Hakuna Matata

Our final full day in Jaipur today and despite some illness, this city and its people have served us very well over the past couple of days. So much so that Zac Morrow has decided he wants to become a camel driver when he leaves school just so he can come back to the desert state of Rajasthan. Whatever floats your boat mate, but university is also not a bad idea…

 

 

With no other questionable career choices to report, I'll get into things but not before a quick PSA: in preparation for Christmas Day, please note that the boys will be ringing their respective families at some time between 6-8pm (NZ time) on the 25th. If you haven't done so already please email your sons on their personal Indian email addresses with the NZ number/s you can be contacted on at that time of the day.

 

 

Thank you! Now here's the download:

 

 

Sunday 23 December

 

Sickness Update – Cam MacFarlane and Leo Smith are back to their chirpy selves and have resumed full duties but unfortunately have been substituted for a few others overnight: Lachie Dickson, Will Pretty, Miller Haweskby, and Aaron Wyllie have all been suffering today. In addition, Richard Boswell is a latecomer to the infirmary tonight. Jaipur strikes again… With electrolytes being smashed by the bucket load, we hope we can get all the boys right by tomorrow for our train to Mumbai.

 

5.15am – Most of us were woken by the Muslim call to prayer. I feel like this thing is now my alarm ringtone. Can someone please write to India and tell them these early wakeups have to stop!?

 

8.30am – We're all about rhythm here so for the sake of consistency, Reuben went around the rooms chanting the Muslim call to prayer. Unfortunately, Reuben has no rhythm whatsoever so all authenticity was lost but luckily the boys did wake up.

 

9am – In anticipation of the Atithi Guest House staff being in no rush to make our breakfast, we ordered food and sat down for debrief (postponed from last night). The topic was the poem "The Invitation" by Oriah (I'll put the poem up in a separate post), an old India Immersion Programme favourite which past tour participants may recognise as "I Want To Know". The challenge posed was to select a stanza of the poem which resonated with some part of our past, present, or future and the boys met the challenge head on with great honesty and depth.

 

10am – Breakfast was served – in record time for Atithi! We all chowed down on pancakes, scrambled eggs special (one can only understand how special these are upon tasting), and muesli ahead of a big day.

 

11.30am – Our rickshaw drivers from the day before were waiting for us outside the hotel. This group of tuk-tukers are just as likely to be Professors of Philosophy as they are leaders of the Rajasthani mafia, spitting one-liners all day such as: "Hakuna Matata; no worries, no sorry" and "No money, no honey". We headed out with a cry from leader, Shakir, "Let's go brothers!" to explore Jaipur and learn the secrets of life from our new mates. Our journey took us past elephants and camels and the boys were hard-pressed to capture these beasts on camera before their tuk-tuk sped past, the drivers explaining, "Life is short, that's why I drive fast!"

 

12.10pm – We arrived at Amber Fort, a former town for the Hindu royalty of Jaipur. The fort contains palaces belonging to multiple Hindu rajas and an awesome lookout over the desert plains below it. It was here that Cam MacFarlane brought Experts in the Field back with style and delivered a superb presentation on Jaipur. The boys had an hour and a half to explore the 4 square kilometre fort, including a self-dubbed "secret tunnel brigade", led by Ollie Schnauer, which sought to find all the hidden passages in the fort. I just hope Ollie can find the passage to the girl's heart he hasn't stopped talking about since we landed in the country.

 

1.45pm – Exploration complete and Josh Roberts exclaiming, "That would be an epic place to play paintball", we trekked back down the hill, indulging in ice-creams, an Indian take on ginger crunch, and enormous chilli-powdered Indian rice crackers before meeting our tuk-tuk drivers again.

 

2pm – We swung past Jaipur's Water Palace (Jal Mahal). The Water Palace is in the middle of a lake and is 4/5 underwater when the lake is full.  Unfortunately, the Palace isn't open to tourists so I can't tell you how this is possible but we stopped for a quick photo nonetheless.

