It all started here!

 

Delhi to Jaipur

Photo: Salute of elephant, wedding parade outside guesthouse

Well now I think I have sorted the technicals, we should be able to up date easier.
Delhi is this absolutely awesome city, crowded with more people than you think possible.We stayed two days, enough to gain confidence and get out and about. Its very polluted also and seems to get darker first in the evening!
We left Delhi on Thursday 12 nov., 6.00 am train to Agra. About 200 kilometers it cost about a tenner first class! Train built about 1940, at least wehad two armed soldiers sitting next to us, altho' their rifles were older than the train! We shunted thru the early morning suburbs and countryside. What service! Bottle of mineral water for everyone. Then tea (chai), creamy spicy sweet Indian tea.Then breakfast - something precooked and brown that we did not eat, but with the bread i was able to have a tomato ketchup sandwich! yum. Then chai. oh and a newspaper each. After all that Agra appeared. We had already chosen our hotel, cheap, near the Taj Mahal and rickshaw took us there and we agreed for himto take us on a tour at 10.00 am. Trees in Agra, wider streets, calmer. At hotel took more chai on the roof, tears in my eyes as the Taj loomed behind us, monkeys scampered over the roof, boys played games with wild birds on the rooftops. Our man arrived and hurtled us thru the streets and thru the now busy Agra again teeming with animals and people. Visited a place called the 'baby Taj', peaceful beautiful Islamic tomb, made in marble on the banks of the river. Then to see the Taj Mahalfrom the other side of the river, free and beautiful. Lunched in a little restaurant. After lunch he took us to a marble workshop. Very interesting but then the inevitable sales pitch, and we left with our tiny box. No More Shopping we told him, I think he was peeved but took us to hotel. Guys like himare on commission fromthe shops and they are all very persuasive! Of course, no obligation kind sir, but this (dress, box, jewellery is so beautiful and we can make so cheap for you!) But, they do get you around, they know the streets, and even having a map of these places would not help you navigate. And the cost is relatively small.

We aimed to 'do' the Taj at sunset, 200 metres from hotel. But wow! 500 rupees and 5 dollars U.S. each!
Only 5 rupees for Indians. Fight off the guides. Join queues - one for men one for women, tight and pushing. Searched on way in and Jac is refused cos she had a phone and our pocket knife on her, has to go and hand them in and then she managed to push in the queue again! Phew! They could have told us! Taj is beautiful enormous and haunting especially in the evening sun, but unfortunately about 10000 too many people, and by the river about 1000000 mossies decide to join us! Not happy, but this is India and I think extremes of emotion all in one day are par for the course. The next day we had tickets booked for the bus to Jaipur, so we ate our curry and tried for an early night. Hotel Siddartha in Agra was 250 rupees a night, about 3.25 pounds, basic but the lights did work and an invigorating cold shower, and friendly staff. We were tho looking forward to leaving Agra, after the Taj there is not too much else, so a bus at 10am to Jaipur.

Epic journey! We had a seat. One other tourist on the bus, girl from N.Z. Packed, then it inched its way out of Agra's tiny streets thru bullocks and carts, markets and whole areas with nothing more than shacks for houses, people living on the road. Weaving its way - here traffic=ANARCHY! But it works! You give way to what is bigger than you, generally keep to the left, and so far we have seen no accidents, no road rage, and no-one flinches when you are heading straight head-on for a petrol tanker. We miss it...! The Horn is one part of the car that must work. Maybe every 10 seconds, at least! Four hours we sit on the bus, practising our meditation skills.
After deciding to treat ourselves to an apple, we stop for a break anyway, and eat pakora and drink more chai!
We roll into Jaipur about 6.30pm, shaken and stirred! A young guy asks how we found the journey and we chat and tell him; of course he was not on the bus and suddenly we find ourselves in his rickshaw. Enter Ali.
We are firm and tell him to take us to the hotel of OUR choice, which he does, while saying how beautiful Jackies new top is, and that he does not meet many old tourists like us, !, and I call you mother and father!, I will be your son...anyway our hotel looks expensive and is full so we go to his choice...a bit warily but tireed from the bus and needing to stop we find ourselves at Hotel Shakantullam, very basic, but it has hot water (when the tank is full and not betweem 8 and 10 am), a lightbulb , and staff find us clean sheets. All for 250 rupees! But it does all work somehow and what makes a place like this is the staff and guests. In the confusion earlier I leave our Lonely Planet India book in Alis rickshaw, but sure enough a couple of hours later he brings it back, and still will not us, mum and dad, pay for his services! So we meet the other guests, including Maggie, an Ozzie in her fifties who lives here, mad as a hatter, sits there drinking beer from 10am every day, all day... and is a guiding help for staff and guests alike. This is also a stopping point for the local rickshaw drivers, and here we meet the nicest guys you could meet - they are honest, sing and dance, share a beer, (they have much whisky under the table) - (not for us) and talk about everything from the meaning of life, God, Krsna, Bush, Brahma, cricket food and beer. Oh, not the weather, since it is now winter and only 30 degrees by day 12 at night, every day! Colder by Jan. Then hot ..50.. then rain one month. Jaipur looks like fun, and is. We arrange to meet Ali the next day, at lunchtime, to check it out.....

