Andrew’s - There ain’t freakin’ no bats in the belfries

Andrew has been quite the wordsmith today, already finishing his Bundi email.  So here is the next installment of Andrew’s views on India.

Bundi.

Arrival into the “sleepy” town of Bundi was a bit of a
shocker.  Our first thought was ‘oh no, what have we
done’… but then, rounding a bend in the road, we can
agree that all is well in the world.  Or at least in
India.  Well, maybe just in our part of the trip, in
this little part of India.

The palace overlooking the old town is sheer fantasy,
as Rudyard Kipling once wrote of it, “the work of
goblins rather than of men”.  Now, I don’t know if
that is exactly the case, but it is simply
spectacular.  As the LP guide puts it, a decaying
edifice… and words fail to really describe it.  I
can only hope that pictures will do the job.
Apparently, as dusk approaches, you can see streams of
bats exiting the abandoned palace… but try as I
might, I don’t get to see any bats whatsoever.
Slightly disappointing, but not nearly enough to down
the overall experience.

During the daytime I can’t really say that Bundi is
any quieter, or nicer, than any other town we have
seen.  Walking beside the aromatic open sewers along
the sides of the road, I wonder about the weird and
wonderful diseases I might pick up here.  What
delectable little bacteria I might track onto my
shoes.  Whether that mangy stray is going to take a
bite out of mt leg, or perhaps that little pig will
bump me into the sewer.  Ahhh, life doesn’t get any
grander than this!

Now, you might be thinking that, as someone from the
UK might say, “I’m taking the piss"… and you’d be
spot on.  While I am not kidding about the sewers (or
the possibility of the nasties flowing downhill),
Bundi is quite wonderful.  The entire town seems to
shut down by about ten at night, and the place is
quite picturesque.  It has that certain charm to it
that was missing from other locales we had visited.
The palace is, as I have already mentioned, a
magnificent piece of work… and I think we have found
a most amazing little restaurant.

While hunting for a place to eat (I am assured that I
do this subconsciously on a fairly continual basis),
we are enticed by a little girl to go to her family
restaurant.  The place is the “Mangalam Paying Guest
House”.  While I am not sure whether a non-paying
guest house exists, I can say with conviction that the
Mangalam serves up some of the best dishes we have
experienced here in India yet.  She rivals Karim’s of
Delhi fame, and for a fraction of the price at that.

If you should ever find yourself coming through the
town, I encourage you to go and taste for yourself.
Sure there is only one table to sit at, and you don’t
see any other tourists there… but it’s family cooked
food at its best.  We’ve had a number of meals there,
and I am quite certain that we will have at least one
more before departing this happy little slice of time
in India.

I wonder if we can sponsor the family to move to
Edmonton.  How about fine Indian dining at the Casa
Oska.  Oh wait, that could be the Haveli Oska for a
more authentic ring.

To be continued in… The Pink City

Posted on January 28, 2009 at 4:26 AM

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