Essentialyogastudio's Blog

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Cow Sanctuary
We were talking about the sacred cows of Bikaner and the history behind it.  I told my guide what my friend said in Pune; that once the cows/buffalos got too old to be useful they were sold to Muslims for slaughter.

Maybe that happens in large cities like Pune and Mumbai where people have lost their faith, but that would never happen in Northern India.  Here we have veterinary hospitals and sanctuaries for them.  When they get too old they go to the sanctuaries so they won’t die alone.  Some are blind, deformed, sick, some are dying.  If they can walk, they walk the fields.  If they are blind, we put a male and female together so they can comfort each other.

Each morning I get up my wife makes chapati. The first one goes to a cow.  Every morning a large bull knocks on our door with his horns.  We open the door and give him his chapati. We give the second to a street dog.  Only then will we sit down to eat.  Almost everyone in Rajasthan is a vegetarian; we understand the value of life.

The small streets of Old Bikaner
An old woman is asking my guide for money. There is a brief spoken exchange then he takes money out of his wallet and gives it to her. I watch, conflicted.

I tell him all of my guides have told me not to give money to panhandlers, that most can work and are lazy.  A number of guides were annoyed at me for giving money to them, and told me I was feeding the cycle of laziness and poverty.

They told me how mothers make their children look especially pitiful and make them walk the streets to beg. By giving money, I was encouraging mothers to continue this practice. These children will never go to school and the cycle continues.

He looks very seriously into my eyes and tells me, “Here in Rajasthan, everyone works very hard. If you don’t, you cannot survive in the desert.  There are very few beggars here because of this. If they are begging here, it is because they have no other choice.”

You need the skills of a master yogi to maintain balance in the bathroom of an Indian train.

This is a definite “You’ve got to be kidding me” moment. I could have simply taken a 2 hour plane ride to Agra, but I wanted to the experience the Indian countryside passing by from the windows of the train.

I expected the platform to be crowded, crazy, and potentially unfriendly. It was. What I didn’t expect was a claustrophobic, windowless compartment that I had to climb up and crawl into.

9 hours to go….

to describe Varanasi.

It is everything.

Beautiful, ugly,
celebratory, sorrowful,
spiritual, depraved,
explosively noisy and deeply peaceful.

It is everything.

Somehow I expected this town to be a small, quiet town filled with monks and pilgrims.  It is that, but it is also a crazy place filled with people asking you for money, selling things, shops, people pushing past, man powered rickshaws whirling past, colors, noise, all pushing you toward sensory overload.

And then this little boy about 7 comes up to me.

Boy: Can you buy me a bat and ball?
Me: What?
Boy: A bat and ball?
Me: Really?
Boy: Yes please.  Where are you from?
Me: The USA.
Boy: Do you speak Thai?
Me: No
Boy: Do you speak Chinese?
Me: No
Boy: I speak English, Thai and Chinese?
Me: How did you learn all of those languages?
Boy: “I learned from the monks. They come from all over.  One monk teaches me each time he comes to visit.  I miss him.  I feel it in my heart…” He touches his heart.

He continues to tell me about his life and how much he studies while directing me toward the store to pick up his ball and bat.

Me: How far is it?
Boy: Not far, over there.
Me: What is your name?
Boy: My name is Vikram.
Me: I have a friend named Vikram.
Boy: Now you have two.
Me: I think you are a genius
Vikram: Nah, I’m not a genius.
Me: I think you are!  I think when you grow up you are going to run India!

He laughs.

Me: Are we any closer to this shop?
Vikram: Yes, Yes, it’s right over there.  See.
Me: Ji ha.

He asks for the bat and ball and out comes a complete cricket set.

Me: What?!
Vikram: Please.
Me: Yes, How much?
Store owner: 700 rupees.

This pint size kid is carrying an entire cricket set home. I’m worried someone will take it away from him so I offer to walk him home. My guide Rashid starts to freak.
Rashid: You can’t walk him home.
Me: Why?
Rashid: He can take care of himself. He got you to buy him an entire cricket set, didn’t he?
Me: He is still a kid and I want to walk him home.

Maybe your mom can make me some tea, I say to Vikram.

I think my guide is going to faint.

Rashid: I advise you not to walk him home.
Me: Why, you’re here.
Rashid: It’s not advisable even for me.
Me: Oh.

Vikram sees his mom and runs over. I go over to meet her. I tell her that her son is a genius. She smiles warmly.

Goodnight Vikram. He waves.

We started at 5:00 a.m.The jungle road we traveled.

Nightjar on the road

The Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary is a located in Kolhapur, Maharashtra.  It is known as the bison sanctuary.  The Indian Bison (Bos gaurus) is beautiful!  I was so taken aback by how big it was, I couldn’t get my camera up fast enough to take a photo.  It has a white nose, white legs up to the knees and it was almost as big as the jeep I was sitting on.  The jeep and my guides

A missed photo opportunity of the Indian Bison

Me on a jeep…no surprises there.

The sanctuary is also home to the rare and globally threatened Nilgiri wood-pigeon (Columba elphinstonii). I captured a mediocre photo of this lovely bird.  I also saw mongoose, night jars, barking deer and the infamous giant red squirrel!  Nilgiri Wood Pigeon

Some mongoose.

I took photos of an Indian Leopard foot print and asked if I could hike off-trail to look for it.  The answer was a resounding, NO!  Indian Leopard footprint

 View from a ridge       A butterfly hitchhiker

My original plan was to go to the Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary, about 3 hours from Pune, and stay overnight in or near the sanctuary. My friend/driver Vikram told me he could take me to a much better sanctuary and asked if I wanted to go.
Of course!  Do you know a place to stay?
Vikram: Yes.

I assumed the sanctuary would be reasonably close by but since this was an adventure, I didn’t ask any questions.  I was just there for the ride. We stopped for a snack 3 hours in, and stopped again for tea 2 hours later.  At this point he tells me we are still 2 hours away. I burst out laughing.

We finally come to a stop in front of a small building.

Me: Is this where we are staying?
Vikram: Yes.

He goes inside and talks to two men. I stand and listen to them chat in Marathi.  Vikram motions me to follow him and shows me a small, empty, dark room with a large bison skull on the floor.  Then we go back to the office and the men continue to talk.

Oh my god, I am going to sleep on the floor next to a large bison skull!

Vikram turns and says to me, “This is a sanctuary. It is government housing.  We can stay here but if anyone comes in the middle of the night we will have to leave.”

I burst out laughing again, I can’t stop laughing.  The two men and Vikram are just looking at me. But this is the funniest thing I have ever heard and I just can’t stop laughing.

Vikram: Should we take the chance?
Me: Of course, why the hell not!  How much does it cost?
Vikram:  We are not supposed to stay here.  The cost is 600 rupees plus tip for letting us stay.

I give him 1200 rupees.

Vikram: And we have to be out by 5:00AM.

Laughter.

We walk away from the bison skull building and walk to a little house at the end of the driveway.  The guard opens the door and the rooms are wonderful!  There was only one problem.  One bedroom.  Vikram left and slept with the bison skull.  

So it was just me and the carpenter ants. I made a deal with them, if they stayed on the floor, I promised not to squish them.

They kept their end of the bargain and so did I.

Not to wear earplugs to bed, 500 hundred dogs started fighting outside my window. 😀 

Note to my more literal friends…it probably wasn’t really 500 dogs.