Heritage Site of Orchha

Tuesday and Wednesday, March 12-13,

Days 11-12 Orchha Intrepid Itinerary

 

After arriving in Jhansi, travel by auto rickshaw across a classic Indian rural landscape to the picturesque town of Orchha to experience a very different side of India (approx 45 mins).

Situated on the banks of the Betwa River, Orchha has changed little over the centuries. Originally a hunting area, it became the capital of the Bundela rajas and, as a result, Orchha has more temples and palaces than any town of this size deserves.

Explore the palaces and temples scattered across the peaceful countryside, walk in rural areas untouched by modern life and meet the very friendly locals. The river water is cold but clean enough to swim in.

Experience an evening puja ceremony at the Ram Raja Temple.

See the stunning Orchha Palace, built by Bir Sing Deo for his friend Jehangir, the great Mughal ruler.

Take the chance to experience the local flavours at a cooking demonstration by our local friends.

Visit Taragram, one of Intrepid's Responsible Tourism projects. This unique papermaking plant was set up to give tribal women from the area a chance to work outside the traditional areas normally afforded to them. All the paper is made from recycled clothing and wood pulp.  In

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In Orchha we stayed in a lovely Heritage Bundelkhand property, that conjured images of what the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was supposed to be; Old traditional Indian architecture, central courtyard with gardens, pool, bougainvillea and wisteria spilling over the covered walkways in a profusion of burgundies, pinks, lavender and white blossoms, ceiling fans, tiled walkways, and individual garden patios out the backdoors of each large bedroom.  Although I couldn't fully appreciate anything much beyond the room amenities the first day, we certainly appreciated all of it the second day. About $36.00 a day.

By day two I felt well enough for a full day of site seeing after a light breakfast in the dining room.

Our first stop was Taragram, a Women's Paper making Project that Intrepid funds as a part of their commitment to responsible tourism, making places better with donations from our traveling fees.  We really like this idea and loved this project.  It was started in 1996 and has opened up an avenue of income and opportunity for tribal women to learn skills and better support their families.

It is organized to produce in a way that accommodates the other cultural responsibilities women have; itinerant, drop in workers, child care provisions, and work accounts that only the women can draw from.  At first the project met resistance from village men who wanted to keep their women home afraid they would become smarter and earn more than the men, and of course that is what is happening, but the extra income for the families has quelled the objections.  

Men and the women who have chosen to participate, now have separate income streams. The women do not have to beg for money from their husbands.  Even with both incomes ( perhaps less than $100.00 a month), families here are desperately poor with intolerable living conditions and sanitation.

Women rotate through the various paper-process from start to finish including office and sales room skills.  The project has expanded to include  cement round tiles for roofing and a radio station for broadcasting music and farm news.  The place was not littered and well maintained. Women are called in when  there are big orders to be filled.  The day we were here, we only saw 3 women in the section we were in and the rest were men about 10 or more, packing supplies, cleaning up, and operating the sales room. These men may also have been part time or full time workers.  We don't know, and while this struck us as odd, I guess this arrangement keeps things going when times are slack and women need to be elsewhere.

After our tour here, we opted to visit a tribal village and school. These tribal people go into the forest to gather wood for resale as their primary source of income.  They also gather up the holy cow poop to make paddies.  2000 paddies sell for 100 rupees, about a penny a piece. The cow chips are sold to brick factories to fire their kilns.   We don't know anyone who would make a single cow paddy with their ungloved hands, squatting in the dirt in the hot sun at any price.  Do you?  Most of the paddy makers were  women in glittery saris.  Quite a visual contrast. 

The children and adults begged for us to take their photos and show them what they looked like

Individuals often conducted their own side business of making pottery and baskets.

Our school experience was wonderful.  We didn't get a chance to stay long, but still enjoyed having some interaction with these young people.

We made a trip into the main village of Orrcha  to visit an ATM, buy some batteries and snacks, do a little catchup sightseeing for me.  In the central market a lovely twelve year old girl with surprisingly good English skills begged me to see her jewlery.  I caved, she sat me down on a stool and eventually would have sold me her store she was such a sweet and persuasive sales lady.  I was able to eventually gain control of what I was willing to buy, She would no doubt win a Girl Scout Cookie seller award.

In the evening, we visited a local family's home and our hostess demonstrated and we participated in preparing and eating an Indian meal from chai to dessert.

We leave for Agra by train in the morning to see the Taj Mahal.  We are so excited!  This is the icing on the cake.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's

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