If there’s one trip that I wish I could go back and do again, it’s India. 10 years ago, a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed Peter landed at the airport in Kolkata (Calcutta), and traveled solo across this crazy place over the course of a month. I had no pre-planned itinerary; I was planning 2-3 days in advance maximum, and going wherever seemed interesting to me at the time, taking recommendations and invitations from travelers I met along the way. In retrospect, it feels like a coming of age trip for me, and one that would be nearly impossible to replicate now. It was very specific place and time in my life, and even though contending with the nonchalant chaos that is India was challenging at the time (which is definitely reflected in my writing from that time), that trip and this country now occupy a special place in my heart. So, when a buddy of mine from my post-grad program in London invited me his wedding here… honestly, the timing in my life wasn’t great, but I made it work—out of love for him of course—but also out of a recognition for how much fun this was going to be…
We’ll get to the wedding next. It will blow your mind.
But first, let’s see the city that hosted this extravagant affair: Jaipur.
An Intro to Jaipur + A Refresher on Rajasthan
With a population of ~4.3 million, Jaipur is the largest city in the magical west-Indian state of Rajasthan. It is also the capital of Rajasthan, and thusly is the center of political and economic power in Rajasthan. Jaipur was not built until 1727, which is relatively late in the grand scheme of India. Indeed, it was constructed to replace the previous Rajasthani capital, Amber, which—having been a center of power since the 11th century—was apparently getting crowded and having issues with water availability. Rajasthan is a desert, so water is a major concern in urban planning!
Jai Singh II was the Rajput ruler at the time and is remembered as something of a visionary. He maintained good relations with the ruling Mughal Empire, and this gave him the political cover necessary to undertake a giant project like building a new city from scratch. This made Jaipur the first city in India to have been planned from scratch, and as such, it has some unique features. To me, the most striking of these features is that it adheres to a very strict grid system, like Chicago. In older cities that evolved over centuries or millennia, in India and elsewhere, you will find no such geometric uniformity.
And, if you’re interested to circle back and see some of the other places I’ve covered in Rajasthan in the past, here’s the full series. It’s almost a decade old at this point, and this project has come a long way in that time.
Exploring Jaipur’s Pink City
Last time I was in India… there was no Uber. That has now changed, and things are SO much easier for it. 10 years ago, I was angrily negotiating my ass off with price-gouging tuk-tuk drivers on the side of a highway as the hot Indian sun fried my brain. I’d be lying if I claimed that I always handled these situations with grace… but, to fair to my younger self, I can’t be sure that grace would have been very helpful in these situations either. It’s a bit of catch-22 as I look back on these experiences from a place of maturity. But this time, I whipped out my phone and called an Uber. It dropped us off exactly where we wanted to go. Simple as that. Even as I type these words, I feel physical relief thinking about how much easier this was.
We were staying a ways outside of the city for the wedding, so it was a bit of a drive into the city. Let me show you a few pictures I snapped of elephants lumbering through traffic on this drive. Indian traffic is not for the faint of heart. Others from my post-grad cohort were also on this trip. Among them were a couple of Colombians who loved to talk about how much safer London is compared to Bogotá, and who also came to Kenya with me and were completely unfazed by it. THIS was the first I’d ever seen them rattled. They adapted quickly of course, but I must admit… it left me feeling low-key proud of how comfortable I felt dealing with this place. After all, this was not my first rodeo.
So while our Uber driver weaves us between elephants on the long drive into the city center, let me tell you about the Pink City.
Rajasthan has some really cool cities that are painted entirely in a single color. Most notably, there’s Jodhpur’s Blue City. And then there’s Pushkar, which is painted almost entirely in shades of white. I wrote about both of these places when I first visited India. In each case, the color of the city was rooted in the history and culture of its residents. So, here in the Pink City, you’d think the same would be true, right?
Nope. It was actually painted terracotta pink in 1876 as a show of hospitality to Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. Jaipur was apparently originally all natural sandstone hues, but this gesture of colonial-era diplomacy has now long-since been institutionalized, with strict city regulations to preserve this pink façade, especially in the walled old city. That walled “old city” is what is most often thought of as “The Pink City”, but the hues are present all around Jaipur, and is a point of pride for the city. It’s always a bit of a head-scratcher to me when India shows any kind of affection toward its former colonizer. If you want to get a bit deeper into Britain’s conquest of India, check out my recent article on the British Museum.
Hawa Mahal
The most famous landmark in the Pink City is Hawa Mahal, a.k.a. the Palace of Winds. It was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh as an extension of the City Palace. Designed by Lal Chand Ustad, it is 5 stories tall, with 953 small windows, which are called jharokhas. These windows were intended as vehicles for royal women to observe street life and events without being seen. Hawa Mahal, unlike the rest of the city, was built with red and pink sandstone. So it was, perhaps, the trend setter when the rest of the city’s color scheme was reconciled with it 77 years later.
I’d roped a friend into taking this self-guided walking tour with me (shout out to Ricardo), and this served as our base camp. Our Uber dropped us off right into front of this thing… and, as expected, pretty much all we could do was look at it. It’s not the most interactive attraction, so we were pretty quickly on the move. Here are the pictures though. Instagram achieved. ✔️
Pink City by Foot
After the magic of Jodhpur and Pushkar, I had high hopes for the Pink City. However, while the city certainly looks pink in aggregate, the reality street-to-street is not quite so cohesive. You can see for yourself in the gallery below.
As is the case in most Indian cities I’ve visited, humans share the streetscape with cows and monkeys, each species completely unfazed by one another. Here are a few pictures from our wanderings through the Pink City. You’ll see Jaipur’s grid system on display in some of these pictures.
Jainist Parade: “Diksha Mahotsav”
Perhaps 60% of the way through our Pink City wanderings, we stumbled across an unexplained parade. Through the haze, I spotted a marching band and lumbering painted elephants being ridden off in the distance, so naturally I darted across the street with my camera. In a place that feels as alien as India, I am always pleasantly surprised when I am reminded just how easy communication can be here. Indeed, a large proportion of Indians speak English as a first language, and Jaipur is no exception. Eventually, when I had chosen a suitable perch from which to view and shoot the parade as it slowly progressed past me, a man next to me struck up a conversation. I asked him about the purpose of the parade, and he replied that this is to celebrate the induction of a new Jainist monk.
Jainism is an ancient religion in India that dates all the way back to the 6th century BCE. It was founded by a guy named Mahavira and is based on principals of non-violence (ahimsa), truth, non-possessiveness, and spiritual liberation. When somebody makes the decision to renounce their worldly life to become a monk, a parade called a Diksha Mahotsav is held, where they are marched through town wearing nice clothes one final time. At the conclusion of the parade, for the rest of their lives, they will wear simple white robes (called Svetambara) OR go completely nude, adopting vows of celibacy, non-attachment, and silence. 😳
Why would somebody do this you ask? Well, Jains believe in reincarnation, and this is a way to be liberated from rebirth, also known as achieving “moksha.”
Sure enough, the chariot carrying the monk-to-be eventually passed us by. You’ll see this monk pictured wearing a traditional garment obscuring his face. It was a fascinating sight to behold. I was engrossed, doing my best to catch nice pictures of the procession while my vigilante tour guide educated me.
All I can say is that I hope it works out for this new monk, and that he escapes reincarnation. 🤷🏻♂️
Up next, the main event! I’m going to bring you along to my first ever Indian wedding, which is going to set the bar unattainably high for every other wedding I attend moving forward.
It will be decidedly un-Jainist. 😂
