Letters From India 1971

Letters From India, 1971

Richard A. Stanford

During the summer of 1971 I was a participant in a seven-week study abroad seminar for a dozen Davidson College faculty and four members of faculties of neighboring colleges and universities. I was the fortunate Furman faculty member to be selected to participate in the seminar. The project, focused on culture in the South Asian subcontinent, entailed travel and intense study in India and Nepal. The seven-week journey was organized and directed by Professor Frederick H. Gaige of Davidson College. During the journey I may have written 30 or more letters to my wife Louise and our daughter, Mary Louise. In the following transcriptions, greetings. conclusions, and personal matter have been redacted. Photographs taken during the journey have been inserted in the redacted letters where appropriate, and photographs depicting visits to sites made after the first 20 letters have been added. 

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Itinerary, India, 1971

A copy of this itinerary has not survived. The following is a reconstruction of the itinerary from my letters from July 10 through August 1. 
Saturday, July 10
depart Charlotte, Eastern Airlines to Washington National
taxis to Dulles International
depart Dulles, TWA 704 for London

Sunday, July 11
depart London for Frankfurt
Depart Frankfurt for Istanbul

Monday, July 12
7:05 PM, depart Istanbul for Beirut, Lufthansa
9:45 PM, check in Cadmos Hotel

Tuesday, July 13
Depart Beirut for Istanbul
Istanbul, ferry ride on Bosporus River
tour mosques, sultan's palace; shop covered bazaar
6 PM, depart Beirut for Tehran, Pan Am 2
8 PM, depart Tehran for Delhi

Wednesday, July 14
5:30 AM, arrive Delhi
transit to Lodhi Hotel

Thursday, July 15
9 AM, lecture on structure of Indian society
10 AM, lecture on history of Delhi
11 AM, tour by taxi of historical sites
6 PM, lecture on contemporary political scene

Friday, July 16
AM, lecture survey of Indian literature
midday, tour Connaught Circus area, bazaars
PM, discussion with India authoress, Nayantara Sabgal

Saturday, July 17

Sunday, July 18
4 PM, lecture on Indian art history
6 PM, dinner at Education Resources Center (ERC)

Monday, July 19
AM bus to tour Escorts factory
2 PM, tour Fed Fort, Chawndi Choke area in Old Delhi
PM, visit to Natural Museum of Art
after dinner, slide lecture on art history

Tuesday, July 20
AM, economics lecture

Wednesday, July 21
AM, visit Lok Sabha, lower house of Parliament
PM, free afternoon, shopping
Evening, demonstration of batik art

Thursday, July 22
PM, visit to National Gallery of Modern Art

Friday, July 23
AM, lecture on higher education in India
PM, prepare to check out of Lodhi, transit to Agra

Saturday, July 24
8 AM , depart Lodhi by bus to Agra, Clark's Shiraz Hotel
PM, visit to Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's fort, palace, mosque, harem house

Sunday, July 25
AM, visit Taj Mahal, Agra Fort
PM, return by bus to Lodhi Hotel in Delhi

Monday, July 26
AM, lecture on India’s foreign policy
PM, slide lecture on Indian industrialization

Tuesday, July 27
PM, pack for trip to Chandigarh

Wednesday, July 28
4:45 AM, depart Lodhi for airport via taxis
6:30 AM, flight departs Delhi for Chandigarh
check into Oberoi Mount View Hotel

Thursday, July 29
PM, visit Punjab University, Department of Economics

Friday, July 30
AM, bus to Ludhiana, visit Punjab Agricultural University
PM, visit Christian Medical College and Hospital

Saturday, July 31
11 AM, tea with Economics Department, Punjab University
PM, return to Delhi, check into Lodhi Hotel

Sunday, August 1
AM, visit to Methodist Church adjacent to Lodhi Hotel

August 14
Hyderabad to Varanasi

August 15
Varanasi to Kathmandu

August 19
Kathmandu to Bangkok

LETTERS:


Dulles International Airport
Washington D.C.
Saturday, July 10, 1971

Our group is now sitting in the lobby of Dulles International. It is now 5:20 PM and there is another hour to wait for departure on TWA 704.

The Eastern Airlines flight to Washington National was uneventful. We landed at 2:10 PM, then had to wait until about 3 PM for cabs to take us the 35 miles to Dulles. Between the airports we saw in the distance the Potomac River, the capitol building dome, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. They seemed unreal, however.

When we got to Dulles, we got our tickets changed to go on from Istanbul to Beirut on Monday, July 12. We will leave Beirut on Tuesday the 13th and arrive in Delhi on the 15th.

There is not much to tell you yet, except that there is a great deal of confusion. No one in our party seems to know much more than I. [My baggage] was a little overweight here at Dulles, but it didn’t matter since they permitted our group 660 pounds together, and some others were underweight. We are supposed to fly on a 707 rather than a 747 to Frankfurt.


Sunday, July 11, AM

We have just taken off from London for Frankfurt. We had to change planes in London for some reason. I had no idea that we were going to make a scheduled stop in London, but we did. We saw nothing of London except the airport, planes, buses, and cars.

Our plans now are to leave Istanbul on Monday at 7:05 PM for Beirut. We then leave Beirut at 6 PM on Wednesday, July 14, arriving in Delhi on the 15th. We are about to land now in Frankfurt. We are behind schedule and will have to rush to the next plane.


Sunday, July 11, 1971, PM
Istanbul, Turkey

The trip from Frankfort to Istanbul was as uneventful as the other parts of the trip have been. We really expected a big hassle with Turkish customs over our file, etc. However, they ushered us through without even looking in our bags. It took us about an hour, however, to get our money changed. But, finally we can rest 21 hours after our Charlotte departure.

It seems like we have eaten every time the plane has made a turn. We had dinner about 9 PM Saturday night after departure from Dulles—delicious brazed beef. Then coffee and sweet rolls about 3:30 AM (your time) after the Patton movie and as the sun was rising. I didn’t pay the $2.50 to rent the headphones to hear Patton, and I am glad that I didn’t because they cut out about 45 minutes of the best parts. Then after we left London this morning we had omelets and ham for breakfast. After we left Frankfurt at about 2 PM (our time) we had lunch—German prepared chicken. Very good. Someone wondered when it is that we are supposed to lose weight.

I have taken only about a dozen pictures so far, but we really haven’t begun touring yet. On the way from the Istanbul airport to the hotel we saw relics of the old city wall, Roman aqueducts, and several mosques. We will visit these tomorrow for pictures.

The Hotel Amber is very nice and very European. I am told that we will see very little toilet paper east of here.

Monday, July 12, 1971
Enroute

We are now sitting in a Lufthansa 727 on the runway at Istanbul waiting for take-off clearance. Things seem to be stirred up in Turkey. Martial law is now in effect, and we saw many armed military personnel on the streets. I think that there have been some political kidnappings.

We are now in the air (7:20 PM our time, 1:20 PM your time) headed for Beirut. It will be past nine o’clock when we get there, and we will have to do little but check into the hotel (we are not sure that we have rooms), find something to eat, and settle down for the night. We ae all pretty tired after a long day of touring.



