Ginger and Curls on the Road: Pachmarhi, India

14th - 18th January 2011

We arrived at Pipariya after a lovely night on the train and from there we got the first bus up to Pachmarhi. We wound our way, honking instead of braking, up through some of the greenest and most beautiful woodland I have seen. We passed by monkeys, cows and the odd peacock to arrive 1067 metres above sea level at our first hill station. After a fair bit of looking we found and affordable hotel and headed out to have a look round.

From Pachmarhi, India

Walking down the street we came across a game of Kabadee Kabadee Kabadee, which we stopped to watch. The school was outside cheering on the two teams who seemed to be rather unfairly matched with tiny little boys against strapping teenagers. After Djalma figured out the rules (ask him not me) we stated to leave but were stopped by one of the referees who insisted we stay and meet the players, so they lined them all up and we went and shook hands with all the boys and wished them luck, we were then sat down in pride of place behind a table to watch the next several games. We said thank you and goodbye marvelling at the welcome, I highly doubted any visitors to the U.K or to N.Z would be greeted and included like that and it made me feel humbled and a little ashamed of my own culture.

From Pachmarhi, India

We decided to visit one of the small shrines which involved a short but steep climb up the side of a hill which I managed with a fair bit of effort but not too much swearing. When we got to the top we were rewarded with a piddly little shrine which was most certainly not worth the effort so while I waited Djalma made the most of the climbing opportunities and scrambled up (using vines) to have a look and see what was further up. He was gone long enough for me to start worrying and watching him climb back down had me wondering if he would love long enough to give me any children, but he made it and we wandered on.

From Pachmarhi, India

Not feeling too bad (despite continued diarrhoea) we continued on further away from the town and down to a much more impressive shrine or group of them. The place was full of chipmunks, the single most surprising thing about India is all the chipmunks, most of them fat from food from Indian tourists. The shrine was dedicated to a very feminine looking man who apparently liked snakes and pitchforks, there were rather a lot of them.

From Pachmarhi, India

The rocks were carved with his image and his wife as well (Djalma and I both thought they were women) and there were paintings as well. We walked down a wooden staircase into a natural chasm where some religious dudes where burning incense creating a scented smoky fog in the hollow. We walked further down into the hollow and saw the reason for the location of the shrine, natural lingam. Basically they were worshipping and paying respect to earth willies, lovely.

From Pachmarhi, India

Lingam is basically a word for penis and you find loads of them in various shapes and forms everywhere (not real willies obviously), anything that sticks out or up is worth a flower/coconut/candle/money offering and a prayer. That shrine was pretty cool I had to control myself from getting shutter happy with all the bright orange pitchforks and chipmunks around. We wandered back to our hotel to rest and relax after the days exertions before getting our first of many vegetable chow meins.

From Pachmarhi, India

The next day I rested up and started on new medication to get rid of the squits, we ventured out for a walk in the afternoon with the, by now, usual attention and requests for photos. I really wasn't in the mood to sidled off while Djalma enjoyed the limelight with our new five minute friends. While we were wandering the streets a big wedding party passed by banging out some serious party music, we thought it was a big street party because we couldn't see the newly married couple only the huge speakers and the dancing crowd following them. Right in the middle was one white guy dancing around and being encouraged to carry on every time he flagged (it was a very warm afternoon in the sun), we met him and his other French friends days later on the way to Varanasi and it was then we found out it was an Indian reception.

I'd had enough and headed back to the hotel to get some more rest and continue reading Shantaram, an absolute must read if you travel to India especially Mumbai.

From Pachmarhi, India

We decided to try and make the most of our last day in Pachmarhi by visiting the National Park, we rented out bicycles and peddled our way out to the park lodge to pay the entrance fee and then onto the park. It was bloody hot and the heat nearly undid me, as did trying to cycle on the slightest gradient on a wobbly bike without gears, but we made it despite going into a couple of ditches when trying to brake or turn corners.

From Pachmarhi, India

We left our bikes with the entry guards and walked into the park, it was too steep and too rough for anything but four wheel drive or feet. We walked slowly through the trees to a small river and waterfall where we sat down and chilled out because I couldn't manage much else.

From Pachmarhi, India

There were plenty of other things to see but I was so weak from being ill I couldn't manage it so after photographing more chipmunks, plenty of dragonflies and Djalma taking his water dips, we headed slowly back with lots of rest stops.

From Pachmarhi, India

Getting back on the bike was great, we went downhill most of the way and stopped off at some old Buddhist caves surrounded by some gorgeous rose gardens and got a couple of mango dollies (cheap yet surprisingly delicious and restorative) to lick while we walked round the gardens.

From Pachmarhi, India

We climbed to the top of the caves and looked out over the hills and trees below, it was beautiful but annoyingly not all that photogenic. We cycle back into town and having sort of mastered the wobble and the dodgy brakes managed to get back into town without many incidents.

From Pachmarhi, India

I gratefully handed my bike back over to the rental shop and headed back upstairs to lay in bed and read some more.

We headed out the next day getting a morning bus for our early afternoon train which we booked before leaving Pipariya. We got a train to Jabalpur and from there several cramped and crowded buses to Bandhavgarh, the best place to see tigers in the wild and yet no-one seemed to have heard of it.