Rajasthan- A period romance

Looking at the title, one might wonder if this is a soppy romance saga of a princess and her unrequited love or one of a proscriptive love and its various hardships in tumultuous times. Thankfully it's none of that. I have neither the experience nor the patience and if I may say so, the penmanship to write one. My very limited writing skills go only so far, as to let me write about my various experiences. This is one such about my recent holiday to Rajasthan. Doesn't sound very romantic now, does it? Well I set out on the holiday with pretty much the same idea; Rajasthan-Camels, sand and some desolate forts. I have never been happier to have been proved this wrong. The love affair if I may say so, started off as a sublime interest that has grown into a flown blown flame for this amazing land and its varied culture. There is something about this place that just draws you in. And once you are in; you are in hook, line and sinker. On the outset, it might not seem much, just like any other place in India but Rajasthan has quite a few tricks up its many sleeves. Let's start with Jaipur, the capital. The city is much the same as any other city in India with its narrow roads, population growing faster than the infrastructure development, you get the idea. This is where the similarities stop. While the prices in all these places are insane and targeted at the international tourist, the rest of it is still very Indian. The city is clearly marked out in old and new city, the old residing inside the traditional four gates and yes, most of the city is actually pink. But this is not something that one would not expect. The actual surprise, lies at a little distance away from the main city, set upon a small hillock. It's the ancient city of Amer, now called the Amber fort. The fort rises majestically like a typical Rajput royal residence on the hill. The facade is designed beautifully with its many towers and the serpentine fortification wall. The courtyard that one arrives at through the arch known as 'Suraj Pol' or the Sun gate is wide and was used to assemble the army. On the other end of the courtyard is the Moon gate opening to the west and was used in the days gone by to welcome guests of the kingdom. A staircase from this courtyard opens up to another courtyard that houses a pillared hall, which was the king's meeting hall in the by gone era. This is also the entry point into the main area of the fort. The passages leading into the inner areas of the fort are narrow and all the steps on their stairs twice the size of a normal step with lattice work windows being the only source of light and aeration. The sheer size of each step and the breadth of the passage makes me wonder if there was a purpose to this. It was either to take enemy down if they ever broke in or that was their weight loss and fitness strategy. High stairs- You have to have some semblance of fitness to climb a step that high and narrow passageways- U can't get fat and not get stuck in their. I think it is mostly the latter than the former. These narrow passages open up to what is aptly called the "Sheesh Mahal", owing to the thousands of mirrors that have been affixed to the wall and ceiling of this structure. The mirrors used still reflect images perfectly despite having been made centuries earlier. They are laid out in various patterns across the 3 walls of this structure. The fourth wall has rooms not open for visitors but one can see through the door, the delicate colored glass designs set in the wall. One such is an image of Krishna and the gopis, the glass still sparkling despite being in a closed dark room, the only source of light being the closed glass doors which believe me, doesn't let in much light. Around this structure are the "Hamams" something akin to the Turkish baths. The queens had their own marbled bath tubs sunk about 3-4 feet into the ground. The guides outside the fort, when they are trying to get you to hire them tell you about how they will show you the queen's marvelous jacuzzi, making it sound really fancy. It is but this sunken tub that they talk about, which unlike the ones in modern times needed water to be poured in and then taken out manually. Yea, that's right! No indoor plumbing you see. Nevertheless, you have to give them credit for making the most with what they had. For example, during the harsh Rajasthan summers, the surrounding Aravali ranges blow in hot air making the indoor royalty pretty uncomfortable. To fix this, the king came up with an indoor cooling system using a high rise water tank and mats made of Vetiver, commonly known as Khus. A simple concept really, the high rise tank had a slope through which the water flowed and was captured with mats of Vetiver. The air when it blew through these mats carried the moisture and voila! We have Natural AC. And it doesn't stop at this. For the royalty in their twilight years, there are ramps all across the fort, where they were wheeled around in their wheelchair. The wheelchair isn't much now and looks pretty rudimentary but I guess it served the purpose back then. But the Queen's quarters in the fort seem pretty tiny, just about the size of a 10X10 room today. Not a lot of room, but then when you have so many queens for a king, I think the king wouldn't have been bothered too much with giving them bigger rooms than with giving rooms to just all of them. Sad