My Udaipur to Jodhpur was over and i had reached my hotel “Mandore Guest House” . I had two nights stay at Jodhpur including the one on which i arrived , so in total i had only one day for Jodhpur. But presently after such a long journey after so many stop overs ( Read Om Banna , Ranakpur temple , REHET and Waterfall ), i was badly tired and didnt had any energy to even plan out anything for tomorrow , so just had a nice heavy dinner and left for bed , though one thing was fixed next day i had to start early to cover whole jodhpur in a single day.

Next Day started , it was early morning and i was ready to leave my hotel at 8.00 AM , my first destination of the day was Mandore Garden , which was just opposite to my hotel. But Mandore Garden had nothing much to see so prefered to start my Jodhpur series from Mehrangarh fort.

Mehrangarh fort was some 15 min away from my guest house. About it grand structure i was already being told by my driver Shyam , as he has been here many a times. This fort is the only fort in India with a working elevator in it , as it is a 12 storey fort and infact one of the largest of forts.

I was about to reach Mehrangarh fort and the first glimpse from almost entering it was Wow , and suddenly i was in a thinking mode. I had never thought that Batman had reached to Jodhpur for a very scene in which he came out from inprisonment , I am talking about The Dark Night Rises movie of Batman series , a little portion of it was shot here just in front of Mehrangarh fort , even some scenes from inside were included.

I bought a ticket of Rs 30 per person for the elevator to reach directly to the top of Mehrangarh fort , as it was best to go directly to the top rather than going 12 stories of Mehrangarh fort , it is not like that i am not used to of climbing stair , i live on the fifth floor that too in a building withour lift and almost daily i give some 20 rounds up an down the stairs , but it was much different scene forts have much higher floor heights and their stairs are also very un even , so go for lift and start the tour of Mehrangarh fort from the top.

I was watching the Blue City , also called as Sun City because of bright sun rays falling all year round. Now Jodhpur is considered as the second metropolitan city of Rajasthan after Jaipur.

But this blue coloured houses could be seen only around the Mehrangarh fort , some say because of being the Sun city it was decided to give it a different look and blue colour was chosen to highlight the fort city.

It has been in the culture of Rajasthan , Queens were never allowed to come out in front of the public so they were given the feasibility by giving them these royal windows carved in a design where they could sit and see the daily proceedings of the fort or have a view of the city. Same thing i had seen in Jaipur when i visited Hawa Mahal of Jaipur.

It is very rightly said ” India was golden bird once ” and to feel this line one must visit the fort of India , it is not in Rajasthan only , wherever we go in India every royal family in past have shown there royalty by making rooms decorated with gold plated plates or carvings having gold paint on them made of real gold , luckily gold was not that costly at their times.

This Darbar hall of Mehrangarh fort , as one can see the pillars and the roof have been decorated by gold paint which was made by real gold dust mixed in oil.

Same was the case with this Bedroom of one of the kings, called as Takhat vilas. It was way ahead than the Darbar Hall , real gold plates were moulded and carved into the designs of the bed room , rest of the portion was covered with glasses brought from Belgium. Wow what a life they lived , couldnt understand why they could not sleep in a normal bed room.

It took some 2 hrs to complete the tour of Mehrangarh fort , and while i was going through the museum of Palanquins , where royal palanquins used on every birth of a child were displayed , but when somebody would visit i am sure he would also notice the same thing which i noticed. Palanquins of only kings were placed there on display with there small picture on them , but i couldnt see any palanquin where a small picture of a princess would be displayed. Was that not in fashion that time to use Palanquins for a girl child , still a mystery for me waiting for answers.

There only i met this guard , who was very much deep into the flute and was entertaining the crowd. He was playing flute so well that i sat there for some 10 min and heard his flute , though i can say i was tired also after almost completing this 12 storey Mehrangarh fort of Jodhpur. I gave him Rs 20 and bid adieu to him and the fort and left for my next destination which was just 5 min walk from there , The Jaswant Thada mausoleum.

 

 

After my not so included in my bucket list stop over’s at (Read Water fall and REHET) i was atlast reaching my decided stop over “Ranakpur Temple”. I had decided this as the first stop over on my Udaipur to Jodhpur journey , though i stopped at some points but this was the main destination of mine where i had to reach.

According to Ranakpur temple timings only i had decided to leave from Udaipur at 9.00 AM as temple entry starts after 11.00 AM only for tourists , before that it is opened for the pilgrims only and tourists are not allowed in those ours.

After a 3 hr journey from Udaipur i reached to Ranakpur Temple atlast. But one hurdle was yet to be crossed , as my style and more because of being comfortable while travelling specialy when it was a Rajasthan tour , i was travelling most of time in shorts only and in Ranakpur temple one is not allowed like this and according to their rules i was in inappropriate dress , though this thing was told by my driver only when we reached there , so had to open my luggage and had to change my clothes in the car only.

Atlast i was in front of a Majestic masterpiece of that era when construction of this type of achitecture icons was very much in fashion.

The construction of this temple has been documented on copper plate as 1437 CE though it kept on under construction mode till 1458 AD under the rule of Rana Kumbha , then ruler of Mewar.

But the most eye opening thing for me was when i looked at the structure and guide told me , “Sir please dont try to count to pillars , as there are somewhere around 1444 pillars , they could be more than that also” . I dumb struck when i heard this , but next line was about to come. Every pillar has been carved with a different look , different designs , no two pillar would be found of any similarity.

The temple is designed as Chaumukha (four faces).The construction of the temple and quadrupled image symbolize the Tirthankara’s conquest of the four cardinal directions and hence the cosmos.

