Jodhpur – The Blue City

March 16, 2019

Our train to Jodhpur was an uneventful six hours, then we caught an Uber to our hotel near Mehrangarh Fort. The rickshaw drivers tried to overcharge as usual, asking 200 rupees to ride in a rickshaw when Uber was only asking 50. When we started walking away they came down to 150 and eventually 80, running after us as we walked away. Rideshare apps are great when they work (i.e. when the driver actually shows up). 

The huge Fort, imposing and set on a cliff, dominates the Jodhpur skyline. After a relaxing morning spent reading guide books and travel blogs we walked up the steep and narrow alleys for (yet another) fort and palace tour. Mehrangarh was built in 1459 and the guide boasted that the fort never fell to attackers. The exhibits were great, a kind of combination of Amber Fort and City Palace in Jaipur. We spent a few hours listening to the audioguide while walking through the fort and palace, learning some crazy things about Rajput culture, like Jauhar (mass self immolation). The Rajputs were a war-faring people who believed in “Victory or Death!”. When a city fell to attackers, the women would commit mass self immolation so they wouldn’t be captured, thereby preserving their honor. Additionally, when a Rajput king died in battle his queen (well, all his wives) would self immolate on his funeral pyre, “making no sound as they burned to death”. D-: The queens would leave red hand prints near the gate of the Fort as they exited for the last time. We also learned opium was a pretty central part of the culture too, so maybe that helped with all the dying. 

A woman venerates the hand prints of past queens

After the Fort we walked out the back side into the actual Blue City region of Jodhpur. There was definitely more blue here than the region near the Clock Tower Market where we stayed, and the streets were a lot quieter. The blue was originally indigo, which signified the house of a Brahmin (upper caste/religious clergy). Indigo was a natural insect repellent and the color kept the house cooler. Now anyone can paint their house blue, and many do. We eventually found a rooftop restaurant open for a late lunch before winding our way back to our hotel. Later in the evening around 8:00 pm we ate at a street-side omelet shop with cheap and decent omelet sandwiches, drank some chai and then wandered to the Sardar Market where the stalls were being disassembled and packed away and the Ghanta Ghar clock tower was brightly with a splash of colored lights before heading to bed. 

Our next day was similarly relaxed. While walking around looking for a cheap lunch we learned just how quickly the atmosphere changes when we left the main roads and touristy areas. One road was under construction and we were told with gestures that another seemingly open road was maybe closed. We kept getting swarmed by groups of kids. It didn’t feel hostile, but we also didn't belong and were causing a bit of a ruckus. We headed back to the main road and got lunch.

At another rooftop restaurant for dinner (lots of roofs – I mean, that view!), we had a fascinating conversation with the owner. The restaurant was on top of a nicer boutique hotel that didn’t have any reviews but did have a reasonably priced menu, and after asking we learned that the Indian owner specifically doesn’t list on Google Maps or Trip Advisor because he doesn’t trust the reviews and he also doesn’t want Indian tourists to show up. He said they would hang out at the cafe for hours without spending much money and get drunk and disturb the other guests, and he was most interested in keeping his Booking.com score up as the hotel was very well rated. We had read restaurant reviews suggesting that some places were racist against Indians and we wondered about that, now we know it’s definitely a thing. He also asked us how we liked India and whether we felt safe. He want on to explain that Rajasthani men are very well mannered – they don’t touch women that belong to other men. Cool? After I posited that I prefer not to be owned he backpedaled a little. Not a language barrier thing, either, just cultural. On the Fort tour we also learned about purdah - the practice in certain Muslim and Hindu societies of screening women from "the lusty gaze of men" by means of curtains or veils. I know this is just my Western perspective, but there are two solutions to that problem, and only one of them involves curtains.

Camel parking

 

Clock Tower Market from afar