India 2012

Monday12November

Nothing to report. It's a small garden with a large lily pond.

and some bougainvillea...

We are leaving Udaipur. At least we're trying. A tire is flat. No choice, we have to put on the spare wheel!

Pritam, often dressed all in white, has great class. He then needs great dexterity to avoid small grease stains... Respect! prostrate.gif

With the wheel installed, we immediately launched 'Operation Desert Storm' to find a car wheel repairman!

Pritam knows the area well and doesn't take long to find our savior.

Our 'Tata motors' car still has inner tube tires. The repairman fixed it with a large patch and heated glue on the spot, just like a bicycle wheel!

Here we are in Pushkar, the flagship city for hippies in the 70s. It's true that we met a few, surely nostalgic for the place...

We will only stay one night in the city, just enough time to get a good night's sleep and visit the Brahma temple.

Tuesday13November

We arrive in Bundi just in time for lunch, which we have at the hotel, located not far from the old palace seen in the background

I'm having a stuffed tomato, one of the only dishes that doesn't set my esophagus on fire too much, and it's good too!

The small town of Bundi has a lot of charm and immerses us in authentic India. Especially since today is a special day as it's the beginning of the Diwali festival, which celebrates light. Here, it's a bit like Christmas, and you can feel the atmosphere building up!

We start the afternoon with a short walk towards Jait Sagar Lake, and then continue with the 84-Pillar Cenotaph and finally the Garh Palace.

We didn't count them, but there are 84... This cenotaph, also known as Chaurasi Khambon Ki Chhatri, seems to be left abandoned.

The ceiling fresco.

The edifice was built in 1683 to commemorate the memory of Maharaja Anirudha Sing's son.

All around the temple, stone-carved panels depict the daily lives of men alongside animals.

We are now in front of the entrance to the old palace called Garh Palace. Here too, the place seems abandoned, but it is not; a few rupees are needed to enjoy the few remnants of the past offered by the former residence of the maharaja.

The Hathi-Pol, the elephant gate.

Well, the visit ends at high speed because the guard is closing the doors!

As soon as we left the palace, we weaved between a palm squirrel and much less friendly rhesus monkeys (macaca mulatta) with somewhat aggressive behavior...

We enter the city, welcomed by wild boars searching for refuse.

This cow has lost its horns, sacred as it is...

A somewhat common brindle dog (striped coat)!

Phew... I hope the maternity ward isn't far...

We arrive at the market. It's swarming with people! And yes, it's Diwali tonight and there's an incredible crowd!

As you can hear in the video, Indians use the horn whether it's justified or not!

Lots of bamboo sellers and buyers. They can make decorative poles for the roadside.

Diwali celebrates the day when people lit up the streets of Ayodhya upon the return of Rama, an ancient powerful king whose reign dates back more than 20 centuries. In Hinduism, Rama is considered the seventh avatar of the god Vishnu. He is the image of the perfect man and is worshipped alongside his companion Hanuman, the embodiment of fidelity, the monkey-god who helps him in his adventures. © Wikipedia

This festival is above all an opportunity to have fun, whether you're young or old, the principle being to create light, hence the use of firecrackers which add sound!

And Pritam is not the last one!

And the firecrackers will thus resonate all night long. Listen to this recording I made early in the night from the hotel room. You'd think you were in the middle of a bombing!

Wednesday14November

It is a stepwell from 1699 used for religious baths or simply as a water reservoir as needed.

After this short morning visit, we hit the road again to reach the Ranthambore area, a wildlife reserve home to the famous Bengal tigers.

It's Diwali and even the cows are decorated

Handprints as ritual decoration on sacred cows.

This Bishnoi woman prefers circles divided into four for her sacred animal.

Further on we stop at this field of terracotta bricks drying in the sun

Here we are, arrived at our destination, in the village of Sawai Madhopur, very close to Ranthambore. In this village, children light the few remaining firecrackers from yesterday's Diwali to impress tourists who venture too close!

As for this young woman, she insisted on drawing a mehndi on Christelle's hand, not forgetting to ask for a few rupees right after...  

In the courtyard of this house, an ephemeral rangoli drawn on the sand