Across India, people are celebrating Diwali — the festival of light. Here in Jodhpur, the blue city, I gather that this has been translated over the years to mean that six year-old children let off impossibly loud firecrackers in the impossibly narrow streets; giggling in delight as tourists like me run for cover to lessen the risk of losing a much-needed leg. Or arm. The scallywags kept me up all night with their booms and bangs, some of which were so loud that I thought the roof might fall-in on me. In fairness, my fear was somewhat justified as, whilst sat atop the hotel terrace, the staff had to throw buckets of water over the thatch roof to douse the flames of an incoming stray missile. (Sorry, the photo doesn’t really do the story justice as I only got to my camera after the flames had been put out.) I finally got to sleep at about 3am after the biggest of the booms had moved on.

Until 5am the next day, that is, at which point the morning matinée performance fired-up. Knowing I was beaten, I dragged myself out of bed and back up onto the roof terrace to take in the sunrise as it revealed the fort and the blue-wash walls of the city below. I watched monkeys skillfully parkour across the rooftops in search of tidbits left by the previous night’s diners on the city’s haveli terraces. In a way, I’m grateful to the little firework-wielding mites for getting me out of bed to witness this amazing spectacle.

As a true Brit, I waited until the hottest part of the day to embark upon the twenty minute energy-sapping climb to the fort and take in the fine, blue cityscape. I didn’t venture into the museum for two reasons: (1) museums and temples aren’t really my thing and, (2) I discovered that I needed a ticket. (Cheapskate tip: I mistakenly thought that one only had to pay for the audio-tour and entrance to the museum. I later realised that I had walked through the exit gate and got a free gawp at the views from the fort walls; which was all I wanted really.)

Particularly amusing were the disaffected, traditional musicians who refused to play for tourists unless they were paid in advance. I’ll try to upload a video of them here — notice how their hands go up to a off-screen cameraman who tries to take a photo without first putting his hand in his pocket.

Jodhpur photo gallery:

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