View from Jaigarh Fort

View of Amer from Jaigarh Fort - Jaipur

Death

This morn as I got into the auto heading for work, ‘Kashi’ the driver told me that ‘Lalu’ had passed away. For a moment I was perplexed wondering why Kashi all of a sudden had started talking politics. Then he specified that it was the coconut vendor who sat by the main road, the one whom I addressed as ‘Lala’.

I was stunned! Lala and Kashi were acquaintances and neighbours. If ever I had to leave for work early or required the auto at other hours he would be the one I’d leave the message with. He was also the one who would organize other autos for me from the teeming friends and relatives Kashi had when Kashi for some reason was unavailable. So imagine my shock when Kashi told me he was no more.

It was a Sunday when he was walking - suddenly began frothing blood at the mouth, collapsed and was no more. Just like that. Kashi added that he had been suffering long from TB and that could have been the cause. Whatever be the case, I looked morosely at the coconut stall which I passed by and found someone else in Lala’s place. I mourned his loss and wondered what the day would be like. The feeling lasted till I was in office.

I recall it was only evening when I was on my way back home that he came back to mind. But this time the thought was not so disconcerting. I had completely forgotten him in the milieu of the work day. I offered up a silent prayer for his soul.

I realized the frailty of Life. One moment you are alive and well, and then silently and suddenly death snatches you away. But Life continues around you the way it always has, Life goes on.

A relaxing weekend

The past few weeks at work have been real hectic. Working late, sleeping late left its toll on me. I hadn’t had any time for myself at all. Even the trip to Jaipur though enjoyable was rushed, though it took off a load of stress from me.

I have never awaited a Friday as much as I did last week coz it heralded the advent of the weekend. I did balk at the thought that I may end up working over the weekend but fortunately all went well and Saturday arrived with all the time to my disposal that I could dream of. I awoke at leisure, had a late breakfast – and put on the music something I hadn’t done in a long time.

I chanced upon “Songs of Sweet Memories” – a CD my brother had ordered through Readers Digest. And I relaxed as the music played in the background belting out some of my favorite songs – ‘Annie’s Song’, ‘Blue Bayou’, ‘Love me Tender’, ‘Are you lonesome tonight?’, ‘I’ll have to say I love you in a song’, ‘Can’t help falling in Love’, ‘If I were a carpenter’, ‘Have I told you lately that I love you’, ‘Something Stupid’, ‘Dream a little dream of me’, ‘I can’t stop loving you’, ‘Raindrops keep falling on my head’, ‘Take me home country roads’ and more.

I couldn’t resist penning down the lyrics of 2 of my favorite songs.

John Denver – ‘Annie's Song’ Lyrics
You fill up my senses like a night in the forest.
Like a mountain in spring-time
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses, come fill me again.

Come let me love you, let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter; let me die in your arm.
Let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you.
Come let me love you, come love me again.

Ronstadt Linda - Blue Bayou
I feel so bad I got a worried mind
I'm so lonesome all the time
Since I left my baby behind
On Blue Bayou

Saving nickels saving dimes
Working till the sun don't shine
Looking forward to happier times
On Blue Bayou

I'm going back someday,
Come what may - to Blue Bayou
where the folks are fine,
And the world is mine - on Blue Bayou
Where those fishing boats - with their sails afloat
If I could only see - that familiar sunrise
Through sleepy eyes - how happy I'd be

Gonna see my baby again
Gonna be with some of my friends
Maybe I'll feel better again
On Blue Bayou

Saving nickels saving dimes
Working till the sun don't shine
Looking forward to happier times
On Blue Bayou

I'm going back someday
Come what may - to Blue Bayou
Where the folks are fine
And the world is mine – on Blue Bayou
Where those fishing boats - with their sails afloat
If I could only see - that familiar sunrise
Through sleepy eyes - how happy I'd be

Oh that boy of mine - by my side
The silver moon - and the evening tide
Oh some sweet day - gonna take away
This hurting inside
Well I'll never be blue - my dreams come true
On Blue Bayou

JAIPUR finally – ALL in a day!

Last weekend finally I was in Jaipur. At first I couldn’t believe it but there it was right in front of me. It takes 5 hours from Delhi to Jaipur. Since there were no return flights to Bangalore from Jaipur, I had to book our return flights home from Delhi. That meant a good 10 hours lost in travel and only 1 day to enjoy Jaipur.

Our Delhi meet winded up at 6pm on Friday. Luckily our colleague Dhiru from Jaipur had driven down, so we got a ride to Jaipur. We set out at 6.30pm, stopped at around 9pm at a RTDC stopover(Rajasthan Tourism Development Corpn) for a bite and a stretch. We then reached Jaipur where Dhiru pointed out the Hotels designed as Palaces and other sites. It was 11.45pm when we reached the guesthouse we were put up at. Luckily our company has a guesthouse in Jaipur, due to which we saved on our Hotel expenses. We were so excited that it was 1pm before we crashed into bed after planning out what we had to cover the next day.

