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| Lunch at Devigarh |
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| Sas Bahu Temple Complex |
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| Defaced Statue with Nose Destroyed |
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| Akhtar and his Father |
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| With our driver, friend and brother: Vijay |
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| True Bliss |
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| On Restaurant Patio, our James Bond Moment |
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| The Palace at night from the boat returning us to The Lake Palace Hotel |
We started our day driving about 45 minutes outside of
Udaipur to visit the Sas Bahu Temple complex. This beautiful Hindu Temple was
vandalized by the Mughals. Their brand of Islam prohibits the depiction of
the human form. So when they conquered this area the defaced the beautiful
statuary by destroying the noses of the faces. That is why so many ancient
Hindu statuary has damaged faces. The structure itself is quite beautiful. The
intricate carvings depict stories from the ancient Indian myths the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Almost any Hindu would be able
to look at the carvings and understand the story behind them.
Our guide, Rohet, was excellent as explained
what we were looking at. This temple is no longer active because of the vandalism.
We could photograph it and walk anywhere we wanted throughout the structures.
We next went to the active temple complex of Eklingji.
This is the royal temple complex and is an active Temple: no shoes, no sox, no pictures.
Our guide bought us garlands to give as offerings to the gods. We walked in to
the complex to experience the music, chanting and prayer. Worshipers passed before
the idol praying and leaving their offerings to the Gods. We all sat down
before the idol and prayed. If my prayers are answered, we won’t have to worry
about Trump anymore and Apple stock price will increase. The form of Hindu
worship is very personal, although there are Brahmin priests dressing and
taking care of the idols they do not lead the attendees in ritualized prayers.
I love the chaos of India that then transforms itself into the sacred space of
the Temple.
From the Temple of Eklingji we took a short
drive to Devigarh Hotel . We have stayed at Devigarh previously, this time we were just
going for lunch and to meet up with our friend Akhtar.
Devigarh is a beautiful hotel property. They
basically gutted a decrepit palace and rebuilt it. From the outside, it looks
old and worn down, from the inside it is like a modern hotel. This is NOT what
the Lake Palace is about by the way. The Lake Palace, where we are staying, has
kept all of the old craftsmanship and has been updated in a way that did not
destroy the original. More than any place we have ever stayed The Lake Palace
is like stepping back 350 years (while still having wifi – but no central
heating).
We try very hard to get out of the standard
tourist bubble. We know we are staying at very exclusive hotels and are
sheltered from the “Real” India, we jump at any chance to truly mingle with the
people. Akhtar lives with his wife and two small children in the small village of
Delwara adjacent to Devigarh. We met him as an unofficial guide to Delwara
years ago and have maintained a friendship over the years. After a walk around
the village, he took us to his home and offered us some snacks. His father is a
retired policeman, and although he looks hearty he has health problems. In
this age of Islamophobia, it is very special to have this devout Muslim who
goes to the Mosque 5 times a day share food with 2 Jews in his house. He is without a doubt
one of the warmest people I have ever met. He doesn’t speak English but the look in his
eyes and the way he embraces you tightly is an exceptional experience. He stood up and then wrapped turbans around the heads of the two of us. Visiting
with him, however briefly, is definitely one of the highlights of our trip. Akhtar
told us that because of his health problems he has been very depressed and the
thought of us returning to see him really brought joy back to him. We hope they
can find the right solution to his father’s illness.
From Delwara we drove back to Udaipur
(certainly the most beautiful city in India). Our guide has a family member who
has a textile store and we went to meet him at his store. Usually we avoid that sort of thing
but this time it was the real deal. We must have spent 2 hours shopping and
drinking tea and just talking. It was very enjoyable, and not that expensive!
We returned via boat (of course) to The Lake
Palace for drinks and to meet a tailor that was coming over for another fitting
of a coat I was having made. It is amazing, the tailor comes to you, you don’t
go to him. Guests are not allowed in The Lake Palace (only customers spending
the night), so he was restricted to only entering the lobby, there I tried on
the jacket for a 2nd fitting. This time the fit was perfect. He departed
with the jacket and will ship it to us in America - won’t have to lug it
along with us.
We had drinks (as you will soon find out, a
martini for me – shaken not stirred) and then departed the hotel for dinner.
Although the restaurant we were going to was only a short walk (uphill) from
the pier, the hotel arranged a liveried driver to take us to the restaurant and
return us to the pier at the conclusion of the dinner.
The dinner turned into a rather James Bond-like
experience. At the restaurant we ate on the deck overlooking Lake Pichola and
our Hotel. The James Bond movie, Octopussy,
with Roger Moore was shot in Udiapur with many scenes filmed at the Lake Palace
Hotel. Earlier in the day, we had by accident met a man, who knew a man, who
had a relative, who said they could exchange our rupees for us. We agreed to
meet on the terrace at the restaurant. I had an envelope full of now worthless
1000 rupee notes. Mid-way through the dinner, Cathy mentioned that the person
who ever he was, we had no name for him, had not shown up. Then almost on cue,
a man appeared and said “I believe you have an envelope for me). He sat down
and started to count the money in the envelope. It felt like something out of
Bond movie, as we sat on the deck with this total nameless stranger. While he
was counting the money, the manager of the restaurant came over and told us it
was illegal to have this money. I thought we were going to be arrested or
something. However, we explained, somewhat vaguely, the situation and when we
brought Trump into the conversation, the manager, smiled as we discussed our
politics. The nameless man departed with our money, the manager left us alone
overlooking our hotel and our driver picked us up to take us back across the
lake. No sightings of Octopussy happened on our short voyage. I had a final Scotch
and we went to bed. Since we already have figured the Rupees were worthless, if in
fact they actually do get converted, to treat the money received as found money
and donate it to our favorite Indian charity. We will see what happens.