Monday, July 12, 1971, PM
Enroute to Beirut

We did not expect dinner on this flight, but we are pleasantly surprised now to find the hostess bringing either dinner or a very substantial snack. It consists of pickled herring, some half-cooked roast beef, cheese, a large hard roll, and some kind of dessert—all very German. It has turned out to be very good.


Tuesday, July 13, 1971
Beirut

It is now 12:30 AM my time (6:30 PM your time) and we are safely installed in the Cadmos Hotel in Beirut. Beirut is even more of a tourist center than Istanbul. Beirut looks like Miami Beach. We checked in by 9:45 PM, and by 10:15 a group set out to find a snack. On the recommendation of a shady looking cab driver, we walked about two miles to this excellent restaurant where the head waiter suggested that we have beer and appetizers at this hour instead of a meal. The appetizers consisted of 50 separate (we counted them) dishes ranging from raw oysters to octopus, sheep tongue, and 47 other things that I can’t pronounce. Beirut is known as a gourmet’s delight. For six of us, the total bill came to 38 Lebanese pounds including tip—or about $2 each.

We are now all worn out from the day’s activities. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Some will take an organized tour. I may just sleep.


Tuesday, July 13, 1971, AM
Istanbul, Turkey

This morning we took a ferry ride up the Bosporus River which separates Europe from Asia at Istanbul. The European side for about 15 miles looked what I am told the French Riviera looks like. The temperature was about 70 degrees, and many European types were swimming.

After lunch we took a tour to several mosques and a sultan’s palace.

After the tour I went shopping in the covered bazaar where we had only 45 minutes to shop. I bought two dolls for the girls, a sort-of tapestry for Mom, and three Meerschaum pipes for Daddy and Papa. The pipes were only $4 each, a real bargain.

We have another 6-hour night plane trip which will cause a very short night because we are going into the sun. So, we will be in Delhi on Wednesday.


July 13, 1971
Enroute to Delhi

We will board Pan Am 2 shortly for the flight to Delhi.

We are now flying at 33,000 feet across Syria toward Tehran on Pan Am 2. We will stop shortly at Tehran and then continue to Delhi. We departed Beirut at 6 PM (noon your time). We will arrive in Delhi at 5:30 AM with a time change of 4-1/2 hours. It seems that India prefers to be ½ hour off the rest of the world’s times, and Nepal is 10 minutes off India’s time. Because we are flying into the sun, we will lose several hours so that our darkness will be only three or four hours long. This means a very short night, loss of sleep, and being very tired when we arrive in Delhi. We will take much of tomorrow for rest.

Today in Beirut we rested much of the time, but some of us managed to get in a tour. I went in a taxi around the city of Beirut for a couple of hours. Beirut is quite oriented toward Western tourists. On the Mediterranean coast, the city looks like Miami beach. But downtown Beirut takes on the appearance of a real middle eastern city. While on the tour, we stopped at a shop selling oriental rugs. The shop was about as big as your daddy’s store, and literally chock full of oriental rugs—stacked from floor to ceiling and spread out all over the floor and hung on walls. Prices ranged from $100 to well over $1000. Needless to say, none of us could buy.



8 PM (your time), 3 AM (our time)

We have just taken off from the airport at Tehran. We stayed on the ground for about an hour in a transit waiting room which included a duty-free government store. We bought very little, however, since most of the articles on sale are available in India. Otherwise, we saw very little of Iran.

Flying time from Beirut to Tehran was 2-1/2 hours; it will take about 3 hours and 10 minutes to make Delhi from here. Should arrive at about 5:30 AM India time.

While at Tehran, we learned that about 20 of the young ladies on our flight are Miss International Beauty contestants, probably on the way to Japan. Hot pants and strap shirts are the order of the day. Sharp and very skinny. Now getting into some very rough weather. Will continue later.


July 14, 1971, 11 PM
New Delhi, India

We are more-or-less settled at the Lodhi Hotel in Delhi.

We landed at 5:30 AM this morning (July 14), 8 PM (July 13) your time. We had quite a hassle at the airport with Indian customs. The official took down the serial number of every camera, lens, and recorder that I had. But he didn’t check the film. Evidently, they just spot check. Others had to show how much film, but not give camera serial numbers.

There’s no way really to be prepared for India. On the way from the airport at 6:30 AM we saw an old ascetic dressed in sackcloth, a man standing on his head doing his yoga medication, several bathing in public pools, several doing Hindu prayers, and on man out in a field having his morning constitutional. There are bicycles, motor scooters, rickshaws, and Hindustan automobiles everywhere. Of course, everyone drives on the “wrong” side of the road. Tonight, while walking we saw people living in sewer pipes which had not yet been put in the ground; others live in tents, brick shanties, or tin lean-tos.

Thursday, July 15, 1971
New Delhi, India

This has been a very trying day for me here in Delhi. We started the morning at 9 AM with a lecture on the structure of Indian society. This was followed by a lecture on the history of Delhi and a tour by cab around to several historical monuments in Delhi—mosques, temples, tombs, etc.

In 90+ degree temperature with nearly 100 percent humidity. This really got to me and everyone else. On top of it all, I came down with a case of the “runs” about noon. I think that this is the result of being off schedule rather than anything I have eaten. The Indian food is good, and not as hot as I had expected. I am very tired tonight because of the tours, but after we landed yesterday, I slept from 9 AM to 4 PM and consequently could not sleep last night.

The Lodhi Hotel is something else. All corridors are outside the rooms in the open air. The structure has three stories, and of course I am on the third floor. The air conditioning is alright, but the electricity is a mess. It is 220 volts with European plugs. I have bought an adapter. But the rooms are so wired that if I turn my lights off, my next-door neighbor’s lights are likely to go off. You switch down to turn everything on. The right-hand faucet is hot in the bathroom. There is no shower curtain. The toilet tank is up near the ceiling. We cannot drink tap water, only boiled and filtered water kept for us in thermos bottles. The bed has a 3-inch foam mattress on a piece of plywood—no springs. No carpets. Bare white walls. Cats and mynah birds fight outside all night. The servants chatter all night, and so on. But I am having my India experience.

After the lecture at 6 PM tonight on the contemporary political scene, we had a beer party. Dinner of course is not served until 8 PM.


Saturday, July 17, 1971
Lodhi Hotel
Delhi, India

I attended all the sessions yesterday. In the morning we heard a lecture on a survey of Indian literature. In the afternoon we had a discussion session with an India authoress—the niece of Nehru and the daughter of Mrs. Pandit, a well-known parliamentarian. The authoress’ name is Ms. Nayantara Sabgal. She has five novels, all of which are available in English in the States. All the people we have heard so far are very erudite and speak impeccable King’s English. Only 2 percent of the Indian population, however, are literate in written English, but many more can understand spoken English.

Between the two sessions yesterday, we went to Connaught Circus (Circle) at the center of Delhi where the Bazaars are. I enjoyed the shopping and got some good ideas about what to buy.

Since India has given us a single-entry only visa, we are going to have to rearrange our schedule. We hope to go from Hyderabad on August 14 to Benares, then on to Kathmandu, Nepal. After about 4 days in Nepal, we will go to Bangkok. After a couple of days in Bangkok, we may be able to work in a day in Rangoon, Burma; if not, we will go directly to Hong Kong, then to Tokyo.


