Bundi

Bundi is a small town of about a 100,000 people...alright its not so small but it seems a lot smaller that most of the other places we've been. Like a lot of the other cities in India it has a new city and an old city. Most of the old cities are filled with narrow winding alleyways, old buildings, the occasional palace and all the tourist, Bundi was no exception. In Udaipur the old city was completely over run with guesthouses, restaurants, travel agents, and handy craft shops, Bundi was a welcome reprieve from this. Bundi had all of these things but not nearly as many as Udaipur. When we got to Bundi our room was being cleaned so we had breakfast while we waited. After a little food and a short wait we were shown to our room, Jim decided to nap after his not so restful bus ride so my mom and I went out to explore the city a little. We walked around the old city for a bit and it was clear that they were preparing for some sort of festival but we weren't sure what. After some aimless wandering we found ourselves on the bypass road above the city, which provided us with a wonderful view of the old city and the new city sprawling out from the walls of the old city. We decided to walk along the road for a bit and then try to find our way back. On our way back we managed to stumble on place the bus dropped us off at and Raniji-ki-Baori, a great example of a step well (found in many parts of Rajasthan) which are used to be used to hold water during dry season. From here we set off to find the tourist office to get a better map of the city, after being led by a local who kept saying one km we finally go there to find it locked up tight. The local proceeded to try and take us to the directors house to wake him up. We gave our guide a few rupees and told him we had to get back. We managed to find our way back to the guesthouse without any problems to find Jim just coming out the door. He had been up for a while and had done his own exploration of the city. The guesthouse owners told him that the festival was an Islamic holiday where people stick knives in their arms. Now this is of course a crude description of exactly what goes on but for the non-Muslims in town its the major attraction. After a little research we've found out that the holiday was the Day of Ashura which is to honor the martyrdom of Husayn Ibn Ali, that's about the extent of my knowledge on it right now but I plan on doing a little more reading when I'm back in the states and not paying for computer time. Anyways we went to lunch and then Jim decided to go do some Internet work for a bit while my mom and I went up to and abandoned fort called Taragath. Taragarth was built in 1354 and now stands in ruins over looking the town of Bundi. Exploring the fort was a little like living out a boyhood dream. Unlike other forts and monuments there is no admission fee, no work to try and restore the fort and no rules. We spent a few hours just clamoring over walls, exploring old passage ways, and discovering fading murals. At one point one of the local monkeys decided to try and attack my mom. Luckily she ducked out of the way and I was able to come and fend him off with the monkey stick we picked up earlier (we had been warned of the aggressive monkeys). After that we headed down the mountain to go check out the festival. From the fort we could hear the drums in the streets below but when we got into the city we couldn't hear them any more so we thought it might be over. We decided to wander anyways and quite suddenly we found it. The buildings had blocked all the sound until we were on top of them. It was quite an event, think trying to have a parade with a huge number of people in an alley with just enough room to hold one car. We could barely move though. Eventually we got to a place where they were handing out food and everyone got really excited when I said I'd have some. A few insisted on taking my picture while I was eating. After this we found the guys with knives in their arms. It was pretty painful looking, all of the knives were just through the skin but when you have 15-20 knives in each arm, 2 pairs of scissors in your chest and 1 in your back it can't feel too good (pictures to come). After we had our fill of the festival we called it a day and went back to the guesthouse for dinner and bed.

The next day my mom and I decided to go for a little bike ride. Jim had already experienced the Indian bikes and didn't want a second round. We ended up having a great ride out into the country side. We went to a lake where Kippling once stayed and wrote part of Kim and The Jungle Book, and then further into some small villages. As we rode by everyone kept greeting us and we were eventually stopped by a road block of kids insisting we take their picture. Not having much choice we did and it seemed to make their day. We returned to town for a little snack and rest and then headed out the other way. We got back to the guesthouse mid afternoon and Jim wasn't back quite yet, so we played a little cribbage. After a short wait he came ambling in. We learned that he visited Taragarth, and then wandered the back alleyways of the old city where he found a mosque and helped an old guy down some stairs. After talking about our days for a bit we went upstairs to clean up before dinner get ready for the next day's trip back to Delhi.

Adam McCurdy 1/12/2009