Revisiting India - Blog Post 9

Jaipur: The Pink City

Jaipur is particularly famous for its large and majestic palaces and forts. Some of them who sit on top of large hills, looking out over the surroundings. Jaipur is the capital and also by far the largest city in Rajasthan. The king had the old town painted pink in honor of the prince of Wales visiting Jaipur in 1876. The color symbolises hospitality and warmth.

The train station in Jaipur was very crowded with tuk-tuks and taxis. There was a very friendly driver who invited us to go in his tuk-tuk, and we decided to go with him. He presented himself as Ali, but said his friends called him “Ali Baba”, so that’s how I remember him.

Sitting in Ali Baba's tuk-tuk together with Boye. Generally speaking I find taxis (cars) more comfortable than a small simple tuk-tuk, but there are also some advantages to travelling with a tuk-tuk. In crowded cities like Jaipur, it is much easier for a tuk-tuk to squeeze its way through crowded or slim streets. Also the temperature had increased a lot in our last days in Rajasthan, and a tuk-tuk, since it is entirely an open vehicle, allows for a lot of wind to hit you giving natural cooling. You could in some ways compare a tuk-tuk to a jeep, except the size and driving capabilities of the tuk-tuk does not hold up against a jeep.

Ali Baba, brought us to our hotel, we checked in, and we made an agreement with our Baba to pick us up outside the hotel at 10 am next day. We then met one of the people cooperating with Omer in the hotel, and he recommended a local traditional tailor nearby, and also a nearby restaurant that served traditional Indian masala dishes.

We headed to the tailor, and since Omer’s colleague had recommended this tailor as a very respectable one, we decided to have our first silk shirts made for us. I chose a particularly colorful pattern filled with orange, red and pink flowers for my silk shirt. Once Boye and I had chosen one roll of silk each, the tailor quickly started the work of measuring us up and cutting large pieces of silk from the silk rolls. In fascination, we watched him start to make the bundles of silk he had cut off the rolls into actual shirts. After sitting and just admiring the process, while chit chatting, we started to get hungry and left for the restaurant we had been recommended. The food was good. We ate chapati, dal and butter masala.

The Royal Gaitor Cenotaphs, located at the foothills of Nahargarh Fort in Jaipur, are the tombs of the kings (maharajas) of Jaipur. These cenotaphs, also called chhatris, are intricately designed and constructed using white marble and sandstone.

Next day Ali picked us up as promised, and we headed out on his planned route of exploration of Jaipur. First stop was the old tombs of the kings of Jaipur, the Royal Cenotaphs. Each of the kings had a temple-looking structure built over their tomb, a few meters tall and wide in shape. The tombs glimmered brightly in the sun, as they were built in bright colored marble and sandstone.

The smaller of the two animals had been recently rescued, and you could see that it was still malnourished and had large scars on its ears and body from maltreatment.

Next Ali brought us to an elephant rescue sanctuary. We had talked about the topic of mistreatment of some of the local elephants. There are quite a lot of elephants in Jaipur, and the city is known for the elephant festival hosted there once a year. Some of the elephant drivers are not well educated in how to care for the welfare of the elephants, and some elephants are also used by local circuses. These circuses are known for neglecting the wellbeing of animals. Additionally, many of the elephants are malnourished from being fed too little of the right type of food.

This is just a random elephant driver and his animal we passed by in the street. The drivers charge a small fee for Indian or foreign tourist to get the experience of riding the animals. Boye and I chose not take such a ride, as we had been warned by Omer that there are many unethical practices linked to this business.

Boye seemed especially happy to fulfill a dream of interacting with actual Indian elephants. Visiting this elephant rescue and donating to the care of these elephants also seemed like an ethical way to experience and interact with these magnificent animals.

Before leaving the city, we took a little detour. Since Ali wanted to show us a local textile factory, as Boye and I had shown interesting the topic of manufacturing of textiles in India. Jaipur is particularly known for their large textile production and high quality of silk and fine cotton fabrics.

Next we headed to Amber fort, located a little North of Jaipur. This impressive fort sits on a hill overlooking the old capital of the Jaipuri maharajas (kings). The fort was the primary residence of the royal family, until Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II moved the capital to Jaipur in 1727.

As always in North-Eastern Rajasthan, there were lots of monkeys to be seen at the fort and many spots around Jaipur.

On the way back to Jaipur we took a quick stop to take a look at the summer palace. Same as with the summer palace in Udaipur, this one is also built on a lake so that the cool cellar floors of the palace can hold a comfortable temperature for the nobles during the terribly hot summer months. It’s a popular trend in India to take wedding pictures in front of these palaces, such as with the bride and groom in my selfie above.

Back in Jaipur we took in some of the more Famous attractions. The Hawa Mahal palace, city palace, Jantar Mantar (astronomy observatory), Tripolia gate and Isarlat Sargasooli tower.

Jantar Mantar - World Heritage Observatory of Astronomy

Isarlat Sargasooli tower

Hawa Mahal - "Palace of Wind"

We also visited Albert Hall. A building used by the British Empire, now turned into a massive museum. I took an awful lot of pictures inside the museum, but I decided not to include them here.

Albert Hall

It had been a long day of sightseeing, so after Albert Hall we headed home. Tired but excited after experiencing many interesting things. We had also interacted with many of the Indian tourists we had met. Indians tend to be very open and friendly towards strangers, and it’s easy to socialise with them.

Next day I wanted to see Nahargarh Fort, which overlooks central Jaipur. We took a taxi up, and after reaching the fort, the size of Jaipur city became ever more apparent to us.

With its estimated 4.2 million inhabitants, Jaipur certainly rivals most large European cities in size. Only Istanbul, London, Paris and Berlin confidently beat it. Boye expressed to me that he was a little tired of the endless sightseeing, and especially of seeing forts. I can agree it was quite a lot we did in our few days in Jaipur, and I know I’m more interested in historical forts than the average person. However looking back at the pictures and memories of Rajasthan, I’m happy we spent our energy exploring as much as we did, although I remember being quite tired that last day in Jaipur. Anyways, not too far into the future we would get a good breather in an Ashram in Rishikesh.

We had to catch a train the same day, so this was the last thing we did in Jaipur. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel, packed up, and headed onwards on our journey. After spending almost a month in Rajasthan we were finally entering a new state. Next stop was Agra in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The old capital of the Mughal Empire. Most known for the Taj Mahal. Cheers to my slowly growing audience for this blog. Have a lovely weekend all of you!

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