Skywatch Friday, Golden Temple in Light!!!

It was 6:30, by the time we reached back Amritsar from Wagah Border. I had heard a lot about the famous Bharawan Da Dhaba, a Punjabi Restaurant in Amritsar and we asked our taxi driver to drop us there. They have their other counterpart too, Brothers Dhaba near Golden Temple, but the original one is near town hall. The food is very good and authentic but they are very bad at service, few customers left in front of us, for not been attended on time. Heard from few later, Brothers has gained popularity recently for their better service. We had the authentic Makki ki Roti and Sarson Ka Saag, which non of the  Restaurants around the country can match theirs.

After dinner, we planned a visit to Golden Temple again, to have a look in lights.

The temple's beauty is no less in day light or in lights at night. The temple is a mark of great architectural beauty, divinity and holiness. I so wanted to visit the langar kitchen, but couldn't get enough time as next morning we had to leave for Dalhousie.

Stay tuned for my post on Dalhousie, where I experienced snow fall(natural) for the first time.

Do check out the complete series on this trip of mine here. 

Saluting the Patriotic Souls at Jallianwala Bagh!!!

Punjab is the land of patriots, them being in the list of freedom fighters or the jawans serving the nation. Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar is the garden which witnessed bloodshed of about 1000+ patriots including women and kids, who had gathered for a protest against the British rule, on 13 April 1919. A group of soldiers led by Brigadier General Reginald Dyer opened fire against the crowd. Few of them tried to escape by jumping into the well in the garden, while some lost life in stampede of the panicked crowd. The section of the wall pock marked by bullets and the well are still preserved in the garden. After 32years from the massacre, Government of India post independence constructed a memorial of national importance in 1951. Built in the shape of eternal flame, the Martys memorial stands tall in the garden reminding the lives lost during the independence movement.

The Martys Memorial

The entry to the Garden, through narrow lane

Wall pock marked by bullets

Amar Jyoti, flame of immortal souls

The Jallianwala Bagh is very close to Golden Temple. You get to enter the garden through narrow street, which has been still preserved in its original form and houses few photographs from the massacre and other Independence movements.

Travel Info:
Entry free
Timings: 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM
Check out my post on Golden temple, to plan a visit to Amritsar.

Do check out the complete series on this trip of mine here. 

Golden Temple, Amritsar!!!

Almost after 5 months from our trip, I start my series on our Punjab and Himachal Pradesh tour. We started planning our trip sometime in January for our visit in March. March is our ideal time for long travels, as kiddo gets a month's break from school and her summer vacations during May are always planned for our trips to native and around. And accordingly we made the bookings. Just few days before our trip, there was an unexpected weather change and there were floods at most of the places around the country, but we were in no mood to reschedule our plans.

We reached Amritsar in the morning, and booked our taxi for the day for the tour of Amritsar city and Wagah Border. The weather had got worse, it was freezing cold. Our taxi driver dropped us at around 200mtrs from Golden temple and said, the taxi wouldn't go further and we had to go by walk till the temple. The walk is through the market place, where there are shops selling almost everything Amritsari, from Kulchas to scarfs(to cover your head while entering the temple), footwear to souvenirs. It was still 9 in the morning and we were told most of the food stalls would open only after 11 and we headed straight to Golden Temple. It started drizzling and the weather got still colder. All that chillness disappeared as soon as we got the glimpse of the temple, the Golden structure, with its reflection in the pure waters of Amrit Sarovar. The white structure surrounding the golden temple, the little kids taking dip in the holy sarovar, everything made the premises so serene and beautiful.

The entry to the temple, through the bridge

The top floor of the Harmandir Sahib main complex

 About Golden Temple

As per Wikipedia, the city of Amritsar was found in 1574 by the fourth Sikh guru, Guru Ram Das, while the Harmandir Sahib, or Darbar Sahib or Golden Temple, was designed by the fifth guru, Guru Arjan, who had the cornerstone laid by the Muslim Sufi saint Sai Hazrat Mian Mir on 28 December 1588. Guru Arjan completed the Adi Granth, the holy scripture of Sikhism, in 1604 and installed it in the gurdwara. Harmandir Sahib is considered to be the holiest Sikh Gurudwara.
The temple is built on a platform at the center of the Amrit Sarovar, connecting with the main complex of Harmandir Sahib by a bridge. The temple is three storied structure, with the front facing the bridge decorated with repeated arches. Check more about the structure here.

Travel Info:
Amritsar is a district in Punjab, India around 217km from the state capital Chandigarh. It is near Pakistan with Wagah Border around 28km and Lahore city of Pakistan around 50km.
By Road: Amritsar is on NH-1 well connected to Delhi, Jammu and other cities of Punjab.
By Train: Well connected to Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and other parts of Punjab.
By Air: Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, has many domestic and international flights, connecting with rest of the country and internationally.
Golden Temple is well with-in the city of Amritsar, and has accommodation and free food(langar) as well.
Timings: 3AM to 10PM, you can check out daily routine here.
Entry Free, everybody is allowed to entry the Gurudwara, better visit early morning, when the crowd is less.
Need to leave your foot wear outside and cover your head, while entering the temple premises.

