Day 55 (31 July): Monkeys and Gurus

This morning, I headed out through the Bazaar in the Pink City at the edge of which I planned on hiking into the hills a little bit to see Galtar, which is a valley temple with lots of monkeys. I said ‘hello’ and asked a guy walking next to me where he was going as I was on my way to Galtar. He said he was going to Galtar too, but first meeting some friends, who he goes with every Sunday, since that’s their day off and invited me to join them. He seemed reasonable and it seemed friendly so I followed him to a rooftop where his friends were drinking tea. I sat for a while and talked to them before we got in one of their cars and went to Galtar where we saw a bunch of monkeys splashing around in a pool at a temple in a nice little valley.

On the way back we stopped by one of the guy’s from the rooftop’s guru’s since I asked if I could meet the guy when he came up in conversation, since I’m suspicious of anything like this. The guru was as interesting as the guy said and did almost seem like he had special powers at reading people’s lives without them saying anything (he knew several rather specific and non-generic things about my life without me saying anything) He then gave me some advice and told me I should carry around a stone he gave me to balance out my energies and start doing yoga. I’m not sure I buy into the whole guru with special powers thing, but it was interesting at least.

On the way back to Jaipur, the guys who had driven me to Galtar offered to cook me Rajastani food for dinner if I cooked them ‘American’ food the following day. We then went over to another one of the friend’s roof top places; that guy was a real character, who claimed to be the 2nd richest person in Jaipur after the former royals and to live extravagant lifestyle where he travels all around the world. It seemed a little hokey to me.

Observations:
1) The topic of corrupt politicians came up again today. I asked why and these guys seemed to think it was because 60% or more of India’s population is uneducated, so they could get away with being corrupt and no one would understand or care.
2) People are moving to Jaipur because of political unrest elsewhere and the high number of tourists in Jaipur. One example of this is that Kashmiris are moving to Jaipur because it is safe and the carpets they weave are closer to tourist customers. Another example on a more corporate level is that many of the Bollywood studios have been planning on setting up their main offices nearby since land is cheaper than in Bombay.
3) Workers unwilling to take risks. The guys that I went to Galta with worked together running a stone and gem company in supervising people cutting stones and doing quality control on the process. They told me that even when they offer some of the workers 50% more to do something different with the way they cut or polished the stones, so they’d have a differentiated product, the workers would refuse to do so and take their 60 Rupees a day instead of 90. Seems like some people like security more than necessary.

Day 54 (30 July): Rain in the Desert

I arrived in Jaipur at just before 7 am on a short flight from Delhi. Jaipur is about 270 km southwest of Delhi and the capital of the state of Rajastan, which literally means ‘land of the kings.’ The landscape in Rajastan is fairly similar to that in Arizona and was originally divided into several different kingdoms run by different Rajs; it is probably the place that tourist to India are most likely to see after the Taj Mahal.

Upon arriving at my hotel, I booked a tourist taxi for the day and got a really nice driver to show me around Jaipur’s main sites: the ‘Pink City’ (since the walls are all the color,) the City Palace, and the Jantar Mantar (or Observatory.) We also saw the sites in nearby Amber, its fort and temples, which was the capital before Jaipur. Along the road to Amber we stopped at the Jal Mahal which is a palace that looks like its floating in a lake in the monsoon season only, since the rest of the year its dry. We also stopped at a couple of temples.

Today it also rained off and on, which was strange, since the only place I’ve been in India where its been raining is technically a desert.

Observations:
1) Quick decorative changes. In efforts to make the rooms flexible form a decorative standpoint in the palace within Amber fort, the walls are mirrored with tiny mirrors. When the carpets are changed, the wall’s color changes as well, saving money on what would otherwise take repainting the rooms.
2) Transport. In Amber, I rode an elephant up into the fort, since that was the way that the kings used to do it. It cost a decent bit for the kings to do (and still costs a decent bit to do today but I figured it would be worth the chance to ride on an elephant.)
3) The power of philanthropy. The temples that we stopped at on the road to Amber were revitalized by the Birla family, which is one of the modern day ‘industrial’ maharaja families. It seems like this is the only way to keep historic sites clean and well-maintained, since the government run ones tend to be dirty and in dis-repair.
4) Asking for tips. In both the hotel I am staying in and in the City Palace museum (which was one of the best in India so far, but also privately funded by the former royal family of Jaipur) there were large signs posted that say ‘no tips.’ That didn’t stop people working in either place from asking for them though. This deepened my impression that in India it seems that most rules are ignored.
5) Polo. I had always though of Polo (the game played on horses) as being an English thing. Apparently, the most successful polo team ever was from Jaipur, however, going undefeated in international play between 1930 and 1938.