The Jenerosity of Jaipur

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After our first lie-in of the trip (9.30 wake up 😮) we fought an uphill pedestrian battle against the vehicles and walkways (with one man asking if we would “pimp his ride” to which we responded “no thanks!!) to the much calmer Museum of Gem and Jewellery Federation where Grace, Hattie and Iksha found some of the most beautiful treasures of the trip. Uncle Vivek met us there and helped us pick out our treats (he has exquisite taste). Hattie has expensive taste and inadvertently picked out items exclusively over £300 - including a gorgeous silver chain belt and spice container necklace. Silly betis did the conversion rates wrong in our heads and got excited that everything was £20 (add a zero!!). Unfortunately collectively this was the budget for the entire trip so Hattie came away empty handed ☹️ Grace and Iksha opted for some cheap treasures and left adorned with some beaut silver earrings! We looooove the jewellery in Jaipur, it’s been the best shopping ever.

Continuing our luxurious streak, we headed to Rambagh Palace - home of our favourite princess Gayatri Devi, of which there was an amazing oil portrait of her in a pink sari. She did a lot for women’s education in India and we have since driven by a number of her schools in Jaipur. She was also photographed by Hattie’s favourite: Cecil Beaton for Vogue! She’s like the Indian Audrey Hepburn. We ate lunch and drank VERY strong ethanoly tequila and gin cocktails beautifully served and garnished. It was an intimidatingly grand hotel, and the most festively decorated, certainly for a western palette. For a second Hattie was thrown back to cold capitalist London when she saw the fluffed up flocked 14 foot Christmas tree in a midnight glimmer scheme. The grandeur instigated memories of her trip to Jaipur when she was 11 and how on arrival the staff will give you flower garlands, bindis and fresh juice - and even in the bathrooms there is a woman there to pump soap onto your hands. This sparked a conversation about the fairness and life of working as staff in a place like this. Uncle told us it was modern slavery and the payment was not good at all, it was simply the social prestige and employment status that attracted people to these jobs. It can feel uncomfortable to do things like this when in the car on the way there people are tapping at the windows gesturing to their mouths for food. We keep saying our trip feels very ‘high-low’ as we have the immense privilege of seeing both sides of the coin: luxury and poverty. Returning to India as an adult Hattie reflected on the underbelly of the beautiful interiors and high level of service. Self awareness along with compassionate intentions are our guiding aims.

This led us into a discussion about microaggressions - in how asking ‘where are you from originally?’ off the bat, can be out of genuine curiosity or an immediate Othering - depending on the intention and the individual. Modern racism is much more nuance than in past generation’s experiences - expressed predominantly through ignorance/lack of self awareness/context rather than outright aggression. Approaching those with different cultures to your own with sensitivity is paramount - if you’re not sure - read up about it! We are so grateful for the opportunities we have been given - especially our education. Iksha and Grace often walk around India imagining how different our lives could have been if our relatives hadn’t chosen to move to the UK/US.

After an introspective and very posh lunch, Grace committed her first cultural taboo - accidentally STANDING with her dusty trainers on an intricate sand mural set up for a wedding. Silly didi immediately blamed it on Hattie (DISTRACT and RUN) and Uncle Vivek ushered us away as she cringed with embarrassment!! A tiny foot print remained. This was so awkward omg she thought she would be banished to the palace dungeons! Moral of the story: LOOK where you’re going, even in a palace.

Uncle headed to the airport to fly back to Delhi and the girlies headed to a sari shop: Pratap Sons, which was full of the most gorgeous embroidery and beading we’d ever seen. A little boy slid across the shop floor on his knees in an attempt to show off to Hattie in some Justin Timberlake-esque dance moves. He got bundled back into his pushchair by his mum and we chatted about love and friendship as we waited for our Uber to Babu market.

