Jaipur

The most popular gateway to Rajasthan, Jaipur is the 800lb gorilla as far as Rajasthan tourism is concerned. The Golden triangle of Delhi Agra and Jaipur is a typical checklist for international tourists visiting this area, and we saw a substantial foreign tourist footprint here. We also had to show our OCI id to buy entry tickets at domestic rates, which did not happen in any other city - they took us at our word everywhere else. The tourism pressure was definitely higher here - more crowds, pushier vendors, more aggressive guides etc.
I had fallen sick on the drive from Bikaner to Jaipur so the arrival evening was a dead loss. Following morning I had partially recovered so we managed to see some of Jaipur. There are two big clusters of attractions here. The first is the Amer (also called Amber) Fort area, and the second is the City Palace area. We started with Amer Fort - the drive had some nice views and a step well. Avoiding the guides who swarmed around our car each time it slowed down (one actually got on a mobike and chased us) we entered the palace, bought tickets and hired a guide. The guide hustled us through the palace a little faster than I would have liked.

Amer fort was absolutely spectacular, big and imposing, yet with many halls and courtyards that were artistically constructed and well decorated with sculptures, mosaics etc. There was a fashion photo shoot in progress at the front with its own crowd of paparazzi. We went through a series of ceremonial gates, saw the usual Diwan e Am (gathering hall of the people), Diwan e Khas (gathering hall of the noblemen), palaces of the king and queen, inner courtyards etc, all laid out in a similar fashion to other forts. The views from the parapets were spectacular, with artificial lakes and gardens below and an imposing boundary wall protecting the area around the fort. The rooms and corridors were as beautiful as any I have seen elsewhere. There is a second fort in this area called Jaigarh fort, which we did not see. There is also ruins of a third (and older fort). It’s possible to spend an entire day going through this area.

Jaipur was settled in three phases, the first phase was the Amer Fort area. After Amer fort we drove back towards the center of Jaipur- the Pink City area which was the second phase. Our driver had chosen a nice safe place for lunch, the restaurant was full of foreign tourists and well heeled desis all in search of some hygienic food and clean toilets (which were excellent by the way). We asked for khichadi, which was off menu, and the restaurant cooked us a nice lunch. Post lunch we tried some more tourism.
The three main attractions in the Pink City area are the City Palace, Hawa Mahal, and Jantar Mantar. There’s also masses of shopping around here - both for tourists and locals (electrical stores, plumbing supplies, hardware etc). We saw the Hawa Mahal, basically a building that’s just a gigantic screen to enable ladies from the royal palace to watch life on the streets while maintaining privacy. Next we saw the City Palace, where preparations for a destination wedding was in progress.

Gayatri Devi is perhaps the most famous name associated with the royal family, and her presence still pervades the palace and gift shop. Gayatri Devi was a daughter of the Majaraja of Coochbehar (a wealthy and powerful princely state in the north of Bengal) and married into the royal family of Jaipur. Blessed with photogenic good looks, grace and charm, she mingled with the global elite and eventually ran for public office. Enormously popular as a politician (perhaps because she pursued this path truly to serve the public - she was already very wealthy and had no reason to be corrupt) she crossed swords with Indira Gandhi and was briefly jailed. Her life story is a phenomenal read - google if interested.

After finishing City Palace, I was feeling exhausted so we wrapped up our tourism, skipped Jantar Mantar, and headed back to the hotel. I had seen the Jantar Mantar (a solar observatory) in 1978, and an identical structure built by the same Man Singh exists in Delhi which we plan to see. At night we had a visit with Neeta’s school friend; and the following morning we headed back to Kolkata. Our route to the airport took us through modern Jaipur - the third phase of the city, constructed in the last 30 years and full of tall high rise residential towers, shiny office buildings, global brand hotels, and wide roads with smoothly flowing traffic. Our flight was uneventful and right around 1 pm we were back in Kolkata where we had started two weeks ago.