 

3pm – The Jal Mahal restaurant (not underwater unfortunately) played host to us for lunch, offering up a traditional Indian meal called thali. The thali consisted of 3 curries – daal tadka, paneer butter masala, and gulab jamun – served on a tin plate with rice and chapatti and it was bloody tasty. So much so that we had to order double.

 

4pm – After lunch, we briefly stopped by a leather emporium where Mr Jordan was the only one to buy something – a pair of jandals for the beach in Goa – probably because he felt bad for Shakir who was sure to be earning a commission from the place.

 

4.45pm – We arrived at Monkey Temple (actually the Sun Temple, but called the Monkey Temple due to the existence of hundreds of monkeys littered along the cobbled path leading to the summit of the hill where the temple stands). We were offered monkey food by the locals but the thought of potentially rabid monkeys eating out of our hands did not appeal to most, especially after one monkey lunged at Ryan Donovan when it took great offence to him getting right up in its grill with his GoPro… At the top of the hill, we soaked up a stunning sunset over Jaipur, and took note of how nice it was to be surveying the chaos from afar, rather than being in it for once.

 

6pm – Shakir and his boys took us back to the hotel to grab some warmer clothes (despite getting up to 23 °C today it gets cold here at night!)

 

7pm – After the quick stop, we pulled into Fair Deal Textiles (doesn't a name like that bring a sense of comfort to your ears), a venue which played host to the boys indulging in tailor-made shirts and yet more Ali Babas but, more importantly, it was our venue for dinner and a fantastic George Skinner presentation on New Zealand-India relations. Now, dinner was quite the ordeal so please bear with me as I recount: Last night, Shakir promised us we would "make party" with him and his friends tonight, cooking skewers of spiced meat and vegetables together over a large open fire at one of their houses. Sounded epic to us. Tonight, however, Shakir obviously realised he didn't have an open fire, wasn't into vegetables, and didn't know how to cook. And so, what transpired tonight was us being treated to a huge chicken curry and chapattis cooked by 2 of Shakir's mates over hot coals (indoors…) on the floor of Shakir's other mate's textiles shop – the man obviously has a few favours owing now. While some staff of little faith agonised over whether the meal would be safe to eat during the 3 hours it took to put together, the food was actually delicious and, served on pages of the India Times, made for a very humble and authentic dinner. Mr Jordan sends his apologies, Shakir.

 

11pm – With full bellies – for now, at least – we headed back to the hotel and into bed, debrief postponed again tonight after many boys were falling asleep in piles of silk at the textiles emporium.

 

Thought ­– As we stood at Monkey Temple tonight, the Jaipur sun descended into the thick smog above the cityscape, some distance above the horizon. I may be a pessimist but I couldn't help but think that the beauty of the experience was tarnished at the realisation of just how much damage we are doing to our planet. In debrief the other night, speaking of their hopes for the future, many of the boys talked about how India had given them an appreciation for the natural environment and they hoped it could be preserved and maintained for years to come. It is my hope, as well, that the world's leaders – political and corporate – can demonstrate the same maturity and responsibility as our boys and begin to take action on a problem that is rapidly becoming insurmountable.

 

MVP – Roni Chapman. Now, many of you are probably asking: "what could Roni Chapman possibly have done to deserve MVP?" and it is a valid question since (a) it's Roni, and (b) the answer is "nothing, yet". Cryptic, I know, but all our hopes rest on the young man tonight as Roni – always a man to dive right into Indian culture – was appointed sous chef of our chicken curry dinner tonight. Dressed in his 'traditional' Rajasthani shirt and Ali Baba pants, I thought it only right to place responsibility for the entire group's health in Roni's capable hands, making him watch over the entire cooking process to ensure we would be safe. I'm not confident because I'm not sure Roni has ever cooked a day in his life but if, by some miracle, we all survive the night, Roni will have not only learned how to make a mean chicken curry but he will also have earned the title of MVP.

 

Tom​