but then there isn't much a queen can do or is there? Let's leave that to one such queen who'll come along later in Udaipur. But before we jump cities, let’s head to Bikaner and its fort- Junagarh that unlike all other forts in Rajasthan is set on the plain rather than a hill. The fort looks simple but elegant from the outside with its numerous balconies and windows and the intricate carvings that seem typical to Rajasthan. But once inside, what strikes one is the flapping of several wings and cooing of several pigeons but not one in sight. That’s when you raise your eyes skyward and are surprised to find a fine metal mesh spread across the entire fort. This was put in place when the fort was built to keep the pigeons out but a few rogue ones do manage to get in the same way humans do when we come in through heavy metal chains hung just about at every doorway in this fort. The fort by itself is much the same in idea as the one in Jaipur with its room of mirrors and armory. But the paintings here inside the fort are much well preserved without too many signs of them fading away. What is unusual is the king’s bed that is still kept here as a part of the exhibits. The bed is only about 4 feet long and the legs are less than half a foot tall (my measurements may be slightly off, but it is indeed a tiny bed). As our very loud guide explained, there was a reason to this design of the bed. Some king (I don’t remember which one, forgive me) was murdered in his sleep when the assassin hid under his bed and used an opportune moment in the middle of the night. That explains the height, but what of the length you ask. This is so that, if anyone does tie the king up to the cot, his feet and probably part of his legs would still dangle off the bed due to the short length and the king could then just lift himself off the floor while still being tied to the cot and either fight or make his escape. Smart idea but we don’t know if that situation ever presented itself to test it out. But I wonder if having to sleep so uncomfortably every night did make him surly and cranky. They don’t give out those kinds of details and since my exceptionally slow brain comes up with these questions only in hind sight, I have no way of knowing. There is another slightly strange story about a custom still followed amongst the royal family. It so happened, that a queen escaped with her young son and sought refuge in this kingdom. The king granted this but when he realized that the lady was not a commoner but one of blueblood, he took her under his wing as his sister and raised the boy to be trained in all the arts of warfare. I won’t get into the details but this boy when he turned an adult, on the instigation of a few ministers killed the king during Diwali. He then went ahead and killed these same ministers, as he believed that since they never were loyal to their own king, they never would be loyal to him. To commemorate this ghastly act of having killed his guardian, he wore black to celebrate the festival of lights. To this day, his descendants in the royal family wear black or navy blue during Diwali. Some family tradition! As you start moving among the various exhibits, a very funny looking spoon catches your eye. It’s a normal looking spoon but of course made of silver. Yes, their silverware was actual silver. But then, u notice a strange looking piece of silver sheet on top of this spoon. The story goes, this belonged to a king (oh so, obvious) who was very fond of his moustache. This was his soup spoon and he had it designed so that, there would be a piece of silver sheet covering the top exactly where his moustache would touch the spoon. This was done to keep the soup from touching his beloved facial hair and presented no difficulty either in drinking the soup. Two birds with one stone! I will not go into the details of the armory but I have hardly even seen so many varieties of weapons in one place. One hunting gun needs a special mention here. It’s easily over 10 feet long and the king carried it all by himself when out hunting. I don’t know what animal needed shooting with such a long gun. Royalty and their quirks. While we traversed across Rajasthan from Jaipur to Bikaner, we did not fail to notice the steady of fall of temperature. To say our room in Bikaner was freezing would be an understatement. But nothing could have prepared us for our next destination Jaisalmer. The vegetation kept changing gradually, the soil slowly kept giving way to sandy patches and thorny bushes typical to a desert but it was the coarse and granular sand that we kept encountering and not the desert sand. To see that, we would need to head to the outskirts of Jaisalmer even before getting there. We took a detour before entering the city that took us steadily west, closer to the Thar and further beyond, the border of India and Pakistan. A little distance off on this road, many desert resorts start popping up on either side of the road. They offer camel rides, dune bashing, overnight stay in the tents, midnight desert safari, some folk dances, the works. I chose to ride a camel till the desert and then go dune bashing in the Thar Jeep and then watch the sun set over the desert. I haven’t been so apprehensive about sitting on a camel before. It didn’t help with the stories I had heard of people falling off of these animals and injuring themselves and the poor beast. I almost