On a warm & windy morning, I was sitting glued to my phone on an abandoned storage trunk with a random name on it. Undeterred by chugs and some distant announcements of arrival-departure of trains, I was busy calling different hotels in Jodhpur. Ruffled hair with stubbles on uncouth dusky face, loose trek pants falling over a sturdy trekking shoes, baggy polo t-shirt with a Ray-ban aviator tucked in its placket and a huge rucksack on shoulders; I was piquing interest of people strolling past me. A few local folks came asking if I want some hotel in their broken English but were surprised when I replied “Bhaiya, hindi aati hai mujhe”. Probably my get up got better of my desi anatomy.

I was looking at phone numbers on the website and reaching out to hotels to get the best possible deal. WikiTravels !! What would have I done without you J. I wanted to strike a deal in which not only I get a cheap stay but the hotel arrange for bishnoi village tour as well. I finally ended up with CrashPad Hostotel. The guy offered me room at 500/- including breakfast and had agreed to arrange for the tour. I took an auto-rickshaw and reached the location. There is no hotel here! Has the auto-rickshaw driver made some mistake or what! But then I saw a gentleman getting out of his white car, and reached out to me in auto and greeted me with my name. It was the person who I talked to on phone. He took me to a house nearby which went by the name CrashPad Hostotel.

CrashPad

 

CrashPad is a hostel + hotel where they have built-in dormitories in personal house. It’s sort of a rip-off of Airbnb, but this is dirt cheap. When I saw the room they offered me, I was amazed. AC room, nice mattress with clean bed sheets and duvets, well-maintained plush hygienic bathroom. It was a 6 bed dormitory, but since I was the only tourist, so it was more of a private room. All of this at 500/- per day which included breakfast. I patted my back for this discovery.

Jodhpur was founded by Rao Jodha, a Rajput chief of Rathore clan, in 1459. He conquered surrounding territories and formed the largest kingdom in Rajputana which came to be known as Marwar (and its residents marwaris). It is called “The Gateway to Thar” because it is on the edge of Thar desert. Jodhpur is also known as “The Sun City” because sun shines bright and hot here throughout the year. However, the most popular sobriquet of Jodhpur is “The Blue City”. This is because of the blue tinge of whitewashed houses in the city of Brahmapuri which can be seen from the top of Mehrangarh fort.

In Jodhpur there is no sightseeing arranged by state tourism department (like Jaipur). But Ola cabs has a pretty good service here. After taking bath, I booked an Ola cab and headed out to Jaswanthada which is 1 km from Mehrangarh. Jaswanthada is a royal cenotaph built of white marble. A 1 km uphill walk and you would reach Mehrangarh fort.

 

Jaswanthada

 

Mehrangarh fort was built around 1460 by Rao Jodha. Situated 120m above the city and surrounded by thick imposing walls, it houses some of the most beautiful palaces. Mehrangarh is a Rajasthani language version of Mihirgarh (Mihir means sun, garh means fort; meaning Sun fort). Mehrangarh fort has 7 gates, the prominent among them are Jaipol, Fatehpol and Loha pol. The museum inside Mehrangarh fort is the most well-stocked museums in Rajasthan. It exhibits the Rathore heritage in its full glory with an exalting collection arms, clothes, paintings, palanquins and many other stuffs.

Mehrangarh fort with a statue of Rao Jodha

There are many palaces inside the fort complex – Moti Mahal, Sheesh Mahal, Phool Mahal and Zenana deodi. Moti Mahal was the hall of public audience. Its walls are lustrously polished and ceiling has gold embroidery. It has latticed windows for royal women to see day to day proceedings of court without being noticed. It has a beautiful eight-legged throne for the ruler with seats for noblemen on both the sides. Sheesh Mahal was private hall with equally embellished ceilings and walls embossed with tinted glasses.

