“Idhar se aap dekhenge to aapko puri Mewar dikayidegi..aur udhar se Marwar” . My guide Firoze smiles as our translator takes over. “He is saying that you can see all of Mewar from here and from there, Marwar, “ translates Rashmi Dhanwani , a human rights activist from Mumbai .

I am at the Kumbalgarh fort in Rajasthan with a group of achievers who have been part of the “Cerebrate team.”Rashmi from our group takes over the role of the translator .

Standing almost at the roof of the fort , I see a 360* landscape of modern day Rajasthan spanning out in front of me.Kumbalgarh fort built in the 15th century by Rana Kumbha in the Aravalli Range had forked Mewar and Marwar and was a political asylum for many princes ,including Rana Udai Singh who later on founded Udaipur, about 90 kms away from here .Feroze continues as Rashmi translates, “Udaipur, Chittorgarh and Kumbalgarh form Mewar , while Jodhpur,Jaisalmer , Barmer is Marwar.”

Pic : Lakshmi Sharath

My eyes trace the 36 kms length of the wall of the fort, said to be the second longest in the world after trhe Great Wall of China. The soft hues of the setting sun caress the walls. My reverie is interuppted by Rashmi who narrates the story of Kumbalgarh. Rana Kumbha ‘s attempted to build the fory, but failed until he met a saint who offered himself as a human sacrifice. The martyr apparently advised the king to construct the fort after his death. “ He said to build a temple where the head fell and the main fort where the body lay and a wall was built along the entire stretch.” We pause by as Firoze shows us the two spots which are now worshipped.

Pic : Lakshmi Sharath

There are nine gates to the fort, the most massive being the Ram Pol or the Ram Gate. We walk past the various gates and gather around Rashmi as she explains.“This is where the lamp was lit,”. According to a legend, Rana Kumbha used to light a massive lamp which used to shine brightly across all of Mewar. “ It is like a symbol of power,” translates Rashmi “and attracted even the queen of Jodhpur to abandon her husband and come here.” The story however did not end up like that of Helen of Troy, as the Rana apparently made the queen his sister and a war was averted.

Pic : Lakshmi Sharath

There are more than 300 temples within in the fort, a mix of both Jain and Hindu temples. “This is where the legendary Rana Pratap was born as well ,” They patiently wait for us to take pictures, before resuming the narration,” Here you can see the royal queen’s rooms including her toilets !” The guide continues,as we walked down the fort and sit on the steps of a temple overlooking the fort. And then the fort relives its glory, but for a few minutes as the lights come on . We take in the scene as silence reigns .

Pic : Lakshmi Sharath

Jaipur is so close to Delhi that we completely take it for granted. I mean we always treat it as a place that can be visited anytime. I have been to Jaipur many times but somehow never explored it properly. In November 2008 I went to Jaipur again with my 18 year old, over six feet tall nephew. We had planned it as a weekend trip. We took the Ajmer Shatabdi up to Jaipur on a Saturday morning and took it back on Sunday evening from Jaipur.

Pic : Mridula D

Our plan was to hire an autorickshaw (because of this recommendation by Arun) with Gopi as our guide. I called Arun and asked for Gopi’s number and got in touch with him. Gopi assured us that he would be at the Jaipur station to pick us up. I got a call from Gopi as the Shatabdi was nearing Jaipur and that was quite reassuring. However, it took us quite some effort to figure out who was who once we got down at Jaipur. Once we met each-other, the first task was to find a hotel.

For our budget hotel we went with Raju (00 91 9829900473) and his friend Gopi’s (00 91 9352540301) recommendation and stayed in Hotel Banipark Palace which is a clean place. We promised Raju and Gopi that we would come out in 15 minutes and go for sightseeing and that is what we did.

Pic : Mridula D

Gopi told me then that he had an accident with his autorickshaw so his friend would show us around this time. When I asked him for a quote for the autorickshaw for the day, I was told I can pay whatever I wanted, as I was there guest. Try as I may, they would not give us a quote.

It was past eleven and Sunil and I wanted to have a brunch first. I wanted to eat Dal Bati Churma and Sunil normal Indian stuff. So Gopi took us to place (near railway station) where we got both. I feasted on Dal Bati Churma and would recommend it highly to all of you.

Pic : Mridula D

Then it was time to head out for sightseeing and Gopi took us to Jaigarh Fort first. The first thing that hit us was the vastness of the fort, I mean we are so used to cramped city life that open spaces tend to take the breath away. Within the premises is the biggest canon on the wheels and there are lot of things to explore. Puppet shows are held within the premises and there are a lot of monkeys to keep you company.

The next stop for us was the Amber Fort and I have been there many times before. There was a lot of restoration work going on at the Fort. Still, the gardens, the palaces within the fort and Sheesh Mahal particularly were the highlights of the day. On our way back Gopi stopped the auto for a while near Hawa Mahal but both of us were so tired by now that we clicked a photo from inside the auto and refused to get out! We did spend quite some time near Jal Mahal though.

Pic : Mridula D

After that we had dinner at Chit Chat (not too great for Indian food but they had very interesting room rates and quite popular with foreign tourists) and then I simply crashed. The kid kept watching for an hour or so but I was so tired that I was asleep within 10 minutes.

On day two, we explored bits of Jaipur that I had not seen before (and all popular places too, imagine how badly planned my previous trips were). Our first stop was Gaitore ki Chattriyan, which was very peaceful when we went there. Our next stop was City Palace which I thought was the highlight of our trip. The palace is really beautiful and worth spending a lot of time with. Audio guides are also available at Jaipur now.

Pic : Mridula D

Unfortunately we tried it only at one place in Jaipur, at Albert Hall Museum and that too Sunil’s insistence! After a little shopping (I love Lac jewelry) and a visit to Birla Mandir, very soon it was 4.00 in the evening and time to head back to the Railway Station to take the Shatabdi Express train back to Delhi. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and we paid Gopi Rs. 500 per day for his services.

Pic : Mridula D

Pic : Indrani

While strolling along the cities of Rajasthan, I found myself admiring the people of Rajasthan too. Especially the women, they wear bright outfits, colors like brilliant red, vibrant yellows and oranges, lively greens and dazzling blues. Women are a symbol of creation and that is why they wear colorful attires. Men wear white because it is symbolic of cleanliness and austerity.

Pic : Indrani

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