Magical Rajasthan

End of October, the Winter is just around the corner; on a Saturday I started off my long awaited tour, to discover the colours of India, in Rajasthan. My official leave was on the verge of getting cancelled after I booked my tickets and accomodation. But finally my wishes prevailed upon all bad & it was sanctioned after hanging on a sensitive balance for quite sometime.

Dancing Dolls of Rajasthan

 I timed it primarily for Pushkar Cattle fair, the confluence of Humanity and its bonding with domestic cattle. I started my journey from Jaipur and covered Jaisalmer before finally hitting Pushkar.

A Smile beyond worth

Hawamahal, City Palace, Jalmahal, Amer Fort, Nahargarh Fort and above all the colours of Jaipur, a complete feast for photographer.

The historic Palaces, Forts, the sun tanned faces of people, colourful dressings all around offer great opportunities to any photographer. With my limited ability I tried to capture atleast the essence, but have fallen short on many accounts.

 The first day, rather the half day went off inside the city and in Jalmahal. I kept the second day for the Forts. It was a rather uneventful starting of another dream journey of my lifetime.... through the Colours & History & Palaces full of Stories.

The face of Rajputana

Next day I started off at 5-30am to catch the Forts in morning light. Interestingly the city bus ran well upto the Market area and halted near Hawamahal; I never imagined that it was going to be so long. I waited for sometime and then climbed down to shoot. Much after my shooting spree gave way, the bus started again.

My first stop was Amer Fort. Although it was my second visit to this beautiful Fort, the grandeur of the architecture and size left me awestruck.

Amer Fort

This fort was constructed by Raja Man Singh I in 1592 and was completed by Mirja Raja Jai Singh. This is a beautiful fusion of Hindu and Mughal architecture. The Fort is made of red sand stone and white marble. It is a classic and romantic fort Palace with magnificient aura.

Main Entrance of Amer Fort

The fort houses a famous temple called "Amer Kali Temple" or "Shila Devi Temple". According to the legend Raja Man Singh recovered the statue of Devi Kali from the sea bed of Jessore (now in Bangladesh) and established this temple.

Assembly area in Amer Fort

Although nowadays the elephants carry only the enthusiastic tourists upto the Fort on their back, the place gets lively with activities and beat of drums in the morning with the arrival of these guests. The Elephants climb up the stairs, reach the assembly area & the tourists get down on a platform. This activity continues for hours together on a continuous basis right from the morning when the Fort opens its gate.

Diwan - e - Aam

 After a couple of hours in Amer my next step was Nahargarh Fort. It was built by Raja Jai Singh in 1734 and was extended in 1868. The legend has that the spirit of Prince Nahar Singh would destroy the construction and stall its progress until a Tantrik invoked the spirit and it agreed to withdraw on condition that the Fort will be named after him.

Ornate walls of Nahargarh fort

 The Fort although is smaller than Amer fort, what I loved the most was its ornate walls inside all the living rooms and corridors.


There is a board on the entrance which says that no one should stay inside the fort after 5-30pm. Being in the mid morning I ofcourse, could not feel anything spiritual. However, I tried to depict what one would see if he is confined in the Fort and looks out of a window which opens up inside.

Confined

 15km. away from Amer fort, there is Jaigarh fort which was built between 15th & 18th century A.D. As the name signifies, the fort was built to celebrate Victory. The biggest Canon on wheels in the world is preserved in this Fort.

Nahargarh fort from Amer

This Fort is one of the few military structure of medieval India preserved almost intact which contains palaces, a granary and a well planned canon foundry and several temples.

In the heart of Jaipur there is an exotic Palace, Moti Dungri (Pearl hill). This is replica of a Scottish palace on a small hill. This was once occupied by Maharaja Sawai Man Singh. Since then it remained the property of Royal Family and served home of late Jagat Singh, the only son of Maharani Gayatri Devi in the recent past. No visitor is allowed inside the Palace except upto the Ganesh Temple down in the foot hill. I spent over an hour in the night to shoot this palace in the Lights.

Moti Dungri

After spending two days in Jaipur, I took a RTDC bus to Jaisalmer, a 12 hours journey. I had to cancel my train ticket which was sitting firmly in the waiting list for quite a long time and was compelled to buy this bus ticket to reach Jaisalmer, a place I wanted to see for so long.......