Reading around the trip
Reference
Everything written around this trip, 20 pieces in one list. The essays are long and want an armchair before you fly; the place histories want the evening before; the field guide wants ten seconds in a moving car.
🎧 The essays and place histories are also a private podcast — follow the feed (13 episodes so far) and download before you fly.
Context
Before the trip. 6 essays, each pulling one thread — water, caste, stone, power, the festival, the road — through the whole route. In the order they are meant to be taken. Most are also in the podcast feed.
- 1 · Water Water in Rajasthan One thread from the Aravalli rain divide through stepwells, artificial lakes and fort-siting to the sacred ghats of Pushkar. essay · 14 min · before the trip
- 2 · Caste Caste Painted on Jodhpur’s blue quarter, present in jobs, marriages and politics — what the system is and what remains visible on the street. essay · 14 min · before the trip
- 3 · Stone Red sandstone, white marble The two stones as imperial code, from the Qutb Minar through the Taj to Lutyens’ Delhi — and why Jaipur is painted pink. essay · 15 min · before the trip
- 4 · Power The Rajput bargain Eight centuries of negotiated survival — Mughal alliances, princely states, privy purses — ending in the palace hotels you sleep in. essay · 14 min · before the trip
- 5 · Festival Diwali The festival as India’s economic and civic year-end: Dhanteras in Jaipur’s bazaars, Lakshmi Puja night in Agra, and the air that follows. essay · 14 min · before the trip
- 6 · Road Reading the road The highway as a document: traffic’s actual rules, painted trucks, dhabas, tolls, animals, and the informal economy at every junction. essay · 14 min · before the trip
Places
The night before, or in the car on the way. One short history per big sight, in the order the trip meets them.
- Day 3 The Seven Cities of Delhi Eight centuries on one plain deep dive · 5 min · the night before
- Day 5 City Palace & Lake Pichola Mewar’s 450-year balcony deep dive · 4 min · the night before
- Day 6 Kumbhalgarh The wall that was never breached deep dive · 5 min · the night before
- Day 7 Mehrangarh The citadel of the sun deep dive · 3 min · the night before
- Day 8 Pushkar Brahma’s lake deep dive · 4 min · the night before
- Day 10 Amber Fort & the Pink City Mirrors on the hill, pink by decree deep dive · 5 min · the night before
- Day 11 Taj Mahal Grief in marble deep dive · 5 min · the night before
Field guide
In the car, for ten seconds at a time. Lookup pages — a god by the object in its hand, a bird by its tail, a price, a date, a word on a sign.
- Temples Reading the gods Which deity you are looking at, and what the people around you are doing lookup · for the car
- Wildlife Animals and birds A spotter’s guide to what turns up, and how to tell the lookalikes apart lookup · for the car
- Script Reading the signs Devanagari numerals and twenty words that make a street legible lookup · for the car
- History A pocket chronology Sultanate to Mughal to British to Republic, on one page lookup · for the car
- Money What things cost Prices of ordinary things, and what they mean to the people charging them lookup · for the car
- Food What to eat What to try, what to leave, and the rules that keep you eating for twelve days lookup · for the car
- Conversation Small talk Cricket, Bollywood and the references a conversation assumes lookup · for the car