We arrived at 9am by overnight train from Delhi and were out of our comfy (expensive) hotel room by 10 to explore the City Palace Museum. The Rajput dynasty of the city built the second largest palace in the country, and I have to say it's more beautiful than any historical palace or fort I've seen in India so far. Built over 400 years ago on the banks of Lake Pichola, from its top floors the astounding views consist of the lakes and mountains on one side and all of Udaipur on the other. The palace had so much artwork from all points in the Mewar royal family's history, including paintings of important battles, murals of the Maharana's tiger hunts, and delicate mosaics that catch the light coming in through arched windows. It took us forever to walk through the palace, and in each courtyard and preserved bedroom there was something so captivating and regal it really all took our breath away. One of my favourites was the colourful room of a 16 year-old princess who in the late 1600s committed suicide after discovering that her two rival suitors from Jaipur and Jodhpur were about to declare war over her hand. Her walls were covered in thousands of painted mirror tiles and from the center of the ceiling a cushioned red swing hung down.
We were just buying tickets outside the museum for a scenic boat ride of Lake Pichola when a small Indian guy approached us and said he was with a crew that was filming a commercial and they needed some white women to shoot playing tug of war against a group of Indian ladies. The man had hardly got his words out before Charley said, "She'll do it!" and pushed me forward. So there I was, inside the City Palace, filming a promo video for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. There was a bunch of us white girls - all Europeans, French and Spanish mostly, all a bit older and all catting to each other (they wouldn't make conversation with the likes of us teenage folk and were too busy parodying American accents to do so anyway). Everybody's boyfriends were gathered on the side snapping embarrassing photos, mine included. One lone model ("Francesca") stood amongst us holding the rope. For some reason wardrobe had dressed her in a beige sort of skirt suit while we were all looking trashy in our Indian touristy clothes. Everybody was fussing over her saying "Farncesca? Where's Francesca?" The director was exactly what you'd expect a sleazy director to be like, calling everyone dudes and trying to quote the Big Lebowski and winking all over the place, but he was fun. Somehow I ended up in front of Francesca so that when the shot was tightened I had to stay on to keep the same surroundings. We were still pretending to play tug of war in the shot but I guess waify Franny wasn't putting enough vigour into it. The director said "Do it like her!" and pointed somewhere in my direction, and from behind me I heard a tiny voice say, "But you guys haven't fed me in like 3 days..." She was nice, though. She's lived here for five years between Goa and Mumbai. I told her I lived in Delhi as a student and she looked at me with a truly sympathetic expression. Guess I'm not the only one who feels sorry for me.
In the end Charley and I got on our boat ride. We saw the Jag Niwas and Jag Mandir islands on the lake and joked a lot about me being a movie star. Next time he's taking a 15% commission. When we got back to the hotel Octopussy was playing in the lobby. It's another one of Udaipur's claims to fame, having been filmed partially inside the City Palace and on the streets of the city. I never knew how ridiculous Bond used to be with Roger Moore as its star - he actually pops a wheelie while driving an auto rickshaw, then drives up a ramp and jumps over a camel. We got the feeling that it wouldn't be the last time we'd see the film in the city, what with the many cafes and restaurants advertising nightly showings of it at 7pm. The locals must be so sick of it!
On Saturday we met a man called Mohammed who was very old and could hardly speak any English but who asked us to sit with him for a while as he shared his unique postcard collection from tourists around the world who had met him once in Udaipur, just like us. We promised to send him his first card from San Francisco to round out the collection. We also toured the Bagore-ki-Haveli, an 18th C noble home right on the banks of Lake Pichola. It's a museum now and has a fascinating collection of turbans including the world's largest one, which sits in a six ft squared glass case. Somewhere around midday as we walked around we met a strange old man that everybody told us had the best singing voice in India. I told him to sing for us, but all we got was a croaky version of Jingle Bells that consisted of "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle jingle jingle..." over and over, followed by some weird amateur beatboxing. Then he told us he had a cameo in Octopussy as a rickshaw driver and made me give him my only pen. Honestly, didn't he know I was a local celebreity now too? In the afternoon Charley and I both took lessons in the Gangour Ghat area of town. Mine was a painting lesson (Udaipur is renowned for its miniature painting on silk and camel bone) with a man who had the longest and most bizarre ear hair I've ever seen. Charley's was a tabla lesson with an artistically-tempered musician called Krishna. After a swim in our rooftop pool (hehe) we returned to the Bagore-ki-Haveli to watch a show of traditional Rajasthani dances. The evening entertainment concluded with one of the oldest performers dancing with an amazing ten terra cotta pots on her head. After the show, the streets were lit up and filled with people, elephants, and camels parading and dancing to celebrate the first night of Navaratri - a nine day festival that pays homage to the goddess Durga. We joined in and learned how to dance with sticks like all the little children. Feeling like we were floating with elation, we watched Octopussy in our lobby late into the night and laughed again at how ridiculous Bond was pre-Daniel Craig.
Sunday was our last full day in Udaipur. We explored, ate, swam, worshipped at the 400 yr old Jagdish Mandir, learnt more about the techniques of miniature painting at an old art school haveli, and at the end of the day watched the sun set from the top of a mountain reached only by gondola ride. I miss Udaipur and its scenery, its relaxed vibes and people. The city was so clean and eco-friendly, with publications everywhere describing its efforts to become a self sustainable environment. It's also a rare comfort to stay in a touristy spot and not feel like people are out to cheat you 24/7. Instead, they welcomed us with open arms - stopped us in the street just to chat, danced with us, laughed with us (or at us, we wouldn't have cared). A little boy took my camera on Sunday night during the festival celebrations and took about a hundred pictures. He and his gang were so pleased with themselves whenever the pictures they took popped back up on the display screen. It makes me happy to look back and see it all from his point of view - he'd come within 6 inches of your face to take a portrait!
But thinking back on it, it can't just have been the location and the people who put me in such a good mood. Travelling is also about the people you share the experience of a unique place like Udaipur with. With Charley I know I can laugh, smile, complain, and just be back to the normal self that he reminds me of, and it makes me happy just to see in him the relief of finding a place in India that's pretty much the opposite of Delhi. If only everyday could be like those charming three days in Udaipur... but then again, I tell myself, I need something more exciting than that. And so we departed from our Eastern Venice and hop onto a plane bound for Chennai, the armpit of Tamil Nadu, where the real adventure of our vacation begins.
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