Orchha was a very enjoyable stop with warm and welcoming locals, which were the highlight of my trip from Mumbai to Delhi. The town was small and had a laid back feel despite a busy main road that cut through town and religious festivals at the local temple that had the square outside the temple crowded with pilgrims and music. The town is set on the Betwa river and the main fort and palaces are located along its bank. When we visited, the bridge to the fort crossed over fields and ponds, but in the monsoon season the river rises and the fort grounds become an island and the river acts as a natural moat. Beyond the ruins of the fort, there are several other large temples, palaces and cenotaphs (tombs) that nearly take up more of the village than the portions still occupied.
Like so many of the places I visited on this leg of my journey, this town was once the capital of an empire from 1500 until the late 1700s. Now it is just a sleepy town filled with amazing old palaces and temples, some of which have now been converted into homes, stables and grain silos. This is probably one of the things that surprises me most in India. The Hindu people build amazing structures for their gods that command the respect of faithful and tourists alike, but when the temple becomes inactive the faithful treat it like any other abandoned building, while tourists like me, still wonder through in awe. For instance one of the temple ruins we wondered through had a courtyard filled with wheat that was being harvested. Inside the temple, there was evidence of impressive paintings, but the ceiling and walls had been blackened by soot from fires that had been set for cooking or warmth on winter nights, which destroyed any paintings that had graced the walls and ceiling. Some of the palaces were conserved quite well and parts have been converted into high class hotels, however others are crumbling and used as homes for the poor or even as stalls for livestock.
Unlike the many other busy tourist towns with aggressive vendors pushing trinkets and took tooks, the stops along my central journey were much more laid back and the majority of the vendors were friendly and much less pushy about the sell and more interested in you and how you are enjoying their town and country. Although most vendors do start with this small talk, it is usually only to get you to slow down, so they can talk you into their shops. Here, they simply want you to slow down, chat and enjoy the day at the same sleepy pace the rest of the town is operating on.
One of the vendors we met, Cosila, had a collection of tobaccos, snacks and a pan, fire and cups for chai spread out under a shade tree between the ghats on the river and the Cenotaphs built for the past maharajahs. Also under the tree with her collection of goods for sale, was a little baby named Ramu. The woman was a widow, and had adopted the child after it had been abandoned outside the Ram Raja Temple. To support herself and Ramu she depends on the proceeds from her make shift shop, donations from locals, and the help of the Intrepid guides that have also adopted her and Ramu. We stopped for chai with our guide and left a little extra for her and Ramu as well.
After our chai, we wondered back up to the main fort grounds and were going to look for a place to take photos of sunset. Instead, we ended up on a tour with the local security guard that was keen on showing us the fort grounds. He had us climbing in, around and through many of the ruined buildings surrounding the main palaces until the sun had long set and we had to part ways before it grew too dark. Despite his enthusiasm, he spoke limited English and if he did not understand the question the answer was always 'yes.' At one point, he had shown as an old Hanuman (monkey god) statue, which was tucked in a ravine with a steady flow of ants marching to and from their nest. We wondered down to look at the statue, and when we turned around, our guide was taking off his shoes. We assumed ants had crawled in his shoes and asked if that was the case and his reply was 'yes.' He then left his shoes and walked past us, we went over to retrieve his shoes noting that he shouldn't leave them in the ants trail because he'd only end up with more ants in his shoes. We then realized that he had actually removed his shoes to show respect for the monkey god, which he was saying a quick prayer to before moving on.
On our last day in town, we took a walk out to the outer wall of the old capital and walked along the wall to take pictures and look for birds. At one point we past a local Sadhu (Holyman) who also had limited English, but wanted to tell us about a monkey god temple nearby. To convey his point, he posed like the god, standing on one foot with one hand above his head and the other over his stomach saying 'Hanuman, Hanuman.' We understood he was talking about the monkey god but couldn't figure out where he was directing us to see the temple or statue. A little bit further down the wall, we ran into some local kids who chatted with us and then wanted to bring us into their village. We were planning on going back in that direction and obliged them. As we walked toward the village more and more of the kids came out to meet us, and by the time we made it into town, I think the whole town had been alerted to the western curiosities that had been found wondering outside the village. The locals pulled out beds for us to sit on and quickly began to offer us chai as the kids pointed out where they lived in the village. Concerned for our weak western stomachs, we declined their offers of food and and decided to take only pictures, which were a big hit with the kids. One of the local men and a few of the children then accompanied us out of the village giving us a tour in limited English noting the local wheat harvests and other crops and stopping to show as an old ruin, which apparently now serves as a school. The whole experience was quite enjoyable but was tainted a little at the end when the man suggested we give the kids 10-20 rupees each before parting ways.
The few days in town were great and it was a shame to leave the warm welcoming people of the small towns for the impersonal crowds, traffic and noise of Delhi.
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