We hear the sound of a dhol outside so we all run to see what's goin on, and this is what we saw! This is Kali Ma, an incarnation of Parvati. She represents Shakti (empowerment), time and internal strength. She's represented by a beautiful women with black skin, 4 arms, and a skirt made of human arms. Pretty cool!
My uncle told us a story that could make you believe in god.
About 30 years ago, a russian delegation came to India to do a military assesment. On the first day of thier tour, the indian organizers planned a day of sightseeing at some palaces, temples, and mosques. The Russian guy immediatly says "I don't want to go to any temples! I am an athiest...Don't waste my time, ill just rest for that day" so the indian delegation says, "fine fine go ahead and rest".
So the tour continues on as planned. 15 days later the Russian guy has finished his tour, and is getting ready to leave, but he's still got one day left before his flight. So after resting for a few hpurs, he goes to the Indian organizer and says "Sir, can you please take me to a temple, or a mosque or a church?"...The indian guy is slightly taken aback and says "But sir, you said you were an Atheist! Why in the world would you want to go see a temple now, when you didn't want to see one before?".....The russian thinks for a second, and then responds "My good chap, I've been in this country for 2 weeks now, and Ive seen a lot...a LOT...and the one thing ive constantly noticed is that in this country, NO ONE ever seems to be working!...They are either sitting and having tea, or they are praying! And yet your society functions! Its Miraculous! For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how else to explain it, other than divine intervention So please, good sir, take me to your temple, cuz I've got a few requests of my own to make!
You can hear constant pops and crackles!! Fireworks in every single direction! This is incredible!! I dont even know what direction to look!! Lit lamps line the stair cases, Women are walking by, dressed in colorful saris and lehngas, and the beautiful rangoli sit outside our house. What a site this is!!!
ITS DIWALI!!! Wishing my peeps, all the HAPPINESS, PROSPERITY AND LOVE in the world!!! Today we will eat till we're stuffed, sing till we're hoarse, and play with fire crackers till the sky is bright with lights. Its like Christmas, New Years and Canada day all in one! Wish you could all be here!!!
The atmosphere in the city is amazing! We can hear firecrackers popping all along the street, Bollywood music in every car, stall, and rikshaw, and sweet sellers singing thier wares in the market!! So amazing!...oh and beautiful rangolis (colored powder designs) decorate roads, and homes eveeywhere! The colors are lovely!
This afternoon we're gonna pop into Haldirams to pick up some hot and fresh jalebi and then play cards and games all afternoon! I only wish Chani and Fungus were here to celebrate with us! As soon as the sun goes down we'll be lighting hundreds of little lamps, lights and fireworks! Its gonna be so great!
Will publish a full account of the festivities this evening! YAAAAAAY!
So my pops had a hankering for fresh sugarcane juice, so we headed down the street to get some. After we got the boy to rinse the (diesel-powered) machine with boiling water, he proceeded to crush 6 cane stalks and fresh nimboo (paper-skinned lemons aka kagaz) into a bowl. It tasted soooo good...but im not gonna lie, im a little nervous about getting delhi-belly. But the flavor is lovely. Slightly sweet with a slight acidity from the nimboo, and oh sooo smooth. I preferred mine without the salt and spice, but my parents insist is heightens the flavor. Either way, its a delightful flavor!
Sorry for the abrupt ending yesterday... we were enroute to delhi and had to jump off at our station.
So as I was saying, We checked out a bunch of the touristy sites in Jaipur including City Palace, Hawa Mahal and Jantar Mantar.
City Palace and Hawa Mahal were lovely buildings to visit, but after having seen so many other palaces and forts, they were all sort of starting to blend into one another. We were also starting to become a little dissillusioned with the blatent display of power and wealth of the rulers over the common man. Many rulers would tax thier people severely to pay for the construction of ther personal palaces and homes.As a result, the degree of suffuring for the average man was often severe and extreme. As we started to realize the human cost that was exacted in establishing these property's and empires we were slowly becoming less and less impressed. The otherwise astounding architechture is often marred by stories of abuse, war, and death inflicted on the poor by many of the rulers. As a result thousands were often injured and even killed during the construction of these properties, that were typically only designed to further the ego of the ruling class.
Jantar Mantar on the otherhand really was a site to see. Designed as an Astronomical Observatory, Jantar Mantar is one of 5 such sites erected by Maharaj Jai Singh II to predict movment of the constellations, arrival and departure of the monsoons, change in sea tides and various other vedic cosmology. It was also designed to measure time, as it houses the Worlds largest sundial. This sundial is accurate upto 3 seconds, and is so large that you can actually see the sun beam moving across the stone platform with your naked eye. Pretty cool stuff.
After our sightseeingin Jaipur, we popped back to the train station to head over to Udaipur. At the station we met a british dude, who looked like hed just stepped out of the 1920s. I decided his name was gonna be Sir Bradley of South Piddington, after he started telling us about his facinating life as a jewel Monger. He was quite a funny dude, and told us he had been travelling through india for years and had seen just about everything this country had to offer. But when we saw a paper bowl move around the platform, seemingly of its own devices, he was as shocked as i was...turns out there was a cockroach the size of my middle finger crawling around underneath...later we saw a rat the size of a kitten catch the roach and trot away. To be honest, I had a bit of a tough time sleeping that night.
