My favorite: Jaipur in Rajasthan

Every time I think of the Golden Triangle of India, unlike the most visitors/tourists who visited these three spectacular sites, I first think of the most architecturally beautiful and historical city of Jaipur, or the “pink” city in Rajasthan. This is certainly quite contrary to the popular sentiment because the first site that comes to most people’s mind is the breathtaking mausoleum of Taj Mahal in Agra. You certainly know the reason. Agra is the most popular historical site not only because of Taj Mahal’s singularity but also because of the love story behind the mausoleum and the history of its intriguing construction process. However, first, I would like to talk about the city that I most loved… Jaipur – the “pink” city in the state of Rajasthan!

Rajasthan is one of the largest states in India, and as the part of the Golden Triangle, it is blessed and cursed with the presence of large number of tourists. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan, also called “the pink city,” the name, in my opinion, does justice in describing the number of palaces and historical buildings/sites embodied in pink-ish hue that is, built with pink and red sandstone. I liked Jaipur more than Agra and Delhi primarily for three reasons: first, cleaner and wider streets which resulted in less congested traffic; second, fresher air without the Delhi like “smokey” and heavy odor which may otherwise give tourists a major heartburn; finally, less persistent hagglers who let the tourists enjoy the surrounding city without the need to wrestle with with the hagglers in every single step.

Jaipur is also well known for its well preserved historical and architectural palaces and forts of the maharajas and maharanis. Some of the well-known sites that many tourists visit are Amber Fort, Jaigarh Fort, Hawa Mahal, Jal Mahal and most importantly the Jantar Mantar observatory. I consider myself to be very fortunate to have visited all these places during my very short trip to the Golden Triangle of India.

I’m vastly fascinated with the Jantar Mantar observatory which was built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur from 1727 – 34 (courtesy of our tour guide). The direct translation of this rhyming name actually means “calculation instruments.” As the name states, this observatory consists of many astronomical and astrological instruments of gigantic sizes. I highly recommend the tourists to visit this site since it is one of the best preserved observatories in India and holds the largest sun dial in the world, called Samrat Yantra (please see the picture above). The local guide claimed that this giant sundial is built for a “two – second” accuracy. Since this instrument is huge, I personally watched the sundial’s shadow moving at a certain interval every minute on its platform. This experience was certainly worth the trip to Jantar Mantar.

The Jaigarh Fort is located on top of the hill and getting there by bus was similar to the experience of being on a roller coaster. Kudos to our bus driver… This fort is especially known for holding the largest cannon in the world – the Jaivana. People who are interested in exploring such large weapons and historical forts should definitely visit this place. It is disappointing however, that the cannon was never used other than for testing. I personally wasn’t interested in the cannon since it looked like an oversized toy but I was majorly interested in the strategic location of this fort and the view which would have been seen from the top of the hill. I confess that the view was just extraordinary and if there was an enemy army marching towards the fort back then, the Jai people at the Jaigarh would have definitely seen them coming. Once again, the ride to the top of the hill was worth it…

After visiting the Hawa Mahal, “the Wind Palace”, I fell in love with Jaipur even more. This is the palace where the royal ladies lived during summer time. The reason I loved this place is that I was able to closely observe the intricate work of the palace, touch it, feel it and even visualize how the royal ladies spent their time there. I was also able to make the observation that the royal ladies back then were quite short (below 5’5) and slim (about 100 lbs) because the gates, the arcs and the ceiling of the palace were short and the passage ways were very narrow. But again, this is my observation and other tourists may not arrive to the same conclusion. The guide informed that the palace was built in the shape of the crown of God Krishna and that the Jantar Mantar observatory can be seen from the very top of the palace. I personally forgot to confirm this claim. I wonder if anyone has seen the Jantar Mantar from the top of the palace?

