01.10; jaipur

the train to jaipur was late by 4 hours, but it felt more like forever. i don’t know if i feel so because of my eagerness to leave agra or my enthusiasm to reach jaipur, the capital state of rajasthan. maybe its both. during this forever, i managed to eat my breakfast, read the newspapers twice, finished the last chapters of my book and talked to an IT lecturer going to bharatpur. i can’t understand why indians do not get angry when the trains run this late. they seem to flare up on the silliest of occasions, losing their temper on the smallest of conflicts, but they can all patiently sit around to wait for a train 4 hours late.

i tried to keep my cool in the sweltering heat, but i knew deep inside, i was getting impatient and cursing under my breath. when the train finally rumbled slowly into the station, everyone got up, gave a little cheer and ran into the carriages. i got into mine and found a group of youths in my seat. i asked: “you guys sitting here? its my seat.” i took out my ticket and tried to shoo them away. they didn’t speak english, mumbled some hindi and sat still. i raised my voice and told them firmly that they were in my seat and they should move away.

they again muttered some hindi, tried to feign ignorance and remained. i lost my temper and started arguing with them. in the end, they shifted themselves aside and let me have my seat, while 3 of the group shared 2 seats beside me. i sat down, wrestled for my rightful spot and didn’t budge for the next hour.

throughout the journey, these 3 guys beside me sat so close to one another, almost on top of each other, they must be conjoined like the siamese twins. ill call them the jaipur threesome for simplicity. the jaipur threesome kept asking me questions. where am i from. what did i eat for breakfast, where was i going, what was my views on global finance crisis and if i liked sarah palin. no, they didn’t ask the last two questions, but they did asked alot of other awfully irritating questions. when they didn’t take turns asking questions like it was a game of interrogation, they called on their other friends from other cabins to come interrogate me. and all this while, i was trying hard to start on a new book. i tried my best to make passing one word replies that ended the question immediately, but they would take 5 seconds to ask another one.

i can’t properly describe the amount of irritation i felt. to put icing on the cake, it was blazing hot in the train and the wind, that often provide a sort of comfort for me, it was nothing but dry hot air. after some time, jaipur threesome and their posse finally realised that i wasn’t warming up to their attention. one of the better english speaking ones asked me a disalarming question and it made me felt somewhat ashamed. “are we making you feel bad?” he asked. i told him a partial lie and said no, and then gave him a bit of truth, that i was trying to read. he got the point that i was trying to drive across, told his friends and they left me alone for the rest of the trip.

i dropped off at jaipur junction and met with some of the most aggressive rickshaw drivers in the whole of rajasthan. one of them followed me around and around for ten minutes on foot before i finally agreed to take his rickshaw. he wanted to bring me to a guesthouse who will pay him commission, but in the end, i managed to con him to bring me to a restaurant for a cheap fare (these rickshaw drivers always lure travelers with cheap fares to bring them their guesthouses), and i dropped off and walked the remaining 5minutes to the guesthouse i found on the lonely planet. after he realised that i wasn’t going into the restaurant, he shouted across the street. “you’re a bad man, i don’t like you!” i laughed and shouted back “my friend, the feeling is mutual!”

i’ve planned to stay in jaipur for three days, but in the end i stayed for five. no, it wasn’t incredibly fun and there wasn’t alot to see. it wasn’t a nice town to chill in and it was definately not Ladakh. in fact i hated it so much, i nicknamed it the ‘delhi of rajasthan’. jaipur was the capital of rajasthan and together with agra and delhi, they are called the golden triangle, a sort of tourist belt for people who have too little time to see india. these guys must leave india very sad and angry, because the golden triangle is something like the bermuda triangle. both suck you into a state of timeless oblivion where you can’t help but to feel… helpless. oh, and you just can’t seem to get out of both triangles either. here’s the story.

i wanted to avoid the main tourist route, everyone seemed to be heading to or had just came from Pushkar. so i thought that i would be better off in bikaner. i could go to deshnok from there to visit karni mata, the pretty notorious rat temple. i went to train station and found that the train was fully booked for 3 days straight. the best they could offer me was to put me on waiting list for a train 3 days later (already 15 in line), and i would have to check again when the date draws nearer. so instead of staying in jaipur for three days, i stayed for five.

