Last friday, I got to know that my assignment in Gurgaon will come to an end on 31st July late at 3:30 PM. I had mixed feelings about the same - happy to be back in Bangalore on one side, and some places which I wanted to cover weren't still done. I quickly worked out a trip to Jaipur and asked who all were interested. Deepti, Geeta and Pavan instantly said 'Yes' and I booked an indica thru our previous cab driver Desraj for the four of us. Late at night, Deepti said that her friend Neeru was also joining us, so I again rang Desraj and asked him to come over in his innova at 6 AM on saturday. Thus began the fastest unplanned trip to Jaipur.
Desraj arrived promptly at 6 AM and myself, Geeta & Deepti started from our guest house to Noida at 6:10 AM to pickup Neeru. After picking her up, we drove to Gurgaon and picked up Pavan from Sahara Mall at 7:30 AM.
We had our breakfast in between at around 9 at some dhaba. Our journey in the cab was good, as we played cards. We first decided to go to Amber Fort.
We reached Amber Fort, which is around 12 kms from Jaipur at 12ish. This was a very magnificient fort and palace. We saw all of the below things, walking in the sun. I was noting down the information provided of each place here.
This is the big open area as soon as we enter the main gate.
Ganesh Pol is a fine portal covered with paintings. It was built by Sawai Jai Singh. This gateway provides access to the inner court in which the principal apartments of the king are situated and everything is in marble.
Diwan-i-Khas or the Hall of Private audience was constructed during the period of Mirza Raja Jai Singh and it is also called Jai Mandir, and because of the beautiful mirror glass work in it, it is also called as Sheesh Mahal or the Glass Palace. The mirror pieces were specially imported from Belgium during that period. The Raja met his special guests here. In front of the Sheesh Mahal is a parterred little garden in the classic Mughal pattern called Char-bagh or Four Gardens.
Palace of Raja Man Singh was completed in 1599 AD and it took about 25 years to build. In the centre of the square is the baradari or pavilion. The ground and upper storeys of the palace contain rooms in which, frescoes were painted.
Tunnels are to be found quite commonly in palaces and forts of the medieval period. They were used to conceal movement or to allow esacape when during a seige the defendrs were being pushed hard. The Amber Palace tunnel connects it to the Jaigarh fort.
The Tripolia Gate (Three Gates) mainly controls access from the west into the palace. It opens in three different directions, hence the name.
Chaand Pol, or the Moon Gate was the main gate of entry for the commoners.
Maota Lake was the main source of water for the palace. The lake collects rain water flowing down from the nearby hills. The Dil-Aaram Bagh is situated on its northern end. The Kesar Kyari (Saffron flowerbeds) Garden is in its middle.
Dil Aaram Bagh is the Garden to soothe the heart. This was laided on the northern side of Maota lake in the 18th century. The Chhatris on both sides, rectangular pillared halls on east and west corners along with fountains, water-courses, a central pool, flower beds in classical geometrical desigh, all othese features make the ambience pleasureful. So the name is eponymous.
Ganesh Pol is a fine portal covered with paintings. It was built by Sawai Jai Singh. This gateway provides access to the inner court in which the principal apartments of the king are situated and everything is in marble.
Diwan-i-Khas or the Hall of Private audience was constructed during the period of Mirza Raja Jai Singh and it is also called Jai Mandir, and because of the beautiful mirror glass work in it, it is also called as Sheesh Mahal or the Glass Palace. The mirror pieces were specially imported from Belgium during that period. The Raja met his special guests here. In front of the Sheesh Mahal is a parterred little garden in the classic Mughal pattern called Char-bagh or Four Gardens.
Palace of Raja Man Singh was completed in 1599 AD and it took about 25 years to build. In the centre of the square is the baradari or pavilion. The ground and upper storeys of the palace contain rooms in which, frescoes were painted.
Tunnels are to be found quite commonly in palaces and forts of the medieval period. They were used to conceal movement or to allow esacape when during a seige the defendrs were being pushed hard. The Amber Palace tunnel connects it to the Jaigarh fort.The Tripolia Gate (Three Gates) mainly controls access from the west into the palace. It opens in three different directions, hence the name.
Chaand Pol, or the Moon Gate was the main gate of entry for the commoners.Maota Lake was the main source of water for the palace. The lake collects rain water flowing down from the nearby hills. The Dil-Aaram Bagh is situated on its northern end. The Kesar Kyari (Saffron flowerbeds) Garden is in its middle.Dil Aaram Bagh is the Garden to soothe the heart. This was laided on the northern side of Maota lake in the 18th century. The Chhatris on both sides, rectangular pillared halls on east and west corners along with fountains, water-courses, a central pool, flower beds in classical geometrical desigh, all othese features make the ambience pleasureful. So the name is eponymous.After covering Amber Fort and Palace, we moved on and Deepti suggested we go to Jaigarh Fort. This was on a hill and had little curvy roads. On the way, we found some peacocks too moving freely in the open.
We reached Jaigarh Fort and paid Rs. 25 per person as entry fee. I noted down the things to be seen at this place. Here are the ones.
We first went to Jaivana. Jaivana is the worlds largest cannon on wheels, which is 20 ft and weighs 50 tons with a diameter of 11 inches. It is beautifully decorated with carving surrow trees and elephant on the barrel. It could be rotated in any direction with the help of rolling pin. But, it was test fired only once.
