From Ranthambore our next stop was Jaipur. We arrived at the Samodhe Haveli after lunch. We fell in love with the beautiful heritage property. Our room was on the ground floor opening into the courtyard with beautiful trees and tiny lily ponds. The lights and decorations brought in the holiday cheer. This property had belonged to a wealthy merchant and has now been upgraded to a high end hotel with pool, luxurious rooms overlooking courtyards with spectacular outdoor/indoor dining. Of course there was only one restaurant cum bar, which served food at the pool or practically anywhere you wanted it. The upstairs terrace offered bar service every evening from 5-7 pm, and lured guests to it with complimentary coffee, tea and snacks. Located in old Jaipur the property offers spectacular views of the Amer Fort and the bustling city, all from a comfortable vantage point. Jaipur and all of Rajasthan are about commerce, trading and various forms of fine art. On the first day we asked the driver to take us to the market streets, especially Babu Bazaar, which I had visited on a previous trip. The crowds were oppressive and we negotiated our way as though through an obstacle course, clutching tightly to our bags and watching our step on the uneven path. We bought a couple of shawls and, somewhat overwhelmed, beat a hasty retreat to the car. We settled for a light dinner at our hotel, with tomato soup and starters, and went to bed. The next morning we met the guide who took us to Amer Fort. It is also known as Amber Fort and has been built over several centuries. It was part of the old city, before the official city by the name Jaipur came into being. We progressed through the centuries, remembering scenes from popular Bollywood movies shot there and marvelling over th intricacy of the architecture and art created by the artisans of yesteryear.
After this, we visited the Dera elephant retreat where a family has taken on the very expensive but noble cause of rescuing elephants who are otherwise overworked and subject to abuse as temple mascots or in wedding processions. They are forced to travel long distances on paved roads to wherever they are needed. We met Rang Mala a naughty 44 year old who consumes 250 kg of food and 200 litres of water everyday! She posed for us and allowed us to stroke her in anticipation of the bananas, jaggery and sugarcane we would feed her. We took a 20 minute walk with her and then proceeded to have a nice lunch of simple vegetable dishes, bread and rice and a coconut barfi for dessert. After a refreshing cup of Masala Chai we left. In the evening we showered, dressed and went to up to the terrace for evening views from our perch atop the city, over tea and snacks. We then proceeded downstairs for a pre dinner drink at the bar beside the open courtyard. Giggling and lightheaded after just one rose martini I tripped and banged the top of my head against a wall. Hearing the reverberation as my skull made contact with the concrete wall a hotel staff member came running with ice cubes wrapped in a towel. He offered to arrange for a visit to the hospital. Thankfully, I experienced no blackout and no ringing in my ears. I had a dull pain in the general area and I tried to will it away as we proceeded to the restaurant for dinner. I had a beetroot salad which went down gently and Uttara had pasta. The next morning we were bound for an early morning hike. I hoped, as I lay in bed that night, that I would be pain free and able. I somehow knew I would. I attribute my ability to recover quickly to my regular yoga practice. The head bang was quite intense and bothered the side of my neck but was perhaps not hard enough to crack my thick (lol) skull! I survived without pills.
Early the next morning our tour company had arranged a hike. We met our guide and his assistant. We were given yoga mats to carry. I had worn my yoga t shirt and white pants and my Barbour jacket to ward off the nip. Our guide, a young and deeply spiritual man who offiated as a priest in their family’s Shiva temple, when he was not guiding hikers, spoke eloquently about the ancient Aravali mountains and the Amagarh fort portion, which we were scaling, and its history. It had been built by the Meena tribe who continued to live in a settlement in the valley, which we spotted on our aerial view from the summit. Our first stop was a Hanuman temple. We met the priest who lived in a room beside the temple, surrounded by moringa, guava and other fruit trees and herbs. He told us that he survived off the largesse of people living in the foothills. We learnt that leopards who freely roamed those hills are his friends! After offering prayers and listening to mantras chanted by our guide for our well being, we proceeded to the top. Shera, our guide’s dog was our companion. We did yoga at the summit, blew the conch and had a picnic. Right there, the assistant laid out an impressive spread of poha, fruits, biscuits, peanut candy, milk sweet, coffee and tea, all of which he had carried up. We felt guilty to turn down their generous offering but could only partake of the tasty poha, which really hit a spot. We meandered down via a dry ravine, ended up at Sagar lake where we visited a Durga temple before bidding farewell to our guide.
Geologically the Aravalis are older than the Himalayas. The atmosphere is spiritually charged and our conversation on metaphysics, consciousness and growing in awareness, was scintillating. We saw a lot of Jeeva Samadhis of sages, who have passed, along the way. There are 350 temples around a 2 km radius of this range. No wonder. All in all it was a deeply moving experience and I offered up gratitude for having been able to complete our undulating 3 hour hike up and around those sacred hills without any pain or discomfort.
That afternoon we visited Janthar Manthar, the ancient site of stone astronomical structures/instruments that depict with astonishing precision the movement of the sun, moon and planets. Next we visited the City Palace, more a museum of royalty clothes, artifacts, modes of transport, jewellery and so on. Most impressive were the massive silver pots which, filled with Ganges water, accompanied the king on his travels to England.
That evening we bought silver jewelry, shawls and fabrics, things Jaipur is famous for, from shops within the vicinity of our hotel. We then packed, ready to set out for Jodhpur, our next destination.
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