Udaipur is a sprawling city set in a beautiful landscape. A series of ridges surround lovely lakes. It is considered to be the most romantic city in all of India. It's the site of numerous films, one of which was the Roger Moore as James Bond film Octopussy. It is also notorious as one of the places on the planet that middle-aged women go to experience another culture and let their hair down. We enjoyed our time here. Lovely sunsets and good food.
We were able to take care of some business while we were here. Laundry, ATM, and a haircut. Nancy chatted with the proprietor while his son gave me a post haircut head massage.
Later, as we were on one of our walks, we were commenting on how Sri Lanka and India are so similar in that it is hard to strike up a natural conversation that doesn't end in a pitch to visit a shop, or go to a cousin's restaurant, or see an art gallery, or get one's photo taken with a camel, or pay to have a prayer said by a priest, or be asked if we need a ride by a Tuk Tuk driver. In many places we've been in Rajasthan the barrage is almost constant. It has become another one of the things that we gird up for when leaving our hotel room; like seeing a person with a crippling malady begging, or copious amounts of trash, or incessant honking, or being cut off by pretty much anyone and everyone. Just as we'd reached the conclusion of our discussion, we walked by an older woman drying pappadam in the walkway of her home. She smiled and called out to us. Next thing we knew it we were being asked in for tea and biscuits. Her whole family joined us and we spent the better part of an hour talking politics, recipes, California, and family connections. It was great. India, if nothing else is a place of contradictions which shakes my convictions each time I come close to any sort of understanding.
IndiaRajasthanUdaipurSisārmaKotra Nadi24°34’49” N 73°40’59” E
IndiaRajasthanUdaipurSisārmaKotra Nadi24°34’49” N 73°40’59” E
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