Pictures of The Pink City

My friend and myself flew back to New Delhi this morning after an eventful three days visit of the colourful city of Jaipur. Besides the businesses that we had to attend to, we took the opportunity to spend considerable time in exploring the invincible forts, magnificent palaces and the serene scenes of Jaipur. The city displays diversity in forms of its culture, customs, costumes, cuisine, dialects and rustic music. The place is a juxtaposition of color in bustling bazaars, in wide ranging costumes of its people and the irresistible gamut of art and handicraft souvenirs.

In partial fulilment of my earlier resolution to share the treasures that have been captured through the lens of my iPhone, I take this opportunity to take my readers through a visual display of what I had actually seen:

 

During the first night after our official meetings, we were hosted a grand dinner party by our Indian hosts in Jaipur. The traditional dance performances below were a part of the dinner programme:

On the second day of our stay in Jaipur, we went around the city visiting places of historical significance and various monuments. One such historical monuments that I could not restrain myself from taking picture is the Hawa Mahal or the 'Palace of the Winds' below, which was built as the women's chambers or the chambers of the harem in 1799. Our guide told us that the windows of this fortress were designed in such a way that the women in the fortress, who could not come out into the market due to the purdah (veil) traditions, enjoyed the view of the bustling city through them without the outsiders seeing them.

Leaving history aside, I turned my iPhone camera to the dried rice papad seller below, only to find that he was the subject of similar photograph enthusiasts, as you can see! 

The observatories, or "Jantar Mantars" built by Maharajah Jai Singh II of Jaipur between 1727 and 1734 was our next place of visit. These observatories are actually multiple buildings of unique form, each with a specialized function for astronomical measurement with their striking combinations of geometric forms at large scale. I was astounded to know that the ancient ruler had so much quest for achieving accuracy in mathematical calculations through the geometry of his stuctures that he was able to know the exact time of the day through the position of the shadows of the structures on the sundial, the position of the sun in the universe and so on. Take a look at the pictures below:

The sundial built with geometrical accuracy to know the exact time of the day!

The dial to measure the shadow of the structure to know the exact time!

The triangular shape of the structure is built as a larger sundial with geometrical accuracy

Our friends appreciating the geometrical structures

Okay, it was now time to appreciate the arts and crafts of the traditional artisans of Rajesthan.

Authentic handmade crafts in display at the artisans' shops

 

...and some more forts..

Now, the picture below is of one of the two 345 Kg, 5 feet 3 inches Gangajali (Silver jars) made out of 14,000 Jaipur pure silver coins each in 1894 and has entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest silver objects in the world! Interestingly, it was made known to us that Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II took these two jars filled with water from the holy river of Ganga to England to attend the coronation ceremony of Edward VII in the year 1902!

Some palaces like the one below are still used by the descendents of the Royal family as private residences.

 

 The following are some of the traditional colourful life of Jaipur:

A snake charmer

A camel and boy

 

Our tour guide (yellow shirt)

Walking through the history!

The following pictures are the images of the exquisite palace with finishings done with mirrors imported from Belgium (or so..)

 

..or take a look at the rich colours of the paintings on the palace entry points done with natural colours locally available from the nature's bounty!

 

 

 

The kings of Jaipur were also conscious of the security of their subjects, and the palace in particular and so they built fortifying walls that resembled the Great Walls of China:

..and some glimpses of life in the palace..

The Water Palace built in the artificial lake for the Maharaja and his family to escape the unbearable summer heat. Talk about innovative ideas!

 ... and finally, a tour of the Rambagh Palace, which was once gifted by the Queen (don't know which one!) to her maid as a reward for her service, now turned into a multi star hotel and this place also served as the venue for our three days meeting which concluded yesterday.

 

Lastly, having shared the visual display of my three days visit of Jaipur, Rajasthan alongwith glimpses of it's treasures of history, picturesque architecture and bewitching landscape with my readers as promised in my last post, I am hopeful that my audience will now agree with me that it is a destination that far surpasses any imagination. Myself, for one, has come back with priceless memories, but sadly, without any souvenirs... Blame my financial status!

 

So, till the next post, in the biting cold night of New Delhi (brrr... it's almost as cold as Thimphu), I wish my readers good night and adios!