"Jaipur is the finest jewelry ever created on Earth, where King was the jeweler and bricks, his gems." says Vinita Kinra, an Indo Canadian author of multiple travel and life memoirs published worldwide.
Resonating totally with Vinita through my where-next-should-I-travel-google-searches, I planned my trip to Jaipur in the autumn of 2016 to explore the abundant royalty and splendidness that this city has to offer. Starting from Delhi, planning a 4-5 days stay, I then wondered how should I travel and where all should I go. Soon all of it was sorted. Google suggested me the best is to travel directly to Jaipur taking a train and then housing in the nearby accommodation available to the station area. As suggested, it was followed.
Jaipur, which is the capital of the state of royal Rajasthan of India, is famous for its architectural and heritage sites. It is said that this city still houses the royal family of Jaipur. Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh who is considered the youngest 21-year-old millionaire holds no less than 855 million dollars under his royal umbrella, is the King of Jaipur, and the youngest monarch of the state. Currently pursuing his studies in NYC and Rome, he pays a visit to his splendid princely land at least twice a year. His land, Jaipur bags the title for one of the earliest planned cities of modern India which was originally founded by Maharaja Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amer in 1727. Since then, Jaipur has become a famous tourist destination and heavenly resort to many historians willing to learn the architecture of Ancient and Modern India. Talking about my trip, being a History student, I got excited with visiting the royal abode, and a few other must-visit places- shortlisted from my research on Google and hearing from the people living nearby.
The first and foremost that Jaipur shall show you is the City Palace. This palace, or luxurious spread of land, if one must say so, is the current residence of the royal family. Certain parts of the palace are prohibited to be entered by the tourists since that qualifies as the private space of the royal family. The rest of the area, including the Sawai Man Singh Museum, can be freely explored by travelers. It is an unique and special complex of several courtyards, buildings, pavilions, gardens, and temples. The most prominent and most visited structures are the Chandra Mahal, Mubarak Mahal, Shri Govind Devi Temple, and the City Palace Museum. The Museum flaunts the armory, clothing, books, souvenirs, and similar nitty-gritty showing the lifestyle of the royale. Until 1949, i.e. till India declared itself completely democratic, this Palace was the ceremonial and administrative seat of the King. A popular belief says that on the topmost floor of Chandra Mahal called as Mukut Mandir, has a balcony which hoists the quarter flag (inscribed Sawai) whenever the King is in the city, giving a message to the subjects to come and address their grievances to the lord.
One of the other beauties that can't be missed is the Jal Mahal (Water Palace). This is one picturesque architecture that Jaipur royale is proud of even today. It's said that this palace was built for the King to enjoy and relax in the lower temperature when the city saw peaking scorching heat during the summers. Built on the Man Sagar Lake, in red sandstone is a five-storied building of which four remain underwater and only the top floor is exposed for view. This place is not open for tourists to visit and one can only click pictures from a distance of land. Thinking about the fun and frolic to stay inside the water for days, to curb the heat, is a pleasure in itself.
Ever thought how Rajasthan, especially this royal household of Jaipur cared for its females? Well, the usual saga says that in Ancient India, no woman was allowed to see the men in their eyes. So much so that they had to follow the custom of Ghunghat (Purdah as few religions opine) meaning abiding by a veil before they went to their male counterparts or even to their husbands.
If I illustrate how this specific royale dealt with this, then, they built a Palace altogether just to let their females see the royal processions and the day to day happenings on the street. Here, I am talking about the Hawa Mahal (The Palace of Breeze). This five-storied pyramidal shaped monument in the form of honeycomb manifests 953 niches called as "Jharokhas" (meaning windows). The overwhelming part about some of the Jharokhas is them being made of wood and adorned with latticework. The original intent of the lattice design was to allow royal ladies to observe everyday life and festivals, without being seen by the general public, hence adhering to the strict rules of Purdah/ Ghunghat. Built-in red and pink colored sandstone, this architectural heritage, is a perfect mix of Rajput and Mughal style of infrastructure.
The cinephile in me skipped a heartbeat when I heard that this Pink City has to its name, one of the biggest cinema theatre of the country which was built with the sole purpose of giving a royal feeling to its guests.
