Travel

Fall / Winter Break 2019 - 2020
21 November 2019 - 4 January 2020

“Welcome to Aurangabad.”
Mattopia Jones recounts the last words of the soft-spoken Muslim driver,
spoken after two days of cave road trips together

Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra, India: circa 200 B.C. – 480 A.D.

The following was found in Matty's journals and is translated here (with his approval) from those original Mattskrit scribbles:

“After feasting the soul on five U2 shows in four diverse countries, the next part of the trip was to travel back in time. Back before people posted photos on their Facebook walls. Back before people even posted photos on their MySpace walls. Imagine that! This was going all the way back to when people used dyes and pigments instead of bits and bytes and created images on their cave walls. And even better, the images were more than selfies. They told stories in those images.”

This portion of the journey was an eye-opener for Mattopia Jones. Wedged between Mumbai (and the conclusion of the Joshua Tree Tour 2019) and Delhi, it set the stage for the dramatic tonal shift that was yet to come as Matty moved north and into a political firestorm.

Aurangabad served as base camp for the day trips out to Ajanta and Ellora. And Aurangabad was oddly emblematic; Matty described it as the Wild Wild East meets modern Smart City — a clash of advancing times and merciless poverty.

The roads were a primary challenge. News reports indicated monsoon rains from a few weeks prior had washed out the roads and left them in such a hazardous state the public busses stopped running along the route to Ajanta. That sort of makes sense; but the sporadic bits of new road construction leaves open the question as to what is considered status quo. Based on anecdotal information, it sounds as though the drive time doubled following the rains, now taking more than three hours. For a period, it was even worse — with stories of the drive taking more than four hours.

The journey offered a series of confusing sights and it was a jarring experience physically and mentally. Physically, Matty felt the pounding of the ruddy, pock-marked roads for days after. Even lying still in bed, his body felt as if it was still searching for its own equilibrium. Mentally, the poverty and rough lifestyles on display along the way left a mark.

And that's just getting there. Don't forget the return drive. For Matty, that was an evening trek leading into the black of night. There are no street lights to illuminate the way. Instead, cars seemingly appear out of nowhere — breaking through the fog and dust — creating a hair-raising dodge-'em environment.

Even my trusty driver, no stranger to the situation, seemed concerned about his vehicle's well-being amid all the jarring irregularities of the road's horrid condition.

More from Matty's journals:

“Three-hour nightmarish drive — almost nonstop rumble strips. There's paved road buried under a foot of dirt. That must be the result of the monsoons(?) [sic]. It's a ruthless assault of potholes interrupted by the occasional slice of pavement that was so short as to be mean-spirited in its very existence. Intermittent pockets of old road and — more strangely — pockets of new concrete road in very short, randomly placed sections. How is a piece of pavement (a matter of mere yards in length) placed in the absolutle middle of nowhere and surrounded by purely hellacious transport conditions?”

Here is where the thoughts and experiences begin to shift. Mumbai was a thrill — a rush of people and places and history that was also primed and looking forward to the future. Moving north, the setting gets rough and dark questions begin to trickle into the consciousness. Poverty. Desperation. Roads in remarkable disrepair, they call to mind Matty's time in Cambodia — where the roads still hadn't recovered from Pol Pot's reign of terror.

What was going on here? What brought India down on its knees? What was it that ultimately failed the people? The civilization that brought the world its first examples of democracy (predating the Greeks), astronomy, plastic surgery, dentistry and so many other advancements in culture, science and society had lost its way. Were the negative forces political? Economic? Religious? How did those forces go unseen in order to yield such devastating blows to this country and its people? Were those forces external? Or did they come from within?

So many questions. And they grew to a crescendo while experiencing first-hand the splendor that once was by way of the caves at Ajanta and Ellora.

Along the way, Matty encountered quite a few people who still harbored resentment over the British Empire. The Brits violated all sorts of laws and customs of archaeology. Plundering is a good word for it. And that activity continued on with colorful stories that were recounted to Matty. Stories of World War II and the fascinating role these magnificent temples — spread throughout India — played in the battle against the Nazis. They are the stuff of Indiana Jones. Truly. And Matty was giddy as a schoolboy as some of those stories were laid out for him, standing right on the edge, overlooking Kailasa in Ellora.

Even so, the British Raj was “only” 90 years — and centuries after the glories of Ajanta and Ellora.

Maybe, in this Digital Age, India is positioning itself to finally turn the tide. But there's plenty of work to be done as Matty meets one person after another who told him, face-to-face, they'll never have the funds to travel outside India.