Photo: Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds), Jaipur
I have two months in India, and I’m so happy about that! I can’t imagine a more exciting, colorful, and unique place to spend time, and Indian is also my favorite cuisine in the world so I’m eating quite well!
India Facts
- 2nd largest country in the world by population with 1.4 billion people. India has 18% of the world’s population so about 1 in 5 humans are Indian…and that doesn’t even exclude Indians of the diaspora, like the 2.4 million Indian Americans.
- The birthplace of Buddhism, chess, shampoo, indigo, algebra, and buttons
- Cows have a Bill of Rights in the Constitution because they’re considered so sacred
- 40% of Indians are vegetarians and even non-veg people tend to eat mostly vegetarian – fully 70% of people rarely or never eat meat! Vegetarianism is the default at most restaurants – if restaurants do serve meat, it’s on a small section of the menu labeled “Non-veg” and restaurants that don’t serve meat proudly declare themselves “Pure Veg.” There’s almost no beef in India because of said cow sacredness.
- The country is 80% Hindu, 14% Muslim, 2% Christian. The country’s leader is taking steps that some say are moving the country toward being a Hindu national state vs. its longtime status as a secular state.
- Muslims and allies have been protesting across the country for weeks in response to a recent law that makes it easier for non-Muslims from bordering countries to become citizens because the law excludes Muslims.
- Despite there being many very large cities, 66% of the population still lives in rural areas.
- The national animal is the peacock! Cute.
Sights of Rajasthan
I split my time in Rajasthan between three cities, which adorably all have distinctively colored architecture. There’s tons to do in all three (just listed a few favorite spots below) and I usually love ranking things, but they were all equally cool to me!
Jodhpur: “The Blue City”
- Mehrangarh Fort is a gigantic fort with tons of history and great views of the city.
- The Blue City is the section of the city that’s of course painted blue. Incredible area to explore!
- Jaswant Thada & Rao Jhoda Desert Rock Park is a very tranquil area just outside town
- Camel riding & a Jeep tour to a sand dune in the nearby town of Osian
Udaipur: “The White City” and “The Venice of the East”
- Udaipur is all about its two lakes: Pichola (which features two islands – one of which is a fancy hotel and the other a fancy garden) and Fateh Sagar (which you can rent bikes to cycle around for $2 USD).
- Jagdish Temple is the most beautiful Hindu temple I’ve seen so far
- Upadhyay Lake has the best lake and sunset views
Jaipur: “The Pink City”
- Palace of the Winds was one of the most magnificent pieces of architecture I’ve ever seen! (See top photo of this post)
- The Monkey Temple & Sun Temple had hundreds & hundreds of monkeys, very lovely & zen vibes, and a stunning panorama of the entire city.
A Zoo on the Streets
I’ve never been to a country with such a variety of animals on the streets in the cities!!! Every walk outside is so exciting! You might see monkeys jumping across roofs, you WILL see dozens of cows after just about any 10 minute walk, there’s peacocks (the national animal), goats, pigs, green parakeets, sometimes even colorfully decorated elephants! And I’ve seen these all in the middle of cities! 😀
More on cows: because they’re considered sacred, most are allowed to wander around freely in cities. They’re only used for milk – there’s pretty much no beef at all in India – not even beef hamburgers. Watching the cows walk around searching for food (basically in the same way a stray dog does), taking naps on the sides of roads, etc. makes me so happy because we treat cows so horribly in the U.S. The cows look quite magical and super chill – what special animals!
The Cum Sale
Outside a museum, I saw an Exhibition Cum Sale and was quite shocked! What could this mean?! But then my Indian ambassador Sneha 😉 explained that “cum” is used to mean “combined with” – so in this case, an exhibition that is also a sale. I later saw a Market Cum Cafe at the airport.
Made-Up Babies
Many South Asians put black makeup around their young children’s eyes – many believe that it protects them from evil spirits, that it improves vision, or just that it makes their eyes look nicer and prettier. I was (again) very confused at first until my Indian ambassador explained this to me.
Fields of Sheets
You’ll often see fields or random tracts of ground filled with color driving around India – this is because people lay out their clothes and sheets to dry on the ground. I guess they must not get as dirty as I would expect them to? It makes for a gorgeous visage for sure.
The CC Discount
I”m so used to being charged extra to use credit cards and Agra, India, is the first place where I’ve found a “cashless discount” at multiple places – you pay LESS if you use a card! I LOVE IT! Unfortunately, 90% of businesses here don’t accept credit cards so this is definitely the exception, not the rule.
The People’s Car
I LOVED finding out about this from Sneha! Tata, a large Indian car manufacturer, created a tiny hatchback called the Nano at a selling price of about $2,500 USD in order to allow people who otherwise couldn’t afford cars to buy a car in a country where less than 1% of people own cars! (I’ve found on my travels that new cars are typically not affordable at all in developing countries – seemingly almost or as expensive as cars in the U.S.)
However, because the Nano was made with very cheap materials, some safety concerns came to light (it doesn’t have air bags, for example – eek) and it was discontinued in 2018. Darn! But there’s still tons of them on the road and I imagine used ones are supes affordable.
Next stop: Agra (home to the Taj Mahal!!).
PeaceJoyAustin 