Sanganeri Gate is the place to go to if you want to eat vegetables and fruits cultivated in fresh water. The Hanuman Mandir in the vicinity compels passers-by to bow in obeisance. The temple opens right onto the main road which leads into Johari Bazaar but unlike the many who stop to pray I have ventured inside just once.

For someone who has not visited Jaipur and especially its walled city area, it is hard to imagine how organised, exciting and grand it is. Tripolia Bazaar is the place to pick up hardware and sanitary fittings. Two things in this market have always fascinated me. The first is the Sarka Suli, a tower for public hangings. The second is the private entrance to the City Palace, exclusively for the members of the royal family of Jaipur. Both are a symbol of what used to be.

Another reason for my visits to this area is the Kagazi or the dealer for paper to stock up on registers, copies, chart paper, wrapping paper at wholesale rates.

Around and a little beyond Choti Chaupad are several dresswala’s (rentals for fancy dresses and costumes). I often go there to pick up the costumes everytime the children have to perform at a play in school. Like me, most of the mothers I meet there moan about the inevitable trip back the next day to return the hired goods. How can I forget to mention the numerous Jaipuri juttis, suits and ghagras I have bargained for and bought outside Manak Chowk, near Hawa Mahal?

... contd.