A lone tourist in a sea of Indian stares.
Trip Start
Feb 27, 2006
1
2
13
Trip End
Mar 29, 2006
Ujain,
India
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
Now less vulnerable, I discovered that there was a tourist info office in the station but still had 2 hours to wait for it to open. So I wandered around through the chaotic bus station to another little hotel and had 'butter toast' and tea.
Friendly Ganesh
Back at the station, the tourist information man spoke virtually no English. Somehow I worked out that the best way to see Ujain would be by car - although between my guide book and his leaflet, I really wasn't sure what there was to see - several temples, some ruins? He called through to the hotel manager of the local Madyha Pradesh Tourism hotel and the manager spoke English, I did a deal with him to hire a driver for 2 days to take me to sights in Ujain and the holy towns of Omakareshwar and Maheshwar. My driver, who spoke only a few words of English, arrived and took me to a couple of temples in Ujain. Ujain in ancient times was one of the best known cities in India and one of Hinduism's seven most sacred cities - you wouldn't know it now as it is run down, but still hosts one of the four Kumbh Mela's in India every 12 years. people still made pilgrimage to bathe in the river Shipra and worship at the various temples. Ujain stands, according to Hindu astronomy on the Tropic of Cancer and on the first meridian of longitude, the Vedha Shala observatory is here, built by the same man (Mr Singh) who constructed the huge observatory I had seen in Jaipur last year. The observatory in Ujain is still used to predict the position of the planets. We then visited a number of temples (although I'm sure there are meant to be some temple ruins around but he didn't take me to any), including the famous, Mahakaleshwar Temple dedicated to Shiva and built in 18th century. Some Hindus are very into the very ancient worship of the lingam and it is seen as a symbol of the god Shiva. The literal translation is 'phallus' or 'gender' - so yes you can imagine the shape of this smooth stone, usually covered in oil or water, decorated with flowers and other offerings. This particular temple housed one of the twelve jyotirlingas (born of itself) and the temple built around it.
After buying a pre-paid SIM card and picking up the driver's father (not sure what that was about and he got into trouble with his boss later on for this), we took the dusty long drive to Omkareshwar, home to another of the jyotrlingum. I stayed at the Narmarda Resort, a very basic little hotel overlooking the island shaped in an 'Om' - not sure if man made - and watched the sunset over the riverside ghats opposite.
As I reflected on a very tiring day on the hard thin mattress in my dingy room, I took stock of the weeks ahead, I realised that this trip may be somewhat harder than last year's as I was really in the heartland of non-touristy India and the slightest thing was possibly going to be an uphill battle of energy, comprehension and patience.
