|
|
Excerpts from 800-word article JAIPUR; MIRROR OF ANCIENT INDIA by Pam Hobbs
Jaipur is what the visitor expects of India. Its roads are chaotic with rickshaws, and oxen pulling everything from lawn cutters to carts piled high with "garden cakes" made from cow dung and used as fuel. Mischievous monkeys stare down from walls and rooftops. Street people curl up on the pavement. Merchants sit cross-legged on the ground, alongside spices and veggies, toys and T-shirts, antique jewellery and handicrafts for sale.
The importance of old Jaipur in its heyday is obvious from the city's many palaces, some restored as museums, some converted to hotels, some decaying while waiting for rebirth. An incongruous sight is the five-story Hawa Mahal Palace, little more than a facade resembling a fancy pink cake sandwiched between bazaars and craftsmen's cubbyholes on the main street. Actually its site was chosen with care, for here behind more than 950 filigreed windows, women of the court could watch their men go off to battle and march in victory parades when they returned.
|
..... Elephants like Mina are
commonplace in Jaipur, 261 kilometres
southwest of Delhi. So are oxen, camels,
sacred cows, horses and monkeys ambling
about streets already crowded with
humanity day and night....
In the shade of trees, barbers have
set up shop and tailors work at old
treadle machines. Shoemakers deftly
cut and sew sandals while we wait.
The "lug-ole" man offers to clean out
my ears, so I can better hear the din of
horns and hooters. Beggars, mostly
women with babies in their arms, see
me coming. This is 18th century Jaipur,
the Pink City established by that most
flamboyant of maharajahs, Jai Singh 11. A rough and tumble community with
all the excitement of a frontier town, it is also the picturesque capital of
Rajasthan.
Amber is referred to as the Palace of a Million Mirrors. Now in its pitch-black Hall of Mirrors, the curator lights two candles, then waves them about
for wondrous effect on thousands of mirrors no
bigger than a thumb-nail, set into the walls and
arched ceilings.
IF YOU GO: Most of Europe's national airlines will get you there via their
capital cities. Getting around:
Indian Airlines has frequent flights
to Jaipur from cities throughout
India. This airline's Discover India
Pass allows 21 days of travel
anywhere in India, gives unlimited
air travel for 7 days within north,
south, east or west India. Unlimited
travel Rail Passes are also
available. Accommodation is
offered in all categories. The ever-popular hotels converted from
palaces are in the region of US$120 per day for a double room.
