Dusky Agra

The morning sun filtering through trees highlights a dog resting in the gardens around the Taj Mahal.

We got up very early to get to the Taj Mahal at dawn.  However, at this time of year much of Northern India is cloaked in a dense haze of fog and dust.  The Taj appeared before us almost like a great mystery through the haze.  We had visited the monument 25 years ago and much had changed.  The first thing one notices is the strict security gates.  Also, when we visited earlier, our cycle rickshaw took us nearly to the gate and we just walked in.  Now traffic is kept well away from the Taj area and one must walk about a half mile to get to the monument area proper.  On the positive side, the government has vastly improved the grounds and landscaping in the area.  And perhaps most importantly, no industry is allowed in Agra at all now, since the pollution spewed by factories would quickly turn the white marble quite black.

The view of the Taj Mahal from the East Gate plaza.

 

Detail of the precious stone inlay in the white marble of the Taj Mahal.

Relief carving and inlay dappled with sunlight coming through a carved, marble screen.

Front view of the Taj Mahal.

The Wedding at the Jaipur Greens Hotel

When we got back to the Jaipur Greens Hotel for our second night's stay, we discovered that the entire front of the hotel was set up and decorated for a wedding. 

As it happened, the bride was taking the elevator up with us.  We congratulated her on her marriage and I asked if I could take her picture.  She graciously assented and paused to pose for me.  This picture shows her beauty, but doesn't do the sari justice, since you really have to see it in motion to get the full effect.  Under the bright lights in the lobby, the skirt swirled and twinkled with each step she took -- a field of silver stars on gossamer silk. 

We were invited to come down to the festivities but, being both tired and grungey from a hard day of touring forts and palaces, we opted to stay in our room and rest up.  However, the wedding music floated and thrummed up to us until about two in the morning.  The next day, the front of the hotel was being strung with garlands of marigolds for yet another part of the ceremony.  Raj Kumar, our driver, said that he understood that the bridegroom is the son of a prominent cabinet minister.  Hence the very, very lavish party.

Jaipur

You can ride the elephants up the hill to get to Amber Fort in Jaipur.

Amber Fort and Amber Palace -- two amazing pieces of architecture.  This is one of the maharaja's "casual" rooms in the palace.

The snake charmers at Amber Fort.

Jaipur City Palace.

Another view of Jaipur City Palace.

One small component of the great astronomical observatory of Jaipur's Jantar Mantar.  Delhi also boasts a Jantar Mantar, but the one at Jaipur has been restored to nearly full working condition.  Using the various sculptures, one can calculate the positions of the stars, determine the exact date of the equinoxes, the time of day, etc.

Jaipur Lake Palace.  The lake is man made and, when full, floods not only the surrounding ground, but the palace, as well.  Apparently, there are two full floors that are underwater.

When a Hindu dies, his or her body is always cremated.  While the moghul emperors created beautiful tombs for themselves and their loved ones, the maharajas created magnificent cenotaphs like this one as memorials.

In the afternoon, we wandered around the Mahdavendra Palace where we ran into a few little guys like this one.

Unless you're really adamant, every tour guide wants to take you to see (and buy?) the local handicrafts.  The gentleman above is applying the second bit of color to what will be a six-color pattern on cotton cloth.  He uses a hand-carved wooden stamp to apply the dyes, which are all vegetable based.  Once the dyes dry in the sun, they are dipped in a salt solution as a fixative, which greatly alters the colors on the fabric.

The carpet weaver at the textile shop.

Bouncing Around Rajasthan

Roadside Camel

Now that we have a really good internet connection at long last, I can give you at least a small taste of what it's like to be here bouncing around north India.  To get the full feel of the place, imagine yourself in the back seat of a tiny Suzuki Swift that darts in and out of traffic, past trucks, auto rickshaws, and camel carts, while bouncing over potholes, speed breaks and railroad tracks.

The images are in no particular order, which seems fitting since my brain is also in no particular order right now . . . .

Udaipur view from the boat ride on the lake.

On the camel safari, Bikaner

The fire eater/dancer at the Bikaner camel camp.

View from the Udaipur City Palace

Street scene, Udaipur

Kanakpur Jain Temple, Udaipur

Kanakpur Jain Temple, Udaipur

Langur at the Kanakpur Jain Temple, Udaipur

Jaswanth Thada Temple, Jodhpur

Jaswanth Thada Temple, Jodhpur

Street Scene, Jodhpur

Jodhpur vegetable vendor

Fabric shop, Jodhpur

Karani Mata Rat Temple, Mandawa

Kuchman Haveli, our hotel in Jodhpur

Seamstress at a haveli (breeze house or mansion) in Nawalgar

Jodhpur Blue City

Miniatures painter, Udaipur

Pushkar

We thought we were including Pushkar in our tour simply because it boasts the only Brahma temple in the world.  Little did we know that this is fair season in Pushkar, although I have to confess I wondered why we were staying in 4-star hotels in every city except Pushkar, where we would be living instead in a tent.  There are so many visitors to the fair at this time that all the hotels are booked.  To handle the overflow, tent camps have been put up at one end of town.  Ours was Mandawa Camp.

The buffet pavillion, with a camel cart in the foreground.

The tents.  The orange glow above the third one is actually a hot air balloon.

