Off day and I could not bear to sit at the hotel when the Amer Fort is so near. NP had decided to chill - he is not much to sightsee or admire stuff.
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| Amer fort or Amber fort up there |
I asked Krishna if he wanted to join me and he was game so off we went hiring Babu's auto to the Amer Fort. Last I was here was in 2004, just after I quit my job with IDBI.
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| The large courtyard which has elephants etc |
I am glad we took the rick because the entry is terribly narrow and there are a hundred plus cars all lined up in narrow lanes which are somehow managed by the few traffic cops there. Babu dropped off us as near as he could to the fort and we walked up. We entered a huge courtyard with elephants and many tourists, all slightly lost as to what to do. We bought tickets, hired Ramesh as our guide and onwards we went. The fort overlooks a lake - Maota lake.
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| Entry into the palace (tickets needed for this!) |
First stop was the Shila Devi temple where they say a goat is sacrificed every day. Its beautiful - the temple, not the sacrifice. From there we walked in and saw the Diwan-e-aam, the Diwan-e-Khaas, sheesh mahal which I remember from the last visit, the queen's palaces and the king's palace and the many ways the king designed the palaces so he can keep the 12 queen's guessing and happy. Some secret tunnel that goes to Jaigarh.
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| View - cars queuing up, the Jagat Shiromani temple behind |
The village of Amer and from there I could see the Jagat Shiromani temple which I was told by a devotee, about a Meera temple and worth seeing. We walked all over, saw the Cafe Coffee Day inside, enjoyed the views and returned to the exit. There were several wedding shoot fellows shooting away inside and they get very upset if you enter their frame. We gave Ramesh ji 500 bucks (fee is 400 and he tried to return the 100 but we told him to buy his kids sweets!). Apparently they both study well - one in his degree and the other in school prepping for engineering.
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| Palace grounds - imposing |
Krishna enjoyed the outing. He is a video analyst with the HCA and a very good one at that. For one so young he is quite composed, aware, keeps abreast of news and information and goes way beyond his brief when asked. He is very approachable which is why he is a favorite with everyone, comes back with his responses and information quickly and accurately, is reliable. Much of my work for the selection I run past him especially regarding players statistics and histories and he has a sharp memory for stuff. I gifted him a copy of my book and he was quite happy to receive it. I also told him I would treat him out because of his good work in the past four months and he was quite happy to hear some appreciation.
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| Diwan-e-aam for the commoners |
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| Ramesh ji clicked this |
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| A nice doorway with some admiring tourists |
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| Poignant - some mirror magic by rameh ji at Sheesh Mahal |
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| The queen's residences I think |
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| Coffee - a lot can happen over coffee |
We walked to the Jagat Shiromani temple also known as the Meerabai temple (1599), built by Queen Kanakvati, wife of King Man Singh in memory of their son Jagat Singh.
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| Jagat Shiromani temple |
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| Inside the temple - Lord Krishna's idol |
The temple has a statue of Lord Krishna which they say was the same statue that Meerabai worshiped in Mewar. We went in, rang the bell, prayed and headed back outside. Quite an experience.
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| Steps leading up |
Then off we went in search of Babu and his auto. Krishna had a meeting so we had to rush back. But Babu wanted to fill in gas in his CNG auto - so he took us to a small house in a slum where one popular fuel man filled in gas from an LPG cylinder!
Babu dropped us off at the hotel. Krishna rushed off to his meeting. NP descended from his room and we headed off for lunch!
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