For our trip to Udaipur, we took a private car and toured some of the country side to visit local craftsmen, a small village and opium ceremony, and an amazingly ornate Jain Temple. Our first stop was at a potter's home/workshop. He demonstrated his skills at a pottery wheel where he whipped out several vases, banks and pots in a matter of minutes. It was quite impressive to watch, especially when I had some experience making less impressive products on a much nicer wheel. His wheel was a large stone that was balanced on a greased point so it could spin a few inches above the ground. To build up speed and momentum on the wheel to work, he hand cranked the wheel with a stick he inserted in a small divot on the outer edge of the wheel. This meant that each time he got the wheel spinning, or gave it an additional boast of speed, the whole thing would wobble in a slightly new rhythm, so he had to complete a piece before spinning it again... hard to explain but amazing to watch.
Next, we headed for the small village of round thatch roof homes where we participated in an opium ceremony. The ceremonies are common in the small villages as a social/religious ritual and the opium is ground, filtered into water, and drank from the palm. Usually, a guest drinks from his host hand and vice-versa. It was interesting to watch and several members of the group took part but did not notice any affects from the opium. However, the opium is said to be good for the digestive system and in that respect it appeared it may have worked, but I'll discuss this in the next blog.
From the village we travelled to a rug factory where I tried my hand weaving on a hand loom, along with my roommate, and then looked at some amazing final products. Our final stop was the Jain Temple, set in India's longest mountain range, that starts in Delhi at the steps of the President's Estate. The temple was an amazing display of marble sculpture work with at least 4 domes similar to the one pictured, and hundreds of ornate columns and Buddha like sculptors of Jain's prophets known as Jinas or Tirthankaras, as well as elephants, goddesses and other scenes and designs. The entire temple must have taken thousands of artisans years to complete, and is so filled with amazing details that you feel overwhelmed as you enter and try to soak it all in as a whole down to the minute details of each pillar and dome.
The rest of the trip was a high speed trek through the mountains narrowly missing suicidal cattle, monkeys and fellow vehicles on the curvy roads to Udaipur, 'the most romantic city in India.'
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