STORMING THE HILL FORTS OF JAIPUR

Monday morning and my memsahib had set her heart on an Elephant ride up to Amber Fort. 

For me this gut-wrenching experience was equivalent to aircraft turbulence without the aircraft for protection. The slightly build elderly Japanese couple in the elephant immediately in front of our elephant seemed to be slipping of their seat and a horrific angle to the elephant’s back! This did little to allay my terror. Memsahib had a whale of a time and willing parted with 100 rupees for the photograph on us on the elephant, my temporary mortification captured so well on film.

The Amber Fort is a ochre citadel established in the 1600’s on the remains of something much earlier. This bastion massive in scale and opulence – the Shila Devi Temple has gates of silver.  There is layer upon layer of apartments, corridors and stairways for private living or public audiences. 

Watching over the Amber Fort is Jaigarh Fort. This fort was for housing the military. Inside and on proud display is the Jai Van canon cast in 1726. This canon fired only once, the noise of this great weapon allegedly cost lives and endangered pregnancies.  

Onwards and higher to hill top fort of
Nahargarth. The Tiger Fort.  Inside the is the jewel-like Madhavendra Palace. It was build by Sawai Ram Singh II 1835- 1880.  The Madhavendra is a small palace smaller than any we’d seen thus far. Lavish inside, parts of it are being lovingly restored. The location affords amazing views down onto the city of Jaipur. Very quite and pleasingly bereft of guides and tourists.

Our tour des fort (sorry) complete we returned to the city, camera and sketchbook replete.

SUNDAY TRADING IN JAIPUR

We rose late, the consequence of Saturday’s early start. 



I spent the morning making drawings of the hotel and discovered that the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture is really a soufflé of Gothic, Mughal, Hindu-Gothic favoured by British architects in late C19 in British India. They drew on Indo-Islamic, (as we witnessed a day or so back in Delhi) Indian styles and Gothic revival and Neo-Classical styles favoured at home in Britain.  This a wonderful pastiche, mouthful to describe but very easy on the eye.

Erratum: In my last outpouring, I stated that our hotel, the Jai Mahal, was originally built in 1974 it was in fact built in 1745.

I penned love-note (illustrated) to the hotel management extolling virtues of hotel’s architecture and staff.

Later we had two helpings of fine tea with biscuits on the terrace whilst the monsoon played out in front of us, a fine mist almost coming to the end of table.

We went into the city and saw the Hawa Mahal a pink-painted flight of fancy built in 1799. The building's five stories have a curiously Baroque feel with projecting windows and balconies. These allowed the ladies of the harem to watch the colourful street activity below unobserved.

There was colour on the street on this Sunday, as we were observed and as a consequence tugged this way and that by shopkeepers foisting carpets, rugs, jewellery all manner of precious stones, shoes, belts, fabrics and clothing:

(Merchant)“Sir, where you from?”

(Me) “England, very poor”

(Merchant) “Sir, I make you best Tesco-price for your lovely wife!”

It was a narrow escape with two 25 rupee printing blocks (elephant and camel) and a fine white cotton runner, which might double up for a shawl for £10.50 

JAIPUR BY TRAIN

Saturday: Rose too early to catch the 06:05 to Jaipur the capital city of Rajasthan some 160 miles south east of Delhi.  It was a fractious four and a half hour journey evenly punctuated by a nice cup of tea and my right thigh being occasionally pummelled by the four year old on the lap of the passenger on my right; a end of the journey, Jaipur Junction, we were scooped up by a driver from the Jai Mahal Palace. This is another is another property in the Taj Hotel group.

Jai Mahal Palace is a former palace, built in 1974 and is a ‘masterpiece of the Indo Sacracenic style of architecture. Once I have looked up Indo Sacracenic style I will write more. In 18 acres of gardens the place is quite lovely!

City Palace Museum is the heart of Jai Sing II’s Jaipur, his City Palace. The gorgeous garments in the Textile Museum, which was formerly the Palace of Welcomes, Mubarak Mahal, enchanted me. I made some drawings and asked the guard to stamp my book.