Sunday, July 18, 1971
Lodhi Hotel
Delhi, India

I am feeling much better today and hope that you are all well also. I will have the “squirts” when I go, but at least I still don’t have the “trots.” I am told that I should expect to have the squirts for a long time to come. I think that one reason that I feel pretty well is that I am taking my vitamins and am trying to eat healthy foods. I have an Indian meal occasionally, but I usually eat the “English” menu at the Hotel or other restaurant. It seems that the only meat the restaurant here has is mutton of all cuts, but I am told that it is probably goat meat. It is pretty good, although I am beginning to get tired of mutton chops and mutton livers and mutton stew and roast mutton. We have been twice to the Vikram Hotel restaurant, a slightly higher class one than the Lodhi.

The Vikram has a marvelous “Sizzling Steak,” which must weight nearly a pound, and which with French fries and mixed vegetables costs about 10 rupees—or $1.25. Can’t beat it. I am told, however, that it is probably water buffalo rather than cow steak since cows are mor-or-less protected. The usual mode of transportation for us is the taxi which inevitably is Hindustan, a small car made here in India (designed on the English Oxford). The traffic is murderous by U.S. standards, but we rarely ever see accidents. Lane markers mean almost nothing. horns are blown continuously. Streets are full of cars, motorcycles, motor scooters, motor scooter rickshaws, bullock (a castrated bull) cart, horse cars, and pedestrians and cows. And, of course, huge Mercedes Benz trucks and buses. A taxi trip of about 3 miles costs about 3 rupees (about 40 cents) with no tipping!.

Last night we went to a dance program put on especially for our group. I took flash pictures and recorded it.

10 PM
We have just returned from hearing a lecture on Indian art history (exceptionally dry) followed by dinner at the ERC (excellent) consisting of tandoori chicken (marinated in yogurt overnight and barbecued in Indian sauce), mutton curry, cheese, and peas curry, etc. All magnific! I will buy a couple of Indian cookbooks to bring home. I drank two gin and tonics, a beer, two lime sodas, and a cup of tea, and still haven’t had to go to the john! We rarely do because we perspire so much!



Monday, July 19, 1971
Lodhi Hotel
Delhi, India

Today has been an especially tiring day. Yesterday (Sunday) I slept until 10 since we had free time until 4 PM. Then we heard the art lecture and had dinner at the ERC. This morning, beginning at 9 AM we took a 45-minute bus ride to the Escorts manufacturing plant to see tractor, X-ray, and motor scooter and motorcycle assembly lines. All are very impressive. One of the Escorts marketing men then talked to us for about an hour. The trip was most enlightening.

We got back to the Lodhi at about 1 PM, had lunch, rested for an hour, and started out again for the Red Fort, supposedly the highlight of our visit to Delhi. Beautiful, but very hot and tiring. We left the red Fort about 6 PM to walk around the Chawndi Choke section of Old Delhi. Such a sea of humanity crowded into the streets I have never before seen—together with a squalor and filth. I can only show you the pictures. Too bad you can’t hear the sounds and smell the odors (predominantly curry and stale urine).

We started talking about how our wives probably wouldn’t appreciate Chawndi Choke. Ernie Patterson (Davidson’s armchair socialist) said that his wife would want to return to the hotel for a bath in pure Lysol! After dinner tonight we had a slide lecture on art history, to be followed tomorrow by a trip to the natural art museum.



Wednesday, July 21, 1971
Lodhi Hotel
Delhi, India

Well, today I shot the wad. This was a shopping day for most of us because we had a free afternoon. I think that I really got some nice. Since it cost nearly as much as the value of the articles to air freight them home, but only about three times as much to air freight as to surface ship them, I decided to do the latter. The only problem is that it will take over three months for the items to get there! So, I have done my Christmas shopping in July. I must buy a few more things to bring with me in the suitcase.

This morning we went to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament (comparable to the British House of Commons) where we sat for an intriguing two hours listening o discussion and debate, some in India language, mostly in Indian English, which like American English is a perversion of the King’s own. The India English is a little hard for us to understand, however. The session was quite exciting because we saw all the important ministers of the current India government, including Mrs. Ghandhi herself (Nehru’s niece), the Prime Minister.

Tonight, we went to a special demonstration of batik art at a downtown gallery. Batik is a unique form of Indian art from which the hippie tie-dying is developed. In batik, the artist paints his figure on silk with was, the dies the silk. The waxed part does not take the dye. He then was-paints another part and dyes it again with the second color, and so on through three or four colors. The batik appeals to me so much that I bought two works for about $10 each done by the artist who demonstrated for us. I may get one more, for I feel that this illustrates about as well as anything the culture of modern India. Besides, the silk can be folded in the suitcase, and all artwork is duty free into the U.S.

Thursday, July 22, 1971
Lodhi Hotel
Delhi, India

It is now 2 PM here, 4:30 AM your time. We have just returned from a visit to the National Gallery of Modern Art. A couple of days ago we went to the Natural Museum of Art. Within the last week we have suffered through about three lectures on art history by Job Thomas, who speaks Indian English and is pretty hard to understand sometimes. We still have some lectures to go on architecture. In all, I think that our program is over-weighted with art, and some of the social scientists in the group are about to get their fill.

Last night I washed a big batch of clothes. This clothes-washing is getting to be a chore. I bought some Indian made Hindustan Lever Surf determent which does a pretty good job, but all must be done by hand. It usually takes a day and a half for it to dry. The wash and wear shirts were alright after the first wash, almost as good as new. But after the second wash, they were full of wrinkles. The same was true of the wash-and-wear slacks—beautiful after the first wash, terrible after the second. The golf shifts are the only things I have which still look good.

We have occasional “brown outs” with electricity when there is a power shortage. A brown-out was in effect this morning with so little juice that the electric shaver wouldn’t work. I just may take this as an excuse to grow a beard. Most of the members of the group now have started mustaches.

If anything happens to us, it will be a traffic accident in Delhi. The taxi drivers start blowing their horns before they start the motors. They blow the horns continually—so much so that they develop callouses on their horn-blowing thumb. They pull out in traffic right in front of on-coming cars. Lane markers mean nothing. Traffic lights mean little. They usually drive with lights off at night except to pass.



Friday, July 23, 1971
Lodhi Hotel
Delhi, India

We feel that we have reached a milestone in our journey. Tomorrow it will be two weeks since we left, and we are packing up to check out of the Lodhi for an overnight stay in Agra where we will see the Taj Mahal. We are keeping one room here at the Lodhi for our large baggage. By the time I got everything into the large suitcase tonight, I could hardly get it closed.

This morning we heard a lecture on higher education in India which was most interesting. This afternoon I went to three bookstores and bought about $15 worth of books. I think that I shall have to mail them because they are heavy and take up a lot of space. It only takes 3 months for sea passage to the U.S.



Saturday, July 24, 1971
Clark’s Agra Hotel
Agra, India

Greetings from Agra, India, site of the Taj Mahal. We departed the Lodhi at 8 AM this morning by bus and spent all of four hours to drive 80 miles—such are the Indian roads and traffic. We are staying at Clark’s Agra Hotel—a real palace. It is about ten times the hotel that the Lodhi is, and probably about as good as the U.S. or Europe can offer. Of course, we have to share rooms here, but still it is less than $8 per person.

