Wednesday 20th February 2019

 Varanasi to Jaipur

When we looked out of our hotel window this morning, we were dismayed to see small children carrying huge bags of rubbish out of the hotel basement.

They then proceeded to empty the bags on the roadside and sort the refuse.  After emptying any dregs from the numerous plastic bottles into a large blue plastic drum, they then put the bottles to one side.  They sorted through the remaining piles, transferring some of them into a large public bin and then lighting a small fire and burning other items at the side of the road.

The group included eight kids and all but the two toddlers had a job to do, the eldest was around 12 years old.  Once sorted they put a bag of bottles onto a small handcart and left, pushing the cart down the road.  We can only assume that they get some money in exchange for the plastic.

Is this the only way the hotel can get rid of its rubbish?  However, we also wondered if this was the only way the children could get cash to purchase food?

Mid morning we were taken to the airport for our midday flight to Jaipur.

We were met at the airport in Jaipur by our guide. “Pushpendra Singh of the warrior caste, hence the earrings” he said introducing himself.  “You can call me Mr Singh as my first name is difficult to pronounce” he added.  At our request, he repeated his name a couple of times and told us that it translated to ‘King of the Flowers’.

He told us that due to the death of his father just three months previously he was currently doing two jobs.  His usual work was a freelance guide but he was now also working as a representative for some companies, doing the meet and greet and assisting with check in at hotels.

Noticing our thick guide book peeping out from the top of my rucksack, he pointed at it and stated “I can tell you more; I have a master’s degree in Indian History.”

Together with our driver who was introduced simply as ‘Dave’, we travelled to the hotel.  Apparently Dave would now be our driver for the remainder of our time here in India.

I was looking forward to seeing our hotel.  For our stay here in Jaipur we had decided to go upmarket and to stay in a Havelli. A Havelli is the name used for a traditional mansion or the former home of a Maharajah.  Many of these have now been sold to hotel chains. Alternatively a Haveli maybe the name given to a hotel that has been modelled on a Maharajah’s palace.

Usually they have stunning architecture. The owners of the Shapura group of hotels are direct descendents of the royal family of Shapura and endeavour to preserve and recreate the original magnificence of the palaces.  Shapura House was originally the Summer Palace of the family.  It was turned into a hotel in 1991.

On arrival, we were shown into a reception room with stunning architecture and offered a cup of hot tomato soup.  “A winter drink”, Pushpendra explained. Apparently in a few weeks time, the summer drink of watermelon juice would be served.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hotel consists of beautiful reception rooms and a small darkened billiard room cum bar lounge with an adjacent narrow bar complete with wooden bar stools.  The architecture throughout is extremely impressive.  An old fashioned lift with a metal gate took us to the third floor; one of its buttons was marked ‘private residence’.  I wondered if it was as ornate as the rest of the havelli.

After we had settled in, in our lovely room with its high mahogany four poster bed and marble pillar and partition to separate the small seating area, we explored the beautiful hotel.

Later we went to the bar for a drink; a brass plate screwed to the wall was engraved with the dates of ‘the dry days’, Independence Day etc.

A dance and traditional puppet show was taking place on the roof terrace, we arrived five minutes before it was due to start.  However, one minute before the performance started everyone apart from us left.  Apparently the people were on a bus trip from a different hotel to see the architecture of Shapura House.

The female danced, swirling around, her long skirts flaying outwards as she was simultaneously balancing a number of clay pots on her head.  After her performance, the man doing the puppet show said he would start in a few minutes but we decided to leave. Obviously there was no atmosphere with just the two of us in the audience, promising we would see him another evening, we headed for dinner.

Back in the room we searched for the light switches. The room has mood lights and night lights in the ceiling and in the floor.  However, we could not find switches to turn them all off so we had to leave some of them on all night!

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