Shelter Island Library Friday Night Dialogues: Through India’s Golden Triangle

The “Pink City” of Jaipur with its rosy-hued terra cotta stone buildings. A hotel “floating” in the middle of a man-made lake in Udaipur, where the water comes up to your windows. And traffic that was “ten times” as bad as New York City’s, but without a stop light to be found.

These were just a few of the memorable sights Deborah Klein, along with Carl Norr, experienced on a trip to India this past October. She’ll share more of their remarkable journey at the Shelter Island Public Library’s Friday Night Dialogues program on Jan. 24, which will be held at 7 p.m. in person at the library.

After receiving a personal invitation to visit friends who lived near New Delhi, India, Ms. Klein and Mr. Norr embarked upon a marvelous adventure that started with a home stay at her friend’s. Her hostess has been a pioneer for women entrepreneurs, having started a bedding company with one sewing machine and since growing it into an organization with over 1,000 employees.

Driving into the Old City of Delhi with her hosts, Ms. Klein was overwhelmed with the traffic: six lanes of cars, all jostling for position, along with thousands of motorcycles and Tuk-Tuks (motorized rickshaws) weaving in and out, with pedestrians and cows everywhere. “It felt like constant chaos,” she said.

After a day trip via train to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, Ms. Klein and Mr. Norr set off with a car and driver on a 10-day tour of Rajasthan, the country’s “Golden Triangle,” which encompassed Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Jaipur.

Each destination provided unimaginably wonderful sights, sounds and memories. The sad downside, however, to the many beautiful historic structures they saw, she said, was the region’s crumbling infrastructure. “Visually chaotic signage everywhere and deteriorating structures next to shiny, brand-new modern buildings. So much is falling apart into rubble and garbage but there is no financial support to reconstruct.”

Come to the library on Jan. 24 to Join Ms. Klein as she recounts this marvelous adventure. For information or to reserve a spot, please call 631-749-0042 or go to shelterislandpubliclibrary.org. As always, the event is free but donations are always appreciated.

Next up:  Long Island and the Legacy of Eugenics: Station of Intolerance by Mark Torres, Friday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. via Zoom.

We hope to see you at the library.