On the Road to Udaipur
We took a taxi early out of Jodhpur. This taxi was to bring us all the way from Jodhpur to Udaipur. A 6 hour taxi ride. Definitely my longest taxi ride in life thus far. It felt nice being on the road again, but not on a train this time. I find train trips very relaxing, but driving in a car you have a lot more freedom to roam. I sat back and awakened to our first sites along the route between Jodhpur and Udaipur.
Our first break we took at Om Banna temple (Temple of the Holy Motorbike), half an hours drive South of Jodhpur. There is a story here of a car crash where the driver was thrown off his motorbike, and got killed. The police put his bike in lock up, but during the night the motorbike moved back to the site of the accident. Puzzled, the police put the bike back in storage for a second time. This time someone reported that they had seen the bike roll away from the storage unit, with no driver on top of it. The third night the police put an officer to guard the bike. Suddenly the bike turned to life and ran off on its protective custodian. The police officer ran after the bike, and he witnessed the bike driving forth and back on the site of the accident. The ghost of the driver was also there, walking about in good health. This is the story of the Holy Motorbike, as I remember it recounted to me. I might have mixed up some of the details and changed parts unintentionally, but the gist of the story is still there. Most travellers stop to pray to the holy motorbike, as this intends to protect them from terrible traffic accidents.
Along the road several things were put on display for our viewing pleasure, after leaving Om Banna behind. Most I don’t have any pictures of, but I will describe some of them here. You had clusters of animals living in an arid environment, yet the plants that sprouted here looked very excotic. We saw villagers trekking along the road, and even the odd small village peaked out between the brush every now and then. Of course there were also lots of herds of cattle, the holiest friend of the Hindus. The plants growing in this arid landscape were particularly interesting for their unique look and adaptation to the climate. Some villages looked abandoned, but others were clearly still in use. Both the houses and the villagers looked very traditional.
Our next stop was at a roadside Lebanese restaurant, where I ate Lebanese pizza for the first time. I couldn’t tell if it was particularly authentic or not, but I enjoyed this Middle-Eastern style pizza in the desert state of Rajasthan. We also offered the driver some food at our expense, to his delight.
A while down the road from the restaurant we arrived at the massive Jain temple that Omer had told me about the evening before, Ranakpur. The Jain religion is known for their respect towards animal life and micro organisms. Many also forget how the Jain took care of the banking services needed by Hindu and Muslim lords alike. The wealth of the most powerful Jain families were then spent to build marvellous temples, like the Ranakpur. Built in honour of their 24 tirthankaras, preachers of truth or the Dharma. Jainism is usually considered a separate religion from Hinduism by Western scholars. Such as those in my University of Bergen, where I took lectures on Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism in India. However, most Jains and Hindus Boye and I talked to claimed the Jains were but a caste or sect within Hinduism. The interaction between Hinduism and minority religions is complicated, to say the least. Read more on Britannica.
When we hit the road again we had agreed with the driver to go straight to Udaipur. He didn’t want to get back home to Jodhpur too late. Anyhow we had been on the road for several hours by now, and Boye and I were eager to get to Udaipur. Omer’s favourite city in Rajasthan. After checking into our hotel, near the lake of the famous summer palace of the king, we went on a late evening exploration of Udaipur.
Our next days in Udaipur were quite eventful, and I’ll have to leave that story for another day. I’m really looking forward to telling you about what happened the next few days in Udaipur. Those days were incredibly eventful, and I remember them passionately still. Next blog post will, as is now the regular plan, also be out by Friday next week. Have a lovely weekend my dear readers. Cheers!
Fun Fact: Udaipur is pronounced "O-de-pur" by locals, but many Indians call the city "U-dai-pur", more or less exactly how it's spelled.