The Sapphire on the Hill

Monsoons 2024

Mostly, it is the destruction that moves you when you go visiting temples – Ashapuri, Thubon and Bijamandal. Except Bijamandal where a small mosque was erected, Ashapuri and Thubon were just ruthlessly broken up. The Ghurid template mosques – Qutb, Mandu, Dhar, Ajmer, Kaman - do let you imagine the temples from the surviving pillars and roof elements. In Ashapuri and Thubon the destruction is so overpowering that you fail to conjure up images of what has been lost forever.

 

Neelkanth Mahadev Temple, Tehla in Alwar Rajasthan

On the Wonder Trail - Gadh Neelkanth, Alwar

Neelkanth is like the long-lost cool breeze of monsoons in this part of the world after a tough day of search in the sweltering heat. You get a little careless on the new Delhi-Mumbai expressway and then Google maps decide that you need a tour of the entire Alwar district to bring back all those memories beginning from 2002. Alwar is a huge district and quite unlike Rajasthan or UP; and so are the neighbouring Karauli and Dholpur districts – too far from anywhere. Administrators in the past had merged these three districts into Matsya, a throwback to the Mahabharat times. You have made several trips to Alwar and still it seems largely unexplored leaving you unsatiated every time. On every trip you find something new and, on every trip, you miss a lot. Alwar continues to be a work in progress and that is how you like it – let there be many new reasons to keep coming back. Next time, you will come during Holi time to see the Palash blooming in the woods and hills.  

This time you will take a new route to Alwar - the not so new KMP and the new Delhi-Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway

The interchange from KMP to Delhi-Vadodara Expwy

Meel patharon se meri dosti hai
chaal meri kya hai, raah jaanti hai, rozaana
 You like two types of stones - ones those lead to ruins and the stones that make up those ruins

The Mewat area of Nuh and Firozpur Jhirka remains unexplored

After spending good part of the day in forcedly revisiting memories all over Alwar you finally arrive in the elusive Tehla (Tahla in the Gazetteer). Tehla is the launching pad for Neelkanth Mahadeo Temple – the Sapphire on the Hill. Powlett  says, 'Nilkanth is one of the most interesting places archeologically in the State. The place would be worth a visit from a competent archaeologist.' Cunningham would soon oblige him. You took your own time fulfilling Powlett's wish. A small track leads you into the hills radiant in the rains. Rains have been good this year. There are reports of flooding in Eastern Rajasthan. Streams on the way show their happiness as they gurgle in these few days of rain. 

At the foothill is the village Dabkan where Alexander Cunningham had spent some time while exploring the hill above. From here a newly installed concrete strip launches you to the top of the hill through a series of rapidly rising tight bends. A high gateway delivers you into this world that you have been wanting to visit for the longest time. This ruined fort according to Alexander Cunningham is Paranagar (how did he come upon this name needs to be investigated), the fortified old capital of Bargujar Rajas, feudatories of Imperial Pratihars (730-1018 AD). Was it earlier called Rajyapur or Rajor or Rajawar or Rajauri? Cunningham does not think so. The gate is probably named after Jay Singh, a Bargujar Raja.

The Wonder of Rains - so Rajasthan now gets above normal rains now while North-East is going dry

First sign of the hill with the fortified Capital of Bargujar Rajas 

First real test of the new ride - the lunar landscape around Ajabgarh was the toughest but don't ask how you ended up there! 

Zooming into Google maps reveal broken fort walls, sometimes forking into double layer extending on both sides of the gate into the forested land along with defensive structures. The track descends and then levels out into a plateau with bountiful fields of maize ready for harvest. An ASI board directs you to turn left into this small settlement. Now the village is called Gadh Neelkanth. In these saavan months the village is attracting sizeable number of pilgrims including large groups of women attired in their bright coloured odhnis.

Gadh Neelkanth Map

Tehla to Neelkanth - Alwar, Rajasthan 

Sitting pretty is a small temple in the company of a kund, several ruins and maize fields. On the first glance the temple seems intact and almost unmolested – or is it? It will need a closer look. On the north east corner is the old tank Lachoro on whose banks were built many temples.

The Lachoro kund or tank - Neelkanth Mahadev, Alwar 

The temple is fenced as you walk from the east to its west facing entrance. The west frontage with ghastly modern modifications is uninspiring. First it was the invaders now it is the friendly-fire called ASI. ASI is in dire need of inculcating aesthetics in its working. This will have to wait. The east looks promising.

