We watched some of the big show in Delhi on TV, and that was enough for us. There is a huge parade to show off the army’s strength and then the President hands out awards to noble citizens and the wives of fallen military heroes. Each city has its own celebration, but as all Republic Day festivities were under high security alerts, it was better that we did our own thing today.
We headed to the Lakshmi temple, goddess of wealth and prosperity in the morning before lunch, as it’s about a 5 minute walk.
It was a huge marble temple and we were lucky enough to see the unveiling of the deity and singing. She was fully dressed in gold and rich deep red clothes. I also discovered I really enjoy not wearing shoes in public places. Later on after lunch, we headed with some friends to the “Old City” which was constructed by Jai Singh II in the 1730s when he decided to move from Amber, a nearby fortress. He laid out the city according to principles set by an ancient Hindu treatise, Shilpa-Shastra. It is in the north part of Jaipur and enclosed by giant pink walls and gates- which were painted by the Maharaja Ram Singh to welcome the Prince of Wales in 1876 (funny enough the current maharaja is a polo friend of Prince Charles). Anyways, the inside was pure chaos, row after row of shops on roads with hard-to-find-when-written-in-Hindi names like “Khajane Walon ka Rasta” and “Baba Harish Chandra Marg.” Once we got back we talked to Niveta about taking us shopping for some tunics and sarees on Saturday so we can begin to fit in a bit more. Shopping on our own seems impossible when we know that would be getting taken advantage of as tourists and she seems pretty excited to take us! After the usual evening chai and biscuits, we took a family trip with the kids, us, host mom and dad and his sister to see the government buildings- which are lit up on special holidays and during festivals. It reminded me of getting in the car to head to Candy Cane Lane, but to see the Indian version of the IRS...I think the most exciting news of the past two days is that we have taken auto and cycle rickshaws and bargained for fair rates according to our dad. We’ve mastered “kitna” for how much and “mehenga” for that’s too much. You keep walking a bit and then you eventually get what you want. Small steps but I have to give us some credit; I think we’re the most adventurous pair of roommates out of our small group when it comes to getting out the house. Yesterday we made to a grocery store for snacks and some toiletries and I had the most delicious fanta of my entire life, even though I’ve prolly only had about two…ever. I think it’s the lack of high fructose corn syrup. After lunch we made it down to the Central Museum which was set up by some Brit, and had all kinds of weaponry, pottery and even a mummy.
You really get slapped in the face when it comes to your foreign identity here, for example it cost us 100 Rs to enter when Indians pay 5Rs, we were also shooed out to the exit while we were trying to take pictures where other Indians were. The blatant picture taking and staring won’t go away but I think getting out a lot our first few days might make it easier to adjust to than waiting for later. It’s funny how silly excited we get when we see tourists. A part of me wants to hug them. I don’t know when I’ll be able to explain why but I hope to before I leave India.Amber and I kind of talked through some possibilities for travel. My thoughts are to head and stay north after our classes are over. Monsoon and the heat will hit in Rajasthan in May and from what Niveta tells us, we won’t want to be here. I know that people in the group want to hit Udaipur, Agra (Taj Mahal) and Varanasi before the program ends, which are all within about a day radius of Jaipur. For afterwards, there is a girl who may be doing some volunteer work in Ladakh who would be up for some company, Darjeeling and Dharamsala are possibilities for travel and Nepal is also close and you van get visas at the border crossings. If there is a slight possibility those sound interesting to you…come to India!!
Tomorrow we start class and I am so excited. We’re catching on to important words like roko- “stop” very important for rickshaw-ing and tikay and achaa for ok but I think we have quite a bit to go. Afterwards is yoga!!
Fun things:
We have found the one discotheque in Jaipur.
And the number for an elephant taxi…
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