Udaipur – A Tour of the City Palace

So I guess very soon I will be the leading travel conversationalist? Yes, I like to converse with my readers every day. There are these friends of mine who keep insisting “Ross, put down your thoughts on writing. Now that I have started doing it, they say, why I started writing!” This is because they have to go through the hassle of reviewing what I write and give a feedback too. What are friends for otherwise? And at my age with my wife out of town on a social cause and my son in Philippines on a project, what do I have to do , after watering the plants, going for a walk and then settling down to watch Federer and Nadal play and see their exquisite strokes of defence>? Yes, I have only to write down my experiences and that I do with great gusto as travelling is my passion and writing about them my interest.

So now, today after a nice meal that Shanta, our good old cook whipped up for me, and after I have fed my lovebirds their afternoon tit bit, I settle down to write about my trip to Udaipur. Yes. That’s the land of the lords and the swords. Rajasthan the land of battles and valor. I love the place and I still remember how we landed at Udaipur. It was the regular office conference meeting. In those days, there was no video conferencing like now. So we had to go all the way to meet the people in the other headquarters. After the meeting was over, we had nothing to do, and we decided to go around Udaipur. My wife had asked for the famous mojris that we get here and I went out to shop for that. When I came back, our bags were out and my friends were ready with everything to set out to go around the city of Udaipur. I never get deterred or shocked by my friends and their impulsive decisions. I myself am an impulsive person so it never affected me. I just went into the room, had a look around and satisfied myself that I hadn’t left anything behind, and set out with my jingbang.

Udaipur, the city is a beautiful place notwithstanding the crowd that you see as you drive down. The camels, the noise, the color, the rustic look is all complimented by the overall ambience in the place – the ambience of grandeur. As the Udaipur Palace loomed over the Lake Pichola, we saw this beautiful endeavor of the visionary Maharana Udai Singh who ensured that we have the best of Palaces in India.

Everyone knows that Udai Singh founded the city of Udaipur and so it is not a lesser known fact that the city palace at Udaipur with its balconies and majestic façade is around 244m and 30m high. Yes, Ravinder and Kalpesh, my friends, were coming here for the first time so were quite smitten by the place. We reached the Elephant Gate called the Hathi Pol by the locals. Entry was through this gate. There was the Big Gate or the Bari Pol which takes you to the Triple Gate. This was the gate where the Maharana was weighed with silver or gold. The equivalent silver or gold was distributed to the locals and the subjects. Today, this historical place bears a serious look as the office where we can buy tickets to go in.

Once we were inside, we had to take our own time to get used to the sheer magnificence that this place exudes. As we walked up, we could imagine we are some Rajah of yesteryears and Kalpesh walked as if he was walking, with his hands help up as he was carrying a sword. We had a good laugh and I took a video of him doing this and saw through the camera that we were entering a room in the palace. Udaipur City Palace has innumerable rooms and all of them are beautifully decorated either with paintings or tiles or lovely ornamentation.

Kalpesh said,” Who knows we would have been officers of the king in our past birth.” Ducking the blows that Ravinder and Avnit were giving him, we walked ahead to the Suraj Gokhada. Also known as the Balcony of the Sun, the tour guide told us that this was the place where the Rana used to come and wave at the public. This was an act he did everyday to boost the sagging esteem of the people. They used to greatly revere the Rana so a mere look at him gave them the incentive to pull on for some time. Then we walked across to the Peacock Square called the Mor Chowk by the public. The name comes from the walls here where the mosaic has lovely peacock glass paintings.

Today the erstwhile famous palace is a storehouse of artifacts, armory and weaponry of the past. It is a small museum in itself and we saw such museums in Ganesh Deori. As we walked further, we saw the royal courtyard of the Raja, the Rajya Angan. This was the place where, I knew, the Rana met a sage who asked him to build a city here.

The tour guide incessantly went on about the palace and I was concentrating more on the structures and the architecture around. The Ruby Palace was our next destination in the palace. It had the incredible collection of glass and mirror work. It was amazing the way the past historical works enthrall us even today.

After the Ruby Palace or the Manak Mahal, we went to the Moti Mahal. Also known as the Pearl palace, the very name symbolizes the works of Rajasthan. We saw exquisitely done mirror work here.

“Hey look at this,” said Avnit pointing at the tiles in the Chini Mahal. We went there slowly as we were getting a little tired walking but were not bored of looking around. The next was the Surya Chopar. Literally meaning the Sun Square this had a beautifully decorated huge Sun which signified the Mewar’s dynasty – the sun dynasty.

We were quite mesmerized by the whole atmosphere, and the surrounding seemed really dignified and elegant. Rajasthan exudes so much of self respect and an egotic feel that we really feel royal when we visit a place here. The entire grandeur and beauty could be seen from the Bari Mahal where we could feel the freshness in the beautiful garden that lay here.

We sat down on a stone bench for some time and I took out my regular lemonade that I always carry with me. After some camaraderie over who would take the larger share, we continued towards the Government Museum. Ravinder was interested in this as he was an avid archaeologist. He loved sculptures, their origin, explanation etc. And at this museum we saw a lot of miniature paintings from the very famous Mewar School of Art.

“Arrey we could have stayed in this hotel,” I said looking at the building there. “That was earlier a palace” chipped in the tour guide. It was the Fateh Prakash Palace.” I was struck by the singularly majestic structure in front of us and was overawed by the kind of construction Indian history has witnessed.

The Pichola Lake was around to calm and soothe frayed nerves, the palaces and their buildings were there to imbibe in us the feeling of royalty and the whole atmosphere just ensured we enjoyed our trip completely.  We relaxed in the gallery of the Fateh Prakash palace, now a hotel.

With laughter and humor, we chided each other as we walked out of the palace. A tour well enjoyed though totally unplanned.

“Did you notice that the architecture here is of the Chinese and Medieval European kind?” Kalpesh asked. I agreed and was quite impressed with the beautiful fountains so creatively thought of and constructed. Equally commendable were the arches we saw in the Pols where the Rana was weighed. These pols or gates had arches where the weighing was done. The entire area had the look of luxury and the place looked lovely with its embroidered walls, decorative panels, antique looks, mirror works of excellence and well built towers.

The tour guide took us also to the nearby Jag Niwas. This is another palace which was the vision of Maharana Jagat Singh. When we look at it , it looks like the sole structure on the island. This is a hotel today and the look is totally rustic and original.

We also went to the Jag Mandir which  is Mother Nature’s gift to Rajasthan. Ensconced with a surrounding, any other tourist planner would be envious of, this place boasts of an engraving where the elephants in stone are shown as the watchmen of the island.

We then made our way to the hotel and were happy we made the trip. I was happy I accompanied them and am now happy that I am even writing about it. Such are the memories of past, so nice, so pleasant and so comforting.

Rossaying : Live like a king, just go around Udaipur.