After a good buffet breakfast, Lewis the Lion and Helen were back on their travel adventure: this time they were taking a private coach to the city of Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Lewis the Lion hadn’t really appreciated what a big country India is but the journey took approximately 6 hours, much of which was on a bumpy road. During the trip, he had time to look out of the coach window and watch the world go by. He was intrigued by the trees he saw that were painted with a white circle around their trunk. He never discovered exactly why? But perhaps it was something to do with pest control? Then never in his little life had he seen stationary traffic like it as he reached the tolls for the state border, leaving Delhi and crossing into Rajasthan, as you can see in the picture above.
Whilst in the melee at the toll gates, a man dressed as a lady came and tapped the bus window and doors, putting his hand out and begging for money. Apparently, some Indians believe that these men have special magic powers and that if you don’t give money to them, they will curse you! However, the bus driver certainly wasn’t opening the door to him so Lewis the Lion hoped that he might escape any potential curse!
The bus then passed by many half-finished construction sites and yellow cornflower fields. Statues of the Hindu god Rama appeared in fields and Lewis the Lion could see bales of hay stacked up. Washing lines were strewn up between makeshift lodgings. Lining the roadside were stalls made of corrugated steel, often with no paving, just the dusty ground around it. Groups of men sat on small chairs or on their honkers, also watching the world go by. There seemed to be constant surprises out on the streets from laden camels, to herds of goats. It was as if the animal kingdom was living in complete harmony with man as they both had equal rights to the roads. The cows here definitely seemed to be more chilled out than the cows that Lewis the Lion had met on walks across fields back home!
When the bus stopped so its passengers could grab some lunch and go to the restrooms, Lewis the Lion, enjoyed seeing the English above the doors for the toilets. English was still used in India from British colonial times but Lewis the Lion noted that it wasn’t always quite the same English used in England with ‘He’ used for the Gents and ‘She’ used for the Ladies. He also clocked something else he had noticed a lot in India – mothballs in the sink plug-holes – a way of warding off insects and pests.
Helen had a chocolate craving and so bought a Mars Bar from one of the shops there. However, the chocolate had past its best-before date, was all white and had gone off! Lewis the Lion laughed at her: that would put a stop to her chocolate and sugar cravings for a while!
Nearing Jaipur, the flat landscape of Delhi disappeared and mountains started to appear in their place. En route, they passed by what looked like an incredible fortress: a place Lewis the Lion would be visiting the following day. (Check out his next blog post!). They also passed by one of the former king’s summer palaces which had been built in the middle of a lake in order to avoid the summer heat and the crowds. It was called a ‘floating-palace’ and Lewis the Lion rather liked that description.
It wasn’t long before they had reached the walls of the so-called ‘Pink City’ itself. Lewis the Lion thought it should have been renamed to the ‘Orange City’ as the buildings seemed more orange than pink. The city was founded in 1782 to welcome the King George III from England who called it the ‘Pink City.’ Lewis the Lion wondered if he had in fact been colour blind?! What makes Jaipur special though, apart from the wonderful glow from the buildings is that it is unlike any other pre-modern Indian city because the entire town was planned according to the principles of Hindu architectural theory. Its form is of a nine-part mandala known as the Pithapada and it makes its wide streets feel unusually airy. It was just as well really, as Lewis the Lion’s coach had already passed by several camels and elephants on the street!
After the travellers had dropped their luggage off at their hotel for the evening, (welcomed naturally in the entrance lobby by a statue of the Hindu god – Ganesh, together with paintings of peacocks), Dushyant led them on an orientation walk of the city. Lewis the Lion noticed that the tuk-tuks here in Jaipur weren’t like the ones in New Delhi as they were black with a yellow stripe: like bumble-bees buzzing around. There was indeed a constant buzzing noise on the streets as people went about their day-to-day business.
One of the first things that Lewis the Lion was enthralled at was all of the colours he could see in the market stalls and in the shops selling spices. It was simply wonderful! Dushyant also got the group to try some special Indian sweets that contained silver! It reminded Lewis the Lion of silver ball bearings cake decorations from when he was a lion cub.
The air had a warmnth to it and twilight was approaching with its pink hue. Lewis looked up in the sky above him and was delighted to see kites flying from the top of buildings. He could see that some of the kites had not fared so well as many of them were caught up in a huge tree on one of Jaipur’s wide avenues. He learnt that like cricket, kite-flying is a popular past-time for Indian children.
Dushyant led the group up some steps so that they could have a view of the city from above near a temple dedicated to Rama (The seventh avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu). Below were flower sellers with garlands of carnations and inside the temple itself, Lewis could hear the strains of a beating drum from inside and rhythmical chanting. What a view it was! Lewis the Lion watched out on wonder as the noise of the crazy traffic below filled the air. Together with the pink light that twilight had cast on the city and the smells of incense from the temple, Lewis the Lion thought that this was indeed another magical moment from his travels. He felt a glow of contentment and gratitude from the inside and was again reminded of what a wonderful opportunity it was to be able to travel like this!
What is the best type of kite to fly? How can you make a kite stay up in the air for as long as possible? Do you know any special techniques?
