Days, Good days and Better days

July 19, 2016

I don’t read the Times of India some days as I have discovered the news gets me down. I ventured forth today and started with the front page. About a week ago four Dalits (a lower caste) were beaten with iron pipes by another caste because they were caught skinning a cow carcass. They then took the beaten men to another part of the village and did it again in front of by standers, reportedly in front of police who laughed. It turned out the men had bought a dead cow for the hide, so they had not broken any law or rules. The perpetrators were arrested and the beaten men were hospitalized. Today the paper said there have now been protests over this event. Two state transport buses were torched, seven people consumed poison, stones were thrown and glass in buses were broken, and finally Dalits dumped dead rotting cows at government offices. From what I can understand from the papers, the Dalits are frequently victims of violence and other forms of abuse including verbal abuse in the workplace. India has a system that I don’t fully understand but they reserve a certain number of jobs for members of lower caste. I remember reading about a Dalit who was verbally abused at work and committed suicide as a result.

On the brighter side, a hospital in Ahmedabad no longer requires parents of a new baby girl to pay for the hospital bill. This is to “make parents value and feel special about the girl child in a state reeling under skewed child sex ratio of 890 girls per 1,000 boys.” Abortion was outlawed after the ability to determine fetus gender, due to the number of aborted female fetuses.  

We leave this Saturday, July 23^rd for Portland on a two week break. We will be busy seeing friends, family and having doc checkups. Both of us are excited to be at home briefly. We fly to Abu Dhabi, spend the night in order to avoid a 15 hour layover and then fly direct to LAX. There we will have a three hour layover with time to get through customs and catch our next flight to Portland, arriving Sunday evening at 8:00. We leave Portland Saturday, August 6^th to return and will repeat the itinerary in reverse arriving Tuesday night. We will lose a day as we cross the International Date Line.

Ron had a great day yesterday.  The first training program has been approved for the week after we return and two more sessions are in discussions that look positive, although the contact had some positive ideas and was encouraging Ron to not give up as the last time there was a request for the organization to fund training it took the person in charge of funding four months to give his approval. OY! Incredible India….

July 21, 2016

Today, Pooja from next door, came over to ask if Sankar could help them out. Their servants did not show up today and her son is ill with a fever. Pooja owns two retail shops so this is a real imposition with Kamla out of town and the two women who perform child care and house cleaning are no shows. Sankar said he would shower then get something to eat and return. I have my fingers crossed, as the last time this happened he didn’t show up and it infuriated Kamla as she had a house full of company staying with her.

The lifestyle here is quite different for the upper classes. Because they have a full staff of servants they do not do things many of us do like washing dishes, laundry or any house cleaning. I have a feeling it would be unthinkable to do such things. I may be wrong. Staff do these things daily here. Because the air is so dirty and the houses are constructed differently and doors are often left open, homes are swept and mopped daily. My housekeeper in Portland comes every 14 days by contrast. Many household staff here work seven days a week 8-12 hr days.

Our weather seems to be in somewhat of a pattern. The temps are in the 90’s and it’s humid. We get sunny days and some days we get light sprinkles and some days monsoon rain which is usually quick and heavy. Some days there is no rain but a cloud cover, making it really humid. But all in all, it is so much better than 110-121 degrees day in and day out!!!

Currently we are waiting to hear when an AC tech will come to fix our bedroom AC which started pouring water all over the pillow area of our mattress yesterday morning. Fortunately we were in the room getting dressed so I dashed to the bathroom, grabbed towels and threw them on the bed to try to catch some of the water. Even so, the mattress got wet. When Sankar came I took him upstairs to show him so he wouldn’t make up the bed; as I wanted the mattress to dry out. A few minutes later he came and got me, took me upstairs and suggested by mimic that he switch mattresses with the guest bedroom. Mattresses here are thin, about four inches and there are no box springs but they are large, nearing king size. SO I tried to help but he declined. You should know that Sankar is maybe five feet …maybe and thin as a rail. Anyway we got it done. It is another example why I value him so much. A lesser person would not have ‘solved the problem’. He always tries to fix what isn’t working.

The AC tech showed up on the appointed day and only 45 minutes later than planned. This is history making news; a first since we have been here. He ‘fixed’ the AC and left, only to be called back within 10 minutes as it continued to rain on our bed. Fortunately we had not put the mattress all the way back on the bed. So he came back within an hour or two and fixed it right. 