The Indian countryside is rather monotonous. Nearly every piece of land in sight is being worked—practically by hand, in 3-5 acre plots. It is quite wet and very green right now because this is the middle of the monsoon season. Two months ago, the ground was dusty and brown.

People, cows, water buffalo, goats are everywhere—living anywhere they can. Most abodes are thatched huts, lean-tos, some brick buildings with mud roofs. Many people live under tents; many more live out in the open. Poverty is almost universal. Most of the people are wearing little more than what we would call rags, except the children under 6 who wear nothing. Most of the babies and children up to school age are completely naked.




10:15 PM

This afternoon we went to the 15th century Mughal town of Fatehpur Sikri, where is located the country estate—fort, palace, mosque, harem house, etc., of Akbar the Great. It is a magnificent place. Difficult to imagine the wealth of Akbar or what sort of things went on there. It was only 25 miles from Agra, but it took over an hour to get there. So that absorbed our afternoon.

More educational to me than the visit to Akbar’s palace was the ride through the countryside on the way to see how the Indian people live. It is all quite depressing to see so many people under such impoverished conditions.



Sunday, July 25, 1971
Lodhi Hotel
Delhi, India

We are back at the Lodhi in New Delhi after a very hard weekend on the road. I am very, very tired right now, and I have come down with a cold of sorts. Usually, my colds start with sore throat, then progress to runny nose, finally to coughing. This time I have started with a croupy cough, but none of the other symptoms—yet. Several other people in the group have had about the same thing. Maybe I just need some rest.

Last night we stayed in Clark’s Shiraz Hotel in Agra, a real palace. But because of my cough and three cups of tea with the late dinner I couldn’t get to sleep, even on a bed with real springs. The Lodhi beds consist of a wooden palette with a three-inch foam pad. Maybe the softness of the bed at Agra was the problem.

This morning we went to see the Taj Mahal—which really is the crowning event for any visit to India. I hope that I have a number of good photographs of it to show you. It is really hard to describe. Of course, you have no doubt seen pictures of it, but it is really magnificent.

After the Taj we went to see the Agra Fort (we saw the fort at Fatehpur Sikri yesterday), a mosque, and another tomb.




Monday, July 26, 1971
Lodhi Hotel
Delhi, India

This morning we heard a lecture on India’s foreign policy which was most interesting and enlightening. I am so glad that I have lugged the tape recorder halfway around the world. A fellow at a jewelry store offered me $100 for it, but since they made record of it at customs on the way into India, I couldn’t sell it if I wanted to.

This afternoon we heard a speech on Indian industrialization. The tape of it is almost useless since the speaker used slides.

Tonight, we went as a group to the Vikram Hotel for dinner. Two of us ordered Chinese dishes (different ones) and split them. Excellent. My bill was Rs10, or about $1.25. This afternoon before the lecture I managed to write a note to David and another to Mother and Daddy. I will drop cards to Ben, Jerry, and Ed tomorrow.


Tuesday, July 27, 1971, noon
Lodhi Hotel
Delhi, India

We really had a scare this morning, girls. Ernie Patterson, the economist who is Davidson’s campus socialist, has a history of heart trouble. While listening to a lecture this morning on the Indian village, Ernie turned white and said he felt like he was having another heart attack. We immediately laid him out on the floor and called for a doctor who arrived in about ten minutes. Ernie had had diarrhea all night last night and had taken something to settle his stomach on an empty stomach this morning. The doctor said he felt that this had caused dizziness, faintness, and gas cramps in the stomach near the heart, but that this was not a heart attack. Needless to say, all of us were quite shaken. A good number of us are out of commission today with the runs or unsettled stomachs—we think a result of the Agra trip.

Since we must board the plane at 6 AM tomorrow morning for Chandigarh, we must start getting up about 4 AM. I think that I shall stay in this afternoon and rest as much as possible. This promises to be a fairly full few days coming up.


4 PM
I have been packing this afternoon for the trip tomorrow to Chandigarh. Nearly everything is squared away. I can still get nearly everything into the suitcase.


Wednesday, July 28, 1971
Oberoi Mount View Hotel
Chandigarh, India

As scheduled, we all got up before dawn this morning, departed the Lodhi at 4:45 AM (a minor miracle) for the airport, had two flat tires (one each on each of two of the 4 taxis), fought with the airport officials about cameras, and took off for Chandigarh at 6:30 AM. The flight, less than an hour, was very pleasant. We flew on a twin-engine Fokker (German made) turboprop plane. Although the distance from New Delhi to Chandigarh is only about 160 miles, it would have taken us 7 or 8 hours by bus.

At the airport they made us check our cameras before we got on the plane. They do this because India is on a war footing (unofficially with respect to Pakistan and China), and they do not permit photographs of bridges, airports, military installations, etc. Also because of the war footing, all our mail is subject to reading and censure. One of your letters last week had been opened when it reached me, and I would be surprised if most of the letters which reach you haven’t been opened and read. The military presence is much more in evidence here in Chandigarh, which is closer to the Pakistan-India border.

The Oberoi Mount View Hotel is some better than the Lodhi, but it is the most expensive hotel we shall stay at. Outside of Delhi there are no 2nd-class hotels, and this seems to be the only European type hotel in Chandigarh.

Chandigarh is delightful. Temperatures in the low 80s, gentle breeze. We can see some 5000-6000-foot-high mountains about ten miles away. Chandigarh is a modern, planned city, much cleaner and nicer than Delhi. I wouldn’t mind spending some time here. We did have a heavy monsoon rain about noon time.

This is an exciting time to be in India. One of our lecturers argued that the U.S. government is supporting a dictatorship in Pakistan, one which has been repudiated by the people of West Pakistan (Bangladesh, literally Bengal Country) in a general election, and one which has committed mass genocide of its own people. Furthermore, the Pakistani dictatorship is imposing severe economic burdens on India by forcing refugees to migrate to India. An article in the Times of India this morning said that Pakistan might declare war on India because it would be less humiliating to lose to the Indian army than to the freedom fighters in Bangladesh.



Events in India, 1971

25 January – Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state and East Punjab is reduced to its current form as Doaba.
30 January – 1971 Indian Airlines hijacking by Kashmiri militants.
19 April – The provisional government of Bangladesh exiled, flees to West Bengal. 24 May - Nagarwala case.
15 August - In wake of Nixon shock Government of India announces that, United States dollar - Indian rupee par value at Rs. 7.50 for 1 $ would remain unchanged and left Pound sterling floating by stopping the support operations.
25 August – The former East Pakistan and eastern Bengal are flooded; thousands flee the area.
29 September – A cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, in Orissa State in India, kills 10,000.
4 November - Two day state visit by Indira Gandhi to United States.
3 December – 17 December: India and Pakistan fight their second major war, over East Pakistan, which ends after 93,000 Pakistani troops surrender. The new nation of Bangladesh is created out of East Pakistan.
3 December – The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 begins as Pakistan attacks 9 Indian airbases. The next day India launches a massive invasion of East Pakistan. Indira Gandhi declares State of emergency in India for the second time, following external aggression. The Indian navy destroyer INS Rajput sinks Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi (former USS Diablo).
6 December - India acknowledges Bangladesh as a free and sovereign state through declaration made by Indira Gandhi in parliament.
16 December – Victory Day of Bangladesh: The Pakistan Army surrenders to the Joint Force i.e. Mukti Bahini (Freedom Force) and the Indian Armed Forces, officially ending the Bangladesh Liberation War and creating the new nation state of Bangladesh.
20 December - Government of India links Indian rupee with Pound sterling following the devaluation of United States dollar post Smithsonian Agreement. The rupee was pegged at par value of Rs. 18.9677 is to 1 £ was designated as the intervention currency. The event marks the departure of Indian rupee from par value system to pegged regime.
29 - December - Minister of State for Agriculture A.P. Shinde announced that Government of India has decided to stop all wheat imports from United States before expiry of existing Public Law 480.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_in_India)



