Another cold, early start; a roadside masala tea.
We visited Mahrangarh Fort and museum in Jodhpur. On exiting the fort into the narrow and winding streets of the blue city, we happened on deafening and thumping music emanating from speakers strapped to the back of a pickup truck. Then we saw a young man, garbed in wedding fineries, atop a horse, looking not at all pleased with the circumstances, being prepped for the long ride to claim his bride. After gawking at the slow, jubilant procession, we turned up a narrower and steeper side street, following Umesh. In the few minutes it took for us to catch up with him, he had secured an invitation for us to enter the house of a total stranger to take in this amazing sunset view of the fort. On foot, we navigated through the markets, in search of our favorite Indian snack, Gajak (sesame and jaggery), which, we were told, is “out of season”, by those sweets shop owners who happened to have the peanut kind and not the sesame variety. When we eventually stumbled upon one vendor with the right stuff, Umesh engaged in a spirited session of haggling over 460 rupees of sweets (ultimately, 370). Then on to our evening snack, pyazki kachori (deep fried pastry filled with onion), with yoghurt and mint. That evening, we heard fireworks (wedding) so left our room to watch, and ended up meetings a recently retired Indian physician couple from London and enjoyed a long conversation about their charitable work and travels.
