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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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It's impossible keeping up in my journal writing with everything that has been going on. Last week, I went on an excursion with seven other students and the fabulous Stormji & Guy. I finally got to see her beautiful Maharani summer home in the countryside (Kushalgarh). We decided that it's painted 'krishna blue'. She and Guy are turning it into a guest house...I would definitely stay there! We spent our day there lounging around the pool, going on a short walk with birder extraordinaire, Guy, and eating wonderful food ( i.e. fried chicken, mashed potatoes, wine, salad, and cake). It was such a treat.
We visited a number of sites over our five day trip...Deeg Palace, Sariska Sanctuary, Keoleodeo Bird Sanctuary, Fatehpur Sikri, Sikandra (tomb of Akbar), the Dargan, the Red Fort in Agra, Itimad ud Duala, and finally, the TAJ!
Much of the time at each site we spent on walking tours/lectures with Stormji. We also spent about an hour at each site trying out our drawing & water coloring skills by trying to really study the different elements of architecture at each site. I had more fun with drawing than I expected to, but it was disconcerting to look up from the paper and find that I had my own group of spectators avidly watching what I was doing and taking pictures of me.
We spent a magical afternoon and early morning at the bird sanctuary on bicycles riding through what felt like a paradise out of Fantasia. The sanctuary is man made, but was built so long ago that it feels natural. Originally Maharajahs came there to hunt for fun. We found a large cement wall with the records for highest number of birds killed in a day - it was somewhere near 4,000!
It is impossible to describe each of the sites. It was really interesting to look at how different architectural styles developed with different rulers. The plumbing in the buildings was by far the most amazing. We went to the Taj Mahal at sunrise. I think this must have been the perfect way to see it...there were a lot fewer people. For a few brief moments, we could feel like we were seeing the tomb as it was when it was first built. For most of the time I was there, it felt unreal, like I had walked into a coffee table book. Considering that the Taj Mahal is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world, it was a really big surprise to find that Agra is a really seedy little town. There's not much to do, and we were told it really wasn't safe to go out either. As a result, we discovered that Pizza Hut is the hip place to go out for dinner in Agra...there was a half hour wait to get in!
We came back to Jaipur and immediately were thrust into a mound of work...final proposal for our independent study project, final art/culture exam, final Hindi written and oral exams, practicum presentation (that's right, I have to perform the bangle dance for my entire group!), practicum papers, and getting it together to leave by April 6 for a month doing research on our own.
I'm going to be living in Nathdwara, a small pilgrimage town just north of Udaipur for about three weeks in April. My plan is to spend most of my time in Molela, a small village a few km from Nathdwara, where I will be trying my hands at a few terracotta plaques and making a number of photo essays. Molela (a village of 100 families) is known for its terracotta clay plaques and figures. Almost every family in the town comes from the potters caste. I may spend four or five days living with a family in the village too. My plan is to have one photo essay looking at the production of the clay plaques. Another will look at the changing themes in the depictions on the plaques as a growing numbers of urban an international buyers are visiting the village. Another essay will look at the changes socially that are taking place in the town as a result of the growing international exposure and wealth in the village. This is all still in the midst of being planned...my next post will probably be from Nathdwara.
previous travel blog entry
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