The Sound of Silence

While neither Ahmedabad nor Nagpur are cities that I would go out of my way to visit again (unless it was for cricketing purposes), they both have their nice areas and I attempted to discover a couple of Nagpur’s today.

After a ‘buffet breakfast’, which consisted of two pastries, cornflakes, a fried potato dish and some sort of soup, I packed up my bags and got ready to leave for the day. I had no map and no plan of what to do – I had heard that the city is rather short of attractions – so I visited an Internet café and consulted the trusty net.

I decided to try a ‘walking tour’ again, ignoring my slightly unpleasant attempt at this in Ahmedabad, and took off for Ambazari Lake. Of course, having only had a brief look at the route on Google Maps, it was inevitable that I would get lost. Making matters worse, I also forgot the name of the lake, so when asking for directions to ‘Amzari’, ‘Abkazia’ or ‘Abamazi’, locals had no idea what I was talking about.

Lonely Planet describes Nagpur as a 'clean' city

Most of the buses here have broken windscreens, but this one's is more than just broken

My water has 300% MORE OXYGEN

I eventually saw the name on a sign somewhere, but when this sign took me nowhere, I decided that two hours of solid walking was enough and caught a tuk tuk. The best place to see the lake was from the gardens alongside; like Kankaria Lake in Ahmedabad, these gardens were a place for middle-class families, with lots out having a picnic on a sunny Saturday afternoon. A few high school boys made my acquaintance, asking me about why I was in Nagpur and why I was alone.

A fairly poor attempt to tie up a boat

From there, I planned to walk to Puthala Lake, also on the western outskirts of the city, and I unknowingly made it most of the way there before enlisting the services of another tuk tuk driver. As I trudged down the road, past cows, goats and a Hotel Al-Zam-Zam (hope you’re reading this, Lachy), the city to the east and countryside to the west, the traffic suddenly subsided and there was no noise.

I thought about it for a while and decided that I hadn’t heard silence since I left Seenigama – everywhere I’ve been since has had the noise of the traffic, or the rumbling of a train, or even the chirping of birds – and I reflected that I was onto Mumbai next, the biggest, noisiest city of the lot! (Predictably, by the time this had gone through my head, the traffic was back.)

But I digress. I was dropped off at the botanical gardens overlooking Puthala Lake and paid the obligatory entrance fee. If the last gardens were popular with families, this was the romantic spot for couples: every spot of shade, every bench, every alcove seemed to have a young Indian woman leaning on the shoulder of her partner, and I was definitely out of place.

That said, it was still a very nice area. I had a long walk through the shaded paths, the lake to one side, trying not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere too much. I walked back towards the hotel past the lake, which was glistening in the late afternoon sun, the path clear but for a few fishermen and a couple of spice sellers.

I lazily went into the mall opposite the hotel and bought some socks (I don’t really want to have to wear pairs a third time, and sandals are a bad idea given the amount of junk on the streets) before coming back to write this.

Tonight I’m catching a train to Mumbai (this one shows no sign of any delays). I expect the megacity to be overwhelmingly dirty, noisy and show signs of extreme poverty; I expect to be harassed by beggars and be shocked by the wealth of some upper class Mumbaikars; but I also hope to love some of the sights and be engrossed by a city that has captured the imagination of so many before me. I can only wait and see!