This time i was going for a long trip. I had planned something different , wanted it to be something which i had never done before.
This time my plan was to travel all through the Rajasthan by Local bus , auto’s and local mode of travel. Though the whole plan changed for some reasons. Trip started by train to Udaipur which was previously Bikaner. I had my car waiting for me there in Udaipur and the rest of the trip was by car only.
At the beginning it was going to be Udaipur , jodhpur , chittorgarh , bikaner and pushkar. I had given every place two days atleast so it was going to be a ten day tour and i was very excited about it. But this is destiny , when things start changing they altogether leave their effects and same happened here.
Addition of car changed my whole tour. Now i was going to travel 660 km to Udaipur first by train and then stay for two days and leave for Jodhpur. Chittorgarh was not alloted a stay but just a day tour , which i had to cancel due to Asaram Bapu supporter’s agitation going on the road going to Chittorgarh.
From Udaipur it was jodhpur which is somewhere around 270 km from there and in the middle stopovers to some places were already in chart.
As it was going to take atleast half a day for me to reach Jodhpur so atleast two days were in the slot for Jodhpur.
After Jodhpur my next stopover was Bikaner, some 305 km’s from there and again half of the day going to be in the car only.
Then i was going to leave for my most awaited place , Mandawa. From Bikaner it was going to take some 200km’s.
This trip was going to be full of adventures and the best part was that i was going to behold the historical places and live my life in the past dreaming of the past.
In the end my dream was going to get accomplished and my target was going to be achieved.
I had travelled some 1900 km’s in 8 Days and covered 5 Cities. This was my second trip to Rajasthan and this was just the outline of the tour rest is about to come.
I had heard of this resort some time back , and that time only it was added in my bucket list. On this trip to Jaipur i was going to visit it just to do the Reiki of the resort.
Just 1hr Before Jaipur , not far that it cant be stayed when visiting Jaipur , Its location gives it a feasibility that one who is on the trip to Jaipur and want to live in Different Luxurious Resort then he can choose this. Yes , I would rate it as a Different Luxurious Resort , though there are many luxury resorts and haveli’s in Jaipur but it has got a edge above all.
Barren Land just before the Resort
Travelling just 0.9 km down the lane from the New Delhi – Jaipur highway and taking a off road crossing these barren land , i was bit confused whether i am going right but the sign boards were guiding me and i was moving forward leaving my confusion aside. Little bit of Rain had added some green colour to the picture otherwise it had been the typical Rajasthan brown shade which would have been giving it a proper barren look.
After some 1 km happen to see the guard sitting, and stopping us for the entry . Still there was no sign the resort , he guided us and told just to go straight but keep your car speed below 30km/h . It surprised me more , what am i going to find in this place which would come in my way.
Tree House , Bamboo covered entrance of the Resort.
Atlast after some 10min i was in front of this great , beautifull mansion style made hut. It was the entrance of the Resort. Well decorated , bamboo’s giving it a all together different feel.
On the Entrance this piece of wood shaped like a boat camouflaging small plants in it had given the signs that i was about to visit something which is going to surprise me in every sense.
Going for a walk with the Staff
They had arranged one staff member for us to take us for a long walk . Yes , it had become a long walk after we had returned as i was tired , this resort is awesomely huge and beautiful.
Tree House
Tree House
Atlast i was in the actual Tree House for which his name has been coined. Tree coming in from the floor and passing through the roof , just on your side of bed you will see a tree passing and this was something amazing. Have seen tree houses at many places and in sanctuaries it is very common but this something very different , air conditioned room with bathroom attached with all the best of facilities available.
Though walking on a wooden floor always gives a risky feeling but here it was not a issue , a whole flat or can say 6 separate deluxe rooms have been settled on well set group of some 4-5 tree’s and bamboo shoots giving them support as well from the down.
Name of the apartment
Every apartment has been named after different species of bird. As was told some 24 species of birds can been seen here. Tree house has been built on such a height that you just have too sit on your room window and the whole tree is below the window and one can easily see the flora and fauna of the resort. One can never even imagine that they are staying in a place which almost in the middle of barren land of Aravali’s.
Rabbits at tree house
Saw these Rabbits when we stepped out and came down from the room. They even have duck pond and peacocks and hyena sound is very easily heard in the mornings.
Dirt Bikes
Keeping the activities section in Mind tree house management has got Dirt bikes and cycle safari for the visitors. A separate sports area having badminton and tennis court was there , very nicely designed soothing swimming pool and in the end they provide Jungle Safari also.
