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Fun with film processing ...... Look at the selection of photographs Wednesday, 19 September 2001 Today set out & visited another fort, these Maharajas certainly knew how to live with their bevy of wives, and lavish palaces, which I could have seen one of them with all of the tapestry’s, hand powered ceiling fans, they would have really looked lavish compared to now….even compared to UK & Europe! Then for a two-hour walk thro the market place, not taking that many photos but absorbing the feel & atmosphere of the whole place. It is always busy with lots of traffic going full blast blowing the horns. I noticed several what looked like poor people going up to one shopkeeper & he gave them 3 pieces of pita bread each, must be a daily occurrence. The shops their keepers all look very interesting but never seem to be that busy, but perhaps I am there at the wrong time.
Everyone wants to know two things “what country you from” & “what your name” I usually answer London today….so ask what about tomorrow I say Rome ….but I am fair I do give all of the major cities a go! My Name is usually Sam. With those two bits of information the often drift away having exhausted their command of English. Visited the current Maharajas palace… he takes paying guests…rooms start at per night, $225 thro to $750 US$ of course…. Not bad when a good wage is $250 a month. Not many Americans apparently make it to India, so I am told, so it must be the Europeans the pay the money. Of course the opposite side of the world is Denver so I guess it is a fair distance for most from the States.
Thursday, 20 September 2001 am. Only one at breakfast again…the season really does not start till the end of the month! Yes it has been hot but you expect India to be hot! They were playing Christmas Carols at breakfast… in this heat I was listening to “let it snow…let it snow etc” Half way thro my time in India & time to evaluate the trip so far… yes I would come back! I have almost worked out my business plan for what I am going to do with my time in the new year..first I must get a internet connection so I can check out a few internet capabilities but it probably will involve travel to the States, visiting selected studios, and writing….all things that I have had lots of experience in & can do very easy.
There is one thing I can recommend to anyone and that is to get away from your town, country as far as possible for at least three weeks, if you are like me you will find your life, business and most of the things you do on a daily basis you can question and place into, what you believe, is proper order. Drove to Mt Abu, will be going back on the same road for 3 hours which it took a total of 6 hours to spend the night here….that was my thinking UNTIL I went to the temples, five in all in the one location, the first being built in 1031 (1066 was the battle of Hastings when the Normans conquered England) it took 1500 masons 14 continuous years to finish the immaculate carving. Two of the temples are unbelievable with the way the marble is carved. Yesterday visited a antique dealer and saw some magnificent doors, wooden, carved in a delightful pattern the most ornate they were asking $US600. Today I visited another dealer on the way out of town and his were about half the price!
Stopped at a few of the villages on the main road and walked thro the dust, mud, cow poo, and rubbish everywhere…. However it is always interesting. Driving is also interesting …it is a wonder they have such a large population as I sure the must be hundreds killed every day on the roads….if they are not well it is not because of their safe driving. Add to this people wandering across the roads, scooters weaving in and out of the traffic, cows sitting in the middle of the road, put-put’s going full blast, cars, trucks & buses playing chicken missing each other by mm’s makes for interesting travel. However all you can do is sit back and enjoy! This is one of the reasons to travel …something that is not the same as at home!
Friday, 21 September 2001 am. Turned CNN on and have been watching Bush address the Senate …missed the beginning, but there is no doubt they have the correct President for the times we are in, I had doubts about him right up to the beginning of the month, but the moment the WTC happened I knew he was the right guy for the job, I have never perceived him as a wimp. They (the States) are lucky, the world is lucky, that Bush is in the job, the future, he will become part of history. He had the possibility of being remembered along with Churchill, Roosevelt, Truman and the other great leaders of the 20th century.
The terrorists I think have made the biggest mistake of history! Drove to Udaipur, half way visited another Temple 1400 pillars all carved, built in the 15th century, again incredible carving of marble. Walked thro a lot more villages today, photographed a lot of women working on the roads, common to see women pumping water while the men rest conserving their strength!
Spoke to the driver about me walking thro the villages, it has never happened to him before, normally he drives from point A to point B as quickly as possible, I guess they call this “seeing India” 5 star hotel to 5 star hotel with a guide taking them thro the local tourist attraction! I must be “mad” to him! Talking about good hotels, the one for the next two nights is one of the best to date, even warm water in the shower instead of cold, elevator, shop that is open and more that one guest, a group of I think Germans. Today visiting the temple met people from France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Holland.
