A Weekend in the Pink City

The capital of India’s most-visited state (Rajasthan), Jaipur’s a good introduction to the rest of the state. It’s milder, more convenient, less of a culture-shock than if you were to plunge straightaway into the heart of this beautiful desert state. The fact that it’s just over 200 km from Delhi means that it’s also a popular weekend break from the national capital- if you’re in Delhi and don’t have enough time to travel too far, come to Jaipur.

The city’s actually two parts- the centre is the Old City, and around it spreads the modern city, which has the hotels and restaurants and stuff like that. The interesting stuff is in the Old City, a delightfully quirky area, all painted pink, and with loads of souvenir shops where you’ve just got to buy local specialties- cloth puppets, camel-leather shoes, block-printed textiles. Among the best places to see are the huge City Palace (it’s home to an excellent museum), the Jantar Mantar- a medieval observatory which has the world’s largest sundial), and the Hawa Mahal (`The Palace of Winds’), a palace with a façade of beautifully filigreed windows. Outside town, on the surrounding hills, are Jaipur’s forts- Nahargarh, Jaigarh and Amer.

Quick Tips:

Jaipur’s very popular, and accommodation is in short supply, so book before you reach- many hotels are on the internet, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding one.

Once you reach, learn to (as in most other Indian cities) turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the touts who’re sure to descend on you wherever you go. They’ll be keen to sell you souvenirs, become guides and all that- but don’t get taken in. At all the major sights, there are `recognized-by-the-government’ guides, with fixed rates for fixed periods; look out for them- they can be trusted to not overcharge you.

As far as shopping is concerned, Hawa Mahal Road’s very attractive, with stall after stall of lovely souvenirs, but the chances of being fleeced are very high indeed. If you’re looking for authentic Rajasthani souvenirs, check out the excellent souvenir shops at the Amer Fort- they’re close to the entrance, and are managed by the government. Besides selling traditional fabrics, lambswool quilts, camel-leather shoes and traditional Rajasthani paintings, these shops also have very efficient and knowledgeable staff, and they’ll even give you a free demo of how local crafts are created- we got to see how block-printing is done.

Best Way To Get Around:

Jaipur’s not very large, and many sights- like the Hawa Mahal, the City Palace and Jantar Mantar- are within easy walking distance of each other. Walking's a pleasant way of exploring the city during winter (the rest of the year it’s just too hot), were it not for the very chaotic traffic this city’s notorious for- if you’re on your own two feet, keep your ears and eyes open.

Other than walking, the next best thing is to hire a rickshaw- there are loads of cycle-rickshaws around, and though you’ll need to bargain, it’s worth it (for an idea of how much a trip to your destination should cost, check with your hotel staff- most of the time they’ll be able to help. If not, shop around- ask a few rickshaw-wallahs before picking one).

For trips out of town- to the forts of Amer, Jaigarh and Nahargarh, or to Chokhi Dhani, for instance- it’s best to hire a taxi. A day’s hire (with a chauffeur) costs between Rs 650 and 750, and is really convenient (it’s what we did). The last option is local buses- they do run in Jaipur, but are best given a miss.

The Saket Hotel doesn’t look anything like a hotel from the outside (actually, when you come to think of it, it doesn’t really look much like one on the inside either); it looks like a big bungalow, all quiet and calm, completely devoid of the bustle and the din of a busy hotel. C-Scheme, Tilak Marg is a quiet area, with narrow tree-lined avenues, birds singing in the trees, and houses with pretty lawns -- all a far cry from the dust of central Jaipur. The Saket Hotel is much like that -- a nice quiet place where you can unwind at your own pace.

The hotel, even on the inside, is very practical all the way -- no frills at all. The lobby had a counter, some sofas and a currency exchange board on the freshly-painted wall; the staircase going up to the rooms was clean and had some faded posters of Rajasthan Tourism on the landings. Our room, a small but airy double room, was squeaky clean -- freshly laundered sheets, new floral-print curtains, well-polished wooden furniture, a neatly tiled bathroom. None of it very tastefully done (not one thing in that room was elegant!), but all amazingly neat and very clean.

The room had a telephone, room service, running hot and cold water and even a colour television with satellite channels. Downstairs, a small and fairly dingy restaurants served meals, though the only meal we ever had there was breakfast- underdone toast, good coffee, and greasy onion-and-green-chilli omelette with liberal lashings of tomato ketchup (sounds much worse than it is -- it’s a North India staple, by the way). We ordered tea and snacks twice through room service, and the service was very quick and efficient -- and this at a time when the hotel was full to the brim.

