Diwali and torn tendons

Monday night of last week, I was happily sauntering out of school and stepping into my driver's car when my ankle rolled on uneven pavement and tore my tendon from the bone. One friend bound my foot as it was ballooning with a silk scarf out of her bag and another called our school nurse, who directed us to go to a hospital that, in heavy traffic, was 40 minutes away. We arrived and my neighbor and friend went in with me as they wheeled me to the emergency triage doctor while Sapan waited outside. Three hours, five X-rays and the equivalent of $60 US, I was headed home where I have spent the last week largely sitting up in bed to keep my foot elevated. On Friday, a man came to my apartment to fit me with an air cast that is made in the US and it cost two and a half times what all the other doctor expenses were. Good thing I had planned a quiet Diwali at home.

Diwali, the festival of lights, marks the return of the legendary Hindu ruler Rama from 14 years of exile following an epic battle to reclaim his wife, Sita. Rama, the avatar of Vishnu, is the subject of an Indian epic beyond the bounds of the Iliad or Aeneid in its size and scope. The holiday is celebrated like Christmas in the US with lights strung along buildings and festivals. Booths are open and brightly lit late into the evening so that everyone can buy the sweets that are customary to share. One of my favorite markets had a column three feet high and as wide and 12 feet long yesterday of boxes of candies and nuts. The fruit vendors stalls are brilliant with oranges, pomegranates and fruits I cannot name. I will post more pictures in this week leading up to the holiday,  on Sunday, November 3. Firecrackers are already exploding and we are stringing lights and putting up candle pots to ward off evil in the hopes that the goddess Lakshmi will honor us with her presence.

I plan to sit out on my terrace and watch the festivities with a nice glass of wine.

Lights outside my terrace.

Udaipur

Udaipur has been called the Venice of India, due to its watery landscape and ancient white buildings. While there are no canals, we did see a gondola last weekend as we cruised around Lake Pichola in a tourist boat. The lake also washes at the foundations of the old buildings that line the shore and the Lake Palace Hotel, which occupies a full little island out in the middle of the lake.

We stayed at the beautiful Jagat Niwas, which was so graciously designed and decorated that every time we talked about going out, I thought twice. There was this beautiful window seat begging me to just sit quietly and read a good book. Spacious enough to hold five people, it was appointed with a bounty of cushions and had pigeons that liked to huddle right outside our windows. A small table was perched on the seat cushion where we could sit tea or our evening cocktail. It would have been cheaper if I had sat tight, but the silver shop and kashmir shop and the little alleys full of gold and spangly textiles awaited me. As well as temples, a fort and monkeys, so many monkeys.

 I asked my friend to take this picture so that I would remember

sitting here and eating breakfast in the fresh morning breeze.

This window seat, in the restaurant at the top of our hotel, was open.

The Lake Palace hotel is visible outside the window.

 This is a window looking out of the courtyard of a second island that

sits in the middle of Lake Pichola.

 One of many turrets that distinguish the landscape of Udaipur.

 Elephant sculptures are everywhere.

 Udaipur pavilions.

 A cow alongside the road, decorated for Dusshera.

 The window seat of the room I shared with a friend.

 The central courtyard of our hotel.

 The Jagdish Hindu Temple in Udaipur.We actually

went in this 17th Century temple and walked around its 

center, viewing the gods who were adorned for 

the Dusshera holiday. Inside the temple is a shrine to Vishnu, the supreme god of Hindus.

The ornate carvings on the temple signify the ascent of karma, from demons 

at the bottom to the gods at the top.

 A common view all over India. Women in bright saris

carrying, working, reaping.

 Kumbhalgarh Fort Palace, seen from a knoll before

our driver took us in.

 Inside the walls of the fort, looking out. The walls

embrace a village and 17 specific temples, some of which 

have the form of later temples and some of which look like

they could be at the Acropolis.

 The Central turret of Kumbhalgarh. The tower to the right is where

Maharana Pratap was born,son of the founder of Udaipur. This fort fought

off many invasions. Built in the 15th Century, it is protected, along with its village, 

by a still-sturdy wall that encompasses 32 square miles, a refuge for Mewarian rulers.

 It was only taken once, and then for only two days.

 Hunting pictures, and pictures of elephants actually painted on the walls, adorn

Kumbhalgarh and the City Palace built in Udaipur by Pratap.

 The lush (in October) hills of Rajasthan, from the fort's battlements.

 The characteristically scalloped doors of Indian architecture.

The monkeys of Ranakpur animal sanctuary, in the hills between Kumbhalgarh

and the Jain Temple in Ranakpur, dedicated in 1496. I couldn't take pictures

inside the temple because my camera was in my phone. But the temple is supported by 1444

marble pillars, each carved with different designs and stories.