Tom’s travels to Southern India

Mumbai – Bombay, India

I had made my first trip to northern Indian in 1990.  My second one was a 2 month journey to southern India one year later. I arrived in the third week of Jan. in Bombay or Mumbai as it has in the meantime been renamed. It is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and is the most populous city of India.

Bombay Landmark – Gateway of India

This monument to commemorate the visit of the King and Queen of England in the harbor is known as “The Gateway of India” as it would be the most prominent thing one would see upon arriving there by sea.It is one of the most known landmarks in Mumbai if not all of India, aside from the Taj Mahal. It was a lively place to hang out, always full of Indian tourists, street sellers, shoe shiners etc. Most of the vendors had their wares in a suitcase or on a cloth, which they could close quickly or grab together and run when the police made their periodic sweeps.

Rather than the mounted telescopes one sees at points of interest in much of the world, here the telescopes were carried around by the Bombay locals who would swarm around you pestering you to use THEIR device. I doubted their scopes were any good but at least they had something to put it on. My good camera tripod had gotten damaged during my flight.

The airlines said it was no problem to get compensation, I just needed to drag it around with me the whole time and take it back to Europe and present the receipt. Likely they would have then claimed that I should have settled the matter in India instead of months later – so I never bothered to file a claim. I considered to just throw it away but kept it in the end yet hardly used it.

Harbor view of the Gateway of India from boats

The harbor there is a major Bombay transit point to many water reached destinations but also popular for sight-seeing boats. It was a lot less hectic to see the harbor area from the boat. Seems there were a lot of big fancy hotels in that neighborhood. I believe the one to the left of the picture is the Taj Hotel, one of the main targets of the big 2009 Mumbai terrorist attack. Strange to see that the attack started at the Leopold Cafe. This was a popular hangout for many westerners including myself in 1991, as it was 2 doors down from the hotel where I first stayed! I changed after a couple of days as there were renovations going on creating not just noise but the occasional show of plaster falling from my room ceiling.

Gharapuri – Elephanta Island

I also caught a boat from near the Gateway over to Gharapuri better known as Elephanta Island. This is a popular Bombay excursion. The attraction there is the intricate cave temple, which took an hour each way and 2 hours at the site. It was a climb of many steps up to the cave and I had been scornful this western woman who had hired porters to carry her. But by the time I descended, my own legs were shaking from exhaustion. There was another small island we passed on the way back to Bombay that is said to have a nuclear research and production facility. One wonders what would have happened if the terrorists had attacked it with the same level of success as their other targets.

Bombay Zoo

I took these photos in the Bombay Zoo, which is also situated in the Victoria Gardens. Respect for animals’ lives is instituted in Hindu culture. Even snakes and rats are somehow holy. But as the population increases, the wildness that shelters many of Indians amazing animals is disappearing. The zoo seemed a rather sad replacement and for me was a more interesting place to observe people than the animals. So many people living in a concrete jungle like Bombay that the zoo was a place of freedom where one could sit under shady trees and relax a bit from the chaos outside. The bus to the zoo went through a predominately Muslim neighborhood. Was a beautiful blue mosque there, situated across from what appeared to be a Jewish cemetery.

Gulf crisis; anti-war sentiments

The big event on the world stage during my trip was the first Gulf War, which had stared a week before I arrived. There were many demonstrations and protests in bombay. Many were against war in general rather than just anti-American like most of the ones I had recently witnessed in Germany. Not that I was for war but I thought it strange for Germans to yell about the US after having said little to nothing about Sadhus provocations which lead up to the conflict.

As Saddam heated up the conflict by hitting Israel with scud missiles, a German politician had the courage to openly state his shame that Jews were facing the threat of gas attacks with chemicals made in Germany. This strongly made the point that German industries had supplied much of Iraq’s military hardware. The slogan “no blood for oil” was pretty much on the mark but the continuation should have been “but we want the oil anyway”. I believe the following 3 photos are actually from Hyderabad rather than Bombay but they are very representative of images I saw in Bombay and throughout this trip.

Anti-Americanism

There were plenty of anti-American sentiments as well. India has tens of millions of Muslims who were pretty riled up about the situation. But even many Hindus, who had recently had their own violent conflicts with Muslims, were against the US. Seems they saw it as a case of the big bully Bush ganging up on a small country like Iraq and America’s support of their enemy Pakistan is never overlooked.

