Adventures in Gujarat

After being just one of many, many tourists traveling through Rajasthan, I wanted to venture somewhere off the beaten track. So I chose Shatrunjaya Hill in Palitana, Gujarat, home to India's biggest Jain pilgrimage site. I didn't know what to expect, but I figured a bunch of temples on a hill in the middle of nowhere couldn't be all bad. Brendan had his doubts, but went along with it (wonderful husband that he is).

The main problem was that we were going to have to do a lot of traveling in order to reach Palitana. We left Udaipur, Rajasthan and took an overnight train into Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat, where upon disembarking we promptly boarded another train four hours south to Bhavnagar.

At this point we were still an hour's bus ride away from Palitana, exhausted and dirty, and decided to rest for the night before continuing onto our final destination. The hotel we splurged on was a whopping 1400 rupees (we usually pay 500-700 per night), but it was clean, boasted an "internet center", and our room came with cable TV.

Except that the cable TV didn't work. After a few minutes of fiddling unsuccessfully with unidentified wires, I gave up and called the front desk. Here's how it went:

"Hi, our cable TV doesn't seem to be working, " I inform the voice on the other end.

"Hmm, ok, someone will come up and check," he answers.

Several minutes later, some random man walks into our room. He doesn't knock, he doesn't call out, he just enters. Granted, our door wasn't locked, but still. I could have been naked.

"Jesus Christ, you have to knock before you come in," Brendan scolds him.

"Yes, hello," he answers, completely oblivious.

He fiddles unsuccessfully with the same unidentified wires. It's clear to all three of us that he has no idea what he's doing. He leaves.

Silence.

"Is that guy, like, coming back?" Brendan wonders aloud.

I call the front desk again.

"Hi, someone just came to our room and tried to fix the cable TV, and then he left. Is he coming back?" I ask the same voice on the other end.

"Madam, there is a festival today so no cable TV," the voice answers with a trace of annoyance.

"What?"

"A festival here today. No TV."

"Why does the cable TV go off if there's a festival in town?"

"Madam, there is no TV. There is a festival."

"Ok, but then why was there a man in our room trying to fix the TV?"

"Yes madam," and he hangs up.

Several minutes later, Random Man walks into our hotel room again. Without knocking. Brendan freaks. I freak. Random Man either genuinely can't understand what we're upset about or is getting some sort of joy out of pretending - hard to say. Maybe it's a cultural thing, this staff-walking-into-hotel-rooms-without-getting-permission-first business, but I can't imagine any other woman wanting Random Man walking in on her naked, either.

"The man at the front desk said the cable didn't work because of a festival. Are you trying to fix the TV?" I ask him. No response.

Random Man produces a remote control from his pocket (identical to our own) and turns on the TV with the power button. The screen shows fuzz. He smiles, gestures to the set, and turns to leave.

"No, no, it's the cable. It's not the remote. The remote is fine. It's ... see? The cable, there's no picture, you can't watch this... it's not... um..."

Fuck it.

An hour later, I can't find the internet center, so I return to the front desk, laptop under my arm.

"Hi, where's the internet center?" I inquire.

I swear to god I see him smile a little. "No internet center, madam."

"There's no internet center here?"

"Yes, but it's not working now."

I'm so tired I can't even get mad. Brendan and I order room service (they try to come in without knocking, but we're hip to the game by now) and call it a night.

In the morning, we're rested and ready to continue on to Palitana. We approach the front desk to check out. There's a new guy on duty.

"1400 rupees," he says nonchalantly.

Brendan calmly puts two 500 rupee bills down on the desk. "Since there was no internet and no cable TV, we are going to pay 1000 rupees for our room."

"No!" The guy panics. He dials a number. The phone in an empty office next to us starts ringing.

"Yes. Goodbye." We leave the money and start walking out.

"No! Sir! 1400 rupees! Come back sir!"

He's yelling at us, but making no move to stop us. We hail a rickshaw to the bus stop. I feel like I've just robbed a bank and gotten away with it. It's quite a rush. I briefly consider becoming a kleptomaniac. We leave Bhavnagar in a cloud of triumphant bus dust.

------

There's not much going on in Palitana aside from the Jain temples, so we drop off our backpacks at a much simpler hotel and head straight for the action.

Turns out that to reach the temples, you must first climb about five billion stairs. They aren't steep, there are just five billion of them. Brendan wants to kill me about an hour into it, but to his credit he keeps climbing. We pass a number of pilgrims who have paid to be carried up and down the hill. It's tempting, but I still have my pride. Eventually we reach the top.

