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It was a bright morning when one of our groups was leaving Jaisalmer- the famed GOLDEN CITY where they stayed for three nights and our guests loved every moment spent here.
They wished they could stay more!
After all where else in the world they could see a city so strange, so yellow that any other color over any mansion does not appear even as an exception! For them the sight still lingered of the amazing fairy tale fort that glows under the sun like solid gold, and in that Golden citadel is a tightly packed maze of lanes that still have inhabited homes; homes having blue-green doors and red floors, women chatting over front verandahs wearing most exotic skirts and odhanis with perhaps no care for matching colors.
Yet those colors seem so much at right place that a group of four women is quite enough to have even a color-blind go crazy.
Last but not the least was the sight of camels over the sand dunes adorned with most colorful accessories so lovingly named as gorbundh, not to say the Manganiar musicians at the background wearing red tie-dye turbans looked handsome too.
The Pink of Jaipur
Perhaps it was this feeling that they will not be seeing more such mix of colors had set their heart heavy.
They were wrong. Back in the city of Jaipur, yellow is no stone used there at all.
The mansions and bazaars there are colored earthy rosy pink, the fact that only Jaipur has this antiquity is discovered only when you go to see some other cities.
The turbans of the men also have more contrasts with predominance of yellows, pinks and greens, for women it is more of sparkling reds, yellows, bright blues and dark greens with of-course brocade work on odhanis.
The elephants in festivals are decorated with elaborate designs using varied colors; even at the sweet shops you would notice people prefer to purchase those that are MULTICOLORED.
Colors on the way
After lunch at Pokharan in its old beetroot-red colored fort, an old man with big white moustache and yellow turban was singing outside with a stringed instrument in his hand- that too was artificially painted into green.
They got out of the town negotiating their way through colorful busy market and were soon on the way towards Osiyan.
A halt at Kheechan to watch another wonder - blue Demoiselle Cranes sitting pretty against the backdrop of clear yellow sands of the desert.
Further on the way it was the turn of Bishnoi villages- peacocks and blackbucks roaming freely and groups of Bishnoi women waiting at bus stops.
This time the odhanis were dark maroon, skirts printed brown and low-neck blouses finely embroidered. Oranges, lemon yellows were also there.
Bishnoi women become overtly shy when not wearing enough ornaments, their confidence resurfaces only when they are back with white bangles upto the arms and Jewellery from head to toes.
By the time they reached Jodhpur in the evening they had seen a series of Baba Ramdev temples having dozens of multicolored flags on top.
The last scene was of large open fields of red chilies being dried and women heaping them back before the sunsets. It was difficult to predict that the sky was getting red of the sunset or due to the fiery red chilies!
Jodhpur blues
The next day in Jodhpur sightseeing, the predominance of mansions made of Reddish-brown stone came as an evidence of changing colors in Rajasthan.
Turbans are now essentially Yellow and White, those of Rajputs are colored or Panchrangas (Five colored).
Auto rickshaws are most elaborately designed, dressed and colored. Watching from the top of Mehrangarh fort they discovered that Jodhpur is a BLUE CITY!
Further drive towards Udaipur was even more surprising for them, highway busy of colorful vehicles even trucks painted in dozen colors. Now the turbans were getting bigger and redder to almost like balloons near Ranakpur.
The women were also wearing more colors, this time fluorescent greens, lemon yellows, oranges and magentas. Landscape too was getting more colorful; men and women working on primitive Persian wheel looked as beautiful.
The question of survival?
The turbans returned back to normal size in Udaipur, this time more in red tie-dyes and pinks.
Women too were more in pinks and greens. Our guests discovered that Udaipur is neither Yellow nor Blue, it is creamish white, it is famed for its green-blue miniature paintings and in desserts dark brown Gulab Jamuns were served.
This time while leaving Udaipur they were confident that there lie more colors further in the tour.
But Catherine couldn't resist asking one question "What makes Rajasthan so colorful".
Honestly speaking, there was no answer. Perhaps because man savors and treasures the most what nature has not provided him.
Nature has been harsh on Rajasthan. Perhaps this is another attempt of the people of Rajasthan to fight against all odds, yet another battle for survival?
Still, we do not have any firm answer.
We discovered Rajasthan as a colorful place only through the eyes of our guests.
For us it is always the same, a part of our lives. How can we find reasons for our own basic instincts?
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