Thursday, July 29, 1971
Oberoi Mount View Hotel
Chandigarh, India

This afternoon has been very valuable. I walked over to Punjab University and search out the Department of Economics. I was shown to the office of the chairman of the department, Dr. S. B. Rangnekar. We chatted for about 15 minutes. He wanted to know my special interests and my background. He then proceeded to tell me about Punjab University, which has about 3000 students in residence including a graduate program. The university campus itself is a beautiful place, spacious, well-planned by the same architect of Chandigarh, a Frenchman named Corbusier. The economics graduate and undergraduate programs at first sight are quite impressive, about on a part with Georgia’s. After about 15 minutes, two of the group with whom I had walked to the university came in and we talked with Dr. Rangnekar for another 15 minutes. He then invited us to his house for tea but we declined, thinking it would be an imposition at 5 PM. He also invited our entire group, but especially the economists, to come back Saturday morning at 11 AM to have tea with his faculty. If ever we come to India to teach or do research, Chandigarh and Punjab University are my choices. I think that you would really like both. It is almost like Carolina. We could rent a 3-bedroom house for about 500 rupees per month ($71), maybe after we get the children in college.



Saturday, July 30, 10 PM

We have just returned from a very long and tedious bus trip to Ludhiana, 60 miles away, where we visited the Punjab Agricultural University.

Chandigarh is not quite India; Ludhiana is very much India in all respects. Ludhiana is only 60 miles from the Pakistan border, but all was quiet. The trip through the Ag school was interesting but most of us could have done with a little less of it. After lunch we visited the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana which is under the direction of Dr. Ken Scott, Davidson class of ’37. The hospital was at the same time very impressive for the conditions and most pathetic. There is an electricity shortage, so the hospital was very dark. It is quite large, 500 beds, but crowded beyond this. The cost to patients is about $5 per day—very high by Indian standards. I don’t know whether you have yet had time to read Train to Pakistan, the paperback novel that I left there, but Ludhiana, being only 60 miles from the Pakistan border, received a number of trains from Pakistan in 1947 loaded with dead and dying, and this hospital received most of the dying. Very impressionable.

Tomorrow, we have tea at the Economics Department of Punjab University, then fly back to Delhi in the afternoon.



Friday, July 30, 1971
Oberoi Mount View Hotel
Chandigarh, India

Ernie Patterson is now alright. He seems to have recovered quite well from his weak and fainting spell. But Randy Kinkaid, the other Davidson economist, has been in bed with runs and upset stomach since we have been in Chandigarh. Randy is the one who was behind the move to shorten the trip. We are afraid that he is about ready to say that he has had about as much of India as he can take. It appears now that we will not be able to shorten the trip, but I will let you know later.

Chandigarh is a truly delightful place, only ten miles from the mountains, with low-to-mid-eighties temperatures. This is a new city, planned and developed since 1951. It could very well be a Western city. The population is about 200 thousand. It is on the border between the two Indian states of Punjab and Haryana, and both have their state capitals here. Until the mid-60s, there was only one state covering the two regions, but it divided to form two states on the basis of language differences. Both new states wanted Chandigarh and the state houses, but they couldn’t reconcile the differences, so Chandigarh is divided between the two states, and they share the same set of state court houses, office buildings, and assembly halls with staggered sessions. A very peculiar arrangement!

Saturday, July 31, 10 PM

We have just returned from a very long and tedious bus trip to Ludhiana, 60 miles away, where we visited the Punjab Agricultural University.

Chandigarh is not quite India; Ludhiana is very much India in all respects. Ludhiana is only 60 miles from the Pakistan border, but all was quiet. The trip through the Ag school was interesting but most of us could have done with a little less of it. After lunch we visited the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana which is under the direction of Dr. Ken Scott, Davidson class of ’37. The hospital was at the same time very impressive for the conditions and most pathetic. There is an electricity shortage, so the hospital was very dark. It is quite large, 500 beds, but crowded beyond this. The cost to patients is about $5 per day—very high by Indian standards. I don’t know whether you have yet had time to read Train to Pakistan, the paperback novel that I left there, but Ludhiana, being only 60 miles from the Pakistan border, received a number of trains from Pakistan in 1947 loaded with dead and dying, and this hospital received most of the dying. Very impressionable.

Tomorrow, we have tea at the Economics Department of Punjab University, then fly back to Delhi in the afternoon.



Sunday, August 1, 1971
Lodhi Hotel
Delhi, India

This morning Randy Kincaid and I dropped in on the Methodist Church which is located right next to the Lodhi. We missed the English service at 8 AM but got in on the Hindi service at 9:30. Couldn’t understand anything except a few English worlds for which there are no Hindi equivalents. While we were there, they sang the hymn, “I Surrender All,” in Hindi.



Monday, August 2, 1971
Lodhi Hotel, Delhi

Today has been rather dull. It is the start of the individual activities week. The economists had asked S. N. Kaul, our Indian director at ERC, to schedule some things for us, but he didn’t line up anything for today. He has a full day for us tomorrow, but nothing for the rest of the week. Two of us went to the U.S. Embassy to register our passports in case of loss. We also wanted interviews with the economic and political officers, and the USAID officer, but the marine at the door wouldn’t let us in. We came “home” to the Lodhi, and I called back over there and made arrangements for the group to have briefings from all three people on Wednesday. So that takes care of another day. Tuesday and Friday are open. One day I will go to the Delhi zoo to see their fantastic collection of Indian wildlife, including the only pair of white tigers (with black stripes) in captivity.



Visit to Punjab village.

This village (name not recalled) reached by bus, is some miles outside of Delhi. The lane into the village was lined with mud walls. The monsoon rains had arrived, causing the village walls to exhibit “washing.” The principal livelihood of this village is agriculture, growing food crops on small plots of land outside the village walls. We met the village headman who gave us a walking tour of the village where we encountered a pair of bullocks with wooden plow and noted cow-patties drying on a wall to be used as burnable cooking fuel. Many of the villagers slept outside on traditional charpois (wooden frames with woven rope beds). A small mosque indicated that the village inhabitants were Muslim.

Thursday, August 5, 1971
Lodhi Hotel, Delhi

I have been a bit under the weather this week, but I am feeling much better today.

Tuesday of this week was sort of a blah day for us. We had Ruddar Dalt, the economist we had heard before, talk about lower education (primary and secondary) in India. After that we went to the Vickram Hotel for dinner. John Kelton (psychologist) and I again both ordered Chinese dishes and split them. Or total bill came to just over 16Rs, or about 8Rs each. Rupees exchange for dollars at the rate of 7.40:1, so we had excellent food and more than we could eat for a little over a dollar per person.

