A Small Feminist Rant

The plan was to leave Udaipur and return to Pushkar for the Camel Fair, because it sounded like fun and, well, that’s what traveling is all about, isn’t it? The sleeper bus was considerably more comfortable than the one we took from Pushkar to Jaisalmer; all parts of our bunk seemed to be more or less intact, and we ended the trip with just as much glass as we started. The driver shouted “Ajmer, Ajmer, Ajmer!” early enough for us to get our stuff together and make sure we disembarked at the right stop.

The usual swarm of rickshaw drivers met us as we stepped off the bus. One of them informed us that no buses were going from Ajmer to Pushkar after 7pm (which of course it was) because of the fair; you could take a car but it would likely cost a couple grand. After some discussion we decided to spend the night in Ajmer and head up to the festivities in the morning.

Ajmer is a largely Muslim city. Many of the women wear hijabs or burkas, the men are in caftans and those little beanies. Apparently there is also a law here that says any foreigners that stay in the hotels or guest houses have to register with the local police department. For this reason, the first few hotels we stopped at told us we weren’t even allowed to stay there because they didn’t want to deal with the paperwork. I’d been a bit irritated the last day or so because India really is a man’s world, so to speak, and it’s not uncommon for people to address Brij instead of me when we’re together. Sometimes I don’t mind this because, well, it is easier for him to do most of the talking since he fits in better, but even in places like the fancy hotel in Udaipur, more often than not we’d hear “good morning, sir” and I’d get a smile and a nod. At breakfast yesterday I ordered an espresso and when the waiter came to let us know it would be a few more minutes, he addressed Brij -- in English -- and never even looked at me. That kind of thing gets to me. Needless to say, I was already a little peeved and the blatant racism with the hotel situation in Ajmer was not sitting well with me. I suppose Brij was right, though, when he pointed out that it wasn’t just me: he has a foreign passport as well.

Still. It’s stupid.

Anyway, we wound up taking the third hotel we stopped at because it was getting late, we were hungry and tired, and no one else would even give us a second look. The prices were exorbitant because of the fair in town; they wanted 2000 rupees for a room that should cost probably 800 or 900 at most. There’s no wi-fi, the hot water barely passes for warm, and we’ve seen more than a few cockroaches climbing the walls. They’re giving us the runaround as far as pretty much everything; they kept changing the time we’d get our passports back, for example. It’s so tiring and irritating to feel like you’re blatantly being taken advantage of and there’s not much you can do about it.

Getting to the fair in Pushkar proved to be a hell of a lot more difficult than we expected also. After finally arriving at the bus stand, we found scores of people waiting to board the local buses to Pushkar. It would be cool to see the fair, but in the end we decided It was going to be more hassle than it was worth to either of us, and that we’d had enough of Ajmer, and we would just make our way back to Jaipur as soon as we could and chill there, where we had some idea of where we were and what was going on.

Luckily, buses leave Ajmer for Jaipur about once every hour, so we chilled at the hotel for a bit (waiting on our passports) before we headed back to the bus stand and then out east. Maybe I’m biased, but if you’re ever in Ajmer, Rajasthan, give the Hotel Neelam Palace a skip – there are bound to be more worthwhile places. I’m a little bummed that we aren’t making it back to Pushkar; I liked it there. Even though they had a weird set of rules that seem to be enforced pretty strictly, there was something charming about the place. I also wanted to pick up a new pair of shoes. Oh well.

We wound up hopping an afternoon bus to Jaipur and even got a room back at Chitra Katha, where we stayed our first time here. 

There's a definite comfort in being someplace familiar after the headache we just left. After a couple of days here, Brij and I will part ways and I’ll head back up to Dharamsala to finish the semester at Tibet Charity. I wonder how Gusti and my students are doing? I can’t believe my stay in India is almost over. In the beginning 4 months seemed like such a long time; now I’m in the last few weeks and it's so surreal. In under a month I’ll be Stateside, just in time for another delightful Chicago winter. (To be fair, I don’t think the winters are any better in Dharamsala.) If there’s anything you want me to pick you up from India, let me know because I won’t be here much longer!

Rajasthani Thali

Buses leave Jaisalmer for Jodhpur every hour, so it isn't too hard to get tickets. We decided that 3:30 sounded like a good time to go, since that would give us time to clean up but still reach our destination before it got too late.

