sikar: a sleep-deprived street artist gets lost in fresco fever
i'm in sikar, rajasthan, and i'm running on three hours of sleep and a stomach full of questionable road chai. the bus from delhi was a tin can of despair, packed with goats and a man's goat (literally) chewing my bag strap. but i made it, and the town's got this weird, sleepylag quality that matches my own.
first thing: the weather. i just checked my phone and it's sitting at 13.26°c, which feels like a crisp spring day back home, but the wind here has a bite making it feel like 11.63. humidity's 38%, so the air's drier than my grandma's roasted nuts. pressure's 1017 hpa, but my altimeter app says ground level's 975-makes sense since we're about 400 meters above sea level. it's the kind of dry that makes your lips crack and your sketch paper curl.
if you get bored, jaipur's a three-hour drive south, bikaner's two hours west, and even delhi's a six-hour haul if you miss the night trains. i keep thinking about those options, but right now i'm too busy staring at the havelis.
see, i'm a street artist-i tag walls, i do spray-paint pieces, but i'm also obsessed with the old-school wall art. sikar's part of the shekhawati region, which is basically an open-air museum of 18th- and 19th-century frescoes. someone told me that the artists back then used to mix their paints with goat's glue and mineral powders, and the colors still pop after two centuries. i heard that the kataruka haveli has a series depicting the mahabharata, but the caretaker's a grump who only opens after a bribe of 500 rupees. i'm not that brave (or broke) yet.
my guesthouse owner, a fat guy named ramesh, keeps feeding me chai and whispering about 'the blue door haveli' being the best for a sunrise photo. he swears the light hits the indigo at exactly 6:30 am. i might try it, even though i hate mornings. also, i read on a TripAdvisor thread that the local lassi place, 'sweet bowl', serves the thickest, creamiest lassi but they close at 2 pm because the guy needs his nap. that's the kind of insider info i live for. i also bookmarked a Yelp page for the lassi place, even though yelp's not huge in india. for deeper history, check out the Shekhawati Tourism Board site-they have a PDF map of all the havelis.
one thing that cracks me up: the traffic. these narrow lanes are shared by scooters, cows, camel carts, and huge yellow dump trucks that appear out of nowhere. i actually saw one parked under a neem tree, looking like it was having an existential crisis. there's a photo on my phone that matches this weird vibe-i think i'll share it later.
anyway, i need to find a wall to sketch. i've got my charcoal and a rolled-up sketchbook, and i'm hunting for a spot where the shadows fall just right. the afternoon sun's harsh, but the golden hour's magic. i'll probably end up painting something that blends my graffiti style with the traditional motifs-maybe a spray can flanked by peacocks. or just a big 'fuck you' to the dust. we'll see.
if you're planning a trip, take note: bring a scarf for the dust, a water bottle, and maybe some earplugs for the temple loudspeakers at 5am. also, check the weather-i'm telling you, 13 degrees might sound warm but the wind chills you to the bone. pack a hoodie. oh, and there's a decent cafe with wifi called 'cafe beyond' if you need to update your instagram. they have avocado toast, which is weird but welcome.
now, let me drop a map so you can see where i'm holed up:
the red pin's near the old city. trust me, you'll want to wander these lanes without a plan.
i've also got some snapshots from my wanderings that kinda capture the mood. first, this dump truck under a tree-totally random but so sikar:
and then, a foggy mountain view from the bus on the way here, which felt like a dream:
i should probably sleep, but the call of the streets is too strong. more updates as i survive this trip.
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