Do check out the complete series on this trip of mine here. 

Skywatch Friday - Sky shots from Nahargarh Fort!!!

As I had mentioned in my previous posts, our guide was so eager to share about all the Bollywood hot spots of Amber and Jaigarh forts, Nahargarh was no different. Remember that scene from the Bollywood movie Rang ke Basanthi when Aamir Khan and Kunal Kapoor on high fall back into the step well, this is where the scene was shot. 

The fort wall on one side of the well, gives great view of Jaipur city, 

Over looking the city of Jaipur and the the beautiful sky

More sky pictures from Nahargarh fort..

 Happy skywatching!!!

Charming Nahargarh Fort, over looking the city of Jaipur!!!

Previous post on Golden Triangle Tour Jaigarh Fort

Off the three palaces of Amber, the one which attracted me more was Nahargarh. Its simplicity, the charm, less in crowd, everything just added for me to love the place. By the time we reached Nahargarh, kiddo was very much tired and we thought of leaving her with our driver in the jeep and she happily agreed and we went on the tour of the palace. I still can't believe we left her alone with an unknown person.

Madhavendra Palace

When I heard Nahargarh, I thought Nahar was something related to 9 or Nau in Hindi(for its nine apartments of the palace), but our guide had a completely different story to tell. Nahargarh meant 'abode of tigers' and the other folklore was about Nahar Singh Bhomia, whose spirit haunted the palace and obstructed the construction. I curiously asked my guide was it the reason, there were less people even till day visiting Nahargarh. He said, most of the tourists were interested just in Amber Fort, while Jaigarh and Nahargarh were left out. And this fort was more famous with residents of Jaipur as a picnic spot than a visit by tourists.

Entrance door of one of the nine apartments of Madhavendra palace

Colourful walls and stained glass windows of Madhavendra Palace

A door with in the apartment

While most of the fort was built in 1734, by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II as a retreat on the summit of the hill, Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh extended the fort during 1883 to 92. During this time was Madhavendra Palace, the main attraction of the fort was built. Madhavendra Palace, built in Indo-European style of architecture is said to be built by Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh for this nine queens, which were named after their nick names. A two storeyed palace divided into nine similar apartments known as Suraj Prakash, Chandra Prakash, Khushal Prakash, Anand Prakash, Jawahar Prakash, Laxmi Prakash, Ratna Prakash, Lalit Prakash and Basant Prakash. Each apartment is a double storeyed building which had a lobby, bedroom, toilet, store, kitchen designed for the royal family. All the apartments are connected with each other with a narrow passage and the king's head suit.

The rich coloured walls

The passage connecting the nine apartments and the head suit

The city of Jaipur, as seen from Madhavendra palace

While very few visit this fort, of them most visit to get the beautiful aerial view of Jaipur city. 

By the time we were done with Nahargarh Fort it was 4PM, our driver dropped us till Jal Mahal, from where we took a rickshaw back to hotel and left for railway station for our last leg of the Golden Triangle tour to Sawai Madhopur(Ranthambore Tiger Reserve).

Travel Info:

Nahargarh Fort is around 11km from Amber Fort and 20km from Jaipur. We had a combined jeep tour of Amber, Jaigarh and Nahargarh fort.

Timings: 10AM - 5:30PM, open daily(closed on public holidays)
Entry Fee:
Indian Tourists: INR 25/adult
Foreign Tourists: INR 75/adult

(We had bought the composite entry ticket for Rs. 70/adult(Indian, valid for two days), which covered Amber Palace, Albert Hall, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal and Nahargarh.

Related Posts: Check out the complete series on Golden Triangle Tour.  

Next Post on Golden Triangle Tour Ranthambore Tiger Reserve

Jaigarh Fort or Victory Fort, a Defensive Structure of Amber!!!

Previous post on Golden Triangle Tour Sri Jagat Siromaniji Temple, Amber

While Amber Palace represents the architectural beauty of Amber, Jaigarh reflects the military power of Rajputana rulers. After our tour of Amber Fort, and shopping and lunch at Rajasthan Small Scale Cottage industries complex, we drove to Jaigarh. The road is very lone and hardly had any other vehicles driving that way.

Jaigarh Fort which is also known as Victory Fort, served as the defensive structure rather a palace and housed a canon foundry too. The fort also has a subterranean passage to Amber fort, which helped the royal family to move here during enemy attack on Amber Palace. Located on one of the peaks of Aravalli hills, the fort is a red stone structure and presently houses an armory chamber and museum.