Enter India Textiles, stage left...
Having had our now normal breakfast of eggy bread and chai, Ali duly appeared, saying he thought we should meet Aussie John, who runs a textile shop way off in the suburbs. We hurtle off there, about 25 minutes. On this journey at any time we may see on average: 200 wild dogs, 30 wild pigs eating the rubbish in the streets, half a dozen camels usually working, 100 bullocks and assortede cattle, and if your lucky an elephant or two, usually partaking in wedding celebrations. Anyawy, John and Sean, a Londoner , run a factory and shop here, highly recommended by various Indians and westerners, and export to UK and Oz. Jac buys herself a new outfit - a shalwar chemise and scarf. I get a new bag. We look and look, spend the rest of the day there, chat to the staff, have a beer with them on ther roof where we all crowd round the tv to watch the cricket, and generally relax. However, enough Info to do some research via Jess, and decide to run a stall at St Kilda Sunday market next year, hopefully which can earn a few bob on our savings. Next two days is shopping: wonderful bedspreads, cushion covrs, bags, scarves etc. which we will have sent to Oz. Dealing with an Ozzie and a Londoner to do this couldn't be better - there are many rip-offs around here, but we feel safe...By monday night we have many new friends, a lighter bank balance, and we haven't seen the sights of Jaipur yet!

So Tuesday we became tourists again, visiting the Prince Albert museum, a wonderful building of moghal and Raj architecture, housing an exquisite collection of dusty relics of Rajasthani life - pottery, weapons, musical instruments, models of dancers etc. Then onto the 'monkey temple', a collection of shrines built up a hillside, and then down the other side, with pools for immersing oneself in and little shrines occupied by holy men. At one, an impressive shrine dedicated to a aHindu god, the holy man was doing the crossword in his paper(!). I asked to take a foto, and gave him 20 rupees. He bestowed a garland of marigolds on me! We watched the sun set from here over the city, and after Ali took us to his house to meet his folks...

We did not know what to expect... about 6 kilometres out of town, a square single story building, four rooms, clean and square and so simple. The iron gates were the most ornate part, but inside it all worked, and was clean. They are not very poor, probably do ok, but Ali shares a bedroom with his brother Imran. 2 iron bed frames, mattresses covere in blanket. Small TV, one tin wardrobe. That is it. Simple, uncluttered. They have little but want little. Imran goes to college and has studied I.T. 2 sisters are married. Mum and Dad have a bangle business, which I am sure we will return to... Mum sets sheets of newspaper on the floor, then plates of channa massala and aloo curry, mopped up with chapatis! We eat under their careful gaze! They are so pleasant and genuine, we leave feeling genuinely treated as special guests!

Wednesday 16 November is the start of our 3 day trip to Shekawati, a desert area of small villages, but where we have arranged 2 nights in a posh hotel to celebrate.
Ali takes us with Moon, his friend and driver, in a small minivan thing, complete with Hindi sound system! All day we pound the roads again, up into a vast and dusty land puctuated by pearls of colour which often turn out to be people working the trees or pushiong carts. The women look absolutely stunning in their brightly coloured saris, which always seem to be perfectly clean!
The Mandawa Heritage is our hotel, and we opt for the Maharajah Suite, wow!, faded colonial glory at its best, complete with a mezzanine lined with cushions where we can take tea and ponder our world! and a bed you can lose your wife in! and a telly! Om TV - we will never forget it. Of course the water doesnt work so we end up with them opening up the doors to the next room, (adjoining), to use their bathroom, which gives us another room as well! Anyway, we take a fairly relaxed evening and prepare for sightseeing the next day.

