Fort Day- Yay!

Today was fort day. Geez. Forts! Come on. I guess you know who wanted to go see the forts, and it wasn’t me. Can you

believe this attitude I have? But seriously. They’re forts. The only good one we went to, Amber Fort, is the same one we went to 2 years ago, so it was kind of a repeat for me. Abby enjoyed Amber Fort though. She got bored after that. What was REALLY too bad, though, was that the battery on my husband’s camera died and he didn’t bring the charger to Jaipur with him. He tried borrowing my camera for about 5 minutes, but he didn’t like the “rules” that came with borrowing my camera ;). (What are my rules? Really? You want to know? For example, you have to turn the camera off after every picture so you don’t wear down the battery. Another thing is, I watch you like a hawk the whole time you’re using it and correct you each time you do something I consider to be an infraction of my self-appointed rules. I’m a more than a little bit of a dictator.) It’s too bad, too, because my husband takes most of the pictures you see on this blog. Too bad for you! You’ll have to make do with my photos and videos until my husband charges his battery!

I guess I’m obliged to tell you a tiny bit about Amber Fort. It’s a highly decorated Palace/Fort which is, basically, huge. It’s a maze of rooms and gardens and “diwans”, or assembly courtyards. It’s very easy to get lost in Amber Fort, and several times during our time there, I was glad to have my husband with me, because I really had no clue where we were going and from which doorway we came.

After Amber Fort, as I have told you, things went downhill. Roop RAM took us to Jaigarh Fort which was a hole-in-the-wall compared to Amber Fort (which is gorgeous), but Jaigarh Fort was more utilitarian, so I guess it didn’t have to be pretty. Let me just say, also, that as we went from Fort to Fort, we went progressively farther and farther out into the wilderness. By the time we reached Nahargarh Fort we were IN. THE. BOONIES. Nahargarh was a little better than Jaigarh Fort and more akin to Amber Fort in style, but it has been badly vandalized, which is a real shame. There is a real beauty in the artwork and craftsmanship there, but it is being destroyed by disrespectful people who want to carve their names into the walls and paint over the 18th century frescoes.

Now we get to the good stuff. Roop RAM drove us out of the boonies (finally) and took us to some shops. First, we went to a Blue Pottery shop. Jaipur is known for it’s Blue Pottery, which is similar to Talavera and Azulejos. I didn’t buy anything...Abby might’ve made a purchase. She’s actually getting the hang of this Indian shopping thing. ;)

OH! And I almost forgot to mention a couple things that happened at Jaigarh Fort. I’m gonna backtrack. At Jaigarh Fort, there was a guy who insisted he wasn’t a guide, but was certainly very quick with the factual information...it turned out he was a tout and that he had a little shop there at the Fort. We fell for it and went into his shop. I was drawn to the Jewelry counter. :) He was selling gemstone jewelry and literally had boxes full of it. I may or may not have bought quite a few pairs of super cool earrings for an unbelievable price, and now my fingers are crossed as to whether they will turn my ears black when I wear them. Usha Maushi and Aai made purchases, too.

Now, it was past time for lunch and I’ve already told you we were in the middle of nowhere. As they say here in India, “What to do?”. Roop RAM suggested we have lunch at the little HOLE IN THE WALL “restaurant” at the Fort. You guys know me, I was against it. My gluten-free, ultra-sensitive stomach can’t handle dodgy places like that. But it was 3 hungry Indians and an always-neutral American against one, so I lost. I tried to console myself by telling myself that it would at least be vegetarian, but the thought of having to be on an airplane tomorrow keeps haunting me.

Basically, we’ll see what happens, won’t we? To be honest, I’ve been having tummy trouble since I got here, so I probably won’t notice any difference, unless I get full-on dysentery from that place. Is that TMI? Sorry, but I don’t know where to draw the line sometimes.

My husband just read this and he says it sounds like a bratty American tourist wrote it, but I really do feel annoyed by the Fort Day. I considered re-writing this post, but I wouldn’t know what to write. I do have grumpy days...and sometimes they happen when I’m in India. Plus, now you know that I really don’t like forts. That’s good information. You could use that someday. :) Anyway, we go back to Bombay tomorrow. Just 3 and a half days left, really. Wow. It’s coming to an end.

Well, just before I publish this this, I have a chance to redeem my bad attitude a little. As we were sitting down to dinner tonight, I was watching out the window and saw an unbelievable sight. I had to be sure when it happened again that it truly was lightning- and it was followed by some very loud rolling thunder. Abby and my husband were truly excited. They raced outside to the front of the building as soon as dinner was over and waited for raindrops to fall. And they did. It was no monsoon, however. But I will say these Indian raindrops are pretty huge and they make the world smell very fresh and clean. An unexpected rainshower. What fun.

PS- I already know you're not going to feel sorry for me when you see the amazing pictures. I guess it just wasn't my day.