After we turned in Tuesday night, I got the worst chill between 1 PM and about 1:30 AM—almost froze. By 2 AM I had warmed up, but then I had insomnia and couldn’t go to sleep the rest of the night. May have been the Chinese food. However, since I had made arrangements for the embassy visits, I felt obliged to go along, but felt horrible the whole day. Only one of the embassy talks was good—the other two were almost worthless. When I got back to the hotel last night, I went to bed and slept much better but still am not 100%.



Thursday, August 5, 1971
Lodhi Hotel, Delhi

Yesterday morning at the embassy our first appointment was with Mr. Grant Mouser, the First Secretary for Political Affairs. He is pretty high up in the embassy hierarchy. The discussion with him was most interesting. Since he is a Washington & Lee graduate, he was familiar with both Davidson and Furman through intercollegiate athletics.

When we finished the discussion with Mr. Mouser about 11 AM, we walked out of the embassy to find about 400 Delhi police in front of the embassy to protect it from about 700 Jana Sangh (a socialist political party) demonstrators who were protesting U.S. arms shipments to Pakistan. We quietly left by a side gate and watched from in front of the Australian High Commission across the street from the U.S. Embassy. The Jana Sangh demonstrators marched up to the gate chanting loudly, but that is about all there was to it. This morning n the paper we read that they delivered a memorandum to Mr. Mouser. I am saving the newspaper clipping.

It seems that the Indian newspapers and public generally regard Nixon as a fool and an arch villain for wanting to continue economic and military aid to the West Pakistan government which has committed genocide in East Pakistan, has been rejected by the people in a popular election, and which is imposing a tremendous financial burden on India with the refugees. On the other hand, the American Congress and people are well regarded by Indians as being more sympathetic and understanding of the problem, especially since Congress has now voted to cut off aid to West Pakistan. I must admit that I am beginning to lose patience with Nixon over the Bangla Desh-West Pakistan problem.



Friday, August 6, 1971
Lodhi Hotel, Delhi

It is the eve of our departure from Delhi for Hyderabad. We have only one more night in Delhi, after we return from Hyderabad and before we leave for Benares. I can’t say that I’m not glad to say good-bye to Delhi. We have completely missed Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta, although for about Rs100 we could take a pullman type night train from Hyderabad to Madras, spend the day in Madras, and take a night train back the next night.

Four of us went to the zoo this afternoon and I am happy to report that the only thing the Delhi zoo has that the Jacksonville zoo doesn’t is the white tiger. And the Jacksonville zoo has many other things beside because it gets animals from all continents, while the Delhi zoo concentrates on India wildlife. It was very dark and cloudy, and most of the cages were covered overhead, so picture taking was very difficult. I hope that I got some decent pictures of the white tigers and a pink hippopotamus!



Sunday, August 8, 1971
Ritz Hotel, Hyderabad

This morning we went to visit several tombs, mosques, and forts. This set was different from the rest only in the sense of size—much larger. All these things that we have seen have been either Islamic or Mughal. When the Muslims invaded from Persia, and later when the Mughals invaded from China, each destroyed the existing temples, etc., which they found, so there is little of the ancient Hindu culture left As a matter of fact, because we have had so little on Hindu culture in the seminar, most of us have arrived at the conclusion that the statistic that there are 300 million Hindus in India is a myth. We have seen only Islamic and Mughal architecture, and have met only Muslims.

The Indian people generally have European features. Their skin color varies considerably, lighter toward northwest India, darker toward the southeast, and lighter the higher the caste. Brahmans are very light. Mrs. Ghandi is almost white. On average, though, the Indians are about halfway between white and African black. But they have very straight hair, or if curly, only to the extent of a European.

Most are very friendly if they have me you. They are very curious about foreign strangers and stare with blank looks. They rarely ever return a nod or the head. It evidently is not part of their culture. Speaking of head nodding, they have a very strange way of saying “yes” or expressing agreement. They wag their chins left and right to indicate agreement. This is almost universal in India. The foreigner has to pick this up very quickly if he is to survive in India even though the chin wag for “yes” is very close to our head shake for “no.” This is particularly confusing to westerners who see the Indian shaking his head “no” but hear him say “yes.” You will probably catch me using the chin wag when I get home.

The Indian women drape a piece of cloth around them which is 2 yards wide and 6 to 8 yards long. It is called a sari (or saree). They wear a blouse-piece which comes down only below the bust to leave the midriff bare. They start wrapping the sari around themselves at the waist, finally bringing it across the bust, and throwing it over one shoulder, but being very careful to leave the midriff bare. Most Indian women are fairly conservative, but many attempt to be provocative by wearing low-cut blouse pieces and starting the sari farther down on the hips rather than at the waist. The sari is a very feminine costume—one which is worn by the majority of the women. Most wear their hair in buns on the backs of their heads. The alternative to the sari is a tunic to the hips with very tight-fitting pants at the legs, and a scarf around the neck.



Monday, August 9, 1971
Ritz Hotel, Hyderabad

Today we took a walk into old Hyderabad, into the bazaar area. It is so interesting to do this. Except for the village itself, the bazaar area of a city is the real India—most like the majority of the Indian people. The bazaar area is representative of urban India; tomorrow we will visit a village about 18 miles from Hyderabad, but not Sindhinur, the village where the Davidson Peace Corps worker is. Sindhinur was cut from our itinerary because it is so far away. However, the Peace Corps worker came to Hyderabad to spend two days with us. I will take as many pictures as I can in the village tomorrow because so far we have been short on village experience.

This afternoon we took another walk, this time in another direction. We went to the Andhra Pradesh Government Emporium where I bought a couple more souvenirs of the India experience.



Visit to Hyderabad

Hyderabad served as the imperial capital of the Asaf Jahi dynasty from 1769 to 1948. As capital of the princely state of Hyderabad, the city housed the British Residency and cantonment until Indian independence in 1947. Hyderabad was annexed by the Indian Union in 1948 and continued as a capital of Hyderabad State from 1948 to 1956. After the introduction of the States Reorganization Act of 1956, Hyderabad was made the capital of the newly formed Andhra Pradesh. In 2014, Andhra Pradesh was split to form the state of Telangana, and Hyderabad became the joint capital of the two states. Until the 19th century, Hyderabad was known for the pearl industry and was nicknamed the "City of Pearls." It was the only trading center for Golconda diamonds in the world. Many of the city's historical and traditional bazaars remain open. Hyderabad's central location between the Deccan Plateau and the Western Ghats attracted major Indian research, manufacturing, educational and financial institutions. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyderabad">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyderabad) Although India is predominantly Hindu, the dominant religion of Hyderabad is Islam.



Tuesday, August 10, 1971
Visit to Patcham Pali village, 18 miles from Hyderabad.

Patcham Pali is well known as a weaver village that crafts beautiful and high-quality saris. The village is about an hour drive by bus out from Hyderabad through west-Texas-like desert land. The monsoon had not (yet) come to Patcham Pali by August of 1971, and the nearby stream and reservoir were nearly dry. The resulting drought condition threatened the 1971 food crops usually grown in the vicinity of Patcham Pali to feed its inhabitants. Many of the villagers turned out to see our group which was a novelty to them. Children were especially enamored of our cameras. The village headman welcomed our group and provided tea as we sat around the village meeting place. As we were quite leery of the village water and tea made from it, we dropped iodine tablets in the tea and waited for it to dissolve before drinking. The word “Pali” means “community.”



