Jaipur

The drive to Jaipur which was supposed to take 4-5 hours ended up taking us over 8. On our way, after I finished writing and began looking out the window, I saw lots of camel-drawn carts. Of all the animals I’d seen in India, I had yet to see a camel. When we got to the city, we drove around a lot; I thought we were sightseeing, which I’m sure we did some of, but it turned out that our bus driver couldn’t find the hotel. When we finally arrived at the hotel, we were received like royalty. There was an awkward trumpeter, and they gave us each the Indian lei things and bindis when we got off the bus. At that point, at least Mya and I were really tired and somewhat overwhelmed/put off by the reception. The hotel manager led us to a large room with paintings, marble, and a chandelier where we sat as they distributed our keys. They also brought us fresh lime water. I keep discovering the prolific, useful nature of limes. Key in hand, Sheila and I let ourselves into our room, which had an entryway larger than my room at Nirman (or a non-Claremont Hall single at CMC). The room itself was also pretty large, but it was mostly taken up by the giant bed Sheila and I were evidently sharing. The flatscreen TV on the wall was exciting to see, as I had made plans with some of the Kalamazoo kids to watch the World Cup game later that night. Our bathroom wasn’t as decorative as the one in the Delhi hotel, but it still had a huge tub and overall was very functional. The entryway and end of the bed were decorated with sheer, red curtains with golden glitter stars. It felt like a palace. Irfana told me later that night that the hotel had, in fact, been a mini-palace until the family decided to convert it to a hotel. That information explained the intricate, striking nature of the decorations and architecture throughout the building. We had forty five minutes to kill before dinner, so a few of us went to go see what the pool looked like. It was a pretty small pool, but was outside in a beautiful, marble statue adorned courtyard. Very nice! They were treating the pool with chemicals so we couldn’t go in that night, but were promised that it would be ready to enjoy when we returned from shopping Thursday afternoon. With a few minutes left before dinner, I investigated the free wifi. It was pretty slow, but satisfactory.

Dinner was a buffet. There were Indian options and continental options, but I went with a couple of Indian chicken dishes, including chicken curry, and some roti. I found dinner extremely enjoyable. Afterward, we took our tea and coffee up to the roof where two traditional Rajasthani puppeteers put on a little show. Afterwards, some of us got to try using the puppets, which are like marionettes, except you tie the strings directly around your fingers. I was a bit spastic (to be expected, I suppose) and Andrew, the music professor from Boston U, made a comment that the puppet looked epileptic. He’s really funny; before the show, all the women were standing on one side and the guys were standing on the other, so I said it reminded me of a middle school dance. Andrew said, “add a half a pack of Marlboros and a pregnancy scare and you’ve got high school!” Hilarious. Also, he and Cameron were in a couple of pictures together in which they pretended to kiss each others’ cheeks. They hadn’t officially introduced themselves, so when they did, Andrew said, “it’s a pleasure..or at least it has been so far.” It’s really fun to be around dry, moderately crude humor again. Also, Andrew’s jokes’ funniness are enhanced by his English accent. After the puppet show, we went back to our rooms. I showered and then went upstairs to the boys’ room where we watched the game. It was exciting to be able to watch something which I knew friends at home were watching too, on the other side of the world. I love feeling connected to home in ways like that. Everyone I was with was rooting for Spain, but I felt hereditarily obligated to support Germany. The final score was a bummer, but I was mostly pleased just to have been able to watch the game. Once it ended, I went back downstairs and slept.

