Jaipur: A Fort and Three Temples
The drive into Rajasthan was relatively flat and mundane, the countryside more arid and relentless, and horses or cattle pulling carts slowly being replaced by camels. The most interesting sites on the road were the trapezoidal spires puffing smoke as they fired bricks. Each spire had a mini community of make-shift huts bustling with people carrying materials or moving bricks around it. Plots of land were cut away like mini-quarries, and the walls made of neatly arranged bricks ready for moving. This work camp environment seemed oppressive from my fleeting glimpses, but hopeful as at least they had a job, and not forced to send their children to beg in the streets.
Bricks in progress
We arrived fairly late again, and decided to find some street food and call it a night. We stumbled upon some fried chicken, and after a misunderstanding on half and whole chicken walked away with a whole chicken each instead of a half chicken each. Five minutes of engorging ourselves in complete silence we managed to talk to each other like humans again. The next morning we weren’t feeling too great, but not bad enough to stop the tourist bug.
Our first stop in Jaipur was actually outside the city, and is referred to as the Amber Fort. True to its name, this impressive fort seems to be an extension of the hill will large ramparts, moats, and towers. This is the middle of three forts, and by far the most charismatic. If you aren’t willing to climb to the top, you can opt to ride in a jeep or on an elephant. After wandering around the beautiful courtyards, temples, and painted gateways, we were happy to have visited the Agra Fort first, comparatively, it was boring and less exotic. This is a must-see, and if I had to pick only one place to visit in this city, this would be it.
Courtyard outside the Amber Fort
Jaipur is known as the Pink City, as the Old City buildings and walls are colored an orangish color which supposedly turns pink at sunset. I didn’t quite see the connection, but it is certainly a nice change from Agra, each shop has a designated store front and keeps some of the traveling salesman sedentary. There are tons of shops in the Old Town neatly divided into bazaars. Each bazaar specializes in a particular trade, so you could see the iron and metal works, electronics, jewelry, cloth dying, sari shop, etc in between trying to see a few of the city’s 5000 temples.
Three of the temples stood out to me, each which a different glimpse at life. The first temple we visited they were kind enough to let us climb on the roof and check out the ever-moving life around the traffic circle below. The colors of flowers for temple devotionals framed in the chaotic movement below, and if you blurred your vision for a few seconds it almost seemed to have a semblance of order. In the heart of the traffic stood one cow eating its cud, daring a snail to walk faster. The air was filled with the sounds of horns blaring and people bartering, but slightly distant. For that small amount of time wandering around the walls, I was able to take in the city below without seeing it from two feet away. Truly a unique perspective into the city.
We happened along a second temple as we walked through the city. It was virtually empty on the lower level. We took off our shoes, mumbled a quiet namaste, and ascended the steps to the higher courtyard. Again, it was empty except for two boys. The older holding a spool of string walking backwards. The younger of the two was holding a kite, and had pinned himself diagonally from his brother, waiting for his queue to thrust the kite to the wind. The courtyard wasn’t perched on a hill, but enclosed by relatively high walls. It was an interesting place to see two children flying a kite. As we entered the courtyard, we heard giggling hellos from behind a veiled screen on the second floor. I said, “hello.” The response was a jumbled response of five or six questions all said in a loud whisper, none discernible from the other until they were all hushed. There were no faces to make out, but the contrast in light told me where they were sitting. I went to the main altar, looked around, and upon returning to the courtyard, a man, presumably the father had joined his sons in the courtyard, and was about to school them in the art of kite flying. He too was walking backwards until pinned into a far corner of the courtyard, and flew the kite to the top of the courtyard before hectically running about with the twirling wind trying to keep it afloat. It was a cool experience, isolated from the city, but characteristic of the region.
I didn’t realize kite flying was as popular as it was here until we were ascending the hill to the final temple. This one is endearingly referred to as the “Monkey Palace,” by the rickshaw drivers. It is perched on a hill on the east side of the city, and is a popular place to join the troupes of monkeys that converge here at dusk to watch the sunset over the city. The sky to the immediate south of the temple was filled with a smattering of kites, and the trees appeared to have new leaves made of kites. The walk up the hill is steep, but filled with beggars of peanuts. The monkeys are fed here daily, and know exactly what a bag of peanuts looks like. They will usually wait patiently on the side for you, or walk alongside you at a safe distance. Some of them would follow you, and if you turned around to try and catch them in the act they would sit down, look away, and find some other menial task to occupy their time.
I decided to give all my peanuts to the small monkeys, but this was a futile task. The larger monkeys would run them down before they could shell them or climb high enough to avoid them. At one point I was completely duped, as I was trying to give one a peanut and another came up behind me and stole the whole bag. I wasn’t very happy, but couldn’t help but commend their teamwork. After finishing the climb, we visited the temple, had yellow dots put on our head and red and yellow strings tied around our wrists. We of course were prompted to make a small donation to the Sun God in turn. The views over the city were incredible, and well worth the hike up. I watched the kites flying in the air, and tried to find their respective master on the adjacent rooftops below. Sometimes they appeared to be rogue kites under no control, and I appreciated watching them as they danced around until one of them found the fate of being cut and drifting to the ground. I saw a fallen kite in the corner of the temple courtyard, and started approaching it. Immediately a monkey saw me and perceived it to be of value. His response was to promptly pick it up, eat a few pieces of it, and then vanish over the wall with the remaining morsels.
