The vendor wanted ten rupees (about 12p) for a gloopy crimson drink in a hastily wiped glass. In a nod to hygiene the sidekick wore a grubby cloth tied round his head, but over his sweat stained shirt a grimy woollen vest was streaked with Jackson Pollock stains. After nine hours of almost uninterrupted walking […]
I was thrilled to learn that my piece on a walk round Jaipur was joint runner-up in the Walkopedia travel writing competition.
We zigged and zagged our way through narrow alleys lined with tall buildings, wandering roughly in the direction of UNESCO-listed Jantar Mantar. Gazing upwards we saw countless skeletons of brightly coloured kites tangled among the spaghetti of cables and wires, which hold all of India’s cities together.
India, as we all know, is like an onion, peel away each layer and you cry a little more at the beauty, horror, splendour and deprivation.