Hello Lovely People – continuing my series of occasional travel blogs: INDIA 2023, no. III – JAIPUR and THE WEDDING POSTSCRIPT

Blog II was confined purely to Sajni and Gaurav’s amazing wedding – deservedly so – but there are a few moments either side of the wedding that I would like to share, having also recovered from the trauma of processing the photographs* for Blog II

We travelled from Delhi to Jaipur by car, with driver, sharing the journey with Amanda and Stephen, great friends of the groom’s family and new friends, Islington locals, for us. A new highway and an uneventful journey (just under five hours, 226 Ks, including two fuel stops and a restroom stop) re-acquainting ourselves with the usual Indian traffic mayhem of lane creation, mad overtaking, cows, goats and this time even monkeys!

The Leela Palace is new, but built in a traditional, palatial, decorative style – so everything looks amazing but works and is fit for purpose, such luxury

A swim and catch up beer with Amo and Josh (well no beer for Josh, he’s only eight!) and then dressing for an informal dinner, hosted by the bride and groom’s families – as an impromptu pre-event for the 100ish guests at the Leela the night before day one of the wedding celebrations. Our first taste of the exquisite Leela catering and immense hospitality of our hosts. A great fun evening 

The following morning we figured we had time for a quick dash into central Jaipur – me to buy lac (resin) bangles, Andy for a haircut. Well the 18 ks took 45 minutes: bangles purchased, locks un-shorn. I was very happy – the bangles are a Jaipur speciality and watching the thick colourful small sized bangles being heated, hammered and stretched to size is an abiding memory from our 2018 trip and an experience I was ready to repeat – and they were much admired during the celebrations! 

A few words about the Sunderban Lawn: a large, enclosed, grass area to the palace side of the hotel complex, the site for the Sangeet on the evening of day one. When we arrived it was full of detritus from a wedding the previous day. It looked un-inspiringly messy. In less than 24 hours it was transformed into the magnificent, pavilioned setting for Sajni and Guarav’s Sangeet, with dining and seating areas, a full serving kitchen, a covered walkway, a huge stage and lighting rig and fabulous decorations. Just extraordinary. That was then dismantled, taken away and the entire area cleaned and restored to function as a lawn 

The day after the wedding concluded was spent by many of us poolside, reliving the previous days and relaxing. High tea was offered to guests by the hotel on the restored Sunderban Lawn – complete with music, dancing, magic and puppet shows plus, for the more active, badminton and croquet. After that a visit from elephants in full Rajasthani regalia. I know they can be mistreated for tourist purposes but these two seemed pretty content, happy to accept bananas and moving in for a stroke, and they looked magnificent. Supper at a large courtyard table with the groom’s family and several friends – and the celebrations are complete. Definitely memories for a life time

We fly to Hydrabad the next day, but that is for Blog IV. I finish with a sign at Jaipur airport: as Andy said, he packed his bow and arrow and the meat cleaver in his checked bag – obvs.

The road to Jaipur:

Chilling at Leela:

Sunderban Lawn:

Dinner:

Bangle buying:

High tea entertainments and elephants:

Leaving Jaipur:

Until next time, namaste

ALISON

*Not so much the selection or editing but uploading them to the WordPress site. I think my wifi upload speeds in Hyderabad (where I was – see Blog IV in due course!) may have been very compromised! The issue was resolved by substantially reducing the data/file size of every photograph used and then setting Andy to research how I could remove embedded captions which suddenly appeared in those taken on my camera only after the size reduction exercise. Me and technology, especially WordPress technology – grrrrr` 🙈