View from North-East Corner - each corner has these ruined shrines and therefore a Panchayatana temple 

Source - wiki

Eastern Wall - never seen before Hari-Hara-Pitamaha-Arka image - composite of Vishnu Shiv Surya Brahm - all iconography identification from A Wandering Mind blog by Anuradha Shankar - link below 

Varah with swagger

Lover with Bharat Bhushan hairstyle

Northern wall with Narasimha, Sursundaris, Lovers and Dikpals - Vayu on extreme right NW, Ishan (?) on extreme left NE

There is definitely something jarring with the arms and eyes in some images - Do the missing arms have prosthetics fixed by ASI as part of restoration? Eyes on some images are either not carved fully or is there some other reason?

At the rear of the panchayatana temple complex where the shikhar rises that you are moved. Few preliminary glances and you know it was all worth it getting here. The work on the images is joyous, creative and exemplary. Whether it is the major images in the northern, eastern and southern niches (bhadras), or the minor ones straddling the shikar, or the small sized images of the subsidiary shrines, every image has you open mouthed. The never seen before Bharat Bhushan hair-style of the male lover, the lanky handsome Varaha, the totally befuddling composite image that is a smorgasbord of all iconographic elements, the jewellery laden sursundaris or the merrily dancing Ganesh. These creations seem to be floating in the air – untethered to the stone stele. It is quite possible when darkness falls over the hill, the images come back to rest on their steles. Yes, some magic continues to happen here on this Aravalli hill. Cunningham writes about a twenty-two line inscription found here but has since then gone missing. The inscription says the temple was built in 953 AD.

View from South-East - Neelkanth Mahadev Temple

Tripurantaka - Shiv destroying the three cities of demons - South Bhadra niche

South Wall - Nilkanth Mahadeo Temple, Alwar

And now you are going back a century and wondering about this band of sculptors with magic hands and chisels who found their way on top of this hill in these dense woods filled with tigers and other predators where they will literally instil life in these pieces of stones. You wonder how and where they got this training from and their motivation and passion - was it this idyllic location? was it the love for temples of the local rulers? It just seems everything came perfectly together here which made the sculptors and their creation this special here.

 

Plan - Nilkanth Temple by Alexander Cunningham with Three Open Porches - N, S, W 

The brief reverie is broken as you step into the courtyard area. ASI has built store rooms on either side – like the ones you saw at Bijamandal – filled with broken temple parts. Apparently, there is more to what eye can see. Did this still standing temple survive the mayhem? More investigation is needed.

The West facing drab facade and courtyard of the fenced complex with screened store rooms filled with broken temple images - Neelkanth Mahadev, Alwar, Rajasthan

Garbhgriha with Shivling

The mahamandap or rangmandap - richly carved elements, Neelkanth Mahadev Temple, Alwar

Two lalat bimbas to the lateral shrines - they were reported to be open porticoes by Cunningham

Looking west - this is where you are headed to next

You are at the west facing front. Here, all you can see are the shabby modern add-ons. It does not look like an ancient temple. It is actually sorry looking. The mandap area has been rebuilt. The ASI website notes that the temple has three shrines – main shrine dedicated to Shiv and two subsidiary shrines. While the main shrine has survived, the lateral shrines have only the original platform surviving. ASI or the later rulers have erected square structures over the lateral shrines’ platforms. Wait a minute - Cunningham saw open porticoes on three sides. And he does not mention any lateral shrines. Also, while the central shrine has a single door-frame, the lateral ones surprisingly have two door frames!

Theory on What Might Have Happened

Paranagar had a large number of temples built from 6^th to 10^th century. Most were destroyed – not by Aurangzeb but much earlier during the early Sultanate years. By some miracle Neelkanth temple’s shrine and shikhar survives. From all these toppled temples, some less damaged elements were harvested. Then ASI or somebody (post Cunningham’s visit in 1882-83) went around doing a cut-paste job with all the best intentions. The only surviving temple must look more sizeable. So, the two open porticoes had square structures raised over them, sadly though with flat roofs. Inside they would have kept images either as deities or to protect them. They got hold of few door frames – lalat bimbs. So, they fixed double door frames to these two newly created shrines or safe-rooms. On the outside, the walls were affixed with images clearly as part of remodelling to relieve the plain rubble-masonry of box-like structures.     

