Bundi - Garh Palace

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Fortified by a great sleep, I only woke briefly to the sounds of the old man (aka Pavarotti) next door welcoming in the new day, and by two poached eggs on toast (why do they always taste so good abroad?), I set of to find the local tourist office through the medieval narrow streets. The atmosphere is noticably different here; a combination of the size of the town, the lack of tourists and the fact that everything is pretty much within walking distance. Instead of the usual tourist wares and touts, locals are wandering around and the shops are filled with everyday Indian items such as plastic coloured taps, kites, sweets, silverware, school books, fabrics, truck decorations, fruit, veg, bangles, ayervedic medicines - all clumped in together depending on thier speciality. The bizarrest shop was the "Arms, Ammunition and Chemist dealers" - a one stop shop for gangsters. To add to the mix you can hear the buzz of the electricity cables above, the 'fragrant' smell of the open drains, cows, dogs, gully's carrying rain and waste away and at every corner there is a crudely coloured temple with a life size horse or elephant perched on top!

It was whilst I was wandering amongst the market that I stumbled across Rani ji ki Boari (Queen's Stepwell - 1699AD) - words fail me, in true Indian style this was no brick shaft with an metal pump. Not even the wire mesh, debris, pigeons and poo could detract from it's elegance. Steps lead down trhough a huge arch decorated with elephant and flower motifs to a water reservoir. You could just imagine what it was like in its hey day, a cool oasis away from the beating sun, but like so much I've seen its suffered the ravages of time, the awful Indian habit of graffitte and an inability to dispose of plastic in the bins provided!

I spent another evening gazing at the Palace from the roof top restaurant of the Haveli - (I found the tourist office - great loo but little else) drinking hot ginger, honey and lemon. Then it had to happen, no more palak paneer for me!

Friday 17th Nov
I spent the day lying in bed with a temperature reading a 2 year old Readers Digest from cover to cover. As luck would have it, today was when my samples were arriving from Jaipur - the worry of what to expect, how to organise the exchange without drawing attention to myself and excitment not really helping. Character building! Hopefully they will have arrived in the UK by now - fingers crossed

Saturday 18th Nov
On the mend and need of some distraction, I decided to go and explore my Palace, as I had come to think of it, but by the time I arrived I was dripping in sweat and in need of a seat. I hadn't realised how weak I had become but I couldn't face another day of doing nothing and with no other English reading material anywhere I perserved. I hired an old guide, who turned out to be retired Indian Airforce Corporal and we slowly plodded up the hill. Once again I was not disappointed, the paintings in the Chitrasala (Gardens and Private courtyard) were some of the best preserved and detailed that I have seen so far. We sat down in the shade and Corp pointing out images of buildings in the surrounding countryside and chatted me through the meanings of the paintings, he really brought them to life and slowly the many deities in all thier forms and stories are starting to fit together. I was also surprised to see the more risque images of everyday life; for the first time there were women and men drinking, smoking, frolicking in the gardens, hunting and more - the real India!

We moved on to the area of the Palace that is still owned by the current Maharaja of Bundi. I was feeling inspired and rather more bouyant thanks to Corps emergency glucose drink. Yet more paitings but this time Chinese artists had be employed and there was definitely a change of painting styles as the images took on different haircuts and oriental eyes. We spent a pleasant afternoon exploring the intricate carvings, stained glass and ivory inlay work; Corp - who had also been a photographer in a previous life, lining up various shots. A special moment had to be when we entered the actual women's quarter, closed to the public (which at this point was just me!); a central courtyard dominated by a huge 20m high stone arch from which a swing would have be attached - just like the paintings had shown.

Having spent the last few days staring at the palace it was good to be able to reverse the image - you could survey the whole town stretching along the valley, the Nawal Sagar lake and get a real perspective of the towns layout - great big old houses, baories and smaller blocks painted blue all jumbled up together.

I was hoping to walk up to the Taragarh (Star Fort) above the Palace for the extra special views but I was too exhausted and headed back down, stopping along the way for my new favourite - tomato soup and cheese Nan.


Ps - more photos to follow when I get a chance!

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