On the whole, this is a place I’d recommend for anybody looking for quiet, comfy, no-frills accommodation. The facilities are adequate, the staff’s friendly, and it’s good value for money.

The two of us were keen on authentic Rajasthani grub, and our quest -- with the help of a very co-operative chauffeur -- brought us to the Rainbow Restaurant. Our chauffeur, initially surprised that we should want to eat anything other than greasy chow mein or plasticky burgers, eventually suggested Rainbow, and assured us that we’d get a good Rajasthani meal here. "Order the thali," he said. "It’s enough for two people to eat well, and you can always order more rotis if you like." (A thali, for those not in the know, is a set meal -- a table d’hôte -- an array of dishes, each of them in its own little bowl, arranged neatly in a large round platter. There’ll be a dollop of pickle in one corner, a salad, a mound of rice, and local bread. A good introduction to a cuisine).

Anyway, back to the Rainbow, which, on first acquaintance, came as a bit of a shock. Maybe they decorated it the way they did because they wanted to make it look like a rainbow -- I don’t know. Whatever it was, the combined effect of huge wooden tables and chairs, red check tablecloths, typical Rajasthani paintings, plastic flowers, and a multicoloured plastic model of a plane dangling from the ceiling -- all of it rather shook us up. As did the menu, which came printed on massive multicoloured plastic cards and offered a range which ran the gamut from pizza to Chinese ("Would you like to try the Chowmein dosa, madam?" -- I swear that’s on the menu!), South Indian to Rajasthani. We took the safest course, of course -- the thali.

The thalis were large steel platters, in the centre of which lay a fist-sized mound of fluffy rice. Around it, in gleaming steel bowls arranged around the inner rim of the thali, were a curry of mixed vegetables; a dal (lentils); and gatte ki sabzi (this one’s a very typically Rajasthani dish: gramflour’s kneaded into a dough, which is cut into cubes and fried, and then the cubes are cooked in a spicy curry. It’s an interesting insight into the cuisine of a desert state where fresh vegetables were once very hard to come by, so recipes had to be concocted from lentils and grains). Along with that, there was a spicy garlic chutney, a hefty helping of red-hot pickle, a (fortunately equally hefty) helping of sliced tomato and cucumber, and a glass each of chhaach. Chhaach is one of Rajasthan’s glories -- a drink made of whey, spiced up with the merest hint of roasted cumin, salt, and chopped coriander -- heavenly! With all of that, we also got two types of local breads -- missi roti, which is made from gramflour; and pudina paratha, a layered fried bread garnished with dried fenugreek.

Very filling, very good for the soul -- and the view out of the restaurant’s large windows is panoramic enough. And the best part of it all? We paid only Rs 160 for the whole thing, including aerated drinks!

Of Jaipur’s three forts, Jaigarh is the most interesting. We’d already seen the pretty palaces at Amer and wanted a peek at a hard-core fortress -- this was it.

Jaigarh (literally "Victory Fort") was built between the 15th and the 18th century, and stands 15 km from Jaipur, amidst rock-strewn, thorn-scrub covered hills; its forbidding stone ramparts visible from Jaipur itself. We went up a steep road to the main gate, the Dungar Darwaza, from where the view is stupendous, but the din (honking cars, calling langurs and yelling tourists who are invariably Indian families with frayed tempers) is a bit much.

Jaigarh, once responsible for the security of both Jaipur and Amer, is a huge moated fort and contains all the accoutrements of a full-fledged citadel. 1.5 or 2 hours was enough to explore it -- we didn’t bother taking a guide; most sections like the armoury and the museum have adequate signs.

We began with Jaigarh’s biggest draw, the Jaivana, the world’s largest cannon on wheels. Jaivana was constructed in Jaigarh’s foundry in 1720 and its barrel alone weighs close to 50 tons. According to popular belief, Jaivana has been fired only once (the ball falling 35 km away in a very unfortunate village) -- must’ve been a terrific bang.

After Jaivana, we walked about a bit, mainly on the ramparts, where we peered down the loopholes for guns and boiling oil, and checked out the wide water channels. These were part of a very efficient system for rainwater harvesting, bringing in water from across the hills and into Jaigarh’s three underground tanks. The largest of the tanks stored 6,000,000 gallons of water, and was, till not long back, supposed to house a treasure (that myth was shattered by the Indian government, which searched it).

