Never a dull moment

Chokhi Dhani has been touted as a must see location in Jaipur and I agree after the visit there this Monday. It is best enjoyed with family and friends. It is a typical village setting with everything except farming thrown in. It is very colourful as Rajasthan is.The variety starts from the check in counter. All the employees are in traditional gear. So are the various performers in the premises. There are low buildings with thatched roof, tiled roof and mud roof. There are several stages for performers spread across the campus. We watched three sets of traditional Rajasthani dancers performing to the tunes of traditional music. Every now and then, the visitors can join the dancers for a few minutes. There are magicians and a puppet show to keep one and all amused. One can ride a camel. There are camel, horse and bullock carts adding to the variety.Elephant ride catches the fancy of the young and the old. Jaipur is a dusty place and the path taken by various animals and carts have been...

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...