All the Colors of India

We were on our way to Jaipur, in Rajasthan India. Our drive from Delhi to Jaipur, known as the Pink City, was a full-on introduction to all the colors of India.

From our big purple G Adventures bus, we watched all the colors of India pass by–how different and boisterous and surprising! Every one of us, glued to a window–absorbing the sights, exclaiming about this or that, and throwing question after question to our leader, Khush. We saw marigolds and perfume bottles sitting on truck and car dashboards, women carrying masses of sticks and wrapped bundles of mustard grass and wheat on their heads, men piled high on truck cargo checking their cell phones and waving back at us, oxen being herded at a rest stop, semi trucks decorated with brightly-colored tassels and “Blow Horn” and “Use Dipper” painted on the back, loud happy music in processions of ladies in red, orange, and yellow saris, indifferent camels, nosy goats, herds of sheep, gangs of monkeys, the Jaipur “bye pass”, and so much more.

 

The Bissau Palace Hotel

A few hours later, the bus pulled into a quiet drive and an opulent courtyard. We were checking into the extraordinary Bissau Palace. This beautiful place was built in the 19th century, as the palace for nobleman Raghubir Singhji. The hotel is located just outside the walls of the old pink city of Jaipur. Thirty-six rooms encircle an entrance garden. The courtyard lobby is open to the weather, with seating in nooks and crannies under eaves. Perfect spots for taking tea or coffee and contemplating life. The hotel had a central area with a bar, and a cozy dining room. Old photographs and maps decorated the inner-lobby, accented by the soft glow of a crystal chandelier and lamplight. A library of leather-bound books and velvet-covered chairs and sofas offered a quiet haven to read, and to step back in time.

 

Room #18

Our room was old, musty, elaborately decorated, and behind dungeon doors. Bryan wrestled with the substantial padlock and the bolt, and finally the several-inches-thick dark wood doors creaked open into a room that was flamboyant, embellished, and gilted in gold wallpaper, hand-painted murals, ancient textiles, old photos, and stained glass. After another struggle with the doors–they had to be fitted together just so in order to close properly–we bolted ourselves in with heavy ornate levers, and got situated.

 

The Old Market of Jaipur

We went for a walk in the busy market area in the early evening until sunset. The contradiction with the world beyond these hotel grounds was clear. The streets were teeming with people and motor vehicles, smog, and haze. Monkeys ran through the branches of trees that bloomed plastic-bag flowers. Dogs nested in trash heaps.

 

This was pure senses overload—-a deluge of smells, an abundance of colors, an immersion among so many people, my eyes struggling to see it all at once, my brain grasping to remember each image. No words can describe the assault, the filling up, the discovery, the shock and awe of India at your elbow.

 

Chai, Samosas, and Death in Jaipur

We saw kohl-eyed kids–the eyeliner is to ward off evil or sickness. We passed sari shops with fabrics in all the colors and every pattern under the sun. Two women sold dung cakes, dried and ready to be used as fuel. Men stood at each tiny shop stall—-each with a specialty–each hawking their wares. We sat for a spell at a chai shop, waiting for its careful preparation while trying to absorb all that went on around us. I looked at our group, every face slackened, all eyes widened, mesmerized. THIS was the magic of travel, found in a moment.

 

We passed a street stall selling funeral cots. Hand-held wooden cots the size of a six-foot ladder with shimmering golden cloth hammocks for the bodies to rest. Earlier, we had moved to the side of the street to allow a funeral to pass-—the body wrapped in white muslin and held high on a cot like this. Only men were in the procession. We took no photographs out of respect for the family and the dead person on his/her way to the funeral pyre.

Later, Khush bought us hot samosas from a street vendor. Bryan took a bite and coughed on the intense spice. I gave my intact samosa to the oldest looking of the elderly women sitting on the street curb begging. She took it with both hands and a nod, then gave me a beaming, toothless smile.

 

Navigating the streets of Jaipur

On the bus, Khush had given us some advice to cross the street in India: “Look left. Look right. Then run for your life.” He wasn’t kidding. At nightfall, we visited a temple and went to a rooftop to look down on a roundabout. With all the honking cars and trucks, shouting rickshaws, weaving motorcycles and bicycles, dodging pedestrians and animals, it appeared to be a moving tangle of madness.

A few minutes later, we joined that madness. Our destination was a garage that had been turned into a dining hall under the stars famous for its tikka. We crossed the street holding hands, and got two-by-two into bicycle rickshaws. Our small loquacious driver randomly screamed out “ooh-la-la” as he peddled and prattled. I counted this as the first of many times we cheated death in India.

 

Mornings at the Hotel

We woke early and made our way over to the dining room behind the courtyard. The buffet breakfast served hard boiled eggs, potato cakes, a curry rice mix, jams and breads, and some mysterious fried…meats, vegetables? There were so many things to see in that dining room. I was usually the first one there, and the only one for a while. I wrote in my journal while sipping my way through an entire pot of the very best coffee on our trip. Sublime.

 

More to come from Jaipur

There is so much to say about India. All the colors. The smells. The vastly different culture. Please stay tuned for more from Jaipur, the Pink City of Rajasthan India and more from India!

In the meantime, you can read more about our arrival into India, or our visits to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and/or New Zealand’s Franz Josef Glacier.

Select photos are available on Etsy.

Finally, if you’ve been to India, please leave a comment about your favorite moments! If you liked this post, please…

THANK YOU!