Jaipur

Now that I finally figured out how to get into this "blog" thing, I'll have to post something! I just read the items posted so far by this year's group. Given the long days we have had, I'm impressed by their humour! Reading between the lines, however, you can see that along the way they are learning a lot about India that isn't found in books!

As I write, the group are with a local guide inside the walls of the "pink city". As it turns out, today is the funeral for Gayatri Devi --- third wife of the last Maharaja of Jaipur ("Jai" she called him). She died yesterday, at 90, after a long illness. The story of their romance and 1939 marriage (said to be the most expensive ever!) reads like a fairy tale. In the 1960's, VOGUE magazine voted her one of the ten most beautiful women in the world. She was a friend of Jackie Kennedy and the British Royal Family. From 1939-1970, as Maharini, she experienced the "luxury" shooting (killed a panther at age 12) and polo (raised horses and was a great rider) and jetsetting life (an apartment in London) of that flamboyant unreal world of the Maharajas. In Independent India, she ran for parliament in the 1960's and 70's ---easily elected in Jaipur. John Kennedy described her as "the woman with most staggering majority that anyone has ever earned in an election" (1,92,909 votes of 2,46,516 according to the Guinness Book of Records). During the "emergency", prime minister Indira Gandhi had her imprisoned for five months over some questionable tax issue. Gayatri Devi built Jaipur's first "private" school for girls in the 1940's (named after her), fought her entire life to preserve the historical beauty of Jaipur (a lost battle, I fear), and agitated for the rights of ordinary people in this area. I bought her memoirs, A Princess Remembers (1976), here in Jaipur last year --- in the bookstore of the city palace where she still maintained an apartment. India's first 3D movie (made in Jaipur in 2006) is about her! Maharini Devi's cremation is taking place as I post this item! RIP
Tomorrow at 6:00 am we drive back to Delhi to take the overnight train to Darjeeling. By Aug 1, evening, we will be sleeping at 7000 ft in the cool mist shrouded hills!