It is fascinating that from outside, this fort looks a structure meant for defensive purposes, that is, the exterior is strong and rugged, the place where the maharajas would keep the soldiers. However, the inside of the “fort” is a lavish palace with breathtakingly intricate ornaments made of thousands of pieces of mirrors and decorated with frescoes, carvings and mosaics. Honestly, you cannot keep the soldiers in this “fort” because they would ruin the palace. Clearly, the exterior of the Amber Fort was meant for deceiving the outsiders. This place is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Rajasthan…don’t miss it!

Most Importantly…

Don’t miss dining the Rajasthani Style!!!

I have observed that today, the restaurants in Rajasthan, imitate the 17th century Rajasthani royalty’s dining style. This is an experience on its own which no tourist should miss for the world. Since I’m a “give me more meat” type of girl, I couldn’t appreciate the Rajasthani vegetarian food, but experiencing the way royalty ate back then made it a wonderful dining adventure.

~ Dilafruz

Fatehpur Sikri: The Manifestation of Akbar’s Love

The Fatehpur Sikri is the manifestation of love of a father, the Emperor Akbar, towards his son and heir, Jahangir, or at least this is the impression I got from my visit to the “Fortress of Victory” (Fatehpur). The Fatehpur Sikri is located not far from Agra (37km west of Agra) so the tourists who visit Taj Mahal should definitely make a note to visit this place. It will be well worth the visit!

There is a belief that before Fatehpur Sikri was built in this location, it used to be the dwelling place of Sufi Saint Sheikh Saleem Chisti. Akbar, who highly regarded this man, prayed to him so that he would be blessed with a son/heir. When Akbar’s son, Jahangir, was born, he built the Fatehpur Sikri and named his son Mohammed Saleem, in the memory of Saint Sheikh Saleem. I read somewhere that his son disliked his name since he was named after someone who didn’t belong to a royal lineage/blood so he later changed his name to Jahangir (the Ruler of the World).

Currently, this Fatehpur Sikri holds the tomb of the Sufi Saint Sheikh Saleem Chisto and locals believe that one, who ties a thread in the marble screen which surrounds the tomb and makes a wish/wishes, then her/his wishes will be fulfilled. The guide believed that one is allowed up to three wishes only… Once the wish is fulfilled, then the same person should revisit the tomb and untie the thread.

The picture on the left shows the Diwan Khana I-am which was the place where the public gathered to express their grievances and where the emperor Akbar and his ministers meted out justice. When I was a child, I used to read fairy tales about such public halls but I never thought that these existed in the world. In spite of the question of practicality and impartiality of such Justice System, one remains intrigued by the existence of such concept in practice.

In my opinion, Fatehpur Sikri is also notable for its persistent salesmen (“hagglers” as the locals call them). Interestingly, there is a belief amongst them that they should target only one or two tourists in the group, not the majority of them, to sell their product. If you show any interest by asking the price of a product or even simply by looking at what these hagglers are selling, you will become their target. If you become the target, you will not be let go without purchasing their product. They will follow you everywhere during your entire trip to Fatehpur Sikri. They are very persistent and experienced in convincing you to buy whatever they are selling which can be a souvenir, jewelery or a postcard. If you are looking to buy postcards of Taj Mahal, Red Fort of Delhi and Fatehpur Sikri, this is a good place to make such purchases. The starting price for these postcards is 200 rupees a piece but soon you will realize that you can buy the entire book of postcards for as low as 10 rupees. Keep walking and have hagglers follow you until they name your price.

One final note on hagglers. As you step out of the room that has Sufi Sheikh Saleem Chisti’s tomb, you will be approached by a number of hagglers who pretend to be your tour guide. They will lead you astray promising that there is more to see, tell you some stories that you’ve already heard from your own tour guide, ask you whether you’ve made a wish and slowly take you to their small stands/stores where you will be approached by other hagglers who will push you their products. It didn’t happen to me personally (because I knew exactly how our tour guide looked like) but some other tourists in our group fell victim to this clever scene. The hagglers will not rob you but you will be persuaded to buy one souvenir for the same price you could otherwise bought 10 or more souvenirs. As you may have realized, the definition of “getting robbed” is relative. If you find yourself in this situation, play it to your advantage. Tell them YOUR price and start walking away. Eventually, you will get the price you want OR you will have these hagglers off your back.

