Royal Rajasthan - Part 1 - Udaipur

Rajasthan – a state that was truly royal.  A trip to Udaipur and Jaipur left me feeling proud of the heritage we have and increased my wanderlust in exploring more of India.

Udaipur  - a charming city with shimmering lakes, ancient architecture, grand mansions and plenty of folklore.  We got off the airport and were able to promptly avail taxi services at the airport.  Our taxi driver and guide Rais Khan started our trip with taking us to the famous Nath Dwara mandir which is a temple of Krishna and more popularly Srinathji in those parts.  We had around two hours to kill before the gates were opened to the hordes of devotees.  The area was like any other religious area really.  Rows of shops with artifacts to be used for worshipping, plenty of silverware, idols, marble besides the paraphernalia of the photos of Srinathji ofcourse, along with religious dvds etc.  We had the most wonderful chai that we have ever had at a little chai tapri there.  The chai vendor’s secret ingredient was Mint leaves!  I tried it back home immediately, and I highly recommend it! Well, we waited and waited, with the throng of devotees, right upto 15 minutes before the gates opened.. and then, much to Sandeep’s chagrin, I freaked out from the charging crowd, and I actually backed out! Oh well, I tried My Lord!  I hope we still have his blessings!

Near Nathdwara temple 

Near Nathdwara temple

Battle of Haldighati site

Udaipur and Jaipur, we found were cities replete with plenty of stories.  We were told stories of grandeur of the existing royalty of the family owning whole huge palaces, dozens of vintage cars, private jets, and even private airports! We heard stories of how Kokilaben built an entire town around a new temple she built adjacent to the Srinathji building, stories of the many filmstars weddings that now favor the grand Udaipur palaces for venues.  Particularly interesting was the tale of the two royal princes of Udaipur in which we were told that the elder heir to throne had been thwarted in ascending the ‘throne’ and hardly received anything from his ancestor whereas the younger brother got all the wealth and title of King.  Our driver told us how the people of Udaipur still stood by the wronged elder brother and respected him as King even though he had not received all that his brother had.  In Jaipur, the story was of that of the young teenage King whose princess mother had married a driver or commoner, and hence, her King dad, passed on everything not to her and her husband, but to the little prince.  These stories were all set in the modern day.  Besides these were the stories behind each building, each mansion, and each structure in the forts around these cities.  Where Rana Pratap and his loyal horse Chetak, were the subject of stories, memorials, and statues in Udaipur, it was Sawai Mansingh and Jaisingh who left their legacy at Jaipur.

Rana Pratap Memorial at Haldighati

City Palace

Palace near Lake Picchola

Dudh Talai near Lake Picchola

We boated on Lake Picchola and marveled at the gorgeous landscape with grand palaces, mostly now heritage hotels, in all directions. Particularly spectacular was the lighted up Taj hotel in the shimmering waters of Lake Picchola.  Being monsoon, the lakes were full, and it was surprising to note that the desert state of India was probably more verdant than Kerela!  

Taj Lake Palace

Bagori ki Haveli dance

We proceeded the next day to visit the City Palace, still owned by the Maharaja of Udaipur.  After a tour of the mansion, we banked for a bit on the shores of lake Fatehsaagar which was close to our hotel, had more chai, and then went to Bagori ki haveil to see some folk dances.  As a pointer to future tourists, the show is from 7 pm to 8 pm and is certainly worth a visit!  Our last stop at Udaipur was the lofty fort of Chittorgarh which I shall keep for a separate blog.  In very few words though, Chittorgarh was one of the most impressive forts I have ever seen. On the downside, it was disconcerting to see the number of cows  on most of roads left stray by their owners to fend for themselves in order that they did not have to waste precious space on them.  Apparently if the cows got rounded off, the owners were happier since the expensive cattle feed got taken care of at the shelter.  Thus, sadly the government stopped catching the cows, and the owners had their own way.  It is little wonder that foreigners have this pathetic image of India with cows sitting all major road junctions without batting an eyelid! On visiting Udaipur, I finally see why!

Rolls Royce at the Vintage Car Museum

For pointers on where to eat, our driver unfortunately did not take us to the kind of places we would have liked, but the one place I would recommend is the lunch with a vintage touch at the vintage car museum.  The Rajasthani thali was delicious and the vintage car collection incredible!  We also had an animated guide who quizzed us on Vintage car trivia and made our experience fun! All in all, a wonderful trip, and we left for Jaipur in the convenient night train with memories of the shimmering palaces around the tranquil lake Picchola.

Kolkata Kaleidoscope

Thriving markets, speeding metro trains, boating on the Hoogly, calming Ganges, ferrying to Howrah, marveling at Howrah Bridge, colonial Victorian architecture, picking up trinkets at New Market, eating out at Park street, whimpering beggars, clamoring at vegetable markets, congested streets, sights and smells at the flower and fish markets, yummy roshogullas, Maa Kali fervour, art and literature, dusty roads, crumbling dilapidated buildings, annoying languor…….were my first thoughts as I reflected on the so called city of Joy, Kolkata that I recently visited.

