April 3, 4, 5:, 1985, Delhi, Jantar Mantar and preparing for Nepal

 Taken from Back to the East, India, Nepal, Kashmir  

3^rd April 1985

We arrived back in Delhi early morning. The train was very slow for a good few miles before pulling into the station. From the carriage window it was a real sight for sore eyes. We were moving alongside a shanty town and the large number of people there clearly had few facilities and were using the railway track as a public convenience; there was a long line of bare arses facing us. I could only imagine the excrement dried up every day or maybe was eaten by rats. Not a pleasant sight or thought but then again, quite funny.

Also on the journey some of our fellow passengers somehow got the idea that I could read palms. One guy gave me a piece of paper to write on; I saw it was an invitation for a job interview so told him he was about to get a new job. He seemed very pleased and I hope it encouraged him so he got the job. But that only encouraged others. I just made some positive stuff up telling them all good news or good changes were coming. Indians are a very superstitious nation.

Today, as it turned out, was the holiday day for Lord Mahavir Jayanti, although most shops were open. So after getting back to the Ashok Yatri Newas hotel and checking in, we planned to get some passport photos done in preparation for our applications for visa to Nepal.

Two people were arguing at reception because they were told they had to pay in foreign currency like pounds or dollars. For us this was to be a nuisance too, as previously they had taken rupees with an exchange chit. So now Lesley would have to change a travellers check into rupees, then change enough for the hotel bills back into pounds. In India there are ever changing rules and regulations, a bureaucratic system that wants everything in triplicate.

By now all my white shirts were either stained and dirty, so we had to get them cleaned too. It would have been cheaper to buy new shirts.

We went back to the office to see Ali and get details for our trip to Nepal and find out about visas. There was another guy there. He said “Ah, I see you have been in the desert, because you have a red nose! I have been too, you see I have a white nose!” He explained that though my nose was burned red, his was bleached white!

4^th April 1985

The visa for Nepal cost 120 rupees each, about six pounds. That was no problem for us. Ali sent somebody to get our passports stamped.

Apparently, Delhi had 50,000 rickshaws, one million bicycles, 3000 animal-drawn carts and 80.000 motor vehicles including cars, buses, trucks and rickshaws, resulting in 5000 road accidents every year.

 

Today we strolled along Parliament Street and Janpath area trying to find Jantar Mantar astronomical gardens and observatory, which was supposed to be just a short walk from Connaught Circus. After quite a long walk up the wrong street, we came across a Sikh Temple. Suddenly we were back on Ashok Road at our hotel. We had missed Jantar Mantar altogether! Now we learn that Parliament Street was now called Sansad Marg, which we had passed several times whilst walking back and forth. We have now learned that Jantar Mantar was just behind our hotel, on the “backside” as they say here. So off we go again.

Jantar Mantar was a collection of stone astronomical instruments built by Maharaja Jai Singh The Second about 1725. There was a large salmon-coloured odd shaped structure with steps everywhere, a huge sun dial supposed to be accurate to half a second and another triangular shape and semicircles meant for plotting the courses of the stars and predicting eclipses and predict the times and movements of the sun, moon and planets. It’s difficult to see how they were used but it included the use of shadows cast upon graduated concave plates. It was all set in a green garden patch. The word Jantar was derived from yantra, meaning instrument, while the suffix Mantar was derived from mantrana meaning consult or calculate.