We wandered through into the Diwan-i-Khas a marble one-storey receiving room, which houses two silver urns (largest silver objects in the world) which the Maharajah has made to carry water from the Ganges, he did not want to travel to England aboard his specially hired Ocean Liner in 1901; fair enough we all carry bottled water.

From the Courtyard of the Beloved, Pritam Chowk, and the four exquisite doorways, enhanced further by colour Japanese tourists, you can look up to the seven story Chandra Mahal where the Royal Family live today.

Jantar Mantar
There are six observatories in India Jantar Mantar is perhaps the finest build 1728 – 1734 reflecting the Maharajah’s passion for Astronomy and Astrology, 16 giant instruments turning the area into a sculpture park

Tuk-Tuk Travel: Confident in our survival blessings, we again enjoyed another theme park-like ride in a Tuk-Tuk to and from the hotel to the City Palace. On the way back the Tuk-Tuk's engine stopped with a scream and our driver quickly replaced in the clutch cable and we sped forward again towards iced tea at the Jai Mahal.

FRIDAY DELHI DELIGHTS

Decided to forego the hotel car service and thus enjoyed several transportation experiences. Took a regular taxi which with a bench seat in front and no head rests means passengers can get a good view!  Then we graduated to  a bicycle rickshaw around the Silver, Spice and Shoe markets and finally a tuk-tuk back to the hotel.

The Red Fort is another flight of Mughal architectural fancy on the grand scale. It has six gateways its own covered bazaar and more royal apartments than mansions in Essex. 

Illustrated here the Diawan-i-Kas, the pavilion that once housed the peacock throne, where the emperor would meet his most trusted nobles all in marble and once covered in jewels, another thing in common with the bling-bling of Essex. Boasting sixty pillars the Diwan-i-Aam is where he met everyone else all of it straight out of Disney’s Aladdin.

After the Bazaar to the Jami Masjid mosque, the largest in India capacity of prayers of 35,000 people so said our unsolicited and self-appointed guide. It was Friday so even after Prayers the place was busy with people asking for things.

This evening we met up with good local friend Aparna and excellent part of town close to the hotel called Khan Market, to which we will return. Tonight the monsoon arrived; tomorrow we rise at 04:30 for the train to Jaipur.

PASSAGE TO INDIA

 

Comfortable flight to Delhi on Wednesday afternoon, arriving 06:40 local time Thursday; excellent Indian vegetarian meal on the plane to get us in the mood.

Sleep difficult because of screaming baby in seat B13.

 

Arrived Taj Mahal Hotel and feted by a platoon of managers and associated hotel staff. Quite the most wonderful hotel on the planet and a great favourite as they appreciate the obsequious nature of my feedback from previous visits.

In spite of lack of sleep we did a whole four hours of sightseeing;

Huaz Khas is the site of a wonderful red sandstone complex (circa1325) comprising a Madrasa build by the side of a tank (reservoir) by Feroze Shar Tughlaq when this part of Delhi was a separate city call Siri.  In the interior of the Madrasa it was lovely and cool with young people sitting around or with their heads in books.

Onwards to Humayun’s Tomb another red sandstone jewel box. A classic of Mughal architecture – we know ‘mughal’ better as Moghul or Mogul as in Genghis Khan.   This wonderful garden tomb was a pattern for the Taj Mahal in Agra.

Very hot today, 39 degrees with sweat drops on my page as I draw. The speak of monsoons soon.

CRANES FLY

I cycle past this building site every day - corner of Charlotte Street and Howland Street in London

The cranes and other towering robots are all part of what is called in construction ‘enabling works’. 

Here the enabling works are currently being carried-out by McGee and will run until the end of this month. I did a search on the project and found this link which featured an impression of the proposed development building which is quite horrid. 

THE GLASS MENAGERIE

Stand outside Warren Street Underground

Look to your left, westwards down the Euston Road,

Into the sun,

Gaze at the wall of glass buildings each nestled up to the other

Glass reflects the sky

Glazed weathercocks?

At ground level people scurry out onto the street.

It is Friday,

Time for the weekend.