Jodhpur

Check out a typical market scene in central Jodhpur has everything including sugar, fruit, tikka powder, candy, junk metal, flowers, and huge peacock feathers. In the middle of the video, you can see two young men. In India, it is very common for male friends to hold hands or put their arms around one another shoulders as they walk and chat. Hmm…I know there would be a number of people in the states who would be up in arms about that. Pity. Anyway, I do love how there’s music blasting from someone’s 1980s-style silver-plated boombox. Because, you know, every market should have its own theme music.

True Blue

Welcome to Jodhpur, the blue city in the middle of the Rajasthani desert. The blue paint is supposed to help keep houses cool and keep mosquitoes away.

It’s Even Higher than You Think

What trip to India is complete without a ride on an elephant? None, I say. Sure, some may say that seeing the Taj Mahal is most important but I say pshaw to that. This is an e-le-phant!! And look how beautifully it’s painted. Oh, one bad thing though? I forgot to get my sunglasses back from the elephant caretaker once the ride was over. Yeah, that hurt a bit, but your girl Stelli-Stel got a replacement and she’s back to looking as crazy? fierce? famous? as ever with her gigantic celebrity sunglasses.

Speaking of celebritydom, I think I’ve mentioned before the celebrity status my classmates enjoyed due to being the only non-Indians in our part of Mumbai. Since I looked the most different, I got the most attention. So when we were in Udaipur, we were surprised to see our celebrity continue since there were many tourists there. To make things a little more interesting for ourselves, whenever someone shouted, “Where you from?,” we decided to reply with different countries from around the world just to see their reaction. So now I am from Jamaica, Malaysia, Uganda, Brazil, Algeria, Luxembourg…. Yeah, you didn’t know I was so multicluti, dija?

Can We Get Them on a TV Talent Show Please?

We saw a fantastic cultural show in Udaipur. These people are so talented, don’t you agree? The women twirling in the outfits? Hypnotic. The woman clanging cymbals all over her body? Fascinating. And how bout the pots on the lady’s head? By the end of her routine, she had 10 pots on her head while dancing on glass! How many people do you know who could do that?

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Ok, I’m just going to be in-your-face with this endorsement: stay at the Panorama Guest House. The rooms are very cheap, very clean, and have gorgeous views. And like many Rajasthani hotels, it has a rooftop restaurant, which is really essential after you’ve been traveling for hours in the heat. The food at Panorama was a variety of Indian and Western fare and was extra delicious. I had French toast for the first time in almost a year here and it was oh so good.

Udaipur

Let’s take a step inside Udaipur, shall we? The following are various photos that may help you envision it. By the way, in the fourth pic, you can see the main temple of the city. Just so you know, most of the time you have to take your shoes off before entering temples in India, so just be sure those feet don’t look too dragon-like! ;-) Otherwise, wear some non-smelly, non-holey socks.

White Brite

Welcome to Udaipur, the White City. It is really small with very narrow streets. It’s really pretty and attracts a lot of tourists, especially couples. The second photo kinda shows you what the water is like. Unfortunately, like many other rivers in India, this one was incredibly filthy. I felt so bad seeing people bathing and washing their clothes in it. But what choice do they have? None. That’s the sad thing.

One Hump or Two?

Initially, we were going to take a bus from Ahmedabad to Udaipur. However, it was a seven-hour drive on a non-air conditioned government bus. Now look, driving fast on the highway with the windows open, you don’t even feel the heat. Right? And think of the crazy cast of characters we could be sitting next to on the bus. Well, the other three weren’t having it so we rented a driver and an air-conditioned car. Though the trip was cut to just four hours, the drive was the most expensive transportation of the trip. Oh well, 3 to 1.

Anyway, here we have the camel, a reliable beast of burden, which we saw on our car ride. Yep, that camel is just walking down the street right next to buses, cars and trucks. Hey, just cause it doesn’t have a motor doesn’t mean it doesn’t belong. Oh, and you know what? I even saw some camels running down the street! Oh, if only I were able to catch a video of that!

