In the Blue City

The cities of Rajasthan all have similar names. Luckily, they are color-coded, like the pieces of a Sorry game board, to help novices tell them apart. Jaipur is the Pink City. Jaisalmer is the Golden City. Udaipur is the White City. And Jodhpur—to which Jenna and I alighted after our camel safari in Jaisalmer—is the Blue City.

Standing atop Jodhpur’s imposing Meherangarh Fort, looking out over the city’s old town, it is easy to see why. The squat, chop-a-block buildings of the district are painted a bright robin’s egg blue, as pale as the midday desert sky. Hindu custom centuries ago had it, that Brahmins—the top class in the still-functioning caste system—painted their abodes this color in order to identify themselves. The buildings remain this distinct color, though it is said that now anyone, regardless of their caste, can live in these places.

For Jenna and I, Jodphur was a brief stop on our continuing road through Rajasthan. We were here less than 24 hours, surviving a lugubrious six-hour drive from Jaisalmer with a bit of nausea and a touch of heat stroke. We counteracted our malaise the following morning in our own separate ways: I eagerly proceeded to Jodphur’s Meherengarh Fort; meanwhile, Jenna got a full-body massage.

Jodhpur’s fort was memorable in its own way, though to be frank, the Rajasthani forts were all starting to meld into one image in my memory. It has been like trying to distinguish between all the cathedrals one passes through in England or the duomos in Italy. After a while, despite your most studious efforts, they all start to look the same.

An anecdote, though, set it apart in my mind: when Meherengarh Fort was founded more than 500 years ago, the maharajah had to evict a hermit from the hill on which the fort was to be built (ancient eminent domain, I guess). The hermit cursed the fort, saying it would never have enough water. To counteract this curse, the Hindu priests of the time concluded that a human sacrifice had to be made to consecrate the fort. A brave warrior offered himself for the task and was summarily executed on the fort’s foundation blocks. He was buried underneath the fort, and that warrior’s modern-day relatives still come to the fort to pay homage to their ancestor and pray over the stone that marks his sacrifice.

After touring the fort, I returned to the hotel, where Jenna was happily sprawled out on our bed, having just completed her massage. We would remember Jodphur for our own different reasons.

A ground-level view of the walls of Meherengarh Fort in Jodhpur. I arrived early in the morning, before the sun had reached its ascent and the air was still relatively fresh and cool.

A man demonstrates the relaxing art of smoking the hookah, or water pipe. The hookah was used in olden times to smoke scented tobacco and opium. Again, this was just a demonstration.

The Blue City stretches out below the battlements of Meherengarh Fort in Jodhpur.

A man beginning the arduous process of tying a Rajasthani turban. See how long the fabric is, stretching out to more than twenty feet from his head. Turbans have been fashionable in Rajasthan for centuries, still worn regularly by many men. The bright colors and patterns tell the wearers' caste, religion and even their jobs. Though I am still too ignorant of the complex system to know what they all mean.

A scene from a sun-dappled courtyard on the palace grounds. A water jug sits in the foreground. Meherengarh Fort in Jodphur was one of the most well-preserved forts we have toured in Rajasthan.

A man wearing a Rajasthani turban and playing a flute. Note his well-manicured mustache. Facial hair is still very much an art in Rajasthan.

A colorful room where the maharajah's harem resided within the fort. The stained glass served as a way for the women to observe purdah, or separation from society.