JODHPUR DIARIES (i know, cliché)

DAY 1

So I’m off ..to Jodhpur..
This trip may be nothing compared to the Kumaon trip, but still, anything to get away from the rush of Delhi..
I’m on the DEE BGKT EXPRESS, and boarded it from the Delhi Cantt station.

BGKT is abbreviated Bhagat ki Kothi. I’ll look up its history, or better ask about it from residents of Jodhpur. My friends’ mom is a history teacher. Maybe I’ll ask her..

It’s 1 p.m. and I just finished watching “The Motorcycle Diaries”. It is about Che Guevara, actually Ernesto Guevara, the Cuban revolutionary. I doubt how many people actually realise the importance of the person they wear on their t-shirts..

The events which led upto his conversion into a revolutionary is inspiring, and the movie does justice to him I hope. I’ll have to read more about his life, because these people actually realised the futility of politics as we know it now, and how superficial the boundaries of the so-called nations are. It is endlessly fulfilling and inspiring to know and feel such great ideals which drove this man to work for people of the same race, human kind.

Reached my friends home..
Wow..he has a veritable library in the basement..(underground :p) I’ll be reading
” India In the Vedic age” by P.L. Bhargava. Let’s see what it has inside..

Will attach photographs of some important portions.

DAY 2

Woke up and started reading “The Afghan” by Frederick Forsyth. We’d planned to go to the Mehrangarh fort today. Let’s see when the friend wakes up. I’m up from 5.47 a.m. (:p), a great interesting novel , predictably about the CIA , MI5 and the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

I’d read about 200 pages, when he “finally” woke..he made cold coffee ( tasty) . We had breakfast and left at 11.

It’s so hot outside. A dry burning heat , and the sun beats down over a flat expanse. Jodhpur city is basically flat. And it’s interesting to note that this whole place was a sea in the ancient Vedic times..

The fort is one the ancient Aravalli mountains, now effectively hills. The ramparts are still imposing..

THE MEHRANGARH FORT

We climb the way to the top and describing the whole thing will be cumbersome. Still, I’ll try a little. The climb to the top is through a wide passage, with interspersed gates at turnings. It is evident from the slope of the pathway, and the stones, that few actually walked this road. It is made for horses which would swiftly bring anybody to the main court and living quarters of the Raja. The rooms have been converted to museums, displaying palanquins and howdahs ( used for travelling on an elephant). The rooms are cool inside, and the windows are decorated with stained glass, which effectively keep the sun out, but let the light in. The view of Jodhpur city is magnificent from the top. And the walls of the fort demarcate the erstwhile walled city of Jodhpur, which housed the nobles, most probably. The view is uninterrupted till the horizon, where the earth falls away. The vista is wide, and the feeling is not unlike air travel, except we don’t encounter clouds here.

HORIZON

It was interesting to note that the wall hangings and tent cloths were woven with cotton and metal thread.

The wind is refreshing on the mountain top. Then we go to Jaswant thada, a cenotaph to Jaswant Singh, an erstwhile Raja of Jodhpur.

Then we come down back, and it’s more hotter in the city. There’s little wind, and sitting on the scooty, the sun is on top, beating down. Still.

Home is cool. Relatively. We eat lunch and escape to the safe clutches of the AC. It is good only for the inside, spewing heat outside, adding to the already too much heat.

I reach 279 pages of the novel, and it’s almost climax. Almost. Although the whole thing is high speed.

The evening, and a little badminton. It’s hot and still outside. Little wind.
Garbine Muguruza won the French open, beating Serena Williams.

Went to the Umed Club at night. Dilwale was being screened outdoors. A very brainless movie. Watching it is testing your sanity. Are they mad, or are you?

We had chicken tikka, chicken biryani, paneer balls, onion ring pakodas, tandoori chicken. Yum!!!! But the biryani was a little too spicy for my liking. Then ice cream…

Came back home and completed the novel. Great reading!! Frederick Forsyth puts in so much research in a novel. So many details. Interesting.

DAY 3

I swam. Finally, some exercise. The pool was small, still, something is better than nothing.

Be Sure, It’s Me!

Then visited the Mandore gardens. Legend is that Mandodari, the wife of Ravana, lived here. The garden encloses many temples, built in the 15-16th century. There’s a museum, exhibiting archaeological remains from and near Jodhpur, as old as 693AD, but averaging 9-12th AD.

A TEMPLE AT MANDORE

Particular to mention is the heat. Everything is hot, hot, and some more. And it’s so dry, everything just dries up, deep inside your body, you just want to sit down and…

We return to the city, and find our way to the Umaid Bhavan Palace. The Royal residence of the current raja of Jodhpur, Maharaja Gaj Singh-II, the son of Maharaja Hanwant Singh. The palace is magnificent and one of the largest Royal residences in India. It is, simply put, sprawling.

MORE LIKE RASHTRAPATI BHAVAN, AIN’T IT?

5 or 6 rooms are open to the public, showing the various Knick-knacks owned by the Royal family, clocks, crockery, and the works, when they still haeld sway over political aspects of their kingdom. Slowly, their attention shifted from politics to Polo, with the changing political landscape, and India’s shift to democracy.

We dine at the Gypsy, a vegetarian restaurant tucked away in the Sardarpura market. We have burgers and cheese burst pizza.: p and fresh lime soda. That brings some life back into me.

We come back home, and the day ends. Djokovic beats Murray to complete his career slam.

Now I wait for tomorrow. Jodhpur is almost done. Will stay at home tomorrow, and try starting another novel. Another day in the sun, sitting on the scooty, and I may not be…

DAY 4

Went nowhere today. The heat is too tiring. Woke up at 9 ( I know, it’s late). Went underground and selected “A Prisoner of Birth” by Jeffrey Archer. I had been planning to finish it by the next day, but fortunately, I did the whole 529 pages of it by 7 in the evening. Shivam ( yeah, the friend) made pizzas for dinner. They were delicious.

SHIVAM’S PIZZA

I will be going back to Delhi tomorrow, so I decide to end this diary here. Let’s see how I spend tomorrow, and the rest of the vacations.

Hope to get something interesting to write about soon.