August 4, 2008
global goss:
Incredible India
Hey, have you picked up the September/October Honeymoon and Destination Wedding Guide yet? If not, wha’cha waiting for? It is pa-acked with neat-o stuff-o. There’s a dreamy story on the fairytale cities of Europa and an insider look at the spot where Izzie Stevens got married AKA Katherine “I don’t want to be known as that girl on Grey’s” Heigl. And we got a little artsy this time around with features on some fantastic Hawaiian art collections as well as the sizzlin’ sounds of some Caribbean music festivals.
But my fave piece in this issue—and yes, I know that I’m a bit biased—is the beautiful account of my 10-day train trip around the Maharashtra region of India. Since we couldn’t fit all of the lovely photos into the special biannual guide, I thought I’d give you a few more here:
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Here’s yours truly with pal Jimmy Im at the “air conditioned” (and I use that word loosely) VIP lounge at the Queen Victoria rail station in Mumbai. As per custom in India, we were greeted as important guests with a garland of flowers, a saffron dot on the forehead and an “aura cleansing” waft of incense. Fun Fact: More than 45 million—yesmillion!—passengers pass through this train station daily—yes daily!
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Every time we got on and disembarked the Deccan Odyssey, the Maharatra region’s high-end tourist train, we got the red carpet treatment. It felt a little weird to be so pampered, but we quickly got used to it!
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Day One: Ratnagiri. We're greeted by a spectacular show of traditional performers. Here’s the gang with a real live snake charmer. Check out those coolio sand designs on the floor. They are created for special visitors. Are you sensing a theme here? It is also common for people to create such sand designs as an offering to a god, so we saw a lot of them at the various temples we saw.
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And another morning brought these kids who did a traditional warrior dance.
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The coolest thing about visiting this Temple that is dedicated to the elephant-head god Ganesh (he totes rulz b-t-dubs) was the out of nowhere “call to prayer.” Just as we were in the middle of our tour, some bells rang, women in sarees and men in cotton shirts and heavy slacks appeared to chant and sing. We were divided by gender—boys on one side and girls on the other. And I was overwhelmed by the totes infection-ness of the singing in Sanskrit.
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We voted Ganesh the coolest god. Not only does he have an elephant head, but he’s also the official god of this region. And he is a Tuesday god, which means that he has a special helping spot for peeps that were born/married/other special thing on a Tuesday.
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C’est moi getting a mendhi, a henna tattoo, during a chillaxing boat ride around the Western Ghats River.
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And said henna tattoo four days later. So pretty, right!?!
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Just passing by the Indian landscape in our high-end train. That guy is Haresh, our cabin butler. He rocks! He woke me up every morning with coffee and tea cookies, accompanied us to all the activities and took the gang shopping at Fashion Street in Pune.
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That’d be the gang with Mr. Haresh. If you are lucky enough to take the Deccan Odyssey for your honeymoon, ask for him—seriously.
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Here I am being artsy with Novio’s camera at the mini Taj Mahal. Apparently the daughter-in-law of the woman for whom the Taj was built wanted one herself. But the son couldn’t afford it, so he built this smaller replica. It isn’t as lame as it sounds…the arches and details are super cool. Notice how I’m not wearing any shoes…that’s because in India, all guests must remove their shoes in places of worship and other ultraspec. spots. Some fellow passengers brought along ped-like socks to take on and off as needed.
I’ve got lots more so stay tuned…
Posted by Jenna at 10:38 a.m.
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