The so called two ‘Lateral Shrines’ came much later. Of course, it is too much effort for ASI to read their founder’s Reports.

Sursundaris in the brackets who look like the Madanikas of Ramappa Temple in Warangal district, Telangana

In the mandap, the four blackstone pillars are richly carved with sursundaris and kirtimukhs. Above, sundaris similar to Kakatiya’s Ramappa Temple (recently inscribed as UNESCO site) in Warangal peer down at the devotees below. Outside in the courtyard, the locked store-rooms contain more images collected from all over this plateau. As you step off the fenced complex a graveyard of dismembered parts leads you to more destruction among the swaying fields. Now this is familiar. But then today is different.

Looking towards Neelkanth from West

You do wonder about the destruction process. It is highly unlikely that someone from the still few ruling class members would have come to each temple site armed with a hammer to demolish the temples. The job would have been given to regional chiefs, all eager to please the head office. The local chiefs would have been either warlords or recent converts. In that Age of Wrath, both were highly dangerous to the health of the temples. A warlord would be trying to impress his new boss by demonstrating his inculpable credentials and that they had no qualms in destroying their own places of worship. They would happily destroy something that was probably built by their ancestors so that they could hold on to their now shaky seat of power in these volatile socio-political times. Recent converts were even more dangerous - Malik Kafur, Alauddin Khilji’s lieutenant is the perfect example. The converts were trying to prove to their masters that they can be trusted and now that they have broken all ties with their old life.

What took hundreds of years to chisel and create would be totally erased in few years in the arc from Punjab to Dhaka. Malik Kafur will take his hammer south to Yadav’s Deogiri, Kakatiya’s Warangal, Kannadiga’s Hoysala and even deep down to Pandya’s Madurai.

The Baoli and Lachoro kund are quite close to each other

A ruined temple with the same layout as Neelkanth

It is almost four in the evening - time to head out into the fields. The guard says there are about thirty temple ruins here. Few yards to the west is a small baoli in good repair. Baoli provides water and hammering down dozens of temples is hard work. No sense in killing a baoli. Beyond is a battered temple platform as a flitting sun douses it in pale light. ASI has raised a few pillars. No harm in keeping the sensibilities of the lone visitors unharmed. The pillars give it a likelihood of a temple. Your remorse is growing; “Why can’t you build your own instead of destroying others.” This is the Age of Wrath - logic & reasoning is in short supply while crowbars and hammers are plentiful.

How about spending an evening in that machaan

The Jain shrine of Shantinath - Neelkanth Alwar

The Naugaj idol of Jain Tirthankar Shantinath

Beyond the palash lined cobbled track you can see the next set of ruins. ASI finally manages to impress you. Instead of a track in the fields, which can be encroached upon anytime by the villagers, ASI has installed a four feet high and four feet wide rubble masonry track. You are walking over a sea of swaying maize cob tassles. The track leads you to the Jain temple of Colossal Shantinath This is also called the Naugaj temple that pertains to the height of Tirthankar. You remember the Baawangaj or 84 feet high idol of Lord Rishabh cut into the Satpura hills in Barwani, MP. Here, where mayhem happened, it is simply surprising to see Him unharmed. Now this hill is turning into an enigma. Why were the Shiva shrine and now Naugaj spared?

The series of Elephants - all in different poses

The temple is built on a high platform along with several subsidiary shrines. The idol has a canopy over the head supported by two elephants. Motifs of elephants are common elements in Jain temple architecture. Here, like at Neelkanth, the sculptors have another surprise. The surviving jagati of the subsidiary shrines is lined with a series of elephants. To make matters interesting, the elephants have different poses. Yes, this was a special posse of sculptors here on this hill. Some shrines here have brick walls. So, there is entire temple historiography happening here. Are there Buddhist era mud mounds too? Some records say about 300 temples were built here.

More Wonders Await - Neelkanth Mahadev Alwar Rajasthan

You walk deeper even as one temple leads to another ruined platform. You can see some more when you climb a protection wall – some in the middle of houses and some in the distant misty air of monsoons. 

