Never a dull moment

It is pretty hot all over Rajasthan with all major cities and towns like Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Kota, Bhilwara and Chittorgarh recording temperatures above 45 deg C for more than a week now. But holidays are holidays for children and we took off for a whistle stop tour of Jaipur-Chittorgarh-Udaipur-Jaipur trip in 38 hours covering a distance of 1000 km literally scorching the highways. Chittorgarh fort is the largest in Asia. We spent three hours in the midday braving sweltering weather. The fort which was built around 600 AD and renovated around 1400 AD is a sight to behold in terms of size and grandeur. The history of Mewar region lies buried in this fort. The fort was built by King Bapa Rawal fourteen centuries ago. This was the fort where Bhaktha Meera sang her bhajans praising Lord Krishna. This was the fort where the famed Rani Padmini lived and set herself in flames rather than give herself up to the enemy who laid siege to the fort expecting her to surrender. There are sever...

The walled city or The Pink City is the original Jaipur which has expanded in recent times with seat of power of the government housed in the sprawling complex which used to be barracks and offices of the body guards of Jaipur Maharaja. The garage of the Maharaja which is situated in the centre of the Central Park ( which is a huge public facility with a outer walk way 4 km long with a Jaipur Polo Club and Jaipur Golf Club within its sprawling precints ) has been transformed into a luxury heritage hotel- Lakshmi Vilas. Walking around Pink city is an experience in itself. Though I can not claim to know all the gates, I have travelled through the major ones- Ajmer Gate, New Gate, Sanganer gate, Chandpole, Ratan Pole...The two major road junctions are Badi Choupad and Chotti Choupad. The need to maintain tradition and uniformity has ensured that all the names of the shops in the Pink City are displayed in a standard fashion- block letters in Hindi of the same fond and size on a white bac...