Udaipur, Rajasthan – India

Mandy: 14th – 18th February

We made our way to the train station in plenty of time and sat on a bench alongside our backpacks. People stared at us like we were famous, no actually it was like we were infamous! There was a nice young Indian lady with two young children stood to our right. There were the usual men scattered along the platform gobbing and kecking but no one was peeing so it wasn’t too bad. A tiny old Indian lady, looking slightly mad, barefoot, scantily clad for the cool morning breeze and very poor, walked along with her hand out. Some people waved her on and some gave her some coins. Then a man appeared from nowhere and stood directly in front of us with his hand out and didn’t move. He looked reasonably well dressed, warm, clean-ish and he was wearing a watch; we ignored him. After a while Glen shook his head and after staring at us for a long time and muttering away he walked off. Before long he was back, hand out, talking away and now every now and again he bent down to touch Glen’s knee! This went on for a while before he walked off again and then walked back, this time with another man who also stood there with his hand out. They looked at me then back at Glen and kept bending down to touch Glen’s knee. (through his trousers) Glen told them to go away and leave us alone. People were staring at us even more now. Suddenly a third man joined them, he stuck his hand out towards us saying “I am box” this was getting silly. I had to smile as it reminded me of Robin Williams in the film Mrs Doubtfire when his character was ringing his ex-wife pretending to be different weird people applying for the job of childminding his children….. “I am job” (chuckle) Anyway I guess that the third Indian man who also looked quite well dressed for a beggar, was trying to tell us that he lived in a box, but I was not sure. I told Glen it was his own fault as he had been told not to talk to them even to say “no” otherwise they would just try harder. Anyway I left him to deal with the trio of beggars because I was watching a really creepy Indian man who was stood near me staring, no leering at the women to my right and particularly her young children. I felt so sorry for them not having a man by their side to protect them. When I pointed him out, Glen, being positive and kind hearted said that maybe the creepy man had lost his family and was looking at them lovingly thinking of his own children. I think not! Me being negative, cynical and with a better view of the mans eyes knew exactly what he was thinking and it wasn’t about any long lost family! It was horrible.

Our train arrived on time, we got on and thankfully the three beggars didn’t.

The five hour train journey from Ajmer to Udaipur went by in a flash. I hardly had time to look out of the window because I was catching up with the blogs and ear-wigging and butting in on Glen’s conversation. He was talking to a forty year old Indian man who told us that he was on his way to a wedding. We told him how we had come across a lot of weddings since arriving in India and he told us that was because it was wedding season. (Smile)

We shared our sleeper carriage with him for the remainder of the journey along with our views on marriage versus arranged marriage. After listening to him explain why an arranged marriage was a good thing, I asked “what if the couple were not happy?” He said “what is there not to be happy about?” I talked about not getting on together and maybe having arguments. I asked whether they were allowed to get divorced and he said no, if there were any problems the family and the extended family would sort them out. He said that as long as the wives didn’t answer back there would be no arguing anyway. Ah! that is where people are going wrong in the UK I thought. In fairness he said that when your husband says something you don’t like just don’t answer back. Just do whatever you want to do, if you keep quiet he (the husband) will keep asking/telling you four or five times and then run out of steam. It’s all about not answering back, that way there will not be an arguement and you can do what you want. I didn’t think it was worth asking about the importance of love in a marriage; we left it there.

He went on to talk about his religion, Jainism, which means he is a vegetarian and does not smoke or drink alcohol. We never said a word! The conversation was going well, talking about his life, his religion and the politics of India and the UK (I didn’t join in on that bit of the conversation!) He was interested in talking about investments and had an in-depth conversation about the benefit of putting your savings into gold. He didn’t understand how we didn’t have any savings, it took a while for him to grasp the concept. Everything was going well and we learnt a lot but then he asked what we were doing and we talked about how we had been travelling for four months and that is why we didn’t have any savings and Glen said “well you only live once” ………I think that is when he started to read his paper. He forced a fart out shortly after too! He had been a gentleman up to that point, such a shame. (Chuckle)

Our hotel picked us up at the station in an auto-rickshaw and we sped through the very narrow and crowded back streets at such speed that I wondered whether we were actually being chased by something or someone! We have seen several Snakes and Snake Charmers since arriving in India but no Tigers, maybe if we had looked out of the back of the auto-rickshaw that day we would have seen one, who knows. How the driver didn’t knock someone over or off their bikes that day we will never know. He seemed to be showing off just how close to the cows and people he could go. He laughed when we got to the hotel Reception and asked if we enjoyed the ride. I think he was mad and definitely thoughtless.

In the days that followed we saw men on flamboyantly adorned horses cantering through those very same alleyways, men without legs pushing themselves along on wooden boards with wheels on the corners and children playing, as well as the usual cows. I hate to think what would have happened if we had come across them the day we arrived.

