The Rajasthan Chronicles-Day 2 (Jodhpur)

We woke up refreshed from a good night sleep. But the biting cold had followed us to Jodhpur too. I awoke at 5 and couldn't stop my teeth from chattering like mice! After a sumptuous breakfast of parathas we set off. A day in the blue city.

Our first stop was Umaid Bhawan. It is sprawled over an area of 1 sq.km and built in Indo-Sarcenic architecture. It was built for the welfare of people during times of drought and famine. 3000 artisans toiled to make this marvelous piece of splendour in Chittar Sandstone. It houses 347 rooms and a part of it opened to the public. The rest has been converted into a hotel run by the Taj Group where the minimum entry fee is Rs 3000. The Maharaja's family still occupies a part of the palace. I was surrounded by clouds of delight when I first saw the palace. It was simply majestic and one could feel the grandeur that hung about the museum. The artifacts took me to another world where being royal and regal was the done thing. Exquisite pieces of glass bowls, vases, dinner sets in the most wondrous colours only got out squeals of excitement out of me. Dinner rooms and living rooms that had been recreated there were quite a sight. Out on the lawns 4 vintage cars had been put up on display-a Packard, Morris, Overland and a Buick. A pleasant visit to Jodhpur's royal heritage.

After lunch we checked out of our hotel and set off for Mehrangarh fort. Finally a breath-taking view of the blue city unfolded before our eyes. The houses here are painted blue to keep the temperature cool during the scorching summer heat.  Merangarh fort is among the largest forts and was built in 1459. One has to pass 7 gates to reach the fort and each gate marks various battles. The haunting sound from the Ravan Harta greeted us when we entered the fort. The melancholic melody pulled a veil over my eyes and I was back again wandering in another place, another time. It tugged the heart-strings and I was mesmerised, not a muscle moved. A shout from our teacher broke the spell and I scurried over to join the group. Here at one of the gates another sight greeted me. A faster rhythm was being played and one student lost control and started dancing which was promptly taken up by the rest and then finally the whole group. Definitely enjoyed this impromptu dancing session. The guide then begun his ranter but I was least interested. I was more keen on seeing the place and eventually I ended up seeing this fort only through my camera- a clicking frenzy overcame me and I couldn't stop clicking pictures. The architecture is so intricate and the lattice work so perfect it seemed unreal. The hands that worked, carved, chipped and moulded the stone must have possessed magic to create such stunning works of art.

The fort had marvelous palenquins made out of silver on display-some shaped like animals and some with intriguing designs. An old man sat outside one of the rooms displaying how to use the hookah caught my fancy. He was continuously asked by the tourists to pose with the hookah-he seemed pleased with all the attention that was being showered on him. The curio shop in the fort seemed a costly affair but had very pretty jewellery, kurtis and stoles. While leaving the fort the Ravan Harta again beckoned and this time we spent a quarter of an hour listening to the music. But this time the man played filmy songs and I didn't find it charming.

We halted next at Jaswant Thada but didn't visit as we were running short of time. Instead the bird-watching gang ran off to the banks of a stream and exclaimed in delight over birds whose names I cannot remember. They had their eyes glue to the binoculars and shouted over some coots and moorhens. Sir had to drag us away from the spot.

We then visited one stupid garden whose name I didn't bother jotting down because it was so stupid. The vervet monkeys came bounding down when they saw us and made rude faces at us. The garden was still under construction and I found nothing worthwhile in there.

We left the garden soon and made way to a tea stall where a dugdugi was parked. The rickshaws in Jodhpur are a very narrow affair, they have the air of being squashed from all sides. We made one of our friends become the dugdugi driver and then the real dugdugi driver made an entry and he was drunk to the boot. He gave us some more interesting ideas for posing with his dugdugi.

Tonight we had to travel all through the night to Jaisalmer. The night journey was fun and our seniors related engaging stories and then kept up the tempo by relating ghost stories. We halted at Pokaran for dinner and immediately all jokes were directed towards having radio-active waste in our food. Pokaran was even more colder than Jodhpur and as we neared the desert the cold increased. We had food at Shimla Dhaba and the hot food did manage to take away the nip for a while.

Reached Jaisalmer at 2.40 in the night and swiftly put ourselves to sleep. I was worried about my camera. My memory card was full due to my clicking frenzy at Merangarh fort. I decided to deal with the problem the next day.