After a while, we proceeded to get some lunch nearby before embarking on a big afternoon adventure:
Monkeys roam the streets in certain parts of the city, leaping from rooftops to power lines and back again. Sometimes, more adventureous ones will break into homes and raid fridges. You have to chase them out with brooms; they don't go easily :)
We went down to the jewellery making district. Jewellery is made by the best craftsmen in the world. They live in the slums of Jaipur and make approximately $3 / day. This studio apartment is the largest space you can get on a jeweller's wage. This room is about 4 feet wide as you can see. I was shown how stones are produced.
Here is some blue topaz. The stones are kept in water for better cuttting. This is after the first step in the process, where larger rocks are separated into individual gemstones
Once stones are cut to a manageable size, they are further sanded to remove the non-gem portions of the rock.
Examining some finished stones. The guy in the top left is essentially the manager of the craftsmen along this stretch of road. If there is something to consider when considering a jewellery purchase in the future, I think it is: Jewellery is considered valuable, because we say it is, not necessarily because it is that rare or expensive to produce. Also, almost none of the retail price that we pay in the U.S. makes it to the jewellery makers. I am not condemning this, but I do think it's interesting to know.
Standing outside the workshops (and promoting Hubbard One around the world). You can get an idea here of what conditions are like for many people in urban India. To the left of me, that is an open sewer which barely flows. As the children play crickett in the street, they often had to retrieve the ball from the sewage. Decayed would be an optomistic way to describe the condition of many buildings. Animals, trash, & feces litter many areas. Despite the poor living conditions for the poor however, I found that most people appear to be genuinely happy with their life.
A goat has a snack of ????? off a car windshield
We were supposed to be getting ready for one of the many wedding receptions, but from here we proceeded to a hindu temple. I was given a flower wreath, a very good sign for my fortune I was told. I was blessed by the priest, and afterwards handed some ashes, to be eaten - along with a piece of rock candy. The ashes were a shock to my tongue, but I consumed them. I then rang the bell (to alert God to my presence).
I am not a spiritual person, generally I do not participate in religious rites. I sensed though that the hindu people were genuinly appreciative of my participation and it was a unique experience. Seeing their faith demonstrated in person gives insight into their behavior. Hindu people seem to maintain a high level of faith and generally seem to accept their life and circumstances.
We tried to visit a spiritual man who would tell me my fortune, and tell me about my life, even though he had never met me. I was pretty excited for this, but unfortunately he wasn't home.
On the way across town, Ajit and Anirudh (constant jokesters) got into a fight about some photos Anirudh had taken (Ajit wanted to delete some). This escalated into a physical battle in the front seat of the car. We were driving about 50 miles an hour at this point.
I really enjoyed these guys, they spent a lot of time with me during my trip and made sure I got to see Jaipur up close and personal.
After going to the fortune tellers house, we came back and found that our car wouldn't start. Whoops - I was already about an hour late in going to Shot's house at this point and I still needed to make it back to my hotel first. I hopped a ride in a cab. This fine auto is known as a rickshaw, and is essentially a three wheeled..... scooter? A five mile ride cost about $2.
As I made it back, I prepared for the wedding festivities.
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