Incredible India: a voyage with Robyn and Sara

Day 5: Udaipur to Jaipur

Phil, there’s no cricket news in Rajasthan because as you well know most of the Indian test cricket team come from Mumbai or Delhi ! I would be lying if I told you that we ran into Virat Kohli last night!

We had an early morning flight to Jaipur. It was very early as it was still dark and we could see the moon as we left the hotel.

A bit of excitement at the airport when one of the security luggage screening machines caught on fire. Fortunately our luggage escaped any damage.

Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan with a population of 5 million. It was initially a walled city and has 9 gates. Its architecture is all coloured pink (well actually, terracotta pink). It is known as the pink city. The tall building in the second photo is the Palace of the Winds, from the top of which royal ladies could watch the passing parades.

The current Maharaja (King) of Jaipur is 26 year old Padmanabh Singh who is probably one of the world’s most eligible bachelors. When his great grandfather died in 2011, the 12-year-old Padmanabh Singh was unofficially installed as “Maharaja of Jaipur”. Although princely pensions, titles, and privileges were officially abolished in India in 1971, families of some former princely rulers have continued to use the old titles unofficially for certain family members, or made new ones for themselves.

We visited his palace which is still where he lives. He’s an accomplished polo player.

This huge silver bell shaped vessel is believed to be the largest vessel of its kind in the world. Called a “gangajali”, it was made to carry holy water from the river Ganga, for a trip which the then Maharaja was making to England to attend the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902. He didn’t trust British water!

The palace also had a beautiful marble elephant carved from a single piece of marble, and some beautiful doorways.

The Palace Museum also has a collection of Rajasthani costumes, armory of Mughals and Rajputs including swords of different shapes and sizes with chiseled handles.

We then visited the nearby Jantar Mantar Observatory, a stone astrological and astronomical wonder built by Maharaja Jai Singh in the 18th century. He used it to measure time, the rotation of the earth and so on.

Today was the Kite Festival in Jaipur. The sky was full of colourful kites. People dedicate the entire day to flying kites. Participants of the festival compete with each other and strive to take their kites to great heights. They try to cut each other’s kite. You can hear people shouting when the kite of the opposing party is cut down. On this festival, the terrace of the house becomes the venue for celebration and along with kite flying, people enjoy great food and music.

We checked into our hotel, the Oberoi, and got the usual wonderful greeting. We were taken to our room in golf carts (as the hotel has massive grounds) and saw many peacocks long the way.

Our hotel had a lovely outside afternoon tea where you could have a go at kite flying. So Robyn and I spent an hour trying to keep kites in the air. It looks simple but it’s much harder than you think.

After a light dinner we went to a puppet show on the stairs of the hotel pool

Another interesting day.