After being surrounded by a motorbike, a rickshaw, a fuming rickshaw driver and three bystanders, we knew It was not a good situation to be in so we got out of there immediately. It was another day in Jaipur, and it was one that we thought would be very chilled out. We planned to take a rickshaw around three sights in Jaipur which we had yet to see- first Nahargarh, then Hawamahal and lastly Albert Hall before returning home, all with the same driver. After bargaining from 100 rupees to 350 rupees for the day trip, we hopped in the rickshaw with a middle aged man who had not very many words of English, well none really! He took us out of town towards Amber Fort and also the place where Nahargarh was, but en route he pulled over only to have a few bystanders translate to us that our driver was confused and that he could not take us up to the ruin as it was very steep uphill and the rickshaw wouldn’t see it through. Angry we told them he had agreed at the beginning and he knew where we were going but still the driver wanted us to somehow get out of the rickshaw in the middle of nowhere and perhaps find our own way up there, we were not sure. After a lot of angry translating, he finally took off again in a huff towards the ruin. It took us quite a while getting up the mountain in the struggling tuk tuk and we had to put up with his presumed bitching bout us to himself, for most of the way. We spent a good two hours in there and It was one of the most amazing things to see in Jaipur, giving you a complete 360 degree birds eye view of the whole city. We then headed out to the angry driver who had then gathered a few more bystanders with words of English, who then translated his confusion once again. Getting absolutely sick of it at this stage we felt like getting out and finding someone else to take us but when he abruptly took off again, we had no chance. We sped down the mountain and back into the city where he not only bypassed our second stop Hawamahal, but angrily refused to turn back and drop us off, shouting ‘No parking, No parking’. We were sick of his attitude and could not wait to get out. He had been asking the translators earlier to tell us to pay him more and when we refused he got angrier, but this time he continued shouting at us in his language and handed us a rickshaw fare list. We had agreed on 350 rupees at the beginning and he was not going to charge us anymore so we thought once we get to Albert Hall, we will pay him his money and get going, but it wasn’t that straight forward. Arriving at Albert Hall, we got out and handed him 350 rupees in the hopes of getting rid of him and is ridiculous attitude, but he had yet rounded up a group of men on a motorbike who he used to translate again. He went ballistic at us and it was obvious he had exaggerated the whole story to make us look like we had done him wrong. With him barely accepting the money from us and continuing to scream at Eliza, she gave him the money one last time and we left for Albert Hall. As we walked on, trying to get away as quickly as possible, the motorbike pulled up, parked in front of our path and the three men got off, while the rickshaw driver and his motor was blocking the other side. I knew this wasn’t going to be a pleasant situation so I tested the waters and tried to escape the ‘circle’ they had somehow made around us, while Eliza argued with the driver. Fair play to her for it, he was a very horrible man who was intimidating both of us while twisting the whole story for his own benefit. The bystanders tried to get us to pay him more money but after more arguing, Eliza escaped the circle and we both left to go to the hall. After a look around the hall, which was great, we then exited by the back entrance and took another rickshaw to the Hawamahal where we caught the last half hour before it was due to close. The day ended with a very unusually normal rickshaw back to our hotel which had calmed the day down a notch, but this was definitely a day we wouldn’t forget. Moral of the story Never ever get on the wrong side of a Rickshaw driver, and In a similar event, don’t take any shit from anyone. Namaste India!
The drama continued well into the evening but this time It was a different kind of drama, the cinematic kind. We had arrived at the Raj Mandir cinema where we planned to see a Bollywood film here. It was recommended by the lonely planet and with a description such as theirs; you couldn’t help but be curious. They described it as being ‘a huge big cream cake style building with a meringue auditorium, somewhere between a temple and disneyland’, ‘THE best place to see a Hindi film in India’. When we passed by it on our first day in Jaipur, It certainly caught our eye. The movie was a standard new release so our only input was the time- 6:50pm for 100 rupees. We were really hungry so we opted to get this ticket and hope to get food inside, and boy did we! Inside for tonnes less than you would pay at home, we got a pizza, a drink, crisps and at intermission even went t=out and purchased a slice of Black Forrest cake which was amazing.
The movie itself, when it began, seemed familiar to me and I had remembered seeing posters for it around India so far. By the hysterics of the audience, we gathered that it was a comedy, but with no subtitles we had to purely base our laughter on facial expressions and actions. It was hilarious and the plot was very easy to follow, very funny at times, very emotional at times and very dramatic at times as to be expected. The cinema audience in India was known to be very involved in the film, sometimes getting up and dancing, or cheering on a character which this audience did- not so much dancing though. The film centred around a boy who grew up to be an Olympic champion which turned out to be ‘based on a true life’. At one part of the movie, the Indian running team went to Melbourne for the Olympics and I was surprised to see a familiar face in Ruby from Home and Away, random or what! One of the funniest scenes was when she took the team to a local country bar and after a few beers he pulled off some crazy Indian/country dancing to the Aussie country band music, to which the whole bar joined in. I am downloading the soundtrack for this for sure It was quite cool how so many tourists were in the cinema and we felt a bit better knowing we weren’t the only one not being able to fully understand it. What an experience, and what a day of drama here in Jaipur!
The drama continued well into the evening but this time It was a different kind of drama, the cinematic kind. We had arrived at the Raj Mandir cinema where we planned to see a Bollywood film here. It was recommended by the lonely planet and with a description such as theirs; you couldn’t help but be curious. They described it as being ‘a huge big cream cake style building with a meringue auditorium, somewhere between a temple and disneyland’, ‘THE best place to see a Hindi film in India’. When we passed by it on our first day in Jaipur, It certainly caught our eye. The movie was a standard new release so our only input was the time- 6:50pm for 100 rupees. We were really hungry so we opted to get this ticket and hope to get food inside, and boy did we! Inside for tonnes less than you would pay at home, we got a pizza, a drink, crisps and at intermission even went t=out and purchased a slice of Black Forrest cake which was amazing.
The movie itself, when it began, seemed familiar to me and I had remembered seeing posters for it around India so far. By the hysterics of the audience, we gathered that it was a comedy, but with no subtitles we had to purely base our laughter on facial expressions and actions. It was hilarious and the plot was very easy to follow, very funny at times, very emotional at times and very dramatic at times as to be expected. The cinema audience in India was known to be very involved in the film, sometimes getting up and dancing, or cheering on a character which this audience did- not so much dancing though. The film centred around a boy who grew up to be an Olympic champion which turned out to be ‘based on a true life’. At one part of the movie, the Indian running team went to Melbourne for the Olympics and I was surprised to see a familiar face in Ruby from Home and Away, random or what! One of the funniest scenes was when she took the team to a local country bar and after a few beers he pulled off some crazy Indian/country dancing to the Aussie country band music, to which the whole bar joined in. I am downloading the soundtrack for this for sure It was quite cool how so many tourists were in the cinema and we felt a bit better knowing we weren’t the only one not being able to fully understand it. What an experience, and what a day of drama here in Jaipur!