Delhi Belly Strikes Back

I think this may actually be my last blog post in India. To honor the occasion I put up pictures of Jaipur, viewed from Amer Fort. I am sad to report that for whatever reason I got another round of Delhi Belly starting last night. I managed to go to class to get my grades and say goodbye but otherwise I have just been sleeping and barfing etc. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my last day here, but I guess in theory its better than getting it at some exciting time when there were a hundred things to do. Although stomach-achy packing really sucks. Thanks to everyone that read my blog and stay tuned for Paris.

Love,

Violet

Fatepur Sikri

These pictures are from Akhbar's Throne. It's a beautiful structure built for him and his 3 wives (one from Jaipur, one from Turkey and one from Portugal). After getting off a long bus ride, this place was exactly what we needed to get excited again. Anything this geometrically please certainly gets my heart racing. Anyhow, enough about the pictures, I know you are all dying to know how my presentation went. It was alright. I got the most applause, but I was also dead last. At that point everyone just wanted it to be over, myself included. Today is my last day going to the institute. We are going to have chai, say goodbye and get our grades.

See you soon!

Love,

Violet

The White Palace

This temple was one of the most beautiful buildings I saw in India. It's actually called the Taj Mahal of Rajasthan according to one of my teachers. Most unfortunately my camera died before I could take my fill of photos (I only got about 80, damn). I could handle the Taj and then Jodhpur but my camera wasn't quite up for the task. Hopefully I will be equally resilient tomorrow. I am giving a 30 minute presentation on my paper, in Hindi. Wish me luck.

Love,

Violet

Jodhpur: Land of Oz

In the early light of the morning in Jodhpur, I could see from one end of the city to the other. On our side the big fort stood over us and to its right a white temple stood. In the light it looked like it was glowing. At the other end, farthest away from us, I could see a shadow of a castle in the fog. Standing there it reminded me of Oz. These pictures are from the wicked witch of the west's palace. It is a large beautiful structure, that remarkably resembles something one would make on the beach by dripping wet sand into towers. This was our first stop, sightseeing in Jodhpur and throughout my sightseeing I could shake the feeling that this could be the only place that Oz could be modeled after (I mean come on, the emerald city, total rip off, all they did was pick another color).

After I put up pictures of Glinda's palace you can tell me if you agree.

Love,

Violet

Happy Pictures For Weary Violet

Here is the whole series of fun pictures that my friends and I took at the Taj. The poses are as follows: Incredible India, Japanese tourist, Kathak pose, and jumping for a reason that no one can quite remember. These may or may not have been planned out ahead of time (they were). It was necessary to determine our poses before we went because of the amount of time before certain people deteriorated into a puddle of sweat (me) and others hair frizzed (not me). I am putting these pictures up because I am currently wading through my final paper which is due tomorrow. It is finished (13 pages and hindi, booyah). But I am only a page into the miserable undertaking of typing it up using google transliterate. So I put up happy, funny pictures because I am miserable and sleepy and my neck hurts. At least I will have a break tomorrow (read facial), because I have to hand it in and then I will present on Thursday so I will have one afternoon of peace (read packing). More enthusiastic reporting tomorrow.

Love,

Violet

Peace Offering

My internet was too bad to post yesterday so I will leave you with this until later tonight. This is the new contender for my book cover, or perhaps my new hit pop single.

Love,

Violet

The View From Above

More pictures of Jodhpur, this time from the top of the fort. I'm away for my last exciting weekend in India. I'll talk to you again on Sunday.

Love,

Violet

Sunrise in the Blue City

So in a show of incredible trouper-dom, Nafeeza and I got off the 6 hour Agra bus ride, took a shower, at dinner and then got on an overnight bus to Jodhpur. We arrived at 5 in the morning. It was dark, we were half asleep and we had no idea where we were or what we were doing. We asked to go to the central market because we knew their would be breakfast places around there, but everything was closed. Eventually the rickshaw driver suggested a hotel. Usually this is a no-no, because the driver takes a commission for the people he brings, but he assured us the restaurant was open so we went. We ended up in a rooftop restaurant, right next to the fort, sipping chai and doing work as the sun rose over one of the most beautiful cities I have seen. It was entirely worth the hassle.

More blue city tomorrow,

Violet

The Original Four Seasons

Here are pictures from inside two of the palaces. The palace of mirrors is my favorite, but it doesn't photograph very well (too much reflection). You can take my word for it. I can't help being my father's daughter at places like this (in Belgium: violet, the thatched roof! take a picture of the thatched roof!). I have about 300 photos from each location of tile detailing and arch ways (if anyone wants to recreate the mosaics in the interior of the Taj Mahal for their bathrooms, give me a call).

