Photos

This shot was taken in the streets of Jaipur. Unfortunately I am not quiet sure where. This photo gives a common sense of India in general. Bicycles, cows, people, rikshaws, etc. all in one pot. It is a scanned photo therefore has a bit noise.

Jaipur, the vibrant capital of Rajasthan, is popularly known as the 'pink city' because of the pink-coloured buildings in its old city. It sits on a dry lake bed in a somewhat arid landscape, surrounded by barren hills sur-mounted by forts and crenellated walls. This buzzing metropolis is certainly a place of wild contrasts and a veritable feast for the eyes. Vegetable laden camel carts thread their way through streets jam-packed with cars, rickshaws, bicycles, tempos, motorbikes, and pedestrians frantically dodging the chaotic traffic. Traditionally dressed Rajput men sporting bright turbans and swashbuckling moustaches discuss village politics outside restaurants serving spaghetti Bolognese and American ice cream sodas.

History:

The city owes its name,its foundation and its careful planning to the great warrior and astronomer Maharaja Jai Singh II (1693-1743). His predecessors had enjoyed good relations with the Mughals and Jai Singh was careful to preserve this alliance.

In 1727, with Mughal power on the wane, Jai Singh decided the time was ripe to move down from his somewhat cramped hillside fort at nearby Amber to a new site on the plains. He laid out the city, with its surrounding walls and six rectangular blocks, according to principles of town planning set down in the Shilpa-Shastra, an ancient Hindu treatise on architecture. In 1728, he built the remarkable observatory (Jantar Mantar) which is still one of Jaipur's main attractions.