Udaipur, India
the Venice of India?
After exploring the temples of Ranakpur, Ijumped on another bus to visit a more well-known city in Rajasthan. Thereare several places in India that are referred to as “the Venice of India”;Udaipur is one of them. There are palaces floating in the water, along withancient, decorated vertical dwellings lined up against one another overlookinga large canal with tiny bridges to cross to either side. Yet one does not losesight of the fact this is not Venice for even a single moment. School childrenreciting mantras at sunrise, women washing their saris in the canals, tight, narrow, dilapidatingalleys full of cows and sadhus and very crowded and dirty conditions remind yourather quickly that you are definitely in India. Muslims and Hindus living sideby side, little Indian temples everywhere you look,colorful, ear-banging weddings with horses and drums and cymbals interruptingtraffic, little scooters and motorcycles and converted bicycles, rickshaws andthe occasional tiny car or truck that is too big for the little road beingshared with donkeys, goats, cows, horses, monkeys, locals and tourists. It isall too easy to get run over if one is not paying careful attention on theroad. And if the wheeled rickshaws don’t get you, countless husslers selling theirgoods will. They will try to sell you anything you can conceive of. It is anendless market of rare books, purses, saris, suits, music instruments, street food, herbs, drugs, it goes on and on. I stayedat one of the many rooftop terrace hotels, with a beautiful view of the waterand colorful clothes drying in the rooftops along with restaurants and waterheaters. There was also something you do not see in the United Statesanymore, kids playing out in the streets all over the place.
Here is a quick look at the streets of Udaipur from sunriseto sunset.
