| |||||||
 |
| Search this Thread |  69,409 views |
10th October 2010, 12:40
| #31 |
| Team-BHP Support   | |
|
| |
|
10th October 2010, 20:39
| #32 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,891
Thanked: 43 Times
| |
|
|
|
11th October 2010, 08:19
| #33 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Emerging Metro
Posts: 3,352
Thanked: 1,951 Times
| |
|
|
|
11th October 2010, 10:57
| #34 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 3,712
Thanked: 1,928 Times
| Mehrangarh Fort It began to drizzle yet again by the time we reached Mehranagarh.The fort is so imposing that human beings look so tiny in front of it.The whole of the place was swarming with the Baba Ramdev pilgrims and there was not an inch of place for anybody.We rushed through to the booking counter and we were surprised,inspite of all the confusion and crowds.Everything was so orderly and there was not even a hint of shouting around by the fort staff.We took our tickets and the camera ticket and we decided to take a lift ticket as well(something that we did not use).The next counter is for the Audio Guide. The formidable fort   Quite a comfortable and ingenious way to see the fort.You are handed a small device in the shape of a credit card swiping machine with ear phones.The person who explained to us the process to use the device was quite a character,I actually wished that we had a video camera with us just to film him.One could just fall in love with the place and the audio guide just by listening to him,his presentation was that lovely.Now for how the audio guide works,inside the fort are placed numbers at important points of interest and once you reach that particular point,you are expected to key in the numbers denoted at that point and the voice begins to explain things related to that point of interest.The voice and presentation is replete with music,drama etc.Lovely experience. The entry to the fort is a steep climb and then there is a sudden right angle turn into the fort.This was built like this to prevent enemy elephants from knocking down the fort gates.Apparently the elephants lose momentum when they have to take steep turns.Forget the elephants,even for us humans it was a steep climb. The climb:  Legend goes that the then ruler of the region-Rao Jodha whose previous capital was the Mandore fort,felt that the fort was weak did not offer any security and hence decided to move his capital to the present location of Mehrangarh.Prior to this,the mountain was called Bhaurcheeria(Mountain of birds) and Cheeria Nathji(Lord of Birds)was the only resident of the hill.According to a famous local legend, when Rao Jodha asked Cheeria Nathji to leave the place, he was hurt and cursed Jodha that his fort will always have a dearth of water. And it is a fact that even today the place suffers from drought every now and then.Then to make his fort really strong,he decided to bury a man alive in the walls of the fort.It was a belief that if a man is buried alive in the walls of a building then the building becomes very strong and survives long periods of time.To satisfy the ruler a man called Rajiya Bhambi came forward to sacrifice his life.Rao Jodha promised him that the Rathores will always look after Rajiya's family and he kept his word. As one enters the fort,one is greeted by a the most discomforting sight(at least for us it definitely was).On the wall you would find palm imprints of women who have committed "Sati".The ritual was that as women walked from the palace to the pyres of their husbands they gave away all their jewellry enroute and finally just before leaving the gate,they imprint their palms on the walls and then walk towards the pyre.Some of the palms were so small that they could have been palms of 16-year olds and 12-year olds.A disgusting practice.Thank goodness that we had people like Raja Ram Mohan Roy who came along! The palm imprints:  By then the rain began to come down pretty heavy so we decided to take a pit stop at Cafe Mehran,a lovely cosy cafe,we entered with the impression that the place would be extremely expensive etc,but the moment we took a look at the menu,we were ok,we opted for a Rajasthani Thali priced at INR 140,which was pretty good and was made fresh.We did notice that the chefs(if you could call them that!!)were all women,and you could experience the womenly hand in the dishes! Me @ Cafe Mehran with all the audio gizmo plugged in!  