Bundi - the countryside

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I had such a lovely day with Corp yesterday, he was so knowledgable and kind that I asked him to organise a tour of the surrounding countryside. My main objective to visit the Sukh Mahal (built in 1830) on the Sagar Lake, a small (very!) palace where Rudyard Kipling is said to have written parts of 'Kim'.

Stopping on the way to visit another waterhole, this one in even worse condition but still as breathtaking, sandwiched in between the ramshamkled houses. You realy wouldn't have even noticed it from the street. Further on we drove through the narrow twisting streets, it would be so easy to get lost, until we left the town and stopped at the edge of Sagar Lake. The Sukh Mahal is not that much in itsef, most of the character has been eroded over the years as the open ground floor was bricked up and various parts of sculptures and carvings from nearby caves had been haphazardly concreted in all around the entrance. Still I managed to work out who was who with my new knowledge and was quite impressed with myself. I could see why writers have been inspired; the setting, over looking the lake, in parts covered with waterlilies, to the hills and palm trees beyond gave it a pleasant air. Inside the Palace there was a photo of the last official Maharja and his poise and outfit just reminded me of grandad, it turned out he was in Burma during WWII and I wondered if they would have met?

A party of Indians arrived to bath in the segregated ghats either side of the Palace, when a relative dies the men shave thier heads and all come to wash in the water accommpanied by friends to help them if they are overcome with grief. It was quite a sight.

We ventured further in to the countryside, the air was so fresh and clean, I was literally gasping in lung fulls, exhaling the fumes and dust of the Indian cities. Stopping first to wander around the old hunting lodge- Shikar Burj, which was just as the pictures has shown but without the monkey shrine painted a garish red, orange and yellow and fenced in to protect the sacrified grain; and instead of tigers and deer there were buffalos, dogs and monkeys. One part of the lodge had been taken over by a local farmer to house his lifestock - a rather grand pen!

We walked along the edge of a waterway, admiring the views, chatting to the kids, avoiding the cows and buffalo (they really are ugle bony tough looking animals), stopping to take photos of the women washing, watched by the monkeys who were quite unafraid.

We moved on to the Royal Cenotaphs - Sar Bagh, deserted now but filled with ornately carved blocks of stone set amongst the creeping vegetation, the newest still unfinished. The more important the person, the more impressive the Cenotaph. You could almost tell the ages of the blocks by the carvings (the later being more intricate), and the stories they told. Corp pointed out on one, the 12 wives who had committed sati, such an alien concept to me, but one that was (and possible still is) so much part of thier culture. Wifes were encourage to follow thier husbands in death to avoid burdening thier families and the Maharja , the only exceptiong being if they had young children, but still there were reminded in later years. The wife would not go completed unaided, as the procession walked to the burial ground, the women were passed drugged offerings and when she passed out, that point was where she had 'agreed' to commit sati. A funeral pile was erected, she would be placed with her husband in her arms and others would light candles and incense, the sparks lighting the pile. Afterwards a carved slab or stone monument would be built in rememberance and honour. I realised the extent of this practice as we drove back to town the route lined with such monuments.

In a rather sombre mood, reflecting on the past, we popped into the newest addition to Bundi's hotels, owned by the Maharja Rajendra Singh Hada, a wimbledon worthy green lawn with army officiers playing a lazy game of cricket, chair hammocks, tendered flowerbeds on either side with a row of colonial tents (and bathrooms) pitched all around. It would have been an amazing place to stay over looking the lake and bird sanctury (I'm been absolutely amazed by the birds over here - the colours are so varied and vivid, puts our little robin to shame!) but at $70 for a single, slightly above my budget. The owner was friendly and offer us a free Limonca , the deal being we had to stop by his home on the way back to look at the rooms to rent, a win win situation as I was dying to snop around a 'living' Haveli, especially a Maharja's. Bizarrely it was right opposite the well from the morning, again you would never have known, as you entered the gates it opened out into a big courtyard. but unfortunatley his wife was sleeping and we didn't want to disturb her.

Having explained to Corp about grandad, he set of to try and get us into the new Bundi museum (due to open in 2 months- ummmm) but I needed to pretend to be a writer, I'm not the best at blagging, but I must have done something right as we got an appointment for the next day.

A fanastic day and I spent the evening digesting all that I had seen with yet more tomato soup and cheese nan overlooking the 18th Century Naval Sagar lake in the centre of town.

(please ignore the spelling- typing fast and no spell check!)

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