Day Six: (Dec 24, 2011)
“What does the holy rat say?” I asked.
In accented English (mimicking the voice of an Indian guru), J replied, “Thou shalt visit the city.”
Every trip, we come up with some internal jokes. In a country like India, with thousands of deities, and penetrating spirituality everywhere, our common joke is “The holy rat.” The idea came when reading about a shrine famous for worshipping rats in Bikaner in Rajasthan. Ever since, we have been joking about our spirit guide: the holy rat, which is also cutely dubbed as Wilbur.
A painting depicting the City Palace
Following the advice of the holy rat, we toured around City Palace, where the Maharaja (former Indian royalty) still lives, Jantar Mantar (the observatory park which satisfies the interest in astronomy of an early Maharaja) and a site called Hawa Mahal.
Jantar Mantar
“I am pooped,” J announced shortly after roaming around a little..
It is rare to see him exhausted before sunset. He’s apparently not feeling well.
“Merry Christmas,” I said to him before he hit the sack at six. He’s an upset stomach and fever.
I was trying to get us bus tickets to our next stop, Kasker, a Hindu pilgrimage site. After trying to ask around and book online all in no avail, I told myself: Dora, you need food.
On Christmas eve, I felt slightly lonely walking to a restaurant alone.
I was trying to go to a roof top restaurant at a hotel called Pearl Palace, just couple minutes walk from our guest house. It’s a beautiful decor. As I was walking around the roof-top to park myself at a table, a young black man, speaking fluent English, asked, “Are you by yourself, would you like to join me and my friend?”
I delightfully accepted his invitation and had a great time socializing and dining with the Swedish young man (who was originally from Africa), and a 21-year-old Japanese tourist.
“This morning when I was in a rickshaw in the crazy traffic, I thought, man, it’d be tough for a Japanese to tour here,” I said to the Japanese young boy.
India is just a polar opposite of Japan. Japan is highly orderly; India is madly chaotic; Japan is immaculate; India is dust-wrapped; Japan is tranquil and subtle; India is bustling and outraging.
With choppy English, the Japanese young man said, “Because. So different. I choose. India.”
Good for him. It’s his first overseas traveling experience.
The food at the restaurant is one of the best I have had in India and the price is low. I had a vegetarian thali. Everything was well prepared and seasoned, all utensils neatly cleaned; the food was presented nicely and the service of the staff was superb.
The amusing company made the Christmas eve not so lonely. Another great thing was – the two tourists were also going to Pushkar the next day and told me: “Don’t worry about booking any tickets. Just go to the bus station. There are a lot of buses to Amjer, only half an hour from Puskhar. We went to the station and they asked us not to bother about booking tickets.”
I was happy. My tummy was filled. My spirit uplifted. My concern about bus ticket gone.
I went back to the guest house. J was feeling better. I told him about my evening.
“So glad to hear that. I was worried that you were running around looking for bus tickets. So you had a good evening?”
“Yes, the food was great. We should go together tomorrow. Plus, the two tourists happened to go to Pushkar and tell me all the information.”
“See, that’s what often happens to Dora. Dora gets lucky. When she does not plan and do anything, things will just help her out.”
Which is quite true. Whether I just trust the road, that it will bring us to where I want to go, without fidgeting, interesting things will arise to take me there.
Jaipur
