asian images adam martin

Udaipur

Palaces, Forts and Horses

Sunrise over Udaipur

I reckon the way to make a lot of money is paranoia. It works. Fear is a powerful persuader and whoever is selling x-ray machines and scanning wands are making a mint flogging them off to airports. People were scanned and frisked, bags were x-rayed three times and folk had to divulge the contents. Liquids are disposed of, water is evil and laptops the tool of the devil. Bags were gutted like ceremonial slaughters, their innards removed and dissected. All but mine, which was by far the dodgiest looking carry on. A black hard case with a big lock, chock full of lenses, leads and devices passed through without more than a cursory glance. But why three x-rays? Because fear has told them that one might not be enough but three is just right. Cunning x-ray machine selling guys.

Men gossip on corners as motorbikes and black and yellow cabs hurtle along the narrow  twisting streets.  This is of course interspersed with the occasional cow as it meanders amongst pedestrians and literally through collections of pashminas hanging outside shops. Tiny donkeys plod along with slung bags of bricks, sad looking creatures being driven forth by women with skin the colour of rich dark chocolate.  “Move your ass!” I said to amuse myself. Things can get untidy when the cows are met headlong by a ragtag mob of goats coming the other way. Monkeys skit along the rooftops, squirrels rocket up trees and dogs of every unknown breed, in a variety of decay, slither along the edges, keeping to the shadows. 

Udaipur, a stack of uneven white dominoes lorded over by the City Palace. A gargantuan edifice arrogantly posturing over Lake Pichal. A maze of haphazard streets that wind their way between the buildings of the old walled city. Streets that that are footpaths, places for social gatherings, rubbish dumps with a supporting cast of rummaging cows and nervous dogs, clogged with Honda Heroes being piloted by guys who look as though they are late for the casting of "tough guy" dressed in black wearing aviators. Vespas that just don't look like they've ever been new driven by older portly gentlemen sporting this years range of "Urban Turban". And scooters slipping through the maelstrom with a sari clad teenager on her way to the office.

Now that's a turban!

Scooters and cattle.

Lovely lady just a bit odd.