narendra Modi. The BJP has a strong Hindu nationalist bent. There are many BJP party members who believe that as Pakistan is an Islamic state, so, India should be a Hindu state.

In August of this year, Modi's government announced that it was suspending Article 370 of the constitution, which grants autonomy to Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state. The provision, written to help preserve the state's religious and ethnic identity, largely prohibits members of India's Hindu majority from settling there. Modi, who rose to power trailed by allegations of encouraging anti-Muslim bigotry, said that the decision would help Kashmiris, by spurring development and discouraging a long-standing guerrilla insurgency. To insure a smooth reception, Modi flooded Kashmir with troops and detained hundreds of prominent Muslims. In effect, Modi's actions have cast India's two hundred million Muslims as internal enemies. It appears that Nehru's secular state is giving way to Modi's Hindu nationalism. The implications of this are far reaching, in a world where tribalism... as opposed to the multiculturalism of the progressive west... seems to be gaining strength everywhere.

Jinnah's hostility to a united India at time of partition seems, in hindsight, to be justified. What is the future for India's Muslim population in a country where Hindu nationalism is not only on the rise, but, encouraged by the Indian government?

Above: Electrical Wiring. Old Delhi. 04 December 2019.

Not embarrassed, locals are eager to point out the spaghetti bowl wiring of their neighborhood. The fusion of this ancient city with modernity was overseen by Rube Goldberg. I'm thinking "Blade Runner," or Mos Eisley as popular culture metaphors for Old Delhi.

Above: Street Food. Old Delhi. 04 December 2019

Samosas and parathas off the street for lunch.

Above: Skilled Service Wallahs. Old Delhi 04 December 2019

From handymen to plumbers, you can find them in this spot. The sharing economy, facilitated by the internet, has come up with virtual markets for service people. Via a private equity fund, I'm an investor in Task Rabbit, an online service where you can find just about any "service wallah" you need.

Above: Jama Masjid Mosque. Old Delhi. 04 December 2019.

Built by Mughal Emporor Shah Jahan between 1650 and 1656. Shah Jahan also built the Taj Mahal, at Agra and the Red Fort in Old Delhi. After their victory in the Revolt of 1857, the British confiscated the mosque and stationed their soldiers there. Twenty five thousand people can pray in the courtyard at a time.

Above: Bishop and Drums do bicycle rickshaw. Old Delhi. 04 December 2019.

Addendum:

Bishop,

This is really great insightful commentary! Thank you!

Cornucopia,
Park City, UT.

Steve, you truly present India very well... Tribal surely, but a legacy of British imperialism and misrule. We Irish know all about that. Jean and I are on our way to Florida this morning... Staying with RJ and Laurie in Fort Lauderdale tonight... I forwarded these two Indian travelogs of yours to RJ... I presume he's not on your list..

James Joyce,
Connemara, Ireland

Custard apples and Pomegranates.

Chiles

Hing (asofoeteda) $700 per kilogram.

Nuts 'n such.

Chile powder. Coriander. Tumeric. Chile and seeds. Mango Powder.

Addendum:

Brings back so many awesome memories! I have seen much of Old Delhi on my own just wandering around. It was called Old Delhi when I was there a lifetime ago. It could be called "Really Old Delhi" now.
Regards,

Delhi PJs
West Jordan, Utah

Above: Drums poses at Gandhi assassination spot memorial. Delhi, India. 04 December 2019.

Gandhi was assassinated at the Birla House, a mansion in New Delhi, by Naturham Vinayack Godse, a Hindu nationalist, on 30 January 1948.

Gandhi, backed up by Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, was the principal advocate for the new Indian state to have a secular government thereby facilitating freedom of religion. Gandhi and Nehru prevailed. Militant Hindus were not happy.

Militant Hindus, who felt that just as Pakistan had become an Islamic state, so India should become a Hindu state.

The specter of Hindu nationalism remains strong today, if not even stronger than at time of independence in 1947.

A decidedly Hindu influenced national government (BJP) was elected in 2014 ending the sixty five year reign of Nehru's Congress Party. Recently, the Indian government has passed immigration reforms which discriminate against Muslims and has abrogated a convention which gave the state of Kashmir the right to preserve its Muslim majority via preventing Hindu immigration into the state.

Gandhi would not be happy with the growing strength of Hindu nationalism in India today.

Above: Rudy Jr. and Drums pose at Humayan's Tomb. New Delhi, India. 04 December 2019.

Humayan was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire, who ruled over territory in what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northern India, and Bangladesh from 1530–1540 and again from 1555–1556.

The Mugals, whose influence began to wane in the late 18th Century, left a strong legacy of art and architecture. The Taj Mahal was built by Humayan's grand son, fourth Mugal emperor, Shah Jahan, as a memorial to his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

Addendum:

Namaste Steve et al,

What a wonderful trip you are having; Rory and I were sad not to have been able to join you all.
In response to your question about the future of India’s Muslim people I hope India will remember her founding principles of secularism and religious tolerance and stand up for what is right.

Best wishes,

Eton Mum,
Devon, UK

Thanks for the insight into India. It is a fascinating country.

Bridge,
Palm Beach, FL

Above: Pineapple stand. Medziphema, Nagaland, India. 05 December 2019.

On route from Dimapur, Nagaland to Kohima, Nagaland.

At the point where this image is taken, we have taken a flight from Delhi to Dimapur, Nagaland, via Kolkata. We are on our way to see the Hornbill Festival in Kohima and to visit the WWII battlefield and war graves cemetery for the Battle of Kohima which took place between Japanese and British/Commonwealth troops in 1944 during WWII.

Wikipedia:

Nagaland is a state in northeastern India. It borders the state of Assam to the west, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam to the north, Myanmar to the east, and Manipur to the south. The state capital is Kohima, and the largest city is Dimapur. It has an area of 16,579 square kilometres (6,401 sq mi) with a population of 1,980,602 per the 2011 Census of India, making it one of the smallest states of India.

The state is inhabited by 16 major tribes — Angami, Ao, Chakhesang, Chang, Kachari, Khiamniungan, Konyak, Kuki, Lotha, Phom, Pochury, Rengma, Sangtam, Sumi, Yimchunger and Zeme-Liangmai (Zeliang). Each tribe is unique in character with its own distinct customs, language and dress.

English is the official language and the language of education. Nagaland is one of three states in India where the population is mostly Christian.

Nagaland became the 16th state of India on 1 December 1963. Agriculture is the most important economic activity and the principal crops include rice, corn, millets, pulses, tobacco, oilseeds, sugarcane, potatoes, and fibres, which covers 70% of the state's economy. Other significant economic activity includes forestry, tourism, insurance, real estate, and miscellaneous cottage industries.

The state has experienced insurgency, as well as an inter-ethnic conflict since the 1950s. The violence and insecurity have long limited Nagaland's economic development because it had to commit its scarce resources to law, order, and security.

The state is mostly mountainous except those areas bordering Assam valley which comprises 9% of the total area of the state. Mount Saramati is the highest peak at 3,840 metres and its range forms a natural barrier between Nagaland and Burma. It lies between the parallels of 98 and 96 degrees east longitude and 26.6 and 27.4 degrees latitude north. The state is home to a rich variety of flora and fauna.

Nagalim, which includes the state of Nagaland and eastern parts of Myanmar, has been a member state of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) since 1993.

Above: Kohima, Nagaland, India. (file image) 05 July 2019.

Wikipedia:
Kohima is the hilly capital city of India's north eastern state of Nagaland. With a resident population of 99,039 it is the second largest city in the state.
Originally known as Kewhira, the town of Kohima was founded in 1878 when the British Empire established its headquarters of the then Naga Hills. It officially became the capital after the state of Nagaland was inaugurated in 1963.
Average elevation 4300 feet.

Above: Arrival. The Ultimate Traveling Camp. Cohima, Nagaland. 05 December 2019.

Above: Catholic Church and Baptist Church. Kigwema Village, Nagaland, India. 06 December 2019.

80% of population of Nagaland is Christian. 55% Baptist, 25% Catholic and 20% other.

Baptist breakthrough occurred in mid nineteenth century when Baptist missionaries brought to animist tribals a cure for leprosy.
Catholics arrived in late 19th century from Kerala. The current Archbishop of Kohima is from Kerala, another Indian Christian stronghold.

Above. Walking through village. Kigwema, Nagaland. 06 December 2019.

Kigwima impressed with its cleanliness ..particularly as, ummm... this is India and, cleanliness is not always present outside of wealthy enclaves.

But, is Nagaland really India? The Naga people are Asiatic looking, tribal by heritage, and Christian by ancestral conversion. Nagaland reminds that India is not as monolithically Hindu as might be commonly perceived.

India's recently passed immigration reform legislation, which seems to give support to India's secular, multicultural governance approach, encourages and facilitates the return of Hindu and non Hindu exiles, alike, with Indian roots, to India. So far so good.

Except... except...the new immigration rules exclude Muslims. Opponents of the new legislation, rejecting the notion of the new rules being a reaffirmation of India's secular approach, rather, interpret the new law as a crack in India's secular foundation. In effect, say the legislation's opponents, by excluding Muslims from the new legislation, the Indian Government is "declaring war" on India's largest minority (200 million strong) religion.