Across the yard from the tanks are Jaigarh’s armoury and museum: both have a decent collection of stuff pertaining to Jaigarh, although everything’s rather dingy, dusty, and poorly labeled. The Armoury’s treasures include a 50-kg cannonball, various swords, shields, muskets, war bugles, armour, and guns (bullock-cart, wheel, and camel-mounted!). It also has photographs of two of Jaipur’s maharajas, Sawai Bhawani Singh and Major General Man Singh II, both once senior military officers in the Indian Army.

The Museum has more of the same, though not all military. Here too there are photos -- some delightful ones of old Jaipur, its maharajas, palace guards, royal processions, and the Jaipur State Cavalry. There’s an interesting photograph of India’s many rulers at the Conference of Ruling Princes and Chiefs (Delhi, 1917), along with other knick-knacks (maps of Jaigarh, spittoons, leather and metal oil containers, and 18th-century circular playing cards).

Among Jaigarh’s other structures are a series of open halls, of which the Shubhat Niwas (the Meeting Hall of Warriors) has a few weather-beaten odds and ends lying about.

Entrance fees to Jaigarh are Rs 20 for foreign tourists and Rs 10 for Indians.

A moated fortress, Amer is a blend of Rajasthani and Mughal architecture. It stands atop a hill, and you can ascend by car, on foot, or atop a richly painted elephant. We walked up and reached the Bhairon Gate (elephant dung all over!) and beyond that, the Suraj Pol ("Sun Gate"). Amer’s stone exterior is boring, but once past Suraj Pol, you realize why Amer is considered one of India’s loveliest forts.

Amer was made by Maharaja Man Singh in 1590 and added to by his successors right up to Jai Singh in 1724. A 12km boundary wall with eight watchtowers surrounds palaces, pavilions, courtyards, and gardens. In the centre is the parade ground, surrounded by stables and a drum house. Below are underground water tanks; Kesar Bagh ("Saffron Garden"), where they once tried to grow saffron (!); and a maze of 140 servants’ quarters connected by 560 paths.

We hired a guide, who took us up a wide staircase into a courtyard, where the Hall of Public Audience, the Diwan-e-Aam, stands. It’s a pavilion of red sandstone and white marble, with a double row of elegant columns and lovely latticework. Beyond it is the intricately painted Ganesh Pol gate, dedicated to the elephant-headed Hindu god. Our guide showed us how the gate’s frescoes were created, with the design painted in vegetable dyes on wet lime, allowed to dry, and then repainted onto a second layer of lime, and so on, making it sun-proof.

After the Ganesh Pol, a beautiful door of sandalwood, ivory, and buffalo horn, (supposedly copied from a Persian carpet gifted by the Mughal Emperor Jehangir) leads into the palace. The palace has ramps instead of staircases because the Maharanis here wore such heavy brocades and jewellery that they had to be wheeled around in rickshaws! The rickshaw of Maharani Chandramukhi is displayed here -- she reputedly wore 23 kg of finery!

On the ground level, the main hall is Sukh Niwas ("Abode of Happiness") with white marble and painted lime -- delicate channels are carved into the floor for water to flow and cool the room in the scorching summers.

Beyond that, up the ramp and on the upper level is the Maharani’s summer palace, with its pretty white marble jaalis (filigree windows). Part of this was a Queen’s "swing room," where she’d sit on a swing, attended by her handmaids.

The Sheesh Mahal below this room was the Maharaja’s Sheesh Mahal, and was also known as Jai Niwas, Jai Mandir, or Diwan-e-Khas (Hall of Private Audience). Used by the Maharaja and his senior courtiers, this is the largest of its kind in India -- an exquisitely decorated hall of convex mirrors, lime-plaster, stucco, glass and gold leaf, and Belgian stained glass, with a white marble and black stone dado. Amer is worth seeing just for this.

Entrance fees to Amer are Rs 20 per person (foreigners) and Rs 10 (Indians).

The City Palace stands in the centre of the geometric grid which was Jaipur’s Old Town. It’s a complex of pink-and-white palaces built in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, and is today partly occupied by the royal family, and partly a museum -- the excellent Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, established in 1959 as the Maharaja of Jaipur Museum, but renamed in 1970.

We entered the City Palace through the Tripolia Gate, although there’s another gate called Jaleb Chowk. Inside, the palace’s divided into three galleries -- I liked the Textiles and Costumes Gallery in the Mubarak Mahal best. The modestly-sized Mubarak Mahal, designed by Sir Swinton Jacob, is two-storied, with a pretty balcony of white marble. The upper storey is where the museum’s housed -- all glass cabinets, well-labelled and well-maintained. The collection of royal costumes includes fabulously ornate apparel -- such treasures as a jama (a long flared tunic) with 250 kalis (separate seams that make up the flares of the jama); chogas (coats); angarkhas (long tunics which button up along one side), pajamas, headgear for cows (!- all those beaded embroidered masks cows wear at fairs)); and saris. There are also some fine examples of an atamsukh (oversized winter wear for men, which looked more like a smallish quilt to me), ghagras or flared skirts, odhnis (voluminous veils) and more.