Champenar and Baroda

July 17, 2016

On Friday I came out of a small specialty grocery store where I shop that has a fruit cart in front of it. The vendor, like all vendors here, throws waste on the ground behind his cart. There was a cow eating a banana peel. I must say I feel like there is horrible ‘cow abuse’ here because no one seems to feed them properly so the cows wander around town in traffic on busy streets (they are all busy streets here as far as I can tell) and they eat garbage. Ron has even seen one eating a plastic bag because it had food adhered to it. OY. It breaks my heart to see this day in and day out. I have never been anywhere in this city that there weren’t cows on the street. In my neighborhood twice a day I witness a herd of about 30 cattle being moved from one spot to another and the one spot where they spend part of their day is a dirt lot, no grass or vegetation. But garbage on the streets abounds.

In addition the same situation occurs for the street dogs. I assume because they have no owners they have been breeding with abandon and now 90% look alike: mid sized, light to medium brown and constantly looking for food in the garbage on the street.

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Sunday

Yesterday we woke up early, about 5:00 because one of us had fallen asleep by 8:30 and the other one about an hour later. We needed to be up by 6:00 to leave at 7:00 for our excursion to Champaner, about 100 miles away. We left at 7:10 when most of Ahmedabad is just waking up so we had no real traffic to deal with and it still took 45 minutes to get to the expressway as it was on the other side of town. It was the first time we had been over there. The expressway was an excellent road and no auto rickshaws or two wheelers (motorcycles) were allowed. It makes a big difference, trust me. After about an hour on the expressway we stopped for a tea/pee (which is different from a teepee) break.

We got to the Champaner- avagadh Archaeological Park, a World Heritage Site around 10:30 or 11:00. Champaner was turned into a splendid new capital by Sultan Mahmud Begada in the 15^th and 16^th centuries. We started our tour of the park and walked through the ‘city mosque, built about 500 years ago. It is beautifully preserved as were the Citadel walls which were worth the trip alone. 

We then drove through the little village that seems to reside within the Citadel. Poverty abounds. It has been raining here for three days counting today and people had their clothes hanging out in the rain. I fight this daily during the monsoons. Sankar has rigged a cover over one set of clothes lines but late in the day I bring what I can inside and hang things on hangers in the spare bathroom to assist with getting stuff dry.

Our next stop was at the customs house, which was used as a waiting area for visitors to the Sultan.  The building was 5 bays by  bays.  Inside we found an ass and four dogs. Several cannons stood guard in the back and two young school boys were "guarding" by the front.

Next we visited the Jami Masjid, a large intricately carved mosque also 500 years old. It is outside the Citadel but not too far away. It hadn’t started raining yet so we were able to poke around at our leisure. It is interesting to note that Rahul, our driver has come here five or six times to visit Pavagadh and the Hindu temple on the hill but has never visited the Citadel and mosques. He really enjoyed learning more about the history here. He even took selfies in front of various parts of the structure. The carved screens were well preserved and quite beautiful.

There was a step well behind the mosque. We attempted to see the Nagina and Kevda mosques but the road was impassable and if we tried to walk in we would have been up to our ankles in mud. Since there is a lot of clay in the soil here I could just imagine us slipping and sliding and possibly falling and having no way to clean up. The three of us wisely opted to not try it. 

On the way out of town Ron saw a directional sign to the right announcing another mosque so we turned around and explored the remains of a mosque. The foundation and minaret were all that was in tact and a very deep well with a brick lined wall. It gave us pause to consider how they built this without the walls collapsing on the men who dug this well.

 

We ate a delicious meal at an Indian hotel on the highway which seems to be a good safe bet when on the road. They have frequent customers which ensures frequent turn over of food and that makes it safer. The three of us shared two veg dishes, an unending supply of fresh hot roti, buttermilk for Rahul and pappadams. That cost us a rip roaring $7.00 for the three of us. Back on the road and we looked at our tour book and saw that there was a maharaja palace in Baroda which was right on our path home.

Although it took three of four stops to ask for directions once we got to Baroda we made it to this splendid 170 room palace. Forget Downton Abbey, this palace rocks! The upper floors are inhabited by the royal family and the first floor is available for visitors. The price of admission for the three of us was a little over $15. When Rahul saw the price for his ticket which was $3.00, he said he would stay with the car. We always pay his admission. He thought it was too expensive and would be a waste of money. I said we could afford it and it would be educational, he could learn about India’s history and that it would not be a waste of money. He decided to give in to me; besides you all know how brutal I am!  All of us enjoyed it. The opulence was astounding. Aesthetically it was gorgeous. Being the practical person I am I kept thinking about the maintenance cost. HA! The grounds were lovely and the only place where photography was allowed. Too bad they didn't allow pictures inside the structure.

