The golden city of Rajasthan

Next morning brought with it a bright sun and crisp cool air, perfect for our day of glory in the middle of the enchanted desert destination. After a quick tour of the hotel property, we packed our bags and set out for a closer look at the famed Mehrangarh fort and havelis of jaisalmer.

The fort is the only "living" fort in India, in the sense that there are around 2000 houses inside the fort itself and people actually live there to this date.By the time we reached, the sun was quite bright and we were wondering how scorching it would be in summer! On entering the fort, we suddenly found ourselves in a different world altogether. The stoned pathway had majestic fortwalls rising on either side. The pathway was littered by colourful shops on both sides. Most were selling rajasathani handicraft - colourful "pagdis", statues, hangings, tinkrets, clothes, bags, jewellery, all nice and bright and obviously aimed at targeting foreign tourists with Indian exotica. The light tones of folk music wafted through the air, and I felt the magic in my heart become real in the surroundings around me.

We hired a guide to take us around as we had limited time on hand, else I would have just wanted to roam about the fort at leisure. In fact the best idea for anyone going to Jaisalmer is to book a hotel inside the fort itself. There are dozens of them inside there, and I am sure they would be offering competitive rates upon haggling, as they do to the hordes of backpackers that throng from europe with long itenararies and little money to spend carelessly. The guide took us to a couple of Jain temples. These reminded me a lot of the temples in the Jagannath temple complex at Puri with small dark mysterious looking chambers, exquisite carvings in the stone and an overall peaceful atmosphere. The whole of Mehrangarh fort is a structure created by assembling blocks of stone, so there is no cement binding the construction material. Of course it has perfectly stood the test of time, like the pyramids which are similar structures, only much grander and ancient.

The king's palace inside the fort is now a museum, and the guide took us through four floors showing us the king's courts "Diwaan-e-aam","Diwaan-e-khaas", the courtesan's dancing chambers, queen's private chambers, the rang mahal containing gold plated wall paintings, weaponry, and the terrace offering a beautiful view of the golden city and surrounding desert. We descended back into the alleys and moved on to the Havelis nearby. The Patwa Haveli was available to view from inside, and presented a peek into the wealthy old days of Jaisalmer's rich merchants who stayed in these havelis and made a living out of trading gold, cloth and opium with the persian and afghan traders from the west. The havelis must have been tastefully decorated and the common areas like the kitchen where particularly impressive.

Moving out, Anuj tried on some pagdis and dhotis at the shops and we even checked out the leather bags and colorful wooden showpieces, but did not pick up anything. Thus ended our tour of the Jaisalmer city and fort, and it was time to head for a desert camp and a camel safari towards the evening.

Rajasthan - Destination Jaisalmer

Day 1

After a lot of characteristic dilly-dallying, I told Anurag that we must head out to Rajasthan, and not go rafting again, as frankly the adventure and excitement of braving the ganga rapids was majorly being overshadowed by the prospect of being near cold water and a lot of exertion just after getting up from illness.

Manish had already announced that he was coming along, irrespective of the destination. And on the last day, Anuj gave his confirmation as well. So it was to be the 4 of us heading for a 3-day culture-heritage desert trip, in the exact opposite direction from where 8 of us were supposed to head for the adventure rafting camp. Destination choices were Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bikaner. Anurag had been to Bikaner before, and Jodhpur was not really "desert", and so not the typical mental picture of Rajasthan, so Jaisalmer it was to be.

We started early as Delhi-Jaisalmer is a good 14 hours by road. We were driving Anurag's Ford Fiesta, and I was really quite excited and looking forward to driving all the way, with Manish to share the wheel in turns. The roads did not disappoint us at all. All national highways in Rajasthan offer an extremely smooth journey where you can clock real highway speeds. As Delhi gets left behind further and further, the landscape changes face as well. It becomes increasingly arid and the yellow of mud starts to stand out as the pre-dominant colour.

Stopping by near Bikaner for lunch, we reached Jaisalmer only by nightfall. The road between Bikaner and Jaisalmer deserves a special mention. It reminded me of the Hollywood thriller movies with a mid-western backdrop. A huge barren expanse, where the visibility on the road can extend to 25 km. No civilization next to the highway for miles and miles on end, and your are tempted to touch dangerous speeds.

The hotel at jaisalmer was nice big one (courtesy Anurag as usual) with both the exteriors and the interiors done up like a fort. The view of the city from our room window was impressive and after dinner, the four of us strolled out to admire the spectacularly lit fort visible in a distance. All the houses in the city were lit mostly in yellow light, which accentuated the golden brown look of the city. We decided to sleep off the travel weariness to be fresh the next day of exploring the magnificence of Jaisalmer.