“Udaipur is an enchanting city in the heart of the Aravalli Hills, which has three interconnected lakes. It is referred to as the “Venice of the East,” the “Most Romantic City of India”

……. and so it was fitting that Glen had organised for us to arrive there on Valentine’s Day.

It was a beautiful place and a lot cleaner than the other places we had visited In India but it was difficult to think of it as romantic. Not only could we not walk along hand it hand but we had to walk in single file so as to keep as near to the sides of the alleyways as possible to avoid being run over. We tried to talk as we walked along one behind the other but it was impossible to even shout to each other let alone whisper sweet nothings with all of the horn beeping. The trucks and lorries in India had “please sound your horn” painted on their tailgates. They actively encouraged horn beeping there. I guess they wanted to know when another vehicle was going to undertake or overtake them on a blind bend. The bikes just sounded their horns continually as they sped through.

The Palace in Udaipur

The locals were proud to tell us that the Palace was used as a hotel in the 1985 James Bond film Octopussy. It is much more grand and ornate (Palatial!) than the Palace in Juipur and has a beautiful setting on the lake side.

The chewing betel leaves were fancy there. They had fruit on top (chuckle)

Our hotel bedroom was very well furnished with a four poster bed and lovely soft furnishing etc. however right out side of the door we stepped out in to normal Indian life. This little building (below) was a small two room home which housed four generations of one family. At night that low bed frame was taken inside and we could see the family sat cross legged on it in front of the TV. At around midnight each night we could hear a lot of noise and we would look out of our bedroom window to see the mother sitting out side of that door washing up in the dark. She would be clinking the metal dishes as she washed them in a big metal bowl filled with water. We watched many people getting their water from pumps in the street, and also washing themselves in a similar metal bowl on the roof or in the street, so these little homes obviously didn’t have running water.

These cows were also right out side of the hotel reception each day (chuckle)

In Pushkar meat, eggs and alcohol were not allowed. Beer and whisky was not on the menu but the waiters would whisper that it was available. They would put the cans or bottles by the customers feet where they had to pour it in to a paper cup before putting it on the table. Some of the slightly fancier restaurants would put the bottle of beer in a cloth bag with a drawstring on the table. We really didn’t want a drink that badly, especially as it was expensive. It was the same in Udaipur. Most restaurants were on the roof tops of hotels and so they all had amazing views of the lake. As lovely as the views were they still had rats running about around the edges of the seating area. We were used to rats during the past four months so it didn’t bother us. The waiters there were much more like waiters than in the rest of India so far. Basically they weren’t wearing coats. Now the ones on the roof top cafes in Delhi did need puffa jackets and scarves on I guess as it was cold and we too had our coat/blanket on. However the guys serving our breakfast in our hotel in Udaipur were inside a room with doors but they still wore a puffa jacket. It made them look like they had just walked off the street without washing their hands, which is basically how it was. They were trying to serve a western option for breakfast along side the Indian food but it wasn’t working. They brought cornflakes and HOT milk! It didn’t matter as we hadn’t actually ordered it anyway. We had ordered egg on toast. The eggs arrived and then ten minutes later the toast! we then had to ask for butter and our coffee. At least we were both served each ‘course’ together at the same time. Whereas in Asia it was not unusual for Glen to be served first then someone else on a nearby table, then me, before going back to complete the order on the other table. It’s funny what you put up with when you are away from the UK; the fact that it cost the equivalent of 60p – £1 a meal helped (smile)

An example of how Indians have no idea about personal space. This lady was sweeping up and instead of stopping as she walked by me she just kept going and swept the dirt and dust right over my feet! There was no excuse about not seeing me dressed in my bright orange top (chuckle) You couldn’t over do the mis-match of designs and loud colours in India; I fitted right in. Even the road sweepers dressed like they were off to a wedding.

Milk and yogurt was delivered on bikes, some churns didn’t have tops on…..mmmm maybe that is how the large insects got into my yogurt based lassi drink in Pushkar.

India has a weird and random tax system. The final bill would show 5%, 15%, 14%, 4.94%, a variety of all or none at all! We were never sure until the bill came. One waiter pointed out that the 5% service tax went to his boss not him. He hung around and Glen gave him an extra tip but the waiter didn’t think it was enough!

We were not sure whether this man was mending the bottom of these shoes or shaving the sole to make them look new so he could sell them on!

Women washing clothes in the lake; beating them against the stone steps

(They reminded me of the sirens in the film ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou’)

This was the state of the water in the lake near where they were doing their washing

and Glen wondered why I prefered to wash our clothes in our bathroom sink!