Back on the road with the rain coming down, we admired the freshly planted green fields. Sowing has been late this year since the monsoons were so late. Irrigation is not an option for many farmers so they depend on the rain for their crops. One thing we learned today is that large trucks are not allowed in cities except from 9:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. so outside of Baroda and Ahmedabad for example there were hundreds of trucks sitting idle in the middle of the day and afternoon awaiting 9:00 p.m. Think of the lost productivity with that rule. It speaks to the lack of adequate infrastructure.

Being on the road here is always a scary proposition. Rahul is a careful driver. They drive on the left side of the road here, thank you Brits. So the slow lane is the left lane when there is a four lane highway. On the expressway Rahul was driving in the right lane, the fast lane. Speeders would zip between us and a truck that was about one car length ahead of us in the left lane. OMG! It happened again and again, scaring us each time. Once when we were on a bridge in the slow lane someone passed us on the shoulder to our left while another car passed us on the right in the fast lane. We weren't’ the only ones this happened to. Many trucks are passed on the left by a car driving on the shoulder. Not smart. Well obviously we got home unscathed arriving around 5:30.  At 7:00 we walked up to our village and grabbed a light dinner at the Silver Leaf, a hit or miss restaurant. Our biryani was tasteless and the began bharta was delicious. I guess one out of two isn’t bad.

Handicrafts and Monkey Business

July 14, 2016

Yesterday I visited Okhai, a non profit that assists rural women. Here is what their website says:

Okhai Handicrafts has been identified as a promising means of generating livelihood for hundreds of rural artisans. Okhai has made a significant contribution to the lives of the women artisans working with it, which has helped improve their economic as well as social status. It continues its march towards fulfilling its vision of being a brand that symbolises empowerment of rural and semi-urban women while recognising and promoting traditional handicraft techniques that are in danger of dying out with increased industrial growth and rapid urbanisation.

You can learn more by visiting Okhai.org. It is currently an online company. It had a store at Alpha Mall, Ahmedabad’s premier mall but lost its space to a restaurant development. They now expect to get a kiosk or some other space there in the near future. Currently they assist 500 women with a goal of 5,000 in the next three years. The items they sell are all handcrafted and quite attractive. I had emailed to ask if they had stores here and was told no but I could come shop at the office. I think I described the office in a previous post. Anyway they don’t really allow shopping at the office but I got a special privilege so took advantage of it and bought lots of goodies, mostly gifts but a few items for us like a primitive wall hanging of Shiva, a major god in the Hindu pantheon. Today I hung it in our bedroom. I showed it to Sankar and Rahul after I got it up thinking they would like it and they did. After seeing the quality and the actual colors which aren’t always accurate on websites I will shop on line until they have a presence at the mall. I was asked to pray for them to get a space at the Mall. Please do pray or send positive energy their way as they are doing good work.

I tried to visit a neighbor, Priti Jhala, to learn about housekeeper behavior in India. Alas she was out of town also. So I wrote to my dear friend Kamla who is away for ten days and asked. She is very familiar with my frustration with Sankar. He works for her washing the family’s cars. She confirmed that household staff which she refers to as servants do miss work and do not notify her.

I have decided to give Sankar another chance and I have decided I need to be more aware of the culture here. Tomorrow we will talk and I have some changes that I think will help us both. For starters I am going to have him work M-S and take Sunday off since his religion is very important to him. He has missed the last two Sunday evening shifts because he was at temple. His pay will be reduced accordingly. I’ll see how it goes. I will remain flexible regarding his and my needs. I am hopeful that the two of us will find a way for this to work for both of us. 

We had one evening and one day of rains then nothing for almost two full days. Today it was hot and sunny until 4:00 when it again started with a hard rain. Yesterday I asked Ron where he thought the monkeys go when it rains. Today the mystery was solved. I went upstairs for something and there on our upstairs porch were six monkeys waiting out the rain. They sit on the ledge of our balcony and look out at the rain, waiting for it to cease or slacken. 

