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Newsletter #15 - September 25 to October 2, 1959 |
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Newsletter #15
Sept. 25 to Oct. 2, 1959 Mailed New Delhi 10/3/59 Recd. Philadelphia 10/16/59 Hello Everybody: [September 26] Here we are again and in another country. We came by KLM from Bangkok to Rangoon in about 1-1/2 hours. We had a very nice flight as well as a very good meal aboard the plane. As soon as we were checked in at the Strand Hotel (the only hotel suitable for tourists, they say) we went to the American Embassy for mail and only heard from Dot Webb and Margaret, who have been so faithful, as I've had letters from both of them at every mail stop. Hope they keep up the good work, as I look forward to all the mailstops. We're just right with our itinerary, but remember to cancel a mail stop at Jerusalem as we're not too sure we can stop there safely. A bit about Burma and Rangoon, our present stay is as follows: Burma is an independent republic and the meeting place of two great civilizations, India and China, both of which are fused together to form a culture of her own. The Burmese language is similar to Chinese in that it is tonal, which means that one word may have several meanings according to the tone in which it is spoken. The most striking aspect of the Burmese people to us as newly arrived tourists is their dress. They have retained their traditional costume which is very much the same for men and women and is a bright colorful skirt-like costume called a Longyi. The men tie their longyi a little different than the women and they wear them ankle length and go barefooted or wear very skimpy sandals. The short sheer blouse worn by the Burmese women is the Aingyi. These Burmese are very religious and devoutly carry out their duties as good Buddhists. Symbols of this devotion are the many lovely pagodas or Buddhist temples. Today we visited their three most famous places, the Shwedagon Pagoda, whose tall spire rises 370 feet in the air and is covered with brilliant overlay of gold leaf and is a landmark which can be seen for miles. The one entrance is guarded by two large mythical lions called chinthes, which are used in many of their building entranceways. This is the largest pagoda of its kind in the world and attracts many Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world every year. It was crowded with worshippers while we were there and it was really raining hard. They have flower stalls and the different smaller pagodas house Buddhas and flowers are placed by the worshippers and candles lit in these shrines. It was difficult walking barefooted here as these Burmese chew a Betel nut and then expectorate a red juice which really turns me inside out. You see this on all the sidewalks also and it looks like blood. The natives get red tongues and some have awful looking lips when they chew this nut. (*I will say it's a gorgeous temple and very extensive in area, but I just hated walking in my bare feet and they will not tolerate peds or stockings. I sure scrubbed ray feet when we got back three hours later.) We next visited the Sule Pagoda with its golden spire which dominates the downtown area and is the hub of the city's road system. (Similar to our center square in York.) Burmese legends say this pagoda was built to enshrine a hair from Buddha's head along with other relics |
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Newsletter #15
brought from India by two Buddhist missionaries. Still another pagoda we visited was the Kaba Aye Pagoda seven miles from Rangoon and just packed with native worshippers. This shrine was completed in 1952 and was dedicated to the cause of world peace. During our three hours ride in a Jeep we also saw their beautiful modern buildings — schools, universities, hospitals and municipal buildings, and the Kanbawza Palace and the home of the president. [September 28] We spent about two and a half hours this morning trying to mail packages in Burma and after taking out each item, unwrapping each parcel, etc., they refused to let us mail them home unless we got official letters which takes a week's red tape. We were furious. Meredith was allowed to send two small parcels of films to be developed and they only charged $15 to do this. (Of course, those are air mail prices, but they sure are cutting into our travel money.) The last Newsletter cost $1.90 from Cambodia, so you can see traveling is not cheap. We have now changed our monetary unit from Ticals or Bahts and Satangs in Thailand to Kyats and Pyas in Burma and now that we have become acquainted with their money it is time to dispose of the remainder of our Kyats and get Indian rupees, which are divided into annas and pice. We leave late this afternoon for Calcutta, India. [September 29] Here we are in Calcutta, the largest city in India, and one of the leading port cities of the East. Besides being huge, sprawling, shapeless and picturesque, it is shabby, dirty, noisy and just teeming with life. The sidewalks are absolutely filled with beggars, Indians, sacred cows and goats. I have bypassed many a cow and I've walked the streets, and you sure must watch where you're stepping at all times or you'll find yourself slipping in cowdung, peels of all sorts and Betel nut juice. The world is certainly represented in Calcutta, for here you must jostle with Americans, Europeans, Chinese, Tibetans, Arabs and all kinds of people from the Far East and the Far West. [September 30] We took a tour of the city of Calcutta for three hours and saw more sights in this short time than I've ever expected to see in all of India. We went to their meat famous place called the Jain Temple, which was very unusual and unique inside and outside and we went to the Ghats, where Indians are burned and their ashes are thrown into the Ganges River. Here many people were bathing their bodies and singing their prayers. The street odors at this particular place were most obnoxious. A most beautiful building in Calcutta was the Victoria Memorial constructed of white marble and fashioned on the style of the famous Taj Mahal. During one of our many walks, we wandered along the famous Chawringhee Avenue for several miles. It is a wide avenue flanked on one side by shops, cinemas and restaurants and on the other by green meadows of the Maidan. The Maidan is like a vast expanse of parks with trees clustered here and there and several monuments beautifully placed. As always, we are meeting interesting people at our hotel and at, present we are chumming about with a dentist and his wife from San José, California. We've toured and eaten with them during our 3 days in Calcutta. [October 1] We are now in Benares, the most religious city in India. This holy city is situated on the left bank of the Ganges River and stands singled out as the greatest cultural and religious center of India. This city was not - 2 -