Perhaps India, with its new immigration legislation, is actually in synch with most of the rest of the world, where tribalism, religious nationalism, racial nationalism and cultural nationalism (US) is on the upswing. Countries accounting for three quarters of the world's population are moving away from the progressive, multicultural ideal propagated in the West since the 1960's.... until, Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, that is, both of whom are democratic, cultural nationalists (so is Putin, by the way), and both of whom broadly speaking, are more in synch with the world trends towards revived nationalism than they are they with the multicultural ideal currently espoused by Germany led Europe. That's why the left hates Trump, so much. He has bent Obama's left pointing, progressive arc of history, back in the direction of nationalism, prioritizing American culture ahead of kumbaya cultural relativism. The impact of Trump's presidency, to date, in this regard has been profound... on a scale unimaginable in 2016.

So, India concludes that minority religions pose no threat to Hindu cultural integrity and advancement as long as they are not Muslim. There are 200 million Muslims in India, now seen as being viewed by the Hindu oriented BJP ruling party as a cultural threat.

There are Muslim student demonstrations ongoing in Delhi to protest the new immigration rules. Though, in general, Hindus and Muslims have gotten along pretty well together in India since the seventeenth century Moghuls, sectarian tensions between the two religions have never been far below the surface. Modi is taking a risk of re kindling sectarian flames by alienating the Muslims with India's new immigration legislation. We saw what 1948 Partition brought... ten million displaced people and one million dead. But, then, today, the nationalist imperative trumps. Hinduism, or so the new story goes, deserves its day in the sun notwithstanding the risks of growing sectarian strife.

Above. Wood for winter. Kigwema, Nagaland. 06 December 2019.

Wood fuel heats and cooks in heavily forested Nagaland. Wood piles like this are ubiquitous in Kohima and Kigwema. Naga people do not appear not to be in to so-called green energy programs.

Above. Weaver. Kigwema. Nagaland. 06 December 2019.

Above: Rice Terraces. Kigwema, Nagaland. 06 December 2019.

Above: Live frogs. 07 December 2019

Visit to Kohima Market. Shopping for lunch, the locals way! Kohema, Nagaland.

Above: Naga King Chiles. 07 December 2019

Above: Live silk worms. 07 December 2019.

Above: Live worms. 07 December 2019.

Note: We also visited the meat and fish markets where Drums observed the ins and out of slaughtering animals for consumption. No images. But, Drums was amazed.

Above: Monument. Kohima War Graves Cemetery. Kohima, Nagaland, India. 07 December 2019.

Outline of tennis court, just outside of the British colonial administrator's house, where fierce hand to hand fighting occured on the last day of fighting. Koessler seen in image.

The Battle of Kohima was the turning point of the Japanese U Go offensive into India in 1944 during the Second World War. The battle was fought in three stages from 4 April to 22 June 1944 around the town of Kohima, the capital of Nagaland in northeast India. From 3 to 16 April, the Japanese attempted to capture Kohima ridge, a feature which dominated the road by which the besieged British and Indian troops of IV Corps at Imphal were supplied. By mid-April, the small British and Indian force at Kohima was relieved.

From 18 April to 13 May, British and Indian reinforcements counter-attacked to drive the Japanese from the positions they had captured. The Japanese abandoned the ridge at this point but continued to block the Kohima–Imphal road. From 16 May to 22 June, the British and Indian troops pursued the retreating Japanese and reopened the road. The battle ended on 22 June when British and Indian troops from Kohima and Imphal met at Milestone 109, ending the Siege of Imphal.

The battle is often referred to as the "Stalingrad of the East". In 2013, the British National Army Museum voted the Battle of Imphal and Kohima to be "Britain's Greatest Battle".

That our visit to Kohima Ridge, the main battle site, where the War Graves Cemetery is located, occurred on the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 07 December 1941, contributed to a deeper awareness of the sacrifices made by Allied soldiers during the war. My sense is that there is not a high level of awareness of WWII fighting in India. That is, perhaps, because there were no American fighters at Kohima. Also, the battle's import was lost in the intense publicity of D-Day in Europe, which occurred some three months later.

Above: Kohima Ridge (file image April 1944) Kohima, Nagaland, India. 07 December 2019

Battle aftermath on Kohima Ridge.

Above: Drums. Kohima War Graves Cemetery. Kohima, Nagaland, India. 07 December 2019.

Drums contemplates a major WWII battle where British led Commonwealth troops turned back the Japanese on the road to Imphal.

Above: John Harman grave site, showing Victoria Cross. Kohima War Graves Cemetery. Kohima, Nagaland, India. 07 December 2019.

John Harman was the son of millionaire Martin Coles Harman, owner of Lundy Island, and followed his father's interest in natural history.

Harman was 29 years old, and a lance-corporal in the 4th Battalion, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, British Army during the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

On 8/9 April 1944 at the Battle of Kohima, British India, Lance-Corporal Harman was commanding a section of a forward platoon where soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army had established a machine-gun post within 50 yards of his company and were becoming a menace. Since it was not possible to bring fire on to the enemy post the lance-corporal went forward by himself and threw a grenade into the position, destroying it. He returned carrying the enemy machine gun as a trophy. Early next morning, having ordered covering fire from his Bren gun team, he went out alone, with a Lee–Enfield rifle with fixed bayonet and charged a party of Japanese soldiers who were digging in. He shot four and bayoneted one. On his way back, Lance Corporal Harman was severely wounded by a burst of enemy machine-gun fire and died soon after reaching British lines.

Having been shot Harman was recovered to the nearest trench by his company commander, Captain Donald Easten, and died in his arms. A plaque is displayed on the house where he was born in Shrewsbury Road, Beckenham, located in the London Borough of Bromley. There is also a memorial to him erected by his father in VC Quarry, on the east side of Lundy Island.

Above: Kohima War Graves Cemetery. Kohima, Nagaland, India. 07 December 2019.

Guide, Asu briefs TIMDT, Drums, and Koessler near 7th Gurkha Regiment war graves.

India gets short shrift when it comes to her contributions to the Allied war efforts. India supplied 2 million soldiers in WWI, and 2.5 million soldiers in WWII.

Addendum:

Wonderful experience for all; especially the young 👻

Mr. Z3,
Oxnard, CA

Wow !

Brandman,
Ventura, CA

Above: Koessler, TIMDT, and Aisha, Official at Horticulture Exhibit. Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

Above: Naga King Chiles. Hornbill Festival Horticultural Exhibit. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

The Bhut jolokia , also known as ghost pepper, ghost chili pepper, ghost chili and ghost jolokia, is an interspecific hybrid chili pepper cultivated in Nepal as well as the Northeast Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. It is a hybrid of Capsicum chinense and Capsicum frutescens and is closely related to the Naga Morich of Nagaland and Bangladesh.

In 2007, Guinness World Records certified that the ghost pepper was the world's hottest chili pepper, 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. The ghost chili is rated at more than 1 million Scoville Heat Units (SHUs). However, in the race to grow the hottest pepper, the ghost chili was shortly superseded by the Infinity chili in 2011, followed by the Naga Viper, the Trinidad Moruga scorpion in 2012 and the Carolina Reaper on 7 August 2013.

Above: Millet. Horticulture Exhibit, Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

Millet is a grain that dates back to the ancient Eastern Asian region. Even though it has been around for centuries, millet has received little attention as a food staple compared to other grains like rice and wheat. Millet is starting to gain more popularity because it is a source of many nutrients, low in calories and is a gluten free grain.

Above: Bananas. First Prize. Horticulture Exhibit, Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

Above: Drums and Naga kids. Horticulture Exhibit, Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

Numerous times over the course of our trip to India Phin was approached to have his picture taken. It reminded us of the same phenomenon we experienced with his Mom in India back in the early '70's. Caucasian adults are one thing, but, seeing Caucasian kids is rare... and, worthy of an image!

Above: Diorama of Kohima Ridge. Battle of Kohima. World War II Museum. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

Excellent representation of battlefield where British and Commonwealth troops made a final stand to prevent the onward movement of Japanese troops to Imphal. April 1944.

Drums stands in background.

Above: Drums and Sgt. Kumar of The Assam Rifles regiment of the Indian Army. Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

The Assam Rifles, "The Fighting Fourteenth," played a critical role in holding back the Japanese at The Battle of Kohima, April 1944, during WWII. Today's Indian Army retains the strong regimental tradition passed on by the Brits.

Japanese armaments shown in foreground. Drums knows the weapons. He correctly points out that the captured rifle shown in the image is a Japanese model 99.

The role of Indian soldiers in both WWI (where two million, mostly Punjabis fought) and WWII (where there were 2.5 million Indian soldiers) has received historical short shrift.

kohima girl on stomach of other girl.jpg
Above: Tripura dance group. Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

kohima chile eating contest.jpg
Above: Naga King Chili Eating Contest. Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.
Naga King Chile eating contest.
Blood pressure check required before entry. Guinness Book of Records 2007. Naga King Chili. Hottest chili in the world. In world competition to create the world's hottest chili, other chilis have since surpassed the Naga King Chili in strength.
Ambulance and team of doctors present.
Hyper hyped with metal sound track and enthusiastic announcers.
Announcer: We are not responsible!!!! It will change your life forever!
The event session was timed. The winner downed ten chilis in the space of one minute.
Koessler and Drums went down to the stage to get caught up in the event. Koessler was persuaded by the announcers to try a Naga King Chili, not as a contestant, but, as part of the hype. He took a half bite of one and about had to be hospitalized. A local friendly plied him with milk powder and he was OK within a few minutes. I give Koessler a lot of credit for joining into the frenzy of the event. How the contestants can down seven to ten of these things is a mystery.

kohima watching show day two.jpg
Above: Drums, TIMDT, and Koessler in stands. Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland, India. 07 December 2019.

