Blogs from Shekhawati, Rajasthan, India, Asia

so we escaped from jaipur, the pink hectic city. We took our 4 hrs bus journey to a town where we had to get off and change buses for the last leg of the journey to Mandawa. We got on the 2nd bus and it soon filled up, but no sign of the driver. There we waited for atleast 30mins almost melting and surrounded by children who starred at us until the driver appeared. Then we were on our way to Mandawa. On arrival found a nice guesthouse reccomended by the lonely planet and that was where we stayed for a few days. From there we visited many havelis, its fort and its street markets. Dinner was under the stars on the rooftop restaurant. Peaceful with no cars hooting and slightly cleaner streets than in the ... read more

Después de largos debates entre el grupo familiar y amigos de Mayank para decidir nuestro destino, logramos armar un itinerario y comenzar el recorrido por Rajasthan. En Delhi nos encontramos con July, una amida de NZ y partimos con nuestro driver, Sunil, que no hablaba nada de ingles pero logramos entendernos. Fue la primer experiencia en las rutas de India, en donde para hacer 200km tardamos 8hs literal!! Llegamos al pueblito, donde vimos las primeras havelis, que son como mansiones de los pudientes de la época, donde tenían a sus mujeres atrapadas, pero ellos era tan pero taaan buenos que les hicieron muchas ventanitas en los cuartos para que puedan espiar al pueblo y a los patios de sus casaa.. Lejos de la realidad de la época Nati no paro de imaginarse lo bueno que estaría ... read more

Shekhawati is a landscape of narrow country roads, half forgotten villages and beautiful havelis. (large ornate traditional houses). Crops of bright green mustard seeds, wheat and cauliflower interlaced with sandy tracks, ornate yellow sandstone wells and crumbling cenotaphs. An open air painting of shifting colour and light. Once an area on the silk trade route between the ports of the Arabian Sea and the Ganges Valley, the wealthy Shekhawati 'thakurs' (noblemen) were able to build fantastic residences, decorated from top to bottom with frescos. The paintings depict Hindu gods, portraits of local dignitaries and maharajas, scenes of everday life, and the latest inventions of the time. Often the artists had never seen the wonders they were painting and imagination had free rein - mythology and modernity combined to give real images. Personal favourites included Krishna flying ... read more

We visited Rajasthan with James and Karita. James has been in Delhi about 2 years and Karita has been here about 18 months. He is from Boston and she is from Finland but they met in Bejing a few years ago. They invited us to join them for a few days in Mandawa which is about a 6 hour drive from Delhi. Upon our arrival in Mandawa, we were surprised to hear a story that a Bollywood producer has paid 95,000 rupees (about $2000 US dollars) to burn a Mandawa Haveli which has 200 year old frescos painted on the inside. We were allowed to tour the Haveli for $4 per person and we took a few photos of what indeed appeared to be fire damaged fresco paintings on the inside of one of these homes. ... read more

Shekhawati was truly Haveli heaven, beautifull and very old and also very delapidated which was both sad and wonderfull at the same time. The people were so friendly and calm old tailors sewing on the street while matress makers stuffed their new matresses with new cotton puffs and the sound of a cow mooing every so often, a sound that always makes Clive and I laugh everytime. This place was like it has always been never changing with a crumbleing majestic charm all around and looking like it will all crumble to the ground eventually into dust. We only spent a few days here just meandering around stopping for Chai now and then and just soaking evrything and everybody up. Next we were of to the capital of Rajasthan Jaipur. ... read more

We were going roughly the same way as our Swiss friends Cynthia and Laurent, so we decided to take the same bus. It was empty for Indian standards and we had a nice time passing through several cities full of painted havelis. We were doing sightseeing from the bus, by sitting higher we had the chance to see the incredible paintings almost at eye level, and furthermore the bus was moving very slowly through the crowded streets. A high percentage of the havelis these days are occupied by different people than the ones who had them built and they do not really care about their lodgings’ value. For this reason, the lowest part of the painted wall is faded or plastered with posters, and from the bus we saw the better conserved parts. There is always ... read more