Lake
March 2004

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I first came to India for a short holiday in September 2002. Initially scheduled for only 3½ weeks I ended up staying for 9 weeks which by local standards was still "too short".

That holiday encouraged me to come back and stay longer; so in March 2003 I packed up everything at home in Brisbane and headed off back to India.

Staying with a local family (see pics below), I am lucky enough to be immersed in 'real life' here and not just get the tourist experience - although I did make sure I visited the Taj of course (see pics below).

FYI: India has a very low rate of twinning - as with many Asian countries the twinning rate (for fraternal twins) is substantially lower than in Australia (unfortunately precise statistics for India seem impossible to find).

I'm currently staying on a lovely farm in the very north of India. Approximately 15 kms from the city of Jammu in the state of J & K (Jammu & Kashmir) it is situated on the edge of the Tawi river (approximately 7 kms from the border with Pakistan).

Although J & K is considered a 'hot spot' for militant action, it is surprisingly peaceful (although there is occasional trouble and the area is occupied by a lot of army personnel, whom I make sure I don't photograph - for security reasons <wink>).

Jammu city is known as the "city of a thousand temples" and we even have a little temple at home on the farm (the first 'improvement' built by the family when they moved in; it was built using recycled garden-edging bricks).

The jacaranda tree outside my bedroom and bougainvillea bush in background both in full flower.

Jammu has a population approx of 300,000 and is the winter capital of the state of J&K (Jammu and Kashmir; Srinagar is the summer capital). Kali Farm is only about 15kms from the city and we regularly go in to town for shopping and supplies or to visit relatives, etc.

Some parts of the city are too narrow for cars (like much of India) and can only be accessed by auto-rickshaw, motorbike or on foot. There are still horses pulling wooden carts and quite a lot of 'builders' ponies' who carry sand, building materials etc on sacks across their backs.

Some of the animals that you won't usually see in Brisbane are quite normal here:
cows are the most commonplace, all over the road, they are sacred to the Hindu people and are allowed to roam free around the cities; they are protected by anti-cow-killing laws. Many Indians are strict vegetarian (including no egg) and if meat is served it is mostly mutton or chicken.

Monkeys are also quite common about the roadside (especially on the edge of town and at the temples); they usually expect some offering and you can buy gram (dried pulse) to scatter for them. Occasionally you'll even come across a camel or two wandering the streets (although mostly they are accompanied by their owners). Out at Kali farm we also often see buffalo being herded down to the river for an afternoon swim and buffalo milk is even available to buy in the market.

On my first trip over (September-November 2002) I visited Agra to see the Taj Mahal - an absolutely must see attraction!

Completed in 1653, the building was commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his second wife - Mumtaz Mahal (who died in childbirth in 1631).

The building itself is truly magnificent and the intricacies of the architectural designing is astounding. E.g. the minarets are all angled leaning out 5 degrees so that, in case of earthquake etc, they won't fall on the main building. The inscriptions from the Koran inlaid around the main doors are minutely enlarged as they rise up the building so the altered perspective is that the lettering appears to be the same size all the way up despite being over 30 foot tall. Totally awe-inspiring!

Some of the fine relief carving work on the exterior of Taj Mahal.

Indian weddings are very big events; often lasting 4-5 days and involving numerous ceremonies and the gathering of hundreds of family members from near and far.

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A pair of pet porcupines we happened upon while driving to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage - July 2003.

After a lovely trip to Sri Lanka it was time to head back to Kali Farm to greet new arrivals and welcome overseas visitors. I managed to miss the bulk of the monsoon season while I was away, as the rains began in Delhi the very same night I flew out to Sri Lanka. I was away for two weeks, while it rained every day in India and produced huge flooding throughout the country. The humidity during monsoon is pretty intense but you do get some pretty amazing storms which is cool.

First born - a female calf named Lakshmi (after the goddess of wealth and good fortune); she is the third calf from our beloved cow Ganga (who previously gave birth to two boys)and she will mature to become our second milking cow.

Second born - kittens to our pet cat Molly. Cats are very rare as pets in most of India (they're actually considered to be bad luck). I was hoping to catch a wild kitten, which is how my mum had come to have Molly, caught about 18 months before. But instead I now have a pair of home-bred, Kali Farm kittens who are just adorable.

Also on this very lucky day - water was struck in our new well. This was a major achievement which had been a ongoing ordeal with two previously unsuccessful attempts by three separate teams of well diggers (all digging by hand, I might add, as is the norm in India). So now thankfully, we are no longer reliant on 'the municipality' for clean drinking water (which is often only provided for an hour or so per day); a luxury we take for granted in Australia (along with 24 hr electricity or 'bijli' as it is called here).

In March 2004 Flame come to visit Kali Farm and stayed for a month's holiday. While she was here we took another trip to Agra for her to see the Taj Mahal as well (refer Taj pics above).

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Unfortunately I haven't got up to see the famous house-boats on Dal Lake in Srinagar yet. During my first visit there were election polls in the area making it too dangerous to go and then winter hit suddenly making it very cold............so I haven't made it up there yet but hopefully I will soon and I can include some photos from that trip in my next travel update!

In the mean time, here are a couple of slightly grainy digi-cam shots mum took on Dal Lake when she first visited Srinagar back in 1997.

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