The ASI has named these ruined temples as Bataka-ki-Deori, Kotan-ki-Deori, Lachholava-ki-Deori, Dabar-ki-Deori, Hanuman-ki-Deori, Bagh-ki-Deori. Of course, you have no way to identify them correctly.

The Monsoon Wooing - Time for Romance

Saying bye to Neelkanth to Paranagar to Pratihars and to Cunningham - will be back soon

Did Cunningham see these scenes in the villages from Tehla to Dabkan? Yes, he would have and they remain unchanged

oh those colourful odhnis

This is Matsya Country

As you read Cunningham report’s chapters this area of Alwar and surroundings become even more interesting. You will have to map these locations and spend some time here from Gurgaon to Tauru to Nuh to Firozpur-Jhirka to Tijara and Alwar. This is Matsya country. The sea of offerings and sights is unfathomable. It is time to go nautical. 

Post Script

It has been a few weeks now but Neelkanth is still on your mind. You are trying to make sense of it all. Why would the Badgurjars or the 'Great Gurjars' build their capital Paranagar on top of a hill in the middle of a forest? How large was their kingdom? Was Alwar a part of their kingdom? It is not quite possible that all their subjects lived on the hill. There would be villages below in the outlying area. Was Rajor their old capital, an idea which Cunningham has rejected? Was the Kankwadi Fort some distance away to the west was originally built by them? Was the timeless Viratnagar a part of their kingdom? Viratnagar has Buddhist ancestry with the oldest Buddhist shrine. Did Neelkanth also has Buddhist connections? 

So what happened on the hill in those fateful months? Did Iltutmish march here after levelling Kaman and Bayana or was Balban responsible? Was the fortified capital put under a siege? How was the seemingly impregnable capital of supposedly brave Badgurjars reduced? Or was it another case of betrayal which helped the Sultanate overrun the country of all these so-called mighty and brave kingdoms? 

In this destruction how did the main shrine of Neelkanth Mahadev and Jain idol of Shantinath survive? Were tributes or inducements given to spare these two shrines? 

This will need more digging and you are not sure if any material is available beyond Powlett and Cunningham. But what is definite is that you will be back here soon and maybe several times. You want to see the hills and forests when palash blooms. You need to drive beyond Gadh Neelkanth to Kankwadi fort. You are sure you will see more and miss seeing some more. Hope this continues in Matsya land. 

References:

Report of a Tour in Eastern Rajputana in 1882-83 by Alexander Cuningham, pages 120-127

Gazetteer of Ulwar by Major PW Powlett, Settlement Officer of Ulwar – Pages 164-165

https://asijaipurcircle.nic.in/Neelkanth.html

https://www.awanderingmind.in/2017/06/the-temple-of-neelkanth-at-alwar.html - Anuradha does a good job of Iconography identification

https://www.indianrajputs.com/history/badgurjar.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bargujar

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/history-explained-the-origin-of-gurjara-pratihara/ - reference of Rajgarh inscription and Bargujars

https://www.travel-rajasthan.com/temples/neelkanth-temple

https://www.financialexpress.com/life/travel-tourism-alwars-neelkanth-mahadev-temple-shivas-den-near-sariska-tiger-reserve-1703399/

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44144441

Related Posts on this Blog

Gone Kannauj - Part 1

Decoding the Bhojshala

Chasing Ghurid Mosque in Braj

Gone Kannauj - Part 2

The Timelessness of Viratnagar

Gone Temple - Bijamandal

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A Portrait of the British

A Visit to the Old Blighty – June 2024

A couple of days walking on the streets in Britain makes you realise that Americans have totally gone in the opposite direction in their daily life protocols from the Brits after their independence. Of course, when it comes to our behaviour when we step out of our houses into the public domain, we probably are the worst and is quite apparent we did not learn anything about etiquette from the British. It would be prudent if you don’t start on how we behave in public otherwise this post will take another direction and will involve large amounts of ranting. Okay, coming back to the Americans, as an aside, why is Canada in Commonwealth but not USA? You wonder why and if at any point in time USA was a part of Commonwealth but then decided to part company.

