Day 224: Mandawa
Sigh…Election Day. The day when the world turned topsy-turvy – light became dark and everything we took for granted in the world was blasted into smithereens (Igor thinks I’m being overly dramatic – hope he’s right). Since we were 12hrs ahead of the US, we didn’t really start watching the election coverage until the next day (although a different disaster would strike us by the end of the day).
We started our journey to Rajasthan at 7AM in an attempt to beat the Delhi traffic, and were on the road all morning. We reached our destination – a tiny town called Mandawa in the northern part of the state – in the early afternoon. Long ago, this little settlement was a trading outpost on the Silk Road. Its main draw is the fresco-covered havelis: grand homes built by merchants to show off their wealth. While this area of Rajasthan is known for many beautiful and elaborately designed homes, those of Mandawa are particularly famous because of the murals decorating the outside walls, making the town into an “open art gallery.” After checking in to our hotel (which was a restored haveli!), we met up with our local guide, who led us around the town, visiting a few restored and in-progress buildings over the course of about 2 hours.
Our hotel in Mandawa is in a beautifully restored haveli
The courtyard and bedroom are charming – old wooden doors are repurposed as coffee tables, and the walls are decorated with paintings
The town is *full* of havelis – gorgeous homes built by wealthy merchants in the 19th century (so not that old, compared to most of the buildings we will visit in Rajastan). Sadly, when business dried up in Rajastan, all the families moved to bigger cities like Calcultta and let these beautiful buildings fall into disrepair
While a handful of havelis have been restored and converted into hotels or museums, most are quickly crumbling – the foundations rotting from the monsoon floods and the frecso-covered plaster walls falling away in chunks
We visit one haveli that is currently undergoing renovation (the owner has given permission for the locals to use it as a museum). When we ask how long the restoration work is supposed to take, we are shocked to learn that is only takes about a year! What a shame that so many of these old homes are falling apart, when a little time and care would return them to their former glory!
Elephants are a sign of prosperity in Indian art, so we see a lot of them in the haveli frescos. The one on the right is a popular rendition – Krishna (the blue dude) sits on top of an elephant made up of his many girlfriends
Since the ceilings are better protected from the elements, many of the frescos remain in good condition
Looking out the second-floor windows into the courtyard
The haveli’s master bedroom – painted floors and built-in cabinets!
A bird’s eye view of Mandawa from the haveli rooftop – if you can ignore the powerlines, it’s as if we’ve travelled back in time
The Hotel Royal Rest: not just another restored haveli – apparently this building was originally built as a mausoleum, not a home! A little freaky to think who else is “resting” there – glad we’re staying somewhere else
Admiring the view, and the nudie pics! We find a restored fresco depicting that wily character Krishna – here he has stolen all his girlfriend’s clothes while they are bathing, leaving us with an eyeful of boobies
Mandawa has the least motor traffic of any town we visit in India – it’s so quaint and a little bit magical to see the locals getting by on camel-drawn wagons (and what a pretty camel!)
Water in the desert: throughout the town we see cabinets of earthenware jars – turns out they are full of drinking water that is free for any thirsty traveler to drink. Our guide also takes us to an old well – though it is now dried up, as recently as 10 years ago, this well and others like it were the lifeblood of this Silk Road town. The four large columns surrounding the well were a landmark for travelers, helping them find water during their journey
We pass a collection of puppets for sale as our guide takes us to the local “art school” – which turns out to be just a storefront selling paintings from the students. Disappointed (we thought we would get to see the artists at work), we refuse to buy anything
Our hotel had pretty fast Wifi, so we hung out in our room after dinner, trying to follow the election updates. When it became clear that nothing would really be decided until the next day, Igor fell asleep while Lindsay intermittently continued working on the blog and surfing the web…and that’s when she saw the announcement: with absolutely no warning, at midnight that night, all 500 and 1000 rupee notes would no longer be valid tender.
Lindsay reread the article multiple times, then shakily reached over to Igor’s wallet. We had just arrived the day before, so the currency was still new to us…maybe the 500 note was something obscure? Lindsay’s heart dropped as she pulled out a fistful of 500 notes out of the wallet. We were broke! Turns out tax evasion and counterfeit money is a huge problem in India, and the demonetizing of the two biggest bills were an attempt to reform the country. The government would accept deposits of the old bills until the end of the year and replace them with new 500 and 2000 notes…eventually. As part of the transition, all banks would be CLOSED and all ATMs would be TURNED OFF for the next 2 days. Until then, everyone would just have to get by with whatever cash they happened to have in their pockets.
FUCK.
Neither of these is funny.