Rajasthan Diaries - The Pink City!

Hi Guys,

A few weeks back, I was touring across Rajasthan covering Udaipur, Jaipur and Jaisalmer. This is an attempt to jot down some of the memories from the trip. Let me start with the part that was bang in the middle of the trip – Jaipur! Jaipur is an exciting mix of old and new. It is filled with a lot of history which seems to be sadly ignored in the cacophony of modern lifestyle. It is a pattern that you observe in a lot of Indian cities.

Arriving early morning from Udaipur, the fun started in the Railway station with the bargain for Auto Rickshaw. Ankur joined me for the trip and having a local helps a lot in any new city. We stayed in the Old City which has the cluster of heritage sites from the past. I was intrigued by the buildings having coral pink color and asked the sheepish question to Ankur. Only then did I remember that I was in the ‘Pink City’. The pink that you have in your mind and the pink that you find in Jaipur doesn’t help initially. It is amazing how the huge cluster of buildings inside the five gates are mandated to have the same color – it is quite a sight in the night to see them lightened up.

The first place in the trip was Hawa Mahal. I was hungry and we were still searching for a good breakfast place, there was traffic around around the Mahal itself was covered with dust which didn’t help. But, as we went inside and went up in the narrow staircases, we realized the beauty of the architecture. There were nice viewpoints and towers. The intricate glasswork does throw a spectrum of colors inside.

Hawa Mahal in the night!

We were still searching for Breakfast when we entered Jantar Mantar and we had to settle with Sandwiches in the canteen there. On a side note, there were tons of Kachori places all around which seems to be the go to breakfast in Jaipur, but I was not keen. Jantar Mantar started on a note where Ankur wanted to read each and every inscription available. We did end up reading all, but don’t know how much we comprehended though, as a lot were on astrology! The place is a marvel considering the detailed effort that must have gone into observing the universe when not a lot of modern instruments were available. The scale of some of the instruments available is gigantic.

Next stop – City Palace. City Palace is a nice mix of buildings and architecture. Darbar is the main place of interest here as it is one of the few places where you can see the exact setup of how the kingdoms ran. The armoury was even better as you see a huge set of weapons – swords, hammers, armours, ancient guns, etc. We spent a good time there analysing the science behind some of the weapons.

City Palace

As we left the City Palace, we took an electric Auto to Albert Hall. A point of note on the Jaipur Auto drivers – they are good at distracting people. Before we entered the city place, a driver was so keen to take us to Albert Hall saying there is nothing in City Palace. When we took the Auto to Albert Hall, a driver was so adamant that it is same as City Palace and we need to go to Jal Mahal. Finally the lady driver who took us there told us that we need to explore Maharani Market first. Thankfully, Ankur was there! The ride to Albert Hall was my first view of full-fledged Jaipur driving sense and I was left with a not so great memory of drivers honking all the time.

Albert Hall is currently the city museum. Constructed in the British era, the architecture of the building is a good example of Indo-Saracenic. The place was full of people – the City palace has a steep entrance fees and hence a lot of them choose Albert Hall as it is a mini version of what you see in City Palace museum. The key attraction there is a Mummy museum where they have a real mummy from Egypt. I don’t understand the correlation between Jaipur and Mummy though.

The other set of attractions in Jaipur are the forts which lie on the outskirts. As you start moving away from Jaipur, you realize that there are not just forts, but many walls and watch posts strewn across the hills.

Amer Fort from the outside with the moat!

There are three main forts – Jaigarh, Amber and Nahargarh. The first of the three has only one key attraction – Jaivana Cannon which was the world’s largest cannon on wheels when it was built in 1720. It has a range of 22 miles. The second one is the main tourist attraction of Jaipur. It is located right on the main road. You have to walk up, but still it is not nestled inside mountains the like the other two. It has a big moat which is still filled with Crocodiles (or atleast the warnings claim so).

Jaivana Cannon at Jaigarh

Amber Fort (or Amer Fort) is not just a fort, but it is also built as a palace with some royal architecture and intricate designs. Sheesh Mahal (Mirror Palace) is one of the most elaborate designs you will come across with heavy usage of small Mirrors. This fort is connected with Jaigarh fort for the royal family to escape in times of danger. Later, I came to know you can visit one place from the other through 30 - 45 minutes of walk – it must be quite an experience to do that.

Inside Amber Fort

Nahargarh is closer to the city, though the path is quite circuitous. It offers stunning views of the city. We went in the night, though I guess the views are good even during the evenings. There is also another interesting temple in Jaipur dedicated to the monkeys – Galtaji temple, which I did miss due to lack of time.

Before I left, I did walk a lot around the bazaars of Jaipur – the place it so lit up in the night, Hawa Mahal is spectacular, the shops are an interesting mix mostly aimed at tourists, there is lot of handwork around. Though I didn’t buy anything, I found the prices reasonable. There is lot of commercialisation given that Jaipur is a big city unlike Udaipur and Jaisalmer which were more friendly.

Feeding pigeons seems to be another favourite activity in Jaipur – saw a lot of pigeons outside Albert Hall and Amer Fort. They look lovely, but I guess they do cause a lot of issues – Albert Hall had lots of net to prevent them coming in.

Pigeons in front of Albert Hall!

What I found overrated in Jaipur was Birla Mandir, where the policemen were constantly chasing people away from taking photographs and Rawat’s Pyaaz Kachori. I did love the delicacies at Laxmi Mistaan Bandaar though.

The entrance tickets are quite expensive (Hawa Mahal – Rs. 50, Jantar Mantar – Rs. 50, City Palace – Rs. 200, Albert Hall – Rs. 40, Jaigarh – Rs. 70, Amer Fort – Rs. 100, Nahargarh – Rs. 100). All except City Palace are managed by ASI and the timings are same as a government office – 9 am to 5 pm which is quite a shame. The best weather of Jaipur is in the early morning and all places are closed then.

Final thoughts on Jaipur – two days is not enough if you want to patiently look into the architectural beauties of the palaces and the forts.

Happy Reading!