Rajasthan, a week long colorful journey

January 14-21, 2008: Rajasthan: Jaipur, Ajmer, Pushkar, Udaipur and Mt Abu

Finally, part of my Rajasthan dream is fulfilled. I took my younger bro from Pilani for a ride, just a week short to one half of Rajasthan and boy was it an amazing experience! Like all my other travel plans, this was not nearly planned apart from the rough itinerary and hotel stays. I headed straight from Jaipur from Mumbai after visiting friends, met my bro after nearly 33 months. After a relaxing stay at the hotel, we hired a tourist cab for the day, we headed towards the streets of Jaipur, the parliament, the museum (which was closed) and the four walls of the ‘Pink City’ Jaipur. We also checked out the Birla Mandir, which was the coolest temple I’ve seen. It had Jesus, ten commandments painted on one pillar and the next one had Lord Krishna. Now, that’s cool. The city wasn’t really that clean and like all good things that look good on paper, even Hawa Mahal was unimpressive, it was too small in scale. We had lunch in a certain bribed restaurant but it was good. (guide gets a tip when he gets tourists here). From there it was Amber Fort, now this is where it all began – the Maharaja’ s architectural splendor. We had a to walk a bit to get to the top but it was well worth it. We spent a good two hours there.
The rest of the evening, we spent at Chowki Dhani, which I think is the single most event that could make our entire journey a highlight. This place is an evening splendor filled with folk dances, camel/elephant rides, magicians, fortune tellers and best of all – the best rajasthani food (in fact, best Indian food) on the planet. The food was so freaking delicious, I ate 8 jilebis in a row.

Next day, we took it easy. I did a lot of man-man talk with my bro (after continuing the talk we had the day before). This guy is a spiritual-mast head, I’mean he’s barely 19 but he talks as if he’s attained nirvana in life. Sometimes, I fear that I might learn something from his simplicity. We checked out Jantar Mantar, the incredibly cool observatory and the city palace in the afternoon. The later half of the day was spent at our hotel room with some serious writing workshops – completing my short story revisions for submission. And we did it, amazingly well!

Ajmer: Next morning, we headed towards Ajmer, the holy Darga for Muslims. The crowd was in thousands as it was close to Muharram and also Friday. The route to enter the Darga was through tiny channels of pure filth and goat meat cut half-way. Many shopkeepers didn’t accept to keep our shoes and I figured out that we weren’t looking like Muslims. When we entered, it was close to namaz time and we didn’t have any option but todo namaz ourselves. We did it. And I survived. I’m not much of a religious person but I’d like to explore different religions. After experiencing blood and filth, big men with green dresses and long beard and gory eyes, I’d now think twice before visiting another one.

Pushkar: Wow, this is much better and more peaceful than it’s counter part 15 miles below the mountain. Legend says that Gods released a swan with a lotus in its beak and let it fall on earth where Brahma would do his yagna. This was so good that we canceled our plans to head towards Udaipur. Instead, we spent the rest of the evening, night at Pushkar doing countless rounds of temples (inc the Brahma temple), performing pujas (on my family’s behalf) and watching one of the most surreal sunsets I’ve ever seen in my life. This place is that good. Again, I’m not that religious but I can tell you that the ultimate epitome of Hinduism is peace and there’s a lot emanating in here, specially if you go in an off-season.

Udaipur: Little more rest and once again hired a guide + cab. My first impressions was that Udaipur is far more cleaner than Jaipur and things looked much better organized. We headed to Maharana Pratap’s Memorial, museum and gardens and then to Fateh Sagar Lake. A private boat ride here was an absolute bliss as I managed to photograph some breathtaking pictures with reflective landscapes. Next, it was the best part of the trip – Udaipur City Palace. We spent three hours here! (thanks to the guide). If any of you are visiting, I really recommend a guide, you can get one for 100 bucks. In fact I was so happy, I gave him 150 bucks at the end of the day. Even the palace infrastructure was organized so well, I was impressed. Inside we saw the maharaja’s secrets, his collections of glass, learnt about his history, his bedroom wonders (rumors are that Pratap Singh had over 300 mistresses). After going through a live history lesson, I’m so spellbound by the history of Mewar, specially Maharana Pratap Singh’s valor, it’s a shame that we don’t have an epic movie yet made on the longest living dynasty in the world.

Next stops were Shilpgram, the lovely ensemble of Rajasthani, Gujarati folklore, their model huts in Rajasthani deserts. I could once again, get a guide for 50 rupees. I was so ashamed, I gave the old man 100 rupees, instead. Some local hand woven sarees and dresses were so exquisite, I was tempted to buy em all. I did however buy an antique wall cloth piece which did cost quite handsomely but it was nothing short of a marvelous art piece. Next, was a stop at Bagor Ki Haveli, the Rajasthani folk show. Out of the 200 odd audience, we were the only two Indians. It’s a pity, that India’s culture and art is only left to entertain foreigners now.

Mt Abu – Some breathtaking views, chilly nights (oh, it was freezing, felt like I was in Boston) and interesting ensemble of temples. One such a temple is Dilwara Jain Temples. One word – WOW. Little would you know what Indian Architecture can do with Marble if you haven’t seen TajMahal and Dilwara. Such exquisite detail of marble carvings on each sqaure foot of the pillar (thousands of pillars), my mind was speechless at it’s sheer beauty. There was Brahmakumari‘s Om Shanti headquarters. And then there was this splendid sunset point, 6000 feet above sealevel. Easily, top 3 best sunset points I’ve ever seen in my life.

It wasn’t long before we strolled back to Udaipur, checking out Haldi ghat and a couple of more temples enroute but what a journey this was! I couldn’t have asked for more. I’m glad I had all the time to spend with my wonderful bro.

Click here for my complete Rajasthan pics