“Authentic Art Gallery” – screamed the name of the little shop of paintings in Hathipol. We were eager to check it out, but were stopped in our tracks by the guy next door. “He’s not there. He won’t come before lunch”, he said, and after a pause, continued: “And he won’t talk to you. He only deals with goras(whites). Not Hindustanis”. Pat came the reply: “Then he should also be packed off to Englistan!” In complete contrast was Rafeeq Bhai, the cloth seller from whom we bought a bunch of Bandhni dupattas. He explained to us in details what Bandhni was and how it was done. His whole family was into the trade and had even had exhibitions in Mumbai and other places. He even gave us recommendations as to where to buy paintings.
Lunch was again at Maxim’s Café – our food joint since yesterday. It is a small cozy place with a view of the old city, particularly the magnificent marble edifice of the Jagannath Temple. After lunch, we went exploring the narrow winding streets of the old city, finally ending up in front of the palace…and the painting store. It was the umpteenth one we had visited…and this time, we struck gold! We’d found our painting.
After an evening at Bagore ki Haveli, we headed to Café Edelweiss, where we ran into Jessica and Folaf, the duo from Venice whom we’d met yesterday at the haveli. It was their last week in India, before flying out on Thursday. And for us, it was our last few hours on the vacation. It was now time for the last rites.
Gangaur Ghat had come alive. The sun was going down. Across from the lake, came the throngs of a devotional song. Children were playing cricket. A few local performers were busy flaunting their skills to curious foreigners. Others – foreigners and locals – were staring across the lake as the colours of the sky changed. I stood there, taking in this wondrous atmosphere, and clicking the last of my photos of the Lake Palace.
The sun had set.
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