Thursday, Jac's Birthday, we visit the 'Havelis' of Mandawa - stately houses with intricate carved architecture, and courtyards which open into further courtyards, and paintings depicting past scenes .
These houses belonged to opium dealers of the past, who traded for silk from China, with the end of that opium trade the families left these houses, some falling into disrepair, but others being kept by caretakers. Some of these were lived in by families now. Mandawa was very pleasant and we steyed in the town, of course Jac ended up in a shoeshop for her birthday and ended up with a nice pair of curly-toes!

The afternoon was spent with Jac starting a drawing of the hotel courtyard, while I tasted the local breweries efforts at real-ale and gave Ali and Moon a hand for the evening celebrations, which now involved a donkey and cart turning up complete with sound system! bass bins, amps and lights. We had dinner, nothing too special, more veg curry, but this time with a bottle of the 'finest' red wine. A thick concoction which had probably once come from grapes! Then up to the roof,where all the guests, about 20 assorted tourists, and all the staff joined us. Ali had also arranged a birthday cake to be made, mmm sweet heavy and sticky with 2 candles(!) and we all sang Happy Birthday to you and then proceeded with the dance- first the bellboy in his trad. headgear dancing trad. Rajasthani style, of course getting us up to dance as the Hindi music became infused with western dance beats, which is quite an inspiring mix!The village of Mandawa was soon rocking to a Hindi techno groove, as ever Jac's birthday got everyone up on their feet!
Friday we eventually headed back to Jaipur, back to our Shakantullam guest house, and had a quiet night in!
During this time Jac had been drawing, and painting , some designs she had for some bracelets, which she was hoping to see if someone could make. Again by recommendation, we went to a place the next day and lo! they had something very similar, so we commisiioned them to make these pieces, 6 in total plus two neck chains. They were essentially semi-precious stones set in silver, and we spent the whole afternoon at this place choosing all the stones and positioning them ready for the silversmith. Jac was in her element...

One slight downside to this was that if we wanted to inspect and collect the pieces ourselves we would now have to wait until Friday, but Jaipur is an interesting enough place to stay, and we still had to supervise the packing of our textiles, which we did over Sunday and Monday, and included going out with John and Sonu, and Sean, from India Textiles for a western style meal on the Sunday night. mmm chicken &chips!

So that left us Tues weds and Thursday in Jaipur, till we caught our train to Goa on Friday. Tuesday and wednesday we filled with some of the touristic things to do. What really caught our imagination was a fellow called Jai Singh, who built the actual 'pink' city of Jaipur, as its ruler about 350 years ago. Finding it a bit hot in summer, he then built the 'Amber Fort', about 15 kilometres away, on the top of a hillside. This was a stunning system of courtyards, gardens and pools which rose up over the hillside, and each part of which was hidden from the next view. Corridors only two foot wide would connect the rooms, each a 'palace' in its own right. Having done this he then decided to build himself a planetary observatory on the edge of the city.
It looks like a sculpture park, but large sculptures, over 20 structures, the tallest 90 metres in the air, which all perform astronomical calculations to this day, and of course, you can tell the time to the minute there! It was sobering to realise that such advanced science was in practice at that time.

And we went to the movies! The 2nd largest cinema in Asia - a palatial grand theatre, and air conditioned , where we saw a Bollywood version of 'One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest!It was awful! They had used the basic plot, and some scenes almost identically, and put in a few song and dance routines... unusually for Bollywood though, the hero ended up killed (suffocated under the pillow by his friendly doctor), the heroine as a patient at the hospital herself, and the friendly doctor in jail for killing his patient! The audience was shocked and booed and cheered accordingly!

So by Friday we were ready to move on...we had fulfilled one wish certainly which was to stay a bit longer than the average tourist, and that way really soak in the atmosphere, and get to see how a little corner of Indian society worked - staying at Hotel Shakantullam did that, and by then we knew the real people of Chanka and Ravi who ran the place, Ali, Ali, Ali, Rishi, Visha, Liaka, and of course Maggie, their Aussie incumbent...

Roll on Goa, only a 30 hour train journey away!!~