Jaipur; Amber and Fulvous. (Day 1)

Reluctantly, the train pulled itself to the station, delayed at least 2 hours. It was 8:45 but could have passed for 6:30 in Bangalore. Platform 1 housed the RTDC Office, wherein a listless (so much for host etiquette) Officer provided us with RTDC held city tour and taxi details. (Note: we couldn’t get a city map there)

Outside, the Sun had just risen, and we found ourselves a really amiable auto guy who packed us all in a single auto (Auto rickshaws there are very accommodating – they fit the five of us including Nitin and our entire luggage!) and dropped us at the Agricultural Research Station Guest House, Durgapura. Situated exactly on the other side of the Walled city, we spot no pink that morning.



(In the campus, Durgapura)




The Orientation of the City is simple: If you consider the Railway Station as reference. The Wall-ed City and the various forts (Amer, Jaigarh, and Nahargarh perched on adjoining hillocks) were on one side; while Birla Mandir, and Chowki Dhani were on our side. The Wall-ed city hosts the City Palace, Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, Albert Hall (Museum) and the name-winning pink stoned buildings. And, The Jal- Mahal is on the way to the forts.

With that defined, we sat across the comfortable sofa set in the Guest House and planned the two days that lay ahead. The city tour was too hurried, and so we decided to explore the city ourselves. We took a long time to freshen-up, had a great Breakfast (Simple Roti, Dahi and Achar with hot tea) and decided to set off after lunch as it was already 11 past. While the rest took to reading, Nitin and I set foot to explore the interesting rustic campus. The water tank with a bird-view of the entire campus guided us to the farms. After an hour of bird-watching, squirrel-watching, and Nitin ‘singing’ to the birds (the birds actually followed us, and responded to him, or so it appeared); we headed back to yet another simple but filling meal.

There is no better way to get to know the city for real than to take its Local bus, and so we took it. Headed Amer Fort, which was the last stop, 15 minutes through the journey, we saw an agitated Nitin telling us that the conductor got Niraj and Nikil off the bus. And, instantly, he was off too. Confounded, I got off at a signal point. And, Aditya later. Thus, spewed at 500m intervals, we soon reassembled. It turned out that we had asked for ‘Amer FORT’ as opposed to ‘Amer KILA’, which through stroke of luck sounded like some Mall which the conductor took for, and hence had got us off. Nikil was right, “We got the bus too quickly; it was almost too good to be true.”

And, Amer Fort we reached. And, we were all Awestruck! There it stood, Imposing and Commanding; the atmosphere had distinction. One can only wonder the impact it had in its day!

We had barely an hour to spend there, as the majority wanted to go to Chowki Dhani later for dinner. In so doing, we missed the late evening musical show in the courtyard of the fort, the arrangements for which were most alluring; with the entire Fort shimmering in its rapt amber color (the lighting was perfect!)




















We took a bus back to our Guest house from where we were to be picked by the RTDC taxi that we booked to take us to Chowki Dhani. On the way, the Jal Mahal was all lit too – brilliantly floating in its reflections! We then made through the Walled City. Pink, maybe it was long long ago, but now, Fulvous, it is. Another interesting feature we saw was that in Jaipur (and later in Jodhpur) all the medical shops are lined up. As in, you find 5,6 medical shops all in a row; and then you don’t see one for very long.

I am not great at distance estimation but how far can a place 20 minutes away from our Guest House be? Definitely not 60kms up and down. We did pay up for that range though. Chowki Dhani – the expensive popular evening hangout – was less than 20 mins on the way back. A very notable place. The Food was very good – gazar Halwa, khichdi, khadi, roti plainly dripping of ghee, mishri mawa, mathri, daal-moth, and plenty more – everything very VERY tasty ! But, that’s all was good there. Or at least, we were way out of place. And, the extreme cold and foggy climate added onto the hazy ambiance making the whole place very uncanny and contrived. All wore the same blurred, drugged expression of happiness – dancing, running around, shouting, laughing, smiling, laughing, dancing, hugging, taking pictures, dancing, giggling – it was crazy! Something was very wrong, very, very wrong. I am not sure with them or us? (We were neither drunk nor high) If you have seen this movie ‘The Stepford Wives’ you would know what it was like to be there – Artificial.

Jaipur offers so much to see. 2 days isn’t enough. We realized that after the second day. That night, however, as we sat and discussed the day, we thought we could make it.

NOTE: Pictures were taken using my 2megapixel Mobile camera.