The Roadside Zoo

There is a free tourist attraction when you travel in India. It is called the roadside Zoo.

Indian Sikhs love the cow and worship it. The cows gather in groups and insolently travel through the streets and alleys, the deserted plains, the expressways. Sometimes they may even drop their "treasures" on the way. The Indian tour guide told us that if we stepped on cow dung, we would have very good luck! Dearest me! Before I could tell whether he was comforting me or teasing me, I had treaded on it, fresh from the oven.

I had believed that the cows were sacred beings that were cared for and free from toil. However, that was not true. That belief was the Sikhs. Their bulls had to plow the fields, pull carts and slog like a slave, but the cows's responsibilities were to breed. Same faces but such a different fate!
Actually, this holds true for all agricultural countries: the stronger domesticated animals all have to work.

The camel must be the most ill-fated along our journey. Those from Bikaner are more well cuilt and perform labour-intensive tasks like pulling bricks, building materials, food supplies etc. Those from Rajasthan are thinner and specialise as transport animals for tourists. Same camel, different fate!

We could occasionally see deer, antelopes, pigs, peacocks, dogs, snakes, monkeys, horses etc in the desert. It was a true roadside Zoo.

Sometimes we would see animal carcasses at the roadside. If the hide was valuable, it would be removed, leaving behind a naked carcass to serve as a buffet for other animals. We saw a group of crows circling a naked cow carcass. I guess the other animals suffer the same fate.
When traveling in India, we should make friends with animals. Otherwise, if you accidentally knock over a cow for dead, not only would you be reprimanded, you would suffer bad luck for life.

Actually, beliefs are held within one's heart. Serious car accidents can result from letting the cows have their dalliances on the road. That would cause harm to both the animals and the human beings. I really cannot tell whether is this "love"?!

Love is altruistic. Taking care of the cows at home and letting them be king is better than leaving them at the roadside to face threats to their lives.

Golden Sunset

It is Christmas day today, but Rajasthan does not have the habit of celebrating it. During breakfast, I still saw friends from America and Britain wishing each other "Merry Christmas". I am not a Christian, so I did not join in.

Today's tour guide is a local leader who is the tourism ambassador for the area. We were honoured that he was receiving us. He is extremely familiar with the culture and history of the area, and proficient in Italian, French, English and many Indian dialects. Forty years of age this year, he is born in the year of the Goat (1967). Being a determined and persistent person by nature, he gave many valuable opinions on which camera angles to take. His knowledge and service was first class.

There were four places of interest to visit today. One is a man-made lake built in the 14th century. It is an ancient reservoir that resolved potable water supply issues for the area for a few centuries. Of course, it is dispensable now. The guide told us that this area had ever been water-deprived for a decade until a big flood filled up the lake in 2005.

One of the doorways leading to the lake was built by the painstaking effort of a prostitute. As the caste system was quite obvious then, prostitutes had no status. Often worried that the doorway would be removed, a temple was built over the doorway and it is still here today. The ancients refused to walk through the doorway as they felt it was akin to going under a prostitute’s crotch. Now, the crowds throng through it.

The second place of interest was an ancient fort. The fort appeared to only have one access point, which belied the fact that there were many underground tunnels that led to other areas. The Mongolian troops had attempted to seize the city several times by trapping the denizens within but all the attempts failed. In the end, the Mongols had no choice but to conquer the faraway lands of Turkey and Afghanistan.

The place used to be a spice-trading route in the past, and also served as the main route of travel to Middle East, sharing its fame with the Silk Road. Later on, the spices and silk trade switched to using sea routes and this route slowly faded into the background, until it transformed into today's tourism spot.

The ancient fort has quite a few temples and is segregated into business and housing districts. It is said that around 2 to 3 thousand families had housed within the area. The ancient fort is built on a hill, with the higher areas developed into a hotel district as the beauty of the area beckons. There are three doorways to the ancient fort, each one of them meandering in such a way that you could not see one from another. This also serves as a form of defence. There are many paintings, cloth, antiques and many other types of art works, but you must bargain your way through.

The third and fourth spots were all mansions of past affluent people. The first was the residence of the ex-Rajasthan prime minister, which was built by two brothers who were professional masons. The design looks symmetrical until you look at them closely. It took 4 years to complete and their descendants reside within to this day. The front of the mansion serves as a tourist centre while the back serves as living quarters.

