Forget the rush hour in favour of sinuous Odissan dancing, pungi and bansuri music, more exquisite embroidered pashminas than you can conjure deserving shoulders for, a confetti of polychrome kites in a wide blue sky (this being the kite season), neon-lit streets patrolled by painted and caparisoned elephants bearing apprehensive bridegrooms (wedding season too), dusty museums whose walls vibrate with brilliant miniatures of amorous princes, palaces where the interiors glitter with mirror inlay and whose faded murals document the quotidian sex, picnics and warfare of maharajas.
The Jaipur Festival is unlike anything I have ever encountered before - the vast wealth and variety of Indian culture, craft and kitsch is laid before the visitor in a casually magnificent display. For the newcomer to India every foray to fort or temple is an adventure in fascination and, for those familiar with India and its ways, during the festival the pink city celebrates the painters, musicians and craftsmen - local and national - whose work usually has to be sought out in busy labyrinths seething with trishaws and bikes.
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