I think local cuisine is a big part of the travelling experience. At Hotel Prateek in Jodhpur, the menu card had a little note telling me what to visit and what to eat! And I love meeting new people when I travel; it's all part of the experience!Walking down from Mehrangarh Fort, we met a couple standing outside their little blue house. It was a steep slope, and we really had no idea where we were headed. We wanted to know whether we would get a rickshaw at the foot of the hill."Bilkul! Kyun nahin? Lekin kahaan jaaoge aap?" "Bas, poochna tha ... Rickhsaw milega, to theek hai!" He clicked his tongue. "Paidal hi chale jao! Ghantaghar ke ek taraf se andar jaakar doosri taraf se nikalna. Vahaan se aap seedha jaakar nayi sadak dekh lo. Aur phir, Hotel Priya mein dinner kar lena. Sirf Priya mein khana, theek hai? Baki sab bekar hai, vegetable bahut ganda … [Read more...]
Ghantaghar, Jodhpur
A Ghantaghar, a huge clock tower, stands at the centre of the market at Jodhpur. In my mother's time, there were camels around the Ghantaghar too, but now, I can barely imagine there being enough room for a goat, let alone a camel!The clock cost three lakhs way back in 1911. One lakh was paid for the making of the clock in London, one lakh was paid to have it installed in Jodhpur, and one lakh was paid to ensure that a clock like that was never made again! From the Mehrangarh Fort, we saw it standing out of the Blue City. That's when I knew I wanted to visit it.As darkness began to fall, we saw it lit up in all its glory. It was magnificent!And, loveliest of all, we read a board there saying that one could climb to the top between about 10:30 and 5:30 on any day except Saturday! So we went back the next day at 4:15, and stayed there for over 45 minutes.Why … [Read more...]
Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur
Jodhpur - how welcoming you were to us! I know that Jodhpur, much more than Jaipur, is a place I'll visit again!After my workshop at Central Academy, Pal, I heard stories about the Jodhpur Fort. I heard about how there are people who do not want to leave Jodhpur because they cannot live without their daily darshan of the fort. I don't know how true that is, but it is true that the fort took our breath away! Sure, India has many beautiful forts. I've been to a few. Sinhagad - I've been more times than I can count. Daulatabad - I went long ago, and among the few things I remember is the fact that the whole place smells of bats.Mehrangarh FortCost per adult (Indian) Rs 100Still camera Rs 100Audio guide Rs 170Visit duration We spent just about two hours. I recommend three hours at least!Mehrangarh Fort was something else. From the structure of … [Read more...]
Monkeys at Matheran
The monkeys at Matheran are notorious. Everyone has a monkey story - here's mine.I stepped out early in the morning, and was charmed. I love the freshness of mornings, and Matheran was exceptional. It was one of those times when I felt I simply had to share the morning withe everyone, so I went back into the room and tried to wake everyone up. Unsuccessfully. Before long, I myself had slipped back into bed. The warmth of the bed was as enticing as the cool outside.I woke up with a start. Sitting on our chair, with a packet of milk powder in its hand, was a monkey. It had pushed open the door and had taken what it saw first. As the sleeping humans slept on, it surveyed the room, wondering what else to grab.Unfortunately for it, the sleeping humans awoke and shooed it out. It bounded out casually with its milk packet.Later, I saw it in the trees. It had bitten a hole … [Read more...]
Matheran – Day Two
At Matheran, all we really wanted to do is get away from all the people and explore. So, the day after our visit to the market, we decided to walk to 'Nature of Panorama Point'. I, for one, could not stop smiling at the name.The moment we left the smell of people and horses behind, there was no one. Everyone wanted to go to the market, it seemed. We left them far away and walked along a mud path, breathing in freshness that seems to have disappeared from Pune. The weather was not consistently pleasant - it did get hot - but who cared?I love walking through a forest of greens. I love leaves brushing past me. I love the smell of the hills!We saw dragonflies and butterflies everywhere. Even though we were with someone who is afraid of butterflies (lepidopterophobia), we were enchanted.After over an hour of walking, we met a few people, cheerily greeted them … [Read more...]
