A Bus Adventure and Other Stories
By Hannu Berghall

Location: Gujarat State, India
Date: 06/14/00

So; I left Varanasi with a train on the 13:th of May, heading for Gujarat State. Gujarat is situated between Rajastahn and Bombay/Mumbai, and so is frequently overlooked by most travelers who don't even make a stop-over there, much less explore the state. But I wanted to see some of the things mentioned in the Lonely Planet guidebook and so, 36 hours later, I stepped out on the platform of state capital Ahmedabads railway station. That was not a very interesting town, and the few mosques there worth seeing I saw in a couple of hours, so I left already next day for Palitana, the small town at the base of Shatrunjaya hills. Here, 3000+ steps lead up to a gigantic temple complex, built by the Jains. Here an explanation would be in place:

There are not only Hindus in India, although they are the majority. There are also Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Zoroastrianists, Christians and Jains. The Jains number only 4.5 million out of India's population (that is now even officially over 1 billion), but their influence is much greater then their numbers. Generally, Jains are very successful in business and social life, and one of their main good deeds is to build temples for their "thirtankars", or teachers, of which there has been a total of 17 (correct me if I am wrong) over the years the religion has existed. In their temples there are one or several white marble statues of these teachers, seated in a lotus position very much like a Buddha, but not with Buddhaâs sleepy eyes. Instead they have staring eyes made of shiny metal, glued (?) on the face of the statue. The Jains are also very strict vegetarians and there are actually Jain monks that are so afraid of harming any life that they cover their mouth in order not to swallow even a fly by mistake. Some extremely orthodox monks even reject using clothes, but then they always stay inside the walls of a monastery...

That about Jains. So I started to climb up the steps, after having rented a robe to wear at the foot of the hill (no bare legs or arms allowed), and after having read the sign promising that there are "more then 862 temples on the hilltop" (There is 863). After 1 hour I arrived to the top where there is indeed one of the most impressing temple complexes I've ever seen: The Jains surely build the most beautiful temples in India! Fine details, good craftsmanship.

After having come down my knees hurt from the up and down walking... And I thought of Adamâs peak in Sri Lanka with its 5000+ steps that I had climbed only a month before. Still, I had one more hill to conquer, as you will see...

I then went to Diu, a small 13 by 5 km "big" island. Just like Goa, this used to be a Portuguese colony until 1963, when India re-took it in a short, unnecessary "war". The Portuguese, since long time no more a world power, would have been only too happy to get rid of the island, but for some reason the Indians had to attack and bomb the airport there. Seven Indian soldiers lives wasted, all for an island they could and would happily been given... Politics... Today, a monument in Diu town commemorates the heroes.

Anyway, the good thing about Diu these days is the free flow of alcohol- there are no taxes, and so a beer costs about a third of what it costs in many other Indian states. The state of Gujarat, that surrounds Diu on the mainland, is a totally dry state, with no bars nor alcohol shops (Diu is actually not part of Gujarat but instead a Union territory under Delhi administration, therefore the possibility of cheap alcohol there-just over the bridge from Gujarat and the mainland). But to take any alcohol with you to the mainland and Gujarat is forbidden: the police searches everyone's luggage (admittedly not very thoroughly) when one is leaving the island. This results in heavy drinking taking place amongst some Indians visiting the island: the fact that Gujarat is a dry state doesn't mean people stop drinking. For instance, I once saw in a restaurant a man sitting alone drinking one of the oh so popular really strong beers here in India; one in the same category as beers named "Knock out", "Punch" and whatever they call them. His own money seemed to be finished, because he asked the couple at the next table to buy him his next beer, and since he didn't seem to be drunk or wasn't in any way annoying, they did so. After having emptied half the new bottle in a few minutes he thanked them by puking on the floor in between his and their table...

Diu itself is, as I said a former Portuguese colony, but hasn't got as much to remind you about it as does Goa. A few churches that are either falling apart or as in one case is converted into a hospital, that's about all. But there are some decent beaches, a nice fishing village at the western end of the island, and wall surrounding Diu town and a few other things, and I explored the island one day on a rented moped. Went around it twice and had lobster-colored arms and legs from the sun...