After a brief stop for about 30minutes we resumed our walk.We then walked through several sections of the fort having the armoury,the costumes etc,there was a beautiful courtyard as well.Following this we went towards the Sheesh Mahal and the climb through the narrow staircase was quite a revelation. Brazilian Glass Artistry Attachment 436690 For people who have chosen to take the audio guide there is an audio guide user's lounge in between the walk.This is a boon,especially for people who have children alongwith them.Its basically a place to sit back,relax,water refreshments etc available at a price & most importantly there are super-clean rest rooms.There is also a video running of the current Jodhpur royalty,showcasing the developmental works undertaken by the family in and around Jodhpur.     After this stop we proceeded towards the exit and handed over the audi guide back and did the customary souvenir shopping at the fort shops and from thereon went onto the ramparts of the fort for the customary Blue-Buildings photo-op.The fort facing walls of houses around the fort are painted blue to denote the caste of the people living in the houses.Blue denotes that the houses belong to brahmins.A hint of Casteism?Whats new in that! The famed Blue Walls Attachment 436691 Attachment 436692 Attachment 436694 Jaswant Thada at a distance (Royal Cenotaph) Attachment 436693 The Royal Seat Attachment 436695 Music for the little ears Attachment 436696 Havent ever seen somebody sing like these two-such rawness Attachment 436697 A Devi Temple inside the fort Attachment 436698 By the time we came out of the fort it was 5 in the evening.A full 5 hour tour of the fort and something that we would cherish for the rest of our lifetime.Amazing tour. The Downhill out of the fort Attachment 436699 From there,we decided to head back to the hotel and enroute we stopped by some sweet shop and bought some amazing Choorma-Laddus and the abundantly famous Mirchi-Wadas of Jodhpur.We were expecting the usual kind of Chilli dipped in besan and fried kind of wadas,but we were in for a pleasant surprise.We could hardly eat one apiece.These had a slice of chilli in between and packed on either sides with a healthy stuffing of potato and onions and then fried in besan.It was quite a discovery. We headed back to the hotel and had an early dinner and settled in for the night.This was our last night in Jodhpur and went to bed with pleasant memories of having spent a long time among the Rathores of Jodhpur.Afterall we were guests in their palace & fort for a good half day! Next day was again a drive day,we would be driving to Jaipur in the morning.Account of that in the next section. Coming Up: Jaipur |
|
|  (1)
Thanks
|
|
11th October 2010, 11:15
| #35 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 3,712
Thanked: 1,928 Times
| Pictures from Mehrangarh Fort Brazilian Artistry  Umaid Bhawan as seen from Mehrangarh  Jaswant Thada as seen from Mehrangarh (Royal Cenotaph)  The Famed Blue Walls of Jodhpur   The Royal Durbar  Music for the little one   A Devi Temple inside the Fort  Walking our way out of the fort  |
|
|
|
11th October 2010, 11:56
| #36 |
| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Lucknow
Posts: 785
Thanked: 115 Times
| |
|
|
|
11th October 2010, 12:20
| #37 | |||||
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 3,712
Thanked: 1,928 Times
| Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
| |||||
|
|
...Also, what was trip odo reading from Hyd to Hyd?|
11th October 2010, 13:42
| #38 | |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | Quote:
I am at "team-bhp id at gmail dot com". Thanks ! | |
|
|
|
11th October 2010, 15:48
| #39 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 3,712
Thanked: 1,928 Times