during the five days, i was, to say the least, very unproductive. i visited the jaipur city palace, walked around the bazaars of the old city a couple of times, but mostly i went to eat at macdonalds. it was an indulgence i needed to help lift my spirits. for me, the two highlights in jaipur were (1) watching a cheesy action bollywood blockbuster and (2) visiting amber fort.

like bollywood movies and everything else in india, watching a movie was quite a riot. people would cheer, jeer, wolf whistle, clap and do all sorts of other things spontanously. when the hero hits the bad guy, cheer. when the heroine appears in skimpy clothes (this happened many times), everyone wolf whistled. despite not understanding a word said, the plot was so obvious, i had no problems catching the story. it was so obvious and cheesy, everyone could draw out the story structure by the half hour mark. nevertheless, the movie (and the indian cinema experience) was very entertaining for me. i guess going to the movies was like so many other things in india for me; you never fully understand anything, you never know how long it will take, its full of indians enjoying themselves. but in the end, with an open heart and mind, one can still enjoy it thoroughly. and besides, it was great to escape the mid day rajasthani heat and retreat into an air conditioned cinema as well.

i made friends with Gil, an israeli university student who had been traveling for 5months. we both wanted to buy tickets for the movie, exchanged pleasantries and had a comforting lunch at macdonalds. then we watched the movie, had some good laughs and met again during dinner at a restaurant. we were joined by another israeli girl and we chatted for, probably more than 4 hours straight. i was given a history lesson of israel, jerusalem and all its stories, and told about the notorious israeli ravers and many more. on my part, i leaked out about how there are death penalties and canings in singapore, chewing gum is prohibited and some other shocking stories. we talked about why we travel and what we liked about it, the different degrees of missing home, the trouble to buy presents for everyone back home and a lot of other inane stuff. it was nice for three strangers of two different nationalities to be able to hold a conversation (and it wasn’t even forced or awkward) for so long talking about all sorts of different subjects. i think this is one of the biggest attractions for me to travel around.

the next day, gil and i went to amber fort. i didn’t expect much and i thought it would be just another red fort or agra fort. but it turned out to be one of the best forts i’ve visited in rajasthan. there were a lot to like about it; its imposing defensive structure, its strategic location amongst hills, nice courtyards and maze like walkways. walking around mindlessly brings you back into the times in its former glories, you can easily imagine the court life within its faded walls.

on the fifth day, i went to the train station and to my absolute dismay, there was no ticket for me. there was no way, even in hell that i would stay in jaipur for another day.. so i decided to take a bus instead. i left the station and hopped onto a public bus to get back to my guesthouse. after a few stops, a large family of perhaps 12 boarded the bus. they were probably poor, wore torn and dirty clothes and didn’t have shoes. they boarded and immediately quarrelled with the conductor over the fares. they probably couldn’t afford paying for everyone. it went on and on, the conductor threatened to throw them out but failed, and when i thought that the mindless squabble would stop, it continued in a more hysterical fashion.

they quarrelled amongst themselves; the first wife argued with another woman (probably the second wife), then she turned around to scold the husband. the kids picked at each other, slapped kicked and fight like baby gorrillas. the weather was so hot and dusty, i didn’t get my ticket, i was tired and thirsty and now i had to endure this ghastly spectacle. it was so irritating and painful, i almosted wanted to get off the bus (or gouge my eyes and stick pencils into my ears). i do not understand this characteristic of so many indians i’ve met. why do they like to argue, fight back, squabble and engage in such loud and rude confrontations? and its often for the smallest of reasons. i’ve seen people getting into fights for no reason at all.

when i finally did get to my stop, i got off happily and waved to the remaining passengers and the poor conductor. as the bus sped off down the dusty road, i could still hear the family quarreling away. for all i know, they can and will most likely continue to quarrel for the rest of their lives.

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