Amer Palace in Jaipur

The team was fortunate to visit the Amer Palace, also known as the 'Amber Palace' and/or the 'Palace of Mirrors.' It's located high upon a hill in old Jaipur. Access is along a circuitous paved road up the hill, mostly upon elephants. They have roughly 120 female Asian elephants. Although Kim and I opted to ride up in the 'jeep', most of the group rode the elephants. Conditions for the animals have much improved in recent years. Each elephant is only allowed to do five trips per day. Then they are sent home to rest. 

Amer Palace and Fort from across the lake.

The "fort" sits higher atop the hill, and a couple of centuries earlier in construction.

Common access to the palace is via elephant.

Our 'gang', in line at the elephant boarding platform.

Kim and I opted for the 'jeep' ride up, having ridden on elephants before.

The elephants are treated more humanely now.  Regular watering, and only 5 trips per day per elephant, to the temple and back.

We know Mahindra for their tractors in the States.  In India, their homeland, they ARE ALL automotive, INCLUDING a Jeep knockoff...

I'm not the only monkey on this trip...

Bruce and Pam arriving at the Palace.

Leslie and Jeanette.

Sandra and Wayne...

Jeanette and Leslie.

Pam and Bruce.

Cynde and Barry.

Karen and Julie.

Sandra & Wayne, Pam & Bruce.

Margaret and Mike.

Completed in 1589, the palace took 20 years to construct, and involved over 2,000 workers. It was subsequently painted pink for a king's visit, and has remained to this day a pink palace. 

The surrounding fort wall was constructed in the 14th century, and has a circumference of roughly 10 miles, weighing in at the third longest in the world. Having personally seen the Great Wall of China, I can attest that this wall is as equally impressive!  

The mirror palace, which was once decorated with many precious stones on the walls and still has a hand painted ceiling with gold leaf where the king met dignitaries. From this court, he would hear grievances, along with strategizing with his highest ranking officials. 

Note the crown on my head in the mirrored background!  King David?  Hardly think so...

Many of the walls are painted with a coating of white ground glass. The royal family donated the palace to the government in 1960, and the precious stones which adorned the walls and ceilings of the winter portion of the palace were removed by the family. Literally millions of mirrors, however, remain and adorn the palace walls and ceilings. 

Very modern for the time, the palace had running potable water, and a sort of air conditioning system for the 'summer' portion of the palace, basically air vents forcing air over the cold water flow from the wells!  The intricate center gardens contained many exotic plants for the period, and the palace's sewage system served to act as fertilizer for the gardens. 

 Traditions carry strongly for hundreds of years.

So much to view in the mirrors...

The Jaipur Limb and Foot

I arose this morning with anticipation. Anticipation which I haven't felt for many years. Our first stop was at the Amer Palace (sometimes called either the Amber Palace or the Palace of Mirrors).  It was a wonderful morning, one of which I will blog later. More pressing in my heart and in my mind, however, the source of my anticipation, is the tour of the Jaipur Limb Factory.

You see, I joined Rotary over 32 years ago, just a few months before the announcement of "PolioPlus"! Hence, I have lived over half of my life as a Rotarian on a march, a campaign, to rid the world of 12 terrible diseases, the most hideous being POLIO! Since that first introduction of PolioPlus, I have been hearing of the Jaipur Limb. Oh, I knew what it was from the start, how it changes lives, but to ever think that I would travel to Jaipur, and enter the factory's gates was beyond comprehension... Until, literally, this morning.  

The Rotary Clubs around Jaipur distribute around 7,000 limbs per year, mostly around Jaipur, but also in traveling camps all over the planet. To date, over a half million limbs have been fashioned. At a rate of over 120 patients a day who walk, or hobble, into the clinic, from all over. And it's all free of charge.  Rotarians, DOW Chemical, and other benefactors fund the cost. Each limb costs $50, and if you add the knee joint, it's another $20, or $US70. And it's not like an American site. People come in the morning, and literally 'walk' away the same day with their new limb.  If it should take more than one day (maximum three days), they take care of the food and lodging needs of the patients and the family member with whom the patient is traveling. For instance, a patient was asked by the administrator today how much money he had with him and he said, "Six rupees" (less than $1US).

As we entered the factory, we saw people in the waiting room and in the courtyard. 

This mother waited patiently in the courtyard with her son.

Then, as we progressed through the factory, we saw people at each state of the manufacturing process. Craftsmen, volunteers, taking gauze and Plaster of Paris, adding plastic plumbing pipe, heated to be pliable, to form a limb. Then, concurrently, other craftsmen are using hard foam rubber, black tire like rubber strips, then flesh colored rubber strips, to fashion a lifelike foot, which is then 'galvanized' in a heated chamber to produce a very workable foot to go on the end of the limb.


The following pictures will hopefully assist my readers in more fully grasping the Jaipur Foot & Limb, and assist in understanding its importance in Rotary's over 3 decade march to rid the world of that dreaded Polio disease.

Such rudimentary equipment to produce such an astounding result-The Jaipur Limb!

Real time-as we visited fitting for a new limb.

Wrapping the stump for the transfer cast, and marking all pressure points.

A volunteer demonstrating the durability of the limb by 'whacking' it against a vise.

The completed limb, in less than an hour.

This man demonstrated his total dexterity with his artificial limb.

The 4th gen "Stanford" knee. They did not patent it, so that the Jaipur Limb factory may use it freely.

Amazing that these volunteers work day after day to produce a prosthesis for so many people who would basically be otherwise immobile.

These shots are from the 'foot' factory room of the clinic.  Start to finish, the Jaipur foot.
 

Most of our team had heard of the Jaipur foot and limb, but back to the bus, some were wondering how it played into our journey, having not experienced the life saving product in their Rotary careers. On a more purely personal note, Kim was not prepared for the amazement she had in visiting the factory. I'd tried to explain, but one can't explain fully some things... They must be seen to fully grasp their significance.

Volunteer showing the locking action of the Stanford knee.

As I compose this blog for the day, I just received an email from Debra Lowe, the Senior Major Gift Officer for RI Zone 34.  On World Polio Day, 24 October, Tommy and Chantal Bagwell, members of the Rotary Club of Forsyth County, in Kim's and My home District 6910, made an Arch Klumph gift directly to President John Germ while he was in Atlanta for World Polio Day at the Centers for Disease Control.  Debra's email just announced that Tommy and Chantal have allocated their ENTIRE gift to END POLIO NOW.  Thank you, Tommy and Chantal, and it is a double blessing to come on the day of Governor Kim's and my visit to the Jaipur Limb Factory in India.  

AND... with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation two for one match, The Bagwell's gift amounts to THREE QUARTERS OF A MILLION US DOLLARS TO END POLIO NOW!