Jodhpur – March 11, 2009
I woke up at 5am and was pleasantly surprised to have the train reach on time to Jodhpur, a quick trip by auto (haggling in Hindi allows for more of a bargain than you would expect) and 10 minutes later I was at the door step of Discovery Hotel. I rang the bell outside and a sleepy Raju (owner) let me in and immediately went back to sleep after showing me to a room. The room was great for Rs. 250, a nice hot bath and a good sleep later, I was ready on the ‘roof top’ restaurant having breakfast. While roti and sabji was being made, Ali and Asgar, two local kids taught me their version of battle (playing cards).It was Holi that day and I was all excited of playing the festival of colours in Jodhpur. A quick breakfast and I was out on the cobbled gullies wandering the streets in search of a short cut to the palace. I was surprised at the friendliness of the locals and had a wonderful time playing holi with all the children. At every gully, I was caught with gleaming eyes and hands full of red, green and yellow! Borrowing colours, taking from others, we went wild colouring each other, wishing each other and tasting sweets which the children insisted I eat. A steady ascent for sometime and there it was; a gigantic magnificant palace built on top of an impenetrable fortress. The whole palace was built on a huge cliff like structure which was smooth rose straight up more than 40 feet! I could see cannon marks on the outer walls, taking me back centuries when the Rajputs fought with each other and with the invading Muslims. I tried imaging taking over this fort but it looked rock solid from every angle and was a marvel in itself.
Since it was Holi, the palace itself was closed but I took the opportunity to wander around the fort and was happy to get a little time all to myself to be with this fort which I knew I was falling in love with. The balconies and windows were intricatley carved, the pigeons were cooing to each other and one of the security men was playing a flute from a balcony atop the palace. I went into a small homely little temple which was built in a corner on the outside of the fort. The place was completely empty and I’m sure if you actually focused, one could have heard the horses and live of the fort and all its inhabitants who lived ages ago. I took my time walking through the corridors, looking at the a few paintings which had been painted a long time back, and reach one end of the fort which over looked the city. All I saw was a vast ocean of blue houses, I stayed there for sometime just soaking in the view and allowing myself to be taken in by the allure of Rajasthan and all it has to offer. Pulling myself away from that spot, I went over to the other corner where there is an assembly of cannons laid out. Some of them have very intricate flower design work and they all stood in complete silence telling me the battles they had fought and the wars they had won over those centuries.
While trying a few camera shots, I met Karsten Klinger who had come down from Germany by himself and was also exploring India. We got chatting and decided to see Jodhput together, I was glad for the company, this love hate relationship with lonliness with standing. He was on a backpacking tour just like me and had come down to India was over a month as a holiday and a birthday gift for himself. We headed of to Jaswant Thada, a royal cenotaph built entirely out of marble. The whole palce was closed and we were informed that the palace and Jaswant Thada would open only at 2pm since it was Holi. We headed out to a local restaurant which served us nice north Indian Thali’s and where karsten was introduced to Rasmalai and wonderfully cold and thick malai lassi. We also had an opportunity to see a local street fight due to a minor mishap on the road (I swear I couldn’t see any dent but the car owner could and was shouting aloud with the choicest of words at the autorickshaw guy who had bumped into him. Of course the car guy beat a hasty retreat when he saw a whole bunch of auto drivers crossing the road where there was an autorickshaw stand!! ).
Immediately after lunch, we headed over to umaid Bhawan palace which was where the royal families had stayed before being converted into a heritage hotel and museum. To our misfortune, it was closed for visitors owing to security reasons and we headed back to the Mehrangarh fort and palace which I had fallen for. We went in, and then I spent almost 2 hours roaming the palace and all its rooms. How much of a chance would you have I wonder of meeting a South Korean tourist on the third floor of a fort in Jodhpur who works in Bangalore and resides close to your house; that’s exactly what happened and his ‘Indian’ name was Ashoka Lee. I am still to connect with all the wonderful people I met during my journey and it’ll have to be done soon enough. A quick visit to Jaswant Thada, a nice walk back through the busy market place and a glimpse of the old clock tower right in the center and voila, my journey of Jodhpur though short was a ver fascinating one. I enjoyed it thouroughly also because of Holi and the fabuluous dinner at the ‘New Discovery’ roof top restaurant!
Next stop – train to Abu Road and Mount Abu
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