Jaipur

It was a relief to arrive in Jaipur after being in Bombay for a few days. Jaipur immediately seemed much smaller, less hectic and prettier.

The first couple days here Liz and I spent exploring the city by foot, checking out the Old City, the bazaars,  a textile factory and some temples, just getting to know the city a little bit.

Our first night we decided to go to a semi-famous theater called the Raj Mandir. We saw a Bollywood movie called Tashan or "style" in English.  It was a pretty decent movie, and we could understand the plot without much English being spoken.  The dancing and music scenes were great, as was the final fight scene. The crowd at Bollywood movies gets really into the movie, booing the bad guys, whistling at the sexy actresses and speaking their mind out loud whenever they feel like adding a comment to the film.  It makes for a pretty funny and interesting movie experience.

Liz and I went to a place called the Temple of Krishna, where we got a nice view of the street below and met a few really nice men. They showed us around the temple, gave us tips on getting to other temples cheaply, and told us a little history of the city. We stayed there for at least an hour, and went back again later that night so I could pick up a small painting I wanted to get.

Our second night we went to a couchsurfing friend named Garish's house where his sisters prepared an excellent meal for us. His family was kind enough to invite us into their home, feed us, and make us feel welcome. Garish and his family live right inside the Chandpol gate in the Old City.

The next day Garish invited us to come along to a friend of a friend's wedding in a small village about 20km outside of Jaipur City.  We accepted the invitation, making what could have been the best decision we made all trip.

Dave got to our hotel just as we were leaving to meet Garish at his house, and he came along with us. We got to his house around 6:30pm and left just before 7pm with 7 people in a small rickshaw.

Right after we arrived at the village and got out of the rickshaw, Garish called me to the side and told me that he just received a call from his sister. She said that there were some bomb blasts in Jaipur, she thought about three, and that we should probably not come back to the city tonight. As the night went on, the calls kept coming and soon he found out that there were 7 or 8 (it ended up being 7, with the 8th bomb defused before blowing up). We had no idea whether anyone was hurt of killed, where exactly the bombs were, when it would be safe to go back to the city etc...

Towards the end of the evening we found out that there was a curfew in the Old City, so we would go back the next morning. So with an uncertainty, we went to a friend of a friend's uncle-in-law's house, where we slept on the roof amidst peacocks, cows and goats.

After a rough night of tossing and turning I was the first of the 5 foreigners to awaken.  I walked down the ladder to join our Indian guests who were listening for news on the radio.  Garish told us that the curfew wouldn't be lifted until 8am, and then only for an hour. It was about 6:30am at this point. Around 7:20am we headed out to make the trip back to the city. The rickshaw driver dropped us off on the main road near our hotel, and he rushed off to get Garish home.

I ran up to the room to grab my camera and after checking the news, Dave and I headed off to see the scene of the bomb attacks.  We had only 30 minutes to get into the old city, take some photos and get out of the gates before they closed.  The first few drivers we asked said they wouldn't take us, and told us to go back to our hotel. We finally found someone who said they would take us, but for about 2x the normal cost. We agreed and got in. I told him to take us to Hawa Mahal, or the Wind Palace. It was a spot that Liz and I had met a friend the night before the bombings, and a spot that was targeted because of it's notoriaty.

Our driver told us we could walk around for ten minutes before he would have to leave. There were police everywhere, people rushing around trying to get last minute things done in the hour window of the curfew's suspension, and news trucks with reporters everywhere.  I took some pictures of a car that had the front end blown up, and of the crowd of people being herded out of the area.  Dave and I were interviewed by a woman from the New York Times, but it seems she left us out of her article. It was a mad scene, and in the few minutes there, we got a good feel of how crazy the city was, and I'm sure will continue to be for a little while.

It was only later that we found out that the area where Liz and I first waited for Garish, and later walked by only an hour before the attacks was one of the areas targeted in the bombings, with 3-5 people killed where we stood only an hour earlier. The shops in front of the Hawa Mahal where Liz and I waited for a friend the night before the bombings were also targeted, killing more people.

As we took a rickshaw through the Old City today, two days after the attacks, our driver was pointing out different places that the 7 bombs went off.  One of the was the Temple of Krishna, where Liz and I spent a good ammount of time a few days earlier.  We asked if we could get out and go to the temple to see if our two friends were ok.  As we got near the temple, we saw a metal water tank riddled with holes.  A group of people waited around it for a chance to touch the holes, or stick something into them, as if examining them in disbelief.  Immediately the two men from the temple recognized us and said hello.  We said we had come to see if they were safe, and we were glad to see that they were. One of the men told us that there was a man with a food cart in front of the water tank selling his spicy fried food when the bomb went off right in front of him. He was killed along with others waiting in line for food in front of the temple. Our other friend was standing right behind the water tank as the bomb exploded and he proudly showed off his wound on his chest and the holes in his shirt that the projectiles made.

Friend from Krishna Temple

 "My guru saved my life" he proudly told us. Eerily enough, a few days earlier he was telling us how strongly he believes that his Guru, who died about 10 years ago, protects him in situations that threaten his life. We were glad to see our friends were ok, and we told them that, and said goodbye.

Earlier in the day the three of us went to the hospital where most of the injured and murdered people were taken to.  Dave and I were asked if we wanted to go inside and see some of the survivors, and we did.  We walked up to a ward with 8 survivors, most who had pellets from the bombs lodged in parts or all of the bodies. A woman acted as our translator and took us over to one man and his family. He had pellets all over his ankle and leg.  We told him we were sorry for what he went through, wished him good luck in his surgery and a speedy recovery. He seemed thankful, as did his family, to hear from us. The people in the ward we visited were some of the luckiest of the surviving victims, others were hurt much worse, many dying or close to death.  The news is reporting 61 dead with 150-200 injured, but people at the hospital said at least 500 people came in either dead or injured. After talking with the man, our translator informed us she was with the Indo Asian News Service and she wanted to interview us. She asked us some questions and we were answering them as a man walked down the hall towards the ward. He was excorted by soldiers or police with machine guns and many bodyguards. She told us he was a politician in power and had one of his legs blown off in a blast sometime ago.  He travels around India talking to victims of terrorist attacks. On his way our of the ward he stopped and asked the lady interviweing us why we were there.  She explained we wanted to talk to the survivors as well, and donate blood. They talked for a few minutes, and she got what I think was the first interview this man had given about the Jaipur bombings. She thanked us for our time, and we went off to donate blood.

In the blood bank we were swarmed by cameras and reporters, before, during, and after our donations.  In the past few days Dave and I had been interviewed by at least 6 ot 7 different print or TV media sources. The interviews continued as we left the hospital, and the pictures never stopped. Hopefully we helped the American reputation in India, if only a little bit.

Tonight we are off to Udaipur on a 12 hour train, our first train ride in India, should be interesting.