The Help

July 11, 2016

Blue Monday

Last night Sankar showed up ten minutes before his evening shift ended. He entered with a smile on his face I assumed because he was nervous knowing he was in trouble. I was not going for it. In a stern voice I let him know I was displeased and told him to leave since I have just finished cleaning up the day’s dishes, his evening responsibility. I said we would talk about it in the morning when Rahul could translate. Sankar kept chattering away trying to explain why he was late but I wasn’t interested and asked him to leave.

This morning when Rahul arrived the three of us sat outside on the porch for our ‘come to Shiva meeting’. We have done this several times when I need to explain to Sankar that I will not tolerate him not telling me when he isn’t coming to work or that he will be late. I exclude Ron from these conversations since I manage Sankar. I asked him to explain why he was late last night. He went to a temple 10 km away he said. I said that wasn’t a viable reason. I asked why he didn’t call. He said he didn’t have my number because he got a new SIM card. I said that wasn’t acceptable. I was his employer and he should have my number.  I suggested that he start looking for another job. I told him he could work until we left for the US on the 23^rd and I would pay him for the full month which I had already told both of them last week. I said I would also take what he owed me from his salary which would leave him with 3,000 rupees. He said ‘no I am not leaving’. I said I wouldn’t pay him beyond the 23^rd. He asked me to give him another chance. I asked why this time would be any different. I have given him multiple chances and he repeats the same behavior. He again stated he wasn’t leaving. What an interesting response I thought.

I came inside and had a good cry. India is truly incredible just like the ad says but it is on both sides of incredible. It is incredibly wonderful and exotic and it is incredibly frustrating for non Indians or at least for these two foreigners.  We have had eight days without reliable internet or no internet from our provider. We cannot call home, the only way to send email is by tethering to my phone, etc. So I get built up with the multitude of frustrations and Sankar’s repeated leave without approval is getting to me. He has a VERY cushy job here and gets paid about twice what other housekeepers’ make for the number of hours he works.  At this point I feel taken advantage of and it doesn’t feel good. He has worn me out frankly.

About 45 minutes later Rahul came to me and asked how I would manage without Sankar.  I said I had no idea but I had enough stress living here without the added stress of a housekeeper who was unreliable. At that point Sankar came into the room and again asked to not be let go. He started pleading and promising to not make a mistake again. I again said ‘what’s different this time? I have given you many chances and nothing changes.’ At some point he burst into tears and cried. I told him I would not make a decision at this time. I want him to stew and to see how serious this is. I was determined this morning to stick to my decision to let him go. I do not know what I will do although I do know what I should do.  My life with Sankar feels like ‘As the World Turns’.

July 12, 2016

Yesterday was my sister’s birthday. I cannot call her to wish her a happy birthday because we have been without internet for ten frigging days. I can tether to my phone to get email but I can’t Skype or do many other things without having our regular internet service. Ron uses his work computer to post our blog. We are so darn frustrated with the provider but have no other options given our location. So last night our wonderful neighbor used his pull to get someone at the Spidigo office to say they would be out here today at noon with a new and better receiver. At 3:00 today two guys showed up, computer jockeys is what I call them, with no equipment. They fiddled with Ron’s laptop and after 20 minutes no results. Then the lead guy started talking to me in Hindi. I asked him to wait a few minutes as Rahul was on his way back to the house with Ron. He talked to Rahul on the phone and Rahul convinced him to wait as he was five minutes from the house. When they arrived the guy told Ron that the Spidigo tower was down. Ron said ‘no way. My neighbor has internet and has no trouble yet I haven’t had internet for 10 days!’  Ron even got Amit on the phone who told the guy he had internet but the guy would not back down. The longer we stay here the more we suspect this is a ‘face saving’ culture. That means to save face you just make stuff up like this guy did. There is no way Amit can have internet if the provider’s tower is down. The entire society of 75 homes would be without internet and Spidigo’s phone would be ringing off the hook. Geez I guess that expression has no meaning with cell phones…so they walked out the door and we still have no internet. Incredible India! We have taken to calling them Slowgo and NO GO.

