Street food In Udaipur
Category: Interesting sights
Jodhpur fort – Mehrangarh
Joshpur fort is one of the largest forts in India and is an imposing edifice and the wall surrounding it is 10k long
It has a very interesting museum containing a variety of artefacts including howdahs (seats for people being carried by elephants), carpets embroidered with gold and silk thread, and paintings containing large amounts of tiny minature detail.
Jodhpur Tie and Dye workshop
Whilst in Jodhpur we went to a Tie and Dye workshop at ‘Isha Silk’ run by Ishwar Dewani on the rooftop of his house. Neither of us knew what to expect and our only experience was back in the 60s.
So this is pretty different to those T-shirts back in the day. Ishwar first described the process he uses for his professional dying and then took us through a simplified version.
We were each give a square of silk folded over 4 times and tacked along 3 sides. We put blobs of dye in a number of places making sure it went all the way through.
Then we wound thread several times creating small knots in the centre of each blob. The material under the thread will retain the dye colour.
The material was then placed in a bleach solution so that it went completely white, rinsed, and then placed in a dye. It was rinsed again, dried in the sun, and then we removed the knots. Hey presto!
Jodhpur bazaar – a flavour
Weaver near Jodhpur
The owner of Chandeleo Garh took us out in his jeep to visit two weavers in nearby Akthali village who weave dhurries (rugs) using camel wool. The journey itself was wonderful seeing gazelle and antelope and then the visit was fascinating.
The weavers whom we’d seen in other villages used treadle looms, but Bhiyaram and Heera jointly used a hand loom which they had made from tree trunks. Their work was very interesting and we ended up asking them to make us a rug for our home in London, using the same design and colours as the one in progress but a different size. Money was exchanged and the rug will be ready in three days – very exciting!!
Jaisalmer Camel Safari
Our two camels were called Bob Marley and Fidel Castro! When camels sit down they’re extremely neat, tucking their back legs underneath them as if they’re kneeling. When they get up and lie down you have to hold on and lean back as far as you can otherwise you’d topple over.
Their movements on the sand felt surprisingly undulating and we could understand why camels are called the ‘ships of the desert’. Even though there were a lot of other people also up on the dunes it was still possible to get a sense of the beauty of the desert. It’s made me want to see Lawrence of Arabia again
Jaisalmer Camel Tattoo
When we were in Bikaner our guide told us that camels are very good dancers. We were fairly astonished and when at the Desert Festival I said this to our guide he said that this happened in the ‘Camel Tattoo’, so of course we had to go.
Do you remember the Royal Tournament with the horses galloping across the arena just missing each other? Well picture that in a huge outdoor arena in the desert with the blazing sun, with a brass band, on camels. The Border Security Force and their camels all dressed in their finery. They were fantastic!
Jaisalmer Desert Festival
The annual Desert Festival started with a wonderfully vibrant parade through the town. Everyone decked out in beautiful colours, men with amazing moustaches and orange turbans, girls with exquisitely embroidered dresses, dancers in red flowing gowns and camels looking extremely fine
Cinema in Jaipur
Went to the fantastic art-deco Raj Mandir cinema in Jaipur. The outside looks rather like a wedding cake and foyer inside is stunning. It was a great experience, seeing the latest Bollywood hit Tiger Zinder Hai on a huge screen. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t understand Hindi, we could work out what was going on. Valerie particularly liked the scene where our hero single handedly fights off a pack of wolves in the snowy Swiss Alps (you’ll just have to see the film).
But what was extraordinary was that I was able to buy the tickets on-line on my phone, and paid for them using my Amazon account. I got a mobile ticket on my phone which I just showed at the door!
Block printing – Bagru village
We visited a small block printing factory in a village called Bagru near Jaipur where they use a technique called Mud Resist.
Initially they create a paste made of of earth, water, wheat powder and gum A wooden block with a carved pattern is pressed into the paste and then onto white cotton material. Then sawdust is sprinkled on the top and print is left to dry.
The fabric is then dyed in cold dye- first in a solution to enable the dye to take, and then into the dye itself. In this case the dye was made from scraps of iron producing a grey colour.
The process can then be repeated pressing the mud resist solution onto the parts of the fabric which are to be kept at that dyed colour. The whole dying process is repeated as many times as required. Eventually the resist solution is washed off and the printed fabric remains
and of course they had a shop, and of course there was a natural progression