I must share some good news with you; we finally found where all of the indian ladies were, they were in Udaipur. They were either washing clothes, selling floral garlands outside of the temples, carrying things on their head from the spice and vegetable market, sitting in groups in tiny rooms singing or just generally walking around. They were everywhere and it made for a lovely colourful scene.

The women wore their ‘gold investments’ on their fingers, around their necks and through their noses!

Something I found strange was that many women walked around with their faces totally covered in fine veils, but these same women (of all ages) would happily have bare midriffs and their backs showing.

Mad drivers aside, we had found somewhere in India we actually liked at last. But then we spotted a piddler! What a shame, we were doing so well.

Generally the animals roamed around free whilst the men did the ‘Donkey work’

Dried turmeric roots

A variety of dried tea piled high and displayed nicely, but open to the elements.

We noticed that it had bits of hair and stuff in it when we looked closely

We watched as a man stopped his motorbike along side a man selling paneer cheese. The seller picked a bit of cheese up with his fingers and handed it to the man on his bike. The man looked at it, smelled it, shook his head and handed it back to the seller. The seller then put it back in the bowl! The same thing happened on another stall when a young India guy was kindly talking us though all of the spices etc in his shop. He picked some brown sugar cane stuff off a huge pile on the table and handed it to Glen to try. He handed me some too but I declined. He then played with it in his fingers for a while as we were talking about how they made it and then put it back on the pile to sell!

The women use the henna on their hair too, it was the men who looked the most weird though as I have said before, I wish we had a photo of them to show you.

I was back to eating curry, rice and opaque drinks; just so long as they were not lassis! The four day water and homemade chip diet was over and all was well. I do think there was a little maggot poking out of one of the green peppers in my vegetable Biriani one lunchtime but we were sat overlooking Lake Pichola, the sun was shining and it didn’t have any eyes or long legs so I let it go. I was back to my normal travelling self, saying “san-farry-an” (as Nan Permial would say) to my OCD tendencies and normal hygiene standards. (Smile) We were back on track…… I have just ‘googled up’ the meaning of ‘San Farry An’ to see if it is a Marshfield/Nan-ism or a real phrase and in fact it is actually ‘San Fairy Ann’ * This travelling and blog writing is proving to be such an education (smile)

We weren’t sure whether this old couple (below) were selling this wood or if it was their own wood stored in their home. As always we were unable to photograph the most interesting things and people we saw as I felt it rude. There was one man we walked by each day who sat in a tiny, grubby little room. He was brewing some sort of liquid and sat cross legged in front of it from morning to night and had people queuing to buy a cup of it. We assumed in was Chai tea.

Jagdish Hindu Temple

Not sure if this little room was where this lady lived or whether she was there to hand out water to people visiting the temple.

Our last night in Udaipur saw the locals celebrating the Shiva festival. ‘Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival celebrated annually in reverence of the god Shiva. It is the day Shiva was married to the goddess Parvati.’ So more like a Wedding Anniversary really. (chuckle)

Notice the Swastika on this Shiva shrine. (below) we’ve seen these throughout Asia over the last two years. It symbolises luck and auspiciousness in the Hinduism, Buddhiism and Jainism faiths. Although in India the sign is turned 45 degrees and called a ‘Manji’

As Russell Brand said in his Messiah Tour “The Swastika went through some radical re-branding in the 1930’s and 40’s”

One of the many Shiva temples around town which had been lit up with Fairy lights

Little Shiva temples all around town were being decorated and Hindus were making offerings and playing ridiculously loud music by each one. All day we had seen lines of tinsel being strung along the streets with balloons tied in bunches. By about 8pm the local men couldn’t seem to contain themselves and started climbing up and taking the balloons down and running off with them giggling like children. It was like they had never seen them before. The main difference to us was the fact that the men zooming through the alleyways on motorbikes shouted out “Happy Shiva” as they went by 5mm from us.

The last sunset of our ‘Gap Year’, a journey which took us out of England for twelve and a half months during the last two years. A total of five months in Egypt, seven and a half months in South East Asia and India.

We were sad to be leaving Udaipur as it meant it was the end, and final country of our adventure. We’ve had a very special time together exploring different cultures and observing other people’s lives and we knew that we would be sad to put our backpacks up in the loft on our return to Bristol. However we were also very excited to be going home to see our family and friends and our gorgeous little granddaughter Eloise Autumn who we have been watching grow up on photos, videos and facetime each day.

It felt like the right time to go back to England for a hug or ten. (smile)

*

San Fairy Ann is an expression that was born out of a gap in the English language. British soldiers in World War One found out that their French counterparts had a phrase that resembled “it doesn’t matter” but that sounded much more satisfying, dismissing a problem out of hand. The expression was “Ça ne fait rien” and was anglicised into “San Fairy Ann”. Google searches for the term often focus on this origin, labelling it “soldier slang”. However, its use became far more widespread.