Bundi - Being Out Of the Bubble

Vegetable Market

Step Well

Another View 

Step Well Number 2 

Looking up from the bottom 

Looking into the very bottom of the Step Well

Bundi Fort and Palace

View of the Lake from the Fort

Elephant and Bull

Holy Cow

After breakfast, we met our guide. He turned out to be excellent. Key to a good guide is that when he speaks I can understand him. His English was excellent. He took us first to the wholesale vegetable market. We walked around and really enjoyed ourselves. Spread out on the ground in front of us were all kinds of vegetables: eggplants, cauliflower, red carrots, garlic, turmeric, chickpeas, etc. What I especially liked were the mounds of herbs: cilantro, parsley on and on. They were all so fragrant. Cows mingled among the people, and merchants brushed them away if they were munching on their produce.

We left the market and headed out to see several Step Wells. Bundi is famous for the fabulous wells. There are many in Bundi. They are amazing. They are not religious temples but rather wells for water. There are extremely deep. Many of them date back to the 14^th century. They are beautifully persevered, although not used today. During the monsoon season, the wells would fill up, both through the rain that came down and an intricate system of natural drainage from the aquifer. People could take the water and as it was used the well level would lower and the people could descend another level of steps to get water. As we climbed around the step wells, I had to stand close to the wall, I have vertigo and looking over ledges makes me very uncomfortable.

We visited 3 of the Step Wells and thought they were all magnificent. The third was interesting, because it was locked and closed to the public. One family across from the well, was responsible for it. Our guide called up to a family member that was sitting on a balcony overlooking the street, and asked for the key, a family member came down, gave him the key. We were then able to open the gate and descend into the well. Every family seems to have their privilege.

We went up to the Fort and Palace. Like most Forts and Palaces in Rajasthan, they were situated as the highest structures on the mountain. It was quite a trek up the steep hillside. Apparently there is no word in Hindi for railings, cause there sure aren’t a lot of them at this fort. Like many forts there were layers of protections of walls and gates, with the Palace at the center.

This Palace has long been abandoned although there was a nice collection of miniature paintings. Our excellent guide explained the different schools of paintings and the stories associated with them. Interestingly with the Maharaja having many of wifes, that meant on any given night a lot of the women were left alone. Many of the paintings depicted them either drinking to the point of being drunk or smoking opium to get through the boredom of the harem.

After visiting the Fort and Palace we stopped for a little jewelry shopping, nothing big, just some gifts, then walked the narrow streets of Bundi. We were constantly avoiding motorcycles, cows, bicycles and occasional car or auto-rickshaw.

We purchased some fenugreek seeds to see if we can grow them in America. As far as we know we can’t buy fresh fenugreek anywhere in LA.  There is a recipe we want to make that calls for it.

We then returned to our Palace Hotel to read, have a massage and dinner.

Bundi grew on us. We were out of the tourist bubble and were seeing an India that was hardly westernized.