In the morning, we got to sleep in a bit and all met in the restaurant for breakfast around 8:30. It was a buffet again, and I had banana pancakes and a bowl of chocolate cereal again. I went back to my room and got peanut butter to have with the banana pancakes and syrup. I pretended that I was at brunch at Frary on a Sunday morning. After breakfast, we all got on the bus and headed into the pink city, where, after being accosted by begging children, we visited a site filled with old astronomy tools from the Vedic period. It was super interesting. We spent almost an hour there, and then headed to a carpet and textile house, where we got to see the different steps of how carpets are knotted. We then proceeded inside where the man, with some of his helpers, presented many of his carpets. Irfana and I were commenting on the choreography taking place, with two men rolling out the carpets with a flourish, fluffing them up and down to show the sheen, and then spinning around in a circle to show the design. After at least half an hour of looking at the carpets, he began telling us the prices. For each carpet, the price was no more than half of what I expected, or what you’d pay in the US. He then let us walk around and sit on the carpets, which were very soft and pleasant. Andrew bought one of the silk ones, and the rest of us went into a store down the hall where we looked at tablecloths, bedspreads, pajamas, scarves, ties, fabric, and many of us selected fabric and patterns to have clothing made. They said they could have our items delivered to the hotel that evening. I selected the pattern of a sleeveless western dress and had them make it knee length and asked for a belt to be added. I picked out a green and blue floral (haha Hadley) blockprinted fabric for the dress itself and selected a navy cotton-silk blend for the sash. I also bought several other things for family gifts.

When we were finished there, we went to the main street with all the shops, where we met back up with the people who hadn’t wanted to spend so much time shopping. Then we headed to lunch, where Kathy, Mya, Britta, Amit, Alex, and I all ordered different things so we could try each other’s food. I had a chocolate milkshake, too, which was totally refreshing. We sat at lunch, enjoying the AC, for over an hour. Afterwards, we went shopping. Trying to buy things at each shop was totally overwhelming and I had a hard time with negotiating prices. It turned out that I ended up spending way more than I should have on nearly everything I bought, about which I was pretty upset/frustrated with myself. I know I can’t do anything about it, and ultimately I’m pleased with my purchases since I’ve got almost all of my gifts for people taken care of. When we went back to the hotel after over two hours of exhausting shopping and avoiding beggars, we went swimming. It was glorious. When I got outside, Mya, Kathy, Ben, and Cameron were already in the pool. Eventually we were joined by Alex and Amit. Finally, it was decided that we’d postpone leaving for dinner in favor of swimming more, so Irfana, Nita ma’am, Anne, Sheila, Nandani, and Nawal all joined us. We taught each other splashing techniques and had a totally ridiculous time. Around 9 o’clock, we headed out to dinner at a nice restaurant which was clearly meant for tourists with its steep prices and descriptions under each item on the menu. I had dum aloo (aloo = potato) in some spices typical of Jaipur with garlic naan. We had to split up, so the smaller tables finished long before the big table at which I was sitting. Once everyone was finished, we went into the adjoined shop to buy sweets. There’s one which I am now particularly fond of which is flakey and melts in your mouth…reminiscent of the inside of a butterfinger, without the peanut butter. It took the people in the restaurant a relatively long time to sort out our bills, so by the time they finished around 11, we were all very ready to leave. When we got back to the hotel, Ben used my phone to text a person he’d met that day who had invited him to come out that evening. At midnight, six of us (boys went, don’t worry) took an auto rickshaw and met up with this guy and some of his friends. At one point, one of them brought up the comedian Russell Peters, who, I explained, visited CMC. He got really excited, and started trying to tell one of his jokes. One of his friends interrupted him, to which he responded, “Hey, man, this is Rusell Peters! He is like the Jesus of comedy!” It ended up being a really fun adventure, complete with another American who talked to me about music and Seattle culture. I loved it. I’d been apprehensive of the situation but trusted the people I was with and we’d agreed to stick together. I’m glad I went.