The market was a little more relaxed than our outing the previous day. Possibly because it wasn’t so dark so felt more manageable. People were still very persuasive in trying to usher you into their shop, shouting ‘ma’am excuse me! Pashmina, jacket, trouser, jewellery!’ Wherever we went. Bartering can also feel like an unfair task as although we are aware of the difference in prices for foreigners and locals - a lot of the vendors are clearly struggling to make ends meet. The compromise we came to was to not take the piss but also not them take us for Western Wallies - Balance! Iksha was also the ideal addition in helping us figure out fair prices for the presents we bought for our family and friends. Grace and Iksha bought matching quilted block print jackets (a Jaipur staple) from a man who couldn’t believe they were related. He kept saying he didn’t believe us! We think if Grace spoke Hindi she would be able to get away with being full-on-Indian. Hattie bought her little niece a cute elephant (her namesake) waistcoat and did some haggling, to which the man said ‘Ah you know the dance!’ - impressed with her bartering skills (she’s a true Bennett girl). Hattie and Grace are still hunting for the perfect Bollywood themed t-shirts. We also saw a man in full Santa Claus get-up mototbiking through the market, just across the street from some cows and a horse. So much stimulation!

Needing a FAT bottle of water, we got in a tuk tuk and headed back to the hostel. Only for our tuk tuk to splutter to a halt and break down in the middle of the road! Our embarrassed driver pushed it to the side of the road, but luckily there was a bakery across the street where we picked up some sweets for our relatives. In the next tuk tuk Hattie’s phone (the first time she’d put it in her pocket) FELL OUT OF THE NEXT TUK TUK into the road!!! We held her back from leaping out of the moving vehicle after it and got the driver to stop, just after a motorbike drove straight over it!! Hattie dodged through traffic on the busy roundabout to retrieve it. The top section has since gone black 🤦🏽‍♀️ but luckily it’s still working! Still in good spirits, we headed off to Iksha’s distant relation’s house for dinner, half an hour from our hostel.

Our Uber driver dropped us off near Iksha’s auntie’s house, and we navigated around lots of barking Alsatians at peoples gates. Grace loves pups but we don’t want to get rabies so we abstained from trying to stroke them. Sweet Auntie (Tara Chachi) welcomed us into her home, decorated with embroidered cushions, and ‘Mr Right’ and ‘Mrs Always Right’ pillows on their bed. They also had a huge life size poster of them as a couple holding hands which said WELCOME - probably from a party they had hosted. It was truly an iconic thing to have in ones bedroom. She had embroidered needlepoints and paintings of flowers she’d made herself adorning the walls. Grace showed her her paintings and she was very impressed! So incredibly welcoming, she offered us nuts and snacks before sitting down for a delicious home cooked meal of shahi paneer (a real Punjabi staple), kardi, mushroom and pea curry (muttar mushroom), rotis, lemon chicken, an AMAZING salad with chopped paneer, pomegranate seeds, corn, cucumber, red carrots, coriander and DORITOS!! And the best dessert gulab jamun (sweet milk balls). She didn’t speak much English but was full of smiles and warmth. Iksha kindly translated our compliments of her cooking and home. We met her husband and they ushered us to their neighbours house who were also family. They lived in a huge mansion, and also offered us fruit and water on arrival - we were very full betis!Their son owned a marble business and showed us around the house he had designed, which had different marble in every room and the very rare Taj Mahal marble on the floor of the living room. His wife and sister were both in fashion (one as a visiting lecturer and universities and the other owning her own clothing brand) and had some incredible pink velvet curtains and carved bed frames and bannisters in their rooms.

Their two year old son Manu was the real star of the show, showing us all his toys and playing up to the big girls. He pointed at Grace and called her didi! His mum told us that even when she was pregnant with him she wanted to be around women all the time, and as a little boy his whole personality changes when he is around ladies - he’s going to be quite the teenager!!

On our way out, Tara Chachi gave Grace, Hattie and Iksha each a little purse with 500 rupees in it - the generosity was like nothing we’ve experienced! They did NOT take no for an answer! They also drove us back to our hostel, and we felt extremely grateful for their hospitality. Even when we kept saying thank you, they’d laugh at us and shrug as if to say ‘this is what we do for family’. The experience of having a home cooked meal after a few hostel dinners was so special and we felt quite emotional at the genuine kindness of the Indian families we’ve had the privilege of being hosted by. We fell into bed feeling full in our stomachs and hearts ❤️

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