Mama's House

There is much to tell.

After hanging around Delhi for a few days we decided to complete the so called 'Golden Triangle' and head to Agra, Jaipur and then down to Pushkar. I was not at all excited about going back to the dreaded city of Jaipur, but it was the only way to get to Pushkar, and because this is travel season all the morning Agra trains were booked and we ended up in Jaipur at midnight, hotel-less, and all the hotels were booked. We eventually found a really sketchy place that let us in - but it turned out to be pretty darn nice. one word. Cable. So I watched rugrats (cartoons) while the boys watched News in the other room and we got a good nights sleep before heading to the fair.

Agra - is - dirty, smelly, crowded and all around an icky place. So many tourists, so many people hassling you all the time - we only spent 7 hours there but it was more than enough time I can tell you that much. However, despite the dismal nature of the town, the Taj Majal is pretty spectacular. It is not particularly huge - it is just breathtakingly beautiful. The marble just radiates all around - its as if the whole building is surrounded and protected by an angelic glow. As Emily put it, each square foot is like a work of art. Just amazing. All of the inlaid detail work of precious gems (whatever that means...) - beautiful. I'm having some trouble with this computer uploading pictures, but when I do get them up you will see how crazy it is. The pictures of us standing in front look like we are in front of a blue screen. Unreal. The hazy blue of the sky behind adds to the allure as well. Apparently the dude was going to build a matching black one for himself behind the white one, but his son decided he was crazy and had him imprisoned - or something like that.

Anyway, it was worth the trip for sure to see that amazing place.

Now, camel fair. What a great time. It is just what it says it is - a camel fair. It is like the Indian Camel desert man version of a county fair. Vendors selling camel accessories, street food, clothes, cheap goods, ferris wheels and of course, camels. So many camels. Everywhere. There are some in the main grounds that people can ride around a bit, or just take pictures of. But in the fields behind the main grounds there are just makeshift camp sites with the men and their camels. Hundreds, thousands, its hard to say. Its great. This is like their yearly vacation to go to Pushkar, meet up with old friends, sell and buy some camels, maybe make some money in a race or two. Ah. These desert people are truly amazing. The women. Oh the women. They are so sturdy and amazing. they wear the giant hoops through their noses, bangles up to their armpits, and a particular kind of sari that I like much better then those around other states. They are colorful and bright (lots of hot pink) without being tacky. They hardly have any teeth, most don't wear shoes and have a fire burning in their eye. I didn't take any pictures of them because it didn't feel right. There might be some in the background somewhere though. Then there were the men, they wear loose white shirts and pants, with a tan or brown scarf and a warm dark shawl at night. Then they have a bright pink or green or grey turban and an amazing mustache. The mustaches. On the second day we saw the mustache competition. Not as impressive as we had hoped, but there were four or five great ones. The winner had a sort of a giant twirly thing and on the end of each side were two stringy dread locks that went down to his knees. Once again, pictures to come.

The computer is acting funny so I have to cut it short. One more thing though - as well as all the real desert camel men and women, there are also hundreds of thousands of INdian tourists and about 30,000 westerners who pass through Pushkar during this week. So lots of people. We stayed at this funny hotel kind of out of the way which was nice. I talked to the owner so many times on the phone to haggle for a good price we were practically best friends when we arrived. They had a sign that said "CATHERINE" written when we got off the bus. priceless. way better then any welcome GVN could have given me in Calcutta. I'm pretty sure this guy does some shady business though. He's fairly wealthy and said he had to change the name of his hotel a few times for tax purposes. ha.

Basically - Camel Fair - great - strange - weird - fun times.

Now were are in this amazing sleepy town (90,000) called Bundi. There's not a lot going on here (Kipling spent a long time here writing..) but we are staying at RN Haveli which is this guest house run by three women. This is rare here - for women to own and run their own business - Mama and her two daughters. For dinner last night; That is, for thanksgiving dinner last night, Mama made us the most amazing Thali I have ever had. It took three hours. Lots of butter. mmm.