Waste of a Monument

chillibreeze writer — Maria Quintana

My family and I had scheduled a three day stay in Jaipur, which was long enough to visit the city’s main touristic attractions in addition to doing some shopping and even venture to visit other points of interest not often mentioned as highlights of the place.

We found out about the Monkey Temple on a quick Google search. The reviews were average, but the place sounded interesting, so we asked our guide to take us there since we were just a 40 minutes drive away from the place. .
As we arrived, a couple of tourists were leaving looking tired, sweaty … even nauseous maybe? But we disregarded their looks completely and simply kept walking towards the temple.

It was a very hot day, and when we arrived the smell was disturbing, but not bad enough to make us turn our backs and leave. If we had known then what was waiting for us when we crossed the main door we would have turned on our heels and left as fast as our legs allowed.

As we entered the complex we met saw breathtaking temple painted in yellow tones and beautifully ornamented with drawings typical from Jaipur. The place was just magnificent with buildings on both sides of a little road which led to a larger structure built in the middle of two marble mountains.

Each of the buildings was decorated with domes of different sizes and shapes and they had balconies and windows adorned with rich stonework that showed the dedication and skill of the artisans that built them.

Following our guide we walked towards the highlight of the complex: the main building at the end of the road that guards three sacred pools. These pools are sacred to Hindus and bathing in them brings blessings to the devotees. The pools are fed by water that comes out of the mountain, although its origins are unknown, therefore people consider it holy.

As we went our way up towards the first pool, a young woman came to us to paint a red dot on our foreheads, which we gladly accepted and afterwards she made it clear that she was expecting a donation. Since I was the last one of the four of us, it was up to me to give her something. I had some change in my pocket so I took out a note (a rather large one) and while I was taking out the other smaller note this woman pushed me and just as fast took both notes out of my hand and immediately ran away. You probably think the same thing I did: this was my own fault for being so slow-minded and not consider beforehand that even inside a sacred temple people can steal from you. But what can I say? One would believe that inside a place of spiritual retreat one is safe, right? Wrong.

Already a bit shaken by this incident I kept going up the stairs towards the first pool, when I hear my husband yell from the top of the stairs “be careful of the snake!” I looked to my left side to face a big cobra with its hood fully open and moving towards my leg; in reaction I screamed my lungs out and jumped over the steps I had left trying to reach safety by my companions.

We had about 200 more steps to climb and two of the three pools were already visible on our left side. However, paying attention to the pools, to the fountain, or to the nature around us was pretty much out of the question since we had to concentrate on not stepping on the human or monkey excrements, banana peels and all kinds of trash that covered the stairs, while keeping one hand covering our nose to keep the smell away, and the other scaring away the thousands of flies that were having a feast in all the waste.

About midway up it occurred to me that if the stairs were awful in the area where the humans were then they would be disastrous around the monkey's pool, so I prepared myself for the worst. Fortunately the monkey’s pool area seems to be better cared for, since the pool’s surroundings were not half as dirty as a few stairs down.

At this point we pretty much had had enough and our only thought was to go down the stars promptly and leave the temple as soon as our legs would allow. At this moment I understood why the tourists on the way out looked the way they looked, they had just gone through the same awful experience as we had.

I must add though that it is a real pity that the Monkey Temple is not well kept since the building is simply gorgeous and with a little work and much more hygiene it has all the potential to be a major touristic attraction in Jaipur.

Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article.

Out of 5 “chilies”, our editorial team gave this article...

—About our writer:

Maria writes for chillibreeze.

>> Read more articles written by Chillibreeze writers:

More resources for Writers on Chillibreeze.com

Chillibreeze offers Indian writers the opportunity to work on customer projects. We are also India’s biggest writer network and a one-stop shop for Indian writers and editors. The writers’ section on Chillibreeze offers freelance writers and editors a variety of tools to advance their careers. Resources for writers include:

Assessment of your writing, editing and proofreading skills

Writing courses

Expert Feedback on your article

An opportunity to promote yourself on our website

Top websites for Indian writers

Tips and resources for Indian freelancers

Book Publishing services

And more………………..

Explore our writers’ section using the links on our left-hand side menu.