I had a blast in Jaipur, as I did lot of shopping (for the first time) and explored the miracles of the city. One of my guide on a sightseeing trip told me about the history of the city. Jaipur is named after its founder the warrior and astronomer King Sawai Jai Singh II. The decision to move out of his hilltop capital Amer was also compelled by reasons of growing population and paucity of water. Moreover in the early seventeenth century the power of the Mughals was dwindling with its aging monarch Aurangzeb and after several centuries of invasions the north was now quite and the wealth of the kingdom had become greater than before.

Another factor that I came to know was that it is called the Pink City, on account of its soft red sandstone buildings and more poetically ascribed the ssobriquetof the city in the tone of an autumn sunset, colors a changing canvas. The city offered many exotic monuments to watch- Hawa Mahal, Amber fort, City Palace and many other things.

Jaipur is the enthralling capital of Rajasthan, a place renouned for its crafts, shopping and festivals. Unknown to me, I've arrived on the weekend of 2 major Rajistan festivals; the elephant festival followed by the 'Holi' festival the next day. Holi is exuberant Hindu festival where people celebrate the end of winter by throwing ccoloredwater and powder over each other. I take a Rickshawand whiz through the markets to the stadium for the start of the Elephant festival, there are locals everywhere waving and saying hello which puts in a great frame of mind. The festival turns out to be one of the funniest and ridiculous Indian days I've ever attended; the day involves a procession of events including elephant polo, cheesy Indian Singers in shell suits, dancers, vvariousother low budget entertainment with the final being the Elephant tug of war.