NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Travel

India: Tickled pink in Jaipur

Audrey Young
By Audrey Young
Senior Political Correspondent·NZ Herald·
8 Jul, 2010 12:00 AM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Rajasthan capital Jaipur is known as the Pink City, which makes it sound a bit prettier than it actually is.

It looked more reddy-brown or Mexican red than the ruby pink I had imagined.

Its streets are not as spruce as they must have been in 1876 when the city
literally painted itself pink to honour the visit of the then Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, son of Queen Victoria.

But they are alive with other colours. Simple enterprises like portable fruit trolleys, displays of opened umbrellas, cabinets of bangles, walls of fabric, women in saris on trucks or bikes, are part of everyday life in Jaipur and India, but so arresting for the visitor.

The city is growing fast but the past hangs on stubbornly. Camel-drawn drays compete for road-space with the big Tata cartage trucks, commuter buses and tuk-tuks.

It was 25 years after the Prince of Wales' visit to Jaipur that he finally took the British throne in 1901, acquiring the title of Emperor of India.

And it would be 46 years after that before the British Raj ended under the last Viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, and India gained its independence.

Actress Cate Blanchett has signed up to star as Lady Edwina Mountbatten in the film Indian Summer, about her close relationship with India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Jaipur's pinkishness is, shall we say, maintained today as a point of difference for the city, and is a quirky link to the days of the British Raj.

The prettiest building by far is the Hawa Mahal or Palace of Winds built in 1799 for the "ladies of the royal household" which means a mixture of wives and concubines.

Architecturally, it is probably the closest thing they have to our own Beehive. It is a honey-combed five-storeyed facade behind which the ladies were able to watch the goings-on on the street without been seen themselves. The building has 70 balconies.

The present maharaja, Bhawani Singh, has a palace in the centre of the city which is partially open to tourists. The flag still flies when he is in residence even though he has no powers and princely titles are no longer recognised. Instead he is a businessman as well as a maharaja, having converted one of his palaces to a hotel.

The most impressive display at the city palace is a former residential apartment that has been converted to an armory museum.

It holds an amazing array of daggers and other weapons of death. Think of a horseshoe with an inside edge as sharp as a razor, mounted on a poker for maximum thrust against the neck of any enemy.

The present maharaja's father, Sawai Man Singh II, was by all accounts extremely popular.

He died while umpiring a polo match in England in 1970 and some of his polo gear is on display in the former guest house of the palace.

The maharaja had three wives - the last of them, a celebrated beauty of India photographed by Cecil Beaton, died in July this year at the age of 90 - another link to the era of the maharajas now gone.

Known as the Maharani Gayatri Devi, she stood for Parliament in 1962 and won three elections.

But she and her stepson, the present maharaja, were imprisoned for five months under Indira Gandhi's state of emergency in the mid-70s.

She helped to entertain JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip when they visited Jaipur.

In a famous photo, the royal couples posed with each other and their kill following a successful tiger shoot.

Tigers no longer roam the area but elephants do. And one of the must-dos in Jaipur is a visit to the nearby Amber Fort for a 15-minute elephant ride up the hill to the fort.

Never mind if the small Japanese ladies on their elephant overtake the milk-fed Kiwi sheilas, it's still a lot of fun.

The hawkers and photographers there are so persistent that the best way to treat them is as part of the tourist experience.

"My name is John. Remember me," one photographer commanded repeatedly from his perch on a rock, hoping that when we returned to base we might haggle with him over his pictures.

Tourists might feel some concern as to how the elephants are treated, but an enterprising member of our party went and checked out where the elephants go at night and was reassured by what he saw.

The fort itself is palatial in parts and neglected in others.

Our guide, Pushpendra Singh Ratlam, is a recognised stained glass expert and had restored some of the windows voluntarily.

A guide is essential in place like this to translate what you are seeing into life as it was under the old rulers.

Jaipur is famous for its gemstones and its astrology and palmistry, so it seemed not too bizarre that one of the high street jewellers known to our driver read palms - for free - in the back of his shop.

He said he was self-taught and that became obvious. He told me I was "almost satisfied", a "spiritual" woman and a "perfectionist" (wrong, wrong and wrong).

He also warned of potential ill-health in the next few years. But luckily he had a cure.

The best way to avoid ill-health, it seems, is to wear a two-carat ruby set in silver.

Elsewhere it might sound absurd. But in the Pink City it seemed entirely appropriate.

CHECKLIST

Getting there: Cathay Pacific has same-day connections from Auckland, via Hong Kong, to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.

Touring in India: Adventure World organises individualised tours with your own driver, including the six-day Golden Triangle tour covering Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Phone 0800 238 368.

History: Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan, which became an independent state in 1949 soon after independence from Britain. It was formed by the merger of the princely states of Jaipur, Bikaner, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer.

Further information: See incredibleindia.org.

Audrey Young visited India as guest of Cathay Pacific and Adventure World.

Discover more

Travel

Kerala: Floating about in a state of grace

11 Aug 05:00 PM
Travel

India: Kochi of many colours

08 Apr 02:43 AM
Travel

Delhi: City of conquests

17 Jan 03:00 PM
Travel

India: Finding romance in Rajasthan

09 Jul 12:00 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Travel

Travel

The top five treats to taste on your Disneyland holiday

Travel

Why spending a night at the Rydges Gold Coast is a big mistake

Travel

My search for whales on Australia's Sunshine Coast


Sponsored

Your Fiordland experience, levelled up

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Travel

The top five treats to taste on your Disneyland holiday
Travel

The top five treats to taste on your Disneyland holiday

From blue milk to blue tongues, Disney treats never fail to surprise.

16 Jul 03:29 AM
Why spending a night at the Rydges Gold Coast is a big mistake
Travel

Why spending a night at the Rydges Gold Coast is a big mistake

16 Jul 12:53 AM
My search for whales on Australia's Sunshine Coast
Travel

My search for whales on Australia's Sunshine Coast

15 Jul 06:00 AM


Your Fiordland experience, levelled up
Sponsored

Your Fiordland experience, levelled up

25 May 12:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP