थे लास्ट ट्रेन तो डेल्ही

The Last Train to Delhi

It was afternoon in Orchha when we arrived, checked in and took and walk around town. Orchha, like many of the places we have visited is a small town set among the ruins of a much larger, older empire. However, in Orchha the town is very small and the ruins very large. We walked first down into the main square. On one corner was an enormous old and brown Hindu temple, largely abandoned. The base of the temple is square, and on top were four tapering domes, the largest of which dominates the Orchha skyline. On another corner was the old queen’s palace, which has now been painted pink and covered in fairy lights. Today, it is an active temple and Hindu’s believe that Rama himself (an incarnation of one of the big three – Vishnu) lives and breathes here. As such, Orchha is another of the sacred places and has no shortage of incense, piles of bright powders on the footpath and painted, singing old men wandering the streets. Apparently the queen had a separate palace to the king because she did not approve of his daily hunting habits (not his six concubines), and after issuing an ultimatum, moved down the street. It is said that they met only once a year for prayer.

The main square is filled with sweets and fruits shops. The fruits stalls have quite some difficulty fighting off the goats, cows and dogs lurking just a round the corner to steal a banana. The king’s palace is visible just down the street.

After the main square we took a right and walked down to the river Batewa, another holy river in India (I asked about this, there are actually no ‘unholy’ or neutral rivers in India, but the Ganges and Yumna have special status). There is a single-lane stone bridge over the river that barley keeps the tourist coaches and tractors from tipping into the water. As we stood on the bride, the sun was setting behind the cenotaphs (tombs) that we would visit the next day.

For dinner we ate a family-run restaurant. I had absolved dinner ordering responsibilities to Mahindra, with the condition that it be spicy (as Indian cooks tone it down a bit when serving westerners). As a result, I have had some of my best meals in India on this trip. Indian food is spicy, but its not ridiculously so. In no dish, even the ones where I have asked for very spicy, has the chilli been overwhelming or dominating.

At a leisurely hour the next morning we went down to the restaurant for breakfast of fruit, muesli and porridge. From the restaurant the kings’s palace was just over the river, so we started the day’s sightseeing there. The main attraction of the King’s palace is not actually the palace, it is a larger structure behind his palace called the Jahangir Mahal. The Hindu kings that ruled this area fell in and out of favour with Mughals. Most of the Mughal emperors disliked the apparently belligerent and headstrong king, except for one, who received help from the Orchha king to stage a coup. To further ingratiate the Mughal king, the Orchha king built the palace for a single visit by Jahangir. The square fort with dozens of small, domed watchtowers and larger, blue-tiled domes, was apparently used for just one night and is the height of the beautiful, and arrogant wastage reminiscent of these kings. From the top of the fort, we could see over all of Orchha, over the temple in the central square to the river. Perhaps the main attraction was the vultures that perched on top of the domes and in the crevices of the watchtowers.

From the Jahangir we visited the King’s palace, which was in a greater state of disrepair, but still pleasant to walk around with some well-preserved paintings from the 16th and 17th century. We had some lunch at the family-run restaurant, which was again very pleasant, except for the two diseased dongs that hang out the front. After lunch, we returned to the centre square to visit the temple. It was wide and open. The inside of the dome formed a deep ceiling that echoed even the slightest sounds around the hall. I had seen some people walk up and view the city from one of the balconies cut into the temple, but on this occasion there was an entrepreneur inside holding the keys and charging people to go up. We didn’t go up this time, and it turned out to be a good decision, as the upper levels are locked for conservation.

We then walked along the riverside, to the location of the cenotaphs - the tombs of the kings of Orchha. There are many of these tombs sprawled over the countryside, barely peeking from between the corn fields and the unchecked grass, but five have been very well preserved. They are designed like the main temple, on a square base with a large, decorated central triangular spire. With the river flowing right beside them, the cenotaphs are a beautiful place to stroll around. They are impressive, but, as Kate says ‘it’s no Taj Mahal’.

A dirt path leads around the cenotaphs, on the banks of the river, and follows a small canal through the farming villages around town. Further up the path there was another small stone bridge and buffalo wallowing in the mud. All around there are ruined Mughal domes and hindu temples. Apparently there was once over 1000 temples here.

We walked back through the town, and up the hill to our hotel. The walk up the hill was always complemented by a procession of kids asking our names and where we were from, for some pens, or chocolate or money. Further up the hill is the last main attraction on the Orchha itinerary. The laxhmi temple was built on this gentle hill and looks oddly like the Victoria Terminus in Mumbai. In the middle of the triangular shaped building is a tower and a dome, carved a bit like a pineapple. Some very dodgy stone stairs led to the top of the dome, and offered some of the best views of old Orchha – the king’s palace and the huge temple, the river in the background and the cenotaphs to the right. Kate bargained out the front of the Laxhmi temple with a village woman and a man decorated by a crown of fluorescent, plastic flowers playing a wood-pipe. Her secret santa picked up a something in this transaction.

By this stage we were both exhausted of walking up and down cramped sets of stairs made for much shorter people and returned to the hotel to clean up before dinner. I had another spicy dish and Kate and I made for the hotel to watch crappy movies on cable TV.

On our second day in Orchha, we took a rafting trip down the river. It lasted only an hour, but drifting with the current of the river, paddling down the occasion set of rapids and watching the temples and jungle pass by between the boulders was a great way to see the town. The Batewa is reputedly one of the cleanest rivers in India (although the bar is not set that high). I swam twice in the river – once jumping off the boat and once at the end when we stopped for chai on the rocks. It seemed relatively clean, although I did get a weird itching on my bumcheek for the next day.

Lunch was the freshly made mutton I talked about in the last post. Following that, we spent the afternoon shopping and looking around. We packed and prepared for our last train in India – to Delhi.

Our tuk-tuk ride to Jhansi (the train station) was surprisingly entertaining. First the tuk-tuk broke down, in the freezing cold. Then, as we entered Jhansi, there were a series of wedding processions moving down the main street. In these processions, the groom sits on a horse and is surrounded by his family and friends dancing to trance music under fairy lights. The speakers are carried by a bunch of kids walking down the street and it’s ridiculously loud. Everything in India is public – from the people doing their morning business on the side of the railroad tracks, in full view of passengers, to weddings, which must march down the street in bright lights and loud music.

None of us slept well on the train to Delhi. The train was late and trying to catch up time by testing how fast the train could go without derailing. We still arrived in Delhi 2 hours late.

Delhi has become something of a second home. We know the suburb we are staying in quite well, are proficient with the metro and can locate the coffee shop. We did the walk through old Delhi again, visiting the Sikh temple, the Jama Masid and the spice market. In the Sikh temple we sat on the floor and ate lentils and chipatis, and drank chai, all cooked by the volunteers. The goat-sacrificing festival was on, and the Jama Masid was packed, meaning we had to wait quite a while before being able to go in. It is still impressive.

I was deathly tired in the afternoon, but we still managed to go shopping. Kate has bought some Indian-style Levis, we both bought some shoes and, today Kate has just had a haricut and her nails done.

We leave for Sri Lanka tonight, and hopefully, some relaxing and good surf.

Our love to you all,

Kate and Charles.