That night we headed over to Udaipur.
Well thats enough out of me for now, stay tuned for my Udaipur Update!
Jaipur, known as the Pink City, was the next stop on our Rajasthani adventure. Built in 1727 by the Maharaj Jai Singh II, Jaipur was created to honor not only the religious and historical aspects of Rajput society, but was also intended to reflect the scientific expertise and knowledge that had bee aquired over the centuries. Jai Singh was obsessed with scientific advancement and philosophic thought, and he wanted his new city to reflect this dedication, so he requested that his chief architecht be tasked with creating a capital that displayed extreme symmetry and beauty mixed with an understanding of astronomy and science. So he built not only his own palace, numerous temples and properties, but an astrological observatory as well.
Today, Jaipur is a buzzing and occasionally chaotic mix of the old, and the new. Bazaars, selling everything from brooms and copper dinner ware, to marble statues and saris are nestled between ancient palaces and temples. Tuk Tuks zoom around cows, rikshaws and the occasional BMW 6 series car, while women in gloriously colorful saris and chania-chories weave thier way through fruit and vedgetable stalls, trailing thier barefoot children behind them. Anything and everything can happen in Jaipur. And with a soaring crime rate, it's the perfect place for a man of questionable methods to make a place for himself.
After a short and sweet train ride from Ajmer, we hopped off the Aravalli Express Train and landed on the Platform in Jaipur. Almost instantly we were struck by the craziness of this city. Hundreds of people were running around on the platform, and in the chaos of it all, i found myself chasing behind my parents who were following our coolie down the line. But falling behind them a bit gave me a good vantage point to see what was going on in front of me. I suddenly spied a skinny man who was walking behind my parents, watching thier every move. He was slowly navigating himself towards my dad, who in his endeavor to watch our bags, was slightly unaware of anyone watching him. Instantly i knew what was gonna happen. The man was watching my dad and following him down the platform with an obvious intent on his face. I ran up from behind and deliberately stepped right into him, pushing him so that my dad saw his face. He stopped and glared at me, and I said (in the most menacing voice i could reckon): "Back off, or you'll regret it!" That allerted my dad that something was happening, and he looked at both of us. The man started stammering, pretending to be a taxi driver, but we all knew taxi drivers are not allowed on the platform, and he was there for another purpose entirely. So I glared at him, and told him to back off again, and he immediatly hurried away, not talking to anyone else. I was pretty angry by that point, but also very thankful that i saw the guy in time, cuz otherwise we wouldve been stuck. Turns out Jaipur has undergone a huge increase in pickpocketing and robbery over the last year or so, and the rail stations and bazaars are the most likely sites of robbery. So me and my parents devised a warning signal to one another incase we notice anything sketchy goin on. And i typically don't carry any money whatsoever, because my accent (and obvious foreigness) already makes me a bit of a target. We've been pretty careful so far, typically only carrying enough money for the day, and locking all our valuables in the hotel safe etc, but it only takes one moment of inattentiveness, for you to lose everything. So even when we travel on the train or in cars or anything, we tie down our bags and keep any valuables (like my tablet) under our pillows.
Anywho....back to Jaipur. After spending a restful night at the less than glamerous Clark Hotel (we eventually switched to the Jai Mahal as it was cleaner and more comfortable). We headed out to do some shopping in Jaipur. I wanted some figurines, and my mom was considering buying some dishware, so we wandered around Johari Bazaar, famous for its arts and crafts. I didn't end up buying much apart from a pair of Jooties (handmade sandles) and a brass statue of Ganesh (Elephant god), as i was starting to run out of space in my suitcase, and we wernt exactly finding what we were looking for. The trouble with travelling for an entire month, is that you quickly realize you're extremely limited on what you can actually drag home with you. So we've decided that if we find something nice taht we really want, we'll ship it back, but in terms of trinkets and random crappy little souveniers, we'll prob hold off this time around. And as ive collected a relatively sizable rock collection (and am loath to part with any of it) i'm trying to be extra careful...hahahah...but don't worry...im all about quality rather than quantity. So we won't miss out on too much!
On thursday night, Rahul Gandhi, grandson of India's former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (no relation to the Mahatma), was giving an election speach in Jaipur on behalf of the Congress Party. As a result, the streets were fully decorated with Congress colored flags (green and saffron), and hoards of youth driving in (and on top of!) Jeeps and busses and rikshaws were parading through the streets. India is in full election mode right now, so numerous politicians are travelling around speaking at rallys and congregATIONS, and the Indian news media is full of commentary and political pundits yelling back and forth at one another. Honestly, it makes the American Election seem like children's play. The Congress party is up in arms right now, because they are in direct competition with India's Bharatiya Janata Party, headed by Narendra Modi (who, from waht i can tell seems like a pretty decent dude...but more on him in my next post.)...so India is very charged right now, and it seems as though the people are ready for a change (can i get a Hallelujah!).
On the 26th, we decided to do a little bit of site seeing, and touristy stuff. So we hit up Jaipur's City Palace, Jantar Mantar and Hawa Mahal. To be honest, having seen so many palaces and forts in the last few weeks City palace, and Hawa Mahal were somewhat boring. They are famed for thier beauty and architechture,....
Crap!we're at our station....to be continued!
