Andrew’s - The Blue City

Enjoy another entertaining edition of Andrew’s travels through India…

Namaste everyone!

Since you are seeing this, and I am not sharing a cell
with, well, whatever the Hindi equivalent of Bubba is,
you can speculate that our train arrived on time and
no subsequent homicide occurred.  As a matter of fact,
things went pretty smoothly.  The train was delayed by
a half-hour in arriving, and then another half-hour in
departing Jaipur, but that wasn’t much of a problem -
lied down in my berth, shut up the blinds to the
inside and the outside world, tuned into the Ipod, and
zonked out for the next several hours.

Arrival at Jodhpur station proved to be fairly typical
fare.  The train disgorged it’s entire contents and
the mob rushed to the exit where it encountered
another mob - rickshaw and taxi-wallahs, all too eager
to help out with packages and destinations.  Having
anticipated this type of reception, we had wisened up
and arranged for a representative of the hotel to meet
us there… which was definitely the thing to do as
the town is infamous for copycat naming of
establishments to confuse the clueless tourists on
arrival.  As we were soon told, our guest-house now
has now indeed been copied, and the copy isn’t getting
particularly favorable reviews which is impacting
their operation.

So, Jodhpur, the Blue City.

What can I say?  I actually really, really, enjoyed
this place.  Finally a city that one can get excited
about, but what’s more, actually like.  Yeah it’s busy
and noisy, but it’s not like the others… I have to
admit it, this is the best place we’ve been overall on
the trip thus far.  If Bundi was enchanting because of
the palace, then Jodhpur is that, with a healthy dose
of charming on top.

Day one, arrive, check in, eat… activate
homing-pigeon mode and get orientated to the layout of
the town.  Since the hotel is in the old part of
Jodhpur, it’s a warren of snaking alleyways that head
off in all directions.  Each street is busy, and each
is likely to provide its fair share of excitement,
whether that is a herd of cows, or choked traffic.
Take in the clock-tower, with the madness of the Sadar
Market around it.  Then it’s time to find another
jewel of a restaurant that prepares incredibly
mouth-watering and waist-expanding dishes, which we do
in Jharokha.  Eat, walk back and become part of a
human traffic jam where not even people were able to
move… and finally relax over some Black Dog.

The Blue City definitely lives up to it’s name far
more than the Pink City does.  Quite a few of the
houses are painted blue, traditionally done by the
Brahmin caste, though apparently that’s no longer the
case.  The city sits under the protective gaze of a
massive fort which dominates the skyline.  It is, as
far as forts go, duly impressive and definitely
intimidating. 

Day two.  Start off with another great breakfast,
veggie samosas, curd (yogurt really) with honey,
paranthas stuffed with potatoes, over ginger-lemon
tea.  This is followed by a healthy hike up towards
the fort above… and what a magnificent fort it is.
Built in the late 1400’s, and expanded on by various
Maharajahs of the Jodhpur dynasty.  We opt for the
audio tour and all I am going to say is wow, this one
rivals that of the one from Alcatraz in San
Francisco… informative and interesting is usually a
tough sell, but they managed it here in spades.  See
it.  Do it.  That’s all there is to it.  Learn its
history, the sacrifices (somewhere in the foundations
is a man who volunteered to be interred alive in order
to lift a curse, and check out the hand prints of
Maharaja Man Singh’s fifteen wives who committed
ritual self-sacrifice by immolation (known as sati)
upon his funeral pyre), and about the culture (when
the men were going into battle against hopeless odds,
they would wear saffron robes rather than armor).  As
an interesting side note, that is also the color of
the turbans the men wear on their wedding.
Interesting symbolism there I tell you… Anyway, I
could go on, and on, and on, and on, but suffice it to
say, it is absolutely excellent.

I will add one more thing, Rudyard Kipling said that
the fort was “built by angels and giants"… so, now I
have to ask, who the hell was this Kipling dude, and
what’s with the mythological builders?  Why not giant
angels?  Or trolls?  Some old brit dude goes traipsing
across India and suddenly he’s immortalized.  WTF?
Contemplating this, we encounter the equivalent of
Seinfeld’s soup-nazi.  We stop in at the LP-famous
Shri Mishrilal Hotel for a makhania lassi… and
before we even manage to sit down, the guy plops down
two of the heavy lassis in front of us.  Yes, there is
a menu, but clearly, there is no choice - it’s “here
is lassi for you”.  So much for free will.  On the
amusing side, Kara manages to drum up some local
business for the lassi-nazi in the form of staring
young males who quickly sit down facing us and proceed
to stare.  Nothing like being a spectacle to make a
moment relaxing and memorable…

Of course, after a start like that, there is only one
way to go… and that’s down.  In the afternoon we
decided to visit the Umaid Bhawan Palace and Museum,
an impressive looking building that is visible from
across the city.  So, take a rickshaw out, at foreign
pricing… are told to stow the daypack (at a cost),
pay to get into the grounds… only to find out that
most of it is blocked off to non-guests, so can’t do
much with pictures… Museum doesn’t offer much, and
then it’s time to leave… with another overpriced
ride back.  Ah well, can’t have it all.  My advice is
that if you ever find yourself in Jodhpur, you can
give this site a pass and not give it any more
thought.  Instead, we opt to eat our way to happy
fulfillment.  This could very well have been “Andrew’s
Gastronomic Tour of India” I think… ahhh, sweet
Shahi Paneer, Mutter Mushroom and fresh naans!

Day three.  The gods aren’t pleased - today I was
molested by a cow.  Yes, clearly some deity has taken
exception to the tongue-in-cheek account of my travels
here in India, and thus one of their agents, the
infamous sacred cows of India, exacted vengeance.  The
day got off to a decent start, typically beautiful
sunny weather, a jaunt out for breakfast, take in the
beautiful site of the Jaswant Thada (a stupendous
marble monument to the Maharaja Jaswant Singh II by
one of his wives), and what was to be a relaxing walk
back down to town.  Well, while wending my way down
one of the narrow alleyways, dodging cattle, dogs and
traffic, I had to navigate past a large bull at the
side of the road.  As I pass by, the brute decides to
stuff his horn up my sleeve and get tangled there.
Fearing for shirt and limb, I attempt to disentangle
before it gets aggravated…

Suffice it to say, the entire livestock incident took
less a few seconds but managed to become just as
memorable as the incredible site we took in this
morning.  It really was nothing, as I suspect it just
wanted to rub it’s massive head against something and
I just happened to be conveniently close… it didn’t
bellow, charge, or anything of that nature.  Perhaps
it was just itchy… but no matter what, my
perspective is that livestock belongs on farms, not
city streets.

The plan for the remainder of the day is to take
things easy, avoid livestock, and enjoy a fabulously
heavy meal cooked with ghee and subsequently doused in
butter.  My arteries are clogging as I think about the
delight that awaits…

Tomorrow we depart Jodhpur, a city that has finally
brought home the enchantment and charm of India.  From
the call to prayers, to the friendly folks, to the
actual peace and quiet at night, this has been a
definite favorite thus far.  Our train tickets are
booked, and sometime tomorrow (since the train is not
likely to be running on time), we will be arriving in
Jaisalmer…

To be continued in, The Desert Sandcastle…

Posted on February 02, 2009 at 1:45 AM

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