Orchha 5th May 2006

Rishi wanted to take be back to see the Lakshmi temple today, so I decided to go to the Raj Mahal first, which is the only place that sells tickets to all the temples. The temples here are really good value, 50 Rupees (about 60 pence) buys entrance to the three main temples in the town. That is terrific value compared to 750 Rupees (nearly £10.00 GBP) to see the Taj Mahal and I personally prefer to abandoned temples in Orchha to the chocolate box Taj. I’ve spoken to a number of travellers about the Taj and there is a 50:50 divide when it comes to the Taj, most of the women think it is the most beautiful monument to love blah blah, most of the guys love clambering around the abandoned the temples! Men are from mars……

Seeing as though I was going to the Raj Mahal it would have been a shame not to climb to the top of it and chill out (if I’ve any more chilling out left in me) for an hour. It was a sweaty climb, the temperature was pushing 40c (about 104fh) but there was a nice breeze at the top and I had an ice-cold bottle of water to keep me company. I stayed there for just over an hour and I didn’t see one other person in the temple during that time. It was just after 12:00 when I had some lunch and then I met up with Andy and we both headed off to the internet café. Andy has had the patience to work with the really slow connection,and it was the first time in a couple of weeks that I did some emailing and I ended up spending two hours in there and there wasn’t one power cut during that time.

I met up with Rishi and he didn’t want to walk to Lakshmi temple so he let me borrow his cousins bike. His cousins bike is pink (it was his elder sisters) and is pretty small (for an adult anyway) and doesn’t have any gears. When I cycled my knees were level with my upper chest which must of looked a sight, it seemed to amuse the locals though, especially the women for some reason! A lot of the time a woman will ignore or not make eye contact with a man, but I had groups of women wave and say hello as I puffed past them, knees going thirteen to the dozen. Rishi was loving this, and he would zoom past me urging me to catch him and as soon as I stood on the pedals and put some power into it the chain would come off! I didn’t have the heart to beat the kid in a race anyway…..

The walls and ceiling of the temple are covered in murals and Rishi was a mine of information and he was able to name most of the gods and kings on the paintings. He told me stories about some of the kings and was eager to show me every nook and cranny. I gave him one of my cameras and showed him how to use it and he went around taking photos of the murals and any bird that he could find. We stayed there for just over an hour and then went for a cycle around the town and visited two more temples. I bought him a packet of peanuts and a bottle of Sprite and let him play a couple of games of chess on my computer as a thank you. I then downloaded the photographs he had taken and he proudly showed them off to his parents. He then did some work on them in Photoshop and his parents couldn’t believe what he could do to the photographs. I was a bit surprised actually as he’s picked it up really quickly and is pretty confident around the keyboard.

It was just after this that I broke the news to him that I was leaving town tomorrow and he got upset. He told me that I was his friend and wanted to know when I was going to come back and see him. I told him that I might be back this way in two months and if I am I’ll stay at this guesthouse again and see him. He then wanted some photographs of us together, so I got his little brother to take some. He asked me what time I’ll be leaving at and I told him it would probably be around 09:00, he smiled, and told me that he would come and see me at 07:00! I told him that that would be a little early and that when I’m up and dressed I’ll go out into the courtyard to say hello.

I was meeting up with Andy at 20:00 so I went down to the square at 19:30 and sat down near the temple in our “usual” spot. I noticed a group of women sitting on a raised platform (well I could hardly miss them as they were sitting down about three feet from where I was sitting), banging drums and singing. I was only there for about a minute when I noticed out of the corner of my eye, some guy making a beeline for me. Sure enough he comes over, puts one foot on the ledge I was sitting on and he’s thrusting his groin forward in a pose that was more gay than macho. He asked me where I was from and I told him, he then starts saying, “fan, fan”, I asked him what he meant and he repeated himself. I hadn’t a clue what he was going on about and wished he would get out of my face and go away. I stood up and he starts talking to me in Hindi and I hadn’t a notion what he was trying to say, he then goes and gets some old guy and brings him over. My new “friend” then remembers a few more words of English, which were, “him, hungry”, I told him that there are a lot of hungry people in India and I can’t feed them all. He didn’t understand.

He started talking to the old guy again and I get approached by a well dressed young guy (was I sitting on the gay bench?), he asked me if I’d been to Agra and I told him I had and he wanted to know if I liked it. I didn’t know what angle to reply to the question, was he a local who didn’t like Agra? I took an easy option and said that it was “nice”. He was delighted with this answer and a big smile appeared on his face, he said, “me from Agra” and he walked off still beaming. It was about 17:55 by this stage and there was no sign of Andy, so I decided to see if he was still at our “local” restaurant. As I was walking off the first guy starts to follow me and I ignored him and he eventually got the hint. Andy was sitting down having a fruit salad when I got there and I asked him if he’d already eaten, but he just had the fruit salad whilst he waiting for me. We had agreed not to go to the temple this evening so we settled down and ordered some food, Andy opting for chips and I had the Thali.

We got speaking to the owner, who we’ve come to know pretty well at this stage. He’s just had all three of his fridges pack in and has been quoted 7000 Rupees (nearly £100 GBP) to get them repaired, which is a lot of cash in these here parts. His wife (Rani) is really nice, fantastic looking and very friendly. She’s now either 25, 26 or 27, she’s not sure which, as she doesn’t know her birthday! She is from a small village outside Orchha and had an arranged marriage when she was about 17 (so she could have been 15) and she has four children. Her children are really good kids and I have played cards with them on numerous occasions. Ram is six years old and by the looks of it, he’s going to take over the family business in the next few years. This kid loves cooking, and he’s always to be found in the kitchen with his arms across naked flames making chappaties or chai. I’ve got a couple of photographs of him with bare feet, standing on his tippie toes stirring a pan of boiling milk, something that is not encouraged in most restaurants in Europe!