The End

~Dilafruz

The “Cleaning Lady”

The Cleaning “Lady”

We had been travelling in India and observing, learning and trying to understand Indian culture for two days when I had the following conversation with a friend of mine whom I met during our trip to India. We were having breakfast in the hotel and he says: “I need to have a talk with the hotel cleaning lady, with the one who cleaned my room. ” As I mentioned earlier, having lived in India for two days, having observed Indian ways, I immediately retorted, “What makes you think that the person who cleaned your room is a woman?”

What I have realized from my trip to India, which makes me happy (and at the same time feel bitter), is the fact that Indian women in India, are treated with much consideration and regard. It is what I am personally convinced of despite all the lies that has been propagated by the media, internet etc about how poorly they are treated in India. The “cleaning lady” concept, I realized, is the Western phenomenon because the dirtiest of all work that involves cleaning and scrubbing, serving and assisting is done mostly by women in many Western developed societies. The part that makes me feel bitter is the part where this all is in the name of equality of genders because this supposedly gives Western women the opportunity for empowerment.

In India, jobs that involve cleaning hotel rooms, streets, serving food in restaurants, waiter or waitressing, doing the dishes, swiping, scrubbing and mopping are all done mostly by men. We lived in the Almondz Hotel on ¾ East Patel Nagar, New Delhi, India. It is a small hotel for people with medium income and affordable to student travellers like myself and others in the group. The hotel had about 10 employees: only two of them were women, one of whom worked as a receptionist in the front desk. All she did was to greet the customers, assign them their rooms and she worked only during the most convenient afternoon hours. I never saw her in the front desk during the morning, late night or weekend shifts. The rest of the work in the hotel, were performed by men including the laundry services, fixing breakfast/lunch/dinner, cleaning the rooms, hallways etc. etc. The second woman was their supervisor so she never did the actual cleaning herself. In the west, we have the “cleaning ladies.”

Another display of consideration towards women in this society can be easily seen when you take the New Delhi metro (subway). Their metro is always crowded even during non- peak hours for obvious reasons: New Delhi’s population is about 14 million (NYC’s population is about 8 million). It is very obvious that there are a lot more men than women in the city. For this reason, in order to make women more safe, in addition to unisex train cars, they have additional “women only” cars. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that men never get on the car that has these signs, even if there is no room in other unisex cars of the train. I have observed that they sincerely respect such boundaries and never cross it. Even inside the unisex cars, there are designated seats that are meant only for women. Lo and behold, I saw only women sitting in those designated areas. Once again, no men cross such “women only” boundaries or try setting an unfortunate precedent by breaking such rules. So, the next logical question that follows from this observation is why don’t we have similar subway system set in place in NYC subways? Is it due to the fact that New Yorkers sincerely believe that men and women are created equal (I say this with an emphasized sarcasm)… or is it due to the fact that Westerners are afraid to acknowledge that the “western way” is not the only right way?

There are security checkpoints everywhere in India. Almost every single administrative building and even the metros have security checkpoints. Yes, you have to go through the security, get a full body scan and scan all your belongings before entering the metros. Once again, they pay special consideration for women even when it comes to the issue of security. First of all, there are separate security checkpoints for women and men, so you have to stand on different lines depending on your gender. Women are frisked only by a female security guard (which is the case everywhere, I think) and they are never searched in an open area (which is not the case everywhere). There are walls and/or booths where women are checked by a female security guard. Interestingly, if there is not a female security guard at a checkpoint, women are let to pass by without getting their body frisked. This defeats the purpose of these security checkpoints, but this is how it is!
Before going to India, I was a strong believer that men and women should be treated in exactly same way as if there is no such a thing called, “sex.” I strongly believed that women don’t need any type of special treatment. I went to India and my beliefs have been disturbed. I am not sure what I believe in anymore, neither do I know if I should be upset or happy about it. There is clearly a lot to learn.

Regards,

~ Dilafruz