CityScript : JAIPUR
Magnificent palaces and forts are indeed a grand part of our past, but we need to build upon this past to make way for sustainable cities.
When I first visited Jaipur, it was all decked for new year celebration. A busy bustling place. Often played down by usual capital city woes. Though I have been to Jaipur a couple of times, I have mostly failed to appreciate the city. I will have to admit that I didn’t make much space for the city each time I visited. One time I was too occupied with Jodhpur, excited about my next destination, and another time it was the literature festival.
It’s hard not to like a city which knows its charm and is confident about it. The city almost feels like a crumbling imagination.
There is this grace lend to the city by those distant bald hills, and its birds bursting out of evening sky. Jaipur looks stunning in the pale sun, I even think its one those places fashioned to make most of the different shades of the sun! One of my fond memory in the city is a breathtakingview of falling sun perfectly aligning with the road I was travelling. And one cannot definitely fail to see how the evening sun saturates the old city in orange!
Jaipur is one place which brings down your binaries outright. The moment you romanticise the conventional ethnic charms, it also presents you with captivating urban visions. And that’s why you are destined to see Hawa Mahal amidst the hustle and bustle of the old city and not nestled in the hills high above like Amber Fort. You just cannot make your way to Hawa Mahal and City Palace without encountering an overfull bus, tuk-tuks, motorists, bicycles, chai-wallas, all floating on the narrow lanes of the old city.
When you visit Jaipur it is ok to commit to the possibilities of settling in this walled city, given that how royal it makes you feel. But one question that can bring you back from the fantasy is considering how well-kept our medieval cities are? Undoubtedly Jaipur is one of the best preserved cities from the 18th century. Even a 10 minutes stroll will bring to your attention to different layers where culture involving religion, rituals, various festivals is marked in the urban space. In India, we barely acknowledge the ideas of urban heritage. Heritage for most of us represent the historical monuments alone and we never really talk about intangible and active dimensions of it.
Jaipur has been over and over juxtaposed as one of the important cities of future. But hardly do we notice grey shades in the pink when we travel around. The basic infrastructure in the pink city ranging from water supply to waste management is falling apart as the city grows. Magnificent palaces and forts are indeed a grand part of our past, but we need to build upon this past to make way for sustainable cities.
I cannot complete this memoir without detailing on my love from the city - Dal Bhaati and Lal Maas. I think this is the only time I would admit I have a vegetarian dish on my favourites. Thanks to my amazing friend Smrithi for always feeding the soul food! I hope I get to know your city better next time. I quite agree with one thing she said when we were walking around, that Jaipur really doesn’t look pink, except for the few red sandstone walls in the old city. But then I will always remember Jaipur as a city filtered in a pink tint!
