Tuesday January 21—Day 8 (Bundi)
On our second day in Bundi, we woke up to pouring rain.
India’s monsoon season doesn’t start until June-July, so it was pretty unusual
for it to be raining. We were supposed to go to a few different sites around
Bundi but decided to hold off a few hours to see if the rain let up. A few
hours later, it let up only for enough time for us to think that it was going
to stop so we decided to chance it and head out into the world.
Our first stop was to a stepwell. Similar to a well or a
water tank, a stepwell holds water for the community. There are descending
steps going down into the well though so people can access the water more
easily. Bundi and other parts of Rajasthan are known for their gorgeous
architectural stepwells. The one we went to had different stone carvings
depicting Hindu gods.
By the time we were finished visiting the stepwell, the rain
was coming down even harder than before. Luckily the guy who drove the jeep I
went in was smart enough to deck the jeep out in bubble wrap. He covered the
roof and the seats in bubble wrap. Who knew this plastic amusement of children
could be so useful?
We then visited a cenotaph, where there is a memorial to the
royal family members. Each king has a separate gazebo shaped memorial and their
wife/wives are buried beside them. Centuries ago, it wasn’t uncommon for kings to
have multiple wives. But the scary thing is, when the husband died, the
wife/wives would jump onto the fire/pyre with his body and died too. It’s great
that the women were committed to their marriage and their husbands, but man am
I happy it doesn’t happen today!
Next up we went to Rudyard Kipling’s house that he had in
Bundi. The place was so beautiful that he was inspired to write Kim
there. It’s funny how life just brings you full circle sometimes…and this was
one of my moments because Kipling also had a house in Brattleboro, VT where I
go to graduate school! Kipling loved India and I can understand why. The
grounds of his house in Bundi were so pretty, even in the rain.
Before we were soaked to the bone, we drove to the 84
pillars, a monument that you guessed it, has 84 pillars. Once we got back to
our rooms, we were so cold and wet that not even the hair dryers they gave us
did much good. This was one of those moments that I was so glad I brought my
thermal underwear!
No comments:
Post a Comment