Inspiration India - Jaipur

After our visit to Delhi, we were off to Jaipur, also known as the pink city, in reference to many of the city's walls and buildings, which are painted a sort of terracotta/pink color.  Jaipur, one could argue, is the epicenter of Indian handicrafts, and there is an abundance of culture and arts there - with everything from bone inlaid furniture, to block-printed textiles, embroidered silks, and jewelry.  It's one of my favorite places in India so far.

The Hawa Mahal, in the city center

more pink architecture

On our taxi ride over to the hotel from the airport, we started noticing a lot of costumed men riding horses embellished with bells and colorful garlands. It seemed like every few blocks we saw another decorated horse and rider, along with men carrying musical instruments.  As we approached our hotel, we saw another such group, and we asked the driver if there was some sort of festival going on.  I'm not sure if he understood the question, as we got a vague answer.

Once we were up in our hotel room, and darkness began to cover the city, we could hear the faint sounds of festive music from the road.  I looked through the curtains of our hotel room window and saw a procession of women dripping in bright colors and sequins, clapping their hands and dancing.  They were followed by men dressed in what looked like marching band uniforms, playing trombones and trumpets.  At the back of the group were fancily dressed turban-clad men perched atop their equally fancily dressed horses.  Surrounding the whole party were men carrying embellished lanterns, powered by a generator that trailed behind everyone.  Every so often, someone would light off a firework at the front of the group.  Then the party would move forward a few feet and stop, while the men played their music and the women danced, and a crowd gathered to watch it all.  We went on the street to take photos of them and then decided to go to the roof of the hotel to get a better view.

one of the many wedding processions we saw

a groom sits atop a beautifully decorated horse

On the roof, we soon realized that you could see processions like this all over the city.  As far as the eye could see, in all directions of the city, fireworks were lighting up the sky and similar groups were marching along distant roads.  Then it hit us - it was wedding season in Jaipur!

view of a wedding reception from the room of our hotel

That was an exciting start to our visit, which was soon followed by more beautiful things.  On my last visit to Jaipur, I remembered all the amazing markets, which we didn't get a chance to go to because our tour guide had us on a pretty tight schedule.  This time, we were free of a tour guide, and free to browse the much-coveted markets!  I wanted to start out at the Johari Bazaar, which is where you can find amazing beads and jewelry components.  We popped into one of the first shops we saw and quickly had our breaths taken away by the array of colors, sizes, and shapes of semi-precious beads.

picking out semi-precious beads in Johari Bazaar

I ended up spending a lot here, and got strands of coral, smoky topaz, moon stone, labradorite, and emerald.  I also bought some typical Indian jewelry, with the threaded adjustable closure - a beautiful necklace of teardrop-shaped emeralds, and another of ombre rainbow tourmaline.

smoky topaz, moonstone, labradorite, coral, and emerald beads

teardrop-shaped emerald beads

strands of ombre rainbow tourmaline

From there we went to visit Amrapali, an amazing jewelry showroom, where I bought these great earrings:

After oohing and aahing over everything in the showroom, we went to visit their factory and saw how all the cast jewelry was made - pretty interesting.  I hope I get the chance to work with them soon!

On our last day in Jaipur, we stopped by another bazaar to buy bangles.  I had a friend who sent me on a mission to get as many cheap and colorful bangle as I could.  Of course I ended up picking out some for myself.  Even though I rarely wear bangles, these were so pretty, I couldn't resist!

Did I mention how great Rajasthanis are at selling things?  I ended up getting one last necklace, which was so amazingly beautiful, I couldn't do without it.  Each gold bead is inset with tiny turquoise stones.  Luckily, my mom offered it as my birthday present.

After our short stay in Jaipur, we were off to Mumbai, which I'll relay in my next post!

Inspiration India - Delhi

I am finally back from India and over my jet lag enough to write in a coherent way.  Overall it was an amazing trip full of inspiration - how could you not be inspired by India?  It is a colorful country with an array of sights, sounds, and smells that stirs the senses.

I arrived in Delhi at about 8:30 pm on June 23 and was immediately smacked in the face by a thick wall of heat.  It actually felt really good because the plane ride over was so cold!  My parents were on a different flight, and they arrived at about 3am.  Needless to say, because of the heat, traveling, and time difference, none of us slept very well the first night.

My first day in India, I woke up to discover that we were in the middle of a heat wave.  Indian heat waves are in no way comparable to any kind of heat you can experience in the US - the highs were about 115 degrees fahrenheit, but the humidity is what could really do you in.  So we tried to stay in as much air conditioning as possible, and filled up on fresh lime sodas, one of my favorite things to drink in India.  What they do is mix fresh lime juice with club soda, and add in a little sugar or salt (or both).  It's so refreshing and a perfect antidote to the heat.

That afternoon, we met up with a women I work with, and she took us to an amazing trim store, filled to the ceilings with metallic threads, dip-dyed raffias, rhinestones, chains, grosgrain ribbons, embroidered appliques, etc, etc.  I was like a kid in a candy store.  Knowing how long I can spend digging in a place like that, I tried to cut the time short, so my parents wouldn't kill me.  I think I ended up spending about 2 hours inside, but I was sure to go back a few days later to have one last look.  Here are some of the cool things I bought:

Later that week we went to the chain market in Old Delhi.  This is the oldest part of the city where a lot of amazing markets are.  It seems like there is a market for everything - spices, chains, beads, textiles, books, stationery, bangles, paper, etc.  All the streets are very narrow and winding, with electrical wires draped across the tops of the alleyways, and wandering goats and cows mixed in with pedestrian, bicycle, motorbike, and rickshaw traffic.  It's like a labyrinth, jam-packed with people and products, in which you could easily get lost.  I think it's best to go with someone who is familiar with whichever market you want to go to, as there are lots of pic-pockets in the area, or as our taxi driver described to us, "walking man cheater."

a view of the skinny alleyways

one of the main streets in the bead market

looking at beads in the bead market - this is one of at least 400 such stalls

I love this kind of market, as it evokes a sense of adventure mixed with danger.  When we were on the outskirts, my mother said, "it looks like what I imagine hell to look like."  It took some persuading to get her to go in, but once we did, I felt like we were in one of those markets in an Indiana Jones movie - so many things to see, so much excitement, and treasures waiting to be discovered!!  My dad took great pictures of some of the people on the streets there:

you often see tiny men carrying huge packages on their heads

women sometimes apply paint to the part in their hair

this man is a sort of vagabond, who has renounced all material possessions and wanders from place to place, depending on handouts.  It's similar to but not the same as homeless people you encounter in the US

We ate some amazing food while we were there.  The woman I work with in Delhi and her husband took us to the Delhi Golf Club one night for dinner and drinks.  It was crazy to think that people could be playing golf in that heat, but apparently they do.  Luckily, we had some fans to cool us off, and the food and company was great.

Another night we ate at a restaurant called Lodi Gardens, which was to die for, and of course I filled up on curry and naan.  The garlic butter naan was addictive - I don't think I've eaten so much bread in my life, outside of France.

On our last day in Delhi, we went to the Tibetan Bazaar, a strip outside of Connaught Place where they sell many Tibetan handicrafts.  There is a road around the corner called the Janpath where many Rajasthani women sell beautifully embroidered textiles and sarees.  They are hard bargainers, though, so you have to come prepared to do battle and counteroffer half of what they name as their first price.

look at the amazing colors!! I love it!

From Delhi, we went on to Jaipur, which was even more inspiring!  I'll write all about it in my next post.