Made in Jaipur

I am just over six months old in India and I don’t think that I have come close to discovering half the treasures this country has.
In August, I had a chance to leave Mumbai and go to Jaipur, the “Pink City” - capital of Rajasthan. I was with a couple of friends. It is not exactly a stone’s throw away from Delhi - about 3 hours on some very good roads and on some not so good ones too.
A light drizzle graced the day. At the foot of the hill leading up to the stunning Amber Fort stood twenty-odd elephants in what appeared to be an “elephant parking” of sorts. It’s not that difficult to climb onto one of these creatures because you are escorted up a flight of stairs to the boarding gate by one of the many guides. And there you pay and are issued a boarding card and led onto the elephant saddle. With great prowess, the “mahmout” got his animal to taxi out of the loading bay. The ride was awesome! Ten minutes later we were staring up at the white marble and red sandstone edifice that overlooks the Maotha Lake; it’s interiors are filled with exquisite paintings of hunting scenes that depict the temperament of the Rajputs. The intricate carvings on the walls are beautiful.
At the end of our tour, we walked down to our car passing many oncoming elephants. We made our way to the Pink City where you have the Hawa Mahal and the City Palace. We didn’t even bother going into the latter. At the entrance sat a man playing a flute. Out of a basket in front of him, two pharaoh-like heads popped out, seemingly hypnotized by the charmer. Jokingly one of my friends turned to me and whispered, “First, the elephant ride, now the snakes ... do you think there’s any chance of finding Aladdin’s lamp?” No need to answer. After a fabulous day, we made our way back home.
Kd