Another attraction was a five-storey apartment that took thirty years to complete. Currently, this grand house is under the partial possession of the family that owns it while the other part is taken over by the government and used as a cultural exhibition centre. The centre is of significant historical value and is definitely worth visiting.

The last attraction is the mausoleum of the old royalty. Sikhism requires that its believers are cremated after death and their ashes scattered into the sea or rivers. It is the same for the king. The mausoleum is but a memorial. This attraction has always been a crematorium and a location for watching the sunset. It only opens at 4pm. We arrived at 1plus, so it was fortunate that the driver had his way of getting us in so that we could take pictures and walk around.

I did not see the sunset yesterday, and I pined to relive the experience of riding a camel, so I spent a thousand plus rupees to see Rajasthan’s bewitching sunset.

Some things have to be experienced for ourselves. Watching the sunset in the desert is like sending off your beloved kin in a sea of sand. On the way back we saw large armies of soldiers. I had a sense of déjà vu that something major was about to happen.

The Golden Mirage

Bikaner is a crimson world, with all the palaces and mansions of officials carved out of red granite.

It took a six to seven hour drive to reach the golden city of Jaisalmer. It is actually pretty near Pakistan (around 80km). The buildings along the journey mostly consisted of army camps and high-class residences.

Once we entered the city, there were ancient castles everywhere. We checked into a mock-castle cultural relic hotel (there were like more than ten such hotels here). My wife and I had a semi-detached bungalow to ourselves, which was a little ancient but well designed. There seemed to be quite a flow of tourists here.

Once we settled down, the driver arranged for us to have a camel ride to watch the sunset. He told us that the dazzling sunsets here were a prime tourist attraction. I found his words hard to believe, but followed him nevertheless out of curiousity.

After a one-hour car journey, we reached our destination. There were indeed swarms of people there. We had to walk a bit further to book our camels.

I found it unbelievable that my wife and I had a camel and a camel driver each, with the latter instructing the camel’s movement. The camel’s strides were uneven, and we felt like we were riding on a massage chair.

After a twenty odd minute ride we finally reached our destination, but we had to wait another hour to view the sunset owing to the crowds, so we gave up in the end. The driver kept on trying to persuade us, but we insisted on returning to the hotel. On the way back, the rolling yellow sands and the golden sunshine lit the desert, making us feel like we had entered a Golden Mirage.

Tonight is Christmas Eve, and the hotel specially hosted a Christmas party for the tourist groups from France, US etc. Including a few lone travelers like us, the headcount was around 50. There was no Christmas turkey for dinner and the ball started with a traditional Indian dance, followed by disco music. As the music was quite retro, the senior French friends enjoyed themselves tremendously, whereas the youthful American friends slipped into their rooms for an early night.

The party ended before ten. I thought to myself, Singapore must be having a hell of a time celebrating Christmas now!

Rat Year - Tour of the Rat Temple (Karni Mata Temple)

There is a famous rat temple around 100km away from Bikaner. The intricate temple doors are carved out of blocks of white granite and embossed with many caricatures of white rats. The most unique are the carvings of a few black elephants, which form a stark contrast against the white rats. Two crouching lions guard the door, and devotees will caress them for good luck every time they pass through. I wanted to do it too, but discovered that a few of the rats were missing, as though worn down by numerous loving caresses.

Everyone had to remove his or her shoes at the main door. As I wanted to avoid feeling cold and the floor was dirty, I paid the photo-taking fee of 30 rupees and requested that I need not remove mine. The guard at the door told me that as long as I did not enter the hall, it was fine. Thank goodness!

Once we entered the temple door, we were welcomed by a whiff of rat droppings that nearly suffocated us. There were three halls that housed the principal deity of the rats, and my memory fails me when I try to recall his title. Every hall had long queues of devotees awaiting their turn to worship the deities.

The rats were housed in the left corner of the temple. It looked like there were at least a thousand of them and many devotees venerated them with offerings of food.

The rats in the temple do not step out of their territory, nor do they allow others of their own kind in. They said that if other animals like cats, dogs, snakes or rats tried to enter, they would be chased away by the resident rats.

