Jaipur

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4.05.2007 Jaipur, India

After breakfast we had a brief tour of Delhi and headed for the airport where a new terminal building is under construction-and they need it. Airport security is very thorough but efficient. Our trip to Jaipur took 1 ½ hrs on a very nice plane belonging to Kingfisher Airlines and the same man who owns India’s popular beer, Kingfisher beer.

Jaipur ,also popularly known as the Pink City is the capital of Rajasthan state, India. The city was founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II,the ruler of Amber. It was the first planned city in India. The population is about 3 million. It’s called the Pink City because the city was built of pink stucco. The streets are wide and laid out systematically but are still crowded with cars, buses, rickshaws, motor bikes, cows, goats, camels and people. All animals in India seemed to be regarded as sacred and are free to roam where they please.

Our first stop in Jaipur was the City Palace. This vast palace complex occupies one seventh of the walled city of Jaipur. It has many palatial structures and courtyards. It’s almost impossible to describe the buildings, the fabrics, the artifacts in the museum. We saw 2 huge sterling silver vessels,at least 5 feet tall, used by the Raja when he took his own water from the sacred river on a trip to London .They are in the Guinness Book of World Records. There were 560 Maharajas in India and their wealth permitted them to build beautiful palaces and forts to defend their property and live an extravagant lifestyle that’s hard to describe. The initial portion of the City palace was built by a remarkable man, Maharaja Jai Singh II. He was an architect, an astrologer, a warrior and great leader. We next visited The Observatory he built between 1727 and 1733 and saw a collection of architectural astronomical instruments he designed. This is the largest five observatories he built in India. With these instruments he could measure time, predict eclipses, track stars in their orbit and more. The instruments are large, one 90 ft. tall, and form a garden of geometric forms. Using one sun dial one can tell the time with accuracy within 2 seconds. The heat was in the 90’s with high humidity and all of us were lready by 12:30 to call it a morning and drive 30 minutes through town to check into our hotel- the Oberoi Rajvilas Hotel. This hotel is built on a 36 acre manicuredsite and includes all the facilities and beautiful gardens. The rooms are spread out over the property-four to a section. Our room was beautiful with an open bath and sunken tub facing a private walled in garden. The food and service was all you could ask for. All ten of us shared a table for a late lunch and then a few went back into town but most of us spent the afternoon exploring the property and resting

4.06.2007

After breakfast we boarded our bus, comfortable and big for our small group, and drove to one of the high lights of our visit, Amber Fort. Construction of the fort was started in 1592 and was modified by rulers over the next 150 years. It includes a beautiful palace complex and is located high on a hill that overlooks Jaipur. The bus remained down below and the only way up to the fort is by elephant ride or jeep. We went up by jeep. Again, the weather was hot and climbing the steep and narrow steps in the complex wasn’t easy. We are glad that we are seeing these wonderful sights while we can still get around. In the heat, Sallie is wise enough to say “ I’ll wait down here in the shade”,when it starts to be too much. The beauty of the place is hard to describe. The living in the palace even included two types of air conditioning systems designed to have wind currents flow through carved marvel screens over running water in the bedroom.

We were ready to return to our hotel for a late lunch. I have not commented on the poverty and accumulated trash and garbage along the roadside. It is sobering to see it. This country has a population of 1.7 billion and in one year has a population growth equal to the entire population of Australia. They 250 languages, 22 official ones and although they are 72% Hindu they still are so big that they have the second largest Muslim population in the world. Fortunately they aren’t the terrorist variety. Our hotel borders poverty and you can tell when the bus passes through the gates onto the grounds so nicely landscaped with a sharp, smart looking staff so willing to please you. Following lunch I went back into town with some that wanted to shop. What an experience! I did take a rickshaw ride with Carola through town. What an uncomfortable and frightening experience. Everyone drives like mad and you better not hit a cow. At the hotel we had some Sallie and I enjoyed a drink in the library and were joined by Susie Mc Curry,her daughter,Sveta, and sister Karol Holden-all from Naples, Florida. Since we were being awaken at 4:30 AM for our long ride to the airport for a 7 AM flight to Udapiur, we had dinner and were in bed in our beautiful room early.

By the way, both Sallie and I read Tom Friedman’s book,” The World is Flat” which talks about the remarkable growth of India’s economy and it’s future potential due to it’s size, it’s number of educated English speaking people, young average age and recent growth in the high tech, entertainment fields. One of our lecturers agrees with Friedman but cautions against too much optimism because of the lack of infrastructure in this country and the bloated bureaucracy in the government inherited from the British. The Indian Constitution also provides for the allocation government jobs, school admissions etc based not on ability but by different party affiliation. Also, while the computer is big here it does have it’s limitations in a country that has the values of their paper money printed in 18 languages on each bill.

PS The bridge just announced over the speaker system that we are passing among a number of dolphins and 2 whales. Sallie just interrupted the author to point out a large whale off our veranda.