Living life KING SIZE....Jaipur

A special occasion calls for a special celebration...and in grand style. And what place can be better than Rajasthan to feel the grandeur....So some meticulous planning, impulsive shopping and last minute frantic packing later, we hopped onto our early morning flight to Jaipur.

Stop 1: Jaipur

The day began with a popat! Knowing R's love for omelettes, had planned to surprise him with breakfast at Sanjay's Omelette, a place reputed to dish out delectable varieties. Sadly, my driver informed me that the place wouldn't be open so early in the morning (is 7.30 am early for breakfast?!?). Disappointed, we proceeded directly to Hawa Mahal, enroute bowing our heads from a respectable distance to the deities housed in the Birla Mandir.

Almost as soon as we hit the roads in Rajasthan, we began missing our dear car (had originally planned to do a road trip). The roads in Rajasthan are...well, roads! What we have here in Mumbai should be called craters! With barely any traffic, we reached Hawa Mahal in no time.

Hawa Mahal, with crowds milling about

This famous five storied 'Palace of Winds' was constructed in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh so that the royal ladies could observe everyday life in the streets below, without themselves being seen. A quick look around and one can easily comprehend the scene that the royal ladies would have looked upon from their intricately carved jharokhas!

Even on a Sunday morning, the place was abuzz with activity. Endless stream of tourists pouring out of buses, cameras clicking all around, shopkeepers vying with each other to sell their ware, locals dressed in tradition garb offering to pose for photos and the constant flow of traffic....With so much crowd around, it was almost impossible to photograph the monument without random folks popping up in your pictures.

The Hawa Mahal

Undaunted, R spotted a row of shops opposite Hawa Mahal and got on to the terrace on the second floor. Promptly a shopkeeper materialized to claim an 'access fee' of Rs. 10 per person for using his terrace to photograph the monument! I am sure he made more money this way than by selling the stuff in his shop! Anyway, we didn't mind the fee as the terrace offered absolutely the best view of the honeycomb facade of Hawa Mahal. R once again unleashed his camera and got blissfully busy, while I soaked in the scene of the street below - two snake charmers attracting more attention from the foreign tourists than the famous monument itself!

Peacock Gate at the City Palace, Jaipur

We decided to skip going into the Hawa Mahal and a quick breakfast later, headed straight to the City Palace. As the royal family of Jaipur still resides here, only some parts (mostly outer courtyards) of the palace grounds are open to the public. Apart from two huge silver pots (largest in the world!) which were used to carry the sacred waters of the Ganga while the king travelled, the City Palace also houses some collections of garments, weapons, etc. It is perfectly alright to give these things a miss if you are pressed for time. What should not be missed though, (and the reason we were here) is staring in awe at the beautiful 'Peacock Gate'.  Embellished with intricate patterns of flowers, creepers and peacocks, this is one of the four beautifully painted gates (each depicting one season) in the innermost courtyard that finally leads into the royal residence. Public entry is restricted beyond this point. The courtyard, known as the Pritam Niwas Chowk, also offers a good view of the facade of the main palace structure.

We could have endlessly admired the Peacock Gate or the equally stunning Lotus Gate, but another architectural wonder, of an altogether different kind, beckoned to us - the Jantar Mantar.

Literally next door to the City Palace, the Jantar Mantar is a collection of astronomical instruments. 'Jantar' is the corrupted version of the Sanskrit word 'Yantra', meaning instrument and Mantar means (method of) calculation. One of the five such observatories built by Maharaja Jai Singh II, and the most well preserved, Jantar Mantar is included in the list of world heritage sites. This observatory consists of several geometric devices which are used to measure time, track the movement of the sun, stars and constellations, predict eclipses and monsoons, and finally, to prepare horoscopes or birth charts. The amazing 90 ft high sun dial, called the Samrat Yantra, shows the local time to a precision of 2 seconds! Most instruments are in perfect working condition and we were fortunate to have a very knowledgeable guide (Mr. Gaurav Singh Rathore) who explained the working of each one with great satisfaction. R and I spent a blissfully long amount of time here understanding and admiring how these instruments worked, quizzing our guide and exercising our grey cells. I shall not give any pictures of the Jantar Mantar here for the precision and beauty of these wonderful instruments really has to be admired first hand!

After a couple of happy hours here, we decided to move on, this time heading out of the city and towards the Jaigarh Fort. Enroute, we passed, and clicked photos of, the picturesque Jal Mahal - the lake palace. The palace is currently out of bounds for the public, but massive efforts have been undertaken to restore the beautiful lake, in the midst of which the palace is set. With the water now clean and replenished, the lake once again attracts hordes of birds, adding to the magical beauty of the place. Hopefully, this palace will soon open its doors to the public.