The Hornbill Festival was a sensory feast.

Yesterday, I walked into the stadium between two columns of Naga tribes people, male and female, colorfully dressed in their tribal duds. The tribes people, forming two lines, facing one another, with me and other spectators walking between them, were rhythmicallly chanting. MMMMM (two, three, four), MMMMMM (two, three, four), MMMMM (two, three, four)... They moved back and forth as they chanted. The effect was mesmerizing. I teared up, overwhelmed by this unique travel experience.

We weren't the only foreigners (gringos, as Drums liked to call us), but foreigners were few. There were a lot of photographers, many of them foreign, who were capturing images from every angle.

Above: Tripura dance group. Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

Above: Naga King Chili Eating Contest. Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland. 07 December 2019.

Naga King Chile eating contest.

Blood pressure check required before entry. Guinness Book of Records 2007. Naga King Chili. Hottest chili in the world. In world competition to create the world's hottest chili, other chilis have since surpassed the Naga King Chili in strength.

Ambulance and team of doctors present.

Hyper hyped with metal sound track and enthusiastic announcers.

Announcer: We are not responsible!!!! It will change your life forever!

The event session was timed. The winner downed ten chilis in the space of one minute.

Koessler and Drums went down to the stage to get caught up in the event. Koessler was persuaded by the announcers to try a Naga King Chili, not as a contestant, but, as part of the hype. He took a half bite of one and about had to be hospitalized. A local friendly plied him with milk powder and he was OK within a few minutes. I give Koessler a lot of credit for joining into the frenzy of the event. How the contestants can down seven to ten of these things is a mystery.

Above: Drums, TIMDT, and Koessler in stands. Hornbill Festival. Kohima, Nagaland, India. 07 December 2019.

The Hornbill Festival was a sensory feast.

Yesterday, I walked into the stadium between two columns of Naga tribes people, male and female, colorfully dressed in their tribal duds. The tribes people, forming two lines, facing one another, with me and other spectators walking between them, were rhythmicallly chanting. MMMMM (two, three, four), MMMMMM (two, three, four), MMMMM (two, three, four)... They moved back and forth as they chanted. The effect was mesmerizing. I teared up, overwhelmed by this unique travel experience.

We weren't the only foreigners (gringos, as Drums liked to call us), but foreigners were few. There were a lot of photographers, many of them foreign, who were capturing images from every angle.

Above: 1. Mt. Japhu. Kohima, Nagaland, India. 08 December 2019.

Second highest mountain in Nagaland, at 9400 feet of elevation. Our tent camp is located in the valley below this summit.
Tent camp is five star. The best hot shower I've had on the trip.

Sadly, due to population growth, no more wildlife in this area. Tigers once roamed Nagaland.

Above: Kohima downtown. Kohima, Nagaland. 08 December 2019.
No look of wealth here, but, clean. Cleaner than Rome as Koessler points out.

He's right.

Irony. First world, Rome and San Francisco to take two examples, morph to third world conditions with uncollected trash and excrement on their streets. While Kohima citizens, with an obvious pride in their city, aspire to keep their city looking clean. Kohima debunks the notion that low income correlates to trashiness.

Kohima and Nagaland are not without their problems. They burn a lot of wood, not the cleanest form of fuel for eating and cooking.

Above: Pineapple Patch. Nagaland. 08 December 2019.

The Hmarkhawlien pineapples are reckoned to be the sweetest among all pineapple varieties in India as during the monsoon period their sugar content varies between 16 and 28 per cent. Three varieties of pineapple are generally grown in the tribal farms of Nagaland. These are Queen, Kew and Giant.

The average yield of pineapple in Nagaland is estimated to be 50-80 tonnes/ha. Currently, 3,700 hectares are being used for pineapple cultivation in Nagaland.

Above: Road Construction. Kohima Dimapur Road. Nagaland, 08 December 2019.

Road construction. Kohima, capital of the Indian state of Nagaland. Ensconsed in the rugged Himalayan foothills, Kohima has no airport. To get to Kohima, one must drive fifty miles from Dimapur, site of the nearest scheduled airline airport. Except, the route between the two cities is a construction project, almost the entire distance. The road is being widened from two to four lanes. Huge excavation going on the entire distance. We stopped counting excavators along the route at forty or so. Because of the construction, the fifty mile drive between Dimapur and Kohima takes up to four hours, depending on traffic.

Above: Dimapur Airport. Dimapur, Nagaland. 08 December 2019.

Bapu and Susa were the drivers of the two vehicles we shared...Toyotas. Drums and Mwah (sic) rode with Bapu, while, TIMDT and Koessler rode with Susa and our guide, Asu.

Addendum:

Steve,

Curious that you didn’t include, as cultural nationalist, Xi Jin Ping?

Ahn Rhee,
Larkspur, CA

Xi, Modi, Putin, Trump, Johnson.... all cultural nationalists. Its the way the world is moving.

Dear Steve,

Thank you for adding me to your mailing list. It sure does make for an interesting read for me.
I am really glad that you made it to the Northeastern part of my country and thoroughly enjoyed it.
We look forward to welcoming you again soon.

Warm regards
Jaya
New Delhi, India

Did you consume one or more👻
Mr. Z3
Oxnard, CA

No, but, Koessler made a game attempt. Regretted it.

Hi Banker Steve:

About this time of year in 1998 I was rolling around India on a newly purchased 500cc Enfield motorcycle. I survived, but vowed not to return on two wheels, learning it was better (safer) to take a bus, rent a car with driver, or fly around (but no trains - too crowded, dirty, and slow). Thanks for the reminders with your reportage.

Now I am rolling around SE Asia, where road signage is a mix of the local language and English, unlike India where English was used. From the attached photo you can see I am trying to follow road sign directions, meaning I'm hung dong, err, hanging dong, or from the 2019 Big Dog T-shirt one can see a Big Dog @ Hang Dong - appropriate if one can laugh at himself, which I do every day.
Cheers,

Dr. G
Professor of Motorcycle Adventure
Somewhere in SE Asia.

Above: At the Hornbill Festival I watched three motorcycle touring riders ride in on Enfield Bullets. I went up to talk to them. They were from Guahati, Assam. They had completed a ride through Bhutan and were now heading south into India's northeastern tribal states, of which Nagaland is one.

India could pick up where the west's declining motorcycle business is waning. These guys were thirty something. Our thirty somethings are not interested in motorcycling... or anything else their parents are interested in. With three hundred, aspiring Indian middle class, motorcycling and motorcycle touring in India looks to have some promise.

I rode an Enfield Bullet from Siligiri, West Bengal to Darjeeling, through Bhutan, and south, across the Brahamaputra, to Guahati in 2008.

Actually, Dr G., we're pretty close to one another right now. Nagaland sits right up against the Myanmar border.

Above: Dhamekh Stupa. Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, India. 09 December 2019.
Shaly instructs Drums and TIMDT on life of Buddah.

Sarnath is a place located ten kilometres north-east of Varanasi near the confluence of the Ganges and the Varuna rivers in Uttar Pradesh, India. The deer park in Sarnath is where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna (Sanskrit: Kauṇḍinya).

Singhpur, a village approximately one kilometer away from the site, was the birthplace of Shreyansanath, the Eleventh Tirthankara of Jainism. A temple dedicated to him, is an important pilgrimage site.

Also referred to as Isipatana, this city is mentioned by the Buddha as one of the four places of pilgrimage to which his devout followers should visit. It was also the site of the Buddha's Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, which was his first teaching after attaining enlightenment, in which he taught the four noble truths and the teachings associated with it.

Numerous pilgrims, from all over the Buddhist world, were visiting the site while we were there.

India just keeps on giving and giving. We lived in India for three years in the early '70's and have been back a dozen times since. But, this is our first visit to this important spot.

Above: Drums feeding deer. Sarnath Deer Park. Sarnath. Uttar Pradesh, India. 09 December 2019.
.
Sarnath is one of the four main pilgrimage site for Buddhists. It's hard for me to internalize that Gautama Buddah was at this spot. Perhaps one day, Drums will look at this image and realize the significance of this place.... umm... that being said, maybe he knows more than I think.

Sarnath reminds of India's intense spiritualism. Most Indians are devout in their respective religious faiths. Buddhism and Hinduism, respectively the worlds fourth largest and third largest religions, were founded in India. Despite the fact that the religion was founded in India, Buddhism no longer has a significant following there. Two hundred million Indians are Muslims, members of the world's second largest religion. There are 25 million, mostly active, Christians in India and 25 million Sikhs. Jains and Parsees represent a small percentage of adherents in India, though both religions have disproportionate influence. For example, The Tatas are Parsee. Anshu Jain, a Jain, was a former co-CEO of Deutch Bank. Without a doubt, the most recognized figure in the Buddhist world is Tenzin Gyatso, who is best known as the fourteenth, and current, Dalai Lama. This former monk is not only Tibet's current (and exiled in Dharamsala, India) spiritual leader, but also an outspoken peace activist. Koessler, who accompanies us on this trip, was presented, as an infant, to the Dalai Lama, at the request of his surrounding monks, one late night in 1973, in the departure lounge of the Dum Dum Airport (Calcutta).

Above: Drums at the third generation Bodhi tree of the real Bodhi tree under which Buddah received enlightenment. Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, India. 09 December 2019.

Tree descends from tree which descends, via transplanted twig, from original Buddah enlightenment Bodhi tree. When Bishop asks about hardness of provenance, guide Shaley insists that the Sarnath tree's ancestry is well documented.

Above: Ashoka Pillar. Sarnath Museum. Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, India. 09 December 2019.
File image (no phone cameras allowed, but we saw an original).

ASHOKA PILLAR. Pillars like this were placed around India by Mauryan emperor Ashoka circa 250 BC. Pillars are seen as first symbol of a united India.

Ashoka was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty, who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from c. 268 to 232 BCE. The grandson of the founder of the Maurya Dynasty, Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka promoted the spread of Buddhism across ancient Asia. Considered by many to be one of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka expanded Chandragupta's empire to reign over a realm stretching from present-day Afghanistan in the west to Bangladesh in the east. It covered the entire Indian subcontinent except for parts of present-day Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The empire's capital was Pataliputra (in Magadha, present-day Patna), with provincial capitals at Taxila and Ujjain.

Now, also, a symbol of modern India, is the Buddah wheel at the base of the Ashoka Pillar represented on India's Flag.

Above: Flag of India showing Buddhist Wheel derived from Ashoka Pillars.

Addendum:

DR G ;Looks to be having a super time just as your group is 🏍

Mr. Z3,
Oxnard, CA

Dear Steve

Lovely reading your blogs and now you have more fans in the office who would like to be included in your mailing list.
My colleague AK and Raj.

Hope all is well ...

Wish you all a Happy Holiday Season!

Regards, Praveen,
Gurgaon, India

Above: BHU Siva Temple. Pune family and us. Banares Hindu University. Varanasi, India. 09 December 2019.

Pune family wants a joint photo. We oblige.

BHU Siva temple is busiest, we are told by guide Shaly, just before final exams!

Banaras Hindu University ( BHU), formerly Central Hindu College, is a public central university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. It was established in 1916 by Madan Mohan Malaviya, with co-operation from Annie Besant. With over 30,000 students residing in campus, it is the largest residential university in Asia.

BHU is organized into 6 institutes and 14 faculties (streams) and about 140 departments. As of 2017, the total student enrolment at the university is 27,359 coming from 48 countries.

We visited the inner sanctum of BHU Shiva temple. The temple area was very busy... crowded, with students and ordinary citizens alike.

Shiva, the god to whom this temple is dedicated, is one of the three principal gods of Hinduism (the others, Brahma and Vishnu).

Hinduism is a major world religion originating on the Indian subcontinent and comprising several and varied systems of philosophy, belief, and ritual.

Shiva Temples are specially designed places of worship where the presiding deity is Lord Shiva in the form of a Linga. A linga (or lingum) is a symbol of divine generative energy, a phallus or phallic object, worshiped as a symbol of Shiva.. A Shiva temple is the only Hindu temple where the god is not represented in a personified manifestation.

Above: Image Lingum

Inside the temple we were not allowed to take an image of the lignum. There were many worshipers lined up to worship at the lignum. Seated beside the lingam was a Shiva priest who would accept various offerings from the worshipers. Worshipers poured water from the Ganges over the lignum, garnished the ligum with flowers, honey, spices, and spent a moment in silent contemplation and prayer. They would be blessed by the priest who would chant a prayer and put a mark on their foreheads, the functional equivalent of an "I voted" sticker worn by us on election day. But, not "I voted," rather, "I prayed at the Siva temple today! Shaly, our guide, escorted, the back way, around the line, to receive a blessing from the priest, who made various marks on our foreheads.

Hinduism is very complex, so, I know my overly simplistic explanations won't do it proper justice. But, simplistically, there are many Hindu gods that exist beneath the holy trinity of gods. Each god may have a temple where people can worship that god. There are, for example, Shiva worshipers, Vishnu worshipers and so on. There are temples dedicated to Lord Brahma, the third member of the Hindu trinity, but they are very few.

What strikes, in this visit, and past visits to Hindu temples, is the seemingly extraordinary level of devotion of adherents coming from all walks of life. Indians are an intensely spiritual people whatever their income levels or station in life. The upscale, secular looking Indian person, you might meet... he/she may be a business owner, a lawyer, a bank manager, a government bureaucrat, that is to say, a person living in what we westerners would consider to be an upscale style... nice home, expensive car etc. is most likely devoted to practicing his/her religion.

Four or five years ago we visited the The Kamakhya Temple in Guwahait, Assam. The temple is dedicated to the mother goddess Kamkhya. As we walked through the temple we encountered a family, dressed to the nines... the father and his two sons wore western suits and ties. Mom and a daughter wore "Sunday best," colorful silk saris. From behind, we observed them watching a priest slaughter a goat, part of the ritual of that particular strain of Hinduism. Indians have a deep devotion to their complex, multivariate religious traditions and rituals. Modernism does not seem to have eroded those traditions and obligations as it has done in the "Christian" west.

Its not just Hinduism. Indian Muslims grow in devotion just as their fellow Islamic adherents do throughout the world. Most of the twenty five million Christians in India are devout. In a sense, India is more of a Christian country than is France. Though "Christian" France has a population of seventy million, and though most French people would declare themselves nominally Catholic, few of them go to church or otherwise practice their religion.

Above: Near Dashashwahmed Ghat. Site of Ganges pilgrimage. Varanasi, India.

Drums takes care of Granny amongst teeming masses as we approach the banks of the holy Ganges River. It was supposed to be the other way around!

All Hindus are expected to make at least one visit in a lifetime to Varanasi and the holy banks of the Ganges River.

The River Ganges, running for more than 1500 miles across some of the most densely populated areas in Asia, is perhaps the most religiously significant body of water in the world. The river is considered to be sacred and spiritually pure, though it is also one of the most polluted rivers on earth.

Originating from the Gangotri Glacier, high in the Himalayas of northern India, the river flows southeast through India, into Bangladesh, before spilling into the Bay of Bengal. It is the primary source of water—used for drinking, bathing, and irrigating crops—for more than 400 million people.
For Hindus, the River Ganges is sacred and revered, embodied by the goddess Ganga. Though iconography of the goddess varies, she is most often depceted as a beautiful woman with a white crown, riding the Marka (a creature with the head of a crocodile and the tail of a dolphin). She features either two or four arms, holding a variety objects ranging from water lilies to a water pot to a rosary. As a nod t the goddess, the Ganges is often referred to as Ma Ganga, or Mother Ganga.

Because of the purifying nature of the river, Hindus believe that any rituals performed at the banks of the Ganges or in its water will bring fortune and wash away impurity. The waters of the Ganges are called Gangaajal, meaning literally "water of the Ganges".

The Puranas—ancient Hindu scriptures—say that the sight, the name, and the touch of the Ganges cleanses one of all sins and that taking a dip in the sacred river bestows heavenly blessings.

The "numbers" of Varanasi - and India - are staggering. Outside of China, India "happens" on a scale unimaginable in the West, which seems too crowded as it is. We know that India's population approaches 1.2 billion souls. Over eight hundred million of those Indians are Hindus and almost all of them will come here to Varanasi on pilgrimage at least once in their life. So, as Drums guides Granny through the teeming throngs, amidst the cacophony of car and motorcycle horns and wandering cows, it seems hard to imagine that this wave of humanity descends on this location three hundred sixty five days a year.

I like to use the Facebook "location check" feature to document my visits. The location check feature shows how many people have clicked a Facebook location check for a given location. So, lets review some representative Facebook location check numbers. Wasatch Bagel has a few hundred hits. Yellowstone National Park approaches a million hits. Dashashwahmed Ghat, in Varanasi, has over five million Facebook location check hits. Aside: Internalize this figure if you want to get a sense of the growing power of social media. Young Mark Zuckerberg might have been fascinated with his technological tool to bring people together. However as Facebook grows in power and influence one wonders if Zuckerberg has grown in wisdom to fully understand the power of what he has wrought.

Above: Ritual Ganges Ceremony. Dashashwahmed Ghat. Varanasi, India. 09 December 2019.

The ceremony begins at 8:00 PM and lasts almost an hour. It involves various rituals and incantations. The principle audience is people in boats afloat in the Ganges River.

Varanasi is a hard city to visit. But, because of its spiritual centrality in an intensely spiritual nation, a full appreciation of India cannot be attained without a visit to Varanasi.

I first visited Varanasi (also called Banares) in 1963 when I was eighteen years old. So much of my memory of those years is buried away in aging grey matter, but, my recollection of being in a boat on the Ganges with my parents and brother observing the rituals and cremations on the ghats remains vivid.

