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Planning a trip to Jaipur, the pink city? Here is an account of the author's trip, capturing the grandeur of the place.
Planning a trip to Jaipur, the pink city? Here is an account of the author’s trip, capturing the grandeur of the place.
The husband: “I have meetings to conduct. We cannot plan a trip.” Me: “Come on Arun, it’s our wedding anniversary. A day or two, what do you reckon?”
Next day, standing in the balcony of a hotel, right in the heart of Jaipur, overwhelmed by pink hued huge architecture of the city, we thought that it was good that we had an overnight journey to the place. Else, we might have missed out on the warm and exuberant smile of rosy turbaned coolies at the station!
The city exudes grandeur, and so does the hospitality. We breakfasted at Rajdhani and they were impeccable in their hospitality. Warmth exudes from the moment we entered the eatery.
Albert Museum – humble displays brimming with pride
When we decided to go sightseeing, Ola cabs came to our rescue, and we didn’t spend much time bargaining on the cab rates. On a suggestion of a local resident, we started with a visit to Albert Museum, only to realise that the museum might be extremely exciting to an amateur archaeologist. It was majestic. However, we could only partly engage ourselves with the monument. Next we stopped at Jantar Mantar, a similar one to the one found in Delhi. Apparently, there are five Jantar Mantar monuments in India, of which the largest is in Jaipur.
Jal Mahal, Amber Fort. Lavishly spread.
We were exhausted. Yet, I wanted to go shopping – I am a woman who is always comforted by retail therapy. Jaipur’s shopping centre ‘Chaura Bazaar’ stood wide open inviting everyone with its melange of colours. Famous for its bandhani work dupattas and trinkets, you would be cruel if you will not carry back souvenirs back from this market.
Splendid labyrinth of cultivated nature – inside Amber Fort
It was day two, which turned out to be a real winner. The cab dropped us at the Amber Fort. This majestic fort has a place of pride for having being featured in the Bollywood saga Jodha Akbar, amongst many others. There is much more to the fort that what meets the eye, what with untold old stories that live on in the walls of the building.
What was however, intriguing and heart breaking is that this grand culture is confined only within the walls. We saw an old lonesome flute like instrument player, resting against the wall, thriving only on the coins often given by the visitors as a token of appreciation. I realised that we have lost 98% of indigenous music traditions – but who cares? Other than few talent shows in which only a few manage to exhibit their talent, much is either lost or unknown to the world outside.
But back home, I did my part to connect with the forgotten music. When we talk about music closer home, Coke Studio is one of the first things that comes to mind. I downloaded their app from the play store. With the programme thriving on the indigenous voices and music forms, it brought me closer to the unsung heroes, giving me goosebumps.
Hawa Mahal
We were home the next day, but not before making a fleeting visit to Hawa Mahal. Sigh! The infrastructure will take your breath away which you will catch back soon with no dearth of air around coming from windows. It boasts of having a total of 953 windows uniquely carved in the Rajasthani pattern and designs!
We were back from our colourful trip, laden with equally colourful souvenirs, reminding me of famous lines by Khalil Gibran,
“Let me, O let me bathe my soul in colours;
Let me swallow the sunset and drink the rainbow.”
Published here earlier.
Header image: pixabay
Images credit: Anushree Gupta
Lover of books, movies, thandi chai and dry cakes (necessarily in that order). Teacher, mother, wife, daddy’s girl, irregular blogger. read more...
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People say that women are the greatest enemies of women. I vehemently disagree. It is the patriarchal mindset that makes women believe in the wrong ideology.
The entire world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, 2024. It should be a joyful day, but unfortunately, not all women are entitled to this privilege, as violence against women is at its peak. The experience of oppression pushes many women to choose freedom. As far as patriotism is concerned, feminism is not a cup of tea in this society.
What happens when a woman decides to stand up for herself? Does this world easily accept the decisions of women in this society? What inspires them to be free of the clutches of the oppression that women have faced for ages? Most of the time, women do not get the chance to decide for themselves. Their lives are always at the mercy of someone, which can be their parents, siblings, husband, or children.
In some cases, women do not feel the need to make any decisions. They are taught to obey the patriarchal system, which makes them believe that they are right. In my family, I was never taught to make decisions on my own. It was always my parents who bought dresses and all that I needed.
14 years after her last feature film Dhobi Ghat, storyteller extraordinaire comes up with her new film, Laapataa Ladies, a must watch.
*Some spoilers alert*
Every religion around the world dictates terms to women. The onus is always on women to be ‘modest’ and cover their faces and bodies so men can’t be “tempted”, rather than on men to keep their eyes where they belong and behave like civilized beings. So much so that even rape has been excused on the grounds of women eating chowmein or ‘men will be men’. I think the best Hindi movie retort to this unwanted advice on ‘akeli ladki khuli tijori ki tarah hoti hai’ (an alone woman is like an open jewellery box) came from Geet in Jab We Met – Kya aap gyan dene ke paise lete hain kyonki chillar nahin hain mere paas.
The premise of Laapataa Ladies is beautifully simple – two brides clad in the ghunghat that covers their identity get mixed up on a train. Within this Russian Doll, you get a comedy of errors, a story of getting lost, a commentary on patriarchy’s attitude towards women, a mystery, and a tale of finding oneself, all in one. Done with a mostly light touch that has you laughing and nodding along.
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