Jodhpur

After Jaisalmer we took a train to Jodhpur. We left Jaisalmer late in the afternoon and it took a few hours to get to Jodhpur so by the time we arrived it was after dark. Experience will tell you that it’s better to arrive in a new town during the day time. Night can be disorientating. We were supposed to be greeted by someone from the hotel, as Chimmy had done for us in Jaisalmer, but when we got off of the train there was no one there. As we made our way past the rickshaw drivers and said, “No, no thank you” about 20 times one driver asked, “where are you going?”. When we told him the Cosy Guests House he said, “Are you Kevin?” and when I answer yes he immediately called someone and said my name several times. I assume he called our hostel to tell them we arrived, so we found our driver. However, when he pointed to a rickshaw and we got in a different guy jumped in the driver seat and we immediately had to begin negotiations for price all over again. We then zoomed down dark alleys taking hairpin turns at great speed and with no concern for oncoming traffic. More than once we missed head on collision by just seconds. This is very much India.
Finally the driver stopped, pointed to a sign painted on the side of a building that had the name of our hostel and pointed up the road, which was too narrow for his rickshaw. We ambled out, wary as ever of our driver, but what could we do besides trust the dilapidated painted sign and go up the dark narrow alley in this unfamiliar city?
At the hostel we were greeted with what I can only describe as slight surprise and small embarrassment. It appears that the front desk person was not expecting us and had only one room available, not the one we reserved. I wonder who in the world the first driver was talking to if it wasn’t the front desk.
Again, what choice did we have? So we agreed to stay in that room until the next day and so spent the night at the Cosy Guest House. I will admit that it was actually pretty nice and cozy, especially for 6 dollars a night. From the rooftop restaurant we had an awesome view of the fort. As it turned out the next day we only did a couple of things like going to the local bazaar, which we saw a lot of as we circled in about a dozen times trying to find a bookstore that Lonely Planet Recommended, but that no one had heard of and which turned out to be closed for the day. It was interesting seeing the same people over and over again tempting us with the same lines, “bracelet, 10 for 100, now you buy” or “you come in my shop, come see my shop, you come in, come”. In a way it was like riding some sort of infuriating ride like ‘Its a Small World’ where the same characters sing the same thing over and over again until you feel like it really is a small world and maybe you really do want to buy 10 bracelets for 100 rupees and then you snap out of it and realize that you don’t even know 10 people, let alone 10 who would be willing to wear those bracelets.

Later in the afternoon we got going to the fort. Although going to the fort was really the only constructive thing we did it completely made the day.
After winding up hill for about 20 minutes we reached the front gates of the Mehrangarh fort. Built on a high rock outcrop with walls 40 meters high and 6 meters thick it looked very solid. Before entering the gate I got a guided tour headset, the kind you push numbers into as you see numbered displays marked along displays and then you hear an explanation of what the room or object is. Mine was grand; the guide’s voice was that of a man who was clearly Indian, but had an English accent much like I imagine the narrator of the Jungle Story would have. I felt like I was getting a history straight from a colonial subject. He was a man with a neat beard and a turban, a bit on in age, someone who was well educated and whimsical as well as fatherly in his guidance. As you can tell I immediately formulated an image in my mind of what this man looked like and the gestures he used. This pleased me greatly.
As we made our way into the fort we had to pass a number of gates, 7 in all, each becoming smaller and harder to get through than the last. The most interesting I thought was the last, the Loha Pol, which you get to by going up a long ramp which abruptly turns on a right angle just before the gate’s doors which are very heavy with large spikes on them. I thought surely that the spikes were unnecessary, but was quickly corrected by my guide as I punched in number 12. He told me that this was designed to detour elephants from ramming the gate first because it was difficult to get speed if you have to turn at a right angle like that right before the gate and second the long spikes coming from the door which even an elephant won’t do well with. Just by the gate are the red hand prints of widows whose husbands died in battle and who themselves committed suicide by immolating themselves on their husbands’ funeral pyres. Now that is dedication.
Inside are a number of more elaborate palace rooms which are now filled variously with things such as human carriers, elephant carrier baskets, an armory, clothing, and religious artifacts. Some of these were quite interesting and again my headset gave me the grand tour. I learned a lot about the kings who had resided there, the last of whom was still alive and living nearby. I also learned about princesses, wars, decadence, and religious practices. It was all very nice. At the end of my guided tour Aya and I went out onto the rampart and looked at the various cannons and the awesome view of the ‘Blue City’. It is named as such because the locals have painted many of their houses in the color of indigo which was readily available years ago and also works as an insect repellent as well as lending a cool air to the buildings in the heat of Rajasthan. (yes, from the headset)
The tour guide had told me that on the ramparts were the cannons of various countries as when the army had defeated an enemy they took a cannon as a prize of war. One of these cannons was supposedly from China when the local army joined the British in fighting in the Opium Wars. We looked and looked, but never found the cannon. We did see a few other countries, but no indication of a Chinese one.
Unfortunately we only had one full day in Jodhpur and the next day we were on our way early, moving on to Jaipur and a little bit closer to Delhi and a little bit closer to flying to Kathmandu. Most unfortunate of all was that I had to turn in my headset and say goodbye to my guide. I wish his voice would have accompanied me on my entire trip.