Slumdog millionaire was an epic film.
It came out whilst I was living in Paris and I went with my colocataire Lucy to see it. We then listened to Jai Ho incessantly. It actually is pretty much the Hindi equivalent of Hallejuah or literally translates as 'May there be Victory'. The lovely thing about writing a blog is that I am actually learning quite a lot of new bits of trivia.
I tried to convince Faye that we needed to photographically recreate the film title by taking a picture of a slum, of one of the many dogs and then one of us holding lots of money. She was unenthused.
Probably because I said she could play the role of the dog.
We were on our way to Jaipur, only a couple of hours from Ranthambore.
Jaipur - the pink city, the dwelling place of the bazaar. Jai ho!
We were very excited. It would be here that we purchased all our Christmas presents and any souvenirs.
It was a struggle, we only had one and a half days in Jaipur and we had to fit everything in. This included the City Palace, the Observatory, Jaighur Fort and Amber Fort, the biggest cannon in the world, the wind palace and, most importantly, shopping.
We started off with an orientation tour of the city. The Pink City, was indeed, pink. And I shall tell you for why. When the Prince of Wales visited India in 1876, they painted the entirety of the city pink. A colour of hospitality.
As we wandered along the main road, we saw a herd of cows.
And some monkeys playing on the telephone wires.
Delhi Belly had not manifested itself, but I was starting to feel a bit gripey with all that spice whizzing round. We decided that we might go easy on spicy foods and eat something a bit more Western. It did not go according to plan.
We were taken to an Indian sweet shop. It was absolutely beautiful. Shelves and shelves of the colourful pastry-like sweets and air-conditioning(!). True to my 'I will try all foods once' philosophy, Faye and I selected an assorted box of sweets. I can describe my thoughts on them in one simple word.
Vile.
I think they are in fact pure oil. It was a bit like taking a swig from a clogged up olive oil bottle and chewing the lumps. It was a huge effort to swallow the optimistic chunks I had shoved into my mouth. Safe to say, next time I go for dinner at somebody's house, this will be the new number 4 on the 'what I refuse to eat' list.
Having said all this, they are beaut.
The day formerly known as The Day We Don't Eat Spice, rapidly descended into the The Day We Eat the Most Spicy Things We Have Ever Tasted in Our Entire Lives Let Alone On This Trip.
Catchy.
It all started with the samosa. Can't beat a good old fashioned samosa. Safe and mild.
They tasted delicious. The thing about Indian food, is the wonderful flavours. I don't know what spices were used but I can imagine Greg from Masterchef, sucking his spoon for that lingering second too long and analysing the rich and exquisite spices used in this one tiny (or actually genuinely quite large) samosa.*
Unfortunately, we couldn't actually taste the deliciousness because the spice caused us to lose all nerve endings in our mouths.
I don't know why we insisted on finishing the entire thing. But we did. Lips tingling, tongue scorched, nose running. A sight for sore eyes. Faye actually cried. Spicy tears.
It was that evening that I ordered the MILD Rogan Josh and my taste buds were shot to pieces.
But on to more important issues.
I am no scientist. I may have nailed the GCSE but that was down to having an ever-so slightly photographic memory and learning Lonsdale textbooks off by heart. It was certainly not based on any level of understanding. Of which I have little to none.
So the City Observatory may well have gone straight over my head. Jantar Mantar (pronounced Junter Munter no doubt to be a cause of hilarity to my younger sister) was built in 1718 by Maharja Sawai Jai Singh II, a man who had a keen interest in astrology and astronomy.
Oh yeah, he was also the one who founded Jaipur.
The sundials actually work to the minute. I saw it with my own eyes. It was a miracle and a phenomenon I could not comprehend.
I was impressed by his observatory.
Me.
The girl who cries at the physics textbook.
So a maths or science geek might just have been in heaven.
To be continued...
*I am aware that you don't eat samosas with a spoon. But I honestly don't think Greg would be where he is today if he didn't suck that spoon.
