India: Why is Jodhpur Known as the Blue City?

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We kicked off our day by gliding on the zip line over two desert lakes, trekking through the Rao Jodha eco-park and then checking out the best view of Mehrangarh and the Blue City of Jodhpur.

After that, we pretty much wandered on the streets of the city asking around the locals to find out why Jodhpur was known as the Blue City. I asked around the locals about the city via the Notes app on my iPhone—yes, this was one of those days where I wished that everybody could speak my language, American Sign Language (ASL), as explained in this article.

It was kind of a hassle going back and forth on iPhone and paper with a pen with the locals, but I enjoyed mingling with the locals anyways. Not only that, multiple languages had been used in this city and that kind of made it harder for us to find the “common ground” in communication because not all people understand the same language. Not everybody could give me the right answer to the story. Often they would misunderstand me for asking for directions to the Blue City.

Besides, I suppose it’d be faster for me to find out the story behind the nickname, the Blue City if I could speak English. The locals there were really friendly with us and they did their best to answer with what they had known. Many of them thought the blue was painted because it cooled them down from the heat of the sun, but it was a chemical reaction between the sun and insect repellent sprayed on the buildings that caused the paint on the walls of the buildings to turn blue.

Video credits: MJ Kielbus and Dalton Kramer
Editor: Calvin Young