The Wrong Side of the Tracks

Before getting to Rajasthan, we spent a night in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat. It is home to one of the best universities in India, IIM Ahmedabad. The whole area around the school is supposedly a paradise for luxury shopping and luxury hotels with luxury prices. Definitely not for your ordinary backpacker. Instead, we trekked to another part of town that was, well, less than stellar (you can see a little of it in this first photo.) In fact, my roommate stayed awake half the night keeping guard against random creepy critters. We were so glad when the sun finally rose that we didn’t even bother to take showers. We just got our stuff and ran into the auto-rickshaws you see in the second pic. But hey, as a student backpacker, you gotta have that experience once (and only once), right? Hmm….

Rajasthan-bound

For 10 days in November, I went on vacation with 3 of my classmates. We had 10 days off for Diwali, the Festival of Lights or the Indian New Year. We decided to go to Rajasthan, a state in northwestern India. By bus, train, car, and good ol’ walking, we visited Udaipur (the White City), Jodhpur (the Blue City), Jaipur (the Pink City) and Pushkar (the hippie town.)

Chaotic Beauty

It is very difficult to capture the craziness of Mumbai traffic without experiencing it yourself. Not only do you have every type of vehicle, person, cart, and animal on the road, but there are few street lights, signs or pedestrian crossings. You are often risking your life when trying to cross the street. No one stops for you, no one stays within the lanes and everyone is honking like that’s actually gonna do something. Well, for you, I try to show that insanity. Behold by clicking the following videos:

Delhi Revisited

My last entry on Delhi wasn’t the sweetest, so here is my way of making up for it. This is the Lotus Temple in Delhi. It’s as beautiful inside as it is outside. Interesting thing happened while visiting here. I was harassed by a gang of mosquitos. Literally. Some of you know that, unfortunately, I am one of those people who happen to be a particularly tasty treat for mosquitoes. In India, if I was spending the day outdoors, there was no way I was going outside without first coating myself in bug spray. Well, I must have forgotten to put some on this evening because a hoard of those little nasties was following me around for about five minutes. I ended up having to run into the temple. My classmates nearly fell to the ground laughing. Hey, now you calm down. It’s not funny!!! Well, maybe a little… ;-)

The Movies

Bollywood is India’s booming film industry. It’s second only to Hollywood in America and comes before other emerging film centers like Nollywood in Nigeria. As a foreigner, if you hang around long enough at Colaba Causeway (tourist mecca in Mumbai), a scout may ask you to appear in as an extra for a movie, music video or commercial. This never happened to me, but two French ladies at school got offers a number of times. They were excited at first but after a couple times, they just got sick of it. It was too hot, took too long, and they received too little food. And considering food and maybe a little fame is your reward for a day’s worth of service, that’s not so good.

The movies are mostly in Hindi. Also, they are three hours long. You will rarely see kissing in the movies. Bollywood movies also remind me a bit of Disney movies as the characters can bust out in a fantastic song and dance number at any moment.

In the pic, you can see a poster of one of the biggest movies of 2007, Om Shanti Om. I didn’t get a chance to see it, but I definitely saw a lot of its accompanying music videos on the TV while I was on the elliptical machine on the gym. And one song was THE hit at The Hawaiian Shack, one of the funnest nightclubs around. Check out the movie version here (nightclub version was a faster remix:)

Hair Supreme

Who says only the hair on your scalp should be styled, coiffed and beautified? Not these fine gentlemen. So what if they may be using combs, curlers, flat irons and even deep conditioners? They know what they got and they’re flauntin’.

I Got Yo Goods Right Here

Ahh, the ever-present goods carrier truck. Each truck is brightly painted with unique pictures and designs. Each also has a bumper sticker on the back that reads, “Horn OK Please!” Say what, Stella? Well, the sticker is just letting you know that it’s OK to honk your horn. Um, this is India. EVERYONE is perpetually honking their horns (especially since most taxis don’t have side-view mirrors.). Believe me, nobody is looking for permission to do so. But thanks for letting us know anyway, goods carrier trucks.