Probably it is one of the most visited tourist
places in India, so my eulogy of the place is one more drop in the huge ocean. In
the dust and sands, we had a glorious history of kings and their life long gone
and this trip was essentially an experience of reliving the past. The history
lessons long forgotten made some comeback here and there. The guides were story
tellers in their own right and every ruin, every palace needed their expert
skill to make themselves appealing to the visitors.
I and my
wife went on this trip organised by Nirmala travels in the beginning of last
year. The whole trip lasted more than two weeks. So we had our fill of sands
and forts by the end of it.
The first
place that we visited was the royal city of Udaipur. Flanked with hills in all
directions, in the mornings it looked as if the misty mountains were not far
away.
The most
visible symbol of Udaipur is the palace which is built on a hillock. You can
see sturdy trees on the top floor of the palace, the reason being the palace
has been built around the hillock thus allowing for the soil to reach the top.
The soul of the city mainly revolves around the exploits of Maharana Pratap,
the memorial at Haldighati, the place of his fierce battle with raja maan singh
and the memorial place for his Chetak horse on a small hillock near the big
lakes of Udaipur are a proof of this. At the end of two days of sightseeing, I
ended up eating hot pakoras and drank masala chai in the shopping hub of the
city, with all shops closed for Sunday, I felt happy and my wife bewildered.
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| Chetak Ghoda memorial |
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| Udaipur Palace |
After Udaipur we visited Chittorgarh, the mighty fort situated on the top of
the hill. The circumference of the fort is around thirteen kms and it contains
in its belly history like no other place. From tales of Meera bhai to Rani
Padmini, to the amorous Alaudin khilji and the brutal destruction caused due to
Akbar’s attack on the fort, the whole place has a historic halo to it. The
place looks sacrosanct and full of those past life that people had lived and
sacrificed at its gates. You get an eerie feeling as you visit the jauhar sites
where the women in the fort had immolated themselves whenever the fort was
about to fall into the hands of the enemies. This had happened three times in
the history of the fort.
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| Inside Chittorgarh Fort |
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| Vijay stamb- Inside Chittorgarh fort |
The next stop was Pushkar, the place with the only brahma temple. The climate
had deteriorated to almost zero degrees and getting up in the freezing cold was
an effort in itself. Deciding against taking a dip in the holy lake in
the freezing cold, we just sat on the banks enjoying the cold breeze. It is
said that the lake is the symbol of brahma and the temple per se, doesn’t have
much significance.
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| Pushkar Lake |
Jaipur, the city of the Marwari’s has again a rich tradition of rulers, with
raja Maan singh being the most famous of them. Having accepted the Mughal overlordship
over them, the Jaipuri’s had rarely faced any external dangers. Jaipur has a
mix of Mughal and Rajasthani architecture in the buildings. The fort and the
palace were impressive but it didn’t look as glamorous as the Udaipur palace.
Jantar Mantar which is next to the city palace is a must visit site. Built in
the 1700’s by Raja Jai singh, it is a place to be explored at leisure. The
various instruments used to determine the accurate time and time of the year
etc. makes you a wonder eyed kid looking at some magic happening. The Amer
palace and the Jaigarh fort were pretty nice but the eye candy of the day was
the giant canon which is on top of the Jaigarh fort. The canon has a range of
35 kms and it was used only once during its test fire. At the end of the city’s
visit we had an evening free for shopping, I guess the normal tourists are
royally screwed in these places. It is best to start bargain from say 20% of
what the seller demands and be an obstinate buyer
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| Jal Mahal in Jaipur |
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| The Big Canon |
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| Amer fort- Royal Garden |
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| Jantar Mantar |
The next location was Bikaner, the place famous
for its bujias. Closer to the desert area, Bikaner looked the driest place till
now. The fort at the city center was nice, but by now since we had covered a
pretty good amount of forts and palaces, there was nothing drastically new
here. After the fort visit, we went to the Karni mata mandir. This place is an
experience in itself. Thousands of rats scurrying in all directions. I
mistakenly stepped on a couple of them, to pull my leg up instantly after feeling
the furry touch. According to the local belief, the people who die in the town
take birth as rats in the temple.
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| Bikaner Palace-Walls adorned with Gold |
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| Karni mata mandir- where rats rule |
Jaisalmer brought us next to the
desert. Dusty and in a way quite sleepy, Jaisalmer seems to transport you back
in time. Camels rule the roost in this place. One of the interesting places to
visit here is the Patwaon-ki-haveli or the houses of the diamond merchants. Apparently
lot of diamond trade happened in the bygone days at this place. The multi
storeyed building gives a glimpse of the life of the rich in the times of the
kings.
The vast expanse of the desert was finally in
front of us. Sitting on the sand and watching the sun set on the sand dunes was
quite a rich experience but almost all the tourists in Jaisalmer seemed to be
present at the same place, diluting the richness to an extent. The camel ride
was also fun, but considering the fact that only an 8 year old boy was guiding
the camel, I was twitching in my seat whenever the camel grunted.
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| Gadisar lake |
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| On the Thar - With the ship of the desert |
Jodhpur the blue city has a majestic fort that
looms over the city. Apparently some scenes of the movie Dark knight rises was
shot in and around this fort including the famous pit scene. The fort is quite
huge and the view of the city from the top is breathtaking.
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| Jodhpur Fort |
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| Jodhpur Fort |
The trip was rounded off by our visit to the
only hill station of Rajasthan, Mount Abu. The Dilwara jain temples are
majestic. The intricate carvings on the rocks requires time for the visitors to
observe and see. It is unfortunate that photography is not allowed inside the
temple complex. Mount Abu is also a
shopping haven for the ladies. Trinkets like earrings, bangles are pretty cheap
if you bargain well.
Overall it was a nice trip. Having covered a
significant portion of Rajasthan, there was lot to see, enjoy and experience.
The experience with Nirmala travels was ok. Food was excellent as the cooks
travelled with us and prepared nice south Indian food throughout the tour. Accomodation
varied from very good to pretty poor. At least in a couple of places it was
wonderful, average in around four places and pretty worse in a couple of places
so much so that I had to get the sheets changed and in another place had to
fight for a room change. The travel was done in a Rajahamsa kind of bus, whereas I was
expecting an A/c bus, the younger people get to warm the last seats of the bus.
So if you are not at least above 50, you are screwed. Lot of places were
covered in the two weeks, probably it would have been impossible to cover so much if you
travel on your own. In conclusion no more such travels for me in the future
till I turn 60. I would rather spend double the money on a week long trip.
I would say we enjoyed Rajasthan a lot, it is
mostly a history lesson that plays before your eyes. The sand filled forts and
the run down relics look like the fast fading remnants of the glorious past
that the place had seen.
