Temples and palaces and tailor-made

Friday March 21 

Uma, guide extraordinaire, arrived with Yashpal, hereafter known as Yash, at 8 am early to beat the heat of the day (we didn't). Uma said he was named for the Uma  in the Kill Bill film.

Jagdish Temple and lesson from Uma on Hindu religion and the holy trinity: G - Vishnu the generator (Father); O - Ganesh the operator (Jesus); D - Shiva the destroyer (Ghost). Uma is bright and makes it up as he goes; he lives his religion daily, a praxis.

mice scurry for bits of prayer offerings made at temples

City Palace Museum: huge and the royal family lives in one BIG end with the rest a museum and extremely pricey hotel. Maybe we should consider the same for the White House and help out our national debt. City palace below top of photo, can't see the part where the royals reside.

Lunch at Aroma - our standby of veg fried rice; good toilet which is a yardstick for satisfaction;

break for 2 hours til 5

The gallery shop displays art work from families whose paintings, silver and wood work, and marble carvings live on in the city palace. This huge palace was a work in progress for several generations, and the original maharani provided housing for his artists in perpetuity. 

I bought a small painting. Natural dyes only, the artists use miniature brushes consisting of one hair from a squirrel's tail, and the slightly bigger ones are made from camel eyelashes. Seriously.

Speeding up 'cause I want to to get to the present, here in Ranthambore National Park.

Later, I can talk about the dinner at Ambrai above the ghat steps on the lake, 2 sitar musicians providing even more ambience; and the next day Saturday and our 11 am boat ride on the lake to the royal summer palace and back to the textile shop which we had visited the day before where Dennis yielded (to me) and allowed the tailor/owner to custom make a vest so he can be presentable at a party back in Delhi with Bonnie and Tony's friends. (sorry very long sentence) 

It followed that he did not have a proper shirt to wear under this silk/cashmere beauty so the tailor pulled out his tape measure and delivered a proper shirt to our haveli three hours later. Dennis drew a line in the sand when I mentioned pants.