More architectural features tomorrow.

Love,

Violet

Back to Jaipur

I got a bit ahead of myself in pictures (can you blame me? I mean it is the Taj Mahal). Anyhow, before I show you more pictures of my adventures from this weekend I want to show you more Jaipur. This is one of the main attractions, Amer Fort and this is the first real, live, touchable elephant I have met (didn't ride it though, Ivy please read my blog!). The fort is beautiful and sits on top of a mountain. Inside the fort there is a palace for every season and a big garden in the middle. More pictures of that soon.

Love,

Violet

Drum roll please...

Without further ado, here are some of the hundreds of pictures I took at the Taj Mahal, dedicated to Grandma for her birthday (Happy Birthday!). Yes, it really is as beautiful as it is supposed to be. And what do people do when they see pretty things? Act stupid and take a million photos of it. That's how I justify all of the ridiculous poses that were somehow necessary as well as the amount of photos that indian people wanted to take of me and with me there. Between these photos, the ones I take and the dozens of photos that people take of me on camera phones, I wonder how many images of my face are circulating India right now. I probably still couldn't compete with the Taj Mahal. That gives me some comfort.

Plenty more where this came from.

Love,

Violet

Away I Go

This weekend will add on to the long list of cool things I have been doing (like touching snakes for example). I am going to Agra to see the Taj and then to the blue city (jodhpur). That means that you won't hear from me until Monday. But I promise it will be worth it. More soon. I'll miss you.

Love,

Violet

Frazzled Violet, Frazzled Internet Connection

To use a uniquely hindi grammatical construction (because it seems like that's all I can muster these days): As much fatigued as I am by my workload and my seeming lack of progress in Hindi and about everything else here (read: walking through poop), that much fatigued is my Internet by all the things I am making it do. Unfortunately that means that I can't post pictures today. If I wake up early and it seems to be working I will do a just picture post.

Om Shanti Om,

Violet

More Mahal

My name is Violet yada yada yada... it's been zero days since I last went to a salon. I got my haircut today. I basically just went in and said keep it the same length, do what ever you want. I will post pictures tomorrow. Here are some more pictures of the inside of Hawa Mahal. As you may or may not notice it is a lot greener here. It's because the barsaat (rainy season) is finally here, and it is here with a vengeance. Apparently there is more rain in India then there has been in 20 years or something like that (I mostly made that up, but I'm pretty sure I heard it somewhere). Everything has been flooding and I have been caught in quite a few down pours. You would think this would make everything cleaner but instead it just feels like you are wading through poop. Especially in the dark. A lot of the roads are half pavement half dirt, so you hit a mud patch and it's a 50/50 chance that it is actually a pile of cow (hopefully) dung.

With that joyful image. I am signing off.

Love,

Violet

My name is violet...

and I'm addicted to getting facials at Indian Salons. It's been zero days since I last went. Today I got went to an Indian spa. I found out many things on this purely educational excursion. 1. Facials don't just stop at the face. 2. Back massages come with a complimentary ass grab (or 4). 3. Your face can be as smooth as a baby's bottom for 7 dollars. Needless to say it was awesome! I'm going to go twice a week. 7 dollars for a 2 hour facial with massage! My friend thought I had done something weird like bleached my skin. She was worried I had gotten some sort of special Indian facial with bleach as the second ingredient. Actually, I have just been so dirty that after 2 hours and half a dozen different face washes, I was clean (and fair and lovely *trademark). What does this have to do with the Hawa Mahal? Nothing! Anyhow, the pictures are from the inside of the Air Palace or Wind Palace depending on how you translate it. It was so beautiful, and such a beautiful day. It kept lightly raining and would go from overcast to sunny and back in 20 minutes. It was beautiful to take pictures of. For this reason, you will be seeing more tomorrow.

Love,

Violet

Happy Friendship Day!

Today is friendship day, or friendships day depending on who you ask. So I want to take the opportunity to thank you for reading my blog. Thanks friends. To commemorate this occasion I decided to break out the token cow picture, a feature in every India bound traveler's collection. It's hard to explain how many cows there are. Let me try: there are a whole-freaking-lot of cows and they can do whatever they want, so you will see them in the road, walking down the aisles of the bazaar, inside, outside in a box with a fox, really everywhere. The other picture is the outside of the Hawa Mahal. More pictures of that tomorrow.

Love and Friendship,

Violet