Jaipur

July 19^th – 21^st

Operating on a suggestion from Rahul and Guruji was decided to track down and stay at the anuraag villa near downtown Jaipur. We found the place easily and it turned out to be a quaint little guest house with fairly priced rooms and a large outdoor area with a restaurant and various marble statues. We sat down for breakfast while our room was being prepared and who should walk up to us but Rahul himself. Totally surprised, we accepted his invitation to have breakfast in their room as they were packing up to head out. Guruji was very pleased to see us but both of them chastised me for not answering their phone calls (I purposely did not keep my phone on me because I didn't really care to receive calls from them). We had our breakfast and they spewed some of the same ideas they had been talking about in Gangotri. Guruji read us some of his poetry but could not get through the whole thing without explaining each line and then having Rahul translate. It rather took away from the flow.

Eventually our room was ready and Rahul and Guruji took off to continue their spiritual journey so we said our goodbyes. Leslie and I got our room and spent some time appreciating being out of the rain and not having to walk anywhere.

We worked up the energy to go out and find food. I had been craving meet for the longest time since we hadn't eaten well the previous week. We sought out a place that sold tandoori chicken and both got some meat. It was delicious but did not sit well at all with my stomach which was not used to meat or rich food in general. That evening we had meat again in the form of a kebab role that was made at well known kebab shop on the main drag in Jaipur. After our kebab we found a hotel bar and had a few beers while talking about life back in the states as well as reflecting on our trip.

The next day we got suggestions from the manager of the villa, a man named Om, and set out to do some sightseeing and shopping in what is known as “the pink city” or old Jaipur. Old Jaipur is walled and all of the buildings are the same color which is more of a light orange than pink but I get what they are talking about. 

The whole area is full of bazaars that are known for jewelry and fabrics, two things that come out of Rajasthan. We wandered through the two main streets that were both lined with shops selling all sorts of handicrafts. We were constantly told “yes, please come in” or “hello sir or maam” by every tout on the street. We were among a very select few tourists who had chosen this day to shop so the money in our pockets was in especially high demand. We came across a shop that was selling handmade quilts and Leslie wanted to take a look so we went in. After seeing a few of them I decided that I would like to buy one as well since they were only going for about $30. We haggled with the guy who was actually very nice and made the experience enjoyable rather than stressful. He would mime his head being chopped off when we suggested a low price but we eventually settled on a price that was about 40% off the original and each walked away with a quilt to decorate our future rooms.

My  Quilt

After a little more shopping, we decided to take in some of the sights of old Jaipur. We bought a comprehensive ticket which allowed us to get into a lot of different places over the next 48 hours. The closest spot we could get into was called the observatory. I hadn't thought about what would be inside until we walked in and found a large grounds filled with gigantic stone instruments which had been build for cosmological observation. Almost all of the instruments were used for one of two things. Either telling the time of day (via the positions of the sun, as in a sundial) or measuring the altitude and azimuthal angle of different heavenly body. Using both these pieces of information, a lot of interesting astronomical observation can be done (such as the tracking of planets through their orbits)

Giant sun dial. Can tell the time with 2 seconds accuracy!

Smaller observatories that were each pointed towards one of the zodiacs. They are  used to observe objects in that section of the sky.

Leslie is a Sagatarius

The celestial sphere made of marble

Another way of telling time. The angle of the disk is the same as the inclination of the earth's axis so the shadow of the central rod sweeps out equal sections in equal times.

Another marble celestial sphere

The next stop on our short sight-seeing tour was the monkey temple. Surprisingly, the temple was actually devoted to the Hindu sun god rather than the monkey god, Hanuman, but it got its name from the hordes or rhesus macaques that occupy the slopes of the steep climb up to the temple. Leslie and I walked up to the top and got some great views of Jaipur just a little before sunset.

Nice tilak, Leslie

Temple of the sun god.

View of Jaipur from the top of the monkey temple

For dinner we decided to go back to the kebab place and get a couple of kebabs and some beers to go and bring them back to the sanctuary of our guest house. We chowed down and then watched the most recent star trek movie on TV while drinking beer. It was great since we hadn't had any tv or mindless entertainment since arriving on this subcontinent.

That night, due to some virus or maybe something I ate, I got a really bad headache and felt a little feverish and therefore did not sleep well at all. The next morning we had planned to go out and see the rest of the sights that came with the ticket we had got the day before, but I was feeling terrible and exhausted so I decided to stay in for the day and sleep. Leslie cruised off into the city on her own and saw a museum and the amber fort which she would have to tell the story of and show pictures of.