Jodhpur: The Blue City

Written: January 21, 2009

After a somewhat painful 19 hour train ride from Mumbai to Jodhpur, I arrived feeling sore and lacking energy. The reason for my state of being can be attributed to various factors. First of all, I suspected not eating for nearly a day may be an issue and I'd been doing that regularly in Mumbai and nearly that in Dubai. Secondly, I didn't sleep in a very good position since I put my main pack on the upper bunk and my pillow on top of that. Because of the height of the "pillow" and the shortness of the "bed" my neck was sore the whole night. Additionally, there was a draft coming in that made it really cold and the AC was pumping for a while as well. However, at 4-5 am, the heater turned on and blew directly in my face and I felt like I was suffocating. All of this contributed to me getting a sore throat, I'm hoping this goes away quickly since I wouldn't want to be sick for too long while traveling.

After bargaining down an auto rickshaw from 50 to 35 INRs to take me to the "gate" of Mehrangarh Fort, I still had a steep 200m climb up with my full pack. This was essentially a introductory training run for my EBC trek. I can already see that my pack (9kg) is way more than what I want to carry and I may have to invest in a smaller mountaineering pack. I used my expired ISIC card to gain student entry and saved 50 Rs. I took the audio guide that came with the entrance fees and proceeded to the numbered markers. I have to say, the guide was very interesting and informative. It even had commentary and contributions from the current royal family relating to tidbits of information and some of their memories. What's interesting about the fort is that it's never been taken by the enemy and many of them have been at the gates. At the main gate, there's an area with hand prints of Queen's passing though the gate for the last time before joining their husbands in death. I saw a man touch one of the hand prints and then touching it to his heart in remembrance. From the ramparts and many points of the fort, you can view the city spread out before you with the majority of the buildings painted in a light blue colour. This is the reason why Jodhpur is also called the Blue City. Apparently, the reason why the buildings are painted blue is because it's a calming colour and keeps the buildings cool during the summer heat. Seeing the indigo blue buildings in contrast with the vivid colours of life in India makes it especially dramatic.

Upon completing the tour of the Mehrangarh Fort, I walked to Jawswant Thada, the Jodhpur Raj's cenotaph. The place is also called the Taj Mahal of Rajasthan due to the exquisite white marble structure. On my trek back down through town, I stopped to eat (Gobhi Pakoda, fried cauliflower, and Mahkaniya Lassi a type of yoghurt) and then talked to a Spaniard named Mikel.

Well, more waiting at the station until my 10 pm train. Another overnight train and this time to the desert city of Jaisalmer! Hopefully this will be a better ride although I'll be in AC3 this time instead of AC2.

Cheers!