I see how people in the States have stopped flying, I have been trying to work out the logic, I guess there must have been hundreds of planes taking off round the time the planes were hijacked, now with the security beefed up …hell it would now be safer than walking to the corner and the odds on being on a plane…I think you would have better odds at winning the lottery! Well it wont stop me tripping about!
Saturday, 22 September 2001 Went to the City Palace…fort? Again very lavish, saw in the middle of the lake the Lake Palace Hotel so after the tour paid off the guide & was dropped off at the Palace gates & my driver went on his way, found the only way I could get out to the Lake Hotel was to have lunch there so booked that. Then realised that when I dropped my camera bag up to my room I had meant to get a matchbox with the hotels name and of course did not. Just as well the gate office had a listing of the hotels & I found mine by the price range. Last night I got a brochure on prices of this hotel and it was the only one in the range. So that was OK.
Walking to the wharf where the boat to the island left from about half way there the second guard said I could not proceed with out a boat ticket. A few choice words as I turned to walk back and half way back the first guard was running towards me signalling that I should go back and one of the office staff was on the back of a motorbike signalling for me to turn round…the guard said veery sorry sir!
Walking, again, on towards the wharf a young Indian was walking with me I guess to try & make some money… asked where I was from & I told him NZ & that brought up cricket…..which he started talking about…. I told him you could either work or play sport you could not do both well. That lead on to my talk No 54…. … he has to work as a guide till 4pm then school till 8pm learning Computer Tech. Then hangs out with the boys…talking about girls….. so I told him NO MORE…. 8 till 12 is for study for the next 5 years…. He wants to leave India…. I told him unless he could get scores of 90+ he could forget it ….. he said he couldn’t …. I told he if he believed that he was probably right…. He then told me a story of his life …. I said SO ….. that’s the past I am talking of the future. I think I got thro to him … gave him my card & told him to contact me when he started studying seriously. He said he would.
On out to the Island Hotel & lunch great place may stay there sometime in the future…. Great view, from the table, over the lake towards the palace on the shore…. nice boat ride to the Island…..the water in the lake of doubtful quality… the meal cost all of $14!!!
A scene keeps going thro my mind …several days ago I was walking thro a village and came across this house that had a type of open porch filled with women all talking flat out sorting what I realised later were presents and about two thirds of the way across this porch was a small wall and on the other side of the wall was this pretty, young women looking soulful ….looking down and it was so moving I wanted to capture it on film but as soon as I lifted the camera she looked up and ran into the house… it was the bride to be….and I since then have wondered what was going thro her mind…. She was about to marry a man her parents had chosen who she had never really met…. I am pleased that I did not photograph it now as the image would never be as powerful as my memory.
Have been having a lazy afternoon watching films & typing this…..was watching the adverts & it shows couples in romantic situations…I think things in the city’s are changing for the women….women now ride & own scooters this started about five of six years ago….but it will be decades before it reaches the countryside if ever.
Monday, 24 September 2001 Drove to Chittorgarh and visited the old fort that was much in ruins, very large space inside the fort…not much to see, have seen better. Then on to Castle Bijapur about 30k south of Chittorgarh in the country away from things. A group travelling with Intrepid out of Melbourne with a Aussie based in Delhi leading the group. There were Aussies, English, Italy, Poland, Boston, people in the group.
So they arrive moments before I did and as usual one of the hotel staff tried to take my “Carry on” with the computer…. Again I threatened him with death if he touched it to the amusement of the “Group travellers” so I told them it had my computer on board….with this news the woman from Aust said great you will be able to help me down load my digital camera! I made the comment that I was a Pro & should be able to help
Then the East European girl immediately wanted to talk…. I said later and headed off to check out my room…. It was the “Tiger” room with a model of a fully grown tiger.
Back to have lunch…. And decided to go at 4pm with the group to visit village right our in the country…. Sounded great, but turned out a flop in my view. However we had a couple of hours to spare so I told the Aussie to get her camera and bits. She had two 250m Zip disks which were useless without a drive & the chanced of finding one in India while would be possible given enough time I told her to forget them.
Then there was the USB adaptor for the smart card that she thought she had been told was a storage device. Interesting how careful the salespeople need to be in explaining what each bit does…they almost need a printed sheet describing exactly what each bit does in simple language.
She had two cards a 16m & 192m both full So I told her I could put them on the screen then delete the ones that were no good, so I got her room for a extra 24 photos. She was “Rapped”.
Then the young East European girl started asking questions so the rest of my free time was in helping her understand her camera, photography, and possibilities of becoming a travel photographer. She is studying to be a linguist and can already speak East European, German, Russian, English. And is studying in London.
