Nawalgar

I am very behind with writing this blog, sorry!

On the recommendation of French lady I met in Orchha, I visited Nawalgarh, an area famous for its old havelli houses - private merchants houses, based around an enclosed inner courtyard.

The bus from Jaipur was either the best driving I have ever witnessed, or the worst, depending on how you define it. We came close to death very often, and so did everyone we passed, and yet all were unhurt, and seemingly, unperturbed by it all. It was nice to get out into the relative countryside, well, towns as opposed to cities. The pace of life is quieter, and less touts! While walking into town to find somewhere to sleep, I spotted an organic food shop that seems worth a visit - and it certainly was! Just popped into to have a look really, and their range of stuff was amazing. It turns out they are part of a national chain, this being the head office, so I will be buying some stuff in Calcutta before flying home. Organic chickpeas and lentils, for the same price as the normal stuff in the UK. But apart from the free tea and cookies I got while chatting to the manager, the offer to sleep in the companies havelli in town... for free... really made the visit worth while! Also managed to get free entry into the other havellis in town (and some rather tedious free tour guiding as well), but made me glad I had visited and come off the tourist path (well, the youthful path - a few tour groups of elderly French people were in town).

The buildings, in their faded kitsch, with paintings (some very childish) were fascinating, but the place must have been terribly ostentatious when it was new - very 'new money'. I had my quietest nights sleep so far, but slightly creepy, sleeping as I was, in an empty museum. Next days train back into Jaipur was my first on a meter-gauge train in India, not that its easy to notice, but another notch on the stick of 'Indian experiences'. It reminded me of the old man from Barnsley I met while on the way to Gandhi's ashram, who was livid that the meter gauge line he had come to see, and had a ticket for, had been replaced by normal sized rail 3 years ago.

Some of the questions from people on the train:

"Do you have rice in England?"
"What about camels or buffalo?"
"Is there a shortcut to earning money? I want to be rich."
"What do you think of Indian traffic rules?" <- My reply of "what rules?" was met with laughs thankfully!