DAY 22, APRIL 12 (EASTER), OAT CAMP TO AGRA

CERAMICS DAY

We visited a man by trade a potter
And later some sandstone cutters
And, this being the day for ceramics,
Some folks engaged in making bricks
And their sons and daughters.


FATEPUHR SIKRI

Few rulers have been or are
Quite as great as was Akbar.
I wouldn't call him frugal,
The this emperor of the Mugals,
Who left this shining star.


Embarking on our day, after breakfast, we had a one-mile ride into Abhaneri on a Jugad. The word means "local original." It is really a very simple, crude pickup truck. They're only allowed in farming areas and villages and not in the cities. And we only saw them in this region, not in farming regions visited later. These are not old vehicles. They are low powered and slow. They have a small, uncovered engine of one cylinder with a big flywheel. They are hand cranked and make a big puff of dirty smoke when they start. A new one costs only about $2,000. The neat thing about them is that the engine incorporates a water pump used to pump water from wells onto the fields. They seem to be an ideal vehicle for the farmers of India. They reminded me of similar vehicles we had seen in the farming areas we visited in China, but the latter were very old vehicles.

Before we got underway in our bus, we visited a potter and his family in the village of Abhaneri. He was making large clay water pots. The wife was mixing some stuff having nothing to do with pottery. It's a mixture of dirt and cow dung which is used for flooring in their homes. It sets up like a cement, and it's so bad, and villagers are meticulous to keep the floors clean and take their shoes off before entering the house.

Early in our drive we passed an area with many establishments for sandstone carving because red sandstone and white sandstone are quarried in the area, and we visited one of them. Mainly animals and Hindu figures are carved. The first step is usually to saw the slabs into smaller slabs using an abrasive power saw.

Later we passed through an area with many brick factories because the clay soil in the area is suitable for brick making. We stopped at one of them. There was a lot of manual labor and a lot of use of camels in handling the bricks. The firing is continuous in that bricks are loaded in one side of the furnace and removed from the other side without shutting down the furnace. The fuel, interestingly, is a chopped up mixture of grasses. It's the same fuel the potter was using.

Today we drove from the OAT camp to Agra, arriving late in the day. Agra is a city of about 3 million – about the same size as Jaipur, but it has a very agrarian flavor like a small town. Security was very high in Agra.

Along the way we were very lucky to see two large wild animals out in the farm fields. They are a very large antelope called the Blue Bull because of a bluish tinge. They're said to be the largest antelope. But we've seen the Eland in South Africa, also a very large antelope.

Incidentally, there are no fences (almost never any fences) on the farmland that we saw in India.

Incidentally, once we got near Agra and thereafter we no longer saw camels. Instead we saw some ox carts.

Along the way we visited the palace of Fatepuhr Sikri. This was one of several palaces built by Mohammed Jalliladin, known as Akbar (meaning “The Great”). It was the home of Akbar and his Hindu queen, Jodaa (daughter of the Maharajah in the Amber Palace near the present Jaipur). And it was the home of Akbar's other two wives, a Muslim sultana, and a Christian wife. Akbar was the third ruler of the Mughal empire, which was founded by Babul in 1526 and lasted until the British took over in 1805. Akbar was the son of the second ruler, Muhayun. The fourth ruler was Salim (Jahonger), whose mother was Jodaa. Akbar was extremely moderate in regard to religion, was very diplomatic, had a “parliament” of two houses, nine “jewels” (treasured advisors). He was illiterate.

The onset of my second bout with diarrhea was at Fatepurh Sirkri. I had a rough afternoon, evening, and night from then on.

After settling in in our motel, Helen and I and half the group and Som attended the optional event that was billed as an opera. It was a mistake for me. I was miserable. I had Som send me back to the hotel by taxi while the others had dinner. It was announced that the “opera” was about no one in particular, but that was deceiving because it obviously was based on the history of the Taj Mahal. It was not an opera. It was part movie – a screen used in the background – part play (acting and speech without singing), and there was a lot of group dancing and simultaneous by colorfully-clad women. It was not in English. There were headphones so you could listen in English or other languages. Even with some help from the usher, I couldn't make mine work and didn't really care that it didn't work. (I often can't understand Indian English very well anyway.)

Bernie :-)