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PUSHKAR, India – Two boys bent their heads together as
they untangled the kite string. Another boy picked up the downed kite, tossed
it up, tugged on the string, deftly launching it in the air. The kids eagerly
watched the kite take flight. It soared beyond the rooftop of our hotel,
high over the town shimmering in the distance. |
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Pushkar, the ancient town in India where pilgrims come to
bathe in the lake. Pale winter sunshine reflected off Lake Pushkar, whose
origins are shrouded in Hindu myths. At that moment however, our kids were
enjoying the national Indian pastime – kite flying. |
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Like many places in India, Pushkar has rooftops which are
ideal for flying kites. After we arrived, my kids shopped at the many kite
shops all over town to buy purple, red and yellow, or orange, blue and green
kites. Then they spent hours trying to fly them successfully. |
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Soon a number of the neighborhood children came up on the
rooftop to give my sons tips on advanced kite techniques. Our children had
flown kites before but they found kite flying in India to be "not as
easy as we expected." In fact, it took us a long time to get the kites
off the ground. |
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High above Pushkar, the sounds of the town swirled around
us – devotional music from hundreds of temples, donkeys braying, nearby
buses honking, children playing. On our rooftop, the kids laughed or chewed
their lips, intently watching the kites. As the bright kites glided above
this holy spot, it was a sign that ancient cultures and kids do mix. |
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India – dazzling, exotic, colorful, ancient ... overcrowded,
noisy, chaotic ... not the first place you'd think to take your family on
vacation. And not the first place to go if this is your first trip abroad.
India is demanding, even for experienced travelers. But India is a great
destination for families, once you let go of preconceived notions about
this fascinating country. |
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I first came to India, not on a spiritual quest, but as a
young graduate student out to see the world. On that visit I stayed with
Indian families in villages but mostly traveled alone – an American
woman travelling to the ends of the earth. I didn't get any shots, I ate
everything, including raw vegetables and ice, and when I had "Delhi
belly," I devoured yogurt and rice to get back on track. |
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Our trip to India with my family was completely different.
This time I had kids and I traveled with eight other people – my husband
and two boys, ages seven and nine, my brother, and another American family
who live in India and teach at an international boarding school. They also
had two children, a nine year old girl and a three year old boy. |
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Having kids along changed my attitude as a traveler. As a
parent, I was more aware of safety issues. At one point on the trip, we
were driving along the infamous "Grand Trunk Road" in a dense
fog at night in a taxi with no seat belts and a driver who didn't know the
roads. When an ox cart overloaded with grain sacks suddenly appeared in
front of us like a ghostly sailing ship, it seemed that disaster was imminent.
The taxi driver honked his tinny horn repeatedly and zoomed around it, very
reminiscent of Toad's Wild Ride. I breathed a sigh of relief. |
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It wasn't just travelling in a large group that was different
too. We were welcomed as "a family" which made me realize what
I had missed in previous travels to India. At the Taj Mahal, a Sikh in a
turban fell into conversation with us. He said, "We never see children
from America. It is the best thing to bring your children here." |
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And it was the best thing. I look at the trip photos, our
families, our children, and I see grinning faces. I see an openness to a
different kind of experience. I see the kids rolling up the biggest snowballs
under the shadow of the Himalayas, or strolling through the crowded streets
of Delhi, eating on the floor in an Indian home, standing on the ramparts
of the fort at Jodhpur gazing over the "blue" city below, sitting
together on a crowded bus as it meanders through the Thar Desert, watching
the sunset over the palatial lake at Bundi, running through the 500 year
old tombs at the Lodhi Gardens, excited and laughing. |
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India is also a culture of contrasts, beautiful one moment,
unattractive the next. Overloaded infrastructures in cities and widespread
poverty are also part of the Indian experience. Refuse is tossed by the
road, creating mounds of pink plastic shopping bags that won't disappear
any time soon. Open sewers flow along city streets, adding to other malodorous
smells, prompting the kids to respond, "Delhi is smelly so I hold my
nose and turn on the hose, and that is the way the song goes." |
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In planning our trip to India, we decided to focus on the
state of Rajasthan, famous for its magnificent forts and palaces, but also
for its varied landscape, from the wide open expanses of the Thar desert
to the craggy Aravalli Hills and overgrown jungle in wildlife parks. We
also spent the first week in Mussoorie, in the foothills of the Himalayas. |
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Getting to Mussoorie was an adventure in itself. We took an
early morning train from Delhi to Dehra Dun, passing the Shivalik (Shiva's
hair) hills into the fertile Doon Valley. Train stations are a kaleidoscope
of activity. On longer rides there are compartments, the perfect place for
kids. "There are bunks and it's fun to lie on them and pretend you're
asleep," said my older boy. |
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To get from Dehra Dun to Mussoorie, we took a long taxi ride
up the steep winding mountains roads. And though taxis are expensive in
the USA, in India, taxis are another alternative to buses and trains. You
can hire a cab and driver for the hour, day, or several days, and the cost
is very comparable in price to four train tickets. Most taxis don't have
seat belts and the roads are narrow but the advantage of a taxi ride is
that you can leave when you wish and go where you want, another plus if
you're traveling with kids. |
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On taxi rides we traveled along the country back roads –
places that trains just whiz by. We passed villages with simple pounded-earth
houseyards, domestic animals in nearby enclosures, straight backed women
carrying firewood and brass pots on their heads, oxen pulling heavy wooden
carts, herds of camels, goats and cows in the road. |
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Mussoorie was well worth the trip. Once a resort of the British
Raj, Mussoorie offers spectacular views of the snow-covered Himalayas to
the north, and the sacred Ganges and Yamuna Rivers in the south and west.