Wednesday, August 11, 1971
Ritz Hotel, Hyderabad

The visit to the Union Carbide plant this morning turned out to be very good—enjoyed by the 12 who went. Four of the group decline to go. This plant turns out 250,000 D-cell flashlight batteries every day, but they are the old style (non-leakproof) that have not been produced in the U.S. for some time. This plant is very highly automated and as such is something of an anomaly for a place like India with a surplus of labor

This afternoon was a drag. The culturalists had a member of the Parsi community in to tell us their problems (Parsi is a minority religion in India), but the old guy had a lot of misinformation. We still don’t know anything about Hindus in India.



Thursday, August 12, 1971
Ritz Hotel, Hyderabad

This morning we took a 20-mile trip to the National Community Development Training Center where young people are trained to go into the villages all over India with new concepts, new technologies, new ways of doing things—sort of like the home demonstration agent and agricultural extension service in the U.S.

This afternoon I spent an hour at the train station watching the trains come, go, and switch. India has just begun in the last few years to produce diesel locomotives, but it has been producing steam locomotives for some time. All I saw today were coal-burning steam locomotives. I saw about four in one place and took suitable pictures which I think you girls will enjoy. If we want our children to take a trip on a passenger train with a steam locomotive, we will have to bring them to India. India’s rail and automotive transport systems are roughly equivalent to ours in the 1930s or early 1940s.

Saturday, August 14, 1971
Ritz Hotel, Hyderabad

Night before last, we went to a Sufi Muslim mosque to witness the worship activities which included placing flowers on alters and listening to a concert of chants by Sufi singers playing miniature organs and drums. During the chants, the elders of the mosque would get up (everyone squats or sits on the floor around the singers), go into trances and whirl about in a small open space—this is called the whirling dervish form of communication with god. It was almost as good as what a holy roller meeting must be like.

Yesterday was a very slow day. We went out to Osmania University to have a seminar on Islamic culture. After two of the discussions which were almost impossible to understand, Randy and I left at the coffee break and started back. We got on a municipal bus which soon became packed like a sardine can. India hasn’t yet entered the deodorant age, so you can imagine the experience. But a bus ride is a necessary part of the India experience. We will miss an India train ride.

Our India experience is almost over. Benares will be of interest because it is a center of Hindu culture. But the Ganga River (“holy river”) now is flooding in Benares.

Here is our schedule for the remaining part of our journey:

Date	Leave      At	     Arrive           At          Flight#
8-15	Delhi      0615      Benares          0925        IAC 407
8-16	Banaris    1005      Kathmandu        1100        IAC 252	
8-21	Kathmandu  1135      Bangkok          1750        Thai 312
8-23	Bangkok    1000      Hong Kong        1435        TWA 742
8-25	Hong Kong  0900      Osaka            1335        JAL 704
8-28	Tokyo      1415      San Francisco    0725        PanAm 846
8-29	San Fran   0800      Charlotte        1720        Delta 104

Hotels:
    Kathmandu      Panorama Hotel
    Bangkok        Narai Hotel
    Hong Kong      Hong Kong Hotel
    Tokyo          New Japan Hotel
    San Francisco  Airport Marina Hotel

Sunday, August 15, 1971
Clarke’s Hotel, Benares

The trip yesterday from Hyderabad to Delhi was uneventful except for being quite rough. We landed at Delhi in the rain and took off again in the rain this morning.

We all woke up before 5 this AM, boarded taxis for the airport at 5:45, checked in, etc., and boarded the plane for Benares (Varanaisi) at 7:30. There was one stop on the way, at Agra (where the Taj Mahal is),. There is only about 15 minutes of flying time from Delhi to Agra (it took us 4 hours by bus), but we circled for 20 minutes looking for the runway through pea-soup monsoon clouds. There is no instrument landing in India, only visual. But these Indian pilots are really good. We finally made it to Benares and checked in to the hotel by 10:30, napped until lunch, and took a tour of a Buddhist museum, a Hindu Temple, and the city of Benares between 2 and 6:30 PM. But it rained the whole time, and we all god soaking wet.

Benares is one of the dirtiest and most depressing cities in India. It is on the Ganga River, which below Benares is supposed to branch off and flow directly to heaven. So, old people try to come to Benares to die. They are cremated and their ashes are spread in the Ganga River to assure immediate ascent to heaven.



Visit to Sarnath and an offshoot of the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment

Sarnath is located 10 6.2 miles northeast of Varanasi near the confluence of the Ganges and the Varuna rivers in Uttar Pradesh, India. Sarnath is where, circa 528 BCE, Gautama Buddha, at 35 years of age, taught his first sermon after attaining enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. It is also where the Buddhist community first came into existence as a result of the enlightenment of his first five disciples. According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutra, the Buddha mentioned Sarnath as a place of pilgrimage that his devout followers should visit and look upon with feelings of reverence. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarnath)



Monday, August 16, 1971
Benares airport

We got up at 5 AM and left at 5:30 to go for a boat ride on the Ganga River. By 6 Am when we arrive at the river, people were everywhere on the steps of the temples on the river front bathing in and drinking the holy water of the Ganga. We finally got into two large row boats and set out to see the waterfront. Hindu religious myth has it that the Ganga branches below Benares with one branch going straight to heaven. So people come to Benares to die and be cremated. Their ashes are then spread in the river so they can go to heaven instead of being reincarnated. We saw three funeral pyres already burning. About 50 per day are burned here. We saw one body wrapped in red cloth being carried to the river on a bicycle rickshaw. All bodies are burned (it takes about 3 hours to reduce the body to ashes) except lepers, holy men, and children under 3 years. They are simply thrown into the river without cremation. While we were out in the boat, the body of a 2 or 3 year-old child, face down, white and bloated with water, floated right by and bumped alongside the boat. Very distressing and depressing.

The Ganga is now 35 feet above the normal level because of monsoon rains and flooding, but still about 8 feet below the high water mark of the 1848 floods. The river is still rising though at about a foot per day. The currents, eddies, and whirlpools are terrible, and we were most thankful to be back on dry land. I think that it was rather foolish for us to go out in the boats, but we all are safe now.



Ganges River in flood stage at Benares (Varanasi)

Varanasi (a.k.a. Benares) is a city on the Ganges River in the Bhojpur-Purvanchal region of India, that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. Located in the middle-Ganges valley in the southeastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi lies on the left bank of the river. The land in the vicinity of Varanasi is very fertile because low-level floods in the Ganges continually replenish the soil. (https://enwikipedia.org/wiki/Varanasi) Our early-August 1971 visit to Varanasi occurred during a high-flood stage of the Ganges River. We witnessed funeral pyres and Hindus bathing in the river.