fell off the camel when it started standing up on its ungainly legs. I would have toppled over and broken the animal’s neck, not just then but later when the camel owner made it trot and run. I have no idea why he did that, seeing as I did not even having anything to have a decent grip on the animal’s back. Maybe he simply got his kicks out by freaking people out for a few minutes. I was lucky that it was only my over active imagination at work and I actually did neither fall off nor harm the camel. But I digress, there is more to be told here than my “suddenly freaky, suddenly amazing and back to ‘Oh please I don’t wanna die so young’”, camel ride. Having never seen a desert before, I was excited to say the least. The gently rolling dunes rise proudly out of the ground just a hill would. I would have believed if someone told me there is magic in this sand here. It was love at first sight. Whatever came after that, only enhanced the experience- Be it the crazy dune bashing in the 4 wheel drive, the numerous deer and peacocks that kept frolicking around, the lonely fox out in the open for a few seconds before running into deeper shrubbery, the numerous camels with their rides over some dunes or the beautiful sun set where the sun just stops being visible a little over the horizon but how you never see it set completely and yet the evening darkens faster than ever. Its enthralling, spellbinding and so much more. But it’s biting and ruthlessly cold once the sun sets. The temperatures suddenly nose dive but its beauty doesn’t diminish one bit due to this. It only adds to the charm allure of the desert. This far out in the wilderness is another beauty that most city folks miss out on- the brilliant night sky. Call me a hopeless romantic (read night sky lover) if you will, but few things really take my breath away the way a moonless dark night does in the middle of nowhere. I never knew that there were so many hundred stars between and around the constellations Orion and the Canis Major. The sky was the darkest shade of black I had ever seen and the stars were on a luminance contest. It was only the most perfect end to the amazing day, but what took that even one, no make that ten steps further was the amazing room heater waiting for us back at the hotel. For the very first time, I was appreciating the warmth of a nonliving thing more than the love and warmth I had ever received from my friends and family. The desert chill does that you. You will appreciate warm broth and a warm bed more than ever. But Jaisalmer has more than just the desert on offer. Called the golden city, due to the fort and the various structures made out of yellow sandstone stone mined here, Jaisalmer used to lie on the old Silk route. This was a hub for silver jewelry and a point for people to rest before heading out into the desert towards Pakistan and then Afghanistan. But post-Independence, due to the borders between India and Pakistan and the not so cordial relationship, Jaisalmer slowly started turning into a ghost town as most folks left the city to seek work outside. But about 40 years ago, efforts were made to revive this into a tourist spot, which paid off. The city is still known for its famed silver jewelry market but also for its Havelis and the fort. The Jaisalmer fort is unusual in its shape in being triangular and hence also called a triangular fort. It’s unique in not having any mortar used for construction but instead has interlocked stones to hold the entire fort together. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site and also a living fort. Several generations of the current families have been residing in the fort ever since they were given place to stay by one of the kings. Families have stayed for centuries, set up shops, hotels, restaurants all within the walls of the fort. By this I don’t mean they have constructed anything new. Far from it, they still reside in the same fort complex as it was built but maybe with new renovations on the inside. Inside the fort are a few Jain temples that are plain on the outside but show amazing carving skills of the artisans on the inside. This was done to keep the temples safe from the Mughal plunderers, who would destroy a Hindu place of worship had they seen any carvings on the outer walls. The carvings of the deities and the maidens, the floral patterns, the intricate arches are so well etched that one can’t but, stop and be amazed at this example of the some of the most wonderful heritage of this country. The carving skills don’t just stop there. The city is replete with examples of this but never more than at its numerous Havelis. The Havelis are made out of the same yellow sandstone as the fort but the front walls are inlaid with beautiful lattice work windows, balconies with intricate designs and numerous pillars. I couldn’t help but be wowed by the amazing art that was done centuries ago with only manual tools, that the modern tools don’t even come close to accomplishing. Who knew a flower carved out of stone could look just as or more beautiful than the one that blooms in a garden. It was time now for us to head to the blue city of Jodhpur and see its Mehrangarh fort. The fort is imposing in its size, made out of red sandstone that is mined here in the city. The view from top of the fort gives one an idea as to why this place is called the blue city. Spread across the city, are hundreds