The Jaivan Cannon

Just a little further away, and up a hill, from the Jal Mahal is the Jaigarh Fort. The drive up the hill itself is a treat, with spectacular views of the city, the Amber Fort and the Jal Mahal. Would have loved to walk around the fort and along the amazingly intact ramparts, but lack of time forced us to drive all the way to the top where the famous Jaivan cannon reposes. At 20 ft long, and boasting a range of over 40 kms, Jaivan is the largest cannon in the world! It took the strength of FOUR elephants to simply swivel it around! The presence of this mean monster ensured that the ruling Kachwahas enjoyed a peaceful reign and thus the cannon never ended up being used in battle. Local legend has it that the Jaivan was test fired once, using 100 kgs of gun power. The shot ball, weighing 50 kg, landed near a village called Chaksu 40 km away. Today a pond marks the place of impact. Another popular local tale is that one elephant and eight people died by the shock wave created on firing the cannon. Shocking, eh!

Amer Fort, reflected in the Maota Lake

Well, if Jaivan is the largest cannon in the world, the meal (Rajasthani Thali) we had thereafter would have easily qualified for the largest meal in the world....well, atleast until we realized that its the norm out here! I barely managed to create a dent in the huge quantities of sumptuous food served on my plate and was more than glad when our next stop, the Amer Fort, presented me with the chance of digesting all the heavy food with some robust walking around.

Ganesh Pol

Situated atop a hill some 11 km out of Jaipur, the Amer Fort was the seat of the Kachwaha rulers from the 11th Century onwards, until they moved their capital to Jaipur in 1727. Like the Jaigarh Fort, Amer too has seen peaceful times and hence the structure is pretty much intact. However, unlike the Jaigarh Fort, which is purely a military structure, the Amer Fort is more of a palace complex tastefully constructed in four levels, each with a well adorned gate and courtyard. The most beautiful of the gates is the Ganesh Pol marking the entry to the third level. Decorated with numerous frescoes and dedicated to Lord Ganesha, this gate leads into the private quarters of the royal family.

Sukh Niwas and the garden

If the entry gate is so stunning, could the private quarters be any less? The Ganesh Pol leads into another courtyard consisting of the Sukh Niwas (Hall of Pleasure) which overlooks a garden with hexagonal designs. Currently the garden is in need of some tending, but once upon a time colorful flowers used to adorn the plants in the sunken beds. These were trimmed in a way that made the garden look like a colorful plush carpet. Fountains in the center spouted scented water which was run through concealed wall channels to cool the palaces.

Opposite the Sukh Niwas is the exquisite Sheesh Mahal or the Mirror Palace! Thousands of convex shaped mirrors carefully cut and laid in intricate patterns on the walls and ceiling give this palace the look of a 'glittering jewel box'. It is hardly difficult to imagine how the place would have glittered in the light of even a single lamp!

Ceiling of Sheesh Mahal

Sunlight reflecting off a panel in Sheesh Mahal...
Just imagine what the palace must look like with lamps lighted!

Discharging our guide, we decided to simply hang around at the fort. As closing time approached, the courtyards quickly became devoid of tourists and not before long we had the fort all to ourselves in near perfect solitude! We simply ambled around, clicking pictures and watching the sun disappear behind the ramparts....

But having seen the fort was not enough, so R and I headed for the sound and light show conducted at the Kesar Kyari complex. The location, at the Maota lake, offers excellent panoramic views of the Amer Fort, the nearby Jaigarh Fort and the surrounding hills. The hour long show introduced us to the history of the Amer Fort and its rulers, the Kachwahas. Tales of blood and gore have been intertwined beautifully with soulful folk music, offering a glimpse of the eternal spirit of Rajasthan. 

Our bored-to-death taxi driver breathed a visible sigh of relief when we emerged out of the sound-and-light-show complex. Infact, he even declared that he has never been this bored in his life - cooling his a** off for over 5 hours in the parking lot of the fort! Apparently, other tourists are done here in under 2 hours. Obviously he wasn't at all delighted when we announced our intention of heading back into the main fort complex - this time for dinner. 

Candle light dinner at 1135 AD

A beautiful moon smiling overhead, gentle breeze blowing over the ramparts, soft lighting around the fort walls and the fort all to ourselves! Could we ask for more?..... Well, why not! How about some mindblowing, finger-licking good traditional Rajasthani food served in best-of-its-class royal ambiance....1135 AD offered us just that! Fantastic food....impeccable service....superb ambiance....and the company of a loved one....I WAS THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD! 

After a long leisurely dinner, it was finally time to head for the railway station to board our late night train to Jaisalmer. Waiting for the TC to check our tickets before we called it a day, I sat glancing through some of the photos we had clicked during the day. The quintessential snake charmer to the Jantar Mantar,  one of the best private astronomical observatories in the world....Jaivan, the largest cannon in the world to the Sheesh Mahal, a palace of exquisite beauty - Jaipur is a perfect reflection of the contradiction that is India!....I am sure we'll be back to explore more of this city soon, but for now, I was looking forward to our next stop - Jaisalmer....