As The Sun Sets on Jaipur

Left Delhi via train, 6:10am. Our train was a wonderful, decent full-service to us at 2nd class a/c pricing with 2 servings of hot tea, snacks and breakfast. 6.5 hours to Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan. On the way we pass many tiny villages, some with just handfuls of people scattered in fields of mustard plants, some with women working on the unimaginable chore of pounding something into the dirt with some kind of heavy device. At one stop we are beside a few tents, made only of a tarp held down with stones and up with large sticks. I watched a woman cleaning a large silver eating plate. She scrubbed incessantly from a water bowl set between her squatting legs. Afterwards, she took the plate into the tent and returned with a broom made of grass and proceeded to sweep her pseudo-threshold. We cannot imagine living under such conditions. But she seemed to take pride in her home as we do, back in the "real" world. Home is in the heart of the beloved.

We arrived in Jaipur about 12pm and took an autorickshaw to a place from the Lonely Planet book called Hotel Diggi Palace, 5km from the main part of the city. Daniel went in to check availabilty while Lara and I ( a fellow traveler of Italian/Swiss decent) sat stuffed into the car with luggage and driver. As we walked through the main gate my jaw dropped - we had found paradise! A white stone fence surrounded a tree-lined garden setting. Dining tables spewn casually on the grass under flowering trees. And the sounds were like music to my ears: birds of all kinds, children laughing. And all for just 600 rupees per night- double. YES!

I had to get out of Delhi. The smells had me close to vomiting at every pass of the on-street urinals. Yesterday we searched the streets for a bus to Pushkar through tour agencies, each one giving us totally different information and referring to the others as liars. We didn't know who to believe. GOD said, "No! To Jaipur on deluxe train you go." And we did. As soon as I saw a man watering the grass in a park-like setting amongst 3 lanes of traffic with cement streets, I knew I would be AOK. We passed camels carrying passengers and goods in one lane and fine cars in another. Lara and I giggled - our first up-close camel encounter. Shops everywhere, nice shops, city shops. People lying in wide-open grassy spaces, reading, taking in the sun. We ate lunch in the garden cafe at our hotel. I had vegetable fried rice. Can't stomach anything spicy again yet. Haven't taken any pics today but imprinting Jaipur's beauty with every glance. Our rooms are small - about 10 X 15 - with 2 twin beds pushed together. The bathroom is huge and clean with windows that open like french doors to a jungle-like view. No more stench, no more cow-dung, no more children begging - for now!

A young man met us in the train station offering 40R to the hotel - $1.00. We stumbled to our car through many better offers, most likely taking us to a relative's place of business. Lies are abundant so it's hard to know who to believe - so we follow our intuition. Lara has much luggage and as we stuff ourselves and it into the car a woman chants; hello madame, baby, see baby! She lifts a cloth covering the face of a lifeless child resting in her arms. She touches my arm and repeats, baby, see baby, as other drivers help us load, fascinated by our white skin and apparent wealth, as if watching for our response to this atrocity. My heart breaks, again!

Lara and Daniel ventured out to receive the bliss and excitement of another city to explore and uncover. Me? I'm lying here, still, listening to the new sounds in my new surrounding in my clean room and comfy bed, as the sun sets on Jaipur!

Shanti (peace) to all and to all a goodnight.
Love, Lynne