Rajasthan Part 7: Jodhpur

As we left the densely vegetated hills around Ranakpur, the landscape quickly changed.  The terrain began flattening out, with only a few glimpses of odd knolls across the desert.  The flora became more of a barren scrub, and patchy at that.  The road meandering through the mountains had once again leveled off, allowing for high speed escapades on the open freeway.  Our Tata raced across the Eastern fringe of the Thar Desert- we were headed for Jodhpur.  

Jodhpur is dubbed the “Blue City”.  I will tell you why later.   The first place we stopped was the infamous Sardar Market.  A chaotic mess of people squeezed into a very orderly grid like cluster of shops within the main bazaar.  In the center is a very distinct British era clock tower, another sign of India’s diverse history.  As instructed by our guide and driver, we were to shop for one thing here- spice.  So we walked from one outlet to the next exploring the spice.  We bought several blends which each maker insisted was the best in Jodhpur.  More then anything I was people watching.  After the initial shock wore off arriving in Delhi, I rather enjoyed being jumbled in such a mess of life, color, sights and sounds.  People coming in every direction.  It was sensation overload to the maximum.  There was no place to stop and watch, you had to keep moving.  The slightest hesitation would draw the attention from a variety of unwanted characters.  I think this was the hardest for Gretchen.  Reflecting upon past training, I kept my "head on a swivel”.  Constantly looking, thinking, moving onward, and occasionally pausing for a quick snapshot.  She really wanted to stop.  Look.  Touch.  And see items laid out for sale.  Doing so usually resulted in a barrage of salesmenship and the usual onslaught of questioning.

A technique I developed was to have a counter question for their question.  Sometimes this lead to interesting discussion, and sometimes it led to communication barriers. You could always tell when locals had a very scripted line of questioning, (the only English they knew) and diverting from such questioning resulted in shut down.  Other times I would respond to a question with a nod, pretending I didn’t speak English.

The picture above has a funny story.  I was briefly disoriented by the color of the blue spice, and form of the brown cube shaped “brownie”.  So I paused, looked for a second, and was instantly quizzed as to what I thought it was.  Before I could respond Gretchen answered for me- laundry soap.  I didn’t find it odd that it was soap; but found it odder it was sitting upon the same table as spices and food.

Today he decided to wear his marching band outfit.  And he wanted his picture taken.  Later we saw the rest of the band- but I don’t ever remember seeing instruments.

Like everywhere else in India the narrow side streets were a racetrack of traffic.  Luckily within most of the markets in Jodhpur cars were not allow.  Motor scooters were the only motorized vehicles allowed.

Now, the blue buildings.  Originally painting your house blue served two purposes.  The first being it identified you as part of the Brahman high caste.  But it also served as a preservative and natural bug repellant.  Today its more for style then social recognition.

The mighty fortress ramparts of Jodhpur rise sharply above the city.  The Meherangarh Fort is perched on sandstone cliffs right above the markets.  From the towers and balconies of the fortress the Maharaja could look upon his city and kingdom.

One of the innermost chambers of the palace.  

More blue buildings in the blue city.

The palace was one of the nicer tours we took.  Price of admission actually came with a free walking audio tour.  The visit concluded in this courtyard, after returning your headset, we sat and listend to the Raj musician play.

Just on the outskirts of town we visited the Jaswant Thanda, tomb of one of the most successful rulers of Jodhpur from 1878-1895.  He was known for bringing law to a somewhat lawless bandit ridden country side, while also accomplishing projects like crop irrigation.  The tomb, unlike some, was exquisitely cared for.  It was a very photogenic place.  These are just sampling of a few images I captured here.

Jodhpur was a really nice stop.  We spent three days and two nights here.  During which time we also visited the Umaid Bhawan Palace, one of those most recent palaces to be built in India.  It was completed in 1944 as a huge endeavor for a suffering economy with a high unemployment rate.  Taking 16 years and costing 9.5 million rupees it was a modern palace with traditional architecture.  Unfortunately cameras were not allowed within the complex, and most of it was closed to the public due to housing for the current Maharaja.  Yes, the Maharaja family dynasty is still going on in most Rajahastani cities.

We stayed at a very contemporary hotel on the outskirts of town.  At which this was the only place I was ever refused something.  Despite immaculate hospitality almost every where we went- at this hotel restaurant I was rejected from ordering spicy food.  As I pointed to the menu requesting a local Rajasthani dish, the waiter casually responded “no”.  I said, "how about this one", pointing to another local dish.  The waiter once again said “no”, but not no in the way its not available.  I could tell by the tone of his voice he meant no, not for you.  So I spoke up and asked, after which he proceeded to tell me I was a weak natured intolerant American whose stomach and digestive system could not handle a traditional Rajasthani dish.  If I weren’t so flabbergasted I probably would have been insulted.  Instead I snickered and picked something else.