On asking they claim if your luck favours and the season is right then one can see leapord also in the jungle safari. But a claim is just a claim unless it is proven right so i would say this is what they claim , proving it right is in visitors hand.
An extremely well thought designed and well maintained resort. Any one visiting Jaipur or nearby , its the best place to stay if one wants to stay in luxury style being not far from the main Jaipur city .
For query regarding availability and rates CLICK HERE
My trip was over for Jaipur , and i was heading back for Delhi , but still two things were waiting for me on the way.
I was going to stay for one night in a Rajasthan village which is just some 2Hrs away from Delhi. It had been long time since i had been to any village or can say Countryside which is the most common word now a days used for our villages by Tourist’s coming to India.
Its is a very common saying that if you want to see India then see villages of India it is where the actual India presides , i was believing on this line and was going to stay one night there.
Shanoli Village near to Alwar which is famous now a days for two reasons one being it is now developing as Industrial town and second being the very famous Neemrana fort resort. But i was going to stay in a normal house of a relatives of my Driver, who had invited me for a stopover.
I was not aware that i would be meeting such a courageous and hard working person who would stun me in every word of her.
Mrs. Sharmila Yadav
We reached her place in the afternoon , she had prepared for lunch and before that she filled her tanks so that we could bath and get rid of our day long journey’s tiredness.
All the arrangements were upto mark , electricity doesnt become a spoil sport she had filled her generator which she uses very rarely, it was ready for us. One special room in her two bedroom house was made ready for us.
One of the Innovations
If we want to sit outside, we dont feel the heat of Rajasthan this innovation which made me hats off to the lady was arranged , but thanks to pleasent weather of Rajasthan it was not needed.
A lady who is the whole sole of her family had arranged this for us , i was overwhelmed.
She is having a family of 5 persons , husband wife and three kids. Eldest of son is studying presently in a college doing Bachelors in Science , second one is in school and Daughter has done some course in saloon.
When talking to her i was amazed to hear her time table or can say the life chart which was just work , work and work and it was hard to find any time for rest. Her husband has started working in some bus as a helper and she do a lot of things.
She looks after her farm land , her buffaloes , in the afternoon she teaches sewing to some two three girls from which she earns some Rs 800. Every day work which come in a daily chores of life are also their.
Mrs. Sharmila Yadav Showing her farm land to my wife
Entering of stray animals in the farmland is a very common thing worldwide and same is here , for this she sleeps in night in her farmland only. For every person atleast a 8hr good sleep is must but after knowing her schedule i was curious to hear when i would hear that she would say from this time to this time i sleep , though she sleeps in farm but as she says i have be almost awake to make animals run away from my farm.
In the night she had different plans for us.
Wood fired chapati
It was somewhere around 15 yrs since i had not eaten these wood fired Chapati on chullah ( earthen stove) , but i still remember the taste. I was over joyed when she told me that i would be cooking these for you today , though they have gas stoves also but for me they had arranged this.
Hand made sauce
Some different type of sauce was made for me , dont know much of ingredients but curd, red chilli and salt was there and one more thing was added but i was unaware of that thing , never had heard of it, but when it was served it was something which i was tasting for first time and i was loving it and want to have it again.
It was quite late at night now and we left for sleep, long drive tiredness had started showing its signs now.
surprises by the lady was not over , next morning my first sight was again something which made me feel something special about that lady. Early morning 7 AM and she is back to work.
Cutting the fodder for her buffalo
I also tried my hand on it , but trust me it is not that easy. Rolling it over and over again was possible but keep on rolling and finishing the task was something which i found difficult for myself.
Obviously there are some cons of metro life as well.
We moved from there giving our warm wishes to Mrs. Sharmila and her family.
According to latest news, the room in which we stayed she has opened a small shop now and she had bought some equipments and beauty products for her daughter who has started working as a beautician in her village and helps in earning some money for her family.
This is what the life of a village lady is in India.
Starting the day early and being most of time on foot i knew i was tired and hungry now. It was time for lunch and i was looking for something different and best in all aspects to eat. In my previous trips i had eaten on poshest of restaurants and infact whole my life.
Sick of same old taste now my tongue and stomach has started ask for something different. I asked my driver where we can have a nice vegetarian food but should cost less. He had been to jaipur many a times and knows every corner like a back of his hand and i was looking for best veg dhaba in Jaipur . His first and last suggestion was Ganesh Restaurant , try this sir and you will forget any other resto , this dhaba will over shadow all you have been till now.
We reached their quite late , it is in Nehru Bazaar and same old problem which i have faced in this area before also was finding the place to park my car , atlast after some 20min we were able to find one.
