Jodhpur- Same Same but Different

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So heading East across the Rajastan Desert, crawling through the desert scrub the harsh barren landscape on what was supposed to be the direct express train to Jodhpur. No one told the driver as he persisted in stopping in the oddest locations to pick up paying and many hitching passengers. Well the short trip, being 5 hours was another disaster because with half an hour of riding through the bone dry environment each of the train carriages filled with desert sand and dust. It was like we were stuck in the middle of a desert storm. We literally sat on the train collecting dust like ancient antiquities, at one point we actually had to sit for a couple of hours with handkerchiefs across the nose and face to stop the dust. The pair of us looked like ridiculous clowns something out of a western movie, but there is no one to impress here, purely a decision made in the need of comfort.

Jodhpur is home to the Meherangarh Fort, which dominates the city’s (town) skyline hovering over, mounted on a massive stone plinth protruding 125m from the ground. The Fort walls sprawl across the landscape tracing the lines of the hill below, using the landscape as a natural defense. The shear size and dominance of the fort walls is reminiscent of something from ‘Lord of the Rings’, it just looks to damn big to be real. Below the city below is know as the “Blue City”, with the old town consisting of a series of cubist mass blocks randomly placed throughout the hectic city, all painted with a blue wash to signify the caste of the Indian family (being Brahmins), a middle to upper class caste. Originally only Brahmins were allowed to paint there color blue, but now non Brahmins also paint there homes, resulting in a surreal blue glow straggling the cityscape. The view from the Fort across the blue city is spectacular, the blue building blocks create a maze of winding streets across the hills, high density vertical living, but a street level the city unravels a different light. The cramped streets are damp and cold, hidden from light, the narrow lanes twist and turn confusingly while pedestrians, tuk tuks, motorbikes, cows and any other living entity battle to move along the streets. The town has a chaotic, uneasy feeling about it, cramped, polluted, confusing; most of the time your not sure where you are, the city is completely disorientating, which makes it incredibly frustrating.

So this is where the cracks started to appear. Jodhpur became a bit of a battle. It’s the acumination of having a cold, lack of sleep, being on the move constantly together with the Indian hassle, confrontation and confusion, I found myself in one hell of a shit mood. Basically at this point I had lost interest in courtesy, politeness and general bull shit talk. Walking around became a hassle, and general interaction with anyone became hellishly painful. It was the first major blue that I’ve had with India so far, I’d just had enough of what she was offering. It seems that the traveling lifestyle had caught up with me that day, not that you can pin point it to anything specific, as India is an emotional rollercoaster, some days your up, some days your down. I put it down mainly to the fact that my body was tired and lacking one major ingredient, meat. We’ve been on a bit of short supply when it comes down to meat, I’ve only eaten chicken twice in the last 2 and a half weeks, a staple diet of rice and veg curry is all that’s available . Although great, I’m a man that enjoys meat, and this was hurting. And lets not talk about red meat, as well that’s blasphemy here. Steak and salad - my body craves a good steak! Anyway that evening we lashed out at some fancy restaurant and indulged in a chicken kebab to replenish the body and it certainly has done the trick. Early night, hearty food and we were back on track. Still though other than the impressive nature of the Fort, the city of Jodhpur didn’t really have anything else to offer. The rest of the city was typical India….Same Same - But Different.

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Photos

Meherangarh Fort
View from the Old city.

View Acoss the old city
The blue buildings of the old city.

It's Blue Alright
Looks nice from up here but madness at ground level.

Organised Chaos
The streets here are mad....mad i tell you.

The blur
Theres a midget in there somewhere