There were two or three white rats among the horde. It is said that if one visits and chances upon them, you will have good luck. My wife and I had the great fortune of glimpsing upon them for a few seconds, so I guess we are in for good luck this Rat year!

The temple also has different legends to it. Boys in this area often die in their infancy, so the masses sought divine intervention. The Deity told them, "I cannot save your children, but I can let them reincarnate as rats, so that you may continue caring for them." As such, this temple was built. Ever since then, the boys in the area enjoy long lives and are imbued with the intelligence and wit of rats.

The Rise and Fall of a Great Nation

After having my breakfast at the loft of a villa at Mandawa, I said a reluctant goodbye to the wall paintings that adorned the place.

It takes just three to four hours to travel to Bikaner from Mandawa through Thar Desert. The blankets of sand that covered the skies were a resounding answer to my query as to why the rich and the noble of Mandawa forsake their resplendent villas for Mumbai.

Such a situation mirrors that of the Shan-xi and Xi-an provinces of China, where after long periods of sandstorms, the Song Dynasty shifted their capital away from Xi-an. Up to now, Central China and Henan's development are still greatly hindered by the issue of water supplies. Desertification often occurs at the foot of great mountains and spread their reach by the day. Currently, Beijing is also under siege by sandstorms, with underground water sources under great threat. Therefore, environmental change not only affects living things, but also the fate of a nation. If the world does not treat the problems of environmental change seriously, it is only a matter of time before they bring their own countries and people indescribable disasters.

North India is suffering from this right now, implicating its livestock and agricultural industries. If the situation worsens, they will have to resort to importing food from other areas.

I heard from the driver that temperatures here can reach up to 40 to 50 degree Celsius in summer and many humans and animals fail to survive this. As such they have to find water sources, with every well getting drier as the dig gets deeper. The weather changes and the unpredictable Bangledeshi and Indian rivers are flooded almost annually. I guess India can learn from China's South-to-North water diversion strategies.

In the afternoon we checked into a mock relic villa hotel, where there were only two rooms in one building. Three buildings merged into one group, and there were around ten of such groups. The surroundings were ambient.

We had a very young tour guide today called Mr Lucky. He brought us to the Junagarh Fort that was built in 1588, around the same era as that of China's Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasty (故宫).

This palace is built of red sandstone and white granite, and the handicraft is unparalleled. All the doors and windows are stone carvings that look like they are made of wood or bronze. You cannot tell that they are carved by hand, and they are made of pale red sandstone, giving one the feeling of superb craftsmanship.

Every wall painting of the summer palace is a work of art. Even though they might not be as luxuriant as those of the Vatican, but they are comparable, if not better, than many of Europe's palaces and churches of Europe. Many are made with pure gold or silver. All the inner and outer courtyards of the places are magnificent and unique in design. Other than that, there are some galleries displaying the intricate weaponry and articles for daily use in their past, all eye-opening records of the glory, rise and fall of a dynasty.

This palace was claimed by the current Indian government in 1950 and re-designated as a museum, attracting numerous curious visitors daily.

Do red walls represent imperial authority? I ever took two hours to wander around the grounds of Russia's Grand Kremlin Palace, which has stretches of red wall akin to that of China's Imperial Palaces. Junagarh Fort also has red walls.

Red belongs to the Water element, so it can only enjoy momentous glory.
You must visit this place. The interiors or the exteriors of the Palace and its layouts will leave you in awe.

Mandawa's Alfresco Museum

The car journey from Delhi to Mandawa takes around six to seven hours. After enjoying an Indian-style breakfast in Delhi's motel, we embarked on a journey in a made in India ambassador vehicle. It looks very run down but has a comfy interior. It was to accompany us for the next eight days.

The driver is a Sikh born in 1969, sporting a small moustache and married with four daughters. He lives near the mountainous areas of Nepal and has been living alone here while working as a tour bus driver for a decade. Due to his good command of the English language, he is mostly in charge of escorting Malaysians and Singaporean tourists.

My wife and I had a great chat with him along the journey, and learnt a lot about India's culture.
This trip took us across nearly twenty towns. India is teeming with people; watching them take a bus ride is akin to watching an action movie, with people packed to the brim on the vehicles, some even on the roof of the vehicle or dangling at its side! I guess this is a road that developing nations have to take.