Ganesh Restaurant , Jaipur
This restaurant was above the shops , moving through very congested stairs this board was the first glimpse.
Surprise to see was that when we reached there, I saw one couple of tourist sitting there and having there food. I asked my driver is it that famous , and i was interupted by the owner saying sir we get the maximum footfall of foreign tourists and we are lucky enough that we hold a position on tripadvisor also , thanks to the visitors.
Sitting Area , Ganesh Restaurant , Jaipur
As was expected the ambience was like that only , A simple restaurant with just some benches to sit providing some sitting place for only 16 persons. But ambience for me was not at all in the list as i wanted to be at like this place only and i was enjoying it.
Next thing was to order some food , we got the menu, ordered very simple food, though i asked to owner what is your best and he was very modest in saying ” whatever you order sir, you will get the best “. It impressed me a lot and i wanted to test his words.
My food being Prepared
Their kitchen was just in front of us , and where i was sitting it was just back of me and from there i could guide him what not to add and what to.
Food took some 15 to be served, but i would say when i had the first bite one word came from my heart ” Awesome ” though very next one line came from my mouth ” Wait a bit , its very hot ” .
I was confused , whether it was excitement or i was that much hungry that i dint even waited to let it cool a lil bit as it was directly served to us from the fire.
Whatever, Ganesh Restaurant was proving itself as the best and the every word of owner was coming out to be true.
We were three people, we had a proper lunch and surprising thing was when bill came it was just Rs 270 , what else to expect.
Had a lovely visit and the food was awesome of Ganesh Restaurant . If one is vegetarian and want to visit a pure veg restaurant in Jaipur then do visit this Restaurant.
We left from there and it was time to shopping , it was obvious i knew this as this restaurant is in the main shopping area of Jaipur , and it had attracted my wife. Now what to say, shopping was on.
Nehru Bazaar , Jaipur
We went for shopping spree , but before that little bit of window shopping was must. It was pre decided what she had to buy but it is common, window shopping is must.
Indian Bangles (Laakh ki chudiya)
We bought some of these , Rajasthan is famous for these Indian Bangles “Laakh ki Chudiya”. They are very famous in girls for their sturdyness and designs. Now what to write about this dont know much about them now.
Time to move on and now was the time to move back to Delhi as some more interesting things were on the way and i had prior commitments toward them and was eagerly waiting for it.
I was at Jaigarh fort when i saw for first time two flags hoisting on the fort , though both were same but the size were different. I was bit curious about this and i asked my driver about this, he was also bit confused.
One and a Quarter Flag Atop Jaigarh Fort
I had never seen this thing in my life before. I knew this thing that every royal family of every state has his own flags which are still hoisted on their private properties but two flags just differing in sizes was quite unique.
There also i saw same one and a quarter flag above the Chandra Mahal. Now it was getting more and more interesting , though i was guessing some but was not getting any near to conclusion.
One and a Quarter Flag above the Chandra Mahal , Jaipur
We met one official guard there who was sitting very next to “Gangajalis” . I asked him why there are two flags being hoisted above the Palace and same i saw on Jaigarh fort.
It took him somewhere around 15min to tell us the whole story , but i think those 15 min were the most worthy of time spent.
As he said ” These two flags symbolises the presence of King in Jaipur city , the quarter flag is of the king and the bigger one is of the queen. Whenever King used to go out of the city one single flag was hoisted on the palace and when he used to come back a smaller one was added to it which automatically sends the message that king has arrived ” thats why it is called One and a Quarter Flag.
That guard went more further and told us an anecdote about the ‘one and quarter flag’, which is the insignia flag of the Maharajas of Jaipur.
He told when Emperor Aurangzeb came to attend the wedding of Jai Singh, shook hands with the young groom and wished him well on his marriage. On this occasion, Jai Singh made an irreverent remark to the Emperor stating that the way he had shaken hands with him made it incumbent on the Emperor to protect him (Jai Singh) and his kingdom. Aurangzeb, instead of responding in indignation at the quip, felt pleased and conferred on the young Jai Singh the title of ‘Sawai’, which means “one and a quarter”.
Since then the Maharajas have pre-fixed their names with this title. During residence there, they also fly a one and a quarter size flag atop their buildings and palaces.
The time when we visited Jaipur ,Kumar Padmanabh Singh present king of Jaipur and who is studying in Mayo college, Ajmer had came to jaipur and the reason being One and a Quarter Flag was being hoisted.
For me that One and a Quarter Flag mystery solved , thanks to the guard of city Palace.
My trip was turning very interesting and what was expected this time was going much deeper into the history of the royal family of Jaipur.
