They say experience is the best teacher, and we've learned from
experience that a good guide adds a great deal to travel to India,
and that there is none better than Babu.
Babu introduced us
to Orissa state's temples and crafts villages in October, 2001. He
took us to eight India's remote tribal villages in October, 2002.
And, if all goes well, he will take us to Kashmir and to wildlife
habitats of West Bengal in September, 2003.
Babu possesses six essential qualities
:
- Knowledge (including local habits and customs that aren't
written down anywhere) and the ability to communicate it -
English, Hindi, Orian(his mother tongue and several tribal
dialects
- Personal relationship with local people (including hotel
managers, restaurant owners and bureaucrats)
- Stamina
- Tenacity
- A combination of like ability and assertiveness
- A sense of humor
Babu is scholar first, a guide second. He knows a lot, and he
knows how to get it across. He obviously enjoys learning because
he listens well, and hears what you have to say. And it's
impossible not to like and be instantly comfortable with him -
even if you're a harried waiter, and he's badgering you to serve
his clients; or a hotel manager. And he's twisting your arm to
give his clients a special room; or a camera-shy villager who has
just encountered a strange woman with pale face who wants to take
your picture.
This is why we got lunch faster than anyone
else at a jam-packed restaurant across the road from the Sun
Temple in Konark, and it's one of two reasons why we slept in the
best room in the house at the finest hotel in Puri. (the other:
Babu made three trips to the hotel from his home in Bhubaneswar,
60 miles away, to lobby the general manager, whom he knew
personally.)
It also helps to explain how we got a
spectacular view of Puri's famous temple (the Hindu equivalent of
Vatican's St. Peters, and off-limits to non-Hindus). Babu has a
friend at the city library who gave him permission to take us up
to its roof.
(He also demonstrated his local knowledge by
taking along a big stick: to deal with the monkeys he knew we were
apt to find when we got to the roof.)
Oh, yes, it explains
as well how Paola was able to take wonderful portrait photographs
without upsetting people who aren't used to having their picture
taken.
If you want a marvelous guide who's also a marvelous
human being, hire babu Mohapatra. Next...