On the way, we passed the black granite quarry, the red brick factories, and large plains of tea plantations. Although the scenery was breathtaking, but dust flew everywhere, so we had to roll up the windows and enjoy the air-conditioning.

Halfway, we met a large group of people sitting in the middle of the road, protesting about the local government shutting down their water supply. They stopped all the passing vehicles and peered curiously at us. I would have thought that we would need two to three hours to wait for them to dissipate, but we were lucky to find a shortcut and escape through the mess.

Later on, we dined at a suburb restaurant under the blazing sun. The temperature was around 16 to 17 degrees Celsius, a little hot, replete with houseflies. The meal, however, only cost us five rupees and was quite decent. When we reached Mandawa, we stayed in a cultural relic hotel which was previously a castle built in 1927. We were given a grand suite, complete with sofa, bed, bathtub, a rickety-looking cupboard, but lacking in television set, hairdryer and bedroom.

Mandawa is an ancient city with a rich artistic flavour, having previously been teeming with the villas and summer palaces of the royalty. The interiors and exteriors of the buildings are covered with intricate wall paintings. My guide is a painter himself of 30 years of age. He told me that the place is an alfresco art center, and also a haven of wall paintings that attracts many art and historical building enthusiasts. Later on he brought me to his own art gallery. This area is indeed impressive. I was deeply attracted and took hundreds of pictures.

The past glories are still reminiscent, but the persons have departed. Many ancient dwellings are so dilapidated that one only costs around three hundred thousand US dollars. I was really tempted to own one for posterity. Later on we passed by a small market filled with shops. I bought a pair of handmade camel shoes at a cobbler's that cost me around S$10 that were a combination of beauty and quality. As they were too small for my feet, the cobbler made alterations on the spot, and that really hit the spot.

If Mandawa wants to restore its previous glory, it needs to inject new funding to re-plan the entire town so that it can attract people to spend more than ten hours to travel here from Delhi. The relics and art left me with a deep impression.

Evening, we were arranged to have buffet at our hotel. As dinner was set at 7.30pm, my wife and I decided to go enjoy an Indian traditional oil massage first. The massage therapist said he was a gynaecologist, and indeed his skills were fast and seasoned. The massage drained away all the day's tiredness. They charged a thousand rupees (around S$40), tips two hundred rupees (around S$8). I think it is a handsome trade.

We had a sumptuous North Indian meal while enjoying Indian traditional music performance under the garden tents. As I had done geomancy consultations for various Indian restaurants in Singapore before, I had accumulated some knowledge of India, plus the fact that I occasionally bring friends to lunch over Indian cuisine, this buffet was mouth-watering to me. Such atmosphere can only be enjoyed during visits to Singapore's Istana, and never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have such honour!

Time and Tide waits for no Man

When the economy is ailing, many enterprises fight for their clients in all sorts of manner for survival. Once the situation reverses, all the special treatment vanishes and prices rocket. This is all because of the belief that if one doesn't reap all they can in the good times, the bad times will overtake them. As such, everything inflates in pricing but service quality drops into a bottomless pit.

SIA's prices have always been affordable. If you are a member of PPS, they will even make you feel like a king. Should you buy an economy-class ticket, they will upgrade you to business-class; if you have a business-class seat, they will upgrade you to the first-class, giving you the royal treatment every step of the way. However, once the situation improves, fair treatment ensues, although there will still be some specials, but it is pretty unlikely that a business-class flyer will be upgraded to first-class. Forget it, we can still be kings when there is an economical downturn!
I am pretty used to such changes, especially so when one has seen it and done it all. Of course, there is still some unhappiness!

Way's geomancy service pricing has not been adjusted in a decade. Its final adjustment was in 1996. Back then the economy was roaring and many could accept the pricing, but when the situation flopped later on, Way maintained its original pricing and raised its service standards, acquiring ISO 9001:2000 and upgrading its software to generate bilingual reports for clients.
Now that the economy has turned around, not only do we not intend to revise the prices, instead we are going to invest on IT infrastructure to serve our customers better. Next economic downturn, we will persist in not using pricing as bait. Way's clients have moved into the second generation and we await the rise of the third. I sincerely believe that we should not use the health of the economy as a pricing or service guide.

Your investment is your service, your capital is your future clientele. It is best not to sacrifice the benefit of the clients for small gains.