Above: Observing Ritual Ganges Ceremony. Dashashwahmed Ghat. Varanasi, India. 09 December 2019.

Mohan/Praveen as usual, taking car of us by arranging for elevated seats.

Above: The Cremation Ghats. Manikarnika Ghat. Varanasi, India. 09 December 2019.

Varanasi, a maze-like city on the shore of the river Ganges, is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, and the holiest of the seven sacred cities in Hinduism. It’s believed that if one is cremated in Varanasi, and their ashes are released into the sacred and purifying water of the Ganges, their reincarnation cycle will end and they will reach Nirvana.

Every day at Manikarnika Ghat, the largest and most auspicious cremation ghat, around 100 bodies are cremated on wooden pyres along the river’s edge. The ghat (steps leading down to the holy water) operates around the clock, every day of the year. The eternal flame that feeds the fires is said to have been burning for centuries now.

Throughout the day, every day, there are funeral processions bringing loved ones to the ghats. An unfortunate fact of people wanting to die in Varanasi is that there are crowded boarding homes throughout the city full of elderly people, many of whom spend their days begging on the streets to save the money needed for funeral costs. For some Westerners, this may sound like a grim and macabre place, but Varanasi is full of life and celebrations. To die and to be cremated in Varanasi is to have the chance to achieve Moksha (the end of the rebirth cycle), a great honor and the ultimate goal of earthly existence. The city is full of temples, religious ceremonies, burning incense, and offerings to Shiva, and strangers are welcomed to watch the cremation rituals and rejoice with the families that their loved one has entered Nirvana. Watching the sunset on a boat with the pyres burning in the foreground is to experience a different way of thinking about life and death.

(Hat tip: Atlas Obscura)

Above: Hindu Siva Priest. Dashashwamedh Ghat. Varanasi, India. 10 December 2019.

Koessler, Drums, and Mwah (sic) received a blessing from this priest. Proof was marked on our forehead.

Above: Crematorium, Manikarnika Ghat. Varanasi, India. 10 December 2019.

Same view as last night, but, this time 7:00 AM. Activity has died down a bit. There are two ongoing cremations here.

Above: Human ashes. Manikarnika Ghat. Varanasi, India. 10 December 2019.

According to guide Shaly these ashes will eventually be emptied into the Ganges River.

Above: Ritual Ganges bathers. Dashashwahmed Ghat. Varanasi, India. 10 December 2019.

Above: Old town Varanasi. Varanasi, India. 10 December 2019.

Koessler, Drums, and TIMDT consider large wood pile. Fuel for cremation fires. Per Shaly, the Gangetic Plain, not a forested area, is starting to experience a shortage of wood.

Above: Gyanvapi Mosque (file image). Varanasi, India. 10 December 2019.

We were reminded of sectarian tensions simmering under the surface between Muslims and Hindus on our walk through Varanasi Old Town.

The Gyanvapi Mosque was built by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1669 CE, after destroying a Hindu temple. The remnants of the Hindu temple can be seen on the walls of the Gyanvapi mosque.

A 1991 civil suit by a Hindu temple trust claimed the site of the mosque.

Simultaneously, in 1991 the Indian Government passed The Places of Worship Act to freeze the status of places of worship.

So, to walk this section of the city, we had to pass through armed security which surrounded the mosque.

Considering Ayodha (see next paragraph), security at Gyanvapi today does not seem excessive.

On 6 December 1992, in nearby Ayodha, the Hindu oriented BJP political party organized a rally involving 150,000 followers at the site of the Ayodha mosque. The Ayodha Mosque, like the Gyanvap Mosque in Varanasi, was claimed to have been built on the site of an ancient Hindu Temple, in Ayodha said to be the birthplace of the Hindu god Rama. The ceremonies included speeches by the BJP leaders. The mob grew restive through the duration of the speeches, and stormed the mosque shortly after noon. A police cordon placed there to protect the mosque was heavily outnumbered. The mosque was attacked with a number of improvised tools, and brought to the ground in a few hours. This occurred despite a commitment from the state government to the Indian Supreme Court that the mosque would not be harmed. More than 2000 people were killed in the riots following the demolition. Riots broke out in many major Indian cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bhopal and Hyderabad.

While we are in India, ramping up are demonstrations around the country protesting new immigration laws that restrict Muslim immigration into India. While Muslims and Hindus seem to get along well in daily life in the villages throughout the country, religious zealots, on both sides, fan the flames of sectarian tension. It so happens that strong factions of the BHP party, now holding political power in India, are Hindu nationalists. They believe that just as Pakistan became a Muslim nation, so India should be a Hindu nation. Of course, at the time of Indian independence in 1948, India was set up as a secular nation affording protections to all religions. We may, during our visit to India be witnessing, first hand, the chipping away of the Gandhi/Nehru sponsored sectarian paradigm for India's governance. If such a transition towards government sanctioned Hindu tribal dominance continues, it won't occur without heretofore submerged sectarian tensions rising, once again, to the surface.

Nation state and tribal nationalism all seem to be gaining strength throughout the world. Islam, China, Russia, and Great Britain have all redirected governance models towards nationalism/tribalism and away from multiculturalism. In broad context, therefore, India, in advancing Hindu tribalism, is not an aberration. The arc of history is bending tribal.

Above: Sadhu and Drums. Varanasi, Old Town. Varanasi, India. 10 December 2019.

Sadhu is a religious ascetic, mendicant or any holy person in Hinduism and Jainism who has renounced the worldly life.

It literally means one who practices a ″sadhana″ or keenly follows a path of spiritual discipline. Although the vast majority of sādhus are yogīs, not all yogīs are sādhus. The sādhu is solely dedicated to achieving mokṣa (liberation), the fourth and final aśrama (stage of life), through meditation and contemplation of Brahman. Sādhus often wear simple clothing, such saffron-coloured clothing in Hinduism, white or nothing in Jainism, symbolising their sannyāsa (renunciation of worldly possessions). A female mendicant in Hinduism and Jainism is often called a sadhvi, or in some texts as aryika. Hat tip Wikepedia.

Above: Blessed Bishop and flutist. Taj Nadesar Palace Hotel. Varanasi, India. 10 December 2019.

Late breakfast image. Bishop blessed at Ganges bank by Siva priest yesterday, early AM. Breakfast background: Hauntingly ethereal flute melody deepens mood of morning Ganges spiritual experience.

Above: Silk weavers. Mehta's Silk Weaving Center. Varanasi, India. 11 December 2019.

Four days weaving to produce one yard of sari.

Above: Bharat Mata Mandir (file image), Varanasi, India. 11 December 2019.

Bharat Mata Mandir (meaning "Mother India Temple") is located on the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapithcampus in Varanasi, India. Instead of traditional statues of gods and goddesses, this temple has a huge map of undivided India carved in marble. This temple is dedicated to Bharat Mata and claims to be the only one of its kind in the world.

Builder of Bharat Mata Mandir was Shiv Prasad Gupta (28 June 1883 – 24 April 1944), a visionary, philanthropist, a leader of the Indian Freedom Movement and the founder of the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth.

Though belonging to a very wealthy industrialist and "Jamindar" family, he devoted his entire life to actively participate, assist and give financial aid to the various movements of the freedom struggle.

He was a close associate and friend of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya and all the other nationalist leaders, who often stayed with him on their visit to Varanasi and relied upon his advice and support.

Guide Shaly, using a red light laser pointer, adeptly pointed out important India cities and geographical features as we circumnavigated the huge relief map.

Like this surprising temple, around every corner in India is a double take. It never stops. It's why we travel to India so often. Besides living in India for three years in the early '70's, this is TIMDT's twelfth trip back in the last 15 years...my eighth, Drums' second. This is Koessler's second trip back to India since he was born in Kolkata in 1973.

Above: Horse cart tour. Taj Nadesar Palace Hotel. Varanasi, India. 11 December 2019.

Taj Nadesar Palace, Varanasi was awarded ‘The World's Top Micro Boutique Hotels’ title by Forbes Life 2009.

OK. We admit it. One reason to return to India so often is the hotels. Three of the 2019 Top Eleven Conde Nast Traveler hotels in the world are in India.

The Nadesar Palace lies nestled in the heart of vibrant Varanasi among mango orchards, marigold and jasmine fields. Built by the East India Company and acquired by Maharaja Prabhu Narain Singh in the 19th century, the property is named after the goddess Nadesari, whose shrine is located in front of the palace.

The driver of our carriage, who took the image, is fourth generation working at this property.

Above: Varanasi Train Station. Varanasi, India. 11 December 2019.

Why pull the bags on their wheels when you can put them on your head?

Here is TIMDT, Lucknow bound by Indian Railways, the world's eighth largest employer, with 1.3 million employees.
Lucknow, famous for kebabs. Five hours north on the Gangetic Plain.

Above: Lucknow Train Station (file image). 11 December 2019.

Constructed 1914. Considered by many to be India's most beautiful train station.

Addendum:

Great job thanks.

Brand Man,
Ventura, CA

Above: The Residency. Lucknow, India. 12 December 2019.

THE INDIAN UPRISING (or Mutiny, depending on your historical perspective).

