INDIA

17th January - 27th February 2004

Jamesy, Andrew and I spent six weeks travelling around the subcontinent, speeding around in rickshaws, lounging on beaches and eating more curry than you'd care to imagine.

 

The city of Fatehpur Sikri is a day trip away from Agra on the bus, an extensive complex built by Akbar, including palaces for all three of his wives: the Hindu, Muslim and Christian one! We then moved on into Rajasthan, to its capital, Jaipur, known as the Pink City and centre of the jewellery trade. We were now in Rajput country, with the forts and palaces of the Maharajahs very much in evidence - and, also, their quirks and obsessions, typified by the huge astrological instruments of the Jantar Mantar. Jodhpur is dominated by its massive fort, which affords wonderful views over the entirety of the city, most of its buildings coloured a distinctive blue: a unique and special sight.

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Fatehpur Sikri: Akbar's deserted city

At times, Fatehpur feels eerie, having been deserted for hundreds of years. Akbar built this massive place, but then only bothered to live there for 14 years - some say his desertion was due to the failure of the water supply. Akbar was interested in different cultures and religions. He still committed sectarian atrocities, building towers with Hindu heads, that sort of thing. But, he married a Hindu, Muslim and Christian, and also married various styles of architecture in his new capital. This arch shows distinct notes of Jainism. A palace for one of the wives Farid was our guide around the city, extremely knowledgeable about its every intricacy. His forebears, he said, lived there when it was occupied, hundreds of years before.

Akbar may well have stood right here and watched performances in the middle of the water feature outside. His imposing stone boudoir is just behind.

The gateway of the Jami Masjid, Fatehpur Sikri's huge mosque, next door to Akbar's palace. Inside the mosque's courtyard: the white marble building is the tomb of Salim Chishti, a sage revered for seeming to instil Akbar with son-producing fertility. A view up the steps to the other gate of the Jami Masjid.
James, a sick man. Stricken with the Delhi Belly - or, more accurately, a touch of stomach Agra-vation - he vents his frustration as I record the moment.

Jaipur: Maharajahs, giant urns, an astrological theme park and a dog serving pizza

En route to Jaipur: boarding our train at Agra railway station, all kinds of people rushing this way and that! This huge, colourful crowd were huddled together on a chilly morning, waiting for their train to somewhere. Outside Jaipur's Amber Palace. The mahoots use sticks to propel their decorated elephants up the hill, carrying knots of foreign tourists. The elephants gather in the palace's courtyard at the top of the hill, ready to ferry their tourists back down again. It was sad to see such magnificent animals in a slavish state of subjugation.
Inside our first Rajasthani palace. This is the Ganesh Pol, the main gate to separate the public areas from the private. Inside - it's hard to make out here, but the entire wall here is studded with little mirror-like discs, that shimmer as the sunlight hits them. The formal garden, with the Jai Mandir, or Hall of Private Audience, behind. These two shops in the first courtyard seemed to be selling identical products and vocally competing with each other to tout for business whenever anyone came near!
Back across the courtyard of elephants, with the dramatic hill country in the background. Many of the ridges have fortifications along their tops built by the local Rajputs to defend the valley. Aaah, Hotel Madhuban. This was the most expensive hotel of the whole trip - a whopping 350 rupees (or £4.40) per night. Worth it though - a lovely place in a quiet suburb of Jaipur. Inside the City Palace Tourists milling around one of the beautifully ornate gates inside the Palace complex.
The Maharajah still has a force of crack combat troops, ready to defend his Palace to the last. They are fierce and proud ... if not always that big! When the Maharajah, Sawai Madho Singh, went over to Britain for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, he was in a quandary. As a devout Hindu, how would he avoid being ritually defiled in the presence of so many unbelievers? The answer: take two 309kg silver urns with him - the biggest single pieces of silver in the world - full of water from the Ganges, in order to bathe regularly and thus remain pure. He had a P&O liner refitted to accommodate them! The Jantar Mantar: instruments for measuring the harmony of the heavens. Maharajah Jai Singh was into his astrology - and built a selection of weird and wonderful structures with which he could pursue his hobby. Not sure about the astrology bit, but the 300 year old sundials are great for climbing up: Andrew and James are at the top of that one in the middle.
It's an oddly fascinating place. There are still members of staff that take regular readings from the instruments. The instruments calculate all kinds of things. One is the basis of the Hindu calendar, which has used the so-called 'Jaipur Standard' for 270 years. Perhaps if I was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, my shadow could have sent the entire calendar of India crazy! It's that sort of wacky place. Great views, great views. This is the biggest sundial I've ever climbed, all of 27.4 metres.
The Pizza pooch! Jaipur's Pizza Hut is the place to be - if you want canine frolics and the entire waiting staff dancing to the Vengaboyz while you dig in to your cheesy peperoni feast.

Jodhpur: The blue city, with a huge old fort - and Yogi's Guest House!

On the roof terrace of Yogi's Guest House, a picturesque location indeed. Not a bad place to have your tea and toast for brekkie, with the majestic Mehrangarh Fort towering above. The Fort is inescapable, even in the typically rickshaw-crammed streets. The blue houses are amazing, a vivid colour that lifts otherwise drab streets into a somehow more rarefied state.
On our way up to the Fort, we started getting the fabulous views that we had been promised. Jamesy down with the kids - this lot were desperate to have their photo taken with us! When you arrive in a medieval fort, the set of a mobile phone advert is not the first thing you expect to find! The production company, from Bombay, had brought in this gaudy lorry and a nearby camel decorated in a similar vein.
And to the business of the Fort itself - the screens in the top storey of this building kept the ladies' quarters private, while still enabling them to peek out and watch the world go by. You can only get a vague idea of the extent of luscious decoration in the Maharajah's quarters. Looking out past those screens over the city itself. The Maharajah's bedroom. When the summer heat became unbearable, the big M got a servant to operate the hand-turned fan above the bed, to create a cool breeze that made the night more comfortable.
Gazing out over Jodhpur. In the centre, you can see Yogi's, dwarfed from this height by the sheer scale of the old Fort. There is a collection of artillery around the ramparts, much of it nicked from vanquished foes. It is a dramatic sight when the sun sets over the Mehrangarh Fort.
Inside Yogi's, one of the proprietary family, an art student, had decorated each room with murals like this, depicting outlandish deities and fish.
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© Ben James 2004