When I sought to experience this East Indian city that the East India Company chose as its headquarters to leave a huge legacy after, I was not expecting much.  Though the city has its merits, this is one blog where I will not be raving only about the place! Though I hadn’t much time to explore the city while I was there, however, from whatever I could glean in the few days that I was there, I just felt, the city just needed to get going.  It was completely mired in the old age and is where it was all those decades ago.  It started the metro, and well, it hardly progressed beyond that.  It built that awesome engineering bridge, the Howrah Bridge, but couldn’t repair its dilapidated buildings.

During Pujo 

Victorial Memorial

Racing on at the great big Maidan

When I first ventured out in the city, I found myself looking for a city as I traveled from Salt Lake! Well, I continued to look for it in vain.  Seriously, the whole place felt like a great big village with some urban trappings.  Perhaps I associate a large metro with large buildings, which were few and far between (some one told me, it was because of the silty nature of the soil that didn’t permit tall buildings),  good roads which large cities are supposed to have and Kolkata lacked, and a fast pace which the city did not have.  There were also few avenues of entertainment apart from those at Park Street.

Well, there certainly seems to be a lot more room for improvement where infrastructure and facilities are concerned. To add to the woes of the city, there apparently are constant bandhs and strikes that reinforced the lackadaisical image of Kolkata.  Why, in the week that I was there, there were 2 holidays declared, one for some puja, which was fine, and the other because a politician died at the age of 95.  Another thing I noticed while I was there, I could be wrong, but I really missed seeing young faces that I see at Mumbai.  I mean, has the young population of the state been forced to move for lack of better options of studying and employment? 

Well, enough of the criticism.  I 'll come on to my more pleasant experiences now.

I saw the Kali ghat temple which is quite famous.  In Kolkata, the religious fervour of the people for Maa Kali and Durga is well known.  I wish I had the chance to visit during the  ‘Pujo’ days, where the city would become a grand spectacle, with pandals and the festivities everywhere. The Kali temple was like any other religious place that I have been to, with the rows of shops arraying their religious paraphernalia of photos, models, cds, cassettes, flowers, sweets etc, the throng of people and the chaos.  I have put two snaps, one in Maharashtra at Mahur and one at the Kalighat..see the resemblance, you’ ll see what I mean.  The similarity continued when the numerous touts hounded me offering me easy access to the deity and proceeded with putting the tilak on my forehead and demanding a cool 200 bucks for doing so..which I ran off from of course. J  Though crowded, it was an interesting experience all the same.

I enjoyed using the public transport too at Kolkata.  Though old, the metro was quite efficient and fast as compared to using the road and the expensive cabbies and I knew where I was as compared to using the roads that had a complete absence of signboards giving directions.  It was funny to see the trams that probably moved slower than I walked.  I was surprised to see the hand drawn rickshaws , which I had thought were obsolete.  Despite all this progress in the world, it was rather sad to see human beings acting no better than mules drawing heavy loads.  

The map at the metro station

The old world Tram

The ferry to Howrah was also a pleasant ride, though I thought the boat would sink when a huge throng of people who I had seen marching in a morcha or something to that tune, all jumped on to the same boat!  The river Hoogly, was as expected extremely dirty, after journeying its way from the Himalayas, through UP, Bihar and Bengal, it had enough waste dumped into it.  I wonder how the people who were bathing in the river, expected it to clean them even if they were using soap!  The old Howrah bridge was quite picturesque with its several trusses and old world charm.

The old Howrah bridge

The new Howrah Bridge

Shopping at Calcutta and eating out at Park Street was a pleasure.  Everything there was half the price that is at Mumbai and there was a phenomenal variety in the trinkets and accessories at all the local markets.  I absolutely splurged at New Market, Garia Haat and Shobha Bazaar.

Where eating is concerned, oh Man….Mishti Doi was absolutely yummy as were the unique Rasgullas or rather Roshogullas made of jaggery.  Folks back home savoured the different varieties of shondhesh which have funny names such as Bhimnag sandesh and Kheer Kadam.  Mishti Doi incidently that sounds very easy to prepare, well isn’t.  Very simply, its essentially made by using milk evaporated to half added to caramalised sugar and converted to dahi by adding some yoghurt to it in an earthern pot for that amazing earthy flavour.

After all that gorging and shopping, I reckon, it isn’t a bad place after all!  IT companies and manufacturing companies have already started making a beeline for this eastern city, and things are looking up. With so much great history and culture behind it, with so many intellectuals from this place, be it artists or revered writers such as Rabindranath Tagore and newer Bengali writers such as Amitav Ghosh, Jhumpa Lahiri, Anurag Basu etc, I am sure, the people of Bengal will not have their beloved city languish. Hopefully, things will improve and this place will catch up with the rest of India!

