Monday morning, in New Delhi after a train ride back yesterday evening, but there's lots more to report on our time in Amritsar.

Amritsar is close to the Pakistan border. Every night at sundown there is a boisterous, colorful "closing of the border" ceremony.

The gates between the borders open and magnificently decked guards from both sides conduct a ritual posturing. Flags of the two countries are simultaneously lowered at an angle (neither flag higher than the other).  The crowd on the India side numbered 10,000 to 15,000. On the Lahore side, in Pakistan, the crowd was much smaller, but no less boisterous. Everyone is conscious of Pakistan's current problems.

Before the ceremony, there's a "chicken run."   Adults and children line up to run the India flag to the border and back.  This series of  images starts with the end of the chicken run, when young men run with the flags through the stands:

.

The guards' ceremonial uniform:



Who is watching the crowds on the India side of the border:



Some of whom are watching the Pakistan side (far away and a real stretch for my zoom):



The border:



The drive to and from Amritsar is undescribable.  Most of it is on a two-lane, two-way road, with vast numbers of vehicles overtaking each other.  At times there are three vehicles abreast in one direction, forcing motor cyclists traveling the other direction onto the shoulder.  I don't know how cars traveling in the other direction handle it as that's when I kept my eyes closed.  The final image is of autorickshaws waiting to drive back some of the celebrants.  We're scampering between them trying to find our cars and drivers:

Internet connection (or lack) is the excuse for a dearth of blogs recently.  Late Friday afternoon we flew from Goa to New Delhi.  Other than a photograph of  Pizza Hut boxes, which hardly count as Delhi scenes, Delhi images will have to wait.  Saturday, we left New Delhi by train for Amritsar.  The ride was about 5 hours and the scenery mostly rural.  We were in the air-conditioned cars and our tickets covered "snacks."  These ranged from tea and biscuits (Indians know and use correct Brit English terminology) to vegetarian curry and roti--a great mix.  Today's commentary is interspersed between the pictures.




One of the major chores taken care of by Harvinder and Simran is herding and shepherding the other 10 of us and our luggage through the throngs at airports, train stations, etc.  Another chore is getting us registered into appropriate rooms in hotels.  This man was ignoring his lunch to watch the seemingly chaotic process in Amritsar.  His enterprise is next to the hotel some of us are in (the others are right across the street).  He has piles and piles of what look like blank notebooks.  They must have a purpose, but as yet I haven't a clue what that might be.



The main reason for our trip to Amritsar is to view the Sikh's most significant Temple, the Golden Temple.  Magnificent!  We went yesterday, but it was late and very crowded.  We're going again this morning.

The walkway around the perimeter, separated from the temple itself, is marble.  All visitors are shoeless and all heads are covered.  The marble is very hot in places, and very slippery in other places.  Coir mats are strategically placed, moved, and replaced.

The splendour of the Temple and its surroundings would make one think that the atmosphere is of quiet solitude.  And that may be true inside the temple, but outside there's a spirit of levity, enjoyment.   A strange sight for many are the few light-skinned Anglos (us).  Light-haired Tommy accommodated more than one group of sightseers and posed in their pictures.  I seemed to draw the attention of young boys, who'd gently poke me and ask me to take their picture:



Stay tuned for more on our Amritsar ventures.  Meanwhile, in the ongoing attempt to document the travelers.  Here's a picture of Tommy and Renee French, Jennie's parents:

Starting with today's blog are a series of photos of members of the traveling party.  Today's portrait is of Simran's parents, Harvinder and Raminder Nirh, phenomenal hosts and great tour guides.

Of the other three photos, you can distinguish the one of Hank, Simran, and the elephant from the one of the water buffalo as there are three creatures in the former.  I stood on a rope bridge to get the water buffalo shot.  The bridge shook considerably each time someone passed.  Despite the shakiness, I think you can tell we established some sort of rapport.  The brick layer at the Temple was a distance away.  It stretched the zoom capabilities of the itsy camera, but by using the zoom his expression as he watched the stream of visitors remained "unposed."