Matheran – Day One
Everyone keeps talking about Matheran. All my life, I've heard about how beautiful it is. People keep telling me that there are no cars, only horses, and that it's a breath of fresh air. This Diwali, I finally went to Matheran--and realised that everyone was right!In The Toy Train, I wrote about how the steam engine in Darjeeling was pulled off the tracks because there too many accidents. And guess what? That's what happened to the toy train at Matheran. I don't take ownership for that; I promise!The moral of the story, though, was that we drove to Matheran and then walked everywhere instead of taking the train, and it was simply lovely.The day we reached, we made our way up the narrow gauge rail track to the market area, a place bustling with life. The sun set slowly as we wandered around, watching the street light up.People say all kinds of things about night … [Read more...]
Workshop at Mane’s International School, Ratnagiri
People on the road selling karvand, mangoes and jackfruit. The lilting language that makes me listen to the tune rather than the meaning. The dark sand and the crashing waves. Joy!And Mane's International School was beautiful. It's a small school as of now, just a baby. There are mango trees everywhere, and the principal spoke of how the children run round and round the trees as they play. Apparently, the rains night before last made the mangoes come crashing down, but until then, the boughs were heavy with fruit!On the way to Ratnagiri, we stopped to buy karvand, offered to us in cups made of velvety leaves. (What a city person I am! I don't know what leaves they were ...) What was most charming was that each cup of fruit cost ten rupees. Some of the leaves were small, with the cups holding barely a dozen berries. Some were huge, with over thirty! But the rate was the … [Read more...]
Burrapahar, Kaziranga
You know how in the buffer zone, they keep telling you that anything can happen? You know how all guides have stories about sightings of big animals on the main road?It never happens to me. I keep hoping, but no. Nothing on the main road.Until Kaziranga.All around us, like a wispy cushion on the tea estates, was the early morning fog. Shivering in the open jeep, we had our first sighting of the day - a rhino visible clearly from the main road. Bakul didn't even stop to look at it. He clarified later, "From the main road, you can see anything! The real experience is seeing it in the forest." I didn't argue.Further on, we saw a whole troop of monkeys, playing in wet agricultural land, right next to us. [Aside: I just looked up the range of collective nouns used for monkeys. It's charming!] We stopped this time and watched the macaques, running around, washing their faces, eating … [Read more...]
Agaratoli, Kaziranga
The eastern zone of Kaziranga is much more forested, not primarily grassland. It was joyous being in there, looking at the crazy trees and ferns. Some trees look like they've set up hanging gardens of their own, with leaves of different kinds growing out of their trunks. I couldn't stop marvelling at them.Bright green leaves glistened, almost as if they had been polished. My father chuckled. "It looks like Pati gave them a good clean to make them shine!" My Pati loved to make things shine. Her brass never had a dull moment.In Kaziranga, many tourists are accompanied by a gunman for security reasons. In Agartoli, we had with us Pranab, a gunman who'd been with the Forest Department for five years. Everything was good; we were roaming around cheerfully ... Until an elephant crossed our path.Pranab tapped on Bakul's shoulder. We stopped, maintaining a respectful distance. We … [Read more...]
Bagori, Kaziranga
Pelicans! The safari in Mihimukh showed me not just the Lesser Adjutant Stork and the Woolly Necked Stork, but also the Open-Billed Stork, Bar-Headed Geese -- and pelicans!When Bakul first pointed them out, I didn't quite believe him. Then I saw those incredible pouchy beaks. I stared, filling my eyes with them. I found myself thinking, "Oh, so pelicans do belong in the world outside cartoons ..."At the end of each day in the forest, I close my eyes and let all the images of the forest dance in my head. On our first day, I could see the beautiful forest all around me. I could see the elephant grass with birds flying above it. I could see the sudden pools around the corner, pools that kept taking me by surprise. I could see a magnificent wild buffalo wallowing in the mud.Central and western zones got mixed up in my head. I could see our first rhino. I could see all the elephants … [Read more...]