A pink blur

J & I

2 tiny cups of Masala Chai :)

The man in the sleeper bunk below me finally gave me the reassuring head wobble, I followed his gaze out the window and saw that the train was coming to a stop, with diamond shaped signs that read 'JAIPUR' in bold. The AC had blasted all the moisture out of my skin so I welcomed the first humid wave as the doors opened. Immediately swarmed by a group of men offering their tuk tuks and taxi's; I set my price (that most didn't want to hear) and had only one taker, so I went with him. N. a great friend who was joining me from England the next day, had booked us into 'The Hostellar': a friendly hostel with beautiful Rajasthani vibed art work and clean rooms. After being cooped up inside for 20 hours I was ready to explore! So I dropped my stuff off, greeted the management and went to the first stop on my list: Anouki. A beautiful block-print, top quality clothes shop that's not at all within my budget, but had to be done. I held the beautiful pieces of art in my hand, confirming to myself that I was moving back when time allowed it.

Above Jaipur with
the floating city in the background

Anouki also has a lovely, organic cafe; so I sat opposite an expat to hear about her experience living in Jaipur and pick up a few handy tips for my short stay here (already managing to land myself in her favourite place to eat, so that was a start!) Outside Anouki there was J. a completely nutty and highly charismatic tuk tuk driver who gave me the fastest snapshot of his life in the 1 minute that it took me to walk across the car park. And there it was, the beginning of a lovely friendship.

Corn Fritters @ Anouki

J showed me around Jaipur that day, I was saving the best temples for when N. arrived so we did a few treasures in between, listening to his explanations that lay only half grounded in reality. What I have gathered is that different parts of India are associated with different colours - and I was in the Pink City (although the pink walls have turned Orange). As we drove I marvelled at how so many buildings resembled palaces - the circular domes and pointed tips, repeated again and again in different sizes - from the police station to the fabric shop, there was something to feed the eyes everywhere you looked.

A grazing goat

The first temple I explored that resembled a haveli/ mansion was the 'Galtaji Temple' built in the 18th Century that's famous for it's natural water springs. I peered through the crosses in the wall and gazed at the marvel. I could faintly hear a tour guide walking around with a couple, catching bits and pieces of what he was saying about the engravings on the walls; Indian mythology is so fascinating. I remember one year at school when we lived here years ago, I was dressed in colourful scarves, wearing thick coal eye liner and an anklet that tinkled with bells; brandishing a sword while playing one of the princes in The Rama & Sita epic. I implore you to read some of the stories if you're interested at all.

The water Palace/ Jal Mahal

I listened to the simplified stories that G, the hostel manager shared with D & I that other night. The main three gods are Brahma: The Creator, Vishnu: The Sustainer and Shiva: The destroyer. Through the stories you learn of how the gods were reincarnated into different figures: for example it's believed that Vishnu was reincarnated on separate occasions in human form as Krishna, Ram and Buddha - each of which carry Vishnu's qualities of permanence, continuity and preservation. Gods are also depicted holding symbolic items (that vary on occasion). Vishnu, the 4 handed, blue god holds 2 main items: the Conch shell (symbolizing the origin of existence) and the wheel (that stands for the universal mind). Sometimes he also holds a club that stands for power knowledge (looks
 like Foucault got there a bit late)...  As we were discussing deities and beliefs, I asked G. what story or message spoke to him the most and he chose the saying 'Har Har Mahadev' that translates to 'god is in everyone', a beautiful choice.

All made of Italian Marble

And so my adventures continued with J. the nutty tuk tuk driver that's quite possibly another reincarnation of Vishnu (also 'the protector'). We walked up stairs that went on forever along what looked like a crumbling 'Great Wall of India' and up to the Ganesh temple. After a few failed attempts I finally rang the bell, listening to the sound carry across the landscape and looking over at the incredible view where the palace floated in the water from afar.
We decided to take a closer look so began the walk back down, hopping into the tuk tuk and driving through the dust with little kids running after us, hands out stretched, their white teeth glistening behind wide smiles.
Jal Mahal, The floating palace was a sight indeed - along the bank were women in colourful sari's, men wearing white turbans and children playing with plastic toys. The one thing about travelling alone as a woman is you don't get a lot of time to enjoy the sights without some form of male harassment. So when it got too much, I wandered away from the Aravelli hills and the Palace that stood gracefully in the middle of The Man Sagar Lake (did you know, it had 2 million tons of toxic silt drained from it!). We hopped back into J's new tuk tuk and I sung along in broken Hinglish to the Hindi tune that he'd been teaching me.

The sun was fading and the traffic increasing, so we escaped down a back road and ended up surrounded by grazing goats and a bunch of elephants?! He introduced me to his uncle who owned a few; the beautiful animals still had remnants of faded paint from having been paraded at an extravagant Indian wedding. I hugged one for a while, wrapping my hands around its rough trunk and looking into its eyes, a giant tear drop beginning to fall; I could feel her helplessness as she stood in a confined space, chained to the ground.

An Elephants tear :(

After that, the pink city became a multicolored blur: block print fabric Shops, semi-precious gem stones, veg thali's....
J dropped me off and I thanked him for a day that no tour guide could've offered (his number, to be shared with any fellow backpacker in Jaipur is: 8003514166). The weather was cool now and the sky was a murky black, I stood outside of our hostel that kinda resembles a Maharajas palace, tasting undertones of dust and smoke and seeing the odd flash of pink across the highway.

Recipe of the day: Chana Masala (Chickpea curry)
http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/chana-masala-with-coconut/