Jaipur saga ... falling in love once again with Rajput culture

Rajputs need no introduction . And for people like me it brings in goosebumps just to think of their history and courage . So if you are a history fan like me , a person who likes palaces or forts or even just want to shop from dupattas (don’t misunderstand that’s just an example J ) to ceramic or metal painted handicrafts Rajasthan is the place to be . And places like jaipur , Udaipur and jaisalmer has its own flavor  .

For the first time in my blogging history I don’t know where to begin so hopefully will write  a series on my jaipur visit . I stayed in jaipur in a hotel right next to a deer park . That itself was really awesome seeing the deer from your balcony window in the morning . Of course unlike the rajputs of yesteryear I had my work to do in the daytime and was free only during the weekends . Everyday on my way to work I was looking for the “pink city “ and couldn’t find anything remotely pink .  Was I in the wrong place ?

All this was over on a Sunday morning when I travelled just one km from my hotel room . Suddenly I was in a royal road looking on both sides to endless buildings of pink . Pink everywhere . Not even a single building was another colour . And the lamp posts in the middle with the painting of the sun god got me transported to another era .. the era of the rajput kings who must have travelled in the same road . The point to note is just 1 km from the modern city of jaipur is the pink city . You can literally walk from your 21 st century abode to history in a morning walk . Isnt it cool .. I was checking at the expressions of the sun god in each lamp post and each was different .

And soon I reached hawa mahal which in my crude hindi translated as palace of the wind .With its height  and beautiful in its architecture it was to get a good view of the city and more importantly for the cool wind which was a necessity and more precious than any gemstone .You must remember rajasthan is a dry hot land for most of the year except the cool winter months . (tourist season ) . Remember the kings ruled here for 365 days and for them hawa mahal was not luxury but a necessity .

Then the sight I saw stopped my heart . Hardly had I passed just two kilometers further suddenly in the distance I saw the imposing hills and more imposingly the forts of jaipur in all its glory . If rajputs doesn’t intimidate you their forts will . You must remember that the rajputs were extremely hospitable people and even to this day they are hospitable . But these intimidating forts with their cannon turrets are for their enemies to fear . For these fearless warriors not only fought to their death (refer google for the final fight ) but their forts are among the largest in the world . Of course the amer fort , jaigarh fort and nargarh fort are not the biggest compared to chittorgarh fort of Udaipur still they are very very big . I got a weeks exercise just by walking its ramparts . There is a beautiful lake filled with fish next to the amer fort and you can either go by vehicle up or walk or … hire an elephant for going up king style .

Going the steep incline in top gear you cannot help but pity the enemy of yesteryear who panting will be greeted with a rain of arrows or gunshots from the fort above depending on the period . Anyway we were greeted by two things . One a bunch of rajasthani people at the entrance . It was a very busy Sunday in peak season and lots of foreigners . But it was a pleasant surprise when these busy entrance ticket checkers had time to exchange pleasantries with us and they became more respectful when I answered I am a doctor . A welcome surprise compared to my home state . These guys give respect and take respect .  Another welcome was the prasadam given free to all passersby from the temple inside the fort  . I don’t have much experience with eating it but they gave enough quantity and variety free that it can even quench hunger for a really hungry person . A great gesture of hospitality when these days we get nothing for free . The huge gates and the courtyard is amazing . The fort is in good state and each section of the fort has a story to tell . I passed by pools , enormous water tanks , underground tunnels , jails with no sunlight entering , ladies quarters ,soldiers quarters etc . All well thought of and made state of the art appropriate for that age . From a military point of view even the angulations of the holes in the fort ramparts showed that it gave great advantage to the rajputs compared to the enemy who helplessly got the firing or the arrows from above . The fort has an impressive collection of guns and I saw huge guns as long as 2 persons which could only be fired tied to a camel(poor camel J )  . Also I saw the cannon ball of the largest cannon in the world a 50 kg cannon ball . Soon it was the cannon itself which was kept on display a huge cannon which had a range of 35 kms in those times . The fort had also a cannon manufacturing unit which I visited and saw the machinery driven by oxen for making bores inside cast iron . Impressive . ,,,,,

If  you liked  this blog on jaipur  please read more when i will be writing more on rajasthan in next few days and share it :) Thanks for reading