Matapita!

Phyllis and Geoffrey were in Jaipur for the last two days! It was so great/weird/hilarious to see them here.

Monday afternoon when I finished with school I took a rickshaw to their hotel (a place far, far nicer than the Gem Inn) to go meet them. They revealed to me that even having been in India for over a week they had not yet gone shopping and they hadn't had any chai! Clearly, they were in need of some better guidance. I set to work straight away.

First, we went to the Hawa Mahal, one of Jaipur's most famous monuments which, somehow, I still hadn't visited. There isn't really much to do inside the Hawa Mahal, but there are lots of cool windows in there overlooking the old city. Given the great views, all of the visitors to the mahal have their cameras in-hand and this naturally, leads to the typical Indian practice of taking pictures of the foreigners. I left my parents alone for two minutes and turned around to find them in the middle of an Indian family portrait. They reacted to the situation with surprise but my reaction, to this and many of the things that surprised them about India, was, "told you so."
This chai situation was becoming critical. "It's like going to Ireland and not drinking Guinness...except worse," I told Phyllis. This in mind, as soon as we were done with the Hawa Mahal I loaded my parents into a cycle-rickshaw (pictured above--you can see the enjoyment on their faces) to take us down the road to the LMB restaurant, a Jaipur landmark. We drank chai and sweet lassi and ate some chaat (snacks). "So is this kind of like Denny's?" Phyllis asked.

Recharged from tea-time, we began heading toward the bazaar for some shopping. The previous day I had gone to a jeweler's to drop of a ring to be re-sized, so I needed to return to that store to pick it up. When I entered, the store-keeper recognized me; he got out my ring to return to me but also pulled out a bracelet I had been looking at the day before to tempt me with again. I told him that it was still out of my price range. He responded, "Yes, but I see your parents are with you today..." My parents, unfortunately, didn't fall for this.

Jaipur is known for it's big old-city bazaars, so I was glad to hear my parents wanted to go shopping. I was also glad to introduce them to the game of Indian haggling and all of the moves within the game including, "the vaguely interested looking," "the reluctant price inquiry," "the look of outrage," "the Hindi yelling," "the walk-away," and finally, "the sale." It was through these tactfully placed maneuvers that Phyllis and Geoff acquired a new tapestry and a new pair of shoes both for less than half of the asking price. Well played, parents.We were all a little worn out from shopping and after helping my parents translate and negotiate in several rounds of haggling I was fearing I might be developing a bit of a bitchy reputation among the shopkeepers in the bazaar, so it was time to leave. We returned, in Phyllis and Geoff's first auto-rickshaw ride, to their hotel to eat dinner.

On Tuesday morning my parents paid their visit to Amber Fort (where I went last weekend), and took a ride on an elephant in the pouring rain. I'm sure that will make a treasured memory. When they returned from sight-seeing their plan was to pick me up from class, but since they didn't know what time they would arrive and weren't quite sure how to give directions to the school and we don't have the luxury of cell-phone communication, I wasn't sure whether they would ever find me. Imagine my surprise, then, when I stepped out of a classroom to find them sitting and chatting with some of my classmates. They arrived just in time for lunch.

In the afternoon we visited two more Jaipur tourist attractions: Jantar Mantar, and the City Palace. Jantar Mantar is a strange place. Some time in the 18th century Jai Singh, a maharaja, decided he needed some huge-scale devices built in order to get really really accurate astrological readings. As a result, in the middle of Jaipur some very strange contraptions still sit. The area, Jantar Mantar, looks something like a cubist sculpture garden or an explosion of giant sundials. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day and as our guide explained, "In the cloudy days the sundials take a rest."The City Palace is all very interesting too. Inside there's your typical display of royal weapons, old turbans, decorative ceilings, and mustached maharaja portraits.

After sightseeing, chai again, dinner again, then goodbyes.

This morning my matapita (parents) took off for Udaipur where, I hear, there is now water in the lake. After that they'll go to Mumbai, then back to the USA. I've been trying to remember how I felt back in December 2008 during my first few days in India. I think I was pretty awe-struck and overwhelmed. Judging by that, I'd say Phyllis and Geoff are doing pretty well adjusting to things and getting the hang of Indian travel. If nothing else, I will brag that under my tutelage they are now masters of haggling, rickshaw riding (of the cycle and auto varieties), and chai sipping. I'll teach them the rest on their next trip to India.