Today I was in the car with Rahul on the way to the grocery store and I said that Sankar was really trying hard to please me this week after our conversation on Monday. If I dirty a dish he races to the sink, washes and dries it and puts the dish away. We usually rinse dishes and he washes them in the evening. Rahul surprised me by saying he thought I should give Sankar another chance, that he was a good worker and a poor man. He then said ‘Madam, you will not find another worker like Sankar’.  I know that, which is why this decision is so gut wrenching. I also truly like Sankar. Another friend wrote and asked me how much of his behavior was cultural. I don’t have an answer and my best resource to answer that left for ten days yesterday. It is also difficult because I started working when I was 13 for an uncle who was very strict.  There was a time clock where I punched in when I arrived and repeated this when I left. I was not to talk unless it was work related. If I wanted to take a break I was not to disturb anyone with chatter, etc. I developed an excellent work ethic thanks to JC and my mom and consequently employers loved me throughout my long working life. As a result I have a bias thinking everyone should have the same attitude towards work. Several times in my work life I had to supervise another person and I disliked it because I had expectations of behavior that matched mine and was often disappointed. I do remember Wendy who worked for me in the early 80’s. She was like a soul sister. I do not remember having to ever discipline her. She remains a dear friend to this day. I told Rahul I didn’t want to make an emotional decision and that yesterday Sankar and I were both very emotional.

The monsoons were due the third week in June. I wrote about our first rain and then nothing for weeks. Then we had two or three sprinkles but not rain. So Ron started calling the monsoons the ‘mon-laters’. Parts of Gujarat were getting the monsoons but not Ahmedabad. Well last night that changed and it rained hard and has rained all of today. The bad news is our laundry is hand washed which means they do not go through a handy spin cycle in a machine. The laundered items are hung up pretty wet. When it is hot out they easily dry by the end of the day. However today I brought in many items and hung them on hangers on the shower curtain rod as they were not drying too well outside. Sankar has rigged a cover over an area where he washes clothes. It doesn’t get rained on but the air is too damp. I grew up in SC and remember having clothes and towels etc, get mildewed or soured and smelly because of the humidity. I am hypersensitive consequently and worry about that happening here during the monsoons. I may have to resort to buying drying racks. 

Patan, Modhera and some ancient erotic fantasy

July 10, 2016

On Friday I decided to visit Okhai, an organization that helps rural women by selling their hand made textile products: bed covers, clothing, bags, etc. Its website says sponsored by Tata Chemical. Tata is a huge Indian firm with many divisions: cars, chemicals, hotels and on and on and on. I showed Rahul the address and he took me right to it. Rahul usually stays with the car whenever we go somewhere.

I walked up to the building and walked into the foyer which was dirty. The stairwells up and down were filled with all manner of boxes and big cloth bags filled with who knows what. I knew I was in the wrong place. I looked at the directory and the 4^th floor slot had no one listed, affirming my conviction that we were in the wrong place. I went back out to tell Rahul. He brought me back into the building and we went into the elevator which was filthy. Rahul pointed to a spattered wall of the elevator and with his classic quote which starts with “These people…”. We go to the fourth floor and the landing there hasn’t been cleaned in ages. There is one door and Rahul opens it and lo and behold there is an office staff, confirming that this is indeed Okhai. My contact person was out today because it is Eid (end of Ramadan) holiday. My contact had invited me to shop in the office although this is an on line company. When it comes to textiles I really do want to see them up close to inspect the quality and the colors. The staff person invited me back on Monday. When we left I told Rahul ‘Here’s my stereotype of any Tat company and went on  to describe how I assumed it would be first class and not located in a physical space such as we had just visited. He laughed and said ‘This is India!”. We both laughed. India tourist ad reads ‘Incredible India’. It is in many ways!

We decided to get out of town for a day so I looked in Lonely Planet for day excursions and found a great trip to two nearby cities: Patan and Modhera. Patan, 130 km from Ahmedabad, has two points of interest. One is a step well built in 1063 and the other is a small group of three families, down from 700 families that have kept alive a unique form of weaving called Double Ikat. Modhera has a Sun Temple and step well built in 1026.

The major roads in Gujarat are excellent for the most part. Apparently when Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat before becoming PM made improving roads a priority. We decided to get up at 6:45 and leave by 8:00 so we could visit both sites in Patan and see the Sun Temple in Modhera and be home before dark. Somehow Ron misunderstood and set the clock for 5:45. Neither of us slept that well but when the clock went off I jumped up and got into the shower. As I was dressing I put on my watch and was shocked to see it was 6:00. OY! We could have benefitted from that extra hour but by then we were both fully awake.