There’s more stuff too -- a smart chess set laid out in regal surroundings, with a hubble-bubble, a crystal decanter and bolsters. There are gold-embroidered platter-covers; embroidered shawls, turbans, and a tableau of fully-adorned life-size mannequins depicting a queen being attended by maids. On a different track, there’s a display of the polo habits of Jaipur’s maharajas (they prided themselves on being great polo players: between 1930 and 1938, the Jaipur polo team, headed by Maharaja Man Singh, won all the open tournaments in India and the UK).

The Sileh Khana (Armoury) is the next gallery -- a collection of martial artefacts. This race being one of warriors, there’s loads around, from paintings of battles and army formations, to howdahs, gunpowder flasks, pistols, flintlocks, swords, daggers, armour, battleaxes, and more. All well-labelled and good, but we got a bit bored. Before you leave, look up at the ceilings -- they’re beautifully ornamented with paint and mirrorwork.

The third gallery’s the Art Gallery, in the Diwan-e-Khas (the Hall of Private Audience). It’s an outdoor pavilion, all peachy-pink and pretty white arabesques. A few palanquins and sedan chairs stand here -- but the highlights are two huge gangajalis (containers specially made to hold Ganges water). Each stands 5''''3" and has a capacity of 900 lt -- making them the single largest pieces of silver in the world. The two urns were made especially for Maharaja Madho Singh II, for his tour of Britain in 1902; an orthodox Hindu, he refused to partake of any water other than that from the sacred Ganges!

On the whole, a museum you must check out!

We were in Jaipur for just two days, and were (obviously) keen on getting a good, hefty dose of full-blooded Rajasthani culture. The driver who took us around Jaipur suggested Chokhi Dhani. Chokhi Dhani calls itself an "ethnic village" and that’s what it is -- a great showcase of Rajasthan’s stunning cultural heritage.

Chokhi Dhani has a hotel, with a business centre, health club, shopping arcade, and stuff like that -- more or less everything you’d expect of a hotel. But that’s only part of it: Chokhi Dhani also has a colourful (and noisy!) programme every evening -- and everybody’s invited!

We weren’t staying at Chokhi Dhani, so the only option was to go for the evening -- and the experience was quite unforgettable! Chokhi Dhani’s a huge complex decked up to look like a traditional Rajasthani village, with wattle-and-daub huts, all decorated in the authentic red-and-white line style of Rajasthani villages. As you enter, you’re greeted by a small girl who’ll welcome you in the traditional way -- by putting a tilak (a light smear of vermilion) on your forehead -- and then, once you’ve paid the entry fee, you go in.

The huts around house a small museum; souvenir shops (with local handicrafts- jewellery, clothing, puppets and stuff like that), and there are, throughout the complex, a series of stages on which dancers and musicians perform constantly. All around the stages there are rope-beds (known in India as charpais), where you can sit and watch for free, and, if you wish it, even get up on stage and dance! And that isn’t all: Chokhi Dhani has more to offer. There’s a village magician; a kancha khelan ri thor (you’re never gonna believe this! -- a special platform meant exclusively for playing marbles, supposedly a favourite pastime), and a wandering hukka-wallah who goes around with a hubble-bubble and offers it to all the men around (I don’t smoke, but I suppose even women could ask him for a glug from it). There are camel, elephant and horse-cart rides, and there’s the food, which is fantastic!

A huge buffet is laid out, and you can choose where you want to sit: on baithaks (low wide stools which looked very uncomfortable); charpais; or mundane plastic chairs. The food’s a great display of Rajasthan’s considerable culinary tradition: all vegetarian and excellent. The menu changes every now and then, but the day we ate there, we got aloo kanda ri saag (a vegetable dish of potato and onion); gatte ki sabzi (an unusual curry with pieces of fried gramflour paste); sarson saag (puréed mustard greens) and kadhi, a mild, soupy yoghurt curry. Along with that, there was khichdo (a porridge-like dish of wheat, served with loads of ghee and raw sugar), bajre ki roti (a rustic bread made of a local millet); and a very spicy garlic chutney. To top it off, there was moong dal halwa -- a dripping-with-ghee dessert made of split, ground mung beans. Splendid!

Entry to Chokhi Dhani is Rs 190 per person, inclusive of dinner.