Winter Break Part 5: Don't confuse my endurance with hospitality

I know that I have neglected my friends and family by not publishing any posts recently. School has just started up again and things are crazy. Hopefully I'll finish this post in a reasonable amount of time and not have to worry about it any more. You know things are bad when Becky starts leaving comments on your blog to update.

Anywho, I am avoiding what I should be doing...



Most of the remainder of my vacation was quiet and uneventful. I read, slept, cooked, and walked for most of it. Somewhere in there I was able to finally convince dad that he needed to come for a visit. Somehow he was able to procure a passport and visa in about two weeks. How exactly, I don't know but props to him for that. So, I headed down to Delhi to pick him up at the end of January. I couldn't go into the airport because of heightened security due to terrorist threats but I wore my bright yellow Woodstock jacket and hoped he would follow my directions and find me outside. After waiting for about 1.5 hours and a bit of jumping up and down to get his attention I was finally able to give the old man a hug after 6months.

I had our trip planned out (well, my travel agent did) and we had an early train back north early in the morning so we headed back to the hotel and rested for a bit. That morning we headed to the station and after a bit of confusion we got to our platform and waited for the train to come. We even ran into some fellow Woodstockers as we waited for the train to come (late).

Our first stop was Haridwar, or specifically, Rajaji National Park. I had stayed there last spring during one of our breaks and really enjoyed the camp and thought dad would to. I soon found out, however, that the agent didn't book the camp I wanted. I guess there was something about a fire at the other one and they were repairing it. The one they brought us to was a couple of British built bungalows from the 18somethings all redone and made relatively comfortable.











Now, Haridwar is one of the holiest cities in all of India. This winter it was especially true. Every 12 years Haridwar hosts the Kumbh Mela. A city that is already packed with people starts to sprout tent cities along the river and it really is just a huge gathering of people. Dad and I, however, were there to relax and being tucked away inside the park, we did just that. There was plenty of hot chai to drink, safaris to go on, and sun to soak in while you read. The nights were freezing but I was more annoyed by having to deal with dad's snoring. I managed to get used to it soon enough (thank goodness) but I still didn't sleep very well. After my initial confusion as to why I wasn't at the camp I had requested I settled down and allowed myself to enjoy what was there.

We had another train to catch that would take us over to Amritsar in Punjab. I had set it up so that the taxi would take us to the train station in plenty of time to make our train. The train left at 2.30 so I wanted to be there by 1.45 and being in the park it took a while to get to the station. I asked for the taxi to be there at 1.00. When 1.00 came I was assured that the taxi will arrive shortly and that we should have some lunch. Lunch came at 1.30 so we ate and waited some more. By now I've gotten anxious. I hate traveling enough as it is but start giving me late taxis and I get nervous. Our taxi finally arrived at 2.05 and I was miffed. I was about to tell the driver to forget it and try getting there some other way but he assured me that we could get there on time. Sure enough he got us to the station at 2.25 and I curtly took my bags and found a porter to take us to the train. You know that you're in trouble when a porter looks at your ticket and starts to run with your bags. We made it but had to literally jump on the moving train. I wasn't sure if dad was going to make it but he got on a few cars behind me. The ride was relatively uneventful aside from the begger children that would board at each stop. We got in to Amritsar late and made a beeline for the hotel.

The next morning we got up and had a nice breakfast down in the hotel's dining room. We hired a taxi to take us around and spent the day going to the Golden Temple, massacre sites, and the boarder ceremony. The Golden Temple was phenomenal. I would put it way above the Taj on places to see. There are no lines to deal with and the majority of people are far easier to deal with. The boarder ceremony was a lot of fun. Indian and Pakistani troops get all dressed up and have a very systematic ritual of retiring the colours and closing the gates. There is a huge dance party on either side and lots of fancy marching and high kicking. India's side was by far more packed and lively.










We had an overnight train that would take us to someplace near our final stop on the tour, Dharamsala. After a frightful taxi ride in the wee hours, we arrived at our hotel at 7.00 in the morning and promptly went to bed. We got up in time for lunch and again took a taxi around to various sites. Of course, we would have been fools to pass up seeing the Dalai Lama's temple and went there first. Unfortunately, he was not at the temple at the time of our visit but we did get to see lots of monks and even a museum or two. We spent our time seeing various sites important to the Tibetan community and had a tremendously good time. I really enjoyed this city. It is by far my favourite part of my entire winter break. Personally, I don't think Mussoorie has anything on Dharamsala. It was just absolutely gorgeous (even if it was covered in hippies).













After another overnight train and early morning taxi we made it home to Mussoorie. I crashed while dad skyped with Cindy. Later that night we went into the bazaar to see some places and to celebrate dad's 65th birthday in proper fashion at the Tavern. That week I had to start work so I was stuck in meetings throughout the day and dad spent a bit of time at my place just relaxing. He got out a little bit to visit the scout office in Dehradun and we made it to the top of the hill and out to Flag Hill (even if he only made up half way).