We woke up the next morning around 8am raring to head out. Thankfully we managed to arrange for transport with the Travel Agency at Jaipur which arranges transport for our Jaipur office. So we knew we were in good hands. We had called for the Car at 10.30am and got impatient when there was no sign of the vehicle. When a golden Indigo turned the bend around 10.45am we both gratefully got in. Everything seemed to be going right as the driver ‘Guddu’ turned out to be a local who knew Rajasthan well and knew the places we had earmarked. We first headed out for a Photo studio as my bangalore colleague Sai discovered that her camera was faulty. She purchased a camera, while we both picked up 2 rolls.

Then we headed for our first stop on the list – ‘Hawa Mahal’. On the way Guddu acted as a guide pointing out this that and the other. We reached Hawa Mahal and stopped outside to click the famous roadfacing exterior. It looked dilapidated and uninteresting. Needless to say we were disappointed. As we had come all the way we decided to go in and fortunately we were rewarded. The place was beautiful! I started clicking frantically, trying to capture as much of the place as I could. Tourists streamed in and out of the place, all around were people posing in the famous Hawa Mahal windows trying to snap their way into history. Sai insisted that her snap too be clicked in one of the windows.

We had set timelines for each place to ensure that we didn’t overrun our time schedule. At 12pm we headed out having covered City Palace which was in the same area. We skipped Jantar Mantar-the observatory and didn’t find City Palace that interesting.

There were shops around Hawa Mahal but Guddu advised us to stick to the Bazar as these shops charged exorbitantly. Since most heritage places closed at 4.30pm, Guddu advised us to leave the bazar shopping to the last. We then headed out towards ‘Jal Mahal’ – a palace in the middle of the lake on the way to Amer. As the Sun was blazing by this time, the Lake shimmered and the Palace looked ethereal and lovely. The Palace is deserted, no tourists are allowed in the Palace. In the evenings, a caretaker goes by boat to the Palace to light it up for the night. The Palace was going to ruins and I felt sad that such a beautiful place could be ignored like this.

My attention was hugely diverted from the Palace by ‘Salma’ a majestic Elephant. She was with her mahout resting in the vicinity. She playfully tossed pebbles around with her trunk and allowed me to caress her trunk as I talked to her. I ended up clicking quite a few photographs of her, in one she actually posed with her trunk up! I handed over some money to her mahout for her.

We then headed over to Amer. Due to lack of time we didn’t hire a guide. Guddu did most of the guiding for us. He majorly talked about all the shootings that had taken place here and seemed quite hung on Bollywood :)
Amer stands atop a range of craggy hills. It houses a Fort and beautiful palaces. There is a lake at the foothill which adds to its majestic grandeur. It kind of resembles a moat. The lake is used by the elephants for bathing. As our car snaked up towards Amer we saw a line of Elephants with tourists atop headed off towards the Palace. This explained the line of Elephants we saw on our way from Jal Mahal to Amer. Guddu explained that each Elephant was allowed only 3 rounds around Amer and was then supposed to rest. This came into effect as once due to having over worked the elephants, one of the elephants had run amok thus killing the mahout.

There is an entry fee for oneself and one’s camera into any of these heritage places. The camera costing the most. The guide charges Rs.100/-. We ended up forking out most of our money as tips to people performing here. There was an old Jaipuri local who played an instrument for us. Amer also houses the famous ‘Sheesh Mahal’ i.e chamber of mirrors. One of the security guards told us that here was were the ‘Mughal Azam’ famous scene of Madhubala dancing was shot. Throughout the Fort and Palaces, exquisite worksmanship is noted in every pillar, door, hallways and rooms. It’s a sight to behold. Needless to say, by this time I was well into my second roll and had to curb my clicking to avoid running out of film.

The highlight of our sightseeing tour was ‘Jaigarh Fort’. I wasn’t too keen on seeing it and it was not on my itinerary. However Guddu insisted that we see it and I am glad we did. Jaigarh houses the famous ‘Jaivan’ Cannon – the biggest in the whole of Asia. Surprisingly, when I handed over our tickets to the security guard there, he took it upon himself to be our guide. He told us the history of the Fort saying that it was the biggest and the most secure Fort in the whole of Rajasthan. He showed us where the water was stored in a huuuuge tank. Where the armoury was. The Fort is 800 years old. A row of underground caves were built in case the Fort was attacked. He showed us the battlements - a rampart built around the top of the castle with regular gaps for firing arrows or guns, gaps at the foot of the ramparts to pour boiling hot oil if some enemy decided to storm the Fort, however no one had dared storm the Fort ever. His commentary had a tinge of seriousness and humor in it and we allowed him to continue as he took us around the Fort. The guard was quite elderly and confirmed that he had been there since his youth. Guddu ofcourse felt totally left out as his role had been usurped by the guide. It was all so hilarious. Sai tipped the guard and Guddu took control and headed us off to the Palace.