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News Letter #15
in our original plans to visit, but as we go along we get such vast numbers of suggestions, and this city was considered a "must" in India. The flight from Calcutta took two and a half hours. Everyone in India makes pilgrimages to Banares, three thousand year old city, irrespective of sects as the sanctity of Banares and its ghats (bathing steps; becomes more glorified when the faithful bathe in the Ganges, the golden river of India, rising from the foot of the Himalayas. Due to the existence of various health giving materials, both mineral and herbal, a regular bather in the Ganges remains free from the attack of any disease. For this reason hundreds of old ladies and gents, all Hindu, come to live in Banares in their old and retired age with shattered health and soon find instead of deteriorating their health improves until their death and this is all due to the existence of miraculous curative elements in the water of the Ganges. On our two and a half hour boat trip on the Ganges along the temples, flights of steps and burning ghats we saw thousands of worshippers in deep meditation and prayer, as well as those bathing their sins away in the waters. To many visitors it seems silly, but I really believe they have the most profound faith I have seen in any country we have visited thus far. I never smelled one bad odor during the trip and at least 40 cremations a day are handled in Banares. Within one or two hours after a body is declared dead it is carried to the burning ghats by male members of the family and dipped into the Ganges for purification and the pyre is made with wood. The chief mourner then has his head shaved clean and changes his old used cloth with a new white one and the body is pieced on the top of the pyre. The chief mourner then gets fire from the eternal fire and starts fire in the pyre. It generally takes three hours for a normal body to be completely burnt into ashes. As soon as this is done all the ashes are thrown into the holy river by the relative attendants. We saw them shoveling ashes into the river and also bodies on the pyres. After the ashes are thrown into the river the attendants go home. (Women members are never allowed to attend a cremation.) Death is never taken by the average Hindu as a terror and to be cremated at the ghats we visited today is a desire of all Hindus. During our stay in this part of India we also visited Sarnath near Banares, which is another sacred place as Buddha preached his first great sermon unfolding the four noble truths from this place. Buddhism actually originated from Sarnath as it was from this place that Buddha's great teachings spread far and wide, so to visiting pilgrims it is a most sacred site. The monuments which we visited here and which adorn this area are counted along with the noblest of all the monuments which Buddhism, early and late, has bequested to India. The Banares Hindu University which we also saw has real architectural beauty and the magnanimity of the huge palatial buildings built purely in Indian style surely brought awe and wonder to our eyes. The grounds have 20 miles of road in a two square mile area of gorgeous pink university buildings with its magnificent Shiva Temple as a sort of added attraction. We also visited the Durga or Monkey Temple where we fed the Monkeys, the Golden Temple, the Mosque of Aurangzeb, and the Buddhist Temple with the remarkable murals of the life of Buddha and the Bharat Mata Mandir, which had the colossal white marble relief map of India on the floor. (I got a little tired removing ray shoes so often, as you enter all these places barefooted.) India certainly has been interesting thus far as there are fascinating - 3 -
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Newsletter #15
traditions, customs, philosophies, scenic areas, archaeological wonders, costumes and enchanting articles to tempt me into doing too much buying. We soon leave for Agra, where we will view the famous Taj Mahal, but we will have to tell you about that next week. The India Government Travel Bureau Service is excellent and they will go to a lot of trouble to help you make your stay in India a pleasant one. The guides we have had so far were excellent and their English is flawless. The caste system is gradually breaking down in India and the countries population is Hindus, Jainists, Moslems, Buddhists, Judaists, Sikhs, and Christians, The Shudra caste, formerly known as the Untouchables, still hold the menial Jobs for the most part but can and do rise above these Jobs many times. We have personally talked to many, many Indians and we have found them charming, polite and willing to help tourists in any way. Our waiters, house boys, bearers, etc., wait on us too well as they always seem to be underfoot and can't please us enough. Our only real problem in India has been transportation. The IAC, Indian Airlines, is the only inter-country flying planes and they will never confirm flights and many times you are stranded in a small place for several days waiting for a flight and these small towns have absolutely no accommodations at all for Americans. These people live as no other race we have seen thus far and there is far more poverty here than any place we have been. Food is really a problem as they eat most anything and tourists cannot touch their foods for fear of illness. It creates a problem and most people go only to one or two cities in India for this reason. As much as I'm enjoying the people, I'll be happier when I am out of this Far East. Enough for this time and we leave tonight by plane from Banares to Agra. I would suggest you move your itinerary schedule up fifteen full days as we have been doing a lot of flying rather than on a few ships as we had planned. Thus far our schedule has been fine, but from now on we will be earlier. Hope everyone is fine and dandy — Our regards, Meredith and Charlotte -4-
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