While my husband was inquiring on the details of our camel Safari trip in the Thar desert in Jaisalmer, Rajastan, I left the two men to discuss the last details of our 4 day trip and went to the only juice stand that I had seen in at least a month, so I told the guy I wanted an orange juice, but squeezed from the only 5 oranges that were on the cooler. Immediately he started preparing the juice and all of a sudden an indian dressed in a very elaborate way with a turban comes behind me with a silver tray and a crystal goblet, were "my juice" is deposited and with the manners seen only in the antique courts, in a very ceremonious way he offers it to a very imposing man who is standing in the middle of his entourage; for a moments I don`t understand what is going on and I follow the servant telling him this is "my juice". The mustached, turbanted, super well dressed man in clothes you would think were from 200 years ago tells me:"With what grace have you been blessed?". Again it takes a minute for me to realieze he is asking me for my name, so finally I tell him and he says with a smile and a look that took my clothes off and back on:"Allow me the pleasure to share this juice with you Madame" I almost had a hearat attak and didn`t know or think what to do except to drink the cold orange juice in his company. When I joined my husband and told him and the man of the camel safari what happened to me the man said "Impossible, the Maharaja of Jaisalmer does not talk to anybody, do you know how many important people ask for audience of His Grace and have to wait forever!" So after comming out I invited my husband to visit the juice stand but meanwhile I became sort of nervous because every time we turned on a corner 3 women followed us and when we finally arrieved to the stand there were like 50 locals talking to the man and making all sorts of gestures....the second they noticed me every body became quite; so I tell the guy to serve us some juice and to tell my husband what happened, because up to then I think he did not believe a word. So the man complains to my husband that I drank the Maharaja`s juice and that His Grace invited me to see the palace he is remodeling, that this is un-excusable not only because he is sacred to his people but because I am a foreigner, that this should never have happened! When I turned my head I see the 3 ladies standing at the other side of the sidewalk staring at me as if I am the monkey of a zoo. So I ask the man who this ladies are and the man says in a very grave way as he scartches his bold head: You sill don`t get it lady; this are the ladies in waiting of the Maharaja`s wife, it is well known that the Rani (for Maharani) is a very jelous woman, in this place madam the walls have eyes and immediately she sent them to investigate. My husband decided to send a message of peace to the Rani and that night we had one of the most romantic dates of our lives in which we dinned and kissed at the balcony the castle-hotel we were staing. Rani had all the right to be jealous of such a handsome and attractive husband, after all his grandfather had 350 concubines!!!