Here Sai spotted two camels and insisted on having her snap taken there. She chickened out of sitting on the camels and I took her snap as she stood by the camels who were oblivious to her presence and continued chewing peacefully. At the palace we saw a puppet show by a local. I was so thrilled by it that I couldn’t stop clapping out aloud and generously tipped the guy. Surprisingly, the guard there decided to be our guide and we had yet another excellent session of the Palace history. There was a lake again at the foothill from where during the olden days elephants would come up the winding pathway carrying water from the lake in camelskin bags. The water would be dumped in a waterhole from which the palace residents would bring up water with the help of pulleys. We saw a garden within the palace made for the kings family, a 3way door looking out towards the mountains. There were 2 separate chambers for dining each facing the other. One used to house the main king with the smaller kings from his domain, while the other housed the 9 queens of the main king. It was all so fascinating! We saw 2 flags fluttering atop the fort. The guide explained that the fluttering flags was an indication that the current king was in residence and at times he would mill around with the tourists around the place. Unfortunately we had just missed him.

There was a row of about 10 checkposts at intervals around the mountains which were watch towers in case the enemy decided to take it into his head to storm the fort. My camera was the busiest by far as I tried to get a clear shot of the beauty around. There were two watchtowers within the Palace grounds itself from where one could see the whole of the old city of Jaipur and the whole of Amer. I thoroughly enjoyed myself! I generously tipped the guide who again was elderly and shepherded us around as though we were his own kin. We had managed to have lunch-a rajasthani thali between our Amer trip and our Jaigarh trip.

It was now 6pm and we had to head off for the bazar. On the way we stopped for tea. By the roadside was a Leather factory so we decided to visit the same. I ended up buying 3 pairs of ‘Jhutis’ or ‘mojris’ as they are popularly known. Sai bought a hoard of lac jewellery and was absolutely thrilled by it. Jaipuri quilts and carpets are well known. On the way we ran into a RTDC store where both Sai and I ended up buying 4 quilts each, Gemstone painted boxes, tie and dye sarees and a few knick knacks. By then it was already 8pm and we had burnt a massive hole in our pockets. We decided to call it a day on shopping and headed for ‘Chokidani’ an ethnic village resort.

We reached at 9pm all tired. It was dark by then and quite cold. The weather in Jaipur was pleasant and I had not had to resort to my sweater. But now I zipped my sweater right up to my throat as I shivered away. Jaipuri locals welcomed us as we paid an entry fee of Rs. 210/- each which included dinner. They welcomed us with ‘Ram Ram sa’ or ‘Ram Ram sethani’ with the quaint Jaipuri dialect and continued speaking in the same vein. There were shops, bullock cart and Elephant rides. A head-neck massage place, dancers all in the open. Hungry as we were, we first headed for the Rajasthani buffet. It was vegetarian as our lunch had been. There were magicians, a ‘bul bulaya’-maze and other such attractions. After we had eaten we checked out the shops, then sat on ‘charpoys’ and watched as two young girls danced. They were simply amazing. When the performance ended they came for their ‘bakshish’. As I handed over the money to them, they stopped by to chat asking me my name, where we were from and answered our questions. I had thoroughly enjoyed their performance especially the younger one who did the most complicated part of the dance.

We then saw another performance by a 2 boy team where one must have been about 4-5 years old. We watched as the little one’s eyes followed his elder brothers (10-11year old) dance steps and tried to match it. We did our tipping thing and then walked around the place, clicked a few photographs here and there though it was quite dark and most of the place was lit up by lanterns.

We got back to the guesthouse by 12pm and again it was 2pm by the time we crashed into bed. Got up at 8am. Completed our packing. We had hired the car back again upto Delhi with Guddu. We had to reach Delhi by 6pm to be on time for our flight at 7.30pm. On the way we stopped by to have ‘kulhad lassi’ that is sweet buttermilk in an earthen glass. Purchased Jaipuri sweets namely ‘Ghewar’. Stopped at a place on the way to purchase the famous Jaipuri ‘Blue Pottery’.

With one stop for lunch we made it to Delhi by 5pm. I had started off with one bag when I left Bombay and ended up with 3 on my return. I had packed an extra bag, and got one bag when I purchased the carpet. It was so funny with both of us lugging our baggages! As we had reached well before time, we stopped by at a market close to the airport for Sai to purchase 2 bags to stuff all the things she had purchased. Had a steaming hot cup of masala tea and then headed for the airport.

Throughout the trip Guddu had said that 1 day was too less a time to see Jaipur and kept insisting that we should return for a week to take in the beauty of Rajasthan and he’d take us around Jaipur again also covering the other popular places Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Udaipur and so on. We promised to contact him the next time we were there. He had been a wonderful guide.

It had been a memorable trip!