| Jodhpur-Jaipur 5th Leg: Jodhpur-Jaipur Route: Jodhpur-Barr-Beawar-Nasirabad-Kishangarh-Jaipur Distance: Approx 340kms Time taken: Approx 5.5 hours Next day was yet another early departure day.By now all of us were getting used to this routine.Breakfast was a quick affair as we wanted to get out before the town traffic began.Check-out was smooth and the hotel gifted the little lady with a memento which was quite a cute one. Getting out of Jodhpur was quite easy,the town roads are not in great shape at the moment due to all the battering by the rains.Once out of the town,the roads began to progressively get better. We took the NH112 till Barr.At Barr we joined the NH14 briefly till Beawar.At Beawar we got onto the NH8 and then onto the GVK Expressway which took us all the way till Jaipur. The drive was quite an uneventful one again,with excellent roads throughout,except for the stretch on NH8 out of Beawar which is in terrible condition due to 4 laning in progress.That stretch is really bad and heavy truck traffic as well. One needs to be careful that one does not go into Ajmer town,approximately 28 kms before Ajmer on NH8,there is a diversion towards Nasirabad.A toll state highway takes you through Nasirabad railway station,Nasirabad Cantt and connects to the four laned NH79.Please take this road and avoid the Ajmer town mess. Once on NH79 it is a breeze till the toll plaza at Kishengarh from whereon the GVK Expressway begins.An amazing Expressway again,was able to maintain a steady 100kph with absolute safe driving.Plenty of eating options on this 100kms stretch. We reached Jaipur town limits at precisely 3pm with a morning departure of 930am from Jodhpur.We ofcourse did not stop for lunch enroute. Once in Jaipur,we found our way to our stay in Jaipur which was at the Four Points by Sheraton (Starwood Hotels & Resorts It is a brand new place and very impressive as well.Good parking facilities as well.The hotel shares its building with the Big Bazaar. Check in was smooth and the room was very impressive as well.Ofcourse it had all the traps of a modern city dwelling,a sudden awakening into reality after the lovely stays and heritage structures at the Hari Mahal & The Suryagarh. Random Pictures of the Hotel Room & Corridor    We indulged in a quick late lunch in the room and crashed for a few hours.Got up around 6pm and decided to drive around the city. Somebody had reccomended to us that dinner or lunch at LMB(www.hotellmb.com) on Johri Bazaar is a must.We looked up Google Maps and the place was easy to spot.Once we reached the place,we pretty much knew that this was one popular restaurant as right next to the restaurant we found another one with a similar one named BMB!!!Talk of the original and fake!!Well for the non-initiated LMB is Laxmi Mishtaan Bhandaar.An amazing sweet shop and an all the more amazing food place.They had on their menu a huge Rajasthani Thali priced at INR 333,and the thali on which it is served in is quite a spectacle.We did not have the stomach for it so decided to give it a miss and settled for Dal,Bhaati,Choorma & Ker Saangri.It was indeed yummy and very much reccomended place for anyone visiting Jaipur. After dinner we decided to head back to the hotel.LMB was in the walled city(also known as the old city of Jaipur and the place where all the buildings are painted pink in color).Of course it is very very chaotic. Once back in the hotel and seeing the chaotic nature of the city traffic and the overall attitude of the people,we decided that it would be a safer bet to go around the city with a known person to take us around,Hence we decided to hire a cab from the hotel for the next day and go around. We decided to call it a day after a long day and tomorrow was going to be a longer day we suspected! For the first time in the entire drive,we were somehow not receiving the positive vibes that we were so used to from the other places till now. Coming Up: Amer Fort,City Palace Jaipur |
|
|
|
11th October 2010, 22:37
| #40 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Pune
Posts: 40
Thanked: 9 Times
| |
|
|
|
12th October 2010, 09:36
| #41 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 3,712
Thanked: 1,928 Times
| Quote:
Couldnt indulge in much of taste-bud pampering at Jodhpur sadly. Wait for the hotel at Udaipur,I guess Udaipur & Jaisalmer hotel experiences were mind blowing,well we decided to go the full distance since we decided to do a "Royal" RJ trip !Thanx once again for reading. | |
|
|
| |
|
12th October 2010, 10:55
| #42 |
| BHPian  | |
|
|
|
12th October 2010, 18:16
| #43 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
|
|
|
12th October 2010, 19:17
| #44 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: India
Posts: 674
Thanked: 150 Times
| Excellent trip, keeping an eye on your thread, went through twice and loving it. Congratulations and thanks for sharing your experience with us  |
|
|
|
12th October 2010, 21:59
| #45 |
| BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: hyderabad
Posts: 239
Thanked: 48 Times
| |
|
|
|
Most Viewed