Travel - Jaipur, Udaipur, Ajmer, Pushkar in 2004

This is a travelogue I wrote in April 2004 or so, when I first visited Jaipur.

Jaipur
We missed the morning flight to Jaipur because Bobby came late to the airport. He had all the tickets!!

ME and Hawa Mahal

We bought tickets for the next flight and flew to Delhi and then took a Volvo to Jaipur. In Jaipur I went to the Amber fort and spent most of the day there. It's beautiful and very well preserved.

ME at the Jantar Mantar

Over the period of the next few days I went and saw the Hawa Mahal, the Birla Mandir, Jantar Mantar, the old city (a mall, can you believe that?).

Tops at Jantar Mantar

Jaipur was also the place where we saw one of the best pubs ever - lovely interiors, great décor, fine music and food. Wonderful time.

The Birla Mandir

Udaipur

I took the overnight bus from Jaipur to Udaipur. Though the journey was only about 9 hours, the distance being about 370 kms, I got the tickets for a bus that left at 7 p.m. from Jaipur.

View of the Udaipur palace from the boat

Got in and settled myself in one of the front seats and snuggled up for the long journey ahead. The air conditioning was at full blast and we nearly froze to death.

The famous Lake Palace of Udaipur

While 99% of the bus passengers were of the opinion that the AC be shut off there was one nutcase who wanted it on - and we had to suffer it for him! Thankfully I had a tiring day that day, going round the MI Road of Jaipur with my friend Sunil and I dozed off.

Bhatti and I at the Udaipur palace

Udaipur was reached very early in the morning. I was picked up by a couple of officials who took me to the club where I was put up.

Armour - Prithivraj Chauhan

 The first visit of the day was to the Udaipur palace which was well preserved again. I saw the Lake Palace from far and took a boat ride close to it.

The crystal room which had crystal beds, tables, glasses, chairs, and practically everything you could imagine - in crystal - was astounding. Apparently the day the consignment arrived in India the raja who ordered it had died and therefore it was considered inauspicious. It was never used!

We went to the Udaipur lake and I got a sight of the famous canals of Udaipur along the way. At dusk we went to a place where they served traditional Rajasthani food and I was bowled over by it. Rich and heavy. Saw some of their folk dances etc and it was time to catch the night train back. Bhatti was very helpful during my stay there and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Pushkar
Pushkar is considered the holiest lake for the Hindus. It has a Brahma temple where they worship Brahma (unique I believe), an annual camel fair (very famous) and of course the great Pushkar lake where they have an annual period which is considered very holy for Hindus since Pushkar is the place where all the Gods are present. Legend is that the lake was there before creation began and will be there after the world is destroyed. So powerful is it they say that Brahma withdrew its highly potent power for most of the year except for the six days when it is considered to have all its powers back. Story goes that Brahma had a yagna there which was to be attended by all the Gods and that is one of the reason why it is so sacred.

Folk dance on stilts

The lake itself is a rather dirty lake but an amazing thing because it is quite full and is in the middle of the desert. All around it are ghats built by maharajahs of Ajmer like Prithviraj Chauhan, Mughals like Akbar, Aurangazeb, Jehangir and so on and so on. It is set in the middle of mountains. In fact while you travel to Pushkar you get a feel of the desert as the topography changes, you can see sandy stretches, barren lands and arid landscapes. Its like something out of a movie. Anyway I put some water on my head washed my hands and feet and they say it is equivalent to dipping in all the teerthas or whatever. Thus continue my days as the pilgrim.

The Pink Floyd Cafe

Somewhere on the way I saw this - The Pinkfloyd Café - in the middle of the desert.

Ajmer

From there we went on to Ajmer which is 11 lms away where the famous dargah of Moinuddin Chisti (or Gharib Nawaz) is situated. It is a very different place, a narrow street leading upto the dargah filed with beggars and pilgrims. Now this dargah is famous because they say that whatever you ask for is fulfilled here. The Chisti, a Sufi saint, came from Persia when he was 52 and settled down there and died when he was 97. He came during the reign of Prithviraj Chauhan (the raja of Ajmer) and Akbar. The most famous story is that Akbar asked him for a son because he never had one and after meeting the saint his wish was fulfilled. Apparently Akbar walked all the way from Agra to Ajmer when his wish was fulfilled.

Puppet Show

I bought the traditional chadar and offered it, prayed for an expansion of my consciousness. Thought of you as well and prayed for a happy life for you where all your desires are fulfilled as well. The place is managed by some white robed muslims called khadims. Now when the saint came from Persia he was accompanied by a relative of his spiritual guru and that person took care of the Chisti’s every need. He was known as the original khadim and these current day khadims are all his descendants. They manage the show and are the only ones who are allowed inside the tomb area. It was a fine experience and I enjoyed the peace of that place.

I somehow attracted all the beggars in the area and they kept on begging me. I was struck by one really cute kid who kept on begging from me right from the time I left the dargak to the car which was almost a kilometer away. She was so cute and was smiling and even making fun of the faces I made (aise muh nahin banana baba, baba tumhara bhala karega..) and all other beggars went except her. For some reason she would not beg from the others. When I finally got into the car she still was there at the window, smiling, her eyes full of mischief and love, and I could feel some major connection there with that small girl. I finally gave her ten bucks and she gave me one dazzling smile and one baba tumhara bhala karega or whatever and vanished into those streets. That was a experience I will not forget just as the smile that our young sixteen yesr old khadim gave us when I wished him a good life while leaving.

Jaipur again
We reached Jaipur by five that evening after a fine dhaba wala meal with tanddor rotis, missi rotis, dal and paneer. The Sardarji who owned that Qualis was a fine and speedy driver. After some freshening up at the hotel I decided that I must drop Agra because it was already getting to be too hectic. After a couple of drinks at the hotel our crowd wanted to check out the discos (yes, jaipur actually has a few discos unlike Hyd which only has pubs). We went to one at 12 which was shut and then went to another five star called Rambagh where they refused entry to stags (obviously). So we went back and slept.

On Sunday we did some late afternoon shopping but the best part of Sunday was the discovery of a restobar called Café Kooba (somewhere near the Vidhan sabha towards Sanchar Bhavan in a street that’s like some residential area) which served some amazing food, has a lovely ambience, great music, terrific graffiti, loads of chilled beer and a fine attitude. Very classy without being too expensive (something like ‘our place’ rates). But whatever you do, its great value for money. Apparently it gets a great crowd every evening and it is managed by a fine gentleman whom we met. On Saturdays it is normally open till 3 or 4 in the morning he said. The veg and non veg platters were outstanding.

I took the 1215 volvo to Delhi. Met a five star chef in the bus who is a consulting chef for hotels etc. Next morning the bus dropped me off at 5 in the morning at Delhi. I had to kill about 6 hours at the airport and waited and waited. Met one non stop nonsense businessman from Hyderabad who was just returning from China who kept me awake with his nonsense. Reached Hyderabad at 2 in the afternoon.