Jaipur Pushpar some musings

October 12 Pushkar, Rajasthan, India

Many of my preconceived notions about India are being broken. Today we have entered the desert in Rajasthan. It is probably my lack of knowledge about India, but I did not expect desert….nor did I expect 6 lane superhighways.

In Jaipur we visited a wall in town where the court women could peer through marble screens to see the coming and goings of the town (Jaipur is a planned city with streets laid out in a grid pattern). Next to us was and honest to god snake charmer including the king cobra. Unfortunately, I have no photo.

Then it was off to the Amber Fort. The elephant ride was changed due to a religious observance.
We rode the elephant to and fro along the lake below the Amber Fort. Once in the fort we saw the women’s quarters (12). The Raj had a corridor above the women’s quarters lined with carpet to prevent the women below from knowing which quarter he was visiting.

Following the Amber Fort was a visit to the Jaipur Observatory. One of the solar instruments was a sundial accurate to 2 seconds. Some of the instruments were designed to allow astronomers to take measurements without being roasted by the sunlight. The day was finished by a visit to the city palace, owned by the Raj of Rajasthan.

We left Jaipur at 10 this morning, partially since we were out late (10:30PM) at the Amber Fort Sound and Light Show. So many wars, so many battles, so many rulers. It was enough to boggle my mind. But it was fun, especially after wandering through the fort all morning yesterday.

This morning at breakfast, as I was reading the local newspaper (The Hindustani Times), I read about an initiative of the Jaipur city council. They are taking back the streets…not in the image of take back the streets in the US where it is a euphemism for ridding the streets of crime, but literally taking back the streets (from garbage/trash containers at the intersections, businesses encroaching on the streets, stray animals (including cattle), and push carts setting up shop. I wonder if this is an annual event or something new. We shall see in the years to come.

Our hotel in Jaipur was located on the outskirts of the city….near the confluence of the Delhi and Agra roads. It is convenient for the business traveler, but not the tourist who wishes to wander around through the city. We hope to do that in Udaipur. As we left town we went through parts of the city we did not know existed, lush and grand parks, upscale shopping districts and attractive housing. Jaipur is a city worth visiting again.

Once on the road, the six lane superhighway, we were off to Pushkar. Fewer livestock on the road, fewer farm vehicles and many more lorries. Everything moves by lorry (although I have seen some freight trains near Agra). We passed through a small town with many marble processing factories/yards. Of note was the sign over the local hospital “Marble City Hospital”. Most of the marble of India is quarried in Rajasthan. We saw huge block of marble being transported on one large flat bed semi rig.

As we approached Ajmer, the super highway ended. Road construction was ever present. I am reminded of my travels in the west of the US during the 60’s when the Interstate Highways were being built. Traffic and driving were much the same.

As we went to a secondary road into Pushkar we saw young girls washing clothes next to the road, children (teenage boys) returning home in their bright blue school uniforms. We passed a management university where the young men were walking on the street in their uniforms (white shirt with dark tie). A hostel for the university advertized 24 hour a day water and electricity service. The university advertized that they had A/C’d computer labs.

Pushkar is a small town in south central Rajasthan which is famous for it annual cattle and camel fair. Held during the first full moon of November the fair attracts hundreds of thousands of people. So many that the Rajasthan Tourism Development Council (RTDC) create massive tent cities to house the hordes. India Railways is building a short line to link the city to the main lines. Guide books recommend attending the fair early in the run to avoid the dirty toilets and to actually see the animals. Evidently most of the action occurs early in the fair and the traders then get out of town.

Our hotel Aaram Boagh Luxury Villas is located 3 km from the town, at the top of a ridge. These are tent villas (air conditioned with private dip pools). It seems somewhat weird given we are in the desert, with falling water tables (no surface water) in a power starved country. We will have a clear sky tonight, so the heavens should be beautiful with virtually no ground light glade to spoil the view. The driver comes back at 4:30 this afternoon to take us to visit a large temple and drop us off in the market. This afternoon he warned us about the craft shops we have been visiting with our guide.
The guide gets a commission on whatever we purchase. So far we have resisted the entreaties of carpet sales men, and semi-precious gem salesmen. Who knows what is next?

At 4:30 we went back into Pushkar after getting a rest in our hotel.
We saw the camel show grounds (sort of like state fair grounds) and then went to the “only” Brahmin temple in India. The reason for the single temple was his first wife. She was so ticked off by him taking a second wife, that she said he could only have one temple. We then wandered through the town (a tourist paradise with hundreds of shops catering to the low end tourist trade). We would have fit in some 40 years ago. Just our style then. We ended at the shore of Pushkar lake where a Brahmin priest took our flowers and for a fee released them on the waters of Pushkar lake. We then returned to the hotel, a crescent moon and few stars. We are off early in the morning to Udiapur some 6 hours away.