Jaipur
We landed in Delhi, and again used it as a base for now, to get to our next destination. Jaipur. Our trip to Jaipur was our first experience on the famous Indian trains. Because we paid a little more for the A/C First Class cars we actually had seats, and did not see people hanging off the trains, as we heard about. The trains were not the most comfortable, but definitely fine, and professional. We had a waiter on the train who served everyone a bottle of water, and a light meal, (which we decided to skip to decrease our chances of having to visit the train bathroom). The 6 hour train ride went pretty fast.
We arrived in Jaipur, and immediately greeted by an overly friendly tuk-tuk driver, Ali. During our ride to the hotel Ali showed us a book he had that was filled with reviews from travelers from all over the world. They all raved about how Ali's tour of Jaipur was a magical experience, so when we got to our hotel we arranged to have Ali drive us around Jaipur the next day.
We stayed in one of Jaipur's newest hotels- that just happened to be the Sheraton Four Points- lucky us, and lucky for our Starwood points again! The hotel was also right next to The Big Bazaar. We had seen many "Big Bazaars" and just assumed it was more scarves and souvenirs.... but when we went to check it out- we found out it was like a four floor Target! One level was a department store, another was furniture, another had kitchen supplies, and the floor we spent most of our time in was the food floor. This was the first real supermarket that we had seen in India. All I can remember were the rows and rows of different snack bags all flavored “masala.”
So the next day, Ali picked us up in his Tuk-tuk and we had a great day exploring Jaipur, which is also known as the "Pink City". We visited the famous fort and other historical sites. Went through back alleys and explored the city.
As the sun was setting Ali said he has one more stop that he would like to take us to. He made a quick phone call, then came to back to us and said that his Guru was home, and asked if we would like to meet with him. I was not really sure what a Guru was other than the previews for "The Love Guru". (Did not get a chance to see it). We looked at each other and felt like this was another India experience we could not pass up. I guess as long as we did not eat anything we should be pretty safe. So we agreed to see Ali's Guru, both of us not really sure what was going to happen.
We arrived at a small jewelry shop and were escorted to the back. We met a nice man, neatly combed hair, well dressed in a button down shirt, with a nice welcoming smile. I guess I expected someone in a turban wearing a beaded robe or something. (I know, still working on my cultural competency). I guess he could sense my skepticism right away, and immediately asked to see my hand. I told him that I am not sure how this works, and that I did not want him to start predicting my future or anything like that. Instead, he did something that impressed me even more, he started to tell me things about myself that were already true. He knew my age, how long we were married, my parent's ages.. things like that. It was pretty cool, but it also reminded me of those people at amusement parks that guess your age and give you a prize when they are wrong. He then started to tell me about my Chakras and that I need to open up more. He told me a few things that I need to change about myself, which led him to placing a green emerald in my hand, and insisted I need the emerald to help me open my Chakras. He suggested that I can turn that emerald into a pendant. While I held the emerald, trying to clear my Chakra, he turned to Joey and looked at his hand. He started to tell Joey things about work, and future plans. His knowledge and advice was very helpful, and got us both thinking about our unknown future for after this trip. When he spoke to Joey about his Chakra, he introduced Joey to the stone that he needed to clear his Chakra. So now, after our meeting with the Guru we were left a little confused. We were appreciative of his time, however, I did not feel connected enough to his interpretation to purchase an emerald and a stone. I hated feeling like we were being scammed into buying something. I wanted to believe in the Guru, and wanted his words to be inspirational and meaningful. Although I do sound like I am skeptical, I am thankful for the experience, and feel more open to new possibilities. Was what he said true? Do I need to change things about myself? Was he really reading me, or just trying to get us to buy things? I guess we will never really know from this one experience with a Guru, but I am happy we were open the the opportunity. In the end we did not buy the emerald and the stone, but we did contribute a donation to his orphanage that he told us about. (I am not saying anything else about that- so that I do not come off totally untrusting of people!)