Sheesh Mahal

 

Top Left: Takht Vilas; Gold embroidered ceilings of Moti Mahal (Bottom Left) and Sheesh Mahal (Right)

Takht Vilas, bed-chamber built by Maharaja Takht Singh, is also great crowd puller. The lacquer paintings on wooden ceiling and beautifully decorated floor which looks like a carpet speaks volumes about the patronage the artists used to get from Rathore rulers. Once you reach the top of Mehrangarh fort, you get to know why is this city called the Blue City. One can see the city of Brahmapuri mantled by a blue shade. It was beautiful. There are plenty of canons overlooking the entire city which bolstered the security of Marwar kingdom.

 

The Blue City

Left: Way to Chamundat Mata temple on top of  Mehrangarh; Right: The Blue City

I came to know about ziplining tour conducted by Flying Fox out of Chokelao garden within Mehrangarh fort. If you book online, you get a discount of 25%. I did an online booking of the tour for a day later i.e. 1^st July. Instead of actual price of 1800/-, I paid 1400/- as a result of that. After roaming a bit around the fort, I came back to my room by evening.

I took another bath and went on a walk through the city. I had read about mawa kachori and makhaniya lassi of Mishrilal. So, I looked up the location of the shop on map and went there. It was sumptuous, I must say.

I woke up early in the morning (1^st July) and got ready for the Bishnoi village safari. The guide, Mr. Deepak, was right on time with his jeep. We started from my hotel in his jeep at around 7.30 AM. After almost of half an hour of drive, we were in city outskirts. The plan was to visit 3 families – potter family, Bishnoi family and weaver family. There was something that I noticed in these villages; anyone can enter these houses. No doors, no locks, no permission required. These people were really forthcoming and a great host. Despite being poor, they would never ask for any tip or so. For a second, a thought did cross my mind; why are these guys being so friendly. But, the people here (including Jodhpur city) have inherent quality of hospitality. They don’t expect anything in return. I was smitten by this quality of these people.

We first reached potter family. There was an elderly Muslim man sitting on a cot in the courtyard outside his hut. We greeted each other and had some random chat about each other. Then came a young boy (probably his son) and he explained me how pottery is done. Deepak used to interject our conversation with his inputs whenever he thought necessary. The young boy, created the base material which is a mixture of clay, gravel and saw dust. The saw dust is mixed so that, when the pottery is put in kiln, it burns leaving behind minute pores which causes the evaporation in clay pot leading to cool water. After rotating the wheel he put a lump of clay (plus gravel and saw dust) on it and with his deft fingers started giving it shape. Within a matter of few minutes, there was a beautiful a gullak (piggy bank) in his hands. Once he was done, he invited me to try my hands. I had thought that it was easy task, but was humbled. A slight mistake, and the clay will take a different shape. Only full concentration with right amount of pressure from hand applied surgically will result in a nice clay pot. What an amazing experience!!

Doing something creative with your hands is like healing !!!

 

Top: My guide Deepakji; Bottom: A Bishnoi hut

After bidding adieu to potter family, we headed to meet Bishnoi family in Khejrali village. Khejri is a tree that is considered sacred because it grows on its own in this parched land. Bishnoi families follow 29 principles religiously most of which promote environmental stewardship. In 1730, 363 members of Bishnoi community laid their lives to save trees. They hugged trees to prevent its felling, and were subsequently killed by the soldiers. The ruler, Maharaja Abhai Singh, then apologized to Bishnoi community and ratified a law according to which no flora and fauna was supposed to be harmed in Bishnoi area. One of the Bishnoi person gave a demo of opium ceremony, which is a traditional ceremony of serving opium to guests. However, it was not served to me. It was just to showcase the rich cultural heritage of their community.

With a member of Bishnoi family

 

From there, we moved on to meet weaver family. Seeing them weaving a carpet so meticulously was so exciting. When we see finished product, we usually don’t realize the amount of effort put into it. Most of the time we think that it must have been produced in a factory. But that is not always the case and it really humbles you when you see the amount of manual effort put into creating these items. This was the last lap of the safari/tour. We started our return journey. I requested Deepak to drop me at Umaid Palace instead of my hotel.

