The Hawa Mahal is also called the Palace of Winds. The lattice windows are carved in stone and would have permitted the breezes to enter. It was built in 1799 so that the royal ladies could watch the processions passing by. However beautiful, it was in fact little more than one of the glorified prisons built for the wives and concubines of the Raj.
We visited the Pink Palace. Have you noticed how so much is this country is defined by color? If you were there you would understand. Vibrant color is everywhere from the sky to the rocks and the houses and especially in the clothes.
So here we were in the Pink Palace. I would have described the color more as a peach tone but it probably glowed in the evening sun. We were there early in the morning.You can ride an elephant up the long ramp if you are prepared for the long wait with the tour groups. The elephants are very well cared for and are only permitted to make five trips up the ramp to the Palace and they don’t work after nine in the morning when the pavement becomes uncomfortably hot for their feet. They used to be allowed to make ten trips but there was an unfortunate incident when one swiped a tour guide with his trunk and then stomped on him, killing him. Unfortunately elephants are dangerous creatures that appear to be charming and some people forget their unpredictability. An unhappy elephant with hot feet is not one that I want to be around. Never-the-less plenty of visitors waited and had rides up the hill and no doubt had their pictures taken. It did make a colorful procession especially as some of the handlers had painted their animals.
Here is the palace, overshadowed by the fort on the horizon. You can see the parade of elephants making their way up the ramp to the castle entrance. Unglamorously we drove around the back and made our entrance from there.
Where ever we went there was a splash of color, even in the palace.
There was also maintenance work being done just about everywhere we went. I took this picture because of the colors in the doorway without noticing the working women on the far right. They are carrying sand and rocks out of the Palace in tin bowls on their heads.
Below is an attempt to create a cool place to live without air conditioning. This isn’t actually marble but plaster made to look like marble. I think they ground shells into the plaster.
Other rooms and spacious areas were decorated with silver and mother of pearl and fine glass from and tiles from Europe.
This picture gives a feeling for the courtyards within the palace.
A little more history: Jai Singh ruled this area at the beginning of the seventeenth century. He loved the sciences and had the city laid out mathematically. He had Ptolemy and Euclid translated into Sanskrit and took great interest in astronomy. He had the most amazing structures built to tell the time and forecast the movement of the stars. They look like magnificent works of art but each has a purpose and is still accurate today. The long ladder to nowhere actually is pointing up to the North Star.
I was having a ball. I love color and I was drowning in it.
This picture gives a feeling for the courtyards within the palace.
In Rajasthan if there was a palace a lake or reservoir would be created nearby and on the lake there would inevitably be gazebos or a summer palace. This was to take advantage of any cool breeze that might come across the water. This palace was in disrepair we heard that it was going to be made into a hotel.
We continually came across camel carts.
The picture below give you a glimpse of life on the roads in the city of Jaipur. Notice the little statue of the Hindu elephant-headed god Ganesha on the dashboard with a design drawn next to it in red powder, and the sparkly tinsel around the reverse mirror for good luck. There is a tanker on the right side that could be carrying water of gasoline, and as this is a two way road you can just see a tuc-tuc coming towards us to his right. Because the English introduced rules of the road they are meant to drive on the left in India. There are two pedi-cabs, motor scooters and bicycles going our way, and an elephant has just crossed in front of us.
A little later I noticed this motor scooter carrying a family of six. The good news is that the traffic doesn't to move very fast.
We paused in this restaurant for lunch, and although I do like to eat where the locals eat it was very refreshing to get into the air-conditioning. The picture is included so you can see the chairs. The peacock is the National bird of India but these chairs were something else! They had the unpleasant look of sitting of a snake.
A little later I noticed this motor scooter carrying a family of six. The good news is that the traffic doesn't to move very fast.
We paused in this restaurant for lunch, and although I do like to eat where the locals eat it was very refreshing to get into the air-conditioning. The picture is included so you can see the chairs. The peacock is the National bird of India but these chairs were something else! They had the unpleasant look of sitting of a snake.
A little more history: Jai Singh ruled this area at the beginning of the seventeenth century. He loved the sciences and had the city laid out mathematically. He had Ptolemy and Euclid translated into Sanskrit and took great interest in astronomy. He had the most amazing structures built to tell the time and forecast the movement of the stars. They look like magnificent works of art but each has a purpose and is still accurate today. The long ladder to nowhere actually is pointing up to the North Star.
These shapes tell people more knowledgeable than I about the stars and planets. I would have very much liked to have been there at night to have some of it explained but the Jantar Mantar Observatory closes at dusk.
In the evening we returned to the Bazaar which is one of the major streets we had driven through a couple of times. The city was laid out back in the early seventeen hundreds to a Hindu design. There are little shops all along under the overhang.
There were ready made outfits, usually for children, and so much fabric for saris or other outfits.
We wondered down some of the side streets that were packed on each side with little shops. I purchased a little picture of Ganesha and the shopkeeper framed for me and charged .35 cents. Here is another friendly cow and the two men to the right…. well, they are doing their in thing a place designed for it.
I could have had any amount of body art done in any color. Henna wears off in a couple of weeks
We didn’t try these goodies but they looked tasty.
It was at about this time John asked me if I was going to take pictures of every shop we came to. I simply said “Yes.”
Who would have thought there could have been so many different turbans?
There were ready made outfits, usually for children, and so much fabric for saris or other outfits.
We wondered down some of the side streets that were packed on each side with little shops. I purchased a little picture of Ganesha and the shopkeeper framed for me and charged .35 cents. Here is another friendly cow and the two men to the right…. well, they are doing their in thing a place designed for it.
I could have had any amount of body art done in any color. Henna wears off in a couple of weeks
We didn’t try these goodies but they looked tasty.
It was at about this time John asked me if I was going to take pictures of every shop we came to. I simply said “Yes.”
Who would have thought there could have been so many different turbans?
I was having a ball. I love color and I was drowning in it.
Some of the little stalls were cluttered while others were more selective about their merchandise. A rat skuttled along the perimiter of the establishment below.
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