Jojawar & Rawla, India

General Info	My Route	Delhi	Jaisalmer	Sam Sand Dunes
Jodhpur	Udaipur	Jojawar	Pushkar	Jaipur
Agra/Taj Mahal	Varanasi	Sarnath	Kolkata	More Photos


Jojawar Bus Station

We took the bus to Jojawar (a small town north) from Udaipur. On the way we passed an accident between a motorcycle and a bus. There was tons of blood and the man looked dead but they were loading him into a tuktuk to take him to the hospital. How sad! I hoped he was going to be alright but I don't think he made it! I'm actually surprised that we didn't see more accidents - with all the cows, tuktuks, motorcyles, bikes, cars, buses, and camels that have to share the road. The bus ride was relaxing, listening to my ipod and watch rural Rajasthan go by.

About 4 hours later, we arrived in Jojawar and took jeeps 45 minutes to a small village named Rawla. We checked into a posh resort named Hotel Rawla Jojawar, - located in the Aravallis hills and still managed by descendants of the royal family. The hotel began as a fort in the 18th century, and remains a noble family’s heirloom. It was beautiful with AC, a swimming pool, marble floors, and a whopping $48 per night (about 10 times what I had been paying for a room!). It was the only posh place I would stay in, so I enjoyed it thoroughly. The hotel offered tons of activities (trips to villages, train rides, safari park tours, horseback rides) but I just relaxed, chilled by the pool, and drank beer.

In Rawla, we ran into the annual Shiva Worshipping Festival. There were a couple of hundred villagers sitting around on the stage area, in trees, and on the roofs. They led us to the front row and made us sit but warned us if we had weak heart that we should sit on the roof. Uh ok. There were about 20 'actors' who were costumed and had makeup and nail polish on (all men). They were followers of Shiva trying to get villagers to follow as well - Iguess like Indian missionaries. They were chanting and acting out scenes.

When the men with swords and knives came to 'kill' the serpeant - I was thinking "Just my luck! Tourist killed accidentally by rusty sword as Shiva followers looked on." The blades were flinging about REALLY close, so much so that some of the 'actors' came over and stepped in front of us to protect us.

Then random men from the crowd became possessed and started having seizures and being drug to the front. It was kind of like going to church with Lloyd. hahahhaha! We caught the last hour of the festival - quite an experience - and then walked around the village. We talked for a while with a shop owner who told us about Shiva and the scenes that we had just seen. It was really interesting!

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