So I spent a enjoyable evening discussing my favourite subject. Hopefully I have motivated her. You know I do not go looking for “these people” they seem to find me…. I guess I do start things by my opening comments…. but it is lots of fun…and very rewarding.
Today we travelled towards Kota, stopping to walk thro villages getting some interesting exposures. It was then on to Bundi a large village that had a large market place and finished 5 films today. I will return to the village again tomorrow morning to collect some more photos.
The Hotel again a old palace that has been converged into a hotel the room if enormous, two single beds, a lounge suite and other bits looking almost lost in the room that is about 9x14 yards in size, then a room 4x4yds & bathroom 5x5yds. A very large TV, but no internet connection yet…. maybe tomorrow in Jaipur.
Tuesday, 25 September 2001 Today drove to Pushkar instead we were going to have to drive for four hours there & back in two days time so that made no sense to me. But my was the road bad & then when we got to the main road that runs all the way to Bombay the number of trucks was incredible. All overtaking when they shouldn’t many wrecks on the side of the road where the overtaking has not been successful and on the way from Ajmer to Pushkar there was a bus stopped on the side of the road a small motorbike lying on is side in the middle of the road and a body with a broken neck, by the angle of the head, lying just before the rear wheels. My driver did not even slow down but drove round all of the stopped and scattered bits…. So yes people do get killed on the roads in India.
The other interesting fact was that no one seemed concerned with anything no one was doing anything!…..including my driver! Arrived at Puskhar, Checked into the hotel, lots of young whites here, went into town and it is set up for tourists, by the thousand, or so it would seem by the number of shops with the goods they were displaying. Lots of young white girls walking round in pairs, many couples, the town was full of tourists, more that I have seen in my total time in India in total.
I could find nothing of merit in the town to return unless it was for the Camel Fair in November then I would hate to think what it would be like! Stopped many times to walk thro village on the way here, and at Gipsy camps on the side of the road but nothing like the ones I saw early on in the trip with the costume that the women wore.
Went back to Bundi and a young guy offered to guide me round the town for R150 so I thought why not. So I started walking after telling him to keep behind me out of the way & he learnt fast after being in direct line of the camera several times. And then I walked & I walked the poor guide was lagging behind & then I say him buying a bottle of water and swigging on that & he kept on telling me that way back to car, with me replying yes, but will that road get us there and the answer was always yes. He did admit he had never walked so far or so fast before so perhaps I taught him something! The sunset from the balcony outside my room was rather nice, the hotel was on the edge of a small lake with houses all around the far shore so the sun set in behind those, slowly, made some interesting pictures that may, or may not make the final cut. The hotel was in a rather nice setting although as usual I would not like to fall into the water!
Dinner was in the garden overlooking the lake with palm trees so there I was sitting on the edge of the lake, under the palm trees, with the moon shining thro the fonds. Made me think of the lakes of Italy and how delightful they were and with their multi coloured houses how much different it was there. That is the beauty of travel everything is so different, everywhere.
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Out for a walk after dinner & on the way back to the hotel the East European girl that is wanting to be a Photographer walked out of a shop, we both got a surprise. Sat down in a café & had a drink, & then started to answer another list of questions, told her of the camp of Gypsies I was out to photograph in the morning & invited her along. Be there at 9am I said…& off she went to her hotel.
Wednesday, 26 September 2001 Up early for the sunrise which was a non event then for a walk into town & made a few images without all the white faces before things got started for the day.
Breakfast overlooking the lake, being waited on….home will never be the same again! Then it was out to the Gypsy camp, the driver said there was only half the number that were there the previous day, but we took some photos, she seemed to enjoy the excursion. So we dropped her back to town, answered more questions then on the way to Jaipur.
This was the main road from Delhi to Bombay and hundreds of trucks, a few more wrecks on the road, with the volume of traffic & the way they overtake it is a wonder there are not a lot more. They have one thing going for them there is so much traffic & the roads are so bad no one can travel that fast, so most have time to avoid a bad smash.
Into town & to the hotel & had some toast & Banana & soda water then for a walk to the Muslim part of town, the driver said that part of town was much dirtier that the Hindu part but I think it is only a matter of belief, if that is what you believe that is what you will see. So a few more images of means of transport with this lot, and more film exposed.
Boy it was hot, so back to the hotel to lie down, the power was off on my arrival so there was no AC or Fan to move a bit of air about but true to their promise at 5pm it was back on. Off to the internet Café by the gate, to clear the emails & send a few. It is quite slow doing it this way & you do not realise how easy it is to download & do the replies on your laptop…..will have to resolve this for the next trip. Back to the hotel & the first hot shower since I don’t remember when… it was good, sort out the washing & it will go in, in the morning & be back by 5pm for the price of washing one shirt in the states you get 19 pieces washed & ironed.
