One early morning during the inception of the
festive season when all of Delhi slept, we made our way to the railway station
with the intention of catching the New Delh-Ajmer Shatabdi Express. The station
was bustling with activity even in that early hour, and except for a series of
people sleeping on the floor on mats and newspapers, there was hardly any
somniferous sign in the vicinity. Passengers waited for the early trains, the customary
mechanical female voice narrated the arrival-departure notifications in Hindi
and English respectively, while the coolies with brass amulet like badges
carried their usual tonnage. The newspapers of the day having freshly arrived
at one of the bookstalls, we helped ourselves to a crisp new sheet and a couple
of magazines.Our luggage at our heel, we waited for the train to
arrive at our platform.
Presently, the train slithered its way into view. The
arrival of a train is always an exciting sight to watch. The beacon of red
light and the boom of the engine horn are the first suggestions of its arrival,
and then come its massive body and its undulating tail. Even in these modern
days when many people prefer air travel over long-distance commute in railroad
trains, the appeal of the train as a quintessential mode of transport is far
from exhausted. Being an economical and easily accessible means of travelling,
apart from that vintage-appeal that it inevitably ensues, many of us desiderate
railroad travel to air-travel when time is not an issue.
Our train
commenced on its journey on-time and puffed its way out of the station. For the
next few hours, we viewed an ever-changing landscape outside our windows. After
the initial quarter of an hour, when we saw backs of houses, dumps of garbage,
there burst into view the hillocks, meadows and agricultural fields rich with
the fruits of the season. Bathed in the morning light, the green of the fields
were soothing to the eye accustomed to the pollution laden scenery of a
metropolitan city.
Presently, when we saw pink-washed buildings and
structures, we realized we were nearing the ‘Pink City’. The train reached Jaipur
station fifteen minutes later than its scheduled time of arrival and we made
our way to our hotel. The taxi cab ride from Jaipur station to our hotel, which
was near the Jalmahal, took nearly an hour because of the awful traffic jam
caused by the metro rail construction in the city. After a late lunch at the
hotel and a spell of much needed siesta, we made our way to the City Palace. The
pink city with its pinkish splendor spread its charmingly warm and sunny carpet
of welcome for us.
The city of Jaipur is a most perfect confluence
point of our eclectic Indian culture. Steeped in romance and marinating in
royal heritage, this well-planned, antiquated city, built by Sawai Jai Singh II
of the Kachhwaha Rajput clan, is a traveler’s delight. Planned by the Bengali
architect Vidyadhar Chakravorty, Jaipur is divided into nine blocks and
encircled by a formidable wall. In this walled city, you will find the
juxtaposition of the old and the new in a multihued canvas that accommodates
the myriad colors of India with rich flamboyance. Here, you will encounter
ostentatious palaces, stunning astronomical instruments, royal armory on one
hand, and modest shops selling delightful tchotchkes, pagdi-donned commoners,
ghagra wearing females on the other. Our three-day holiday in the city offered
us a great opportunity to dive into Jaipur’s rich culture and imbibe some of
its pink richness.
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| City Palace, Jaipur |
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Our first stop on our first day of touring around
Jaipur was the royal residence complex or the City Palace. Like the city of
Jaipur which offers a concurrence of the old and the new in the same canvas,
the City Palace, one of its principle architectures, too is a medley of two
different styles of design: Mughal and Rajput. This extensive regal complex is
complete with courtyards, gardens, museums, temples, etc. The royal family
still resides in a specially allocated portion of the City Palace. A fluttering
royal flag abaft the building occupied by the imperial family suggested the
presence of the present king in the building. When the king is absent from his
royal seat, the flag is not hoisted.
