On the journey we were able to clarify some misunderstandings with Ashok as we become more used to understanding each other.
In an earlier post I spoke of a 2,000,000 rupee dowry for each daughter but that is not so. The cost of a wedding would be 2,000,000 rupee with guests numbering 2,000, however with 2 daughters close together in age there will be a joint wedding so only expenditure of that amount is required once.
The dowry however would be in the vicinity of 300,000 rupees plus a gift perhaps of a car or scooter to the parents of each husband.
Altogether not an insignificant sum and Ashok has already started accounts for each daughter in which he deposits 5000 rupees per month in each hoping to have saved enough over the next 14 or so years to pay these costs - parents of boys must be smiling all the way to the bank!
Nearly every Indian we see possesses a mobile phone - connection costs being 900 rupees ($18) for 90 days unlimited calls and texts within India plus 2GB data a day on a use it or lose basis plus an extra 20GB.
Having arrived at our accommodation and booked in we decided to go for a walk having agreed with Ashok that he would pick us up at 4pm to go into the city centre and later to two temples.
Around 2.30 we went out into the street to set off and here was Ashok near his parked vehicle - as his accommodation wasn’t available until after 6pm he was going to be waiting outside for us for 2.5 hours such is the life of a tourist driver.
Feeling sorry for him we changed our plans and got in the vehicle and set off to do what would have started at 4pm
Jaipur is known as the pink city because all the buildings in the old town are “pink” however to our eye they appear coral in colour
The old town is made up of 1000 shops with the shop numbers clearly noted on the verandah facia and running sequentially. It looks an interesting place to visit and wander around in which we will do sometime during our visit.
We then went to a block printing market shop where Sherry tried her hand at block printing and successfully printed an elephant - she was very impressive (Video here)
Time was getting on and Ashok wanted to show us a “famous” Hindu temple so off we went arriving around sunset - we were not disappointed as it was a magnificent building, “worshiping” the Hindu God, Krishna in white marble with beautiful stained glass windows
You couldn’t take photos inside but Ashok captured the following photo though the open door of the statues the folk were worshiping
Leaving there we walked around 100 metres and visited 2 other Hindu temples and as we were about to return to the car we were lucky enough to witness a pre-ceremony wedding procession for the groom (Video here)
A stop at a restaurant for dinner (while Ashok waited in the car) and we got back to our accommodation around 8pm allowing Ashok to sign off for the day, go to his guesthouse, have dinner and rest up until we start over again at 9 tomorrow morning - he does it all with such grace ‘If you are happy, I am happy”.
During the day he told us that tomorrow evening after getting us back “home” he was going to take the bus, a 2.5 hr trip back to see his family and come back the next morning by train, a 1.5 hr trip. We asked why not take the train both ways and the reason was that the last train left Jaipur at 3.30 and he still had obligations to us till after dinner. It took some effort but we have convinced him that his day with us can finish at 2.30 and he can go by train both ways.
It has been some time since he has seen his family and he tells us that he won’t see them again until after the end of the tourist session as he has “many” tours booked.
Gita Kumari Ashok’s wife
Some photos from previous days
At Fatehpur Sikri
No wonder there is such a cacophony of sound from horns
The Chand Baori
The Bengal Tiger we met at Ranthambhore - he/she was no more than 3-4m in front of our Jeep
Arriving back at the hotel after the safari. The Indian gentleman sitting beside me is from Manchester but also has a home in Goa and they (his wife is sitting in front of him) spend the summers at each. He is a passionate cricket lover and we had a good chat on the way back from the safari. He says he still has nightmares over the ODI World Cup Semi-final when NZ beat India. “We were going to win, Dhoni had it under control, that run out, how did Guptil do that?”
Just one of many chats with Indian cricket lovers - they are rumoured to be heavy betters in cricket and Ashok even showed us the app on his phone that allows them to bet on nearly every aspect of the game e.g. how many runs will be scored in the 3rd over.
The other couple in the Jeep are British and they were staying in our hotel. We run into them again before dinner last night and had a half an hour chat with them comparing our travel experiences- a nice couple.
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