The Temples at Khajuraho

Naked God 

Village Life

Making Chippates

Sound an Light Show

Dinner: Chicken in Tomato Gravy and Vegetable Biryani

A few thoughts about Delhi. It is in a very hopeful mood. National elections are coming up next summer and everyone had been expecting Modi a right-wing Hindu nationalist to sweep into power. The Congress Party founded by Nehru as been in almost continual power since independence from the British and is plagued by issues of corruption.

Delhi like Washington DC is both a capital of the country and a governmental unit itself. A new anti-corruption party and Delhi Chief Minister (the head of the Delhi Government) Arvind Kejriwal has everyone talking about his anti-corruption drive. People are very hopeful. His political party: Aam Aadmi Party (translation: Common Man Party) surprised everyone by sweeping to power. This has upset the election hopes of Modi and there is a possibility of real reform in India.

On the plus side the Metro Subway is a gigantic enterprise. Many lines are complete, and many are simultaneously being built. This is a much more ambitious project then in Los Angeles. Everywhere there seems to be Metro Construction. The existing subway lines recently opened are very busy, very cheap, and very much used. All our drivers and guides say they take it all of the time themselves when they aren’t escorting guests. It is the fastest way to get somewhere. You come out of a station and it easy to grab a very cheap Auto-Rickshaw (tuk-tuk) to take you to your final destination.

The existing traffic is horrid, I can’t believe driving in Delhi (or anywhere in India). I would be dead in 5 minutes or less. There is constant lane changing, honking and traffic tie-ups. Cars, trucks, beggars, tuk-tuks, motorcycles, and occasional elephant all slowly creep ahead. Everyone seems to just accept that is the way it is.

The only thing worse than the traffic is the air quality. Delhi on the banks of a river is notoriously foggy, combined with the air pollution you can’t see very far at all, just a few blocks. It is quite unhealthy and irritates our throats.

In spite of the traffic and air, Delhi is an amazing city with an incredible history. We have truly enjoyed our stay.

We flew to to see Khajuraho to see rhe Khajuraho Group of Monuments. These famous temples are often spoken with a wink and a nod. The reason is they are the erotic temples with sculptures of all kinds of sex acts. We didn’t see these temples but will tomorrow. Today was visiting a Jain Temple Complex. Jainism is a religion that is found mainly in India. I never met a Jain in the US. They don’t eat anything grown underground (potatoes, garlic, carrots, etc.), are strict vegetarians and also usually business people. Many of the monks are always naked.

The temples were carved with statues of voluptuous women. No wonder the monks were naked, when you were around such beautiful sexy women. We were assured the women represented beauty not sex, but to be frank, that is not how I viewed it.

We walked around the very poor village of Khajuraho, not much to report exectept the cast system is alive and well in India, no matter what you hear. The high-class Brahmins live together and have their own water pumps that are for their exclusive use.

This is an area that has only two economies, tourism to see the temples and agricultural (wheat and Rice). There are lots of ponds and hence lots of mosquitoes. We heavily doused ourselves with bug repellent in hopes of avoiding Malaria, Denge fever, etc. Hopefully it worked.

After a bottle of wine we headed out for a nighttime sound and light show at the main Temple Complex. Although it was long, and cold, the structures are amazing and we look forward to visiting them tomorrow am. We then head to Orchha, for my temples. We have been pre-warned the hotel isn’t up to our standards, so I am not sure it will even have wifi. Woe is me.