Week 8: Udaipur to Jodhpur

1.Holika Dahan – The day before Holi, where locals burn bonfires to celebrate the triumph of good over evil and the beginning of spring. In true Indian style the pyres are erected directly into the road through a newly dug hole and lined with fire crackers. During the day we enjoyed watching the pyres being erected, with cow dug patties at the base for extra fuel (cow dug is used a lot as a fuel and you see circular dung patties drying everywhere). We bought some colourful powder ready for Holi and found a lovely roof top spot for dinner to watch the fireworks over the Palace. After dinner we joined the crowds watching individual street pyres being lit and the local ladies offering the ashes grain, before heading up to the main temple square. As expected the main event was bonkers with loud music, traditional dance with a modern twist, fire crackers down the street up to a huge central fire. We learnt the next day that a lot of the internet was down as the bonfires had burnt through overhead wires in the streets.

2.Holi. One of the main events on the Indian festival Calendar, popularly known as the ‘festival of colours / love / spring’ celebrating the arrival of spring. In Udaipur this meant people in the streets greeting you with ‘happy Holi’ and placing colour on your face and then a hug. We enjoyed joining in with the celebrations by the main temple with music, drumming and a lot of colour. As we tried to walk around more the younger children have water bombs, buckets and water pistols trying to fix the colour by getting you wet, we were less enthused by this bit and re-treated back to our accomodation to join the rest other westerners watching it all unfold from our roof-top restaurant. Turns out the afternoon becomes a rather boozy affair (not for us) as the guest house father was very merry on whisky which he was sharing around. The streets become full of little parties with individual sound systems and people dancing, drinking and taking the local drug Bhang.

3.Rajistan traditional dance and puppet show. A lively evening at Bagore Ki Haveli in Udaipur. We loved the music and watching various dancers and puppeteers. The highlight was a lady twizzeling around with 8 pots on her head whilst standing on the rim of a dish, madness.

4.Palaces. Udaipur is known as the city of lakes, but it also had many Palaces. We had a lovely morning wandering around the beautiful city palace, but even better the following day we hopped on a boat to the garden palace at Jagmandir Island. A Canadian couple had given us a tip that the ride is cheaper if you go before 13:00 and you can spend all day there getting the sun-set boat back. This palace is truly relaxing, no traffic, just one restaurant / bar and lots of places for us to sit, read and contemplate the corona situation. We learnt that the James Bond film Octapussy was set around this island and so watch it on the bus journey the following day. It’s very dated, sexist and terrible acting, but nice to see so much of Udaipur.

5. Jodhpur Fort. There is no denying that the red sandstone fort in Jodhpur is fantastic. It towers above the city and provides wonderful views of the city walls and the blue houses below. It has been carefully restored under the trust set up by the current king and has a brilliant audio guide to take you around. You can see a fantastic collection of palanquins (a covered person carrier) including one used in England to transport the then Jodhpur queen between her Royals Royce and English venues. We learnt that riding Jodhpurs are so called as they were adapted from traditional clothing of the Jodhpur polo riders and admired by the victorians.

6.Wandering the lanes of the blue city of Jodhpur. Jodhpur has a lovely feel, it’s a haven of narrow winding lanes, with lots of normal life going on and some beautiful areas of restoration. We can certainly see why it’s known as the ‘blue city’ with numerous houses a lovely blue colour. It’s not agreed why the houses are blue, whether it be for caste reasons or to defend against termites, but either way it looks impressive from the fort when you get a panoramic vista of the city. We’re going to have a final day wandering and shopping before leaving tomorrow.