Tryst with Royalty in Jaisalmer and Jodhpur

With an extremely fascinating history, Rajasthan enchants more than just domestic tourists from India. It ranks 5^th for the highest number of foreign tourists arriving in India. And it’s not for nothing. Every city delivers something unique. Ergo, no wonder most of them have earned their sobriquets. I decided to visit The Golden City, Jaisalmer and The Blue City, Jodhpur on an extended weekend in early October, 2015.

I chose it to be a backpacking adventure, without any company except myself, surprising many on and off the trip. Although it meant no friend to talk to, it gave me ample opportunity to interact with people hitherto strangers. The overnight journey from Delhi to Jaisalmer by train took me nearly 19 hours and it was already afternoon by the time I reached Jaisalmer. I put up at a decent Jain Dharamshala for the next one day.

Almost all cities in this kingly state have a regal history. Kings used to build forts to protect their kingdoms. Jaisalmer fort or the Sonar Quila is one such living fort. King Jaisal had built it in 12^th century. The streets inside the fort are always abuzz with activity. Several people have their residences inside the fort premise and tourism is their mainstay. The museum in the fort premises is vast and fascinating for history buffs. It offers panoramic views of the Jaisalmer city. Spellbound, I spent more than a couple of hours observing the museum.

 

While I was deciding where to head next sipping tea outside the fort, someone gave me a visiting card for camel safari tour operator and I gave the person a call. Excitedly he came to pick me up and next we were negotiating the cost of camel safari. But it was getting nowehere as the place for camel safari was nearly 40 km away from Jaisalmer and I had no way to  reach there. Fortuitously, I met a few strangers from Sancher in Rajasthan who also wanted a similar package. I made a deal with them and together we left to enjoy camel safari in the Thar desert. I paid INR 400 for a package which included a camel safari, folk dance and music programme from tribals and chai pakoda. I rode along with these strangers, befriended them on the way and we reached the place where camel bearers took us for a desert safari at sunset. Later, we watched the dance and music show by the tribal artists at night. We left at around 9:15 pm from there to Jaisalmer again and reached there at around 10:00 pm.

 

Something in me asked me to start my next morning by offering prayers at the Jain temple in the dharmshala premises, which I gladly did. Patwon ki haveli was also on my cards. I walked till the haveli and paid INR 100 for the entry ticket which also included photographing. The haveli is very well maintained and surely worth a visit. It captures the lives of a Jain businessman and his family, including five sons. The businessman, Ghuman Chand Patwa, gifted separate havelis to each of his five sons. The patwon ki haveli contains artifacts from their life preserved in different rooms. A local market surrounds the haveli and I could not stop myself from buying some goodies for friends and family. The weather outside was getting really hot but I walked till the Gadisar lake. This lake was constructed to supply water to the city of Jaisalmer. In winters, you might even find migratory birds who take pitstops enroute the bharatpur bird sanctuary.

I went back to the dharmshala, packed my bags and caught a bus to Jodhpur at around 1:30 pm. It took me nearly 4:30 hours to reach the blue city. I roamed around just to get the buzz of the city, had dinner and found some time to browse through a few pages of 1984 and went to bed making up my mind to begin another adventure the next day.

As a researcher in the natural resource management field, I feel particularly inclined towards nature. Thus instead of beginning my last day of the trip from the famous Mehrangarh fort, I chose to visit the less frequented yet amazingly well maintained Rao Jodha Desert Rock park. Way to the desert park and the Mehrangarh park are same for most part of the overall distance except in the end where the steep and rounded road bifurcates to these two places.

 

I had read about this park on the internet and had high hopes from it. And it did not disappoint. I met couple of people on entering the park and they guided me to follow the yellow color coded trail to avoid getting lost in the 200 acre park. I found the red one and still came out fine. I am sure I was the only person roaming in the whole park. Although, I did see a bunch of adventure buffs trying their luck on the flying fox in the backdrops of the Mehrangarh fort. This park boasts of both floral and avian diversity. While I did find floral diversity but the marvelous scenery would not really allow me to focus on noting the avian diversity, instead I chose to click pictures.

Somehow after some 1.5 hours I emerged from the trail victorious. Such nature walks will invigorate me forever. The hot weather was a letdown though, which I could not have managed without the water bottle I was carrying along. Mehrangarh fort is not far from the park and I walked from the park to the fort gates. Luckily, for some festival, I got free entry at both the park and the fort. To be frank, I found the Mehrangarh fort to be a bit overhyped. However, the strategic location and the thick walls of the fort are definitely one of the best among all Indian forts I have seen. A number of canons are perched on top of the fort, which was done to prevent attacks from enemies in those times. The museum is well-stocked and has several stories to tell. The fort also houses the (in)famous Chamunda Devi temple, wherein the stampeded that killed more than 200 people, took place. This fort is also the place where shooting of the Batman: the Dark Knight Rises took place.

