Rajasthan #3: Personal Touch

At the Jodhpur fort, there were a bunch of folk singers near the main entrance playing their instruments. Our guide told them to sing me a personalized song – I was curious what they’d sing, or whether I’d understand it. Guess what they sang? The guy first asked me what my mother tongue was, and when I said Tamil, the group sang Kolavari. My very own personal welcome song from the land of पधारो म्हारे देश.

 

At Saheliyon ki Bari in Udaipur, the guide asked us to stand at a particular spot near the central fountains and told us to clap our hands together. Magically, the flow stopped. Clap again, he said. Abracadabra, the fountains resumed. Where were the sensors, we wondered? Surely this could not have worked centuries back? Only later did he tell us that there was a worker in another part of the garden who pulled a level to start/stop the water when he saw people clapping!

 

At Saheliyon ki Bari, we also took pictures of ourselves wearing traditional Rajasthani dresses, with a (fake) sword and turban for men; and pots and ghungat (veil) for the women.

 

The state of women in the state is almost certainly a consequence of being at the frontlines, of being the kingdoms that got attacked and plundered by every invader from Central Asia. When we landed in Udaipur, the driver who had come to pick us had a placard that had my daughter’s name and amusingly a “Mrs” in front of it! We had a good laugh – at 12, it was probably a safe bet by Rajasthani standards that the girl was married. If not, she’d be considered a spinster in Rajasthan! Just kidding.

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