Jodhpur

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Jodhpur is the 'blue city', so named for the propensity of many home owners to paint their houses in a pale blue colour (fashion? or to discourage mosquitos?). Notably, the city is dominated by the very impressive Meherengarh Fort, perched on a prominent hill, overlooking the plains around. We see that in Rajasthan, now and always the most sparsely inhabitated part of the sub-continent, cities were located around strategic landforms that could be protected against neighbouring warlords. Before travelling here, I didn't realize the importance of Maharajas in the history of India. Many retained political power into the 20th century, and their descendants appear to continue to act as figureheads today. Reention of the rajas throughout India as instruments of local government was one of the reasons that the British were able to gain control of this country for nearly 90 years.

Rajasthan is popular with tourists; many come on a set tour including Pushkar Jodhpur Jaipur Jaisalmer etc. The key points are the forts, palaces, temples etc. And they are indeed impressive. But for us, they alone would not warrant the long journey to India. What we still find more interesting are the people, and the way they live and think and interact with the land.

In Jodhpur we stayed in a very fine Haveli style hotel in the old city, near the main market. Again only 15$C per night. The view of the fort and the city was impressive from the roof top restaurant. The food was good, but service very slow, and I was impatient to see the sights.

We spent a few hours in the fort, which offers a very good audio-visual tour of the different parts of the rajas palace, the thrones, bedrooms etc. the upper ramparts offer excellent views of the blue city below. This is as impregnable a fort as I have ever seen, and it appears to have been put to the test, as certain sections of the wall contain ancient canonball imprints.

In the evening we were able to walk through the main gates, past several hindu weddings (this is open-season for weddings), and become absorbed by the continuing social chaos of urban India. Connie bought more sari material (she now has several tonnes), I bought some Masala tea mixture (I now have several hundred grams), and we slowly ambled through the streets, chatting with people, and getting temporarily lost in the maze of narrow, winding streets. Despite earlier warnings, we all feel quite safe here; safer than in many parts of Europe and North america.

After several inquiries, we found a local restaurant, nearly full of hindu families, lots of noise, lots of kids, despite it being nearly 10pm. I finally tried Thali, a large well-known plate with several dishes including paneer (unfermented cheese), dahl (lentil curry), and several others I can't remember. We've all enjoyed the food here; it's much less spicy than I had expected, nothing here matches the heat of a "hot" curry in a North American or London restaurant.

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