Dressed & wandered out the door to the courtyard & started talking to a couple sitting at the table that was a couple of paces from the door. They were from UK & had taken 12 months off work to travel the world, the had budgeted about $NZ40,000 for them both for that time which I thought was very good. It seems like they can do it almost, with the rent they are collecting from their flat that is being rented while they are away. They commented the rents in close to London are out of proportion to what can be earned.
Had dinner with them, they were to depart at 9pm to the Station to travel to Udaipur and will get to most of the spots I was at, they are in India for 3 months & will return to UK for Christmas & then carry on their travels on round the world. Dinner was in the courtyard and when I wandered over to talk to them she was gazing up at the stars so I told her how much brighter they are in the southern hemisphere.
Dinner consisting of, Soup, Chicken & boiled rice, Indian Bread & two bottles of Soda water $US4.00
Thursday, 27 September 2001 Went into the old city and there is the famous old red Mawar Mahal, it is a building of course, used the 17mm but the building was “leaning back” so a tout told me there was a better photo up where his shop was so ups I go and it was a good location his shop was not bad either. Then it was onto another fort & palace, this time there were a lot of tourists they were carried up the mountain on a Elephant ….this was offered to me but I took a look at some of the fat tourists & decided it was time to walk so the guide trotted along side of me up all the steps to the top, yep I had to stop occasionally to admire the scene (get my breath back) but having another look at the “riders” on the was up I was glad I did.
There was a interesting entrance to the palace with a painted, carved front with steps leading up to the entrance and there was group after group of tourists being photographed in front of this sitting on the steps with their guide very carefully picking up on camera after another and doing the shots for those in the group. I had no desire to have a lot of French, who they all seemed to be, in my photo so after the third one had finisher I said in my loud voice please one photo without people and lots of others joined in the “shooting”. Of course using the wide angle placed me in front of everyone so I had no problems with peoples in the way….not like they had with me!
On the way to the observatory we passed a large group of people along a wall and these were people in from the country side looking for work so this was the reporting spot where if you were looking for a labourer for the day you could go there & find someone that would do a days work for R80. yes labour is inexpensive ….by out standards, which in this country of course do not apply nor can you even think that.
The biggest problem I have had is coming to terms with the money to work out what to pay for things or services. I think it would take some months to become acclimatised to the money & what one should pay, in the mean time all of the tourists over pay for everything and this means to the locals they can place a factor of 3X or greater on their normal price and be paid.
Next time you are sitting in front of your computer moaning about the speed of your internet connection remember this…. I finally discovered that the “access” program I had would work in India and it did not have one to few digits on the numbers, but the problem was with the Indian telephone system. I took the laptop into the “internet café” by the gate of the hotel that I had used the previous day to look at the emails without downloading but I had about 6 emails that I wanted to send so I thought I would try & do that & download all of my mail.
Well the first try there was no dial tone, second try a Indian voice came on & the owner listened & said problems! He then gave me another line and IT WORKED!
Then the good bit, to send 6 messages and down load 47 inwards took ONE HOUR 22 MINUTES. I was getting time outs all the time whilst the “load” of the total system of India was being shared!
Talking to the local Rep for a coy after dinner who was telling me he has his job only as long as he can do it, if he is sick or does not preform he has no job. There is of course no pension (unless you work for the Govt) and no social security ….. no nothing, which if why I guess the ordinary people are still wanting sons and many of them so they can be looked after in their old age. He was telling me he had one daughter and no sons so he would have to work till he dropped. ….and talking of that there are a lot of very old men peddling the bicycle rickshaws, or I should say they look old ……give thanks every morning to your maker, who ever you believe that to be, that you were born in the west!
Friday, 28 September 2001 Drove to Agra, walked thro several villages, walked thro a large area that was cutting the red stone and other colours and saw the many dozens of stone masons??? Doing the carving of the stone, chip by chip. Goodness knows what they are being paid, I do not thing have changed in the way they do things for hundreds of years, nor have the patterns changed.
Passed another temple and fort. Arrived in Agra & drove across the river down a road that was just wide enough for the car. Looked at the Taj and perhaps have seen so many temples that have ornate work on them that it may be a disappointment. There has been so many photos taken of the Taj that there is not much that has not been done, so I have decided not to so sunrise & sunset photos but just go along at 8am.
