Around the World with Hardy(T)Around the World with Hardy(T)After the excitement of the camel trekking,
the next leg of the India trip involved a tour of the old Raj cities: Jaipur, Jodhpur and, first
up, Jaisalmer. This was our first real experience of an Indian city, and
what an onslaught on the senses it was. All around was hustle and bustle;
noise and 
smell; colour, heat and dust. Cyclists,
pedestrians and cows all vied for a small piece of road. Street hawkers
and shop owners implored you to buy their goods and the smell of spicy delicacies
wafter out from the roadside stalls.
The highlight of Jasalmer is, of course, the old Fort area, within which can be found the havelis and temples, as well as all the shops and market stalls. The havelis are beautiful sandstone buildings, elaborately carved so that the wind could pass through the walls and ventilate what would be otherwise unbearably hot quarters. Most of the havelis are free to walk round, although you are inevitably walking into a hard sell area when you do. Believe me, it's worth the hassle.
The Jain temples were equally, if
not more impressive. The Jains are an offshoot of mainstream Hinduism who
believe that all life, human or otherwise, is sacred. To this end, many
Jains are to be seen wearing masks so that they don't breathe in - and kill
- any insects, or sweeping the street in front of them so as not to tread
on any unfortunate creatures. An extreme branch of Jainism wears no clothes
at all, lest these encumberments should come between the Jain and the sky.
I was fortunate enough to catch a service in one of the Jain temples, and
the one thing that struck me was that the Jains seemed to actually enjoy
their religion. None of this silent prayer or sombre chanting: they were
sitting around having a good old sing-song and a bit of a laugh. Great temples
too!
At the end of a hard day's sightseeing, we took a short trip to a hotel just outside the city to watch the Old Fort at sunset. A gin and tonic would have been nice, not to say appropriate, but you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get tonic water in India! Anyway, the sight of the sun setting and casting its rays over the red sandstone of Jaisalmer Fort is just another of the unforgettable images that India has left me with.
Move onto Jaisalmer(2) to find out what we got up to that night...