I then went on to Junagadh, where I was supposed to once again climb up steps, this time more than 7000, up to some more temples on hills. Oh, why did the Indians prefer to build their temples on hilltops? Well, no pain no gain I guess, and maybe some god up there will be happy I made it... I made a few drink stops on the way up, and thought of the poor sellers carrying the stuff up here on their backs every day! No wonder they charged a little extra for the Pepsi... I couldn't help feeling a little bit disappointed at the top, finding only a half-meter high statue of a Hindu god up there, surrounded by three high sadhu's asking me to join them in their smoking session. Well, the clouds were breaking up and the views were good. On my way down I had a chat with a modern Bombay guy aged 22, who wanted to know what kind of tablets I was taking to get so big calves, what soap and body spray I used, what workout I did to stay so fit, how well equipped "my" gym was... He was surprised I didn't do any workout at all, he was convinced everybody in Europe did it-he had read that in a magazine! Well, carrying a backpack is enough to make anyone fit, I reckon...

In Junagadh I was also treated to something that has never happened to me anywhere else in India. As I said Gujarat state is very little visited, and probably because of this, people are very friendly towards you as a tourist. Even the guys that are normally the tourists worst nightmare: The rickshaw drivers (And you who have been here know how annoying they can be!), were nice-I even got two free rides in town!

Yes, Junagadh was very much my favorite town in Gujarat, also because the architecture in town, the easygoing people, the calm atmosphere, the friendly hotel owner who let me use his private computer for internet. No internet cafes around... Too sad though that the Sassan Gir lion sanctuary was closed for counting the lions. As with the rhino, there is an African and an Asian version of the lions too (no big difference but even so), and I would have liked to see them here in their last wild place in Asia...

I then went to Jamnagar for no other reason then to visit the temple currently holding the world record for chanting. They started on 1:st of August 1964 with saying "Sri ram sri ram jaj jaj ram" in various melodically ways, and they are still going strong, night and day... A sign in the temple announced it now being 13076:th day in a row they were at it... Quite a thing to see the crowd of 30 or so people in the temple going on, while a few of them played on Indian instruments to accompany the chanting...

The whole town is very proud of them being in the Guinness book of records for this slightly, at least for western eyes, crazy reason. It also seem to have grasped some of the inhabitants and spurred them to new fantastic deeds. When walking towards the temple several people had stopped me and without any questions just pointed and said "the temple is this way". One of these men who stopped me turned out to be a record holder himself: Very proudly he explained to me that since two years back he held the current world record for floating in water; "36 hours with arms and legs tied together". Amazing, I thought to myself, what an extraordinary achievement...

Then it was time to get real far out from it all: To Bhuj in the Kutch or Kachchh desert, and close to the Pakistan-India border. According to the Lonely Planet, the surrounding villages to the north are well worth a visit, and the necessary police permit was said to be free. But: the same day I was at the police station to get the permit they told me that from that day on a permit costs 300something not even the previously visited Tourist Information had had a clue about. The villages might be well worth a visit, but not 30.. Instead I went to a village south of Bhuj to see what it and the local tribes people were like. The women are almost as colorfully dressed as the women of Rajastahn, and I had a nice day, talking to shop owners and passersby and customers, smiling at the tribal folks and town dwellers alike...

And Bhuj itself wasn't such a bad place, with a nice palace and adjoining museum. The ongoing draught in Gujarat had emptied the lake in the center of town, just like it had done in Jamnagar with the temple, and so it wasn't as picturesque as it could have been, but anyway...

Also, food in Gujarat is very delicious due to the Jain's vegetarianism. A Gujarati thali is a gourmets feast. Thali's might be known by you as the food of the south (of India), where they are very common. Basically, it is a metal plate (or in simpler places a banana leaf), with a heap of rice, 3-5 vegetable dishes in smaller heaps, a few chapati breads and maybe a little something more-i.e. a sweet or some curd. In Gujarat a thali is never served on a banana leaf (no banana trees in Gujarat), slightly more expensive then in the south, but it's better tasting and most vegetable mixes taste slightly sweet. I had one almost every day while in Gujarat...

Also unique for Gujarat are the black Indians, called siddis; a subdivision of the untouchables (the cast system still exists in India with the untouchables being the lowest on the scale, doing menial labor like cleaning the streets, butchery etc.). India and Africa have for 100:s of years have a big trade between them, and not only did Indians move to the east coast of Africa like Kenya Tanzania and Uganda; black people were also brought to India (probably as slaves although I haven't read anything on the subject). Even today they are not mixed with the Indians but clearly look like Africans, the only thing being they are since generations Indians. One of the bigger immigrants groups in India, I'm sure, India not having very much immigration...

