DAY 17, APRIL 7, JAIPUR

AMBER FORT PALACE

Up in a jeep we rode.
Elephants in the fortress strode.
It's impenetrable as a fort,
With too many luxuries to report.
('Twas an info overload.)

With sights, its environs are replete.
It's really quite a treat.
There's the Sun Temple
And a Jain Temple
And cows and pigs in the street.

And no matter who you are,
You'll enjoy the Fort Jaigarh.
Best time I ever had!
But I am very glad
I'm not driving my own car.


JEWELS EMPORIUM

They showed how gems are polished.
Their skill we all acknowledged.
They're designing jewels as well,
And jewels they'll gladly sell.
Their salesmanship is polished.


STREETS OF OLD JAIPUR

Many scooters, single- to-quintuple-loaded motorcycles,
Push carts, horse carts, single- and double-loaded bicycles.
Cars, jeeps, not too fast, rarely stropping, scads of rickshaws,
Buses small, buses large, small trucks, lots of autorickshaws.
Walkers, honkers, sacred cows, and cart tricycles.


SHOPS OF OLD JAIPUR

Products there is galore.
Some you've never seen before.
Though I didn't see a fur
In the shops of old Jaipur,
There's every other kind of store.

The beggars are insistent,
And the foot venders are persistent.
On those crowded, gritty streets,
They ask and they repeat,
And you have to be resistant.


FAMILY SINGH

Gracious and traditional are family Singh.
They don't want for anything.
Smriti supports orphans at her expense.
Surendra works for the government.
Marksmanship is their daughter's thing.


WEDDING PROCESSION

Friends, horses, camels, elephant up ahead,
Two wealthy bothers grandly riding to be wed.
After the wedding and the party,
These young men hale and hearty
Will start to know their brides in bed.


Early this morning I was able to work in half an hour of walking around a little “track” of less than 1/8 mile in the hotel complex.

We boarded the bus at 7:45 A.M. and were joined by Groyal Singh, a “step-on guide” for Jaipur. So we have two guides in Jaipur (Som and Groyal).

This morning's big activity was our visit to the Amber Fort Palace. It's pronounced Amer. Amber means Lord of the skies. It was built in 1572 and was the home of the Maharajahs until 1727, when the Maharajah moved to what is now Jaipur and established his new palace their. It was owned by the royal family until the government took it over in 1956. It is very large, magnificent, and impregnable. It was never attacked. The maharajahs always maintained good relations with their neighbors and allied with and fought for the Mugals when they became neighbors. (Per their deal, the Mugals got the new lands, and the maharajah got the booty.) We had an extensive tour. It had separate apartments for twelve royal wives. We rode jeeps up to the Amber Fort Palace. Some tourists were riding elephants to and inside of the fort, but that option is not available to OAT tourists for safety reasons. (Elephants can panic, and injury or death can result.) Above the Amber Fort Palace is the Jaigarh Fort, which was the maharajahs' army garrison and is still owned by the formerly royal family. And there is an impressive wall, reminiscent of the Great Wall of China, in the distance. Also visible in the distance is the Hindu Sun Temple, a Jain temple, old Hindu temples dating to the 17th century, and buildings abandoned when citizens moved with the maharajah to Jaipur in 1572. And, yes, we did see some hogs in a street, as well as the cows, which became a common sight in streets after we left Delhi.

When we left Amber Fort we drove by and stopped to take pictures of the Water Temple. We merely took pictures from a distance and weren't told much about it. It's a peninsula on a lake, and we were told the lake is entirely formed from monsoon rainwater. This is amazing to me since this is very dry area and getting dryer. We were told the water table drops ten feet every year and many wells have failed.

We drove through the Old Town of the city of Jaipur. It's a lot different from Old Delhi. The street is a wide four-laner, which is amazing considering that the city was founded and designed in 1727 (by the Maharajah). But it is very crowded with an interesting mix of conveyances.

In Jaipur we visited Jewels Emporium where we were given a tour, then the opportunity to purchase jewelry. We watched people polish gems, saw people designing jewelry, saw people inlaying gemstones into gold and silver, and were showed how gold is melted, poured into little ingots, and rolled into sheets. We ate some sandwiches there, then were driven back to the hotel for a couple hours of free time.

At 4 PM we set out again for the Old Town of Jaipur. We went on a long stroll through the bazaar of shops led by Som, who explained many things. Then we had 45 minutes to shop or window shop in the Old Town on our own.

Helen had gotten diarrhea and stayed in the hotel.

Directly from the Old Town, we were driven to the home of the Singh family, and all of us were their dinner guests. The Singhs have money. Inherited money. A lot of it. Both come from nearly royal families – (something like dukes or barons in the days of the maharajas). They gave us a tour of their very nice home. They have it to themselves (no grandparents living with them). Surendra works for the government in some capacity – not for the money, Som says. Antlers and a taxidermied wild cat are on display on the walls – killed by Surendra's grandfather. Surendra showed us his double-barrel shotgun, his rifle, and his collection of swords. His eighteen-year-old daughter began shooting for pleasure at nine and is now a high-level competitive marksman (markswoman) with a rifle. She will be starting in the fall at a university in Delhi. According to their business card, they run a bed and breakfast. Smriti does a very remarkable community service. With her own money, she operates a home for ten orphan boys, ages two to eight, who have AIDs. In addition to a young man who was obviously a servant and an older lady in the kitchen who was obviously a servant, there was a young man of 18 who seemed to fit right into the family, apparently a friend of the daughter but not really a boyfriend. Because I asked him, and he said he is not her brother and not her boyfriend. He likes to play soccer and is also planning to enter college in Delhi in the fall.

The idea of India's “land ceiling,” explained by Som, was new to me. Upon independence in 1947, a law was enacted that no one could own more than 200 acres. Those who owned more – and the Singh family owned a heck of a lot more – had to give the excess up. Apparently the government compensated them but not very well. The government then distributed the land to landless families.

Quite fortuitously and unexpectedly, on the way home we passed an elaborate wedding procession involving wealthy families. The bus was stopped and we got out and watched and took photos in the dark. As is not uncommon, two brothers are marrying two sisters in an arranged marriage. (Ninety to 95 percent of marriages are arranged by the families, and the couples usually haven't met each other before their wedding day.) The grooms were on their way to the brides' home prior to the parties and rituals. They were riding on a sort of throne on a jeep together with a couple of young boy relatives. Ahead were many people, some bearing elaborate lights. Ahead of them were two saddled horses. The grooms would ride the horses the last stretch of the way. Ahead of that were a few camels. Ahead of that and leading the parade was an elephant. Som told us all the rituals and parties of such a wedding can last ten days, and in his own wedding they lasted five days. A wedding doesn't just join two people. It joins two families. And a marriage doesn't just last “till death do us part.” The union carries into the next life as well.

This was a long day. We got back to the motel about 10:15 PM.

Bernie :-)