The densely vegetated hills are populated with langur and rhesus monkeys.
After it snowed one night, the following morning the mists dissolved into
sunlight, revealing sparkling snow-covered trees and mountains looming through
the clouds. The kids pummeled each other with snowballs while I contemplated
the view of the immense mountains, dwelling place of Shiva of the snows. |
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Bikaner was our first taste of a medieval city in Rajasthan.
Bikaner retains its 16th century flavor with an old city and Junagarh Fort
in the center. The palace in the fort was dazzling. Room after room was
ornately decorated with floral designs, hundreds of tiny glimmering mirrors,
walls painted with gold leaf. A gilded swing for Krishna could be an inspiration
for the next generation of baby swings. The weapons museum housed a boggling
selection of arrows, knives, daggers and swords. |
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The bazaar in the old city was quite an experience for the
kids. Shopping in the bazaar is not like going to the mall and the kids
loved the colorful chaos of merchants selling cloth, bedcovers, pots and
pans, tin trunks, food of all kinds, spices and sweets. We stopped to watch
a vendor making a sweet out of sugared milk, quickly cooked in hot oil.
When the kids tried this treat, they thought it tasted like a mix between
ice cream and honey. |
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From Bikaner we took a long and winding bus ride through the
arid Thar Desert to Jaisalmer at the western edge of Rajasthan. When we
neared Jaisalmer in the late afternoon, the fort atop the hill truly deserved
its reputation as the "Golden Fort." Jaisalmer, founded by King
Jaisal in 1156, also has a legend that Krishna shot an arrow into the ground,
a well burst forth, and at this location the fort was built. |
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From the ramparts of the fort overlooking the city, "the
roofs of the houses looked like huge sandcastles," said the kids. "They
weren't like the little rows of downtown Los Angeles. These were like ships
at sea [in the desert], scattered hither and thither." |
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We also visited havelis, four story mansions built by wealthy
merchants in the 19th century. The facades of the havelis were decorated
with carved stone panels, a lacework in stone extending to the sky. The
kids were impressed that each panel, carved by hand, took six months to
make. I was impressed that the haveli owner sat out on the rooftop, entertained
by music and dancing in the evening, just like my evenings at home ... |
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Pushkar was a favorite spot for the kids, not just because
of kite flying, but also because we went on a camel safari. |
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Before coming to India, my kids had only seen
camels in the zoo and from a distance. In Rajasthan, camels are an everyday
sight, carrying heavy loads in large wooden carts with over-size rubber
airplane wheels. An overnight camel safari was a "must do" on
our trip. |
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The hotel arranged the entire thing, suggesting
a camel cart for the kids. This was a wise choice because, I can now say
that riding a camel all day has its pros and cons. The first thing is to
make sure that you don't fall off the camel when it rises from a sitting
position. Then you need to to avoid the gray foam and stuff oozing out of
the camel's mouth and nose as it whips its head around. But as a plus, riding
through the villages at a leisurely pace with a bird's eye view from high
up is unforgettable. The kids were happy to ride on the camels for short
periods, but they liked bouncing along on blankets in the camel cart. |
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About the camel safari, my 7 year old wrote, "We
hopped in a camel cart and rode through villages to a temple. We had dinner
and then we slept under the stars." Of course, dinner was bread baked
in the coals, rice and lentils. We spread our sleepingbags on the rooftop
of a guesthouse, next to a Shiva temple in the desert, miles from the nearest
village. |
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Throughout Rajasthan, national parks and game
sanctuaries are a great way to see wild, open land and marvelous wildlife.
In Ranthambhore National Park, we took a jeep trip around the park to look
for tigers. We saw wild boar, langur monkeys, sambar and spotted deer, nilgai
antelopes, but no tigers that day. What we did see is a rarity in India
– miles of uncultivated land inhabited by wild animals. For my kids,
"When we went through the gate, it seemed like we were going to Jurassic
Park." |
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Anywhere you go in India, you can expect the unexpected.
In Jodhpur on Christmas day, as we walked along a sidewalk at dusk, without
warning, I stepped into a hole filled with dirty water, up to my armpits.
Panicked, I kicked my feet to find bottom, sure this was the end of the
line for me. Just before my head went under, my husband grabbed my wrists
and hauled me out. I stomped back to our hotel, water dripping from my good
clothes and shoes, teeth chattering, fuming and muttering, "How can
they leave holes in the street like that! " Later, revived with clean
clothes and delicious shish kebab. |
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Wherever we went, whatever we did, my kids wrote
about it in their journals day by day. It takes some parental effort to
keep the writing going, but in years to come, my sons can rediscover the
excitement of "after breakfast we saw some camels. Robin wanted to
ride one." |
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Sunset in the desert on the outskirts of Jaisalmer.
Carved stone memorials to departed rajas, the cenotaphs, glowed yellow as
the afternoon light deepened. Flocks of black birds rose in the air and
flew to their nightly resting place. Twilight descended and the cenotaphs
faded into the darkness. The moment had come to light the fireworks. Spinners,
fountains and rockets burst into the blackness with spirals and explosions
of white dazzling light. The boy clapped his hands and waved his sparkler.
It was Robin's third birthday. |
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Elizabeth Young |
