Good morning Jodphur
Do you have a pen?
Well you couldn’t get a bigger contrast to Pushkar. Jodphur is bigger, cleaner and signs of a growing cosmopolitan lifestyle. Jodphur is not on the backpackers trail and has a lot less of the cheap tourist traps and virtually no hustlers. There is a big urban regeneration programme underway, in a similar vein to Delhi and this is beginning to attract more money into the town in a positive way.
Hidden behind the clocktower is the locals shopping district, a maze of intertwining lanes, filled with people going about their daily business. Each home and shop, so small, quiet and compact, completely overshadowed by the constant beeping motorbikes and chugging engines of the Tuk-Tuks.
Tailor
Repairs
Shoe shop
Laundry and Ironing.
All businesses are run by men. The women can be found shopping, selling cheap goods in the market, sweeping the roads and sorting rubbish for recycling or at home. I have never witnessed such a male dominated society. It’s also beginning to dawn on how little I am spoken to. All questions and conversations are done through John. If I ask a question, it’s not me who receives the answer.
In complete contrast, a jeep ride into the countryside revealed an abundance of wildlife, birds and fresh air.
We met a few people from the Vishnoi Village. Vishnois are Hindu hardcore worshippers of nature, and live following 29 rules and principals. One being, they wont cut down a living tree. In the past, over 300 women and children gave up their lives to save the trees being destroyed when the great fort was built.
You can find weavers and potters dotted around the community. Recently, they have been granted aid to help fund their crafts to sell as a co-operative due to a decline in income from poor infertile land.
Vishnoi Potter
No machinery is used in the villages
Growth of Opium is banned by the Government of India, but some Vishnois have special permission to do so for religious purposes. The government have allowed the religious opium tea ceremony to be a recognised tourist attraction. The master of the holy tea ceremony is allowed to take the the opium - in moderation as he is making it for the tourists. Since the opium is available he explained he also gives it to the ladies so that they can work faster in the fields in the afternoon.
Unlike other Hindus, Since the cutting of trees is completely prohibited by Vishnois, they do not burn or cremate their dead ones but instead simply bury them. The burning of blue clothes is not allowed in the village as acquiring the blue colour for them requires the cutting down of a large number of shrubs.
Vishnoi girl.