sanchi and dinner

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Yesterday a group of us went to Sanchi, which, according to the Lonely Planet, is indeed an ancient Buddhist temple, about 45km outside of Bhopal. We got off to a rough start, because the private company we had called to take us out there the previous day didn’t show up at the scheduled 10am. After an hour of waiting and several unanswered calls to the office, we looked to Sathyu for help (who was at the clinic from 9am to 9pm despite the fact that this was Sunday, the one day the rest of the clinic takes off). He phoned a friend of his who runs a similar business of renting a car and driver for the day to come and get us. However, not five minutes after Sathyu’s friend confirmed, the original driver phoned to say he was waiting down the street. Apparently none of us were quite on “Indian Time” yet… in retrospect, we should have anticipated his late arrival, but I guess you learn these things. After a couple of awkward conversations with the dispatcher from the original driver we ended up taking Sathyu’s friend’s car instead.

Although we got stuck in major traffic at some train tracks, it was absolutely amazing to watch the various different neighbourhoods of Bhopal that we passed though on our way out. You can tell that the outskirts of the city is much poorer than the centre, because there wasn’t much other thank little shacks along the roadside. Each was selling something: live chickens, freshly slaughtered and fly-covered goats, bags, children’s clothes, bangles. Some of the littlest vendors only sell these tiny packets about the size of a condom wrapper that are filled with powdered candy not dissimilar to Fun Dip.

Right next to the train tracks was definitely the most desperate looking field of tiny shanties. I had thought that the community where Sambhavna was located was pretty dingy and grubby, but at least the homes around here have concrete or brick walls and floors. These homes were just row upon row of tents made from tarp, wire, plastic bags, leaves and whatever else these people could scrape together. There was certainly no running water or proper toilets of any kind in this neighbourhood, and the surrounding field looked as though it was slowly being buried in garbage from the homes. I wanted to take a picture of this, but didn’t feel that I could, so you’ll have to use your imaginations.

After we passed this particular area, the crowds thinned out almost immediately, and we were suddenly on a country road. Fields stretched for miles, and in the distance we could see these large flat hills looming. Even though it still has yet to rain since my arrival, the fields all looked a fairly lush shade of green that was really quite beautiful. I think that the nicest part of the while trip was the drive, with the wind whipping through the open windows, and without the massive and sickening amount of pollution in the air.

Every few kilometers we passed a little roadside town, with rough homes of precariously stacked red clay bricks. Men rode by on bicycles piled five feet high with sticks, and enormous Tata trucks rumbled by full of god-only-knows. Although the drive was a breath of fresh air compared to the city, the driving was about as terrifying. The road is only two lanes, and is dotted with slower-moving motorcycles, bikes, truck and the like. So every time our driver wanted to pass into the oncoming traffic, he would simple honk his horn at the vehicle we were passing and speed into the oncoming traffic. We were, of course traveling at about 90km/hour the entire time, even through the little roadside towns that had 20km max signs posted. After I got a little more used to the pace and the way the traffic moves it wasn’t so bad though.

Sanchi itself was beautiful. As foreigners we each had to pay Rs. 250 (about $5 CND), while Indian Nationals only have to pay Rs. 10. I guess its only fair because we make so much more money than they do. But it was worth it, because it was so peaceful and quiet, especially compared to the city. The site is on top of this gigantic hilltop, where you can see for miles around. You can take a look at the pictures I am posting, but the temple thing is basically these big round tub things that Anja (one of the volunteers) told me that the Buddha’s body is buried in. There are all these ancient ruins around the tubs on these nice green lawns (the first I’ve seen since I got here). It was blisteringly hot yesterday (as it promises to be today, too), so I spent a lot of time seeking shade and benches to rest on. As an aside, on the ride there we passed a sign that said “Line of Cancer,” so presumably we were in the tropic of Cancer…so close to the equator. Before we left Sanchi we sat on the grass and had a drink next to some tourists from China, who seemed to be attracting equally as much attention as the white people. Nice to know that its not just white people, but people of any different race at all attract celebrity-like attention from the locals. All in all it was quite restful though.

When we got back it was about 5pm, and we had made arrangements to go to this guy Salman’s house for dinner earlier in the week. Salman had a huge crush on Mel, but has been making friends with all of the volunteers at Sambhavna for a few years it looks like. The few short blocks to Salman's house were intense, because pretty much every kid in a five block ran our of their house to scream "DIDI HI!!! HI DIDI" at us. there must have been a crowd of about fifty kids by the time we actually reached Salman's house. Unfortunately the day in the heat at Sanchi had done me in, and I didn’t have much of n appetite by the time we were there, which I felt badly about because Salman's mother had made an absolutely enormous dinner. We of course had diner on Indian time, meaning we were told that we would eat at 7:30, and then 8:00, and then dinner was actually served shortly after 9:00pm. My appetite was not increased by the heat in Salman’s living room. It is basically a large concrete room with no windows that absolutely exudes the heat long after the sun has set… anyway, after what seemed to be an eternity of sitting and trying to make polite excuses for not wanting anything more to eat, we were served our chai, and then headed back to the clinic.

The mosquitoes were especially bad yesterday, so when I tried to go up to my perch and say good night to Dan I got eaten alive despite the generous application of Deet. Eventually I moved down into the conference room and lay on the cool concrete floor for the rest of the conversation.

It has taken me most of the day, albeit with many interruptions, to write this, so today’s adventures will have to wait until tomorrow.