JAIPUR - The Pink City

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December 20th 2010

Published: December 31st 2010

December 20, 2010: Jaipur – The Pink City

Sam Wrote:

After yesterday’s fiasco, this morning did not start too well.

We met with the tour guide, Ashok, at 8:30am and headed to the Amber Fort some 40 minutes away. The fort is located at the old city whereas we were in the new city.

The fort is an immense structure built on top of a mountain. Around it, some distance away, a huge wall has been constructed similar to the Great Wall of China. At the fort, all of us stood in line to board the waiting elephants (max 2 people per elephant) and ride up the steep driveway to the fort. It would have been an amazing experience if it were not for the various vendors hawking their trinkets at us on-route. Remarkably, the elephant moves pretty quick, even though the steep road was uneven.

The fort and the palace itself are amazing but, unlike the other palaces and forts we have viewed in Jodhpur and Udaipur, these are managed and operated by the Indian govt., the Department of Antiquities. As mentioned in an earlier post, in the early 1970s, Indira Gandhi’s government had confiscated the property in the name of national treasure.

The fact that this venue was government controlled was quickly evident. Although the structure is amazing, the display lacked what all the other palaces had: charm. There is so much history here that gave a more polished presentation, the visitor would leave with a memorable day.

Also, our guide Ashok, seemed to be reciting a memorized text. He lacked the passion all our other City Guides had. He also had an accent that was hard to understand, especially for our kids. Of all the city guides we have had so far, he is the only one we don’t care for much.

As we were leaving the fort, we herd some interesting music. It turned out to be two snake charmers playing their special flute and a cobra swaying to the tunes. Once we put some money in their basket, they asked if Tejas wanted to play the flute with them and “charm” the snake. To my surprise, Tejas readily agreed. It was another great photo opportunity.

After the Amber Fort, we headed back to the planned city of New Jaipur. The King of Jaipur, Jai Singh II, built the new city after a thorough plan was prepared. The main street runs east – west and all the city blocks are built with meticulous planning. The planning also dictated the various sizes and shapes of the homes. Once the planning and construction was complete only then did the King invite people to reside in the city. The King was particular in whom he invited to the City. He not only wanted a representation of all the casts, creeds and religions to live in his city, he wanted them to be co-dependent on each other. In that he achieved his goal. Since the city came into being, it has only had one communal violence occurrence. That too lasted only 12 hours. Other cities of similar size have a Muslim section and a Hindu section physically separated from each other. In Jaipur, Hindus and Muslims live next to each other.

After lunch, we visited Jantar Mantar and the City Palace. The Palace is still inhabited by the royal family though we got to see the part that is open to the public. We got to see a large collection of armaments and also period costumes. Surprisingly, I found it very interesting.

Jantar Mantra was something else all together. It is an architectural collection of 14 astronomical observatory instruments built by Maharaja Jai Singh II between 1727 – 1734. These instruments were used to measure time, predict eclipses, track the earth’s location relative to the other planets and stars, etc. This is not a subject something that intrigues me much but in this case I was truly awed. They have an instrument to measure time that is up to 20 seconds accurate. This King, Jai Singh II, must have been an incredible person.

At 4 pm, the city guide, Ashok handed us over to Vaibhav, the guide from the Virasat Foundation. They had organized a walking tour for us thru the side streets of Jaipur.

Vaibhav was a breath of fresh air. His passion and love for the city was clearly obvious. He first had us board bicycle rickshaws and took us to Isarlat – a seven storey octagonal tower. We climbed to the top from which the guide pointed out all the major structures of Jaipur.

We then walked thru the alleys of Jaipur where he showed us various shopkeepers and craftsmen. We got to meet the meethaiwala (maker of sweets), the lassi wala (maker of a yogurt drink), the bhajiya wala (street food vendor), a person who made metal dyes for the jewellers, the temple priest, etc. We also got to visit with Mr. Sankit, a world renowned Kundan Meenakari jewelry designer. We terminated our walk with tea, kachori and sweets at Pyrae Miya’s palatial home. Pyrae Miya is a homeopathic doctor and an important citizen of Jaipur. He also wanted us to know that he has met with Prince Charles on a number of occasions.

We all really enjoyed the time we spent with Vaibhav and his assistant. They are part of the Virasat Foundation and their goal is to restore Jaipur. Both my kids also were fully fascinated the entire day. My son, even went further by sampling all the foods and drinks from the street vendors. Bravo to him. Even the guides were impressed as to how interested the kids were and excited to learn about the people.

After that we went back to the Hotel by local taxi. We had a buffet dinner at the Sheraton – tasty but not special.

Another great day. Tomorrow we go see the Taj.

Yamini wrote:

The children had no problem getting up this morning as they were looking forward to elephant ride up to Amber Fort.

We met our guide, Ashok Tagi, and I immediately knew that this was going to be a little challenging. He was an elderly, soft spoken, gentleman with a very slow pace. Definitely not the young enthusiastic tour guide we were expecting in Jaipur. Both Shivani and Tejas found him quite difficult to understand as he spoke with a strong accent and very monotone voice.