View of Jal Mahal from Jaigarh Fort.
View of the fort:
View of Jal Mahal from Jaigarh Fort.View of the fort:There was a museum too which had old guns, very long guns, bombs, daggers, dresses, etc. Photography prohibited.
Next, we went to Shri Rama Hari Har temple. Here, there are 2 big idols of Lord Rama & Hari-Har. The idol of Rama also contains four other incarnations of Vishnu - Lion, Boar, Tortise and Fish. The half part of other idol gives the image of Lord Shiva and the other half of Bhagvan Vishnu. This temple was set up about 1225 AD. The marble work & brass door of this temple were accomplished by Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Ji II in 1940 AD.
On the way to palace, we saw Subhat Niwas.
We hired a security guard as a guide and he took us to some places in the palace. First he took us to puppet show room, and told that the kings were interested in puppet shows.
He then took us to the Dining hall which was built by Mirza Raja Jai Singh. This gallery shows the King having dinner with a group of his sardars-courtiers. All kinds of veg & nonveg items were being served in those days.
Next, he took us to Lalit Mandir which is a double storied summer palace built in 17th century on the pattern of traditional Rajput style of architecture. The complex consists of a large courtyard and the central hall has 8 twin pillars of sandstone in traditional Rajput style. The upper storey has bedrooms, verandahas with attached balconies. The bedrooms have stone (Jharoka) screen with jali work to allow cool breeze to come in.
Next we went to beautiful garden (forgot its name), which was closed though. The guide told that some hindi movies like Humraaz were shot here.
The scene of Amber palace from Jaigarh fort was beautiful.
With this, we completed Jaigarh fort.
On the way to palace, we saw Subhat Niwas.We hired a security guard as a guide and he took us to some places in the palace. First he took us to puppet show room, and told that the kings were interested in puppet shows.He then took us to the Dining hall which was built by Mirza Raja Jai Singh. This gallery shows the King having dinner with a group of his sardars-courtiers. All kinds of veg & nonveg items were being served in those days.Next, he took us to Lalit Mandir which is a double storied summer palace built in 17th century on the pattern of traditional Rajput style of architecture. The complex consists of a large courtyard and the central hall has 8 twin pillars of sandstone in traditional Rajput style. The upper storey has bedrooms, verandahas with attached balconies. The bedrooms have stone (Jharoka) screen with jali work to allow cool breeze to come in.Next we went to beautiful garden (forgot its name), which was closed though. The guide told that some hindi movies like Humraaz were shot here.The scene of Amber palace from Jaigarh fort was beautiful.With this, we completed Jaigarh fort.Next we came to Jaipur. On the way, we saw Jal Mahal.
As we entered Pink City, we were greeted with buildings which were pink in color. We fist went to Hawa Mahal, and my expectations came down when I saw that it was on a normal city road itself.
Hawa Mahal was built in 1799 by Maharaja Pratap Singh and is the most famous landmark in Jaipur. The palace is shaped like a pyramid and is a 5 storeyed building with a number of small windows and screens. This lies in the Pink City, where in all the buildings in the area are pink.
We entered this place and went over to the top. Actually, there was nothing much to see in this place. This was only meant to be seen from outside. However, we could see some parts of Jantar-Mantar from Hawa Mahal.
As we entered Pink City, we were greeted with buildings which were pink in color. We fist went to Hawa Mahal, and my expectations came down when I saw that it was on a normal city road itself.Hawa Mahal was built in 1799 by Maharaja Pratap Singh and is the most famous landmark in Jaipur. The palace is shaped like a pyramid and is a 5 storeyed building with a number of small windows and screens. This lies in the Pink City, where in all the buildings in the area are pink.We entered this place and went over to the top. Actually, there was nothing much to see in this place. This was only meant to be seen from outside. However, we could see some parts of Jantar-Mantar from Hawa Mahal.
After covering Hawa Mahal, we all were damn hungy, and it was close to 5 PM. As we hadn't had anything after breakfast, we decided to have some Rajasthani delicacy in a proper restaurant. We found some veg restaurant at some place, but when we went there, they didn't serve anything special of Rajasthan. We didn't have the patience to find another restaurant, so we decided to fill in our stomachs here only. And we ate normal dal, roti & currry only.
It was past 6 and the girls had to do some shopping. Girls & shopping go hand in hand! We didn't want to go to another Birla Mandir atleast, so just roamed around the city to find the best shopping place. Our driver took us to the market area near Chowda road which he knew. The girls got off from the cab & went straight to shop. I got to know that Bandej kind of saree was very famous here, but I didn't get one, as I was doubtful about mom wearing it. Myself & Pavan were just roaming here and there for 1.5 hours.
Finally the girls were done with their shopping and arrived near the cab and we set to return to Delhi at 8 PM. Midway, Geeta remembered that one sweet dish called Ghevar was popular in Rajasthan, so we stopped by a sweet corner and got 1 kg of Ghevar. It tasted really yummy.
The way back, our journey was good, except that everyone were tired to core. We stopped in between at 12 PM somewhere at a dhaba and had roti & chai. Dhaba's chai's are superb! Finally, we reached our guest house in Delhi at around 2:30 AM!
With this, the short & quickly planned Jaipur trip came to an end. I wouldn't stop telling awesome!
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