Royalty

They scream as we pass by, waving, running towards us. Thrusting their hands through the crowd. Screaming with joy when we shake it. We are followed by a mob so thick, its reminiscent of the closing scene of a coutroom movie, where the defendent approaches his final trial only to be shot. We are ambushed as well, with two phrases, "what is your name? What is your country?" We are royalty. Princes and princesses. I am the King of Caucasia.

By India standards, Nimaj is a small town. With 30,000 people, its not even listed in the Lonely Planet. It is a new stop on the Gecko tour, by far the most valuable stop so far, and we are only the 4th group to pass through. The children followed us in packs like yipping dogs, begging us to take a digital photo so they can glance at it for just a moment, before squealing and running off. Everyone was incredibly friendly, and our 9 white people parade basically stopped traffic, to stare, smile, say hello or duck away shyly. We are staying in a building that up until recently was home to the Maharaja family of Nimaj, when Maharajas ruled their own empires. Now the Maharajas' family runs the place, cooks the meals, and houses us in immaculate, beautiful rooms. The food is authentic home cooked Indian food, tastes healthy and by and large the groups favorite meals.

But I'm not there anymore. I'm in Udaipur, the Venice of the East, my favorite city to date in Rajasthan. But I don't want to talk about that either. I want to talk about cows. I've mentioned the often overwhelming number standing or walking through every town, market, or 15 million person city. Apparently, every one of them is individually owned. Every one. They just wander, and when its time to be milked, possibly fed, they find their way back. All of them. That includes the cows standing in the medium of bumper to bumper traffic as veritable road blocks. Its incredible, and hard to believe, but our guide insists on its truth. And I can't argue with that mustache.

I have plenty more to say, but for now it will have to wait. I look forward to hearing your comments about how I glorified my position as tourst to the height of President, and then spent the rest of the blog talking about cows.