Tuesday 5 April 2016

The days spent in the Blue City- Jodhpur

I recently did a trip of Rajasthan and Jodhpur turned out to be my favourite place. I will write about Jaipur and Jaisalmer some other day, but today is about Jodhpur. 



Old Jodhpur city is all about blue houses, havelis and dusty street. Majority of the houses are still painted blue, streets are narrow and traffic is insane. However, you can see the Mehrangarh fort from the terrace of almost all of these houses. There are of course newer parts of the city which are much better organised and developed. However, we mostly stuck to the old city.




Mehrangarh fort is the biggest attraction in the city and is an absolutely stunning example of Rajputana architecture. Mehrangarh, in the local language, means the "fort of the sun". It was originally built during the time of Rao Jodha, who established the city of Jodhpur after moving his capital from Mandore. Most of the structure that stands now was completed by the time of Maharaja Jaswant Singh of Marwar. It has a number of beautifully built palaces and like all other Rajasthani forts, a separate janana for the queens.



Mehrangarh Fort

Takhat Vilas, Meharangarh fort
The fort museum also holds a collection of artifacts, such as palenquins, armours, cannons and paintings from the Rajputana times. 



Close to the fort is Jaswant Thada, a memorial built for Maharaja Jaswant Singh II. The main memorial building is a beautiful marble structure. Since then, it has serves as the burial group for the rulers of Marwar and has a number of small marble cenotaphs. 



Entrance to Jaswant Thada

Main cenotaph, Jaswant Thada
Mandore, the old capital of Rao Jodha, is not visited much by tourist these days. However, remnants of the old fort are still there. Mandore Garden, a part of the old fort which contains various temple-like structures, built as memorials of Marwar kings. Most of these temples contain to idols and are built of red stones. While the garden looks a little worn-out, Mandore is a trip worth making on any given day. The drive to Mandore itself is beautiful and goes through a protected area. We saw a number of local animals and birds, including peacocks during the drive. 




Mandore Garden



Jodhpur is a brilliant city to shop. Sardar market is a great place to start with. Other than local artifacts and clothing, Jodhpur is famous for its antiques.  




The fun of shopping for antiques is in hunting. There are a number of antique shops in Jodhpur, pretty much one in every corner in and around Sardar market. A number of these shops carry fake but cheap antiques. If you are looking for real antiques, you will need to be very careful while browsing in these shops. Bargaining hard is recommended highly. Alternatively, there are a number of Rajasthan government showrooms in Jodhpur for antiques and artifacts.




Jodhpur is also a great place to eat. All sort of local cuisine can be found in various restaurants here. I would definitely recommend a dinner of Laal Maans (a Rajasthani mutton preparation) and Kair Sangri (a dish of desert beans) at Indique which has a brilliant view of the fort. Rajasthani thali at Gypsy and lunch at Balsamnad at Umaid Bhavan are also quite good.  




The only kill-joy in Jodhpur is public transport. If you do not have your own vehicle, taking taxis or auto-rickshaws to travel around the city can turn out to be expensive (much more expensive than Mumbai). It has nothing to do with the distance but the monopoly of the drivers. We found it easier and more cost efficient to hire a taxi or an auto for the entire day of duration through your hotel.




Enjoy your trip, bargain hard and try not to kill your auto-rickshaw driver.



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