In May 1857 Indian soldiers of the British East India Company (EIC) Calcutta/Bengal Presidency army turned against their British Officers in Meerut, a military post forty miles east of Delhi. In seeming uncoordinated fashion, the rebellion spread first to Delhi, where the mutineers, after routing the British, managed to get the EIC puppet Moghul emperor to embrace their cause, to multiple locations throughout the north Indian Gangetic Plain. The revolt was not India wide as relations between soldiers and their officers in the EIC Bombay and Madras Presidencies remained stable.

Over the course of the rebellion, thousands, soldiers and civilians, died on both sides. Reprisals were brutal on both sides often involving wanton slaughter of women and children. Conflict lasted for seventeen months whereupon EIC troops regained control.

The EIC was an English joint-stock company chartered in 1601 by Queen Elizabeth. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with Mughal India and the East Indies, and later with Qing China. The company ended up seizing control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent, colonized parts of Southeast Asia, and colonized Hong Kong after a war with Qing China.

In the 18th Century India was a polyglot of princely states, lands controlled by the Mughals, and lands directly under the control of the British (Bengal).
To accommodate trade throughout the sub continent, the EIC had to cut individual trade deals not only with the Moghuls in the north, but with the rulers, or heads of each principality.

The EIC was well organized. They set up three Presidencies...geographic trading Divisions, in each of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. The Governor General ran the whole operation from Calcutta . Each of the three Presidencies had autonomy to accomplish trading deals in their respective geographies.

The EIC's power grew over the years to assume quasi nation/state power and influence. By the turn of the Nineteenth Century, each of the three EIC Presidencies had its own standing army made up of British and Indian soldiers.

In the early Nineteenth Century the EIC filled the power vacuum on the Gangetic Plain left by the waning influence of the Mughals. The resident Nawabs (Mogul administrators from Persia) entered into treaty and trade agreements with the increasingly influential EIC to include, paid for by the Nawabs, an extensive Residency in Lucknow for a EIC functionary and numerous hangers on.

Christian missionaries came to India protected under the umbrella of the EIC.

Resulting from heavy handed trade requirements and growing Christian missionizing, there grew an unease amongst the peoples of North India that the EIC threatened their way of life and their religious beliefs.

It took the introduction of a new Enfield rifle to Indian soldiers of the EIC to trigger open revolt. Rumors began to spread in military units in Northern India that the paper cartridges, holding ball and powder, to issued with the new, muzzle loading, Enfield rifle were laced with animal fat...pig, offensive to Muslim soldiers and bovine, off limits to Hindu soldiers. Since the cartridges were to be opened using the teeth, soldiers feared that the British were trying to get them to violate their own religious tenets by consuming forbidden animal product. The Brits solved the problem by allowing the soldiers to grease their own cartridges, but, the atmosphere of distrust worsened.

That part of the Uprising/Mutiny that caught the imagination of Britons throughout the empire at the time was the five month siege of the EIC Residency in Lucknow.

Famously, three thousand Europeans and their Indian loyalists were besieged in the Lucknow EIC Residency during the uprising. Only one thousand had survived when the Residency was retaken by EIC troops five months later.

J.G. Farrell's Booker Prize winning novel, "The Seige of Krishnapur," which I read earlier in 2019 in preparation for today's visit, is a fictional account of the seige of the EIC Residency in Lucknow.

As I toured the Lucknow Residency today I was able to correlate the layout with the events described in the novel.

The Residency is a well preserved National Monument today. See image.

After the Uprising, the British government took over control of India from the EIC.

Throughout the next ninety years of British colonial control of India, Britain was haunted by the specter of the Uprising, fearing recurrence. The Brits increased the ratio of British soldiers in every unit. They turned to fill the ranks of the army with higher proportions of loyalists, such as Gurkhas and Sikhs.

The Amritsar Massacre, in 1919, no doubt resulted from a feeling by the Brits that they needed to be "heavy handed" in their dealings with restive independence demonstrators, fearing a repeat of the 1857 Uprising.

Above: Street demonstration. Lucknow, India. 12 December 2019.

Glad to see that the practice of sloganeering demonstrations continues in India. These guys were apparently employees of the local water authority angling for a pay increase.
As Operations Manager for Citibank's Calcutta branch in 1973, such demonstrations were directed at me, as a hundred or so union employees gathered around my fishbowl glass office sloganeering for up to two hours straight.

Go home Taylor!
Go home! Go home!
Withdraw charge sheet!
Withdraw! Withdraw!
In claw zindabad!
Zindabad! Zindabad!

To this day I'll occasionally wake up hearing these slogans rattling in my brain.

Note: Demonstrations are never far away in India. At this time, there are growing number of demonstrations throughout the country protesting India's new immigration laws which place restrictions on Muslim immigration. We haven't seen any of these demonstrations first hand, as yet.

Above: Saadat Ali Khan - II Tomb. Lucknow, India.

Saadat Ali Khan - II was the fifth (of ten) Nawab of Awadh. He ruled from 1798 to 1814. He was also the first "puppet Nawab" of the British. His father Nawab Asaf ud Dulla, builder of the Bara Imambara, which we saw this AM, ruled at the peak of Nawab power.

Zoom to see Drums, TIMDT, and Cyrus on tomb steps.

Above: Street scene. Lucknow, India. 12 December 2019.

Here we are on a walking tour, directed by Mr. Narayan (in image), of the Nawab's palace complex.

Cows, wandering throughout the city, are sacred in the Hindu religion. Mr. Narayan notes that all cows are owned by someone. They know how to get back to their owners at dinner time.

Above: Barbeque Nation. Lucknow, India. 12 December 2019.

Famous Lucknow kebabs aplenty... prawn, lamb, chicken, fish. Drums and I went alone to this place, recommended by Cyrus. We apparently didn't get the method down. After we gorged on kebabs and couldn't eat any more, we asked for the check. "Huh," said the waiter. "Don't you want to stay for the main course?"

Addendum:

So, the construction of the Bara Imambara was the model for the Boston “Big Dig”???

Ahn Rhee,
Larkspur, CA

Likely so, in its day.

Just a little correction on this is Asafi Imambara and mosque which you have written as Asifa and these are Shia monuments and not Sunni as mentioned by you.

Cyrus,
Lucknow, India

Thanks!

Above: The Constantia Building. La Martiniere School, Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.

The Economist has described The Constantia building as "perhaps the best-preserved colonial building in Lucknow."

La Martinière College is an educational institution located in Lucknow, the capital of the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. The college consists of two schools on different campuses for boys and girls. La Martinière Boys' College was founded in 1845 and La Martinière Girls' College was established in 1869. The Boys' College is the only school in the world to have been awarded royal battle honors for its role in the defense of Lucknow during the mutiny of 1857. The two Lucknow colleges are part of the La Martinière family of schools founded by the French adventurer Major General Claude Martin. There are two La Martinière Colleges in Kolkata and three in Lyon. La Martinière provides a liberal education and the medium of instruction is the English language. The schools cater for pupils from the ages of five through to 17 or 18, and are open to children of all religious denominations. The schools have day scholars and residence scholars (boarders).

Above: Drums and school boys. La Martiniere School, Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.

La Martiniere school boys, mid tour, came and grabbed Drums and took him on a private tour of their school. Boys go home tomorrow to points all over India for one month Christmas break. PS. Boys were dressed as school boys should be: Monogrammed jackets and school ties.

Above: Bust, Major General Claude Martin. La Martiniere School, Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.

Major General Claude Martin (5 January 1735 – 13 September 1800) was an officer in the French, and later the English East India Company's army in India. He rose to the position of Major General in the English East India Company's Bengal Army. Martin was born in Lyon, France, into a humble background, and was a self made man who has left a substantial lasting legacy in the form of his writings, buildings and the educational institutions he founded posthumously. There are now ten schools named after him, two in Lucknow, two in Calcutta, and six in Lyon.

Above: Gun. La Martiniere School, Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.

Gun cast in 1786 by school founder, French adventurer, Major General Claude Martin, and dedicated to Charles, Earl Cornwallis, to whom he served as aide de camp. After the British defeat by George Washington at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, Cornwallis was sent to Calcutta head British East India Company as Governor General.

Above: Pipe band rehearses. La Martiniere School, Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.

This wonderful school reeks of history and tradition. Drums should go there for a year!

Above: Roll of Honor. La Martiniere School, Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.

These La Martiniere students died in defense of the Residency during the Sepoy Rebellion/Mutiny, 1857.

Above: Painting of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah on Mughals Dasterkwhan Restaurant wall. Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.

Local "hero" Wajid Ali Shah, last Nawab of Awadh, deposed by the Brits for indolence in 1856. He had 365 wives. Ouster was not the only, but a proximate, cause of the Uprising (Mutiny) in 1857. Broadly speaking, the increasing power and greed of the British East India Company and fear of forced conversion to Christianity gave rise to climate where the Mutiny was predestined.

Otherwise, fast forward to 2019. Eatin' good in the neighborhood.

Paratha
Roti
Vegetable Biryani
Chicken Masala
Mixed vegetables

Lucknow. Best eating on this India trip.

Above: Ada Designer Chikan Store. Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.

