Rajasthan trip - The Capital

09 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John, Gayatri.

John had planned a tight itinerary for us for the next two days. A vehicle was booked for us for our time in Jaipur at Rs. 1000 per day. We woke up in the morning and went straight to the market for breakfast. We hogged on chaat and headed to Jaigarh fort. It is a huge place with the highlight being one of the biggest cannons you can see, with a range of over 30 kms. The fort periphery is vast and you can see the outside walls going for as far as you can see.

The cannon at Jaigarh fort

We then moved on to Nahargarh fort, which is a little more beautiful than Jaigarh. Jaigarh is anyway knows to be popular for its size rather than its beauty. While at Nahargarh, I stumbled upon a beautiful dugout and called Chandan to take some pictures. We then realized that there was a way to go down inside it and called everyone else. At the bottom, we took many many pictures and sat down to look at the magnificence of the architecture.

Wrinkles on stone - the dugout

This dugout is, by the way, the same place where some scenes of Rang De Basanti were shot...this is the "masti ki paathshaala"! The Nahargarh fort is also where the auditorium scene of RDB was shot, when auditions are taken for the roles of various people in the documentary they are going to make. I can only imagine all the performances that took place here in the Maharaja's time!

Manish jumping from the stage on the crowd (or well....erm...just on the camera)

Still 09 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John, Gayatri + Vedant.

Our next stop was Amer fort, but before that we had to pick up Vedant who had just reached Jaipur by train. We asked him to get to Amer by a cab and we saw him there, put his luggage in our vehicle and went in Amer fort.

Amer is mindblowingly beautiful. You enter into the main compound through a gate having a plethora of colors. Then there is the Diwan-e-aam, with its myriad pillars and the Sheesh Mahal, with mirrors showing a beautiful imagery of light and relection. There were also colorful gardens adorning the interior and exterior of the palace.

Entrance to main compound at Amer fort

Diwan-e-aam

Ceiling at Sheesh Mahal

Garden inside the palace

Garden outside the palace - view from the top of the palace

But what made everything worth it was the guide we had. We hadn't taken any guides at Jaigarh or Nahargarh and decided to take one here. The fella quoted Rs. 200 for a group of more than 6 people and Rs. 150 for lesser. Since we were more, we haggled for him to get us the lower price. He finally agreed and gave us on of the most informative tours we've ever had. He took us through each and every corner of the place, explaining the history and architecture behind it. In fact, he was prompt with all the answers to our questions or doubts as well and seemed to know the subject matter like an expert. His erudition was a league above the guides at Ranthambore fort and Taj Mahal. He impressed us so much that we eventually gave him his Rs. 200 because we really felt he deserved it.

The guide at Amer. You can tell we are engrossed! L-R: Pedro, Nanu, Guide, me, Vedant, Roopali, Manish, Gayatri, John.

Note: When you're at Amer fort, take one of the guides. They are excellent!

We finished seeing the fort by 1800 hrs and then made our way to the memorabilia store at the exit. I bought some wonderful saris for mom and myself and a beautiful painting for home. However, you may want to skip the sari buying here and take a look at Jaipur market instead. You'll get similar stuff for half the price, if you bargain well.

Buying complete, we were off to Choki Dhani for dinner and a Rajasthani cultural experience. They put on a great show there, with folk music and dance, fair rides like the ferris wheel, camel rides, and so much more. There are also little stalls that are either selling food or small memorabilia items or have games on offer. I hung out with John, Vedant and Chandan, playing each and every stupid game - shooting balloons on the wall, throwing rings on stuff to win them, dropping bowling pins with a ball, and what not!

But the main attraction was the food! When you enter Choki Dhani, you get a coupon with the time that you can sit to eat (like in a restaurant when there is waiting). We could only sit at 2300 hrs and so we passed our time first with all the rides and games and stall food. At our stipulated time, we sat down in true Indian style. On the floor with our legs crossed paalti maarkar. One by one, the food started coming in. Yumm....!!! What was awesome was the guys who serve the food, would not listen to you when you insisted that you'd eaten enough. No siree! "You have to eat more than that!!!!" Plop! Another spoon of food in your plate! We then realized we had to eat slowly so that our plates didn't look too empty. At the end of it, we were super stuffed and I got high like I always do when I eat too much! That means that I was dancing and going round in circles around myself at one point of time, but lets not talk about it too much now.

