JAIPUR – THE CITY OF PINK GLEE

Situated in Northern India, Rajasthan covers 342,239 square kilometers or 10.4 percent of India’s total geographical area and is the home to people very kind and jovial from heart. On 1st October,2021, we started our journey to Rajasthan. The atmosphere was calm and serene and filled with joy and excitement. The medium we chose for travelling was road and after travelling for nearly five days, we reached the “pink city”, Jaipur at night. 

              The city was gleaming with lights. All the shops on either side of the road were initially painted pink which eventually due to city pollution and climatic conditions changed into a dark brown colour. The pillars and walls against shops and residential buildings had beautiful carvings depicting Rajasthani culture and the roofs were gorgeously decorated with huge domes. Golden lights fixed on top of the domes added to the beauty of the city view at night. As we drove down the busy streets, our hotel, “Nirvana” came into view. After the long drive, we got down with our heavy luggage and strolled up to our room to get some rest. It was 10 p.m. hence we snugged into our cosy blankets and went to sleep.

             The next day we woke up at around 7a.m, ate breakfast at the hotel and set out for our first travel spot, Hawa Mahal. The structure was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, who was the founder of Jaipur. Standing at the heart of Jaipur, the Hawa Mahal imparts a pink and red hue and appears winsome and heavenly during the day. The Hawa Mahal is built using sandstone, marble and radiant painted glass, used as windows. In the interior of the palace is a terrace with huge pillars surrounding it. 

 Between the closely placed pillars were small-scale windows through which the entire alluring city of Jaipur came into view and gave a different kind of satisfaction which cannot be explained. My heart was filled with joy and fascination as the scent of the antique structure entered my nose and as my eyes captured the wonderous scene of the pink city. We spent almost half an hour in Hawa Mahal and captured few memorable pictures.

          Next, we went to ‘Jantar Mantar’ situated a few kilometers away from Hawa Mahal. In the early 18th century, Maharaja Jai Singh 2 of Jaipur constructed five Jantar Mantar in total, in New Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi. The primary purpose of building Jantar Mantar was to compile astronomical tables and to predict the times and movements of sun, moon and planets. The building also has a sun dial to measure the time of the day. The Jaipur Jantar Mantar is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

                              The word ‘Jantar’ is derived from the word ‘Yantra’ which means instrument and the word ‘Mantar’ is derived from the word ‘Mantrana’ which means to consult or to calculate. Though there are not many sites within the building Jantar Mantar to visit or click pictures of, the establishment is fun to explore and learn about. The Jantar Mantar doesn’t have a roof or covering. Therefore, it is hard to spend a lot of time there in the open, under the overhead balmy sun and in the exorbitant temperature of Rajasthan.

Hence, we left the place after fifteen minutes and decided to have lunch to augment our energy. We headed on to ‘Laxmi Mishthan Bhandar’(LMB) situated in Johari Bazaar of Jaipur, Rajasthan. It is famous in Jaipur for its chats, kachoris and traditional Rajasthani food. We ordered aloo tikki chat, papri chat, onion kachori, chili pakoda, lassi and ghewar. The food was very palatable. It melted in my mouth and the tangy, piquant flavours burst in my mouth as soon as it touched my tongue. The service and conduct of staff were commendable. The atmosphere created in the restaurant was tranquil and elegant. Hence, visiting LMB in Jaipur once during the entire stay is highly recommended as such a breathtaking scene can be found nowhere in India. In simple words, LMB can be described as a distinct ‘heaven-like’ restaurant.

Once we finished savouring the delicious meal, we bought Kundan jewelry from Johari Bazaar and headed on to our hotel to take some rest after a long, tiring day. However, this was not the end of our adventures for the day. After relaxing for an hour or so, we decided to visit “Chokhi Dhani”, one of the most recommended and outstanding places of Rajasthan. Chokhi Dhani was nearly 70 km away from our hotel ‘Nirvana’. We reached Chokhi Dhani at 7 pm and were welcomed by a blow of trumpets and several musicians playing various musical instruments like dhol, sitar, flute etc. 

         A lady beautifully dressed in red lehnga greeted us with an arti plate and red tika. Chokhi Dhani was decorated in a very aesthetic manner from the inside. There were many dummy huts, food and gaming stalls, shops and many other things inside. A typical Rajasthani village scene was set up. First, we explored the place after which we watched the puppet show which is famous in Jaipur. The host not only conducted the puppet show but also showed us fascinating tricks that drew attention of little children and young men and women. The host spit out fire from his mouth and balanced 10 sticks placed upright on his upper lips and foreheads. We rode on a bullock cart around the alluring place and also watched women do the ‘Kalbeliya’ folk dance.

           After all this amusement, we next headed on to a food stall to eat traditional Rajasthani food which Chokhi Dhani is famous for. Two men wearing pagri and dhoti served us bajra roti, bajra khichdi, dal bati churma, gatte ki sabji, kadhi, masala chaach, lehsun chutney, missi roti, mirchi ka aachar, lady finger curry, shangri ka sabji and jalebi.

            The food was really tasty and finger-licking good; the jalebi was crunchy and masala chaach was refreshing. Though there were too many items for an average man to finish in one meal, the food and service was appreciable. The next day we also visited the Amber fort and Naranga fort about which I will write in my next blog.

Overall, our experience in Jaipur was exceptional and one must definitely visit Jaipur once in their lifetime. The best time to visit Rajasthan is during autumn season in India (September – November) as it’s neither too hot nor too cold. The average temperature is 27.7 degree Celsius during these months. One must at least spend two days in Jaipur, one to visit Chokhi Dhani, Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar and shops and the other day to visit forts, Jal Mahal and relax. Hope the blog was informative and enjoyable. Please do leave a comment below about the blog.