Coming back from the fort, I headed to the extremely popular Umaid Bhavan Palace. But reaching the palace-cum-hotel was not easy. I had to change many buses from the fort to the palace before I stopped at a point from where the palace was still at least 2 km away. It’s always better to take a rickshaw to reach the palace directly but they all ask for exorbitant amount, especially if you are alone. City buses are a cheap option if you are able to find your route by yourself or by asking the locals, who in general are very helpful.

An entry ticket of INR 30 to visit the museum and the vintage car collection is paltry compared to exorbitant tariffs of the rooms in Umaid Bhavan Palace. The palace is spread in 26 acres and one of the largest private residences in the world. Henry Manchester, designer of the palace, left no stone unturned to prove his mettle in art deco. A security guard told me that 90% of the palace has turned into the Taj group of hotels, 5% is museum and the remaining is where the royal family still lives.

Visit to this palace brought me to the end of this fantastic solo backpacking adventure. I took the train back to Delhi that would drop me to Delhi Cantonment next morning. My understanding of Rajasthan as a royal place with rich culture and even 'richer' people has only strengthened. I wish to come back to the state again, that time for some other adventures.

Closer to nature at Mt. Abu

I was supposed to be attending an interview call at Anand, Gujarat, India but I just can't ignore my wanderlust proclivity and go to a place and come back without relishing the local fervor. Fortuitously, the interview was scheduled on Tuesday which meant that I could utilize the weekend before the interview. I flew to Ahmedabad early Saturday morning and reached Gandhinagar at my uncle's place. After some chitchatting, we left the coziness of the dwelling in the afternoon to see the astounding architectural planning of the capital city of Gujarat. The town has vertical and horizontal parallel roads intersecting each other and the areas in between them houses the necessities of a city. Such a fabulous planning makes exploring the city a laymen's job.

In the evening we went to the immensely famous Akshardham temple aka the Swami Narayan Temple spread into 23 acres. The temple garnered negative publicity after an armed terrorist attack in 2002. Since then, the security has been buffed up considerably. The temple precincts preserve a museum depicting the models of the belongings of the founder of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, Lord Swaminarayan including his nails and hair pieces. The museum is small but well-kept as there is no dearth of funding in the Swaminarayan Sampradaya. Having seen the temple and the museum below its base, we walked towards the Water and Laser show which was going to be a dazzling and a mind-boggling event.

We had bought the tickets earlier to avoid the last minute rush. We bought ice-creams and reached half an hour earlier for the first laser show of the night which started at 7 p.m. The show is conducted in the open-air amphitheater which amplifies the whole experience. The show illustrates that mythological instance from Katha Upanishad where Nachiketa is donated by his father, Vajashrava, to the lord of Death, Yama. This is when the 7-year old kid learnt the cardinals of life and death from Yama himself. The 45 minutes water and laser show was purely magical. Dazzling and extremely precise water, laser and fire patterns, wonderful narration, fierce sound elements and the riveting moral story, would never allow losing your attention for any transitory moment. Having had the famous vegetarian Khichdi after the show from the food court in the temple premises, we left for the day, only to go to Mt. Abu the next day.

The next morning, we were off to Mt. Abu, a popular and the only hill station in the Aravalli Ranges in Rajasthan. It took us 4 hours from Gandhinagar to reach there by car. We started off with the highest point in Rajasthan, Guru Shikhar, located at an altitude of 1722 meters. It houses the temple of God Dattatreya, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. You can witness the vastness of the Aravalli range from the summit. We had satiating lemon water made from the Meyer lemons particular to warm climates, I took some amazing pictures and after some customary shopping and snacks, we descended from the peak and left for the mesmerizing circa nine centuries old Dilwara temples.

The use of marble in the construction of the 5 temples in the Dilwara premises is quite opulent and eye-catching. There are temples of five Jain tirthankars viz. Adinath, Neminatha, Rishabhdev, Parshvanath and Mahavira. The intricate carvings and subtle architecture of the temples will leave you short of breath. These temples not only speak of the rich art of historic India but also indicate the amount of wealth the kings would have possessed that time.

The last halt in Abu was at Nakki Lake which, as raconteurs tell, was dug out of nails. A gentle breeze blowing across the lake was veritably soothing. We had a scrumptious meal at a lakeside restaurant, took some snaps for memory’s sake and left the place along the very famous Shopping Mall road. Placid green water, paddle boats sailing in the lake, hot-air balloon giving the junkies a small lift, architectural finesse of the Dilwara and the cold climate of Abu makes it one of most coveted travelling destinations in India asking people around the world to enjoy the chill in a predominantly desert area, Rajasthan. A wonderful evening in Abu came to an end as we left for our abode in Gandhinagar with impressions of Abu engraved in our hearts.