Day 19 - Reality

I have never been fond of early mornings, and this one was not an exception. A 4.45am alarm clock is quite possibly the most painful sound my ears can handle, and having to drag a 14kg bag through a typically muggy Delhi Summer morning did not help matters. After settling down and looking (in vain) for some Masala Chai to ease the pain, we got going on our journey to Jaipur. This was my first experience in the Chair Car class on Indian trains, and I must say that you should aim to get a good night’s sleep before venturing into one of those. Unlike Ana, I managed some semi-sleep along the way but I cannot say I felt very fresh by the time we met up with Muneem to go explore the  Pink City.

There were a few benefits stemming from the fact that I had seen all these places before. The first was that there was no need for a guide, not because I remembered any of the interesting facts surrounding the buildings we were seeing but because I knew both human and audio-guides offered very little on top of the information available on the boards spread around the Jantar Mantar and the City Palace. The second was that it took us roughly half of the time it took Ben and I to explore these landmarks, purely because I remembered what was actually worth seeing (as it turns out, my sister was not particularly keen on checking out the collection of rifles and sabres belonging to the former Maharajas of Jaipur…).

The Albert Hall was a place I had only seen in the distance and, since we had some spare time and I had been curious about it, we decided to give it a go. While majestic an intricately ornate on the outside, the exhibition inside the building was pretty disappointing. More importantly, everyone was incredibly rude (I was told on entering that I could not use my camera, only my mobile camera - a rule that makes exactly zero sense) and the museum guards thought blowing a whistle at my face was the appropriate way to tell me off for touching the wooden frame of a cabinet that contained some coins…

Having invited us for dinner at his house to celebrate his daughter’s twelfth birthday, Muneem dropped us off at our hotel for a much needed nap before heading to his home. It was a bit of a shock to the system being driven through what can probably be described as the “real” Jaipur, but after settling in at his place and being served some delicious food we could have been anywhere. The whole family gathered around the improvised table, playing around with a very excited six-month old baby (Muneem’s nephew). I can confirm that Rajasthani babies are very much like babies all over the World - they make loud and incomprehensible sounds, try and grab everyone’s face and repeatedly attempt to stand up, only to fall on their bums. The older children were sweet and funny and all laughed at my name, while Muneem’s daughter reacted to Ana saying she was very beautiful with a shy smile before adorably turning her face away. While driving away in Muneem’s rickshaw, I could only think of how cool it was to see a side of this place most visitors are completely ignorant to, and also that we really should have taken a picture with the whole family before leaving. I guess that is what mental pictures are there for…

Cheers,
João