The entrance tickets of City Palace are modestly
priced for Indian residents. Having my graduate student card with me, I
successfully availed myself of the discount that you get if you have a valid student
identity card with you. Upon entering the royal complex, you find yourself
accosting the Mubarak Mahal, or the reception centre. When Sawai Madho Singh
built the palace, this area was used as a royal guest house. Now it houses the
Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum which displays a glorious collection of
royal memorabilia, weaponry, paintings and costumes. The most memorable among
this memorabilia is the voluminous dress worn by Sawai Madho Singh I. He was a
king with unprecedented adipose deposit: he weighed about 250 kg!
Making my way through a group of bewildered
onlookers who stood gaping at the king’s mighty dress, I found myself face to
face with the royal attire. Since visitors are not allowed to take pictures in
the museum, I mentally captured the image of the cloak impleached with gold. In
breadth it is so extensive that it could very well clothe a full family of four
individuals. As I tried to imagine the king wearing the same costume and
standing before me in his full height, I found a few stray drops of
perspiration on my forehead and so decided to amuse myself by concentrating on
the other finery.
Our next stop at the City Palace was the
Diwan-i-Khas, or the hall of the selective audience. Located on a raised
platform, the ceiling of this marble paved pavilion is decked with beautiful
chandeliers. However, the most exquisite items on display in the Diwan-i-Khas
are the two mammoth silver water containers mentioned in the Guinness Book of
World Records. Sawai Madho Singh II used these gigantic silver vessels to store
drinking water from the river Ganga when he went on his trip abroad.
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| Diwan-i_Khas at City Palace, Jaipur |
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| Diwan-i_Khas at City Palace, Jaipur |
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| Diwan-i_Khas at City Palace, Jaipur |
The Maharani’s Palace or the Sileh Khana is the power-packed
chamber of the City Palace, it being, ironically, in my opinion, the abode to
some of the most exquisite Rajput weaponry you’d ever see. Upon leaving the
Diwan-i-Khas, we headed in that direction of fearsome beatitude. An ostentatious
“welcome” sign on the wall made by arranging several daggers and knives
overwhelmed me with their presence. The Rajputs were evidently fond of their
toys as wherever I looked I accosted glass-case after glass-case of fierce weaponry.
Knives, swords, some with engraved, stone studded hilts, some simple in
appearance, bucklers and shields, guns and other armory filled every corner of
this massive chamber. Being a non-violent individual, I wasn’t at ease in that
chamber of arms; nevertheless, I couldn’t but admire the zeal of the Rajputs
who must have taken great pains in collecting that massive array of armaments.
Be that as it may, I decided to leave the gallery of weaponry and all thoughts
of war and death behind when I descended the stairs and headed for the
Diwan-i-Am.
The chamber for the general public or Diwan-i-Am is
a breathtaking gallery of royal collectibles and curios. From a handwritten
copy of the Bahagavad Gita to copies done in miniature form of other noted sacred
Hindi texts, the Diwan-i-Am displays it all. The hall itself is a poem done in
masonry. It has exquisite chandeliers, marble pillars and many more. You will
be drenched with beauty inside this extraordinary hall of ordinary people.
Upon exiting the Diwan-i-Am, we felt a strong urge
to savor some royal tea at the Royal Café in the vicinity. Apart from the fact
that the restaurant was inside the City Palace and their crockery had the royal
emblem, there was nothing especially royal about the café. The prices of food
items in the menu were modest and the quality of the tea they served was good.
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| Puppet Show at The City Palace, Jaipur |
Some gratuitous Rajasthani decor shopping later, we
went to see the Hawa Mahal, that exquisite palace of the wind located a few yards
away from the City Palace. The Hawa Mahal is the unequivocal crowning jewel of
Jaipur. Such is its design, its distinctive architecture, that standing in
front of it, even among the jostling peddlers and honking traffic of Jaipur,
you will find yourself transported to some romantic land of dreams. Maharaja
Sawai Pratap Singh who commissioned this building had originally intended it to
be a gallery for royal ladies to view the processions of the city. Nowadays you
don’t need to belong to the royal family to climb the stairs of this exquisite
five-storied marvel and enjoy the ever-changing kaleidoscope of life in the
Pink City.