Left: A weaver in action and his hut; Right: Inside Umaid Bhawan

 

Umaid Bhawan is the last palace to be built in India. The foundation was laid by Maharaja Umaid Singh in 1929 which took 14 years to complete. The palace was built to provide employment to thousands of people during famine. This palace is one of the world’s largest private residence with present royal Jodhpur family still residing there (Maharaja Gaj Singh). This palace is divided into 3 parts – a luxury Taj palace hotel (since 1972), the residence of present royal family and a museum depicting history of Jodhpur Royal family.

By this time, it was already noon and I headed back to my hotel. Thanks to Ola, I had a comfortable commute at a cheaper rates in hot sunny weather. I took bath and checked out of hotel at around 1.30 PM. The owner was kind enough not to charge for another day for staying extra 2-3 hours in the hotel. Once again Jodhpur’s hospitality impressed me.

Beautiful Umaid Bhawan

I reached Chokelao garden in Mehrangarh fort at around 2.30PM. My ziplining slot was at 4.30PM, so I had another 2 hours left. I struck a conversation with a guard there and we talked for about an hour or so. He told me a lot about Rajputana, Marwar and their history. We sat in the beautiful chokelao garden and chewed the fat for almost an hour. Every day, at 3.30 PM in Mehrangarh fort, there is an amazing spectacle. A man, named Latif, feeds eagles from the top of the fort. This is an old tradition by Rathore rulers who believe that up until they continue feeding these eagles, their kingdom will be safe. However, no one is allowed to be near Latif when he performs this. I was in Chokelao garden at 3.30 PM when eagles started hovering above the fort. This according to that guard was the best spot to see this activity. Latif came at 3.30 PM and started throwing meat for eagles. Eagles somersaulted through the sky competing against their fellow brethren to win the prized flesh. This continued for almost half an hour. I was astonished to see the courage of that man. On one hand, I was scared every time any eagle lowered its altitude to catch the piece of flesh and on the other, there was this man, feeding eagles who were at an arm’s distance from him. This, by the way, is the reason why the hill on which Mehrangarh fort is built is called Cheel ka teela (Mountain of eagles).

Latif making eagles do acrobatics

 

It was 4.30 now. My slot had 2 other folks joining me, Filipino and Walter. They were from Italy and were pursuing Ph.D in economics. I struck a conversation with them and we had a small discussion on Greece economy before we were interjected by our instructor. A no-waiver form was signed and then we were taken for a little practice to help us with a few do’s and don’ts. A few drills and we were ready to zip. Our ziplining tour comprised of 6 ziplines, ending at the original location. I had done ziplining in Dandeli, but this was different for 2 reasons. Firstly, this was shit scary. I was crossing hills which were almost 120m above the city level. Just looking at the zipline and then looking below was throwing a chill down my spine. Secondly, I had my friends with me in Dandeli; here I was alone, no one to lighten up the mood. When I reached the first zipline spot for making that jump, thoughts of backing out crossed my mind. Morbid thoughts were hovering like eagles I had seen an hour ago, trying to hijack my courage. I was trying to palliate my heart by remembering my parasailing experience in Goa. Finally after infinite self-assurances, reassurances, I made that jump.

Whoaaa……………….s.i.l.e.n.c.e…………………the subsequent weightlessness made my stomach go upside-down, my heart stopped, my lungs broke the ribs and reached my mouth………………… AAAAAAAA ………… I shouted my lungs out; not once but multiple times.

Fil, Walt and  I on our way to first zipline

 

One of the longest ziplines

 

The second zipline was even scarier, at a higher altitude. But I was more confident this time. The sixth or final zipline was the longest. But my now, I was a veteran. Fil and I had each other’s photos. So, we took each other’s email ids and promised to share once we reach home. Both of us maintained their part of deal and kept the promise.

I was done with ziplining by 6 PM and was craving for some food. I took an auto and headed once again to Mishrilal’s shop to have yummy mirchi bada, mawa kachori and lip-smacking makhaniya lassi. After filing my stomach, I walked down to railway station to head Jaisalmer.

I, Fil & Walt (Left to Right)

Jodhpur treats – Mehrangarh fort, Ziplining and Makhaniya Lassi

Next stop – Jaisalmer

Train – Jodhpur-Jaisalmer Express (14810)