Jaipur - the pink city ain't bad
We know that we are getting close to Jaipur when we pass the Amber Fort, which we are scheduled to visit tomorrow morning, and the Jal Mahal or Water Palace which sits in the middle of Man Sagar lake.

Jaipur is the capital and largest city of Rajasthan, founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber. The city really is pink, well, a beautiful dusty pink. There are a number of explanations for this, ranging from the practical, to cut down glare; to the devotional, Jai Singh II's apparent homage to Lord Shiva, whose favourite colour was reputedly terra cotta. Others believe Jai Singh wanted to imitate the colour of the sandstone used in the forts and palaces of the Mughal empire. Another popular explanation is that during the Raj the city was freshly painted and paved with pink gravel to welcome Edward VII when he visited in 1876. Since that time residents are required to maintain and paint their buildings using this colour.

Entering the city one thing that is striking, compared to other old Indian cities, is both the width and regularity of the roads and streets. In this respect Jaipur was considered a model of town planning - the first planned city in India which is based on Hindu systems of town planning which draws on principles set out in the Shilpa-shastra, of dividing sites into grids or mandalas.

The central axis of the city runs from East to West between the Suraj pol or Sun Gate and the Chandpol or Moon Gate. This is intersected at right angles by two roads dividing the city into nine almost equal sized mandalas. The hills prevented the completion of the north west mandala and so an extra mandala was added in the south east. Following the principles of the Shilpa-shastra the widths of the street were fixed: the main streets of the city were 111ft. wide, secondary streets 55ft. wide and the lanes 27ft. wide.




Golden Tulip - Hotel with a view
We check into our hotel. It's good to relax after our road trip.











After unpacking I head for the rooftop observation deck and the kids join me for a relaxing swim in the pool. The hotel rooftop affords a 360 degree view of Jaipur. The hills enclose the city like a horse shoe and from this height it's easier to see how the city has been laid out in grids. Looking below we can see that life goes on with people buying fruit and vegetables from
the roadside stalls.



Swimming pool
The rooftop observation deck is empty, as is the swimming pool, which we have all to ourselves. It's like being a millionaire with a private penthouse.














Who wants to be a millionaire?

As if by serendipity, after an early dinner we check out what is on local TV and are pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face. Since retiring as the Director of Aimhigher Hampshire & Isle of Wight, Tony Acland has taken over the role of stunt double for the famous Indian film actor - the "angry young man" of Bollywood and TV personality - Amitabh Bachchan!

They can be seen (apparently they take in turns, just to be mischievous) hosting the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? which is called Kaun Banega Crorepati (Who will become a Millionaire?; more popularly known as KBC.