It’s 10PM in my relatively quiet room in Kumaon Hostel. Perfect time to write a blog entry about the long weekend in Jaipur, Abhaneri, and Agra, spent with fellow Fizzer Alexander Johan Harmsen.
Before I go any further, there’s a 2GB/week bandwidth limit here that I’d rather use for talking to you (yes, you!), so here’s a link to the FB album recording this adventure:
Friday, August 10
We’d run into some trouble booking the train. We chose to go for a car with a driver instead, given the insanity of Delhi roads. We didn’t know traffic could get worse, but it did.
Thursday night was spent getting to Jaipur. This was a long ride, with horns beeping, potholes, cows, and monsoon rain. The first memory of the trip is being locked outside the hotel at 2AM, waiting for the staff to open up the place so we could grab some sleep. Thankfully, they did.
The next morning, Amber Fort. We arrived through the Chand Pol (Moon Gate) into the Jaleb Chowk (Main Courtyard), with elephants and their tourist riders arriving through the Suraj Pol (Sun Gate). A small detour from the main gate brought us to the Siladevi Temple, a plain but ornate shrine. No pictures and no shoes here, but I had no complaints either. Back onto the main “path” through the palace, the Diwan-i-Am (Hall of Public Audience) appeared. An open hall with double rows of columns, each topped by an elephant’s head, lending a regal aura to the ruling Maharaja.
To enter the third courtyard, we passed through the Ganesh Pol, a magnificent gate separating the public and private audience halls. The Jai Mandir (Hall of Victory) in this courtyard gave commanding views over Maota Lake and the rest of the city below. The final courtyard was the women’s quarters, a complex maze of rooms to prevent women being seen by men, or perhaps the Maharaja to be seen from his (potentially jealous) wives.
A quick lunch, and right back to the forts. The next fort up on the Cheel ka Teela (Hill of Eagles) was the Jaigarh Fort. This one was much less ornate, being a military fortress that was never captured. Alex and I went inside after squeezing through a tiny ticket booth, jumping up onto the ramparts to haphazardly wander around a rather large complex. The ominous clouds began rolling in, building the rain from a gentle patter reminiscent of Vancouver to a climatic finish with a dousing of monsoon rain. To escape this, we ran to the nearest rooftop, housing the largest wheeled cannon in the world. Fired only once as a test, with a range of 25km, it was more of a psychological weapon.
The rain continued, and at this point we run into some locals, enjoying their holiday. A group of engineers from Jaipur, eying a group of young women, began their mating call – a crescendo in volume and pitch in a group. What the heck, we joined in. Alex was the star of the show, as the tourist white guy, he drew the lion’s share of the attention from the locals. Friendly and hospitable with varying grasps of English, these guys were lots of fun, promising us a celebration of Lord Krishna’s birthday in the evening (or not, more on that later).
We stopped by a textiles shop, getting the tourist treatment to different types of cotton, silk, and pashmina (a type of fine cashmere wool). Fun to learn about, I left with a red cotton-silk scarf, the cheapest thing there, to replace the red scarf I’d lost in Kaiser seemingly years ago.
A nice dinner, and we set out to the City Palace to enjoy the festivities. A quick call to the guys confirmed that they weren’t up for it, and we’d have a gander of the streets alone. An hour and a half walking through the streets of Jaipur, with Alex attracting stares and joyous “Hello’s!” from the kids. These were loud, messy, and vibrant streets, with every second lamppost blaring music, celebrating the birth of Krishna. The cows were disinterested, the dogs were more interested in each other, and even the chipmunks didn’t seem to care. Everything was moving and alive, in light and shadow, a fitting end to a day of vibrancy.