Obviously, I didn’t advertise that I was American especially when approached a couple of times by guys who said, “Hi, if you’re American, I will kill you!” I even had my hair cut at a barbershop for 10 rupees but started to reconsider my decision when the barber insisted on shaving the back of my neck with a straight razor. Turned out that a few westerners did get murdered in India during the war by people who assumed they were Americans but none of them actually were. Not all of these images were taken in Mumbai but I chose relevance over location to include them all here.

Conspiracy theories popular in India

I actually saw a number of churches in Bombay, legacy of the colonial period and it caught my eye when I saw another street seller offering a book that claimed that Jesus had traveled for some years in India, after having actually survived the crucifixion. It mentioned that when the Portuguese arrived in India, they found that there had already been Christians there for 500 years but none had ever even heard of the pope. Supposedly Saint Paul had been in a shipwreck and evangelized his way through India. Not sure if anyone had spotted Elvis eating a curry somewhere recently or not.

Searching for Parsi temple

A popular sight in Bombay is the hanging gardens and something unusual – the nearby Parsi temple that I looked for in vain and gave up after getting blisters. The Parsis leave their dead on the roof tower of the temple for the birds to eat and I kept looking without luck for circling vultures and buzzards. From a wester perspective tis seemed pretty outrageous but from an ecological stand point maybe it is even better than cremation. From Bombay I had to decide where to go next and opted for a night train to Jalagon to visit the Ajanta caves.

Ajanta, river for laundry & brick making

There was a river running along below the cliffs where the Ajanta Caves were located. The villagers there were washing laundry. There was also a brick making facility. No building, just doing it all outside and putting them into a kiln. The oxcart seemed to be used for transporting bricks.

Ellora Caves

Day tripping from Aurangabad.  I rented a bicycle the next day to look around the town after first going to train station to get ticket for the following day to Secundebad after a planned day trip to the Ellora caves and the fort at Daulatabad. The Ellora caves actually had many free standing temples which seemed to be carved right out of the hillsides in one piece and were more prominent than the caves themselves. Both inside and especially out, there was more intricacy in the elaborate carvings. Done over many years there were both monasteries and temples – and both Hindu and Buddhist. I think there were around 29 cave/temple complexes and by the time I got through I was pretty much templed out!

Daulatabad Fort

The fort at Daulatabad was not so impressive on its own but the surrounding was spectacular with massive walls and moats for fortification and secret passages to waylay invaders.

Hyderabad – Mecca Masjid Mosque

The Mecca Masjid Mosque was also an impressive and extensive site located near the Charminar Monument.

Hyderabad – Osmania hospital

From a distance one would assume this was a palace or temple but it is actually the Osmania hospital. I didn’t go inside but have read that it is one of the biggest hospitals in India. The conditions are said to be rather shocking although they have extensive technology and services. But it is set up to provide care for the destitute, which is commendable but results in pervasive over-crowding.

Hyderabad Golconda Fort, Qutb Shahi Tombs

The main attraction in town is the Golconda Fort. I had taken my tripod along although it was damaged and as I tried to use it to take a picture, a guard came and aggressively said tripods were not allowed. He made me go to the office and gave me a lot of shit. I apologized profusely although I still don’t know what damage a tripod should cause. He continued on as if I were a criminal and should be fined and taken to the police. I finally just said “bullshit” and left but unfortunately without having seen much of the site. Thus I have just one shot of the exterior and one lousy one of the interior archways. About a kilometer from the fort was another spread out site known as the Qutb Shahi Tombs. I have just a panorama view of the site (below left) that includes 23 mosques, 40 mausoleums, a haman and some pavilions. This was built by and contains the remains of various local sultans.

Hyderabad scenes by temple

Walking around town I passed this temple but didn’t go in. Just liked the scenes of the priest coming out and the old guy eating watermelon.

I changed a traveler’s check in a bank in Hyderabad. Ahead of me, an Indian couple presented a suitcase full of rupees, then left and returned 15 minutes later with another suitcase full of cash. No idea what that was about. After I had my experience at the fort I tried to just relax in some gardens but people were constantly pestering me so I felt I was ready to move on.

Foreigners are constantly approached in India, not so much by beggars as one would expect but out of sheer curiosity. And the most popular subject is sex. If you are a western female, if you wouldn’t like to “have some”, if you are a western male, have you “had some already”. It’s all rather naive and annoying but the Indian society is curious and very sexually repressed.

