Jaipur,Rajasthan

My next trip was to the state of majestic palaces and beautiful deserts - Rajasthan, which started with the Pink City, Jaipur. We reached Jaipur at around 10 am and went to my friend's house, who is native of Jaipur, in half and hour. After taking few minutes to refresh ourselves, we hit the road in a decent car. It is good to have a car with you in a hot place like Rajsthan, where accessibility by means of public transportation could also be an issue. Dipin - the local friend gave us a very good guided tour of all the places.


Hawa Mahal:
The next day we visited a few great places in Jaipur. Hawa Mahal is as beautiful as I had always known. Hawa Mahal meaning the Palace of Winds is truly amazing and you get plenty of air wherever you stand inside the palace. This architecture made of red sandstone was constructed in 1799 during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh. The design of this palace resembles the crown of Lord Krishna, a Hindu God. There are total 953 windows known as Jharokhas in this palace.

Jal Mahal:Jal Mahal is another tourist site which is positioned in the centre of the Man Sarovar Lakein Jaipur. Jal Mahal meansWater Palace. The architecture again deserves appreciation and the location of the palace itself attracts tourists.

Amber Fort:
We moved to the Amber Fort after that. It is almost 11 km drive form Jaipur. The fort was built during the period of Raja Man Singh in 1592. The fort was named after Amba, the Mother Goddess. The fort is made out of red and white sandstone.

The most beautiful part inside the Amber fort is the Sheesh Mahal (Mirror Palace) which is known for its walls and ceilings decorated and engrafted with innumerable colorful mirror tiles. You can also go for an elephant ride to reach the top of the fort and enjoy the classic view of the city from there.

City Palace:
After visiting the Amber Fort we went to the City Palace of Jaipur. This is the palace where the royal family of Jaipur still resides. The City Palace was built during the reign of Maharaja Jai Singh II. Inside the City Palace, there are several building s and gardens, the buildings include Chandra Mahal, Mubarak Mahal, Ridhi Sidhi Pol and the Diwan-E-Aam and Diwan-E-Khas. Chandra Mahal is the palace where the Jaipur royal family lives.

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Jaipur

Kankariya lake & Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Asharam

Ahmedabad has seen some rapid development on the infrastructure front. From the airport, I took a taxi to Gandhianagar. For me it was a stunning experinece to see around the atmosphere and greenary,and I wanted to get a first hand feel of it before heading to work. I planned to visit to Swami Nanayan Temple especially for the light and music show in the evening.Then Monday came and as a routine headed for work.

I had plenty of time to move around Gujarat, espically on weekends, over a period of 8 Months.I planned with my friends to visit Kankariya lake, we took bus from gandhinagar to RTO Circle form where we will get BRTS bus directly to Kankariya lake,What this means is the bus goes across the city in a dedicated lane, avoiding any traffic that may be plaguing the other general lanes. At the face of it, the scheme looked good to me, as I reached my destination in just about 35 minutes. People had contradictory thoughts about it, which is always the case.

Kankariya lake & Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Asharam

I wanted to visit Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Asharam, which is roughly on the other side of the city for me (Kankariya lake). I took a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), bus from Kankariya lake till RTO (this was the complete route). I took a rickshaw till the Asharam and spent about 1 ½ hour in the lovely place. One gets a unique feeling moving around the areas where stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave amongst others had roamed ones. Many of our independence struggles’ movements were also formulated here. The Asharam was well maintained.

Gandhiji’s own house drew the most crowd and so did his private room. One may stand and wonder how brilliantly the layout was planned, even during those days. As there were some gates to the banks of the Sabarmati river, which provided the Asharam with continual water supply. There was also a man who was weaving cloth (khadi) on the famous ‘Charkha’ outside Gandhiji’s house. The best part I liked was a school that is run for underprivileged children within the extended premises of the Asharam. Though Gandhi ji left us long back, but what he left behind is still taking care of hundreds or even thousands. I spent some more time moving around and then left.

Before leaving, I bought a few souvenirs for my house, including a lovely enlarged picture of Gandhiji, post cards and key-chains.

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Gandhi Ashram
Kankariya lake