Rajasthan

 

Hawa Mahal

"So how was Rajasthan?" my friends ask and I find myself reaching for the next hyperbolic adjective. I've run out of them. There can never be an elevator pitch for Rajasthan because it's not a destination - it's an experience that you cannot quite get your head around completely when you're living it. It steals on you, gets under your skin, and quietly settles in your bones. Everyone who's visited Rajasthan told me "there's so much to see" and they were not wrong. The sights are spellbinding - majestic forts, royal palaces, vibrant colours, startling terrain. But it's not just the "seeing" - it's what the eye that beholds does to the senses. Rajasthan is a feast for the senses. All your senses are heightened in this land where the colours are brighter, the smells sharper, the flavours richer...and the sun definitely hotter. Rajasthan brings you alive in gently intense slow motion that is exhilarating. The bewitching beauty of ancient times is casually strewn around in happy coexistence with the unaesthetic necessary evils of modern India.

Diwan-i-Khas (Sheesh Mahal)

Char Bag (overlooking Sheesh Mahal)



Passion and pathos immortalized in stories of love, betrayal, separation, death, and war have all found expression in beauty and grace in the halls of royal palaces and on the walls of gravity-defying forts. Rajasthan is a dramatic tapestry of designs, colours, and stories. The incredibly talented native Rajasthani keeps the tapestry alive - a living, breathing, moving thing of beauty with a mysterious smoke-and-mirrors playfulness that teases visitors. You're never sure in Rajasthan what era of history your moment inhabits. You're always in a revolving door wondering if Time took a wrong turn in Destiny's lane. Visitors will sense an unmistakable reluctance in the native Rajasthani to embrace modern India wholeheartedly. Largely rustic and inexorably steeped in tradition, the natives are quietly proud of their exotic Mughal and Marwar mix of ancestry - the beautiful fusion evident in customs, dress, architecture, language, and food. This subtle yet rich mix of two of India's most influential religions - Islam and Hinduism - is a symbol of centuries of hope and endurance.

Aravalli mountain range

You will not find the impatience of modern India in Rajasthan. A laidback, graceful, and unhurried culture, patience seems to be the hallmark of every undertaking - you only have to look at the intricate architecture to know: breath-taking filigree work, carved marble pillars, intricately painted ceilings, latticed windows, mirror and stained-glass wall panels - the architectural detail and delicacy and the weight of its history is overwhelming. There is no concept of Time in Rajasthan - only Timelessness and Eternity: a fort built in the 12th century over 16 generations, another that housed an entire city inside its confines (Jaisalmer) where people continue to live inside to this day, a temple built over 65 years, a lake constructed in the 14th century all stand in their state of grace smirking at modern India's crumbling misadventures in infrastructure. Which is why the local Rajasthani is not easily surprised or impressed. His character is shaped by reverence to his history, tradition, Royalty, and his land, so history is a not a one-night stand that he wears on his sleeve for a gawking visitor. Rather, it governs the way he lives, communicates, and interacts. He understands that the visitor will never comprehend the complexities of this rich culture by walking through its forts and riding on camel backs, and his response at best is a condescending shrug and an invitation to taste his delectable Rajasthani thaali.

 

But, as with most of India, there is always the danger of romanticism in a visitor's travelogue. The ironies are hard to miss in Rajasthan. Life is hard in the punishing terrain. Amidst the wealth of centuries, there is heartbreaking poverty. There are many working children, old beyond their years, their young shoulders weighed down early with the cares of life that shouldn't be their burden. 

The Jain Temple

In Jaipur, cycle rickshaw drivers will offer to transport you to your destination for five rupees - yes, a despairing FIVE rupees! Yet, you don't see them begging. Work is seasonal. Heavily dependent on tourism, the men leave their homes to work in other states or bigger cities when the tourists go away. The society is noticeably male-dominated. Walking seems to be the chief means of transport though the distances are spectacular in India's largest piece of territory. Except for in Udaipur which has many water bodies, water is a precious commodity and quite scarce in other parts of Rajasthan.

Yet, as a race, the Rajasthanis are more graceful than stoic. They are very invested in their legacy - they continue to build in the architectural style of centuries past, they nurture the joint family tradition, professions are still passed down from generation to generation. They live unapologetically in a time warp.

There are many places you would want to go back to as a traveller. Rajasthan is not one of them - for if you go back, you might break the charmed spell it cast on you the first time around.