After spending the night before, at a roadside motel on Jaipur-Tonk highway we were geared up for the next day. Although the day was a long & tiring to an extent but the breakfast at Tonk and the Chittaur Fort at the end of the day was delightful and compensated for all the fatigue.
The mutter samosas, dal & onion khachoris along with hot jalebis at breakfast was a brilliant start to the day. The thought of the breakfast makes me hungry!
Tonk is small place and doesn’t have anything to see or do, but it’s a popular place because of its connectivity to other major towns of Rajasthan. From Tonk we headed to Kota, which is one of the cleanest small towns I’ve ever seen. The city thrives on education business and a big population is of students. The City Fort Palace, Haveli of Deaji, Chambal Gardens are some of the places we checked out. Before heading out for Bundi, we had a delectable special Rajasthani lunch at The Maheswari (at Chhawani Chouraha). This is apparently the best place to eat Kota(rajasthan) special food.
After quite a long drive we reached Bundi at around 5pm in the evening. The Bundi fort was looking especially beautiful in the backdrop of the sunset. Although we didn’t get much time to visit other places but still I took back fond memories of the beautiful fort.
All the time when we were on road, the only two things I did were eating and catching up on my sleep. The distance was quite a lot but the wide, well maintained roads made up for the distance. By the time we reached Chittaurgarh, it was almost 7pm. We rushed into our rooms in the hotel to freshen up and drive to the Chittaur Fort for the Light&Sound show.
The show was very good and interestingly Sharukh Khan had lent his voice for the character of Babur while Sharmila Tagore lent her voice for Rani Padmini. We were little disappointed as Maharana Pratap’s history was not a part of this but, overall the narration was amazing.
‘Summer is not a great time to visit Rajasthan’ – that’s what most people believe. I believed too until I took a road trip across 7 cities of Rajasthan in April, when the sun was shining high & bright.
So, my husband and I went on this crazy 3day trip across Jaipur, Tonk, Kota, Bundi, Chittaurgarh, Udaipur & Ajmer, by road. The trip was somewhat tiring because of the heat but no doubt it was exhilarating! And the most interesting part of the trip was, since it was a short trip so we made it a point to take back home some specific to city & typical memories from Rajasthan.
Like Jaipur city is anyways the biggest centre of attraction, but it unfolds well beyond the city limits into the outskirts as well. Unlike Jaipur, Tonk and Kota are smaller cities but they have their own significance. Even though Tonk doesn’t even have a proper hotel to stay at, but it’s still popular among travellers because of it’s connectivity from other cities of Rajasthan. While the amazing, lip-smacking morning dal & onion kachoris and hot jalebis at Tonk took my heart away; Kota’s neat, clean city roads & inroads just blew my mind. A smaller city but much disciplined by itself. There are many more such nuggets of interesting memories.
Let’s start with Day 1:
We started from Delhi on a Thursday and our first destination was Jaipur, which has lots to see and enjoy. The Amer Fort, is one of the prominent landmarks of Jaipur and it would take half your day to take tour of the fort alone. The fort is huge and pretty well maintained. We got to see the old canons, the old water tanks, gardens etc besides the fort. Besides this, the Jal Mahal, the Hawa Mahal, Jantar-Mantar and the City Palace were our must visits. By the way, for City Palace again, you must have ample time on hand to take a good look of the palace. The palace has very interesting synthesis of Rajasthani & Mughal architecture along with multiple artifacts which is a treat to the eye.
After a full day of historical monument visiting, we decided to chill out at Chokhi Dhani, which are few kilometers away from Jaipur main city. The place is essentially an ethnic village which offers entertainment in form of Rajasthani music & dance, typical Rajasthani food and also place to stay. It rocks in the evening with various dance shows, puppet shows, elephant & camel rides etc. But, getting into the village can be quite tough due to long waiting on weekends.
After an eventful day, we wanted to retire. But not at Jaipur because our destination wasn’t one but many! So, we head towards Tonk.
Holi, the ancient festival of India, is not only one of the most popular Hindu festivals, but also has many mythological stories attached to it. The festival was originally called 'Holika' which stood for burning or demolishing evil in the society. However, over time more and more legends were created and newer stories got associated with the festival 'Holi'.
One of the legends go as, Lord Krishna, who is believed to have started the festival in Mathura to smear color on Radha to change her complexion. What followed was not the desired change but a riot of colors and festivities in Mathura, Braj, Vrindavan, Barsana and other adjoining areas, which has become the tradition now.
Although most Indian cities play Holi, but still some places where it's worth watching are Mathura-Vridavan, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and parts of Andhra Pradesh. The festivities and the colors of Holi build newer bonds, clears the rust of tainted relationships, and gives the society, an opportunity to forget all woes and move ahead.
The most famous of all these festivities, is that of Mathura which start almost a week before and almost every major temple in Mathura celebrates the festival with great vigour and respect. Another interesting place to catch the special Holi celebrations is, Gulal Kunj in Braj. Pilgrims can catch a show of Holi enactment almost all the year round at this place. Even Rajasthan (esp in Jaipur) celebrates the festival with equal enthusiasm.
Not to forget the special sweets and dishes cooked specially for this festival. The gujias, the thandai lassi, dahi bhalle, bhang pakore, matar ki kheer etc are few of the many delectable fare prepared to mark this festival.