On the streets in US in summers, the few people walking will make eye contact, smile, wish & acknowledge greetings and maybe chat about the weather in the elevator. Yes, it is called lift across the Atlantic. In Britain, people avoid making eye contact or mumbling any greetings. Now that you think about it, it is kind of okay. Here, streets are full of people walking. People here love to walk, cycle, skateboard, scooter and take the underground. And people ARE in a hurry here walking from the station to the office or trying to get to the bus stop. Trains and buses are notorious for their sharp timings to seconds. Therefore, it will waste a lot of time exchanging greetings with fellow walkers resulting in cascading non-desirable chain of events of missed trains and buses, turning up late in the offices and probably not being able to leave office at five. Work-life balance is essential in the British society. Shops close at six in the evening; and even earlier on Sundays. In USA, hardly anybody walks on the streets except in Manhattan or secure plazas and campuses. So, they exchange greetings in the elevator or while crossing aisles in the supermarket; much less hectic interaction points with no repercussions.

 

You have been warned. Don’t try to start conversations or wish strangers on the street. Post covid years are weird. While they have turned you anti-social and grumpy; they have also turned you into a garrulous extrovert from a taciturn person. And in this phase of life, you like taking new challenges.

 

So, you are out on the streets trying to make eye contact, smile and greet strangers. Most people do acknowledge though not willingly. But then the British are the nicest people on the street. Two minutes of walking and there will be dozen Sorrys and Thank Yous. They will smile and shower you with more thank yous if you let them pass on the narrow pavements (called sidewalks in US – yes, they changed all nomenclature from their old country). During your time here you will have several long conversations with mostly elderly folks and you realise they are not really that unapproachable or reticent.

The Unstiff Conversationalist British

In the bus to Winchombe the elderly lady sitting behind you is interested to know where you were headed to. “To see the Steam Railway,” and she is suitably impressed. So, you show her the maps you have drawn and the list of places to see in your little red travel diary and she can’t believe what she is seeing. In Cirencester, this gentleman wonders what photos I am clicking. He looks like a weathered captain of a fishing trawler who was born in Yorkshire. Now he has been living in this wondrous Roman town for two decades. He has lost his son. You don’t want to pry. We walk together for about half a mile as he continues to talk about the town, the history and whatever he wants to today. English pronunciation is hard to follow; Yorkshire’s even trickier. You try to listen hard. In the town centre, in the shadow of the towering St John Baptist Parish Church we bid goodbye. You absolutely loved this man.    

In Bath, as you go crazy looking at these wonderful Georgian and Palladian buildings all around, a city which UNESCO calls ‘deliberately created beautiful city,’ this gentleman who looks like an academician, asks, “are you doing street photography?” “I wish I had more time so that I could just wonder around.” “I am right now overwhelmed with all this beauty and all this wonderful architecture and the cobbled streets still looking like they did hundreds of years ago, except for the hissing red double-deckers.” He points to the faded painted signs over the buildings. “You can’t repaint them or remove them or put a new sign on them.” “You need the City’s permission and they won’t give it.” And this is when you realise how much British love their heritage, their cities and aesthetics and their way of life. You think of the ugly modern structures coming up in Siddhpur and Shekhawati, two places that come to your mind when you walk in Bath. He points to another building – “those wooden eaves that you see they are original.” The gentleman loves his city and the buildings that inhabit it. “Are you a professor?” “I am a retired engineer. I love photography though. Today I am not carrying the camera. I am carrying this,” – pointing to his phone. “Now everyone is a photographer.” “And a reel-maker,” you add. He smiles. You can read his mind. The mobile phone has killed the romance of photography. That world is lost. We say our goodbyes.

Behind the Bank of England, you finally spot the only surviving sign of East India Company in London. A plaque indicates the location of the now gone Founders’ Hall, where the founders of the Company met and incorporated the company. You need to share this good news. The guards who had no idea of this place are on the other side across the street. In this narrow dead-end alley there is a sharply dressed man on his smoke break. British people are generally well dressed. Here in the Financial District, they are all in suits and ties. So, you rattle off the whole story showing him Indogenius’s insta reel that brought you here. He is impressed. No, he didn’t know anything about this before. He thanks you for sharing this bit of history just across the street from his office in Bank of England. The smoke break is over. He thanks me again and walks away. Wait a minute – is that a PNB sign just ahead?

