My Rajasthan Dairies- Part 1

The land of sand and forts, the land of history and architecture, the land of valour and large-heartedness – Rajasthan. The jewel of India, the land with history seeped in every stone.

I had the pleasure of visiting this awesome magical state last month. Of course this wasn’t my first visit and neither my last, hopefully. Having covered the mandatory Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Mount Abu in our earlier visits, this time family and me decided to visit the relatively lesser known places. Strictly speaking of course, Ranthambore and Bundi are not quite that unknown, particularly among foreign tourists, but these are not your typical touristy places. A breathtakingly beautiful Jaisalmer was also thrown in into the itinerary, as how could one miss the world famous “Sonar Kella”?

Days of research on the net and studying railway time-tables later, we were ready with a five-place tour itinerary, starting December 16, 2017. Here I present the first of the series of my Rajasthan travel accounts.

Jaipur

This is where we started our journey. We had already seen the mandatory Hawa Mahal, Amber Fort, Jal Mahal, Nahargarh Fort and City Palace in our earlier visits. What we had missed earlier was the unique Jantar Mantar, a testimony to the unbelievable skill and knowledge of astronomy of the erstwhile ruler of Jaipur, Sawai Jai Singh.

 The whole complex houses intricate sun dials and instruments to calculate time and space accurately, based on the principles of ancient Indian astronomy as well as Western sciences. One can only marvel at the scientific temper and acumen of the builder of this monument.

  Pic: A sun dial in Jantar Mantar

Ps: We also made an unscheduled stop at the Nepali/Tibetan market, and were bowled over by the range of economical and sturdy winter wear, ranging from jackets, to sweaters, to blazers. An Uber driver had advised us to visit this market to get value for our money. Needless to say, our luggage also increased as a result of this shopping.

Sawai Madhopur/Ranthambore

Our next stop was Sawai Madhopur, the gateway to the world famous Ranthambore fort and forest reserve.

We had booked our stay at Rajputana Heritage, a cozy hotel cum guest house with a warm staff and a great view from the rooftop. The manager is an avid wildlife enthusiast and photographer, and a gracious host.

The hotel also arranged for passes to a jeep safari to the wildlife reserve for a fee. To say that we looked forward to the safari would be something of an understatement. Stories and pictures of tiger-spotting in the reserve were well-known. However, the choice of safari timings (late afternoon) made the chances of finding a big cat a little thinner.

Tigers are generally known to be night prowlers and dawn safari passengers had a better chance here. Nevertheless, with hope in our hearts and armed with camera, we embarked on the adventure. We spotted several colourful peacocks, spotted deer, sambhar, and birds (particularly the roufus treepie, also called the tiger bird for its resemblance to the big cat).

Pic: Spotted Deer (Above) and Sambhar resting by the lake (left)                               

Pics: A peacock in all glory and (Above right) A tiger bird (Roufus Treepie)

Our eyes and ears were open and alert to the slightest hint of a tiger’s appearance. But the lord of the jungle decided to give us the miss that day. We even heard the warning call of monkeys, but too much noise made by human vehicles and gadgets kept away the majestic, though reticent creature. The ride through the jungle was, however, very exciting. We were told by the guide that only 20% of the forest area is kept accessible to tourists. That 20% area is generally the outer ring of the jungle, not the deep core area. And we had travelled to only one zone of that 20%, which is further divided into 12 zones. So by the law of averages, our chances of sighting the tiger were practically nil.

Anyway, our forest adventure had made us ravenous, and we were able to do total justice to the ‘laal maas’ prepared specially for us. We had ordered the famed Laal Maas (a fiery dish of mutton cooked with the local Matahnia chillies), but later chickened out considering its hotness quotient. The hotel made us a tempered down version, very delicious, but more suited to the Bengali palate.

The next day, we planned to leave for Bundi by car, after visiting the rugged Ranthambore fort. The fort surrounds the forest reserve, but it takes at least 2- 3 hours for a good trek through the steep ramparts, so we couldn’t club it with the safari the day before.

The fort, built in red sandstone and rock, is a steep and rigorous climb of over a 250 steps, and most of the parts are crumbling or are in ruins owing to the ravages of time.

 

Pics: A canopy in Ranthambore Fort (Above) and (Right) Arches and gates

This fort is the oldest fort built by the Rajputs. Massive in structure and full of arches and canopies, it has an unpolished charm of its own. However, the much publicized Ganesh temple housed in the fort was something of a let-down. The temple looked neither old nor historic; it was obviously built recently to attract locals to the fort. And to provide livelihood to the petty shop owners selling flowers and refreshments outside the temple.

Our trek through the Ranthambore fort was arduous and tiring. After a couple of hours of climbing up and down, we were exhausted and bundled into the car for our journey ahead…to Bundi.

To be continued......