Back to our hotel, we played more Uno until most people were asleep. At the end, it was just me, Chandan, Manish, John and Gayatri. John made us play a game in which we all tell each other what our first impression on everyone in the room was and what we thought of them now. I remember saying that I always thought of Chandan as a quiet, nice boy. I remember stressing on the word nice. And how I thought John was a player and that kinda hadn't (and still hasn't) changed up until the game. And how Manish was and is one of my best friends ever. And how I appreciated Gayatri for being a chilled out chick and coming for every trip we have, irrespective of any problems or issues within the group. We should play that game again!

10 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John, Gayatri + Fahim.

Early next morning, Fahim arrived, but he was not gonna stay with us that day. He would visit Ajmer Sharif and then join us in the evening. A whole bunch of people were leaving on 10th and a lot of shopping had to be done. So Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro and John left the hotel by 0900 hrs while the rest of us took our time to wake up, get ready and finally leave. We met the rest of the gang directly for lunch at 1300 hrs at Jaipur station. We said our goodbyes to them and decided to see the city in the vehicle that we still had.

Jaipur is a gorgeous city. The buildings are stunning and the statues and memorials on road junctions are stare-worthy. Old Jaipur, which is supposed to be pink, is not really pink. Its brown. Seriously. That's not pink.

Chandan, Gayatri, Vedant and I stopped at the Jal Mahal, in the middle of a lake, as the name suggests. We then headed to Jaipur fort in the main city. With a guide, we wandered the fort with trivia about the history and artifacts kept there. It was a good looking place, but I think we'd had enough of forts for a while! Make a trip to the memorabilia store in the fort. You get awesome coffee mugs for Rs. 20 bucks each. They're a steal! We picked up one titled Nine Boys. It's a wierdass picture that'll make you think..."Whaaa!!!" Lol.

Nine boys

It was 1700 hrs now and Hawa Mahal had already shut. We just took a look from outside and headed for the market to shop! We bought a lot of bandhni material and I also bought another sari that was similar to the one at the store outside Amer fort for half the price. By this time, Fahim was back and while we (Chandan, Vedant and I) were finished with our shopping (erm, actually my shopping), Gayatri still had more to go. We were tired and headed back to the car while Fahim took care of his woman. We ate some more chaat and hot milk, and after a proper dinner at some pointlessly classy restaurant somewhere (I don't remember the name of the restaurant or the location!) for the five of us, we headed towards the train station where we had to catch a 2357 hrs train to Jaisalmer.

We reached the station about 20 minutes before time. To top that, the train was late. We stood at the platform and bought chains for our luggae (first time!). A Palace on Wheels had just arrived and with whatever glimpses we could get of the inside, it was spectacular! The beautiful beds, the resturant, the lights, the bar....all of it! Vedant and I walked the length of the train and ogled at the expensive upholstery and the rich people inside.

Most of Chandan's platform time was eaten by a serious discussion between him and his girlfriend (or ex girlfriend, debatably) while Gayatri and Famu were chatting about each other's days. Vedant was checking out everything at the station while I don't remember doing anything interesting.

While at Jaipur market, I remember telling everyone to buy blankets if they didn't have one already. Chandan and I were the only two who had endured the last train journey's cold and we had to warn everybody! Vedant, for some reason, didn't take us seriously and pooh-poohed our suggestions. So that night, when the train finally arrived, and we took our berths and went off to sleep, Vedan't probably had one of the worst nights in his life. With everyone sleeping comfortably inside blankets, Vedu couldn't sleep one wink. He was lying down, but the chill would not let him get any rest. We had a bottle of whiskey in a bag and he took 4-5 swigs from it. That gave him some warmth at least. He woke me up somewhere around 3 or 4 am and apparantly told me his situation, but when I sleep, I act subconciously and I don't remember a word of what he or I said! So I wasn't of any help to him. When the sun was rising and it was getting a little warmer, Vedu finally caught a few winks, though it wasn't all that comfortable - the windows would not close completely and sand from outside kept making its way through to him. Poor Vedu! If only he'd taken a blanket!

Rajasthan Trip - Beautiful marble and crazy possessed people!

06 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John.

We hired a car to take us to Agra and were off at about 1400 hrs. Agra is about 300 kms away from Ranthambore which is a 7 hour drive. At 1900 hrs on the highway, we were suddenly engulfed by dense fog so bad that we couldn't see more than a few feet ahead. And it happened so suddenly that we were caught unawares!

Pic of fog from the rear window

We had to reduce speed and eventually reached Agra at 2300 hrs. The whole town was asleep and there were hardly any lights on the street. We checked out a few hotels and finally found cheap accommodation at one Hotel Paradise. We still had the car with us from Ranthambore, which would stay with us till we reached Jaipur, our next destination.