of houses painted in blue thus giving Jodhpur its name. After having seen so many forts, there really isn’t much different in its layout or design. But the sheer size of the fort and the thick walls enclosing the fort makes it an intimidating sight nevertheless. What struck me the most here was the number of guides, conversing so well in various European languages with hardly any accent. Their English sounded rusty but not their German or French. I had hardly even imagined meeting local tour guides who had such flair for European languages. It seemed, like Rajasthan the Rajasthanis also had a few tricks up their sleeve. En route to Udaipur our last destination, was Ranakpur. This is a massive Jain temple complex carved completely out of marble and has exquisitely carved pillars numbering over 1444, no two of which are similar. The temple is dedicated to all the Jain Tirthankaras starting from the very first Tirthankara Adinath. Despite being filled with tourists from various places, the quiet and silence at the temple is surprising. The beautiful Skillman ship quiets not just the ever wagging tongue but the ever impatient mind. Nestled in the lap of the Aravalis, the only sound one can hear other than the random quiet murmur of voices is the soft chime of the bells moving in the mountain breeze, set atop the various turrets of the temple. One can’t help but feel harmonized from within in this setting of quietude. But no matter how good it felt, it was time to make a move and head to the Lake city Udaipur. Famous for its several manmade lakes, the city has some interesting sights- be it the royal family’s vintage car collection or the city palace or the garden of maidens called ‘Sahelion ki Badi’. This Garden of Maidens was built by one of the kings of Udaipur to pacify and woo his wife back after a marital quarrel. History says, the queen had friends from the lower caste whose visits to the palace didn’t really please the king. Typically Indian, wouldn’t you say. Now when the King forbade these friends of the queen from visiting the palace, it did not sit very well with our queen. She packed her bags and went back home (we still see this quite often, don’t we). Now it took the king 6 months to realize his folly. So in a bid to apologize to her, he had a garden built with fountains that worked with no electricity. For this, he had an artificial lake constructed called the Fateh Sagar lake at an elevation and had pipelines carry this water down to the garden. Now since the lake is at a much higher elevation, than the garden, the fountains need to electricity to spout the water out due to the pressure. He then gifted this place to his queen, so that she could meet her friends here and then return back to the palace solving both their problems. If this doesn’t get the expectations of today’s wives up, I don’t know what will. The last stop was the majestic Udaipur palace, which is divided into the royal residence, the museum and the hotels. The palace has the beautiful lake Pichola at the back with the Taj Lake Palace set in its center. This hotel, used to be the royal family’s summer palace but has now been leased out to the Taj group. A beautiful view of this can be caught from the palace which is the grandest palace in all of Rajasthan and the second grandest in India. The royal family still resides in a section of the palace and belongs to the lineage of Maharana Pratap Singh. The palace is grand in its architecture and beauty but the grandeur of the history of this family through the ages, more so that of the Maharana overshadows everything. A lifelong battle to reclaim their fort at Chittorgarh and final move of capital to Udaipur, which to this day lies with the royal family as was told to them by their guru, one can feel the stories in their very bones on the tour of this palace. Paintings depicting the bravery of the Sisodia clan, the Maharana’s strength and bravery, his never ending love for his homeland of Chittorgarh, the family’s strong stand against the Mughals and the later British Empire are all epitomized in the various paintings. History does come alive here. I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of regret for not having seen such glorious times myself but glad of this opportunity to have learnt so much. As time drew near to board the flight back home, I was still caught in the magic of this amazing land. That India has a rich history is a given. But having experienced a great part of such history, almost having relived it in the various tales of the locals, I feel proud to be a part of this rich tradition. If this holiday did nothing else, it did make me realize how amazed and awed I am by this country’s history and also the eye to appreciate art. For the very first time, it was time to head home but my heart wasn’t in it. Rajasthan bowled me over with its forts, palaces, desert, migratory Siberian cranes in the remote village of Kheenchan, the locals feeding and protecting these birds, the locals worshiping a Royal Enfield and the local artisans with their art being carried through the centuries, handed down from father to son, mother to daughter. I knew just these 8 days weren't enough and so, I left a promise to myself that I would be back to relive this magical experience again. I don’t know when that will happen, but I only hope that it's soon, if ever. And so, the period romance saga continues!