Today I Fell in Love with India

Jaipur 073
Originally uploaded by susiebarber

I have seen so much poverty since arriving on Tuesday and have had so many scam artists and pushy rickshaw drivers incessantly bugging me, that I really thought I would end up hating this country. But no -- today I fell in love.

Anand met me this morning to take me around the sites of Jaipur. He brought his friend Ranjee. Ranjee has a Ph.D. in history and knows everything there is to know about Rajasthan (which is the state we are in). We started out by driving into the walled part of the city and visiting the city palace and museum. Our first stop within the palace was the Jantar antar, which is the largest stone observatory in the world. In there, I saw two sundials. The smaller was accurate within 20 seconds and the larger within 2 seconds (it’s the largest sundial in the world). There was a GPS available and sure enough, they were accurate. There were also structures which showed which astrological sign we are in as well as the azimuth to the sun. It was pretty amazing considering that it was built in the 1700s.

Afterwards we walked around the city palace and went through the textile and weapons museums. I was not allowed to take pictures inside at all – sorry. But it was all very interesting. Afterwards, we went to the Amber Fort. This fort was the ancient capital of the Jaipur state and has some wonderful views and gardens. It is nestled at the beginning of the Aravalli Mountains and has some serious wall surrounding the area. It’s equal is height and width to the Great Wall of China, but is not nearly as long. There were lakes and reservoirs below and was pretty stunning. We then went on to the Jaigarn Fort, which after the Amber Fort wasn’t all that, but it had amazing views of all of Jaipur.

The three of us had lunch and then the guys indulged me. Yes, I went sari shopping! Totally fun. You go into a shop and they set you down in this beautifully apholstered chair. Every wall has saris on shelves from top to bottom. They are folded nicely and crammed in there. Literally hundreds of them in all color combinations and fabrics. They guys start pulling them out and showing them each to you in the colors that you ask. Many are embroidered or have sequined embellishments, but all are very beautiful. So, of course, I did a little bit of shopping.

Then the big surprise happened. Ranjee asked if I would like to drive out into the country and meet his family. Today was a Hindu holiday and all of his family was gathered at his house. So away we went. About 40 km outside of Jaipur. His family has a lot of land, so I got a tour of the farm. They grow corn and ground nuts (kinda like peanuts). He lives in the house with his wife and 9 month old daughter, his parents and grandparents. His brothers and sisters were there for the holiday as well. They were all so wonderful! No one spoke any English except Ranjee and Anand, but the women were so smiley and kept bringing me lemonade and foods they had made for the holiday. They had me particpate in a ceremony where they tie a string bracelet around your wrist and put a red dot on your forehead (as if the stupid mole between my eyes wasn’t enough!) and gave me a traditional Hindu welcome gift of a coconut. I’m trying to figure out how to get that one through customs.

I went with Ranjee’s mother while she milked a cow to make some chai and saw a 4 hour old new calf. I played with the two baby’s (6 and 9 months each), and I smiled and waved at every neighbor from the village who came to see the strange blonde woman. The girls played with my hair and the boys kept going to tell more neighbors that I was there. I sat on a porch and had a long conversation with the 82 year old grandfather. He only speaks Hindi and I really only speak English, but it was funny how one of us would speak and the other would respond. I think our conversation was something like this:

Grandpa – “So where are you from?”
Me – “It’s so beautiful here.”
Grandpa – “Are you married?”
Me – “Have you lived here all your life?”

You get the idea. But it was a fun conversation anyway. It was just so wonderful hanging out with the family and seeing how they live. There were all kinds of Hindu shrines in their house and they were al so much fun. After 2 hours, it was time to leave. Ranjee’s sister and mother make beautiful Rajasthan dresses that are sold in the stores in town. They gave me one as a gift. I never really liked orange, but now I love it. And India. I’m now in love with India.