The day at the spice farm was so much more.  We returned saturated by sights, their colors, and aromas, and, of course, full from a wonderful feast.  This was at the Sher-E-Punjab in Panjim, yet another excellent restauant owned by one of Simran's uncles.  Their web site is under construction, but check back: http://www.sher-e-punjab.com/.

Today we pack and leave Goa for New Delhi (late morning) where it promises to be hotter.

. 

Up early as we're off to a spice farm.  We are 12 or possibly 13, and swell to the occasional 30 depending on how many friends or family members join the festivities.  Simran's extended family is large, warm, and, to our joy, involved with some of the best restaurants we've ever eaten at.

But today's blog is for the weavers.  The first image is of a double weave shawl.  Warp yarns are a fine wool in dark blue and a sort of yellow gold,  weft yarns are the same and in dark blue and red.  The traditional intricate pattern is intact double weave, mostly integrated with isolated areas of two separate layers. The almost transparent solid color center is one layer of dw.  The other layer, the yellow warp/red weft layer, has been cut away (very, very carefully). 

The second image is a shawl similarly produced, but showing the different combinations of warp/weft color in the cut away areas (the solid swooshes).  I hope Paul is remembering to click on the blog!

The third picture is for Alice.  This shawl is also doublweave with all but the ends in a traditional design.  Obviously these looms are Jacquard or Jacquard type so it doesn't have to actually be a network, but it sure looks like one!

I didn't buy any of these shawls!  With just three days here and another 17 or so to go, I figure there are lots of shawls to see.  I do hope I'm not kicking myself later

Goa

Got up at 3:30 in order to catch a 5:00 am flight from Mumbai. The folks who know me, know that the crack of eleven is an appropriate rising time.  The contrast between Goa and Mumbai, or at least the hotels we're staying in, is extreme.  I was just about getting used to our compact room.  We didn't have Internet access, and time was short, particularly as we had so much eating to accomplish--great food and great company. 

Here's a flower on the way to the beach, Hank contemplating the Indian Ocean where the sky and sea are barely distinguishable with monsoon season around the corner, and wonderful critter designs that bring to my mind crop circles, though I guess they're more like stars and are only 4" or so in diameter.

We're leaving here in less than 12 hours and I'm running around trying to do all the things I procrastinated over earlier in the week. I am too embarrassed to post an image of the mad packing.  We'll be leaving this desert and eventually be in another desert in another country.  Here's a prickly pear pod full of water from yesterday's unexpected rain:

This one is for the fiber folk as you'd not know this blog is brought to you by a weaver given earlier entries.  At Simran and Jenny's wedding the saris, salwar-kameez, sherwani, etc., were fantastic.  The fabric for Simran's mother's outfit was a very elegant, subtly-encrusted paisley design.   I poked my camera in, trying to get fabric close ups, but it was a wedding!  People were moving!  The following photos, of Simran and Jenny's outfits, aren't great, but they show some of the wonderful bead work:

One of the cities on our list is Jaipur.  Tuesday in Jaipur saw a high of 114 and a low of 91!  Tucson, also in a desert, has a predicted high today of 94, and a low of 70!  The low is the crucial element--that and humidity.  Now we're doing a serious search for alternative places to visit.  Contemplating this, I decided a photograph illustrating heat might fit: a parched and shriveled up prickly pear, or that pathetic little stick of night-blooming cereus perhaps.  But no, the best image was right below me:


Rugged life of a documentarist!

I don't know how these diarists do it!  But their writing can range over an endless supply of topics and their readership base isn't something that need concern them.  Ultimately I find a diary of visuals more appealing.  One week to go and lots of packing before we sleep:

Photo from Mother's day card.

For those unfamiliar with Hank's approach to gathering information, here's a picture of our dining room table (albeit straightened a bit).  Booksellers need not fear online resources as long as his like abound: