In the Footsteps of the Maharajas

Back in Delhi, we picked up Isabell from the airport, who wanted to accompany us through Rajasthan. We spent the rest of the day preparing, i.e. getting her a colorful Indian wardrobe and letting our souls dangle in Lodi Park. The next day, we flew to the blue city of Jodhpur in western Rajasthan. The perfect introduction for Isa to Indian small-town life with chaotic traffic, honking horns, dust, cows, goats, camels, chai stands, and pushy vendors. We instantly felt at home!

We visited the famous Mehrangarh Fort above the city and the palace where the Maharaja now resides, which is also a luxury hotel. The region is known for its spices. We enrolled in a cooking course right in the spice shop (aka the family's apartment). There, we learned to prepare record-breakingly good Biryani (rice dish), Naan, Roti, saffron Lassi (yogurt drink), and the regional specialty Malai Kofta (deep-fried condensed milk balls in a cashew-yogurt curry). Of course, we also learned how to make the ultimate Masala Chai. A rain shower over the stove abruptly ended our cooking class as the kitchen (aka the family's apartment!!!) had no roof. Finally, we watched a Bollywood movie. The Indians were amazed at how we could follow the plot of this film without knowing Hindi?!? It was already difficult.

We took a train to Jaipur, also known as the pink city, where we could admire a fort. With two women on the team, we were a coveted selfie motif for young Indians and all families. In the city, two ladies could easily spend a day shopping. In the evening, we watched the movie Lion, where an Indian child gets lost on a train and ends up in Kolkata. The film touched us deeply, as we were traveling in the middle of the hustle and bustle of an Indian train station.

We continued by train to Agra. Here, the Taj Mahal enchanted us. Once outside, we headed to a terrace to continue admiring it until sunset. Filming for an Indian low-budget film, including singing, was taking place between us and the Taj. In the evening, we watched the Bollywood novelty Badrinath. This definitely made us true Bollywood enthusiasts.

A short and rickety bus ride took us to Mathura, where we wanted to celebrate the Holi festival of colors. In the afternoon, there was a parade with floats. Holi is an incredibly wild festival: colorful powder flies everywhere, which people bring in bags weighing up to 10 kg, and buckets of water are paired with lively dancing. It is traditional to smear colored powder on each other's faces and say '(H)Appy (H)Ollli!' We had bought ourselves a snow-white outfit for this occasion. At first, no one dared, but after a few minutes, we were completely covered in colors. Very few women participate in the parade, so Isa and Andrea were a sensation. There wasn't a guy who didn't smear them with color and then wanted to take selfies.

The next day, the actual Holi took place. We didn't even make it to the corner of the street from the hotel without being painted by "Töfflibuben. Holi took place unashamedly inside the temple in the city, with color and everything. That's where we met the two Mathura locals, Shubham and Hardeep. They showed us the most delicious restaurants (and the bar) in town and taught us the art of eating without utensils. On the last day, we wanted to go to Dauji and celebrate Huranga. During this Holi finale, the temple is flooded with water, which instantly turns colorful due to the colored powder. Then, the women take off the men's shirts and beat them with them. Unfortunately, our tuk-tuk driver fooled us and dropped us off in a village one stop earlier. Because there was also a temple and colorful people there, we did not immediately notice the mistake. Finally arrived in Dauji, the festival was just over, so we only found a monumental and yet beautiful mess. Meanwhile, Andrea and Isa were not so sad. They had gradually had enough physical contact with Indians of all ages.

Back in Delhi, we visited the Red Fort and a beautiful mosque before we had to say goodbye to Isa with a heavy heart. We took the train to Khajuraho to see the "Sex Temples." The temples themselves are already impressive. The erotic scenes on the outer walls are surprisingly raunchy for their age (several centuries old).

Then we returned to Rajasthan once again, this time to the city of Udaipur. The blue lake with its beautiful hotels and bridges immediately reminded us of Lucerne. We stayed in the cozy town for several days, where almost every house has a rooftop restaurant with a view of the lake. Andrea was able to recover from muscle soreness after riding a particularly spirited horse on a horseback tour.

Now we're heading south!