Off we went and were pleased that the traffic wasn’t heavy but busier than I had expected. We got onto a toll road and learned that motorcycles were not supposed to use the toll road. Like all of the rules of the road here none are observed because there are NO consequences for non-compliance. So motor cycles, which are prohibited on toll roads, whizzed past us darting in between cars, some with more than the legal limit of two to a bike. Overloaded rickshaws with up to five or six passengers which are limited to three passengers and one driver were in abundance. We also saw numerous van buses, some full to the brim. Some passengers rode with the tailgate up which creates suction to draw in carbon dioxide from the exhaust system right into the vehicle. We also learned that the four lane highways aren’t supposed to have speed bumps and they were at all major intersections. This is India!

Once we got onto a two lane roads we went through numerous small rural villages. Camels pulling carts were frequently on the road. They are built to handle extreme temperatures. 

We also saw women carrying huge loads of green vegetation ( feed for animals perhaps) on their heads, wrapped in a large sheet size cloth. The loads would dwarf the women in size.

When we arrived in Patan we visited one of the families that still weave double Ikat saris. These are called patola (silk) of Patan. They cannot be bought in any shop and all are custom ordered with the buyer furnishing the design they want woven. This art goes back 900 years. The double Ikat means that the design is equal on both sides. The wearer cannot tell the difference from one side to the other. All are hand woven and silk.  The threads are tie dyed BEFORE weaving and the design is created by the tie dying in a way that the weaver can create the pattern. See photos and you can also Google, of course, to get a better idea.

We then went a little further down the road and visited the Rani-ki-Vav, a step well, built in 1063 by a queen to commemorate her husband. NO cameras were allowed however there was no problem using cell phones to photograph this incredible structure, covered with ornate carvings. Can anyone explain to me why no cameras but cell phones okay? Or is it ‘This is India’. Again we were approached and asked if we would allow our photos to be taken. Young men love to be photographed with Ron and his hat! Ron got some great shots of the structure with his cell phone.

We also visited another weaving family’s beautiful museum. They had a display of many other cultures that do Ikat but none do double Ikat as we understand it from our guide at the museum. It takes three men four to six months to weave a sari using these techniques. The garment will last 80-100 years and the colors 300 years. Because this is a unique and treasured form of weaving, a sari which is six meters (a little more than six yards) costs between $22,800-$45,450.  I purchased a scarf that was single Ikat and it did NOT require a short term loan!

We also briefly visited the Patan museum which was closed. The security guard at the entrance was lying on his cot and told us to go in. It contained remnants of former historic structures and Ron got two great shots of a Red-wattled lapwing. I continue to enjoy identifying various species of birds here and I am pleased how many I have been able to identify without my binoculars which I plan to bring back with me in August.

On our way to Modhera we stopped at a hotel to eat lunch. There were one or two tables with diners and we sat down. Ron and I looked at the heavily stained tablecloth and had the same reaction: shades of east Sri Lanka. When Rahul asked what we wanted to eat before stopping I said ‘someplace where we will not get sick’. I have had enough food poisoning in my travels to last me the rest of my life. Rahul made suggestions from the menu and we had a terrific meal and no Delhi belly! The meal was traditional Punjab: rich, veg, and oily. I wanted a nap afterwards. By the time we finished the restaurant was full.

The setting for the Sun Temple, built in 1026-27, was quite beautiful. We had read that some of the carvings were erotic and sure enough Ron found several. See photos. Right below the temple was a very large step well with many niches, each containing a statue. We opted to not walk all the way down to the green water as it was pretty warm at 3:00 pm. We were really lucky today as most of the day there was a cloud cover keeping it much cooler (that is a relative term folks as we have yet to truly experience cool here). 

Again we had photo opts with a large family and some very pretty women. When people ask me

‘which country’ I always say ‘USA…Obama!’ and get a great response. Today when I said it to a man he responded ‘We are from Modi!’. Touché.









The sun temple has a number of carved panels that are ancient erotic art.  Remember these are about a 1000 years old.

We left and spent a little less than two hours getting home. We were tired but had a terrific day, seeing so much beauty, both in the ancient structures and the silk weaving. I loved the ride through the town center of Patan as it was what I like to call Pure India. I sometimes catch myself as I am walking or in this case driving through a village or town that is typical of India with honking horns, bustling people, saris blowing in the wind, cows in the middle of the road, dirt everywhere…I feel like I am in a time warp or in a movie that I have seen about India and it feels magical to me. There are other times I am almost disgusted with the experience. But I have no regrets about being here even though we both find it difficult on an almost daily basis.  It’s the experience…. Right?