TIMDT stocks up on famous Lucknow Chikan. Drums tries on chikan kurta. Guide/handler Cyrus looks on.

Above: Nawab Jafar Mir Abdullah. Husainabad-Sheesh Mahal, Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.

Nawab Jafar Mir Abdullah is a direct lineal descendant of the third Nawab of Awadh, Jalaluddin Shuja'a ud daula Hyder, 1754 to 1762.

The Nawabs were Persian, Shiite Muslim gentry called by the ruling Mughals in Delhi to oversee northern, Gangetic Plain, inter-river Indian lands under their control.

The Nawabs brought Persian culture, including art, dance, music and architecture to Avadh. Lucknow, the principal city of Avadh, is laced with splendid mosques, imambaras, city gates, and palaces all built by the Nawabs and their artisans.

As the Mugals' influence began to wane in the second half of the Eighteenth Century, the Nawabs' power grew. They became semi autonomous rulers.

Enter the British East India Company (EIC) into the power vacuum left by the Mughals. EIC entered into treaty and trade agreements with the EIC to include, paid for by the Nawabs, an extensive Residency in Lucknow for a EIC functionary and numerous hangers on.

As long as the trade flowed smoothly, and EIC profits grew, the Brits allowed the nawabs to "live like kings."

But, in 1857, the tenth (and last) Nawab, Wajid Ali Shah, who had 365 wives, stretched British patience. The Brits declared him indolent, kicked the Nawab out, took direct control of Lucknow/Avadh and sent the nawab to live out the rest of his life under house arrest in Calcutta.

Wajid Ali Shah's ouster coincided with the Indian Uprising (The Mutiny, in British lingo) in 1857. The ouster was not the cause of the Uprising, but it was a contributor. Most of the ousted Nawab's employees were left without jobs. They had reason to be sympathetic with fellow countrymen who resented the growing hegemony of the EIC in India.

Famously, three thousand Europeans and their Indian loyalists were besieged in the Lucknow EIC Residency during the 1857 Uprising. Only one thousand had survived when they were rescued by British troops five months later.

J. G. Farrell's Booker Prize winning novel, "The Seige of Krishnapur," which I read earlier in 2019, is a fictional account of the siege of the BEIC Residency in Lucknow.

As I toured the Lucknow Residency yesterday I was able to correlate the layout with the events described in the novel.

NAWAB JAFAR MIR ABDULLAH

Nawab Jafar Mir Abdullah, shown in image with The Bishop and Drums, is a proud direct descendant of the Nawabs. He notes that he and fellow descendants form part of a worldwide association of Nawab descendants.

Mr. Abdullah offered us Indian sweets, delicacies, tea and even a chew of betel nut... which TIMDT eschewed. I jumped in on the betel nut. Drums was willing, but, TIMDT put her foot down.

Nawab Jafar Mir Abdullah is devoted to his Shiite Islamic faith. He recounted for us the story of Karbala.

Karbala is a city in central Iraq best known as the location of the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE, or the shrines of Imam Husayn and Abbas.

Karbala is considered a holy city for Shi'ite Muslims, in the same way as Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. Tens of millions of Shi'ite Muslims visit the site twice a year, rivalling Mecca as a place of pilgrimage.

The martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali is commemorated annually by millions of Shi'ites. Up to eight million pilgrims visit the city to observe ʿĀshūrāʾ (the tenth day of the month of Muharram), which marks the anniversary of Husayn's death, but the main event is the Arbaʿīn (the 40th day after 'Ashura'), where up to 30 million visit the graves. Most of the pilgrims travel on foot from all around Iraq and more than 56 countries.

In 1964, with four fellow students from American University in Cairo, I travelled by third class bus from Damascus to Baghdad with thirty Syrian Shi'ite pilgrims on their way to Karbala. The bus made two or three extended stops in the middle of the desert. The pilgrims sat on the desert floor, prayed and brewed tea.

None of the pilgrims as much as looked at any of us strange, Western, backpacking teenagers...until.... the end of the trip. On entry into Baghdad, the pilgrim's Imam, seated at the front of the bus (we were seated at rear) turned around and smiled at us. At that point every one of the pilgrims, mimicking the Imam, turned around and gave us all a big smile.

I asked Nawab Abdullah (direct male descendants of the original Nawabs carry the nawab title) about sectarian tensions between Muslims and Hindus in India. He said the situation remains well under control. "Muslims and Hindus live peacefully together all over India," he said. "Partition in 1948 was a big mistake," said Mr. Abdullah. "Think how powerful India would be today were she not divided in 1948." I did not push the point by asking about India's new immigration laws which discriminate against Muslims, which laws are the reason for a growing number of demonstrations throughout India.

I asked Drums to recite The Five Pillars of Islam for Mr. Abdullah, which he did successfully. Looking at me Mr. Abdullah, impressed and smiling, exclaimed, "you taught him that? "Yes," I replied.

Above: Gol Darwaza Chowk. Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.

Enter the old chowk. We dodge motorcycles, motorbikes, and cows. This... is India.

In a crowded, narrow lane, the motorcycles and scooters whip by pedestrians, carts, rickshaws at an unbelievable pace. A street like this would be banned in a western city. Yet, in India, the street thrives... is alive with all manner of human activity. I marvel at the skill of the scooter/cycle riders. Pedestrians stay on the side of the lane, move in their direction, seemingly insoucient to the risks of getting hit. There must be an unwritten modus operendi for both pedestrians and riders that allows each to seemingly show indifference to what the westerner would consider to be common sense safety precautions. I had Drums walk in front of me and was constantly telling him... "stay to the side... bike coming." The Indian pedestrians we were walking with stayed to the side, for sure. But, they seemed to be less outwardly concerned with personal risk in a dangerous area.

As driving in America becomes more safe, it becomes more rote. Many people, who view driving as an chore to be avoided, yearn for the advent of the driverless vehicle. Today, numerous safety features on vehicles inhibit wrong moves... automatic braking, for example. The evolution from the standard to the automatic transmission has rendered driving to become more of a chore than an interesting challenge requiring dexterity and timing. I ask my self, is the reduction of the driving dexterity challenge in America, putting Amercans at a disadvantage in some way to the Indian scooter drivers who use/develop incredible amounts of dexterity and timing skills just to get from one end of the chowk to the other?

By taking all of the challenge out of driving, and shifting that challenge to robotic solutions, are we turning ourselves into the functional equivalent of amoebae?

Above: Neighborhood multi-god, Hindu Temple. Gol Darwaza Chowk. Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.

Above: Mubeens. Gol Darwaza Chowk. Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.

Kebabs on the grill.

Above: Mubeens. Gol Darwaza Chowk. Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.

Lucknow is for kebabs! Here, chicken kebab and buffalo kebab.

Above: Flutist. Lobby, Taj Mahal Hotel. Lucknow, India. 14 December 2019.

Tabla recording accompaniment via tiny, but resonant, smart phone speaker (on flutist's lap) enhances hauntingly Hindu, ancient flute melodies reverberating in the cavernous hotel lobby.

This is a fabulous metaphor for India, where state of the art technology combines with the arcane to secure tradition's place in the face of massive technological, economic and social progress.

I love coming to India...where extreme contrasts abound, around every corner. Anything, and everything, can happen in India.

Speaking of smart phones, there are 800 million of 'em in India. 800 million people, theoretically, can sign up for Stanford professor John Taylor's on line economics 101 course. The potential, given modern technology, for an explosion of learning in India, where most people have an aspirational view of life, undergirded by palpable spirituality, is staggering.

Above: Taj Mahal Hotel grounds. Lucknow, India. 14 December 2019.

Three of the top eleven Conde Nast Traveler Hotels in the World are in India. This is not one of them. But, The Taj Mahal Lucknow is testimony of how high the bar has to be to get to the top.

Indian five star hotels. Combine a surfeit of well trained, eager, earnest, selfless staff, top chefs, and a Swiss to manage it all, and viola.

Above: Gingerbread House. Hotel Oberoi Gurgaon. Gurgaon, India. 14 December 2019.

Christmas decor has been ubiquitous during our India trip.

While the majority of Indians are Hindus, India, like the United States is a secular democracy, which affords protections for freedom of religion, including Christianity.

Not only does India afford religious freedom to all creeds, all Indians love to celebrate festivals of religions not their own.

Above: Fruit Plate. 360 Restaurant. Oberoi Gurgaon Hotel. Gurgaon, India.

Order fruit. Get an art piece.

Addendum:

These photos are so fascinating. I greatly appreciate the glimpse into this amazing culture Steve!

DrummerJ,
Lehi, UT

Above: (late entry) Partition Museum (file image). Amritsar, India. 03 December 2019.

Visited this wonderful new museum in Amritsar, Punjab, on 03 December 2019.

There are some poignant videos showing the post partition violence arising from a forced migration of up to ten million people in 1948, Muslims going north, Hindus going south, across the new border separating Pakistan from India.

Here, I purchased a book, "Jallianwalla Bagh," by Kishwar Desai, sponsored by the museum.

The best known book (if not the best scholarly treatise) on 1948 Indian partition is Larry Collins' and Dominique Lapierre's opus "Freedom at Midnight." I've read it twice.

