What does the word Jaipur mean?
Melancholy, sunlight, peanuts from Bandikui, once dreamt dreams, Bombay Sapphire gin, black coffee in the coffee house with mandalas, winter fairs, the hands of my mother, bougainvillea, camels, Sephardic orange cake, flashes of the garden in front of the house at Ashok Marg, its flowers, the face of the miserly old landlady, the neem tree in front of the old house, the structure of the dog chasing me, sesame, the fountain at Statue Circle that once seemed like an abyss, the balloons, block printed dresses in indigo, sunlight, dust on old moth eaten books, shawls from Kashmir and Ladakh, the ice-cream parlour on M.I. Road and the book store next to it that used to sell Archies and Asterix, Venus Bakery and the now discontinued Gold Coin apple juice, the bubbles I blew, sand, and silver, and emeralds, mutton curry with potatoes on the sunlit winter balcony.
Leaving Jaipur