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| Hawa Mahal, Jaipur |
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| Hawa Mahal, Jaipur |
The second day of sightseeing around Jaipur began
with a chance of adventure for us. We decided that instead of booking a cab, we
would travel by auto rickshaw and take in the flavor of the city, which we did,
literally, since pollution is the main ingredient of the Jaipur air.
Our first stop upon leaving our hotel was the
Jaigarh Fort. Of the three forts in Jaipur, Jaigarh is now known exclusively as
an artillery warehouse. Located at a strategic point, this hill-top fort offers
a breathtaking panoramic view of Jaipur. Maharaja Jai Singh II built the fort
in the 18th Century with the aid of the architect Vidyadhar
Chakravorty.
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| Jaigarh Fort |
The most exquisite item on display at the Jaigarh
Fort is the behemoth Jaivana Cannon cast in 1720. It is a humongous object that
speaks of the sheer power of the erstwhile Rajputs. Our guide informed us that
the Jaivana was test fired once and the impact of the cannonball was such that
a lake had formed in Chaksu, the place where the cannonball had landed. It is
mythically held that the range of the cannon is around 40 km.
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| Jaivana |
The museum at the Jaigarh Fort was fascinating as
well, being well equipped with royal photographs and artillery; nevertheless,
it was the ancient temple dedicated to Kal Bhairav, the protecting deity of the
fort, which interested me most.
From Jaigarh we headed to that famed structure of
Jaipur: The Amer Fort. In Jaipur, Amer is the only one where you’ll encounter royal
luxury in full. It has an exquisite Sheesh Mahal, fabulous gardens, a beautiful
Diwan-i-Am, and is in one word a perfect erstwhile royal seat. Located about 10
km north of Jaipur, Amer was the capital of the Kacchwaha Rajputs for nearly
700 years. The fort was built in 1592 by Raja Man Singh 1, while the subsequent
rulers added to its majestic charm.
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| Garden at Amer Fort, Jaipur |
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| Sheesh Mahal, Amer Fort, Jaipur |
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| The Saringi Player at the Amer Fort, Jaipur |
It being four already, we rushed to see the Jantar Mantar, which closes at five in the evening, from the Amer Fort. Jantar Mantat was built during a time when kings received especial epithets for being extraordinarily intelligent. Apparently, the sire who built Jaipur was in the eyes of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb sawa, meaning a quarter, more intelligent that most people. And this extra-intelligence earned him the soubriquet Sawai from Aurangzeb himself.
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| Jantar Mantar, Jaipur |
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| Jantar Mantar, Jaipur |
The Jantar Mantar observatory was built by Sawai Jai Singh II, who was renowned for his astronomical interest. It features an extraordinary array of complex astronomical instruments and is a treat for the eyes. This observatory is the best preserved of the five observatories that the king built in India.
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| Delicious Rajasthani Thali at LMB, Jaipur |
A long spell of shopping later, we next headed to
the famed Lakshmi Mistanna Bhandar, or LMB, as it is called in Jaipur, at the
Johri Bazaar for dinner. Being an avid traveler I have been to several
restaurants that serve Rajasthani food, but the exquisite Rajasthani thali of
LMB beats all my previous Rajasthani food experience by a wide margin.
Delicious is an understatement when speaking about the magnificent meal we had
that night at the eatery. The food was the cream on top of our perfect Jaipur get-away.
The cherry on top of it, however, was experienced by us the following day when
we boarded the famous double-decker train from Jaipur to Delhi. The train not
only started and reached its destination on time, but also offered us an opportunity
to view the landscape outside from an upper level compartment.
Thus our fabulous getaway to Jaipur came to an end
and we returned home refreshed and bearing a luggage of new memories to please
us in the coming months.
P.S. A caveat: if traveling by the double-decker train,
avoid the lower compartment. You will know why when you see it in person.
