The rest of Bundi turns out to be far more pleasant. It’s a relaxed, smallish town in southern Rajasthan. Since it lacks any particularly well preserved monuments, it’s not necessarily on the main circuit and so far been spared some of the inevitable poisoning that comes from mass tourism. Here you’ll find more genuine friendliness and curiosity from random strangers on the street, and far less annoyance from beggars, touts, taxis and over-zealous shopkeepers. Still, like Jodhpur, it has glaring problems with rank open drains which I’m sure harbour all kinds of weird and wonderful diseases. There are power cuts every two hours during the day, and serious water shortage issues. We’ve seen stunning photos of Bundi with its two vast artificial lakes brimming with water. On our visit, cows are grazing on the dry lake bed.
Our guesthouse in Bundi is a proper homestay, with food cooked by amma (mummy) and all other hospitalities catered to by her two girls. We end up eating every meal here for three days, and are introduced to the pet tortoise, parrot and a “very big mouse” named Chikoo. One evening we observe and take notes in the family kitchen, learning to cook a feast of North Indian dishes including cashew curry and cheese and garlic naan. The house is typically Rajasthani, multi-storied and open roofed with all the rooms centred around a courtyard. Instead of a roof there’s a sturdy wire screen which lets in light and cool breezes and most importantly, keeps the monkeys out.
The Bundi Palace which overlooks the town would have once been magnificent. Now it’s still a grand, elaborate example of Rajput architecture, but since the Bundi royal family effectively dissolved around 40 years ago, the palace has been left in a state of disrepair. Looking at the place now it’s hard to believe that when our parents were young, the public halls of the palace might have still played host to lavish parties thrown by the playboy maharajas and their celebrity friends. Half-heartedly restored by private interests, the palace has a forlorn, weathered charm, but the damage done by thieves and vandals to the beautiful wall paintings that once lined the palace galleries is tragic. It’s an altogether different spectacle to the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur which is one of the best preserved historic buildings we’ve seen in India.
After a visit to the huge, maze-like fort above the palace, a browse amongst the vegetable markets and a peek into the dusty maharaj museum, we decide to move on from Bundi. The old part of Bundi seems to be mostly given over to guesthouses and travellers cafés, and they are almost all shut for the off-season. Bundi is definitely one of the nicest towns in Rajasthan for simply strolling around and meeting people – but again – the heat, the heat, the heat.
Obviously though, we were under no allusions that travelling on a backpackers budget in India would be cool, calm and comfortable. Forty five degrees in dry desert heat is tolerable for us, if exhausting. But we had one more test to pass.