Bad rooms, cheap price

Note: Hotel Paradise is an average looking building from outside and below average from the inside. But I'm still only talking about the hallways. Once you get into the rooms, it's even worse. The rooms end as they begin and have stained bedsheets. Not for anyone who wants even an iota of luxury! But for all this, the rooms were charged at Rs. 700 per night, for everybody in one room.

07 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John.

The next morning we got up to see the only thing in Agra - the Taj Mahal. Somebody suggested that we should all wear white and I hesitated quite a bit, but I was overpowered by everyone's willingness and had no choice but to comply.

So there we were, all dressed up in white tshirts, but covered with jackets, so wearing white was really pointless.

At the Taj Mahal. L-R: (Men) John, Chandan, Manish, Pedro (Women) Roopali, Alpana.

Taj Mahal was wonderful and the only problem there really are the guides. Every guide has an ID that shows he is genuine and with a fixed price, but they don't really. The walk from the car park to the Taj is about half a kilometer and takes you some 10 minutes at leisure. The guides start pitching in for their services right from there and the prices vary from Rs. 300 to Rs. 150, along the way from the car park to the ticket counter.

If you take my advice, don't get a guide. They don't provide you with any information that you wouldn't have got off the internet anyway. The only advantage they have is that they can take you through each structure and carving and embossing in the Mahal and give you some history behind it. However, I suggest you take a virtual tour of the Taj Mahal and then take a print out of Taj Mahal's info from Wikitravel. Once you have this in place, go ahead and take a tour of the mausoleum at your own ease. When I took the virtual tour, I was amazed at how much the guide had not told us!

Also, don't take the horse rides from the car park to Taj Mahal, for two reasons - (1) They tell you its a kilometer but it isn't. You will pay for it pointlessly. (2) The horses are very badly kept and I persuade you to not encourage it.

Another thing you should keep in mind, in case you do decide to take a guide, is to factor in other expenses within the Taj that the guide will not tell you about. This includes the money you will have to pay to the man who takes care of your shoes or alternatively gives you shoe covers. Shoe covers are given only to foreign nationals who pay Rs. 750 instead of Rs. 20 that Indians have to pay. For a price of Rs. 10 for your group, you can get shoe covers. Alternatively, you can leave your shoes there free of cost, but the guide usually asks you to tip the shoe caretaker with Rs. 10 for your group. You may choose not to pay, of course. Also, since you are not allowed to take any belongings inside the Taj for security reasons (not even water) except your cell phone and camera, the guide uses this to his advantage and tells you that he can show you the specialty of the stones used using a torch (that you obviously could not carry) that is owned by some insider. He borrows that fellow's torch and shows you how light travels through the stones (it is beautiful, by the way) and then asks you to pay another Rs. 10 to the fellow he borrowed the torch from.

Again, take my advice, don't use a guide! Use your cell phone to light up the stones and don't pay to keep your shoes in the free area.

Note: Because of this wonderful effect on the stones, the Taj Mahal looks very beautiful in moonlight. Night viewing is allowed on certain days, according to this chart. Try to plan your trip accordingly. We missed it, but you should not!

Oh and did I mention, the Taj has a "May I Help You" counter with nobody to help you!!

We then headed for Agra Fort later in the afternoon after spending quite a while at the Taj. Unfortunately, most of Agra fort was under renovation and as usual, nobody at the ticket counter told us of this. And shouldn't they be offering you a discount if you don't get to see the whole place?? Anyway, we were sick of guides by now so we didn't take one. We just pranced around coz the weather was so perfect and the place was beautiful. Decorative gardens adorned spaces overlooked by edifices with large corridors on all sides. I especially liked the towering fort walls coz they gave great accoustics, perfect for singing "Ain't no sunshine when she's gone". Which I did :)

And that kinda finished Agra for us. After the fort, we sat down for evening snacks and headed back to the hotel. The next morning, we were leaving for Jaipur.

08 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John.

Jaipur is 235 kms or 5.5 hrs away from Agra. On the way, falls the famous Fatehpur Sikri, where lies the tomb of a saint Salim Chisti, who Emperor Akbar followed devotedly. The place is really peaceful and it's entrance, the Buland Darwaza is mammoth in size. The only problem is that there are quite a few bee hives in and around the place, and the most conspicuous are the ones under the dome of the Buland Darwaza itself! Not that the bees sting anybody or anything, but the entire marble flooring is strewn with dead bees. Ugh.