This morning, I woke up at 7:30 to Amit calling our hotel room to say that our 8:30 meeting would now be at 9:30, so I slept a bit longer before getting up to pack and get ready. After breakfast, we all met in the decorated room and Nita ma’am asked us all to say one thing we’d made note of about life in India. She then gave a bit of a lecture addressing some of the topics, especially the concept of modernity in India. At 10, we left the hotel to head to Agra via Fatehpur Sikri. The drive to Fatehpur Sikri took about 5 hours, but I slept for a large portion of the trip. Fatehpur Sikri is a complex and palace constructed by King Akbar. We had a really great tour guide who explained a lot of really interesting nuances, such as the fact that Akbar had three wives: one was Hindu from Jaipur, one was Muslim from Turkey, and one was Catholic from Portugal. Nita ma’am elaborated that Akbar advocated synthesis of religion, and often hosted religious debates, between members of different religions as well as between members of different sects of the same religion, for entertainment. As we walked around the palace, he showed us the different buildings he’d constructed for each wife. First we visited the Muslim wife’s quarters, which were the smallest but decorated in extreme detail. The carvings were mindblowing, and I wished I’d brought crayons to shade the outline of some of the designs onto a piece of paper like we used to do in preschool. Our guide drew our attention to the incorporation of symbols from many religions, including the swastika from Hinduism, cross from Catholicism, and on the ceiling: an 8 point star from Buddhism, a 5 point star from Islam, and a 6 point star from Judaism. Very cool. Next we visited the king’s chambers, where he had both a summer bedroom and a winter bedroom. Summer was on the bottom floor with much ventilation, while winter was on the 3rd floor, completely closed off. After that, we saw the quarters of the Catholic wife, which were a bit bigger. There was a bedroom, a prayer room, and one other room. I spent a bit of time in the prayer room, appreciating the slight happiness and surprise I felt at seeing a Catholic place of worship among all of this Eastern religion. Finally, we visited the Hindu wife’s chambers, which were definitely the largest. We sat there for a few minutes and then our guide told us he’d be taking us to a public area, where our tickets were no longer necessary. He warned us of hawkers and pickpockets, and told us to be careful. We walked maybe 300 meters to the next place, a mosque, where we had to take off our shoes. There was a giant square enclosed by buildings of amazing architecture. We walked along the perimeter, shaded by the buildings’ roofs which were held up by impressive stone columns. We made our way through tons of kids selling things and past a number of tombs belonging to, our guide told us, family members of holy men who formerly lived there. We ended up at the main mosque structure, where we took turns going in (with our heads covered) to appreciate the phenomenal shell decorations inside the inner room. There was a handful of Muslim men there, deep in prayer. We later discovered that women are prohibited from entering the mosque, except tourists. Wow. After that, we sat down on the steps outside to hear some men play music, but prayer time started right then so we had to wait. During that time, we walked around the square a bit more, and observed some men praying in another portion of the mosque. When we went back to the steps, we waited a bit more, and then the music began. It was a group of four, rugged looking Muslim men, one who sang and played harmonium, one who also sang and played the drums, and the other two (one very old, the other a teenager) sat there and clapped their hands and sang occasionally. I don’t know how long we watched them for, but after a bit, the drummer invited Nawal to play. He did, but before he started, they put a handkerchief on top of his head. I hadn’t noticed that those making music were all wearing skull caps. Prior to the performance, Nita ma’am explained that their practice of worship was Sufism, and told us that it was a different way of expressing devotion to Allah. Their music was beautiful, but I kept getting distracted by the red paan residue left in the singers’ teeth. Yuck. Once it was over, we walked back across the square to head back to the bus. There were a lot of little kids hassling us to buy necklaces, postcards, etc. and at one point, Ben told a kid whom he’d befriended that I was his girlfriend and not to bother me. It didn’t help much. Once back on the bus, kids started opening our windows in a last, desperate effort to get us to buy things.

Back on the road, it only took a little over an hour to get to Agra, and then about twenty minutes to get to the hotel. The hotel is extremely nice: claw footed bath tub, marble everywhere, chandelier sconces on the wall…the pool is also really big. Exciting. The one drawback is that we have to pay quite a bit for wifi. Sheila and I have strategized that we’ll split the cost of an hour each night. Not bad. We should be leaving for dinner soon; it’s almost 9pm. The people we met in Jaipur last night said that Agra is a shithole, and, from what I’ve seen, I might have to agree. It reminds me of Varanasi, though I have become both accustomed to and a bit fond of the chaos of Varanasi. I’m also kind of looking forward to going back, because I haven’t had a lot of time by myself while we’ve been traveling. At monuments, I’ve tried to walk alone a bit, but otherwise, I am constantly surrounded by people. It’s not a bad thing; I just like some solitude on a more regular basis. On the bus, I’ve been sitting by a window and listening to my ipod with my noise cancelling speakers in order to create some semblance of aloneness…bottom line: it will be nice to get back to Nirman and be able to lock myself in my room. But first! Taj Mahal tomorrow at sunrise! :)