April 17 2008 William writes:
India construction knows no limitations … so it deserves another look. The following pictures were taken on Wyatt’s and my trip through Rajasthan, India.
First plans are made.
Then the necessary materials are made... and transported
Cammel Power
Bull power.
Sometimes scaffolding is needed. Why not use bamboo?
Pipes are the most important part of a fort located in the desert...
Looks straight to me.
And of course, fences and walls are the most important part of any project.
Do we really need this?
Gaurd Birds
Sometimes construction can be a lonely business...
Work Every Day
and the next day.
And a cell tower...
Categories: Construction and India | 1 Comment »
January 26 2008 William writes:
We bought our train ticket 8hrs before its departure, praise the heavens for the tourist quota, and left for Jaipur in the evening. Went to sleep on the train, leaving the dense suburbs of Mumbai and woke in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan with a cement factory silhouetted on the horizon. Once in Jaipur we were welcomed by over eager auto drivers ready to help us find a guest house.
Jaipur is Rajasthan’s largest city but it is miniature compared to Mumbai and much easier to get a motorbike as an international drivers license is not required in this state. The bike rental shop only asked for a 1000 Rupees safety deposit which is absolutely nuts considering that neither Wyatt nor I have ever ridden a motorbike, let alone in some wild Indian city.
We left Jaipur at sunrise and just 10 minutes into our trip, the exhaust pipe 
burned completely through our burlap luggage sack and melted our tarp and strap holding the bag to our bike. After fixing our strap we continued, making stops every 15 minutes for chai tea until the sun was high enough to keep us from freezing.
In Pushka (Hindi for hand flower?) a Brahman priest gave us a prayer and a lightly veiled donation request. Some of the hippies here look like they forgot to go home. Preparing for the next days drive, Wyatt asked the clerk of a local liquor store which direction to Jodhpur. Wyatt’s mispronunciation resulted in the clerk offering us a kingfisher (the budwiser of india) and no directions.
The 200km to Jodhpur went without incident unitil we arrived at the city during rush hour. 
The streets were crammed with rickshaws, motorbikes, bikes, schoolchildren, horse-drawn carriages, hand cart vendors and of course the omnipresent street cows. As this was the third day on the bike I still had the habit of using the front hand brake as if it was a mountain bike. The downside of this is that it applies the front tire break, which when used over cow dung has the tendency to cause the whole bike to skid. Our unexpected fast lurch scared a horse into the next bike and I heard hoof on metal as I did all I could to right the bike. Mehrangarh Fort overlooking the blue city is impressive by any standard and if an isolationist policy dictated world power this king would rule all.
280km the next day brough us to Jaisamer where a smaller fort overlooked the golden city. 150Rs / night gave us a simple room with a fort view balcony. We took a day trip to Khuri, a tourist town without tourists, to race some camels. 
Camels are a bumpy ride when they are walking and the Lincoln-log saddle only reminds you of the three man straddle torture. Make the animal gallop and you’ll wish you were riding a stegosaurus.
Another day trip led us to the Sam sand dunes where we had to slalom around camel jockeys flagging us down for 10Rs camel rides. Beyond Sam there is nothing but desert and water canals filled with sand, a painful display of another failed government project. Fifty kilometers from the Pakistan border, in Dahanana (pronounced differently every time) the indian army stopped us as tourists are not allowed near the border. We shared tea with them and a Pakistan drug & women smuggler and headed back to Jaisamer. 
From Jaisamer we headed to Barmer, a rare Rajasthan city without a tourist industry. From Barmer we traveled to Abu Road across 30 km of neglected road that made us wish it had never been paved. 
It may have been on these roads that our bike began it’s steep mechanical downturn. The engine started to click and the chain could be heard hitting its harmonic during any acceleration. Abu Road, despite the appealing name, was good for a 20Rs oil change and little else.
The road up to Mount Abu is fantastic for novice motorcycle riders. Its steep windy curves turn one into Grand Prix champion. The tourist bus and desert monkey obstacles keep the drivers focus on the road while the passenger enjoys the fantastic view of the vast plains below. The town of Mount Abu is another tourist town with shops.
Udipur is claimed by some to be the Venice of the East, but Wyatt and I went because the James Bond movie, Octopussy was shot there. As for looking like Venice, it has a lake and some of the houses are white? Octopussy is one of the great Bond films with fantastic corny wit, an island inhabited only by women, nuclear bombs at a circus, and costomized autorickshaws that can pop wheelies. No one can ask more from a Bond movie.
The motorbike had begun loosing power going up Mount Abu, but there were no real issues until 40km outside of Ajmer when, at full throttle the max speed was 30km/hr. Not fast, even for India roads. It finally died on the outskirts of Ajmer infront of the only Kinetic dealership in all of Rajasthan. The repairs (new valves and a timing change) took only 1 day and 1,100 rupees. Riding back into Jaipur with the horn blaring, we felt almost like locals weaving between rickshaws and cows.
Click here to read Wyatt’s take.
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January 05 2008 William writes:
Mumbai is huge. Downtown is 40km from the airport and the metro train runs 125km from one 
end of the city to the other. Wyatt’s and my goal was to buy a motor bike, learn to ride it, and act in Bollywood.
We must have asked 40 people if they know where we could by a motor bike and 35 of them tried to sell us their own. None of which had enough life still in them to reach Delhi, our final destination. After finding a dealer we learned that an international drivers license is required for the India state of Maharashtra. Not needing to temp the law, we bought our train ticket to Rajasthan.
Wyatt is currently reading Shantaram, the non fiction thriller of an Austrailian fugitive who joins the Bombay mofia and fights the Russians in Afganistan. It is an amazing book and the 900 pages fly by. We met the the author, Gregory Roberts (Linbaba), in Leopolds and his rough face and stocky build validifies the book’s rough and tough plot.
As we read in Shantaram, various casting agencies scour the Colaba causeway for westerners willing to work for 500Rs. / day as an extra in a Bollywood production. Wyatt and I got asked in the reception of our hotel to work from 5pm to 5am on a shoot for a national family soap opera. Knowing the family soaps are the fastest way to fame we jumped at the opportunity.
Wyatt, two French girls and I took the long limo on rails to a metro stop where our private black and yellow threewheler picked us up and took us to the studio. 
We quickly realized that they didn’t give a damn who showed up as extras when the couch we were told to sit on was moved for a place to hold the cameras. The soap stars were hard at work acting out some honeymoon scene supposedly set in Goa. Our job was to act as tourists at a bar and dance the night away… without music. We returned to Colaba around 4am and walked around the empty city unit our hotel opened at 7.
Never did get to see the show, Maayka, but I’m sure it was amazing.
Click here to read Wyatt’s take.
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