So you and Joanne are going to India. You'll have a terrific
time. I guarantee it. Regarding your question about guides, they
can make all the difference if the're knowledgeable, persistent
and well-planned.
Foe example when I decided that we wanted
to visit the temples and crafts villages of Indian state of Orissa
in October, 2001, we knew we needed a guide, so she called her
friend Stephen Huyler, a cultural anthropologist who has written
several books about India, and he recommended the guide he relies
on when he visits Orissa - Maheswar "Babu" Mohapatra. He e-mailed
Babu forthwith, and asked him to plan a tour for us. He e-mailed
us a recommended itinerary 48 hours later, which we endorsed
immediately.
Babu and his driver met our flight, and he
surprised right away us by inviting us to have lunch with his wife
and two sons in their home. Then he took us to several 10th and
11th century temples before checking us into a charming room at a
lovely hotel in Puri, 60 miles away.
We discovered later
that Babu had to make three trips on his motorcycle to Puri to get
us our room. First, the hotel claimed to be full, then it claimed
not to have the room he wanted us to have, but he persisted,
lobbied the general manager, whom he knew personally, and
eventually triumphed.
On another occasion, when we are
waiting for lunch at a busy restaurant across the road from
popular, 1,000 year old Sun Temple at Konark, Babu excused himself
and disappeared into the kitchen to give the cooks a friendly
nudge. We were served shortly thereafter.
It was easy to
see why Stephen Huyler recommended Babu. He's a born teacher who
not only knows his stuff, but is also able to communicate it in
interesting, entertaining ways. He's also charming, assertive and
tenacious which is why we stayed where we did in Puri and ate when
we did at the busy restaurant across from the famous
temple.
We also learned that a guide's connection were
invaluable when Babu somehow got permission to take us to the roof
of Puri's city library where we were afforded a spectacular view
of his holy city's central temple (the hindu equivalent of the
Vatican's St. Peter's, and off-limits to non-Hindus) and of its
heperactive main street.
When we asked why we grabbed a
stick the size of a baseball bat before we started up the stairs
that led to the roof, he explained that it was to fend off the
monkeys. Local knowledge matters, too.
When we decided to
retrn to India this year, we made it a point to book Babu agiain,
this time to take us into the interior to India's tribal villages;
and we discovered that Babu knows as much about them as he does
about Orissa's temples.
We were also impressed by his
ability to communicate with the villagers and make them
comfortable with two weird looking foreigners, one of whom kept
wanting to take photographs. Not only Babu knows English, Hindi
and Oriya (his mother tongue); he also knows several of 62
dialects spoken by these people.
Babu took us to eight
villages in four days - several of which required serious hiking
along obscure terrains that he obviously knew well - and arranged
for our meals and lodgings. All we had to do was to show
up.
We've already began to plan our next trip with Babu. If
all goes well, he will take us to the vale of Kashmir and the
wildlife preserves of West Bengal in September, 2003. He used to
live in Srinagar, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, so he not
only knows the area but also how to keep us out of trouble when
we're there. (We hope!)
So, Jim, yes, good guides will add
a great deal to your trip… and Babu Mohapatra is one of the best.
He's also one terrific human being.
And you can e-mail hi
at : babu62@hotmail.com
Bon voyage !
