Jaipur - the Pink City

The Jaipur region of Rasjathan lies on the eastern edge of the Thar Desert and the dry mountainside is dotted with forts, palaces, pavilions and temples. The region was once ruled by Rajput kings and so has a rich history that is kept alive today through its amazing architecture and traditions and culture.

Jaipur is much bigger than Udaipur and has a much more cosmopolitan feel to it, although still not as developed as Bombay or Delhi. It is often referred to as the Pink City because most of the buildings that line the street are a pink clay or plaster so the entire city is sort of a pink hue.

Jaipur is a labyrinth of shops, palaces, dusty streets, temples and historic buildings. The city streets are crammed with life, with elephants and camels jockeying for space with motorbikes, cars, rickshaws and farmers carting their wares. It is a fascinating shopping destination, with tons of small shops lining the streets, particularly in the touristy areas, but also the domestic shopping areas – on the surface (like most of India), it appears totally chaotic, but amazingly everything co-exists in a peaceful (well, maybe not peaceful..) harmony.

Anyway, I arrived in Jaipur in the morning and met one of my colleagues and a colleague of his, who is from Bombay, which was awesome because traveling in India with two Indians is definitely the way to go! Speaking Hindi automatically gets you reduced prices, personal service and excellent food.

We started with a visit to one of the main squares in Jaipur – Badi Chaupar, which is right on the main street. It’s a hub of activity all times of the day and night, lined with colorful shops filled with food, jewellery and clothing. This is the hub for some of the most interesting sights in Jaipur, including the famous Hawa Mahal or “Palace of Winds”. This pink stucture was constructed in 1799 by Sawai Pratap Singh and it’s ornate façade has become somewhat of an icon for the city. It is about 5 stories tall but is only one room deep and the face is covered with windows and balconies filled with perforated screens, designed so the purdahed (veiled royalty) ladies of the harem could watch what was happening in the street below without being seen. We walked up to the top, where we had a great view of the activity in the streets below, plus the hilly countryside surrounding the city.

From there, we toured the adjoining City Palace, which is now a museum, but part of it is also the permanent resident of the maharaja and where he stays when he is in Jaipur. The palace is an interesting blend of both Rajput and Mughal architecture with open, airy style public spaces leading to private apartments where the kings resided. We had an excellent young guide who gave a great tour and explained the history of the building and the chronology of the royals who had lived there.

From there we crossed over to one of the five Indian observatories built by Sawai Jai Singh II. The one in Jaipur, called Jantar Mantar (technical instruments) is the best preserved in India and was built due to Jai Singh’s keen interest in astronomy. This outdoor observatory was built in 1728 and consists of 16 large sculpted instruments, including a 75ft high sundial that are used to forecast the time, the expected date of the arrival of the monsoons, how long the days & months are, and how to read astrological signs, etc. The instruments are all made from huge pieces of cement because Singh believed the larger the instrument the more accurate the results would be. It is an amazing collection and on a sunny day (like it is most days here), you can tell a dozen things from these pieces. If you’re a mathematician or scientist, this would definitely be right up your alley.