Death By Elephant? And other odd things about India

Death by Elephant?  How does that happen?

      A Story:  It is remarkable to see the enormous power wielded by ancient kings and their seemingly unlimited resources to build magnificent palaces, much as we have seen in the last few weeks.  You are always struck by the absolute life or death influence they held over people's lives. 
    We visited the palace pictured and they talked about the king who lived there long ago.  In addition to riches beyond belief, and a far reaching empire, he also had the final decision in disputes amongst his subjects.  He was the ultimate judge. 
    So he would regularly sit in court, as it were, and hear both sides of conflict and (hopefully) make a careful judgment.  This is where it gets interesting.  

    There are also a lot of elephants around here, or at least there used to be.  Indians utilize them in many ways.  They pointed out a place in the corner of the courtyard where the king would sit in judgment - get it? "court yard"?  

    They showed us a large stake in the ground where they used to tie up an elephant.  Turns out if the king decided someone was guilty, they would immediately take the condemned prisoner out to the elephant.  This was the place of execution.  
    They would place the head of the unlucky loser of the trial under the elephant's foot and - squish - the elephant would step on his head!  Not much of an appeal process involved here ... Yikes!  What a way to go!
    I wonder if the condemned got a chance to have a last meal?  If it was me, I would have asked for some of the delicious Indian curry! 

The Great Wall of ... India?

     One (among many) of the numerous surprises we've seen happened while we were passing through the mountains on the way to our current area.  All over, up and down the hillside were these big giant walls, just like - you guessed it - the Great Wall of China.  

    In all fairness, this India wall was not too shabby!  Not well known, but every bit as good as the one in China, although not nearly as long.  For what this is, however, it ain't bad!
    It goes for a long way and seems to be a well preserved fortification against invading enemies.  We didn't get a lot of information about it.   Indians seem to think it was no big deal. 
    I was rather impressed.   
    
    And just so you don't think that they only build great walls around here, they do a pretty good job with gardens too.  This picture below was taken from a hill far above the garden, which was in the middle of a big lake.  
     Just to put things in perspective, the thin line near the top was the highway and the three little dots on the left were cars. 

We Make You Pay Way More!  It's Very Funny!

    So here is a typical conversation between us and the taxi driver at a recent sight seeing "opportunity".  (this is one of the three wheeled TukTuk taxi rigs that they get around in)

    We pull up to the front of the fort/castle/palace/temple and we have to buy a ticket to get in.   I notice a disparity between what we are charged and what the locals pay.

    I say to the taxi guy , "seems like they charge us a lot more to get in?"

    And he starts laughing uproariously "BWAHA HA HA HA!"

    Well, I fail to see the humor in this, "So this is funny?"  They charge the locals like ten cents, and they charge us ten dollars.  This is an upcharge of like ten thousand percent. 

    Him: "BWA HA HA HA!"

    Me: "Why are you laughing?"

    Him: "Because you are the for-ee-nahs! (foreigners) - BWA  HA HA HA HA!"

    Okay dude, have a nice day!