Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer is my favorite city so far! The city is in and around a fort, which rises up from the desert like a magical sandcastle. The city seems to have become wealthy from the caravans that would come across the desert. The detail work in the sandstone is beautiful even in normal people's homes (which were probably owned by statesmen hundreds of years ago). Jaisalmer is said to have the only living fort in the world--the fort itself is filled with private residences, hotels, and tiny shops. The largest landmark within the fort is the Maharaja's Palace, below.

As I mentioned, the sandstone carving is amazing. The photo below is a detail shot of the Maharaja's Palace, and the shot below is from outside one of the five Jain temples within the fort.

We are privileged to be staying in a hotel right on the fort walls. Below is a picture of it--Hotel Khilla Bhawan. With only nine rooms, it is small and intimate.

We have a beautiful room, balcony, and private bath, but common terraces and lounging rooms abound where guests can enjoy the evening breeze and a fresh-brewed cup of masala chai.

Jaipur Photos

Every city we visit is better than the last! We are in Jaisalmer now, but I'm a little behind on photos, so I'm posting some pics from Jaipur.

The next several pictures are inside Amber Fort, about a 20 minute drive from Jaipur's old city. We hired a tour guide to take us through, and it was worth it just so he could take pictures of us (we usually don't have that many pictures of ourselves). The fort was beautiful, with hand-painted surfaces, carvings, and inset mirrors to reflect the light of candles.

The next three shots are just random pictures I got in Jaipur--a pottery shop, snake charmers, and an elephant. Supposedly, Rajasthan represents the "real" India. Every region of India is different, but it is neat to be thrown back to a desert world of camels, elephants, turbans, and saris.

Agra and Jaipur

Doug and I are taking a week off of work to travel around India. Our first stop, of course, had to be the Taj Mahal in Agra, which we visited yesterday. It is an amazing work of architecture--it is all carved out of white marble, and the parts around the main mausoleum have inlaid stones, as many as sixty-six stones making up a single four-inch flower.

We spent less than one day in Agra and then headed to Jaipur, the former capital of the state of Rajasthan. We're nearing the end of our 24 hours here, but we stayed at a beautiful estate house (Samode haveli), which has been converted into a hotel, in the old city. While we were not fighting traffic or trying to confirm our tickets for our next train leg, we enjoyed touring the City Palace and Amber Fort.

More pictures to come...

Enemies

In Psalm 3, David cries, "How many are my foes! How many rise up against me!" But I've never really felt like I had many enemies, and this Psalm has not been particularly meaningful to me as a result. In a way, I still don't feel like I have many enemies, but in the work that we do, we have many. Those people in power who abuse that power certainly are our enemies. By rescuing victims and working for better enforcement of laws, we weaken their power.

The problems here are so widespread that we can't even count our enemies, but I am sure many of them know us and hate us. We must be wise in what we can take on with our resources; yet, as David says: "I will not fear the tens of drawn up against me on every side.... From the LORD comes deliverance."

Human Dignity

Although some girls are forced into prostitution, other girls choose it. Recently, my roommate and I were discussing why a girl would choose to prostitute herself. Certainly, there are many factors which contribute--how badly she needs money to survive, whether her family puts pressure on her, and whether she holds moral convictions about prostitution. But my roommate ultimately concluded that any girl who prostitutes herself does so because she has never learned the dignity of her own life. I'm still processing whether or not I agree with that statement, but I do believe that slavery, including forced prostittution, is a violation of human dignity.

The morning after the conversation, I read from Psalm 8 and was struck by the value God has placed on human life. Verses 4 to 6 read: "What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet . . . ." I was reminded about the many girls who do not wish to return home because they are "spoiled"--even though they did not voluntarily enter the flesh trade. I pray that the girls and women trapped in prostitution here will come to know their worth, despite the way their fellow humans have tried to take it away.

Religion

Religion is so integrated into everyday life here. It's no secret whether someone is Hindu, Muslim, or Christian, and we have people of all those religions in our neighborhood. The mosque pictured below is just a few minutes walk from where I'm staying now, and you can clearly hear the call to prayer five times a day from my place. It sounds like a man singing right outside my window!

The local mosque.

In addition to the mosque, religious symbols abound. Little displays in front of individual homes may contain a crucifix or a Hindu god. In the mornings, I often see people touching the crucifix below my apartment as they walk by, as if for blessing--but I haven't figured out if they are Christian or if they have just incorporated Jesus into their polytheism.

A crucifix, the stairs leading up to my apartment, and my roommate.

Religion is also reflected in what people eat. Most restaurants around here do not serve beef or pork, so as not to offend Hindus or Muslims, and the menu is almost always divided into vegetarian and non-vegetarian sections.

Water

Water here is rationed, although I'm not sure how the determination is made as to who gets how much. Some of my friends regularly run out of water in the evenings because the whole apartment building shares a supply. In my apartment, at least, we have our own water tank. It gets filled up around 4-5am every morning, and we can use as much of it as we want (we've never run out since I've been here). Although we have a shower head, the water is not pressurized, so my roommate has introduced me to "bucket showers" -- performed by filling a bucket with water and then using a small pitcher to rinse off. At least it's hot enough that I haven't minded the cold "showers" too much.

The water tank above our door to the bathroom. I try not
to think about the fact that our drinking water comes
(through the filter) out of that tank...