Tuesday, August 17, 1971
Panorama Hotel, Kathmandu, Nepal

Today has been pretty full. We started at 9 AM with a lecture by an education specialist in Nepal. Then a film on economic development of a part of Nepal made by the U.S. Information Service. The film was followed by a lecture on social relations in Nepal by a local sociologist. After lunch we rode around in a couple of VW buses to see the temples in the town around the Kathmandu Valley. The ride was very pleasant and the scenery beautiful except that there was a steady drizzle all afternoon. I had gotten chilled and wet in the tour around Benares on Sunday, so the rain didn’t help much. I have had sniffles and sore throat for the last couple of days now, but I seem to be getting better. Nepal has a bad reputation for making people sick. I will be as careful as possible. We drink only boiled and filtered water, and eat only cooked food. Tomorrow we leave at 8 AM for an all-day bus ride toward the Chinese border. The road has been washed out near the border, so we won’t be able to make it all the way.



Visit to Kathmandu, Nepal



Kathmandu is the capital and most populous city of Nepal. It is located in the Kathmandu Valley, a large valley in the high plateaus in central Nepal. The city is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world, founded in the 2nd century CE. The valley historically was called the "Nepal Mandala" and has been the home of the Newar people, a cosmopolitan urban civilization in the Himalayan foothills. (https://en/wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathmandu) Monsoon rains had reached Nepal by early August, 1971, and the cropland in the valley was a beautiful green.

We were told that on a clear day we might be able to see the peak of Mount Everest, but during our brief stay in Nepal the sky was cloudy and we were unable to view the highest peak in the Himalayas.



Temples at Kathmandu, Nepal

Kathmandu was the royal capital of the Kingdom of Nepal and hosts palaces, mansions and gardens built by the Nepali aristocracy. Kathmandu is and has been for many years the center of Nepal's history, art, culture, and economy. It has a multi-ethnic population within a Hindu and Buddhist majority. Religious and cultural festivities form a major part of the lives of people residing in Kathmandu. (https://en/wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathmandu)

Fred Gaige, the leader of our India seminar, has had extensive experience in Nepal and is conducting research on Nepal’s history and culture.



Wednesday, August 18, 1971
Panorama Hotel, Kathmandu

This morning we left promptly at 8 AM on a Mercedes Benz minibus and a Toyota 4-door sedan for the Chinese border. I rode in the Toyota. The road was built by the Chinese for the Nepalese, and it is a fairly good road relative to other Nepalese roads except that with the recent and continuing monsoon rains several places were either washed out or covered over with rockslides. The road winds about 120 kilometers over the Himalayan “foothills” which range up to 12,000 feet high. We never got much above 6,000 feet. It was so cloudy and misty that we didn’t see the High Himalayas which range up to 29,029 feet (Everest). The weather has prevented us from seeing any of the High Himalayas. They are readily visible from Kathmandu outside the monsoon season. This is one thing that we will miss on this trip. But the vistas on the trip toward the border are absolutely breathtaking—the high point of the whole trip. Lush, verdant green mountains, often terraced up to the very top and planted with rice paddy—the greenest green you have ever seen. Simply fantastic. Some day you simply must see Nepal. This has got to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. But we didn’t make it all the way to the border. Had to stop about 25 km short of the border because the road became impassable.

Tomorrow night we are invited to a reception in our honor by the director of the U.S. Information Service in Nepal. There will be over a hundred other guests including university and government dignitaries. A coat & tie affair.



Along the Chinese Road from Kathmandu to the Tibetan border

This was an opportunity to traverse a road built for Nepal by the Chinese government from Kathmandu following a riverbed north to the village of Kodari on the Tibetan border, possibly for military purpose. We could visit Kodari at the border with Tibet and look across the border into Tibet, but Chinese border guards prohibited us from stepping across the border into Tibet.



Saturday, August 21, 1971, 9 AM
Panorama Hotel, Kathmandu

It is now about 9 AM; we are all packed up and waiting to go to the airport. The Thai International plane is supposed to leave at 11:30. But because of the clouds and rain, Thai planes have not gotten into the Kathmandu valley for 3 days this week. They were stacking passengers at the local hotels at their expense. We were really worried that we would be delayed here, but the Thai plane finally made it yesterday when the clouds broke over the valley and all of the other passengers got out. This morning is bright and sunny, and I think that there will be no trouble except possibly for overweight baggage. We are supposed to leave for the airport at 10 AM. Our stay in Kathmandu has been delightful. It is a beautiful place.

The reception at Rome Dove’s house was most interesting. Most of the important people in government, diplomatic circles, the university, and the press corps were in attendance—nearly 200 people. The two most interesting were the first secretaries of the Russian and Pakistani embassies. Both wanted to talk politics and set us straight on the issues.

Yesterday morning we took a tour by jeep to some more places around the valley. Jeep was the only way we could have gotten to some of those places. Saw some more very interesting Buddhist temples.



Saturday, August 21, 1971, 9:30 PM
Narai Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

We are now almost exactly ½ way around the world from South Carolina. There are 12 hours between Bangkok and Eastern Daylight Time. The Thai International plane was a bit late in getting to Kathmandu this morning, so we didn’t take off until about 11 AM. The 1st leg of the flight, during which we had a tremendous open-faced cold-cut sandwich, took us to Calcutta in about an hour. We spent over an hour on the ground in Calcutta, but we had to stay on the plane. The second leg of the flight from Calcutta to Bangkok lasted about 2-1/2 hours. During this flight we had another lunch—this time a full 3-course meal with roast beef as the entrée. Red and white wine, all the trimmings. Thai International is associated with SAS and really knows how to “put on the dog.” We finally arrivd in Bangkok at about 5:30 AM. Our tour agent met us at the airport with a bus that took us straight to the Narai Hotel. She has lined up two tours for us tomorrow—one to the floating vegetable market, another to the Buddhist temple complex.

Bangkok is about as oriental as Atlanta or Jacksonville. If we suffered a culture shock when we arrived in India, we experienced a reverse-culture shock when we arrived in Bangkok. It is about as western a city as one could expect, complete with traffic lights and traffic jams. It is much cleaner than any place we have yet visited—a real tourist city.



Sunday, August 22, 1971
Narai Hotel, Bangkok

This morning we woke up by 6 AM, rushed to get dressed, eat breakfast, etc., then left for the river front to take a boat ride up the rive and through a canal to the floating vegetable market. The river was fairly rough, but the ride was very pleasant. The boat was similar to those at Silver Springs. Many of the people of Bangkok live I houses built on stilts right next to the canals. I think I took some good pictures.

We were scheduled for a tour of the Buddhist temples this afternoon, but it rained and the tour was cancelled, so I took a walk through the business district. Could hardly tell that we were in Thailand.



Tuesday, August 24, 1971
The Hong Kong Hotel, Kowloon

I spent the day taking two trips. First I rode the ferry across from Kowloon (where the airport and hotel are) to Hong Kong Island. On the Island I took the tram railway car 1300 feet to the top of Victoria peak to take pictures of the harbor. I then returned to the Kowloon side. The whole trip cost all of HK$1.70. The HK$ to US$ exchange rate is 6:1, so that trip cost me roughly 25 cents.

Our tour agent arranged a motorized junk trip around the harbor. That cost US$5.00. It was a delightful 2-1/2 hour trip. There are still many U.S. soldiers in Bangkok and Hong Kong on R&R from the Vietnam war. Most were accompanied by Chinese or Thai women.