Above: Drums as engineer at diesel locomotive simulator. National Rail Museum, New Delhi, India. 15 December 2019.

Drums did OK at this, apart from taking a curve at 90 kph and taking out a couple of elephants on the track.

Above: Kids awaiting train ride. National Rail Museum, New Delhi, India. 15 December 2019.

School children await "The Joy Ride," a gasoline engine powered small train which circumnavigated the museum complex.

Above: Rajputna Malwa Railway F 734 locomotive. National Rail Museum, New Delhi, India. 15 December 2019.

First locomotive built in India. 1895. Ajmer workshop.

Our Indian train experience is not nothing. TIMDT, FeeBee, and Mwah (sic) ride in a luxury sleeper compartment on the Rajdhani Express, from Delhi to Calcutta in 1973. In 2016, TIMDT and Mwah (sic) trained from Sawai Madhopur, the city adjacent to Ranthambore National Park, in Rajasthan, to Delhi. On this trip, Drums, TIMDT and Mwah (sic) went by rail from Varanasi to Lucknow.

Indian train stations are one of the best places to see the whole range of Indian population, rich/poor, drab/colorful, young/old.

Indian Railways (IR) is India's national railway system operated by the Ministry of Railways. It manages the fourth largest railway network in the world by size, with a route length of 67,368-kilometre (41,861 mi) and total track length of 121,407-kilometre (75,439 mi) as of March 2017.

Above: Walking with Gandhi. Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum, New Delhi, India. 15 December 2019.

Bishop and TIMDT do a virtual walk with Gandhi at Rashtrapati Bhavan, residence of the Indian President. This was an excellent virtual reality exhibit. I'd urge museum authorities to try a bit harder on the quality and resolution of the virtual walk. Not complaining.... just sayin'.... trying to be helpful.

This fabulous new museum is dedicated to highlighting the lives of Indian Presidents since Indian independence in 1948. Rashtrapati Bhawan Museum opened its gate for visitors on 2nd October 2016. It is spread over an area of 10,000 square meters, makers of the museum has put on use superior technology to display the various aspects of Rashtrapati Bhawan. Our guide, Jaya, was one of a six individual working group who was responsible for getting the museum up and running.

It seems the Indian Presidents have all the perquisites but little of the power. The presidents' home is Rashtrapati Bhavan, the top residence... the White House... as it were of Indian government. But, it is the Indian Prime Minister, who lives in a non-descript premises elsewhere in New Delhi, who exercises the bulk of Indian political power. India follows a parliamentary system in which the prime minister is the presiding head of the government and chief of the executive of the government. In such systems, the head of state, or, the head of state's official representative (i.e., the monarch, president, or governor-general) usually holds a purely ceremonial position and acts—on most matters—only on the advice of the prime minister.

Still, the role of the Indian President is "not nothing." The constitutional position, powers and functions of the President of the Indian Union are laid down in Part V of the Indian Constitution. He is the supreme executive of the Indian Union. He exercises his power either directly or through officers under him. He is also the supreme command of the defense forces. The powers of the President may be classified under the following heads: executive, legislative, financial, judicial and special powers.

Notwithstanding the circumscribed role of the Indian Presidents, they are important symbols of the Indian nation. The Indian Presidents function in a role not unlike the role of royalty in England. Gifts from other nations are received by the President of India. State dinners are hosted by the President of India. Many of these important, albeit ceremonial, events are highlighted in the museum. The museum, therefore, puts forward to the public important information into how the nation of India functions.

Above: President's Bodyguard Silver Trumpet Ceremony representation. Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum, New Delhi, India. 15 December 2019.

Earlier in this diary, during our visit to Kohima, Nagaland, I discussed the long standing regimental tradition of the Indian Army.. There, Drums got a chance to meet, and be photographed with, Sargant Kumar, of the 14th Assam Rifles, a unit proud of its role in defeating the Japanese, at the Battle of Kohima, in World War II. The regimental tradition of India's army extends beyond the founding of modern India, in 1947, to the Indian military when it functioned under the authority of the British... going all the way back to the 18th Century. Here at the museum, Drums poses at an exhibit of another proud regiment of the Indian Military: the very, very elite President's Bodyguard (PBG).

The President’s Bodyguard (PBG), as it is known today, was raised in 1773 at Benares by the then Governor General, Warren Hastings, with a strength of 50 handpicked troopers. This unique body of selected troops, in over two centuries of dedicated service, has played various roles as mounted and dismounted cavalry and more recently as mechanized and airborne troops. The President’s Bodyguard has completed two hundred and forty two years of distinguished service. It is the senior most unit of the Indian Army, whose distinction, is its position as ‘Right of the Line’ on all official and ceremonial occasions. The PBG thus, takes precedence over all other Regiments and Corps of the Indian Army.

The cavalryman’s life is woven around the calls of the trumpet giving it pride of place in unit traditions and ethos. The prestige of the unit is further enhanced by the trumpet banner it carries. The PBG has the unique distinction of being the only military unit of the Indian Army, privileged to carry the President’s Silver Trumpet and Trumpet Banner.

The Silver Trumpet and Trumpet Banner Presentation Ceremony is one of the highlights of each presidency. The ceremony is a gala event held at the Forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan and is witnessed by a large crowd including dignitaries of other nations.

The ceremony begins with the Regiment falling 'On Parade', with the troopers in their impressive ceremonial attire mounted on their splendid steeds. On arrival, the President inspects the Bodyguards. Subsequently the Parade forms a 'Hollow Square' and the President presents the Silver Trumpet with the Banner to the Trumpet Major.

In recent times the Silver Trumpet and Trumpet Banner Presentation Ceremony is followed by an audio-visual presentation covering the saga and the present day role of the PBG. Another highlight of the ceremony is the display of traditional equestrian skills including trick riding and tent pegging. Musical Ride showcases the bond between the rider and the horse at its finest and is a visual treat to watch. (Excerpted from Rashtrapati Bhavan website).

Above: Image of General Sam Manekshaw. Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum, New Delhi, India. 15 December 2019.

Speaking of the Indian military, General Sam Manekshaw (left), led India to victory over Pakistan in the second war between the two belligerents, 1971. TIMDT and Mwah met General Manekshaw and his wife at a cocktail party at the New Delhi Oberoi Hotel in 1973. We accompanied Royina and Ajit, Bishop's boss, to the event. Manekshaw made the cover of the Asian edition of Time Magazine (then widely viewed as a credible news organ) in 1971.

Above: Jaya, one of six person working group which set up this museum, explains Rashtrapati Bhavan kitchen exhibit. Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum, New Delhi, India. 15 December 2019.

Also present in image, Mohan Narayanaswamy, owner Travel Scope India, organizer of twelve TIMDT initiated Indian visits (including this one) of her friends and family over the last fifteen years.

https://www.travelscopeindia.com/

If you don't use Travel Scope India on your Indian tour, you may see the Indo/Pak border ceremony at Atari, but you won't get the absolutely best seating possible, enabling the best view, including into the Pakistan side. You will see the Siva Hindu evening ritual at Varanasi from a boat in the Ganges, but not from the only boat with an elevated platform and a comfortable chair. A guide will take you through the fabulous Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum, but likely your guide won't be one of the museum creators. You probably won't even find a tour company that will organize a VIP seat at India's January 26 Republic Day Parade on New Delhi's Rajpath. With Travel Scope, Mohan will take you to the parade himself...and on and on...too many examples of positively superior India tour management by Travel Scope India to enumerate here.

We are so fortunate to have a relationship with Travel Scope India. India. By a quantum level, the world's most fascinating travel destination, orchestrated for us by the gold standard for India travel, Travel Scope India.

Above: Praveen Langham. Senior Travel Agent, Travel Scope India. Oberoi Gurgaon Hotel. Gurgaon, India. (Note: Koessler not in image as he had to go home early... after the Varanasi visit).

Praveen sees to our successful departure after another fabulous, just fabulous, Indian tour.

Our Indian visits: Mohan sets the standard; Praveen makes it happen.

All our city guides and handlers were terrific. Special shout out to Cyrus' suit and tie team in Lucknow, the most earnest and "try hard" group of guides I've seen in a long time.

Cyrus' team is a metaphor for today's India: aspirational, earnest, spiritual, and hardworking.

India is not without its problems: sectarian tensions, entrenched bureaucracy; despite a three hundred million strong middle class, there are hundreds of millions of poor and illiterate Indians. Because of her size and diversity, India just seems plain unwieldy. But, there is an aspirational quality in India that differentiates it from increasingly disintegrating and dispirited Western Culture. Chaotic as India is, most Indians, inspired by their spiritual, religious, and patriotic underpinnings are trying to better themselves by learning and working hard.

There are questions, particularly with the implementation of India's new immigration laws, about whether the playing field is level, equally accessible to Indians of all religions and creeds. We'll see. But for the most part, Indians aspire... they work towards a better economic future for themselves and their families. They have dynamic, culture driven faith in a better future. It's one of the reasons we like to go to India so much...to be buoyed...encouraged about mankind's potential to uplift... to be insulated from the whiners.

India is far away... out of site, out of mind, as they say. But, one cannot discount the potential impact of a growing, aspirational, free, culture moving forward into a world where the prospect of tyranny seems to be on the upsurge.