The Prim & Propah British

British are probably the quietest people and brimming with that quintessential British etiquette. They always talk in hushed whispers. Markets, public transport, cafeterias, supermarkets are all quiet. You will never hear anyone talk loudly or yelling or laughing. It is like secrets are being shared across the country on a need-to-know basis. There is no honking on the roads and phones don’t ring. With ear pods you are not even sure if the walkers are talking into their phones or are listening to music. The bus trip to London is uncharacteristic. Two couples talk loudly and their phones ring jarringly. Both couples are Indians. You would have forgiven them if they were North Indians. You are so disappointed – both couples are South Indian. The student from Tamil Nadu agrees with you that this town is beautiful. He continues, “But we Indians make it dirty wherever our numbers increase,” indicating a locality in Warwick that he does not go to anymore. At the Victoria bus station, the only voice coming over the general murmur of the crowd is this Punjabi conversation. This young man is on the phone for twenty minutes now. You are tempted to walk over to him and set him right. Well, you are just too tired after walking about 40 kms in three days in London. An exchange with an idiot is the last thing you want to do on the eve of departure from this amazing city. So why don’t we learn even after moving here and living in a society this propah? Something is fundamentally wrong with us. Maybe it is our 5000 year culture that we are so proud of.  

Lean & Genteel

British people still look like they looked in the WWII movies. You hardly see any out of shape person here. All the 45000 beer swilling pot-bellied and loud football fans are in Germany! Young or elderly are amazingly fit and lean. The Americans in the meantime drive to steak dinner buffets gulping Big Gulp and slurping Slurpees. They are already XXL size and are steadily moving to the next level. But here in Britian everyone including CEO types and airline cabin crew walks, cycles, scooters and takes the underground – wearing suits & ties and dresses. In USA, sweatshirts are the choice of the masses. Here everyone is dressed to kill including the ushers in the North Pavilion at Lords. The sharp looking bankers in London’s Financial District definitely don’t look like the people in your neighbourhood branch. The women in their summer wear look fetchingly lovely.  

So why are the British this healthy looking? You have a hunch. You have heard horror stories around NHS. It takes months to get a doctor appointment and even longer to get a surgery. Going to emergency when running high fever will take entire day sitting in chair and waiting. Even then you might not be prescribed your favourite antibiotics that you can merrily pop back home. This could be reason the British want to stay healthy so that they don’t have to suffer for months before the system brings them to a doctor.

Hush Puppies

Britian is a small island. The houses are small with tiny gardens, the cars are small (Mini Cooper is a popular car), the parking lots are small, the roads are still the same like they were fifty years ago - London still does not have flyovers - and the dogs are small. Almost everyone has a dog here and like their humans you never heard a dog woof in your time there. The dogs are all friendly and furry and just want to play with you. Here in your neighbourhood pet dogs growl behind the gates and once outside are ready to pounce on you during your evening walk. Psychologists can better explain this.  You have still no idea why the dogs here are so angry with the world.

You never knew there were so many small dog breeds in the world apart from pugs and pomeranians. Here, it is mostly the humans who spend their time protecting their dogs instead of the other way round. If you had such a small dog in the house, you would be walking tepidly around the house all day for the fear of stepping on the poor thing and since the dogs have lost their voice there will be no yelp of pain either. Maybe the British put a bell or fit the dog with an alarm sounding anti-collision device.

People say that instead of having babies the British like to have dogs and therefore the resulting falling population growth and changing demographics. But you see a lot of couples with babies and toddlers in the parks and pushing the strollers in the streets and couples with both babies and dogs! Again, just like the humans and dogs the babies too are quiet and happy sucking on their pacifiers.

These were pleasant few days among the British people. I am not going to go into the past and their behaviour and policies when they had colonised half the world. But now just like everyone else in the post covid world, people are struggling to keep their expenses down while the rich keep getting richer. You are surprised to see the number of high-end cars even in small towns. Everyday, few pubs - the quintessential British post work hangout spot – close down as people lose their discretionary income with rising inflation. Sandwiches during lunchtime fly off the shelves off Tesco Express stores since sit-down regular meals are super expensive. The intra-city buses have subsidized fares to help the people. The people struggle with the government health system. But still, Britain is a first-rate country in every sense. Every town and city has droves of tourists. London is literally flowing with tourists. People risk their lives trying to make it to its shores. And then why not – there is history, architecture and natural beauty whichever way you look, you can drink water straight from the taps, the buses & trains run by the clock and people are sensible, cultured and polite. You do hope to visit the country again. 

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