India IV: Orchha

After Agra my group caught a train to Jhalsi and then Tuk Tuks to Orchha.  For the uninitiated a Tuk-Tuk (also called an auto rickshaw) is a three-wheeled vehicle and a popular mode of transportation across south-east Asia.  They are slower than cars and are open to the air which usually translates to a lot of noise, dust, and exhaust fumes.  Our driver seemed to like navigating his Tuk Tuk straddling the road centre line, making way for oncoming vehicles seemingly only at the last possible moment.

Orchha means “hidden” but that’s hardly the case these days.  The small rural town of ~15,000

used to be quiet, but has boomed with tourism in the last few years.   Our guide said the economy is now 60% agriculture and 40% tourism.  Some of the children have become enthusiastic storekeepers and were some were very insistent bursting out lines including “Promise? Come to my shop?”, “Little promise?....Pinkie promise?...Look into my eyes!”.

Colourful powders from the market

We stayed in luxury tents just outside the town which were a cross between cabanas and tents with canvas walls but had deluxe amenties such as air conditioning and hot water (sometimes).  

The hotel looked out on to the Betwa river; taking in the passing wildlife.

I had hoped it would be nice and quiet in rural Orchha, but another wedding raged through at least one night complete with techno music and fireworks.  A statewide election was also going on requiring “dry days” by law during which no alcohol can be sold.  It was a bit sad to see all the spirits up there with just some masking tape forming an X across the cabinet.  In the evenings I downed numerous lime sodas (club soda with a healthy dose of fresh lime juice) and masala chais instead.

Orchha was once an important princely state of central India, although its influence waned hundreds of ago and today there are only ruins left as evidence of its former glory.  One piece of Mughal architecture, the Jahangir Mahal, was only used for a single day and a single night by the emperor Jahangir on his way somwhere else  – ostentatious and crazy if you ask me!

Jahangir Mahal

One of the few remaining ceramics dotting the walls of Jahangir Mahal

Our first night in Orcha we watched the sunset from a narrow bridge which was beautiful, but somewhat harrowing having to move to the railless edge every time a car came by.  After a series of wide trucks I actually abadoned watching the very end of the sunset to make sure I didn’t get pushed into the river.

Fellow traveller Amy biting her nails as yet another vehicle forces us to the edge of the bridge.

But definitely worth it to see the cenotaphs along the river at sunset.

We scrambled off the bridge before this wide load came however!

I took a walk to visit the numerous cenotaphs (somewhat grim and imposing) along the Betwa river during the day.

I found an owl hiding in the ruins.

Locked gate before a garden in a cenotaph.  Almost looks like a gate to paradise…

Vultures at a cenotaph.

Miscellaneous Orchha moments:

Washing laid out to dry along the river.

The original swastika (Hindu symbol of auspiciousness), used for thousands of years before the Nazis and lingam and yoni (centre pieces decorated with marigolds representing the male and female “organs of generation”).

I paid a young woman to decorate my hand with henna.  This is before it has finished drying.  Henna art is a way for many Indian woman to make money working from their own home.  The woman who did mine lives with her parents and 3 sisters, which must be tough financially since few woman work outside the home and her father must provide for 4 dowrys.

Selfie after getting a blessing at the local temple

Modern-day Orchha: farming equipment alongside ruins.

  

   Framed bicycle