The Blue City

The Meherangarh
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We spent two days in Jodphur, the ‘blue’ city. We visited the fort which was one of the most impressive yet with many rooms and features still in tact. We wandered through the market getting lots of hassle and stares so didn’t hang about long.  Manoj has taken to staring back and waving! At one point I had a whole Indian family –  grandma, aunts, cousins and all, crowded round me, pushing Manoj out of the way to get a photo with me! It was crazy! Manoj said they probably hadn’t seen a western tourist before, I felt famous!

The park with the temples where we saw lots of beggars
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During some more sight seeing we went to a park that had some very old temples. On the walk through the park entrance we had more beggars harassing us. One was a four year kid who was being exploited by his older brother and dad. Whilst his dad and brother were playing some sort of one-stringed instrument, he was instructed to dance in the 40˚C heat. He was also singing Frère Jacque, in his best little voice. So I thought I would teach him Baa Baa Black Sheep. After I had taught him the song he asked for some money. I joked to him that because I had taught him a new song he should give me 10 rupees. He looked at me and then reached his hand into his little pocket to give us some money. I couldn’t believe he actually was going to give us 10 rupees. We told him we were only joking and then he ran off with a smile on his face back to his dad and brother. The sad truth is that we were going to give him some money but we wondered who would get most of it and what they would spend it on. It can be quite difficult when you see so many kids begging on the street, but you can’t give them all money. It’s really hard.

I thought I would teach him Baa Baa Black Sheep