Alas, it could not go on forever and that following Monday I walked him down the ramp one last time to catch his taxi to Delhi. It was a tearful goodbye but I think we both had really enjoyed the visit and would have liked to see it extended a bit. A cold front was definitely coming in that day and it started raining not long after I got back home. It was cold and quiet for the first time in weeks.

whoa

Ok, so I can't get to bed yet so I'll share this as it seemed to make quite a stir when I posted it as my status on facebook.

If I have an infinitely long sheet of paper and on the left side I start listing all of the natural numbers (positive integers: 1, 2, 3... etc) and then on the right side I write down all of the positive even numbers (2, 4, 6... etc). Which column will have more numbers?

I was listening to the show Uncommon Knowledge on my favorite NPR station (WGLT) when they were discussing this. It's not often that I get my mind blown but I'll say this was one time (another when I was a little kid and realised that what I see as green might be what you see as purple or grey and there's no way for us to compare). I highly recommend that if you're ever in Illinois in the Bloomington-Normal area you change your dial over to 89.1 FM for some great jazz and NPR programming during the week and blues (and Car Talk!) on the weekends.

Fond Memories...

Recently, I was reminiscing about camp and that got me thinking about all the things I like about it. The warmth, the staff, the kids, the games, meeting the international staff. Most of all, though, I think my favorite thing about camp is the skits and songs at the campfire. There's something about watching people getting up there and either giving a beautiful performance or making a complete ass of themselves and then getting up and doing the very thing yourself.

Camp friends are great.

A veteran campfire leader.
(And incidentally, the man coming to visit in a few days.)

Another veteran leader.

I love getting up there and making a fool of myself.

Perhaps in the future I'll post some of my favorite skits and songs.

Considering how late it now (I keep going to bed later and later) I'll just give two poems that I have heard recited often at campfires. The first is "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert W. Service. As you read through it you really get an eerie feeling about you. Now, picture an older man with a gruff voice reciting it from memory in front of a crackling fire as the stars flicker overhead. Granted, it might be better suited for a Klondike Derby but the effect is striking.

The second is Rudyard Kipling's "If." It has to be my favorite poem. I started reciting for the scouts at the closing campfire to sort of give them something to think about as they go back home.


The Cremation of Sam McGee
by Robert W. Service

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.
Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole, God only knows.
He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;
Though he'd often say in his homely way that he'd "sooner live in hell".

On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail.
Talk of your cold! through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail.
If our eyes we'd close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn't see;
It wasn't much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.

And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,
And the dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe,
He turned to me, and "Cap," says he, "I'll cash in this trip, I guess;
And if I do, I'm asking that you won't refuse my last request."

Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no; then he says with a sort of moan:
"It's the cursed cold, and it's got right hold till I'm chilled clean through to the bone.
Yet 'tain't being dead — it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;
So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you'll cremate my last remains."

A pal's last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail;
And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.
He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee;
And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee.

There wasn't a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven,
With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid, because of a promise given;
It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: "You may tax your brawn and brains,
But you promised true, and it's up to you to cremate those last remains."

Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.
In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load.
In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring,
Howled out their woes to the homeless snows — O God! how I loathed the thing.

And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;
And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;
The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;
And I'd often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May".
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;
Then "Here", said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;
Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;
The flames just soared, and the furnace roared — such a blaze you seldom see;
And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.

Then I made a hike, for I didn't like to hear him sizzle so;
And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow.
It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don't know why;
And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.

I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;
But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near;
I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: "I'll just take a peep inside.
I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked";. . . then the door I opened wide.

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;
And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: "Please close that door.
It's fine in here, but I greatly fear you'll let in the cold and storm —
Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it's the first time I've been warm."

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

If

by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Now just imagine a guy going out to sing camp songs with an accordion. Gosh... I really need to practice that thing.

On a side note: Dad has finally gotten everything together for a trip out here. I'll be going down to Delhi to pick him up on Saturday. I've organised a trip to see Rajaji National Park, Amritsar, and Dharamsala (home of the Tibetan Government in Exile). I'll be gone for a week but you can expect to see Winter Break Part 5 when I get back.

Winter Break Part 4: You're not going to get a roast beef on sourdough or a pastrami on rye in this Delhi

The train trip to Jaipur was relatively uneventful. We got in to Delhi around 11 and promptly found a taxi to take us to our hotel. Considering our first night in Delhi a few nights ago Kathryn decided that she wasn't about to put up with that for two more nights and changed reservations. To be honest, I was grateful. Sure, shady hotels with dodgy clerks and whatnot is all part of the excitement of traveling to strange lands and all that jazz but I really wouldn't have said no to a real mattress and a down-filled duvet. And wouldn't you know it, that's exactly what I got. We went down to the Nehru Place part of Delhi and stayed at the Intercontinental. Now, when I first arrived in India Woodstock put me up in the Centaur Hotel not far from the airport. Supposedly it's a five star hotel. It's nice enough but the fountains are dried up, the elevators are shaky (they ones that run), and half of it is partitioned off for 'construction' that's been going on for years. If that's a five star, then the one we stayed at was easily ten or fifteen. I must say, it was nice to be pampered.

Well, there wasn't much to do when we got there besides shower and go to bed. The next morning we booked a taxi for the day and went to a few different places.

