Day 12: Udaipur

Trip Start Sep 21, 2006
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13
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Trip End Jun 01, 2007


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Tuesday, October 3, 2006

I head north at a gentle pace towards Fateh Sagar, a second smaller lake. Over the bridge is much wealth, mansions, palatial hotels, tidy gardens and blossoming yellow and flame trees, yet it's not hard to find poverty. A boy roots around in a dumpster, a man in a blackened shirt sits idly on the pavement, a couple sift through the trash by the lake, burning some that would otherwise block the stream between the lakes.
Partway round the lake I come across a park, Moti Magri (Pear Hill). Away from the ornamental gardens and statues of great Mewar heroes are winding tracks past brilliant blossoms and carpets of aloes. Bulbuls chirrup. I spy a kingfisher, tiny nectar-sipping sunbirds and richly coloured butterflies dancing in the air. I am concerned about the possibility of cobras crossing the sheltered paths, however, it's a wonderful retreat from the touts and the traffic.
This afternoon I'm booked in for a sitar lesson with Mr Krishna. He struggles to remain concentrated at the best of times. He chooses to share my lesson with an eight-year-old tabla student, so it's not much of an intensive class. He lays the sitar before and says, very slowly, "The sitar... it is a very beautiful instrument. It's another 10 minutes before I'm allowed to touch it. I get as far as mimicking 'Satisfaction' before he's trying to convince me to export one of his instruments. I decline. My foot is going numb from the yoga position.
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