This is the 3rd of 4 posts about my recent trip to India. The previous ones are here and here:
Jaipur: It took nearly all day to drive from Agra to Jaipur and
the road leaves a lot to be desired. It is 1-lane for a stretch
(yes, that means half a lane in each direction), and our knuckles were
white as our fearless driver, Deshraj, navigated the road, overtaking
the slow tractor in front of us just before the truck barreling towards
us the other way could run us over. Forget about trying to snooze
in the car. At any rate, after great driving, we arrived at
Jaipur. Except we didn't really know where we were going and so
we ended up going through the middle of the city during rush hour to
get to our hotel. It probably took 45 minutes to travel a few
miles but what a 45 minutes! There were about 4 lanes of traffic
that had to squeeze to 1 lane to go through the gate into the center of
the city. After a while, we got to a roundabout that had, I kid
you not, about 8 lanes to it. What a sight to behold -- the
famous 'chaos' of India unfolding before our very eyes, what with all
of the various modes of transport -- bicycles, motorcyles,
autorickshaws, cars, buses, oxcarts, camel-drawn carts, a swami on foot
-- all trying to navigate the roundabout. And the cacophony of
horns blaring and people yelling. Wow! We were awed by how, despite
the chaos and commotion, everyone and everything sorted themselves out
and got to where they were going. The experience left us exhausted and
so we spent that evening at our hotel and timidly went back into the
city the following day to go shopping in the world famous bazaars of
Jaipur. Jaipur is reknowned for the colorful textiles, handicrafts and
furniture to be found there. 
This is the Hawa Mahal, which is at the center of Jaipur. It is the Palace of Winds and is mostly a facade. The Johari bazaar is right below it.
This is a view of the Jal Mahal palace on the water from our hotel (the Trident Hilton).
The following day, we visited the nearby Amber fort and following are some pictures from it. The fort is built on a hill and you can take an elephant up to it, but we chose to walk. The fort was magnificent but wasn't as well maintained other sites, which was a shame. While Jaipur was interesting it was thoroughly draining as well. It was very hard to walk about as we were hounded by hawkers and beggars and our party was daunted just at the thought of crossing the road because of the traffic (though we were able to do so). I can't imagine what it's like in the summer's stifling heat. 
After the hustle and bustle of Jaipur, we were ready to chill. And chill we did at our next stop, the Neemrana Fort Palace hotel set on the hills rising above the small village of Neemrana. The hotel is one of India's oldest and most famous heritage hotels. This fort was build in the 15th Century by the Mughals. The Neemrana group started renovating it in the late 80's and has done an incredible job. The place is full of nooks and crannies and all sorts of different rooms and lounges with great views of the plain below. We spent our first afternoon getting lost in the place -- they don't give maps as part of the fun is in the exploration of the place. We stayed here for a couple of days of R&R. The Neemrana Fort Palace hotel is a great place to relax for a few days -- there aren't a lot of activities within the hotel (though they do have a gym with old school fitness equipment and a spa) and there's some hiking around the hotel but it's not much. But they had great service, food and a magical location all at reasonable prices.
We did visit the stepwell in the village, which was quite a sight. It went down 9 stories!
Kolkata (aka Calcutta): On New Year's Eve, we flew to Calcutta where I spent some of my early childhood. We spent a few days in Cal catching up with family and staying at The Tollygunge Club, which I used to frequent as a child. All of the heavy eating and traveling of the past week caught up with me, and I came down with a bug that laid me up for a bit (resulting in my swooning at New Market!), but I was able to recover quickly. It was so nice to see my family and for them to meet my wife and her parents, and also to practice my Bengali!
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