It was time to leave Gujarat and I did so on a bus to just across the border into Rajastahn, where I went to the cool Mt Abu, Rajastahns only hill station. With a temperature much cooler then the plains below one could walk in long trousers. But I was the only white face: the only other tourists were HOARDS of Indian honeymooners walking up and down the streets and down by the lake, going hand in hand and in pairs to popular sunset points were they meet about 200 other pairs looking for privacy... Or having their photographs taken by the lake in the center of town by one of the street photographers. If one wants to, one can then have the photo manipulated so that the two faces are hovering in the clear blue sky above the picturesque lake; or why not have your two faces smiling in an empty champagne glass? Quite kitsch, I thought. A few times I was asked to join people (never couples though) in their photos-something that only happens in a non-touristy area. I wonder though, what happens to the photos later? Is it really exciting to show a photo of a westerner to your friends and family and explain that "when I went to Mt Abu, I met this Swedish guy by the lake..."? However, Mt Abu does have something worth going there fore (apart from escaping the heat): one of the best temples in India, also a Jain one. Not 863 of them, only two that are really outstanding, but never ever have I anywhere in the world seen suck marble carvings! Too bad photography is forbidden since 6 years back, though...

My plans then were to go to a few more places in and around Rajastahn before ending in Delhi a week later, but instead I met such nice people in my first stop Udaipur (which I also visited in 1994), that I ended up staying there a week. It was low season, many hotels were closed and even more restaurants so, I didn't re-see anything I saw in 1994, instead I sat on the same rooftop restaurant day after day playing chess, cards, talking, eating, relaxing... One day though, Kenyan Jan showed me how to ride a 350 cc Indian Enfield Bullet motorcycle, and with me at the steering wheel we went about 20 km west of town, on narrow roads up hills and through very small villages. A nice ride and a nice day, and I also learned that a new bike with some extra equipment and new front wheel with more powerful break costs less then 20000Something to contemplate for my next trip here... On a bike one really gets to not-so-visited areas, and I must say I envy Jan and al other bikers for that. Well well, next time...

I took an overnight bus here to Delhi, and only 5 hours before departure it turned out that Aussie Steve from the Udaipur rooftop restaurant had booked himself on the same semi deluxe bus. We had both paid 220 rupees instead of cheaper 200; we both wanted to manage as much sleep as possible on the bus in order not to arrive half dead in Delhi 12 hours later. Departure was at 6 PM, and together we took a rickshaw to the bus company's office. No bus at 6 and the Indians hanging around started to drop off... Soon our 2 tickets were changed for 2 new tickets, and we were shown around the corner to a bus that didn't look much like a semi-deluxe bus. But we were in good mood and only laughed at having been tricked on board a crappier bus then we had paid for. "It's India", we said to each other. After all, it was low season and maybe "our" company didn't have enough passengers for their bus? Turns out the seats would not recline, and the sign outside the bus company's office promising "no video no music" (knowing what western tourists dislike) was wrong-although the radios volume wasn't annoyingly high. Also, the original fare for the bus was 175 rupees, so the bus company had cheated us off 1 US . But the bus was leaving and we were still laughing about it all between us... Some of the Indian passengers (the rest of the bus) were getting grumpy though... And al during the night more and more Indian passengers got more and more upset. Not only was this not the promised bus people had originally paid for (we all seemed to have been fooled into this bus from various bus companies), it was also much slower then the bus that was first promised taking 12 hours. This was a 17-18 hour trip, and some passengers would now miss important appointments. For instance, a young girl explained to us two that she had exams in Delhi at nine next morning. A man was shouting at the driver at every stop, and the crowd was getting very irritated. The only two calm people were me and Steve. True, if I would have been alone on the bus, I too would have been swearing and sweating over the issue (for no other reason than the fact that I hate being fooled; not because it was important for me to arrive in Delhi at a specific time). It was a good experience though; makes one realize that it is not only we white people that are being cheated here in India, as many backpacker tend to think. It happens to everyone, Indian and foreigner alike. Dog eats dog, as they say...

And now I have been to Delhi for more then a week, getting visa for Pakistan and investigating where to go next. Soon I will leave for Himalayas and the mountain cool in the north of Delhi, and after a month it's Pakistan. Then we will see if I can make my dream come true and get into Afghanistan ö Maybe, just maybe, "With a little help from my friends" as Beatles sang... More about that in the future!

All the best to everyone!
Hannu

Read more of Hannu's adventures.