It came out whilst I was living in Paris and I went with my colocataire Lucy to see it. We then listened to Jai Ho incessantly. It actually is pretty much the Hindi equivalent of Hallejuah or literally translates as 'May there be Victory'. The lovely thing about writing a blog is that I am actually learning quite a lot of new bits of trivia.
I tried to convince Faye that we needed to photographically recreate the film title by taking a picture of a slum, of one of the many dogs and then one of us holding lots of money. She was unenthused.
Probably because I said she could play the role of the dog.
We were on our way to Jaipur, only a couple of hours from Ranthambore.
Jaipur - the pink city, the dwelling place of the bazaar. Jai ho!
We were very excited. It would be here that we purchased all our Christmas presents and any souvenirs.
It was a struggle, we only had one and a half days in Jaipur and we had to fit everything in. This included the City Palace, the Observatory, Jaighur Fort and Amber Fort, the biggest cannon in the world, the wind palace and, most importantly, shopping.
We started off with an orientation tour of the city. The Pink City, was indeed, pink. And I shall tell you for why. When the Prince of Wales visited India in 1876, they painted the entirety of the city pink. A colour of hospitality.
As we wandered along the main road, we saw a herd of cows.
And some monkeys playing on the telephone wires.
Delhi Belly had not manifested itself, but I was starting to feel a bit gripey with all that spice whizzing round. We decided that we might go easy on spicy foods and eat something a bit more Western. It did not go according to plan.
We were taken to an Indian sweet shop. It was absolutely beautiful. Shelves and shelves of the colourful pastry-like sweets and air-conditioning(!). True to my 'I will try all foods once' philosophy, Faye and I selected an assorted box of sweets. I can describe my thoughts on them in one simple word.
Vile.
I think they are in fact pure oil. It was a bit like taking a swig from a clogged up olive oil bottle and chewing the lumps. It was a huge effort to swallow the optimistic chunks I had shoved into my mouth. Safe to say, next time I go for dinner at somebody's house, this will be the new number 4 on the 'what I refuse to eat' list.
Having said all this, they are beaut.
The day formerly known as The Day We Don't Eat Spice, rapidly descended into the The Day We Eat the Most Spicy Things We Have Ever Tasted in Our Entire Lives Let Alone On This Trip.
Catchy.
It all started with the samosa. Can't beat a good old fashioned samosa. Safe and mild.
They tasted delicious. The thing about Indian food, is the wonderful flavours. I don't know what spices were used but I can imagine Greg from Masterchef, sucking his spoon for that lingering second too long and analysing the rich and exquisite spices used in this one tiny (or actually genuinely quite large) samosa.*
Unfortunately, we couldn't actually taste the deliciousness because the spice caused us to lose all nerve endings in our mouths.
I don't know why we insisted on finishing the entire thing. But we did. Lips tingling, tongue scorched, nose running. A sight for sore eyes. Faye actually cried. Spicy tears.
It was that evening that I ordered the MILD Rogan Josh and my taste buds were shot to pieces.
But on to more important issues.
I am no scientist. I may have nailed the GCSE but that was down to having an ever-so slightly photographic memory and learning Lonsdale textbooks off by heart. It was certainly not based on any level of understanding. Of which I have little to none.
So the City Observatory may well have gone straight over my head. Jantar Mantar (pronounced Junter Munter no doubt to be a cause of hilarity to my younger sister) was built in 1718 by Maharja Sawai Jai Singh II, a man who had a keen interest in astrology and astronomy.
Oh yeah, he was also the one who founded Jaipur.
The sundials actually work to the minute. I saw it with my own eyes. It was a miracle and a phenomenon I could not comprehend.
I was impressed by his observatory.
Me.
The girl who cries at the physics textbook.
So a maths or science geek might just have been in heaven.
To be continued...
*I am aware that you don't eat samosas with a spoon. But I honestly don't think Greg would be where he is today if he didn't suck that spoon.
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