Richa

The Big Apple: New York City

Every city in the world has a pulse of its own…a fast paced pulse like that of Mumbai or a slow languid pulse reminiscent of any smaller city in India such as Nagpur. It could be a pulse where u see money and opulence everywhere, like Dubai or yet another pulse, that of power, like that of New Delhi where the heart of politics can be felt. It could even have a pulse of heritage, which the great cities of Europe with all their works of Art and architecture revel in. There could also be a pulse which is cosmopolitan as compared one that is very regional like Chennai. Well, the New York City has this vibrant pulse to it…one driven by money from the Wall street, by the power that comes from the money besides its imposing sky scrapers, a pulse that is as heterogeneous as the mix of global cross cultures that inhabit it, a pulse that draws hordes of tourists and dreams from all over the world.

New York or the ‘Big Apple’ was always a city that I looked forward to seeing. After living virtually for several years with the characters of all the television serials, Friends, How I met your Mother, Sex and the City etc, apart from watching a string of Bollywood movies such as ‘Kal ho naa ho’, a movie called ‘New York’ itself etc, Well, I had to go see the place!

As I got out of the subway at the Penn Station, the neon lights of Times Square dazed me as did the sheer vibrancy of the place. The Desperate Housewives and other television stars winked tantalizingly at me from the massive lit up hoardings. Broadway musicals dotted the road and the huge swarm of tourists buzzed around happily in wonder. Everything wore a festive look including the NY Police Dept. and the Subway! It certainly was difficult to tear away from the place in the coming days. I have never seen as many tourists in one place as I did in the Times Square.

New York has a lot to offer in terms of tourism. We took this pass called the New York City Pass, which was quite cool. Most of the entry charges to various places, are indeed quite high (in the range of $20-$40 per head), because of why these passes help save atleast a bit. We had taken a 3 day pass that gave us admission to most places and a metro unlimited pass that allowed us to hop off and on any trains for that fixed cost for seven days…Well, for first timers, it would be helpful to check out all these offers on travel, and sight seeing before they venture out and pay individual destinations. There are options to travel by the metro, by the Grayline sight seeing buses and cabs. It was fun taking up the map of NY City and exploring all the various options.

Amongst the touristy buildings in NY, the Empire State Building is well known throughout the world, and has featured in several movies such as KingKong, Sleepless in Seattle and some older classics. The 86th floor observatory gives panoramic views of the entire New York City on a clear day and they say one can see as far as Massachusetts on an ultra clear day. It certainly is worth the wait of well over 2 hours, after being a part of the hordes of tourists, who throng the place from all parts of the globe. It was awesome to just look and look down below at all those tall buildings! The New York sky ride was also an interesting experience too in a 4D theatre and almost felt like we were actually in a helicopter seeing the city down below!

The other tall building which we saw by night was the Rockefeller center from the 68th floor observatory deck or the ‘Top of the Rock’ as it is called. The illuminated city of NY and the grand Empire State building were another visual treat from way up there.

Coming to the museums, the Madame Tussad’s Museum was a lot of fun, and let us hobnob with the celebrities around the world including our own Gandhiji and Amitabh Bacchan. The other interesting museum was the American Museum of Natural History where the dinosaur loving Ross Geller of ‘Friends’ worked for sometime and where the movie, ‘Night at the Museum’ was set. For Art lovers, the Metropolitan Museum of Art located on ‘Museum Mile’ near Central Park, is one of the world’s largest art galleries.

Another famous landmark, the Central Park is a vast expanse of greenery and beauty, and an oasis among the high rises. With artists sitting around the park, drawing caricatures and portraits for a small fee, horse drawn carriages with horsemen dressed in medieval attires, the Central Park is a wonderful picnic spot where one can sit back, relax and just chill out in the open. We also entertained ourselves at the Central Park Zoo where we unfortunately didn’t see Marty the Zebra or Alex the lion of ‘Madagascar’ though we did see the cute penguins!

Another really touristy thing that one can do, and we did, was to take the Circle Line Sightseeing cruise. This 2-3 hours twilight cruise, took us across the Manhattan shoreline on the Hudson river across the Brooklyn Bridge and Statue of Liberty, showing us the high power Financial District in Manhattan, Chelsea, our home in New Jersey City :) that overlooks the Hudson etc etc in the daylight, twilight and dusk. We ended the tour with a bang as the Diwali firecrackers took off onto a spectacular show!

There are also interesting regional nooks in the city such as Little China, where the early mandarin population clustered around and where even all the sign boards are in Chinese! A romantic dinner in one of the quaint restaurants in Mulberry Street which is one of the dwindling lanes of Little Italy should certainly not be missed.

I guess, there is a lot lot more to be told and even more to be explored. But I guess, these are some of the things that I found quite interesting.

Apart from seeing the city, its living there that is an altogether a different experience. Cities like NY, Mumbai, cannot be really seen. They have to be experienced. Like I said at the start, it’s the pulse of the city that makes all the difference. Its not just tall buildings and neon lights that make the city’s heart beat but the power that is reflected in the great throng of ordinary and brilliant people who go about their work purposefully day after day.