Jaipur

Jaipur is the last city on the northern leg of our adventure in India. It is part of the Golden Triangle of the North of India and my favorite city so far. The city is the capital of the state of Rajasthan and a relatively new city at only 288 years old.  The city was founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of the city of Amber, for which Jaipur is named. The city is very unique in that it was the first city in India that contained a grid-system architectural plan when it was originally laid out and subsequently built.

 

Jaipur is also known as the Pink City. In 1876, when Edward, the Prince of Wales accepted an invitation to visit the city, the Emperor, Sawai Ra Singh, had the whole city painted pink to honor him.  The walls of the city remain pink to this day, giving Jaipur an eclectic and independent feel.  

 

We arrived our first night in the city too late to visit any of the traditional tourist sites, but just in time to catch a Bollywood film at the Raj Mandir movie theater. This theater only opened in 1976, but is called the Pride of Asia and is a must see attraction for all who come to Jaipur. We were told by a nice family from southern India during intermission that about 60% of the people that come to watch a film at the Raj Mandir are not from this area, this 60% includes Indians from other parts of the country that come here. Most of our tour group greatly enjoyed watching the Hindu film about an Alien that gets stuck on Earth in India and goes running around the country learning about the different religions and sects because someone told him that if he prayed he’d received what he was looking for (and he’s trying to find his ship’s communicator so he can get home again). In true Bollywood fashion, there was singing, dancing, romance, action, comedy, drama, and everything in between. Even if we didn’t understand the language they were speaking, we understood the film.

 

Our only full day in Jaipur was jam packed. We began the morning with a visit to the Amber Palace and ended it with a trip to the marketplace, but in between were many other gems.

 

On the way to the Amber Palace, we did a drive by photo stop at the Hawa Mahal or Palace of the Winds. Hawa Mahal was a palace where the women of the royal family lived. The Emporer would not allow these women to venture outside, which eventually lead to complaints of boredom with the being constantly cooped up. To remedy this problem, a front façade to the palace was added that looked like many levels of windows and floors, but was really just a large screen wall that allowed the women of the royal household to observe and watch the townsfolk as they went about their lives, while they remained unseen by the general public and safety locked inside the palace. Because of all the windows and their ability to allow the breeze through, the palace earned its name.

 

After our quick stop, we continued to our true destination for the morning, the Amber Fort (true name without modern day butchering is the Amer Palace). The Amber Fort was the home of the Rajput Maharajas families. Raja Man Singh I, the King of the City of Amber, had the palace built in 1592. 

 

The Amber fort is beautiful and located on the top of Cheel ka Teela (Hill of the Eagles). It overlooks the Aravalli valley and Moata Lake. Surrounding the valley is a wall that was built to emulate the Great Wall of China (it does a pretty good job of looking like The Great Wall of China’s little brother). Below the Palace is a garden that was built on top of the water. The garden is called the Floating Carpet due to its appearance when the water rises; it resembles a carpet gently moving with the current. When the Palace was in use, the garden grew saffron (the most expensive spice in the world), so that when the wind blew, the scent would waif over the inhabitants.

 

Above the Palace is Jaigarh Fort, the military fort where the royal troops worked and lived. Most consider the fort and the palace to be one large complex as they are connected by many different subterranean  passageways. The Emperor used to have the troops march down to the Palace from their higher vantage point and parade for him and his household. This fort is still owned by the government so it could not be visited, but we were told by our guide that it has a similar layout to the palace that we did get to see.

 

The Amer Palace is like many of the other palaces in India in that it is a mini city and not one single home. There were multiple courtyards, including one with two palace, the winter palace and the summer palace. The Winter Palace (also called the Pleasure Palace) contained a waterfall inside the living room and the Summer Palace (also called the Mirror Palace) contain thousands upon thousands of mirrors. They were both beautiful in their intricacies.

 

The Raja had 12 wives and each of them had their own identical apartments that surrounded a central courtyard. Each of the apartments were connected to one another through known and secret passageways, but the wives were forbidden from entering the quarters of each other to prevent jealousy (the exteriors and layouts of the apartments may have been the same, but the Emperor bestowed gifts on his favorites).

 

We said goodbye to the Amer Palace and headed back towards the bustling center of town. On the way we did another quick photo stop to snap a few shots of the Water Palace (Jal Mahal). This was built in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake, which was dammed after the palace's construction. It was a summer residence for the women of the court. Here they could come and enjoy a nice picnic away from the public eye. The structure is a gorgeous building sitting serenely in the calm waters. Currently, there is a legal battle between the current owners and the lay folk of whether the palace can be made into a tourist attraction.

 

Our last official tourist stop for the day was the City Palace (which contains the Chandra Mahal and the Mubarak Mahal). The Chandra Mahal contains a museum with many portraits and royal accessories, but a large portion is closed to the public as it is still used as the the current residence of the royal family of the region. 

 

The afternoon was given to everyone to do as they please. Many of us had been hoping to take an authentic cooking class in a local woman’s home, but she was unavailable. As a type of consolation prize, we went to a local shop where they make hand stamped cloth. Wooden blocks covered with vegetable dyes are stamped onto cotton and silk cloths. There are a minimum of four different colored dyes used in each design and as such that means there are a minimum of four different wooden blocks that need to be cut to make each design. We got a short demonstration of the process and then were set free in their wholesale shop to spend our dollars and rupees. I had two shirts tailor made with hand stamped cloth.

 

From the textile shop, the group split into smaller units and meanders the byways and alleyways of the Jaipur center marketplace. Em, Julia, Karen (an Ausse), and I struck out for colorful shoes, henna, and more street food. The winner of the street food for today was hard boiled eggs that were then peeled, sliced in half, pan fried, and covered in spices. They were awesome.

 

We wandered through a farmer’s market area (the Indian version of a grocery store) were an interesting fruit caught my eye. This item turned out to be an Avla (Indian gooseberry) and has a translucent green skin and is about the size of a small plum. I asked how much for one so I could try it and the stall owner and her husband offered it to me free of charge. I soon found out why – the cost of the fruit was my reaction upon taking a bite. This was probably one of the foulest things I’ve ever eaten…all bitter (instant pucker face) and a poisonous flavor as if I’d eaten something that should have been used as a chemical. The stall owners cracked up immediately, thus receiving payment in full.

 

Julia, being ever adventurous, decided to try a bite as well when I gave it the glowing endorsement of “This s probably one of the worst things I’ve ever eaten. Do you want to try it?” and had a very similar reaction to mine (although she actually spit the fruit out where I had swallowed it to avoid potentially offending anyone). The stall owners got two suckers for the price of one. While eating our boiled/fried eggs we chatted with some locals who informed us that traditionally the fruit is boiled, mashed, and eaten with lots of sugar. That makes so much more sense.

Thus ends our adventures in Jaipur and the Golden Triangle of India in general. Tomorrow we head back to Delhi for a last evening and then it’s up bright and early for our flight south; where a new group of yet-to-be-known friends and yet-to-be-had adventures await.