Famous by the name Raj Mandir, a dream of Mehtab Chandra Golcha, who wanted cinema to be more than just traditional experience and cross the boundary to showcase more than just a movie to its theatre lovers. This palatial theatre holds its guests for the style and elegance giving a wholesome experience of royalty. If one steps inside, carpet lad flooring with intricately done ceiling takes the heart away. Not only this, but the wooden hand railings also hold sharply placed glass designs and colorful patterns of wood cut into varied shapes soothing to the eyes.
Even till the day, this cinema theatre runs daily shows of many Bollywood movies and forms one of the most famous attractions owing to its opulent and lavish infrastructure, warm hospitality, and once a lifetime movie viewing experience.
Being a foodie, I always have food on the top in my to-do list in any place I visit. Jaipur did not disappoint me when it comes to scrumptious meals. I explored the true Rajasthani cuisine through Chokhi Dhani (meaning Rajasthani Culture) which is an experiential resort set around 30 kilometers from the main city, set over a sprawling 10 acres of land, reflecting the grandeur of the Rajasthani tradition in all its abundance and bounty. This place flaunts of village theme with Kachcha huts made of cow dung plasters, magic shows, camel rides, puppet shows, decorative wall paintings, men and women in ethnic attire- some of the prominent things that you can see and explore while roaming inside. We reached here in the evening and tried to feel whatever this place has to offer. Popularly known as Chokhi Dhani Village, my best memory here traces back to savoring over the traditional Rajasthani Thali comprising of a variety of bread, sweets, and curries.
Eating onto this Thali, made me reminiscent of my roots belonging to Rajasthan and reminded me of days when my Grandma and Ma cooked a lot of these dishes and gravies during the summer holidays. My heart was equally divided between being nostalgic of childhood and indulging happily in the adventure that this spread has to render.
A few of the other places that I encountered are seeing the Sun Deck at Jantar Mantar and exploring the Johari Bazaar on foot. Jantar Mantar, a famous architecture of Old India, parallel to the one in Delhi, where through calculations of Physics and Astronomy, are built a set of sundials and decks to determine the day, month, year, time, eclipse as well as season through the rays of the sun. It's a masterpiece that conveys of knowledge and researches that our ancestors did. This collection of nineteen architectural astronomical instruments finished in 1734 has the world's largest sundial which is a UNESCO Heritage Site.
Johari Bazaar, the market situated in the center of the Old City of Jaipur houses some of the best souvenir places in the city. Here you can find all the art forms of the old, new, medieval, and modern Rajasthan. From lac bangles to puppets, from blue pottery to rugs and carpets, you can find it all here, in one place.
Not only these, but also the wooden furniture to marble idols and from Bandhani prints of textiles to the ones in colorful threads. How can one forget the mention of traditional Jaipuri Jootis and bags? If you want to crack a profitable deal, then the mantra stays the same, bargain at 70 percent of what the shopkeeper offers. its usually said that they try to overprice the items, especially for outsiders and foreigners. Moreover, they also are at times nasty to sell poorly designed handicrafts, to fool around the people unknown of the quality. To save a lot of your time, money, and energy, try searching into multiple stores before you finally plan to buy any item. You can even resort to befriend a local person to know where to find the most authentic and best quality items that you wish to buy.
Some of my prized possessions from the city of Jaipur turned out to be this colorful thread carefully interwoven Kurti and the Bandhani Print Dupatta. Bandhani Print is also known as tie and dye printing globally. In this kind of printing, a cloth piece is tied into different shapes using threads, with pulses kept inside it and is then dipped into colorful dyes. Once the cloth gets hold of the color, then the threads and pulses are carefully removed to obtain this multicolor multi-pattern pieces. With Bandhani Prints, now you can also find diaries, folders, files, also being made except the traditional textile-like sarees, kurtas, skirts, bedsheets, and scarfs.
Some of the places that I would want to encounter in my next move to this Pink City is wandering to Amer Fort, attending the Light and Sound Show, and exploring a luxurious stay at the City Palace. This royal abode of Ancient India has a lot to offer. A traveler like me holds the royalty, essence, and beauty of this beautiful city, very close to heart, not only because its nostalgic but also because of its royal, grand and luxurious at the same time.
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