It's getting to the point where five-hour bus rides seem like pieces of cake, hardly worth worrying about at all. We decided we'd be fine with regular seats as opposed to a bunk, especially since we'd be traveling during the day. The bus was more or less what you might expect from a local Indian bus: old and rickety, only moderately clean, and full of people.

Somewhere around halfway through the trip we were startled by a sudden CRASH of glass that seemed to keep going -- it was inside the bus and somewhere ahead of us. It sounded like someone had dropped a case of flower vases off the roof or something. When the last tink-tinks had faded, I peeked out into the aisle and realized that one of the windows on a bunk ahead of us had, somehow, fallen into the aisle. Luckily, no one seemed to be injured. The bus guys managed to get it (more or less) cleaned up before we had to walk that way, although I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of shards still scattered along the floor.

Jodhpur is a city. A big city. Maybe it's the fact that I was sleeping and had to be woken up when we rolled into town around 9pm, maybe it's the fact that we had just left the smallish town of Jaisalmer and come into someplace that reminded me distinctly of the bustling metropolis of Delhi, but I wasn't really feeling it. We got swarmed by tuk-tuk drivers as we stepped off the bus; if I were new to India and unfamiliar with the smallness of the Personal Bubble here I'd have gotten a little worried about just how tightly they closed in.

After some discussion we (read: Brij) struck a deal with the one guy and we were on our way to the hotel that the guys in Jaisalmer had recommended. The main roads in Jodhpur were noisy, dirty, and teeming with people and animals. Just as they always do, people stared at us as we drove past; apparently white girls are still uncommon enough that we're worth special attention. Normally I don't care, but I was tired and a little fussy and growing more anxious by the minute. In times like that it's really beneficial to have someone you can lean on and trust to just get you where you need to go. 

A few kilometers later we arrived at Baba Haveli, where Imran Bhai got us all set up in a room just outside the terrace and some dinner on the rooftop (they make a pretty kickass chicken biryani, FYI). He pointed out the local palaces, the fort, and the clock tower: the main points of interest in the area. 

Le Fort.

We were glad to know if we needed to go back to the future we had at least one of the necessary components close by.

We were pretty wrecked from the camel riding, so Jodhpur more or less functioned as a place to rest on the way to our next adventure. We did a lot of chilling and just exploring the town near the haveli.

We sampled some Rajasthani thali at a couple of different restaurants. Yum!

Friday we decided to check out the fort because after the clock tower (which we basically passed every time we went into town from our guest house) it was the closest of all the other attractions.

Boni, the Spanish guy we met over breakfast at the haveli, was on his way back from the fort as we were trying to figure out how to get to it, so he escorted us. He's a cool dude (and also a very tall one).

This old guy saw us taking photos with Boni and he wanted one, too. See? White girl is a spectacle.

Not sure why so much of the city below is painted blue, but it looks cool.

Sunset over Jodhpur, as seen from Mehrengarh Fort.

We did a little shopping in town and, just as I'd suspected, once I spent a little time there I got my bearings and didn't mind the atmosphere so much. Regardless, we decided to move on to the next city on the itinerary, Udaipur.

Waking up at 5am to pack, eat a quick breakfast ("You want cold milk with your corn flakes? How can anybody eat that?") and make a 7am bus across town takes it out of you. 

The bus stopped for a snack & bathroom break. See what's up in the corner behind the guy at the counter? Hint: if you're from Chicago you should be used to seeing a lot of them.

Something I've noticed about the bathroom culture in India: "ladies only" toilets are not uncommon, even if they just consist of an area hidden by a wall from the outside world, with a series of holes in the ground. Guys are expected to just pee in the open, whether it be in the bushes or, as we saw numerous times in Jodhpur, off to the side between some cars or against a wall, wherever you can find, basically. For all the gender inequality here, India does make some effort to make things a bit more comfortable for its women even if it is just through women's only toilets, seats on buses, cars on trains, salons, and the like.

The rest of the bus ride was without incident, except for at the very end when I woke up from my nap, pulled back the curtain over the window, and found that whoever was in the bunk above us had vomited all down the side of the bus. I was REALLY glad I'd kept the window closed.

We arrived in Udaipur yesterday afternoon and basically took the first hotel room we could find, at a place right on the lake called Hanuman Ghat Hotel. I think we're on the fifth floor, and just like everywhere except the fanciest of hotels, there is no elevator. I felt like I was climbing the Shinra Tower. Our door literally opens into the rooftop restaurant, though, so at least food is close by.

The view ain't half bad from up here.