This picture was of one of the pillars of the temple. But i would say i was not that lucky enough , as told by the priest and the guide (who itself was the priest of temple only) one pillar in the temple has been carved with the design’s of snakes and many snakes have been entangeled together in the design that it is impossible to locate the tip of tail of one snake. It is said one who could find that pillar is considered as lucky and gods grace has fallen on him. May be i am not that lucky enough , i tried to find that pillar but it seemed impossible.

Guide told me , he is a priest , stays there whole day everyday but he has also not seen that pillar though his Guru’s ( higher priest ) have seen but that too only once in their lifetime.

I had accepted i am not that lucky , and move ahead finishing my stop over at Ranakpur temple. It was going to take some 3 hrs more for me to reach Jodhpur , in which half of the time me and my driver were planning for some more trips specially to Ranakpur Temple and find that temple , this story of that snake pillar whether true or not, as every place has some folk lores and they keep changing with every mouth , but it seemed a nice time pass for us for the onward journey till my next stop over at Om Bana Temple.

 

 

 

 

Some 3 hrs had gone since i had started my Udaipur to Jodhpur drive. This Rajasthan tour was surprising me again and again , waterfall on the way , lush green valleys were some of then. I had shifted my path from a four lane highway to a single road.

For once i had asked my driver whether he was taking the right route , we have plenty of time cant we reach Ranakpur by this highway only , he was very sure and said you are going to love this route as well. And yes he was right , this single road was better than that highway , road going up and down the slopes , farming land on both sides passing through small villages , it was amazing.

But things would change like this i had never expected. One more surprise or can say the Rajasthan tour surprises again and that too the biggest surprise of the trip. My driver knew about this place and he stopped the car suddenly.

Just on the right of my car , where we stopped on farmer was rotating the wheel of water to drain his farmland with the help of his two bullocks. I was shouting with joy , this was the biggest surprise of my trip, i had been to rural places but this was something which i had just read in books and never knew that it was still in practice in India.

It was quite late in the afternoon and it was obvious that farmer was heading back to his home after completing his task for that day , but still after seeing us coming out of car he stopped for a while and very generously said to us “Namaste Babu”. He invited us to have a look of his REHET , ya this was the word by which this system is called in that area.

He offered a ride also on his Rehet to us but i was quite reluctant as i was more keen in having the clicks , though i gave my wife a chance. I was quite surprised when that old man said ” No Problem its safe” , my driver told me many tourist stop here to click pictures of this man working on his Rehet with his bullocks so he has learned a bit of English as well from them.

Water from Rain and other sources is collected in this pond , later on with the help of Rehet is drained into the fields. 95 Buckets were attached into the Rehet and on decreasing water level more buckets are added into the system. He told to drain whole field , where water is drained with the help of small pavements made on the side on field and he works atleast 4-5 hrs daily to cover the whole field.

We spent some 20 min there , and it was the best of time for me in this Udaipur to Jodhpur drive. I was learning something new and was giggling inside thinking that this Rajasthan tour is surprising me whenever he wishes.

Without any hesitation and any second thoughts i gave that farmer some money , as my driver had told me to do , he knew this that many tourist stop here and every one gives him very generously.

Though i was quite suprised when that old man asked me , “aaj kal angrej kafi kam ho gaye hain babu (now a days very less foreign tourist are coming)” , what explaination i could give him , just told him its off season wait some time. As i could remember he very smiling waved me bye and i think atleast 2-3 times he said Namaste to me when i was leaving.

We moved for our onward journey , Ranakpur temple which was just some 30 min ahead from there , but this surprise would remain in my heart as the best of surprises from this Rajasthan tour of mine.

Lets tour 

 

 

 

My trip to Rajasthan was going awesome , first destination of the trip Chapter Udaipur was coming to end. It was the last evening of mine in Udaipur and once again i was on Fateh Sagar Lake. Next morning i had to leave for Jodhpur so it was the time to bid adieu to Udaipur and tried to relive the moments.

Next morning i had left my home away from home Shree Vilas Orchid , Udaipur , and my car was on the way to Jodhpur. Udaipur to Jodhpur by car was going to tske some 6 hrs. I was unaware of the roads though i had some brief idea thanks to my experienced driver who has driven almost whole India.

I was on the four lane highway for some 1 hr and it was amazing. Lushgreen mountains , highway passing through the tunnels and in between the two mountains. Not at all for a single moment i was having a feeling that i was in Rajasthan , thanks to the just gone monsoon who made this way heavenly. Hardly any need of switching on the AC of car in Rajasthan is something which is unbelievable but i was driving without it and windows open enjoying the cool breeze.

After some time when we had left the four lane highway and had moved towards Jodhpur via Ranakpur i stopped for a cup of tea at a restaurant.

This valley was on the back of the restaurant , half restaurant leaning out in the valley , standing on the balcony clicking this picture of valley , i had never ever dreamt that i would such a beautiful valley traveling in Rajasthan ,this trip of Udaipur to Jodhpur was surprising me after every km and i was loving it.

Surprises were not over and what i would never ever think of dreaming was waiting for me ahead. Just some 10 Km before Ranakpur temple my driver suddenly slowed the car and told me to look left side , and i replied “stop stop stop” . A stream of water coming from nowhere was waiting for us. I have seen these type of scenes in my Manali trip but i had never expected that i would be enjoying this serene look here in Rajasthan as well.

We parked our car , and went downwards towards the waterfall. Sitting on a big stone , foots imersed in the water and enjoying the food, who would not have dreamt of this picture in their mind , and i was enjoying this moment. We sat there for an hour , though we had not planned for an hour but somehow we had to help a needy travellers whose car got punctured and they were not able to change their tyre, so i told my driver to help them.

We left from their, though we wanted to sit their some more but trip had to be completed and schedule had to be followed and Udaipur to Jodhpur trip was not yet completed , Jodhpur was still very far and reaching to the next destination was the need of the situation.