I did meet a very interesting man at Fatehpur Sikri. He said that he wouldn't charge anything to tell us a few things about the tomb, the catch being (that we would figure out later) that he would show us some marble artifacts which we could buy if we chose to. Fair enough! So he told us some interesting things and I got talking to him in general. So he was telling me that a lot of people from Agra, especially guides and such who help foreign tourists, get hitched up with some tourists and even get married. In fact, he said his best friend got married to a Spanish woman and was now living in Barcelona in Spain! How cool is that!!

Buland Darwaza. L-R: Me, Chandan, John, Roopali, Pedro, Nanu.

We then continued on our way to Jaipur and decided to make a short stop at Bharatpur Sanctuary. We didn't expect to stay there long, but we wished we would. It's a really calm and serene place. You get bicycles on hire for Rs. 25 each and you can cycle around the Sanctuary the entire day. We saw so many species of birds, small and big....and it was really romantic....it's worth having a one day picnic at the sanctuary and just looking around and absorbing the purity of the place.

Cycling our way through the sanctuary

We finally had to leave by 1800 hrs when the sanctuary shut, promising to recommend this place to everyone. So guys, if you're in this part of India, you HAVE to go to Bharatpur Sanctuary. We also thought first, "who wants to see birds???", but this place is more than just birds. It has a whole different aura around it...and you just must experience it!

So finally, late in the evening, we were on our way to Jaipur yet again.

While we were on the highway, we saw road signs to Mehendipur. Now Mehendipur was once a topic of discussion many years back when we were in college when our friend Saurabh Agarwal told us that it was a place where possessed people could not come back from. We decided that if it was on the way, we had to go there! And so we took a slight detour to go to Mehendipur....the temple that possessed people cannot leave!

Once there, it was just like any other regular temple. We could not see any possessed people and Nanu, Chandan and I were the ones most interested to find out where they were. We asked a couple of people and they all feigned ignorance. We were almost about to give up hope as we walked out the exit of the temple when we heard groaning sounds coming from our left. I looked to my left and my eyes followed the stairs leading up to another level, at the end of which, there was a woman...no a girl...who was moving her head violently from side to side...almost headbanging...and making strange groaning sounds. I stood still and my heartbeats increased almost twofold. And then in a few moments i said to Chandan..."Let's go up".

Steadily, we walked up and past the girl. She was unfazed by our presence. We entered a dark room to see busts of scary gods to the right. Then suddenly, a noise from the left made me turn my head to see a girl somersaulting very vey agressively across the length of the room and falling on her back with loud thuds. Over and over again. In one corner of the room was a man mumbling things to himself. This was it! The possessed people! Ooh the adrenaline!

Nanu, Chandan and I stayed on while the rest of the gang chickened away. After a few minutes of walking around the room and looking at the "exhibits", we left too, as nothing new was happening. As we walked out of the temple premises, against the outside wall of the temple, we saw many people stuck to the walls, either mumbling real loud or groaning, moaning and grunting. How did we miss this while entering??? It was 2000 hrs and the temple was shutting down for visitors. As we stood and watched the people, the girls from upstairs started coming down the stairs and walked off right in front of us with their parents/friends as if nothing had ever happened to them. Eh? What was this? It was all an act! Lol. The men stuck to the temple wall though continued to groan at themselves. I stared at one man real hard and when his eye caught mine, I smiled, and he smiled in return. WTF! So now I knew this was a load of bullshit and I was ready to leave. I took some videos of the insanity and walked away.

We joined the rest of the gang at a streetside hot milk vendor and drank some steaming milk in clay cups. On the road again in the car, we had an equally steaming discussion on whether the temple was a hoax or not, again with two factions and some fencesitters.

By the way, immediately after I came back to Mumbai, I lost my phone and with it, all the Mehendipur photos and videos. Coincidence? Let the debate continue!

Still 08 Jan 2009. People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John + Gayatri.

Anyway, we reached Jaipur at 2200 hrs finally. Accommodation was already booked as John has many relatives in Jaipur and somebody got us a reservation at a hotel for Rs. 1000 per room per night with 3 rooms for all of us. We checked in and Pedro and I went to the airport to pick up Gayatri who was joining us. The vehicle from Ranthambore was still with us, and after picking Gayatri up, we were gonna let the car go. Gayatri was waiting for us at the airport for a good half an hour at least and was not pleased at all. Apparantly everyone at the airport was glancing at her like they'd never seen a girl before. Well they musn't have seen a lone girl at the airport anyway. After going back to the hotel, we had a fulfilling dinner at John's friend's restaurant and went to sleep after many games of Uno, which was the official sport of the trip!