Buddhist Around Taragarh

Buddhist Prayer Wheels 

Inside the Monastery

Hindu Temple

The New Monastery

Prayer Hall under Construction

Working on the Buddha

Prayer Flags

Rubber Tree with scoring to get sap

More Prayer Flags 

Mini-Monks

Bobby's wife in Kitchen

Lunch 

Bobby on left, Vijay our driver 

Veranda at the Palace

Peanut Masala

Scott enjoying the life of a Maharaja

The Maharaja that had trouble having an heir

Dinner

After dinner at the Palace

Today was devoted to exploring the area around Taragarh Palace. It started with the four of us being the only people dining in the large dining room. That made sense because we were the only 4 people staying at the Palace. I basically have given up on Internet here. I will have to post several blogs when we reach the next destination.

Breakfast was highlighted by Poha which I love. It is a hot Indian breakfast dish made from flaked rice and spices. Tom and Scott had never had it before and they also liked it. Our drivers picked us up and we backtracked a few kilometers and drove up to a Tibetan monastery. We had hoped to hear some monks chanting but it being Sunday it was their day off. They were gracious and took us around to show us the temple. The monks have renounced everything except cell phones. They are all plugged in, including Facebook.

There was a long line of prayer wheels that could be spun.

Click below to view Cathy spinning a prayer.

We then drove to a very old Hindu Temple. There the Hindu Priest allowed us into the inner sanctum to pour water on the Shiva Linga. It was kind of surprising to me, we had never before been allowed into the inner sanctum. From there we drove to an absolutely huge Tibetan monastery complex. It covers many acres. The old part of it is still being used while a whole new monastery complex is being built. It reminded us of a Los Angeles Rick Caruso project – like The Grove in vibrant colors. We were amazed at how many rooms it had. Vijay said it can house over 1000 monks. The main temple has not been completed but we wandered in on our own and watched the craftsmen paint intricate designs and sculpt a giant Buddha statue. It is amazing to see it in progress. I know when it will be finished in a few months it will instantly look like it has always been there. There were rubber trees on the hills, with the scores on the trunks allowing them to harvest the rubber.

This is a Hindu state, and most of the residents are Hindu, but these Buddhist monasteries are quite prevalent in the hills. I know we will soon be learning more about them.

Vijay dearest friend is named “Bobby”. That isn’t his real Indian name but that is what he calls himself. We went to Bobby’s small house for lunch. It was a real treat to be invited into someone’s house and experience the real India, not the tourist India. Bobby is 40 and his wife died about 2 years ago. He then married his wife’s sister. She speaks no English, but welcomed us warmly. They served a simple lunch of rice, Dal, Curried Potatoes and Paratahs that Vijay made. We followed it with Masala Chi. They have no dining room, their place has just two small rooms dominated by beds. They placed the food in pots on the bed, and we dished out the food onto aluminum plates. The food was delicious. During the dinner the Monsoon rains started. The heavy rain was accompanied by thunder. When it came time to leave, luckily, we were all wearing rubber sandals. We rolled up our pants and waded out to the cars.

We returned to the hotel and lounged on the veranda watching the rain and the monkeys playing in the trees and scampering across the lawn. The Monkey-Walla with his stick banged on the ground scaring them away. We patiently waited till 6pm for cocktail hour.

The hotel actually began to fill up with guests. We returned to our favorite veranda overlooking the garden and fountain for drinks. We had a different waiter tonight and with his bell captain hat and uniform he actually looked like a character from the movie The Grand Budapest Hotel. It transported us back to an older era as we were served complimentary snacks and drank our wine. The snacks were quite good: Peanut Masala (reminding us of peanuts mixed with Mexican Salsa), a Chinese style pepper chicken and tandoori roasted paneer cheese. We barely had room after the wine and snacks to go to dinner, but we did.

Before dinner the manager took us on tour through the hotel explaining the history of the Royal Family that still owned the palace. We have a favorite Maharaja that we continually laughed at his picture and his difficulty siring an issue. He had 3 wives and was still childless. Eventually he took a 4^th wife and she had a son. Looking at the picture we wondered who the father was!

Dinner was a buffet and the restaurant was quite full. The Internet eventually returned in the office and I was able to post a blog.

Staying at Taragarh actually grew on us. The staff were all helpful, the jungle setting with monkeys run amuck, the slightly run-down dowdy structure, the monsoon rains and the cocktail outside on the veranda, all created a spell for us of days long gone, between the wars in the waning days of the British Raj  when gentlemen and ladies sat back on the veranda and toasted the queen over drinks – while the Indian staff dreamed of independence.