We drove to the bottom of Amber Fort where we stood in line to board our elephants. We were bombarded with vendors selling their trinkets (mini elephants, elephant paintings, puppets, snow globes, etc) Boy, are these guys persistent. I was getting so tired of saying no at one point I asked the vendor if he understood what “nahi chaye” (don’t want it) means. This went on for the entire Elephant trek too. The steep elephant ride to the fort was cool, as the kids would say. Shivani and I got on one elephant and Tejas and Sam on another. I do admit I got nervous when our elephant kept going close to the edge of the wall. I was afraid I was going to go over the wall and down the mountain. The kids seem to be thoroughly enjoying the trek up to the fort. This fort was also incredible.

As we ventured through the Fort, Ashok explained the development and structure of Jaipur City. This was quite fascinating how well it worked. The view of this “Pink City” was beautiful. Jaipur is called the pink city as most buildings are painted this terra cotta colour every 4 years after the initial Royal Visit from the Prince of Wales in 1876.

When we were heading out of the fort, we came across some lovely snake charming music. Here, Tejas, became a snake charmer. He was adorable with the flute and turban. He just loves being a part of it all and taking in all the adventures. Shivani, although she did pass on the cobra, has been taking it all in with strides.

We again were taken to some of the usual shops and then headed for lunch at Niro’s. After lunch we visited the Jantar Mantar. This is one of 5 observatories built by Sawai Jai Singh II. This is the largest and best preserved observatory built between 1728 and 1734. Some of the instruments are still used to forecast how hot the summer months will be, the expected date of arrival, duration and intensity of the monsoon, and the possibility of floods and famine! The sundial here calculates the local time up to an accuracy of 20 seconds (yes, we saw it for our self). Incredible work showing how accurate the scientists and mathematicians were in the 17th century! We then headed to the City Palace which is an overwhelming complex of exquisite palaces, gardens and courtyards, decorative art and carved doorways. One of the most fascinating rooms was the Sheesh Mahal (hall of mirrors) where a single lamplight is reflected in the many mirror in the room to light up the entire room. The palace museum houses collections of rare manuscripts, armoury, costumes, carpets and miniature paintings. We also had the opportunity to view the beautiful Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds). This was built in 1799 with an elaborate façade behind which the ladies of the court used to watch the daily goings on in the street below. The façade is extremely intricate in its pink sandstone carving and latticed screens.

Once we finished our guided tour with Mr. Tagi, we met Vaibhav Sayal, our city walk guide. This was the best part of our day.

We started by taking our very first bicycle rickshaw experience into the side streets of Jaipur and were led us to a tower where we climbed to the top and had an incredible view of the beautiful ‘Pink City’. It was during this walk with Vaibhav, we got our first experience of street food. Yes, Tejas and I braved the sweet lasi (yogurt drink) in a clay cup from a street vendor. I must admit, it was delicious. We also tried spicy bajias (lentil fritters) straight out of the hot oil (these were the best I have ever had– wish I had more). During our walk we visited a temple, well renowned jewellery maker and his family, a kite maker and an ayurvedic doctor, who treated us to some lovely tea, kaju patli (cashew sweet) and kachoris (spicy lentils in pastry). Vaibhav made this walk very enjoyable and we could tell he was very passionate about Jaipur and enjoyed his work. The kids really loved his company and commentary.

We took a taxi back to our hotel had dinner and went to bed looking forward to another exciting day tomorrow.

Shivani Wrote:

Today we are going to tour Jaipur with our guide Ashok Tagi.

Ashok Tagi is an elderly man. We had some problems understanding him, and he treated his job like- whatever, although he did have some valuable information.
Later we had a walking tour around Jaipur with a different guide, whose name was

Vaibhav Syal. He was a very nice, enjoyable man- unlike Mr. Tagi*.

Vaibhav first took us to the top of a tower. We had to walk up lots of- he thought so. He told us that we didn’t have to walk up all those steps if we didn’t want to, because we are kids. He thought that we weren’t fit enough to walk, but he was wrong!

After we came down from the tower we walked around the street. Tejas& Mom risked trying the lassi, but Dad& I didn’t. But we did try the yummy looking bajia.
We happened to pass by a Hanuman Dada mandir, and got to try some Prasad. It was yummy.

Vaibhav was a good guide, and we learned loads of information.

Today was a wonderful day! ☺

WE GET TO GO TO THE TAJ MAHAL TOMORROW! Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tejas Dictated:

We woke up early in the morning and started the day with an elephant ride. My dad and I shared an elephant and my sister and mum went on another elephant. When we were riding up to the fort on the elephants, there were people everywhere trying to sell us stuff like puppets, key chains, books, pictures, etc. I don’t think they understood the word NO!

At the fort I got to charm a snake. My dad took a video of me playing a type of flute and the cobra was moving to the tune.

For lunch we had chilli cheese toast and saag. The daal was awesome. After lunch, my dad bought us all paan which was good but messy.

In the evening we met with Vaibhav who first took us on a bicycle rickshaw journey thru the narrow streets of Jaipur. Vaibhav and I had a good talk during the rickshaw ride.

Later we walked thru even narrower streets and visited a mandir (temple), shops making sweets and local drinks where I tried a lassi (buttermilk drink). I think my dad was shocked when I started eating and drinking the local foods. We also visited a jewelry maker and spice maker.

Before we took a taxi back to our hotel, Vaibhav gave us each a book titled: “Jaipur – Six Walks to Discover the Old City”. I will not forget this day. Thank you Vaibhav.

JAIPUR - The Pink City

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