Monkeys, Crystal and Art

What do these 3 things have in common you may ask?  In Udaipur they are within 100 feet each other!

India is a country that, with over a billion people, is attempting the art of living in harmony with what I would consider "Wild" animals without caging them.  In fact, many of these "wild" animals become a routine ingredient in India's fabric of life.  While walking the streets of India one must constantly be on the lookout for camels/cows/monkeys/elephants etc.  On the sidewalk awaiting our van, numerous Languor (black faced) Monkey's casually scurried just feets away from us.

We were in awe watching primate babies balancing on fences, eating leaves, snuggling with their mom's and entertaining us with their playfulness.  Savitri wanted Ajeet to feed the monkeys some berries.   When he refused Jaya quickly jumped at the opportunity....but unfortunately/fortunately we stopped her for fear of some rabid monkey attack!


We had a brief walk through the Crystal Gallery, one of four interconnecting palaces inside of the City Palace in Udaipur.  This gallery had an eclectic collection of Crystal Object d'art and furniture including a complete crystal bedroom set, discovered recently in a store room in the palace.  Now you can understand with 3 kids why the visit was kept brief!  There are no photos of this gallery as we were all trying desperately to keep our children from smashing the priceless crystal.

We had a cruise on Lake Pichola stopping at a 17th century Water Palace that was refuge for Prince Shah Jahan (later to be the one who develops the Taj Mahal), when he was exiled by his father.  His palace here is a curiosity - the upper floor designed in the Hindu style while the lower floor is built Muslim style.

Local's launduring their clothes as we drive ride by them...it does not go unnotivced to any of us how lucky we are.  We are having some very interesting discussions regarding the balance of wealth here and how we contribute to the problem but want desprately to help with a solution.

Next stop, an art gallery for a brief sampling of the magnificently detailed paintings.  And of course by the end of the the presentation the girls were invited to join the artists and create their own works of art!

At the gallery we  bargained for out first souviner. A painting titled Maharana Swarup Singh Ji: Watching an elephant fight at the Chaugan.  The original is in the city palace which we saw the next day.

Hotel Fateh Garh is perched on a hilltop overlooking Udaipur and its many lakes.  Hotel Fateh Garh is heritage hotel is derived from the Urdu word for victory 'Fateh', and the Sanskrit word 'Garh' for fortress.  The view is stunning and the place is beautiful yet, after our Lake Palace experince/high not fully appreciated.

Shannon, Ajeet, Jaya & Savitri