Highlights of Jaipur

If ever there was a city to tingle your children’s senses, it’s the Pink City of Jaipur. The capital of Rajasthan was founded in 1727 by Raja Jai Singh II, to replace the hill fort of Amber, some 11 miles away. Long before the perpendicular avenues of Manhattan, this once modern city was planned on a grid system with wide boulevards. It was painted pink for a visit by the Prince of Wales in 1876 who later became Edward VII, as it was his favourite colour. How insane it that!

We begin our exploration in the safe hands of Bhopal Singh, our experienced guide with an impressive mustache and mirror shades, who proudly tells us he’s from the warrior caste and explains to Scarlett and Fin that locals don’t get bitten by the mosquitos as they’re full of chillies!

We begin with the vast Amber Fort, a breathtaking World Heritage Site that was home to the royal family until 1727 during the rainy season when the surrounding lake was full. Now government owned, it was opened to tourists in 1957. There are lines of elephant rides going up to the palace, but we’re warned that the animals are not always treated so well, so we head up on foot.

But it’s Jantar Mantar that really captures our imaginations. This giant’s observatory was completed in 1734 and remains an impressive measurement of the position of the constellations, the exact time of day on the world’s biggest sundial and instruments to see which Zodiac sign the sun is on. We’re told that in India, astrology is still revered. Dates will be set when your starts are aligned for important dates like getting married.

Our most magical evening in Jaipur is spent at Dera Mandawa, home of attentive host, Durga Singh. The beautiful old house was his aristocratic family home, now made into an atmospheric Mughal-style boutique hotel.

Durga greets us as ‘honourable visitors’ and takes the time to tell us that when he was a boy, the house was surrounded by jungle where panthers roamed. As the city of Jaipur expanded, the conurbation grew up around them. Despite this you can still get a sense of how it used to be with the lush vegetation in the garden and the effort Durga puts into preserving Rajasthan traditions. As he points out, non of the classic invaders of India from Alexander the Great onwards have made as much impact as the invasion of the digital age.

In the afternoon you can try out kite flying and turban and sari tying along with an Indian style high tea. But tonight, Durga and his wife, Usha Kumari, invite us into their garden for a game of char-bhar, a board game played in rural India, as staff light a fire on the ground made of dried cow dung. The birds are cheeping and there’s a Muslim call to prayer as the evening draws in, and over the fire are buried a dozen bread rolls among the sterilized embers. We’re soon enjoying our rolls with spicy dhal and meaty mutton kebabs. Usha takes us to a cooking station in the garden and has us creating Bangan Bharta – big aubergines roasted on a flame, peeled, mashed and cooked with masala.

Durga leads the children over to a miniature stage where an elderly lady in a bright red sari sits on the ground with her drum providing the sound track to her husband, Kanaiyalal Ji’s traditional puppet show. The large string marionettes include a dancing lady in a sari, a man on his camel, and a most impressive, a man on a horse with a flaming torch. There are brutal fight scenes in the best tradition of puppetry and afterwards the children are invited to have a go. Fin does a very decent job of making the woman belly dance and we all agree Jaipur and its traditions are precious things.