Calmer chaos would be how I would describe Rajasthan. After Mumbai, everything seems calm. I guess it seems more like ‘real’ India, but then again, Mumbai is considered the most cosmopolitan city in India.
It was a whirlwind trip through Rajasthan. 9 days, three cities, lots of rain. There was the day in Jaipur that the lawn of the guesthouse turned into a lake, the drive to Pushkar during which our driver kept doing the Hindu version of crossing himself. We arrived in Pushkar (with our engine barely above water) to find out that the water in town was waist high. The rain in Udaipur lent an ethereal quality to the mountainous surroundings. But according to the people of Rajasthan, this rain was welcome and the most that had come in several years, a marked change to the non-coming of the monsoon in Mumbai.
Our trip took us through guesthouses run by former military colonels (2) and relatives of the royal family of Jaipur (1). Over some long conversations we learned a little about their lives and what led them to start their guesthouses. A need for military wives to entertain, the intervention of an ancient religious site. Our experience of the land of kings.
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- from Risa Heywood
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- from Risa Heywood
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- from Risa Heywood
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- from Risa Heywood
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- from Risa Heywood
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- from Risa Heywood
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- from Risa Heywood