I had wanted to take a night train from Hyderabad to Hospet but one had to make reservations days in advance so I got an evening bus to Bijapur, which was a nightmare. There was a lot of aggression at the chaotic station, seemed some buses were cancelled because of fuel shortages and I even saw people surrounding a prostate body but I thought it wise not to get involved.

Bijapur – Ibrahim Rauza Mausoleum

Bijapur in the mean time also known as Vijayapurahas has an old fort complex, old city and the following images of the Ibrahim Rauza Mausoleum. It is an extensive complex surrounded by gardens. There was a museum but it was closed. The city seemed very relaxed compared to Hyderabad, more people riding around in oxen drawn carts than cars. I rented a bike for the day to get around and felt relieved not to have to hassle with buses or rickshaw drivers. Did have one guy walk by and shout “Saddam Hussein” – guess he must have mistaken me for some guy named Hussein just like everyone in the Philippines mistook me for their friend Joe and the Indonesians for that “hey mister” character.

Bijapur residents friendly

People in Bijapur seemed friendly and this grandmother was proud to show off her grandchild. Some of my favorite portraits are from this area as people wore such colorful costumes.

Badami architecture

Most of the dwellings in Badami were simple mud-walled constructions very similar to the adobe dwellings of southwestern USA and Mexico. Their dark earth tones fit to the surrounding hills and were much more attractive than the cinder block construction common in the bigger cities.

Badami friendly residents

The people were also very friendly here, the kids often jumping in front of my camera to have their picture taken, which is such a contrast to the “Indians” of Central and South America who are very camera shy. In India, you take out your camera to make a photo of one person and suddenly you have a couple dozen wanting to be included. I have so many great portraits from Badami that it was hard to decide which to include.

Although Badami was great, the mosquitoes at my hotel were driving me crazy. With a couple of other tourists I took a horse-drawn carriage called a “tongo” to the train station to go to Hosapete, which has the nearest stop to Hampi. The horse was in very bad shape and looked like he would die on us. As our time was getting short the driver started to pressure us that we should give him more money – as if the horse’s condition was our fault. I felt sorry for the animal but felt he should give us a discount for the inconvenience if we would miss our train.

Hosapete & Hampi

Upon arrival in Hosapete, I got approached by a guy who asked me where I was from and when I said Puerto Rico he scowled and said he would have killed me if I had said America. Despite that, I stayed in Hosapete while visiting Hampi since there were no hotels there and I didn’t feel like trying to find locals to take me in, which some hippy characters told me is the way it is done there. I notice a lot of drugged out western hippy types who came to Hampi to smoke weed with the many Sadhus.

Hampi UNESCO heritage site

Hampi was the capital of the greatest empire in southern India and is now a UNESCO heritage site. Intricate temples and whole temple complexes still exist but most of it has fallen into ruins, which are scattered throughout the area. Some old temples have been squatted and used for homes, shops and restaurants. There are some great viewpoints looking over the whole Hampi valley. One temple had a “holy” elephant chained up inside. I felt sorry for him and took him bananas but had to be careful of the monkeys who just waited nearby for such an opportunity to snatch a treat. One of the most unique sites is a stone carved chariot depicted being pulled by elephants at the Vittala Temple complex. At another site in the area I saw a chariot made of stone mounted on wheels so it could actually be moved.

Virupaksha Temple

This is the Virupaksha Temple Complex, which has 2 temple buildings designed in a vertical pyramidal style. Many of the walls and ramparts are painted with red and white stripes.  I first encountered this architectural style here but it would prove to be popular farther to the south of India.

Hanging out in Hampi, beware of dogs

I stayed 5 days in Hampi just wandering around seeing the sites. Were a number of backpackers I hung out with including an American guy who got bitten by one of the many aggressive local dogs and had to go for anti-rabies shots. Most dogs in India lay peacefully in the middle of the dusty roads but some are very aggressive and come in packs. One should ALWAYS carry some good-sized stones in your pocket outside the big cities. An advice valid for many countries is that if threatened by dogs or monkeys, which can also be a danger, and you don’t see any available stones, just fake like you pick up and throw something.

I had intended to leave one day and managed to miss the bus having returned to get the soap I had forgotten. Funny I had seen TV in Hampi and there was a social service announcement promoting not only the washing of hands but to even use SOAP – as if this were a startling new idea… I did get out of Hampi the next day with my soap but also with some unexpected occurrences. All of which is continued on the page: Southern India-2.