Very wow Jaipur

It took me two months, but I finally completed the Golden Triangle (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur) with a visit to Jaipur this past weekend. Michelle and I stayed at a hostel Saturday night, which meant that Sunday was far less rushed than on our trips to Agra and Amritsar.

Pictures can be seen on this Facebook album.

Highlights included:

Amber Fort, located 11 km north of Jaipur
An elephant ride
Hawa Mahal, the facade of which was built to allow royal ladies to people-watch undetected
Jantar Mantar, where, unlike at the one in Delhi, we hired a guide so as to understand what the instruments actually do
An Italian restaurant that served Kingfisher in teacups to get around obtaining a liquor license

The trip reminded me how much I enjoy getting out of Delhi, so I plan on doing more of that over the next few weeks. I think I am heading to Chandigarh Saturday.

Story: Tibetan hunger protest enters ninth day

Never go to report on a hunger strike without first having breakfast.

Story: Fledgling Delhi acting schools get mixed marks on placement

Although online it looks like it ends at the end of Page 1, there are two pages to this story, which was arguably the most fun to report out of the ones I've done so far.

Story: e-filing or e-failing?

Like that headline? Sadly, I can't take any credit for it -- they ran this story as a package with a bunch of boxes, photos, graphics and such, and I think the print layout team put it all together.

If I ever pay taxes in India, I will definitely hire an accountant, if only so I don't have to brave the line.

It's a safe country

I am sitting in the newsroom on Saturday evening, and news of six bomb blasts in Ahmedabad just appeared on television. As I turned around to watch news of the attacks -- which came just one day after seven blasts in Bangalore -- I apparently looked concerned enough to prompt one of the deputy metro editors to volunteer some reassuring words.

"Don't worry, it's a safe country," he said, laughing. "We always have at least six blasts."

Story: After the scare, flight delay

I went out yesterday to get some "color" for this story, a woeful travelers' tale. Most of what I got was cut for lack of space. Fortunately, I have this blog, on which I can post whatever occurs to me.

Here is my dispatch from deep inside Le Meridien Hotel, New Delhi:

Anne-Marie Guillet could have done without the last two days of her Indian vacation. The 55-year-old Frenchwoman was among the 241 passengers who on Thursday evacuated an Air Mauritius flight that caught fire when a bird flew into its wheel. She spent Friday shuttling between Le Meridien Hotel and the Delhi airport after a second flight was canceled due to mechanical trouble.

“I really do like India,” said Guillet, who spent two weeks touring Rajasthan and is now heading home to Reunion Island. “But I really want to go back to my country.”

After Thursday’s emergency evacuation, some passengers waited more than four hours for their luggage before buses escorted them to Le Meridien. They received phone calls at 1:30 a.m. Friday telling them to return to the airport for an early morning flight. They then spent two hours waiting on the plane before officials told them the flight had been canceled.

“We waited, we waited and we waited,” Guillet said Friday afternoon. “Now we don’t know if we can take another plane.”

Ratnesh Verma, one of 90 HDFC Standard Life Insurance employees headed to Mauritius for a holiday, spent Friday resting and nursing cuts sustained while sliding down the emergency escape chute during Thursday’s evacuation. He said his family has encouraged him not to board any more planes.

“They say, ‘If this type of thing keeps happening, then why risk your life?’” he said. “But it is a part of life. If you worry about this type of thing, you will be living in fear.”

So Verma joined the scores of bleary-eyed travelers who gathered in front of Le Meridien early Friday evening. With luggage in hand, they boarded the buses and left for a third trip to the airport.

On the way back to Delhi

On the Tuesday Continental flight from Newark to New Delhi, which clocked in at just over 13 hours from takeoff to touchdown, I sat in seat 23F. To my left, in 23E, sat a man in his late 30s or early 40s dressed in a blue-and-white striped button-down shirt and slacks. To his left, in 23D, sat his daughter, who was no more than 6.

About one hour after we took off, the man and I struck up a conversation. He and his daughter lived in Michigan, he said, where they had just bought a house valued at $500,000 for $300,000. "It is a great time to buy," he said, grinning widely. He went on to say that they were on their way to Andhra Pradesh, his home state, to attend the funeral of his father.

The man, who has lived in Michigan for the past six years, then asked how I was finding India. I gave him my stock response, which is that the summer had, for the most part, gone as expected, that the company accommodations had made for a fairly painless move and that I was looking forward to seeing more of the country -- particularly the south -- in the fall.

Then he decided to give me some tips to help me make the most of the rest of my stay.

"You know, one Muslim in India is worth 10 Hindus," he said. "They have the power. But they think... they think like animals. They do not act right. You have to watch out. They will try to take advantage of you."

I looked at him but didn't say anything. "It's like the blacks in the U.S.," he said, nudging me with his elbow as though we were in on a shared secret. "You know better than I do that you have to be careful around them."

I smiled at him briefly and then began rooting around in my backpack for my headphones.

"I am sorry to disturb you," he said 30 seconds later. "But I have to tell you: Don't go into Pakistan. They are like animals up there in Pakistan." I told him I had no plans to go into Pakistan. Then I put the headphones in, swallowed two Excedrin PM tablets and went to sleep, thinking as I drifted off that it would be easier to learn something from such exchanges if I didn't find them so offensive.