The Shatrunjaya temples really are exquisite, no doubt about it. There's almost a Disneyland quality to the way the architecture rises up out of nowhere, and the details are outstanding. We take a lot of pictures and watch Jain pilgrims pay their respects to their gods (no photos allowed inside, though). Even though this part of Gujarat is kind of bleak, at least in the winter, the views of surounding waterways are neat from way up high.

And then we run out of things to do, not actually being pilgrims and all, so we walk back down the hill. Both of our legs are shaking by the time we get to the bottom. I feel bad. We shouldn't have come so far out of our way for a few hours of stairs. It's not that Jain temples aren't interesting or that I wouldn't recommend Shatrunjaya to you, I just wish I had thought this road trip out a little better.

The next morning, we spend all day in buses getting back up to Ahmedabad. It sucks. In two days we have a flight out of Gujarat and into Goa, the state best known for beaches and parties and sun. Hooray!

-s

Comments

[Jeffrey]

Wow! Those pictures are amazing! I would love to travel around like you guys are doing. I'm going to start planning. ;)

[John]

It seems stairs are your enemy on all your trips. Those people should of built things closer to the ground. :|

I'm gonna use "Festival Today" for an excuse from now on. Sorry to hear you had no cable or internet but the whole story is hilarious.

Have fun at the beach.

-John-

[Liana]

Wow - I'm proud of you guys, making a run for it! :)

[Rick]

Great story. Love everything about your blog. Well, uhm, except the new font you're using... It blends letters together on my screen :(

[Ed]

Talking about being naked - you're probably going to see a lot more naked American tourists in Goa than anywhere else! The place is apparently gorgeous, but also very, very, very infamous for tourists being ripped off and such.

Also, I'd recommend keeping a very careful watch on all your belongings, in the room and on the sand; and being wary of cameras / cameraphones being pointed your way. Enjoy the beauty, but don't let someone else walk away with some, er, freebies.

I've been reading y'all talk about how "they don't get what you're saying". That is true, and this is why:

# "They" are in awe of your accent
# "They" are trying to keep pace with your accent
# "They" form the sentence in their native language first. It then comes out their mouths in English. The proficiency of the translation varies from person to person, and is largely dependant on how well they're educated, and how confident they are in speaking to a stranger.
# Translations are a hard art. Retaining the integrity of the original spoken and unspoken word is a lot easier said than done. Multiply that effort a few (hundred) times for someone whose only exposure to English is quite possibly the fleeting look at the nightly news. Then factor in that this monumental effort has to start and complete in the duration of you asking a question and him / her being required to respond.

See why you get a "Yes madam" for most things?

The solution is to be visual and to use obvious keywords. For example - "Where is the Internet center?" could've easily been "Where is your computer?". "Why is my cable service out?" could have been "TV not working. What is going on?"; and so on and so forth.

For most of "them", the levels of service that you're used to - over and above the basic service of a made bed and a maintained restroom; are somewhat extraneous. Thus, they don't "get what the fuss is about", when you complain about the cable TV and the apparent absence of the Internet center; festival or not.

Yes, its not really fair to the traveler; especially for a hotel that allows reservations by non-Indians. I'm not trying to justify their behavior - just explain it to you so that you can understand what makes them tick, and how you can make the most out of every situation you've volunteered to be in.

Once again, I can't stress on the potential perils of Goa enough. Be very careful. Lying on a beach with hundreds of other (topless) tourists sounds wonderful, I'm sure. I hope you get to your next destination with the same sentiment about Goa.

[Joseph]

Hey Sarah,

Isn't it funny how no matter what country you visit, there is always a mammoth set of stairs waiting for you? :-) Thanks for another great update!

Joe

[theodat]

Olivia Munn is hot

[Wendy]

I lived and worked in Chennai India for 4 months in 06. M-F was for work but weekends we spent travelling the country and getting to know the local ways very well. Customer service is definitley something to appreciate in North America! While reading your "cable" story I could picture the man coming to your room wearing a dusty buttone down shirt and pants probably shoeless or in plastic old flip flops looking at you with a puzzled look while he bobbled! Gotta love the bobble! The nicest people I have ever met and I can't wait to go back!
If you ever do return I highly recommend: Andaman Islands (Havelock Island and Barefoot Resort), Mamallapuram (gotta visit Ali at Moonrakers for the biggest prawns you will ever see - The even have nutella!!), Taj Kovalam in Kerala (ask Jason - the best driver ever - to take you on the backwater tour which takes you down tiny little canals and into the homes and lives of the locals while they make coconut rope etc.)
Amazing - Truly loved your podcasts and my 9 yr old is now planning his around the world trip!