Rajasthan
Continued…
·
Jantar Mantar
–
Maharaja Sawai
Jai Singh built one of the five observatories in India, Jantar Mantar in the
early Eighteenth Century. The Maharaja was passionate about astronomy and
numerology created a collection of complex astronomical instruments chiseled
out of stone, most of which continue to provide accurate information to this
day. The most striking instrument is the sundial, which we leaned from Singh is
the biggest sundial in the world.
While exploring Jantar Mantar,
one recurring thought came to mind.
Kevin Calabro would love this place.
Too bad Kevin Calabro wasn’t here to help us thoroughly enjoy this
site. Rather Jantar Mantar, was not the
highlight of our trip – although we did all enjoy taking silly photographs in
front of our zodiac signs.
·
Teej Festival
This festival is dedicated to the Goddess
Parvati, commemorating her union with Lord Shiva. An idol of the Goddess Teej (incarnation of Goddess
Parvati) is decorated by the royal families of Jaipur for the parade. A convoy
of beautifully adorned elephants, horses and camels parade before Goddess
Teej's palanquin made of gold and silver. Various traditional dances are
performed to folk songs throughout the parade.
·
Teej Festival Rooftop
Viewing:
In
the U.S., where safety is of utmost concern and where lawsuits for tort
liability abound, we adhere to very strict health and safety guidelines. But this is not the case in India. For example, in the U.S., you would never see
an infant on the road without a proper car seat. However, in India, entire families including
their infants ride on mopeds – and generally, no one bothers to wear a helmet
or a safety belt.
Moreover,
parents (and even grandparents) in the U.S. put safety locks on drawers, padlock
pool gates, and don’t let their eldest daughter ride her bike past the mailbox
on their dead end block, parental rules in India differ.
Similarly,
in the U.S., there are stringent standards governing conduction and
transmission of electricity. In India,
standards certainly differ as live wires droop and bow perilously above or rest
across the roof where the kids are at play.
It
is just part of life in India. And while
in India, you need to take a deep breath and embrace the differences, while at
the same time, ensuring your own health, safety and well being.
Following
Singh’s lead, we pushed, prodded and elbowed our way through hoards of people
on the streets, a flock of men urinating at an outdoor toilet, and various back
alleyways of Jaipur to a dimly lit, stone staircase. I held tightly to the back of James’ shirt so
that we would not get separated in the mob scene on the streets. Tom glanced anxiously back at me, imploring
with his eyes ‘did I think we were safe and that following Singh was ok?’ I nodded and in near darkness, we began
scaling the unevenly balanced steps, making our way towards the building’s roof
where we would join Jaipur locals to enjoy the Teej Festival.
After
climbing several flights of stairs, we emerged into the light as we stepped out
onto the unevenly stuccoed rooftop. The
roof was full of local families. Young children,
Christopher and Kenzie’s age running about and sitting precariously on the
roof’s un-railed edge. Women squatted
and knelt at roof’s edge to get a birds eye view of the procession below. Men chatted on their cell phones. It was an experience like no other. We were definitely a bit nervous but quickly
settled in as we began interacting with the Jaipur locals.
·
Our first encounter on the roof was with Indian TJ:
“Where
are you from,” asked a bright-eyed, articulate young Indian boy of about 12
years old.
“U.S.A.,”
I answered.
“Oh,”
he said. “I know something about the
U.S.A. and I wonder if you know too. Who
is the President of the U.S.,” he asked clearly doubting my sheer,
Hermione-like nerdiness.
I
smiled, and said, “I think I got this one.”
You could still see the doubt in his eyes. “Obama,” I said assuredly. Indian TJ was taken aback. After several moments of silence, he returned
to the conversation.
“My
uncle has a store in the U.S.A.,” said Indian TJ.
“Do
you know what state your uncle’s store is in,” I asked curiously.
“London,”
he said matter-of-factly!
We
all giggled, including Singh.
Indian
TJ and his family were absolutely lovely as were all of the families we
encountered on the roof’s edge. Almost
everyone on the roof attempted to engage us in conversation regardless of his
or her English-speaking abilities and comfort with the language.
A
young mother motioned to Emily and I to please join them in the front row so
that we could have the best view of the procession. We tried to graciously decline, but she
insisted. As I squeezed in and knelt
down next to her, she looked directly in my eyes and asked, “just 2 children?”
Rather
that trying to explain that Tom was divorced and I was not the mother of his
children, and that there was a third child at home, I simply nodded.
“I
have 2 kids too,” she said. “Boys.” She
motioned to the young child in her arms and another adorable little boy
standing nearby. We continued our
simple, yet lovely conversation replete with charades and lots of smiles. One thing was clear: this young mother, and
all of the women around her, desperately wanted to insure that Emily and I had
a great time and a near perfect view of all the activities below. “It’s coming.
It’s coming,” shouted another woman, pointing frantically and
encouraging us to look.
The
Teej Festival represents one of those spiritual moments for me in India – where
I find myself half-joking, but half seriously, stating, “I am pretty sure I was
Indian in a past life because I feel so comfortable and at home here.” While I may not actually be ‘brown
deep-down’, it’s hard to explain but at the Teej Festival, I felt totally
connected, embraced, and accepted in spite of language barriers and inherent
differences. It’s a wonderful feeling
and its just one of the things I love about India.
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