Jaipur
Trip Start
Mar 18, 2008
1
12
Trip End
May 03, 2008
Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Funny incident #1: While I intended to spend most of my time in Jaipur with Chintu, he had to tend to his shop all day, and thus several times I went out on my own. Not far, mind you -- we're talking around the block -- but I knew from experience that foreigners in Jaipur tend to get a lot of attention for doing nothing more interesting than walking down the street. Sometimes I've been poked, maybe to see if my skin feels the same as an Indian person's skin. Sometimes men will deliberately bump into me. Often, people will beg me to look in their shops: "Just look!" So, I felt lucky when the only person to accost me on my first solo walk around the block was a little girl of perhaps eight years old.
The girl clearly wanted some money, and I did feel for her -- she wasn't in school, and appeared to be working by picking up large pieces of garbage and placing them in an enormous bag she carried with her. However, the smallest bill I had was a 500 rupee note (worth about $12). So instead, I tried to buy her breakfast. She wasn't interested in that, but did gladly pick out a couple of chocolates! Not satisfied, she followed me to a store whose owner suggested I buy her an outfit. "Only 450 rupees!" he claimed, holding up a tasteful pink polka-dotted shirt and skirt. Doubtful, I called Chintu.
"How much should a kid's outfit cost?" I asked.
"About 100 rupees, 150 tops," he replied.
I hung up the phone. "My friend said I shouldn't pay more than 150 rupees," I reported. Undaunted by the 300% discount, the man offered a bright orange frilly dress most American children wouldn't be caught dead in for just that price. Yet my young friend smiled broadly, delighted. I paid and the girl stuffed the dress into her bag, where it joined the cardboard boxes and aluminum foil she had picked up from the streets that morning.
Funny incident #2: One of Chintu's friends, or perhaps cousins (he has a lot of cousins!), was hosting a party on Thursday night, to which I was happily invited. It was a large party, with about 700 people, held in a pleasant garden courtyard. The occasion? The hosts' daughter was turning one year old!
Chintu introduced me to about twenty cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, and the like, who offered me crunchy Chinese noodles and spiced ice cream with ginger and coconut so rich you could pick it up with your hands. Among the guests was Chintu's 14-year-old cousin, whom I had met at his shop and who had taken an unusual interest in my birthmarks. Despite our complete lack of a common language, he had carried on several long conversations with me, and from him I had learned my first word of Hindi: "paagal," meaning crazy. Now we had at least one word in common, and we could point at each other and say it until he laughed and ran away.
As usual, the funniest things happened when I wandered off on my own. One young man -- he couldn't have been more than 20 -- walked up to me as I watched a group of cooks sitting cross-legged on tables rolling out chapati with rolling pins or flipping them with their hands. "I have many girlfriends," he reported. "Only for sex. Very normal in my country." I laughed, guessing what he was getting at. "You like me? You want friendship with me?" I replied that sadly, I would be leaving the next night, so a "friendship" with him wasn't likely to get off the ground. "You have husband?" he persisted. "Why not? You don't like marriage? How many boyfriends you have? Only for sex?" I wondered if he talked this way with the Indian girls, too.
Moving on, I took out my camera to take some pictures of the Rajasthani cooks. The men were delighted, eager as children to see their faces on the digital screen. They took me around to take pictures of their friends, some proud, others bashful. The women, on the other hand, looked as if they would like to beat me with their rolling pins if I so much as pointed the camera in their direction. Later, though, they indicated they would be most willing to be photographed in exchange for some rupees.
Funny incident #3: This one is funny in retrospect, though it was a bit scary at the time! I was supposed to fly from Jaipur to Delhi with Jet Lite at 9:00 Friday evening, arriving in plenty of time for my flight to Boston at 2:10 a.m. However, right around 7:00 pm Chintu received a call that the flight had been canceled. I might get on the 7:50 Kingfisher flight, the Jet Lite people said. We promptly jumped in a tuk tuk and hurried to the airport, but to no avail. I'd have to take a taxi -- if we made good time (four hours), I could still arrive in Delhi in time for my flight home. Chintu and his cousin would come with me, so I wouldn't have to be alone.
We did make good time most of the way (only swerving a couple of times for elephants and camels), but about 15 kilometers outside of Delhi, we got stuck in a long line of stationary trucks waiting to go through the tollbooths. Undaunted, the taxi driver swung into the opposite lane -- the one in which enormous trucks were rushing towards us in the other direction! I grasped Chintu's arm so tightly I may have left marks. "Please, I'd rather miss my flight!" I implored him. "Better Mr. Late than Late Mister! Better late than never!" I pulled out whatever sayings I could remember from our drive in the Himalayas.
Chintu said something to the driver and told me we'd move back into our lane when we could. "But look at all the trucks we've passed!" he pointed out.
I did end up missing my flight, but was able to take the next one six hours later. Chintu and his cousin stayed with me for a few hours until I could check in, finally heading back at 4:30 am -- that would get them back to Jaipur around 9:30 am or so, just in time to start work for the day. Could I ever be such a good friend as they were?
P.S. Many of you are probably aware of the terrorist bombings which occurred last week in Jaipur. Thankfully, neither Chintu nor any of his friends or family were hurt in the bombings. It remains to be seen how they may be affected indirectly.
