Mandawa

This is yesterday’s blog, now that I’ve found some decent internet access….

We left Jaipur this morning bound for Mandawa. Deb carefully learned a route out of Jaipur, only to be thwarted by road works that are not updated into google maps. We eventually worked it out and found the correct toll road away from Jaipur. It was about 4 hours’ drive along some fairly rough roads, but we arrived at our accommodation as planned by lunch time. Manadawa is in much drier country. Little grows out here except Acacia trees. Some years ago, one of the Maharaja’s decided that Acacia trees would be good food for the elephants and camels, so purchased some tons of seeds from Australia and then tipped them out over the Rajasthan country-side from a helicopter.

Castle Mandawa…

 

Our accommodation in Mandawa is in the old Maharaja’s palace that was built in 1755 and is pretty amazing. We are occupying the old Majarini’s suite and has been beautifully restored. It is quite large with a separate audience room as well as a formal lounge.

 

And here is the pool…

Once we settled into our room, we went on a walking tour of the town. Mandawa is famous for it’s Havellis (dwellings) and the hand painted designs on them, usually depicting Hindu or other historical stories . Sadly, many of these dwellings have been abandoned and are falling into disrepair. Most of the paintings are about 150 years old and are done on limestone, similar to the Italian fresco style, so they do get degraded in the weather.

An individual one

One of the sad realities is that as the next generation chase success and wealth that their parents only dreamed of, they leave little towns like Mandawa and there are fewer people to take on the burden for preserving their rich past.

This is an example of one such abandoned house now being occupied by a poor family.

For those of you who are safety conscious I did see this truck trying to squeeze up a laneway with a power line draped across its roof.

Until tomorrow!