If you’ve ever stayed in the tent cabins at Yosemite, it’s a little bit like that – but Indian style (and without the bears).  Our tent was double-walled with two rooms, burlap covered a dirt floor, the windows had shades that could be raised or lowered via ropes inside the tent, and patterned fabric made up the inner walls.

Inside our tent.

 The dinner was set up under various pavilions outdoors and we were entertained by a family of gypsies who danced to the music of a tabla (drum) and a flute-like instrument with two pipes – one of which was a drone pipe while the other played a melody line in an oboe-like tone.  After the dancers, one of the boys got up with two burning torches to show off his fire-eating and fire-breathing skills. 

All that, though, was after the fair, as dinners are generally served quite late in India.

After the fact, I looked at the tourist map of the Pushkar area and, honestly, after navigating those rough waters, my first thought was, “Somebody made a map of Pushkar?  As though you can actually map chaos. . . . ?”  I suppose there is order in it somewhere, but to me, it seemed like a maze without any logic.

Our driver took us from the camp to one end of the fair and we were to call him when we were ready to leave.  We started to wander, and eventually got some sense of which end was up.  The lanes were thronged with men, women and children, hawkers’ carts and entertainers, horses and camels.  Every so often, a car or scooter would cut through the throng, its horn blaring.  Music poured from loud-speakers.  The lights of the midway glittered on one side, including at least three different variations on the Ferris wheel.   Vendor booths lined the streets, most of them with trinkets obviously meant specifically for the fair-goers.  There were at least a dozen booths selling fancy knives and swords.  Intermixed with them were booths with ordinary household goods like pots, pans and dishes.  At the end of one lane was a sort of food court and dotted throughout the entire fair were other food stalls.

View of Pushkar Fair.

We took a ride on a wagon similar to this one.

 We decided to climb on board one of the camel-drawn wagons and see things the easy – and novel – way for a bit.  We were pleasantly surprised when the camel-driver took us all the way out to the camel campgrounds.  Vish got to talking with the driver/owner, so he took us to where his three horses were staked out, told us a bit about his family and what he does in the non-fair season (farming), and asked all about us.  Then he took us back to the fair proper.

In the show area next to the Midway, we could hear music, so wandered over there and watched the dancing.  By then we were both getting tired and hungry.  We called the guide and settled down to have a cup of tea while we waited for him.

The next morning, we were up and ready early.  The sun was rising, along with numerous hot air balloons,  as we ate breakfast in the outdoor pavilion.  Then we piled everything, including ourselves, into the car and headed into Pushkar to see the Brahma Temple.  It was a little unsettling to realize that these were all the same crowded streets and the same booths because the wares were quite different.  Gone were the swords, knives, balloons and other fair toys and souvenirs.  Gone were the camel carts.  The only thing the same was the mob of people and blaring speakers.  As we got close to the temple, the density of the crowd increased dramatically.  However, just as we were about to head up the long, shallow steps to the temple itself, we were stopped by a soldier who said that absolutely no cameras were allowed.  So Vish went on without me while I held on to his shoes (having had a pair of shoes stolen from a temple in Bangalore once, I’m pretty protective of my shoes in these places) – and my camera.

Vish (in blue jeans and tan shirt) coming down the steps from the Brahma Temple, which is almost hidden in its surroundings.

And then it was back to the car and on to Udaipur.

I will add more pictures when I have a faster connection -- this one is taking five minutes for each image!

Delhi

As always, it was the middle of the night when we touched down at the airport in Delhi.  Then there was the wait in line to have our passports stamped and then on to the baggage carousel.  We were almost the last people off the plane, so didn't have to wait long at all to see our luggage arrive.  Then it was out the doors and a walk along a long line of guys holding up signs with people's names on them.  I always feel a bit sorry for these guys, who have to go out in the middle of the night to collect foreigners and shuttle them to their hotels, but our "sign guy" didn't seem at all put out.  From there it was a short walk and equally short wait for the car and driver to arrive.  Rajkumar is our driver for the remainder of our stay in Delhi and our tour through Rajasthan.  We got to our hotel at around 4:30 AM.

I was all for resting up on Sunday and then touring Delhi on Monday -- mainly because I got pretty sick on the plane; the tail end (I hope) of a virus that started back home.  However, Monday (yesterday) was a Muslim holiday, which means that all of the Muslim sites would be closed down.  As everything we wanted to see was Muslim, we pulled ourselves together and toured Sunday, then rested in the hotel on Monday.  Today we leave for Pushkar.

What follows is a brief tour of a little bit of Delhi.  (Our driver is waiting for us, so I will try to add some captions later)  Enjoy!

The entrance to The Red Fort.  As always seems to be the case at popular monuments and temples, it's lined with places to spend your money!

Coming through the gate of The Red Fort

 

Turrets on The Red Fort

  One of the side gates at The Red Fort

Qutub Minar

Detail of the red carved marble on Qutub Minar

One of several gates heading toward Humayun's Tomb

View of Humayun's Tomb dome through the second of the three gates.

Tomb detail showing inlay.  This is similar work to that on The Taj Mahal, but done in red marble, rather than white.

Humayun's Tomb with reflecting pool.

We ended up at a craft shop, where they were only too willing to roll out dozens of carpets and teach us all about technique, materials, and why you pay more for a very, very good all-silk, hand-knotted carpet.  (No, we didn't buy.)