RAJASTHAN – INDIA’S TURBAN CENTRAL

We first touched down in India in December of 1975 as part of our initial around-the-world trip. We flew from Nairobi to the Seychelles, and then to Sri Lanka. In 1975, I found Sri Lanka to be the most exotic place one could possibly imagine – skinny, black men riding elephants, beautiful snorkeling beaches, well-preserved ruins, cool highlands with incredibly green tea plantations, and wildlife – including the Sri Lankan Leopard which we were lucky enough to see in Wilpattu National Park.

This was Sri Lanka before the bitter civil war and long before it was overrun by hoards of European package tourists looking for a cheap, warm place to spend a week. After two weeks in Sri Lanka, we flew to Madras (now Chennai). We arrived at night, got off the plane, and immediately noticed an unusual smell – a smell that can only be associated with India. It doesn’t matter whether you arrive in Delhi, Mumbai or elsewhere – there is always the smell of burning dung fires. A very high percentage of the Indian population actually lives in the street and in the large cities, this can amount to several million people. The dung fires are always burning and the smell is always in the air. I decided that I actually like the smell. It’s sweet, evocative, and reminds me of India and of the adventures I’ve had there.

We drove from the airport through the congested, garbage-strewn streets and I saw, for the first time, real, genuine poverty. The streets were littered with people, animals, debris and everything else you can imagine. Dung fires burned everywhere along the route. We checked into the Taj Coromandel, the city’s finest hotel at the time…$20 per night.

It didn’t take us long to figure out that we were not quite seasoned enough yet to deal with a place like this for any longer than necessary. So we decided to cut our India trip short, and head for Nepal. We took an early morning tuk-tuk to the airport (I can still hear the driver’s tuberculous cough), skipped several intermediate stops and flew directly to Delhi. We checked in to the beautiful, old Imperial Hotel, took a train to see the Taj Mahal, and flew to Kathmandu the following day.

So, it would be a vast understatement to say that our first trip to India was a disappointment. Unfortunately, the negative experience caused me to put India – a country that I now consider to be the world’s most interesting – on the back burner. It would be 20 years before I decided to give India a second chance. We have made eight trips to India since then.

After the obligatory visit to the Taj Mahal, most first time India travelers head directly for Rajasthan – arguably the most interesting and certainly the most colorful state in India.

We saved Rajasthan for our second visit. We arrived in Delhi in December 1996 via Singapore on Singapore Airlines. As part of the “Golden Triangle” Jaipur has always been the first place that tourists head for (with all that this implies). In 1996, the city was still manageable. There was the usual assortment of salesman, touts, pimps, and faux guides to contend with, but nothing like what you had to deal with in Agra. The city was attractive – painted in a soft pink, and I was fascinated by the huge number of camels plying the streets, weaving in and out between the haphazard lanes of vehicular traffic.

However, Jaipur has subsequently degenerated into India’s worst tourist trap, and the constant pressure one comes under here makes the city intolerable – especially since there are better alternatives a short distance away.

I have a list of places in the world to avoid, and there are only a few other cities that can compete with Jaipur for sheer aggravation – Agra, Fez in Morocco, and Giza/Luxor in Egypt. Bali doesn’t quite make the list and, of course, I’m not including cities like Nairobi, Johannesburg, and Lagos where it’s not just annoyance that one must worry about.

Pushkar is just down the road, and the yearly Camel Fair is a high point of any trip to Rajasthan. Pushkar itself has only a couple of hotels so the organizers of the event construct tent cities to accommodate the thousands of visitors. We have attended the show twice. While there is plenty of the pressure and intensity you quickly come to expect anywhere in India that attracts tourists, the Pushkar Camel Fair is large and easy going enough to allow one to have a positive experience.

Bundi, a small town not far from Jaipur, represents the quintessential Rajasthan experience – relaxed and colorful, with a population of characters right out of Central Casting. In Bundi, turbans have reached their high point with a variety of colors and sizes unmatched elsewhere in India – or the rest of the world.

Shekhawati, is an arid region in northeast Rajasthan. An important trading center in the 17th and 18th centuries, the rich Marwari merchants tried to outdo one another by building elegant Havelis – grand edifices, homes and temples richly decorated inside and out with elaborate murals. Not often included in the typically rushed Rajasthan itinerary, it’s definitely worth a look.

Jodhpur, the gateway to the Thar Desert, is less visited than Jaipur. The “Blue City” is dominated by the Mehrangarh Fort. On our first visit, we stayed in the Umaid Bhawan Palace – a huge, cavernous structure that was recently selected in several surveys as the best hotel in the world.

Jodhpur is the gateway to Jaisalmer and the Thar Desert. Jaisalmer, a remote desert fort, could be right out of a fairy tail. It’s a long, monotonous drive from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer. Fortunately, we were lucky enough to see wildlife along the way – including a herd of rare Blackbuck.

Jaisalmer was just starting to be discovered when we first visited in 2000. The situation has changed since then – Jaisalmer is now a favorite Indian tourist venue with all that this implies. But, I had the advantage in 2000 and was able to walk freely about the fort and the old city with only minimal pressure.

Our last stop in Rajasthan was Udaipur, famous for the Lake Palace Hotel. We were lucky enough to have a room facing Udaipur Palace. We were also fortunate that the lake was full – it often dries up completely.

While I enjoyed the Lake Palace, my favorite aspect of Udaipur were the incredible miniature paintings available at shops throughout the city. The detail is apparently achieved by using a squirrel whisker. In any case, I stocked up, and not a day goes by that I don’t admire the ones on my wall.

Rajasthan is quintessential India, and it is well worth a visit.  It showcases the most flamboyant of costumes, especially the incredible turbans which were reason enough for me to make the journey.

But, of course, with the good always comes the bad and Rajasthan has several snake pits that I would urge you to delete from your itinerary. If, like most travelers, your time is limited, I would recommend Bundi as a destination – here you get all the color of Rajasthan with little of the pressure you might feel elsewhere. Pushkar is probably still OK if you know what you’re getting into and are able to manage your expectations. Jaisalmer is so unique and exotic that it’s probably still worth struggling through, and Udaipur is worth a visit if only for the Lake Palace and the incredible art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: bazaar, bundi, camel, chennai, india, jaipur, jaisalmer, jodhpur, lake palace, madras, market, pushkar, rajasthan, shekhawati, sri lanka, thar desert, turban, udaipur, umaid bhawan