First up was the Bahai Temple, more commonly known as the Lotus Temple because of its shape. Its a very beautiful place to see and you can hardly believe you're in the middle of Delhi except for a few run down buildings that peek out between the trees. You get a brief introduction before you're allowed to enter. They tell you that it is a holy place for any who wish to come and meditate. They ask for complete silence and no photography as you enter. It's kind of entertaining to watch families with small children get ushered straight through. I think I actually saw more adults talking than little kids. If you're planning on going and doing a little meditation might I recommend a small cushion? All of the benches are stone and not the most comfortable places to rest your butt.



Afterward we headed over to Humayan's Tomb. From the pictures below you'll be able to easily see how it was used as an inspiration for the Taj Mahal. Also pictured is another smaller tomb on the same grounds along with a mosque.

Humayan's Tomb

The mosque.

The smaller tomb.

To round things out for the morning we went to the India Gate. The structure was erected as a memorial to the men who served in The Great War (WWI). Click on the last picture to enlarge it and you'll see some of the names.




Finally, we went to Jantar Mantar, an old observatory built by Raja Sawai Jai Singh of Rajasthan. He built a total of five such observatories. Honestly, when you first come in you feel like you stepped into either a weird art sculpture garden or a playground. Anymore, I suppose you could consider it to be either.

Remember that odd looking structure from my last post at the Wind Temple in Jaipur? Does this one look similar? Turns out they're both gigantic sundials.

I'm not sure what this one does.

All of this, of course, had taken place on New Year's Eve. If you haven't noticed already, this trip was not the most planned of expeditions. That said, when we got back to the hotel that afternoon we figured we should probably figure out what we were going to do for the night. After chatting with the front desk we decided to just stay at the hotel as they promised a rocking party with a DJ at the bar. Well, around 10.30 or so we headed down to the bar got ourselves some drinks and snacks (prawns to die for) and proceeded to watch the other 18 people sit and eat as well. The DJ started playing some Hindi songs and from my seat I started doing a few dance moves I picked up at last year's staff talent show. The hotel staff particularly enjoyed when I started dancing with the song Bachna ae Haseeno, a catchy tune but it's no Benny Lava. It wasn't until about 11.50 or so that we went out on the dance floor. Kathryn and I ended up dancing with a few older Indian couples (one man ended up dropping his drink three times) and a bunch of Germans. Some of the staff came out and joined us and we danced until 1 or so. The Germans invited us back to their room to continue celebrating but when we went back to our own to freshen up first we crashed.

Good thing too. We got up early the next morning to do a bit more site seeing. First up was the Qutb Minar. The site contains a gigantic minaret, which also happens to be the tallest stone structure in India. There are other structures around the site as well.

We weren't the only interested visitors exploring the ruins.

This was the beginnings of another minaret that was to be as large, if not larger than the one already constructed. Unfortunately, it didn't get beyond the very beginning stages.

This is the Iron Pillar of Delhi (clever no?). It piqued my interests as a chemist as it is of almost pure iron and has stood exposed to the elements for over 1500 years with very little oxidation. Scientists are baffled as to how such purity was attained so long ago. There's also a folk legend that says that if one can stand with their back to the pillar and wrap their arms around it, then their wish will be granted. Unfortunately a fence now stands around it.

After some time there we went to yet another tomb. I tell ya, those Mughal emperors sure liked to build tombs with style. I think only the pyramids of Egypt can rival these as the ultimate final resting place. Honestly though, I couldn't tell you whose tomb this is. By this time we were tombed out and really just ran though the motions.





That afternoon Kathryn and I made a trip to the Red Fort. I didn't take any pictures there because, honestly a lot of it looked like stuff we had seen before. Probably the most interesting part was getting there. Our taxi stopped part way and we took a bicycle rickshaw in the remainder. Even then we only got so far. We used the subway (just a walk way underground, no trains) to get to the other side. We had to hop a stream of smelling, flowing, brown gunk that I'm really afraid to ask what was in it. Dodging post card sellers and 'certified' tour guides we got tickets and toured the fort. There was an immensely popular weaponry exhibit but that was the most exciting part that we got to see. I have the feeling that we really didn't get to see a whole lot of the fort. The place was huge and we only spent a maximum of two hours exploring. There were a few obviously colonial buildings that we didn't even get close to.

We retired to the hotel early that evening and prepared for our respective trips home. Early the next morning I caught my train and headed back up to Dehradun. I only arrived two hours late and missed my taxi. (Apparently I made out better than Kathryn though. She had a weather delay in Delhi that caused her to spend the night in Munich, miss her flight in Frankfort and not get home until the 6th (we left on the 2nd) and she lost her bags.) Luckily there's a taxi stand nearby so I got a cab and headed home. The first thing I did was to take a deep breath of the clean mountain air.

A few days later as I was walking home I saw this site of the valley below. The sprawling metropolis of Dehradun was overtaken. It literally looked like an ocean down there.

It's good to be back home.

I like the colours in this one better.

On a good note, Dad finally committed to coming out here. He's gotten a passport and is going to get a visa in Chicago on Monday. Hopefully, he'll be here within a week or so. I can't wait to go see the Taj again!