Walked thro the town near the hotel & did a few more photos, keep seeing the same tourists as I move from town to town.
Interesting …….. had time to kill while I was waiting for dinner to be on I saw a guy sitting in front of a Astrology sign, so I wandered over and asked “what’s the story. The story was he would read my hand for R300 so I wandered up to my room, collected some money & went back to see what he could tell me.
He wanted my name, date of birth, place of birth & country . OK that told him I was a Aries to start and as I am a strong Aries it could have been simple from there on but he started to give me dates…. Significant dates!
He gave me a summery of what drove me, my principles, my motives and “shit no one knows that”…. but somehow he found out that. Told
me some other bits with a repeat of the above comment! Lots of other bits which were interesting, but cut right thro to the bone as I felt they were true. He finished by making a prediction of something on a certain day within the next 3 months when something would happen. This will be interesting as I am telling no one, what or when this is! …..just keeping the paper it was written on!
Well he has some ability, I am not sure what, but then men have never been able to explain some of the things that happen in India.
................. However on reflection he was very clever and gave me years.... ie my 27th year.....I converted it into a date so most people have certain things happen to them at pacific time of their life and this I believe is what he was counting on. ....So I like most was taken in, but I leave the above comments I made at the time for a reference point!
Saturday, 29 September 2001 Well I have just been to the Taj… it was nice but I must admit a little of an anti climax. I have read so much about it, seen so many photos, heard so many words I do not think it had a show of living up to all the hype. But I have been, place my feet on the crosses and taken another photo that has been taken many millions of times before….. and if you really press me ….Yes I will show you my Taj photos! A side comment the cost for a tourist to visit the taj is $US21 for the locals R20, about a factor of 50X.
I was then asked if I wanted to see marble being carved, I said yes & they took me to a tourist stop where they had several there that started working as soon as I stepped thro the door …. another tourist trap, gave it half a look and walked out, I wanted to see the real thing, not the Disneyland version. The guide then told me it was the only one in Agra, so I had them take me back to my hotel, then went for a walk, dropped into a Internet Café and checked my email. Now off out with the driver in a few minutes… he is still trying to earn his tip….not much time left, tomorrow we head back to Delhi! Well the driver took me to a market place, I was the only white face in the hour that I was there. Put on the 17-35mm lens using the 17 end most of the time… they could be interesting..
After that I was taken to a export coy who makes carpet, carves marble, make interesting inlayed tables of all sizes, they always sit you down to show you carpets. Tell you how good they are, how cheap they are, how many knots per inch more that any other country, they claim 625 per sq inch. Carpets are priced as follows 9x12 $1200, 6x9 $600, 3x5 $75 American dollars of course + freight.
Walked out from the hotel last night down to a five star hotel had dinner for a cost of $US11.
Sunday, 30 September 2001 Uneventful trip in the wet half was back to Delhi then fine. Back into the hotel that I started from. Seems like I will have the films processed O.K. so have no worry’s about X rays, partially with the extra security that should be in place !
Decided that I had finished photography for this trip & did not see much anyway.
Finished with 1600+ images which is down on China & Turkey. Tomorrow talk to the Indian photographers.
Monday, 1 October 2001 Airport New Delhi. The Taj Lounge, an oasis in a grubby airport. Well I had 35 invited attendees at the function/seminar & I spoke about sales & marketing and by popular request a small demo on lighting… you can not get away from it, they need it & are not happy unless there is something about the taking of photos.
The Kodak rep said if he knew what I would have been talking about & how I did it he would have invited 100 and tried to get me to talk in other centres. He tried to get me to commit to returning & spending two plus months travelling thro India & putting on Seminars in the four different regions they have.
So it was most gratifying, but was fairly easy as they have basically almost no knowledge. One guy there had a second business which was “commercial Photography” and his main business was a “crane” business he owned a fleet of lifting cranes, but enjoyed photography so “played” with photography and agreed with me when I said that he would carry on with Photog till the money from the lifting crane’s runs out.
Good bye India…. For now!
Took a chance with the Highjacking scare and the possible old X Rays they might of wheeled out & had the 46 films processed in Delhi by the top Pro Lab with the newest gear and I am now scanning the negs, most of the films have bad scratches, almost as if they have been left on the floor for a day, I would have stood a better chance with the X Rays. Looks like it is Digital from now on for me! ....and a excuse for another trip to India .... and you would think I would know better on Labs!!!! Since my return to NZ I have heard ot two people who during the month of October have lost their films due to the fogging of X-Rays one with 36 films and the other with 12 films.... so perhaps scratches are not so bad after all!
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