The most fascinating here is the walk from the main palace complex to Jaivana, the world's largest cannon on wheels, of its time. On the way there is a small water body(a pond) and as per our guide a scene from the Bollywood movie Shahanshah was shoot there, and he was so proud in sharing that Jaipur had always been Bollywood's favourite shooting place, for its touristy places. There is another water tank well within the palace complex, which as per him was excavated during the rule of Ex-PM Indira Gandhi, for there were rumors of previous things buried under, the excavation ended up with nothing as per government.

Jaivana, the canon, was manufactured in 1720 during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II at a foundry in Jaigarh itself. Its said, it was never used in any battle, as Rajputs were in good relation with Mughals(which can be related to the story of Jodhaa and Akbar). The canon was just fired once with 100kg of gunpowder, which covered a distance of 35km.

Travel info:

Jaigarh is around 10kms from Jaipur city and around 500mtrs from Amber( more by road). You can take a combined tour of Amber, Jaigarh and Nahargarh forts with a jeep or there are auto rickshaws which take you to Jaigarh fort alone. There is bit of walking from the main palace complex to the Jaivana.

Timings: 9AM to 4:30PM
Entry Fee:
Indian tourists: INR 35
Foreign tourists: INR 85
Still camera INR 50

Next post on Golden Triangle Tour Nahargarh Fort
Related Posts: Check out the complete series on Golden Triangle Tour.  

The Royal Rajputana Architecture of Amber Fort !!!

While our first day in Jaipur took us through the Pink city, with the tour of its heritage sites, we had planned our second day to explore Amber, with three of its forts, Amber, Jaigarh and Nahargah Forts. This time as well we didn't wanted to have an autorickshaw tour as we wanted to explore in ease, so asked the rickshaw wala to just drop us to Amber Fort.

We thanked ourself for hiring them just for the drop, as they don't take you till the fort and we were dropped at the foot hills of the hill Amber Fort stands on. You can get to the fort either by foot(its around 200+ steps), or take elephant ride or hire a jeep, who take you through the Amber village to reach the fort. With kiddo, we didn't have an option to climb by foot and elephant ride seemed expensive, so hired a jeep and a guide to take us through the tour. The drive to the fort through Amber village is beautiful and reflects the Rajasthani culture. En-route, our guide took us to Sri Jagat Siromaniji Temple and after a quick visit to the temple we drove to Amber Fort. Amber Fort houses one of the beautiful palaces of Jaipur and a visit to Jaipur is never complete without a visit to it.

Ganesh Pol

Nestled in the foot hills of Aravalli, Amber is around 11km from Jaipur city. The history of this palace takes back to 16th century, even before the construction of the Pink city, Jaipur. Said to be built by Raja Shri Maan Singh I, the fort is constructed with red sandstone and marble. As you enter the fort there is a big courtyard(the first courtyard), with few steps climb you reach the Sheela Mata mandir, a temple visited by most to be blessed by the patron goddess of the Rajput rulers. Few more steps climb reaches you to the second courtyard with Deewan-i-aam and Ganesh Pol/Ganesh Gate. Ganesh Pol an entry to the third courtyard, is a tall building with beautiful paintings, said mostly to be done by vegetable colours. Through Ganesh pol you reach the third courtyard, the courtyard which houses the two beautiful structures opposite each other, with Mughal garden separating both. While one structure Sheesh Mahal, is known for its rich mirror works and served as a royal bedroom for the royal family, the other Sukh Mahal, with its piped water supplies creating an air-conditioned environment, served rather as a summer retreat. The Sheesh Mahal is one of the places in this palace, which attracts most of the visitors, its said, candles lit at night would give the hall an open space feeling with glittering stars.

Tourists taking elephant ride to reach the Fort, this reminded me so much of the movie Jodhaa Akbar

Our guide was kind enough to answer all our queries. The palace's royal architecture and stunning landscapes mesmerize you. Though we visited in summer, a visit post monsoon would give you much marvelous view with the Aravalli hills with its lush greens.

Maota lake and garden, its said during royal rule of Rajput and Akbar, this garden was used for Saffron plantation

  

A musician playing Ravanhatta. Ravanhatta: Music for the Gods. An ancient bowed violin, once popular in India and Sri Lanka is still played in parts of the country. It is believed Ravana served Lord Shiva using the Ravanhatta. The legend goes that after the war Hanuman got the instrument to India. It is made from, coconut shell, bamboo and goat hide. The strings are made of steel and horse hair. (Info source Epicgram)

Sheesh Mahal

Magic flower fesco at Sheesh Mahal, it has seven unique designs, including a fish tail, lotus, hooded cobra, elephant trunk, lion’s tail, cob of corn, and scorpion, each one of which is visible by a special way of partially hiding the panel with the hands.

The walls of Sukh Mahal, a pleasant soothing white palace, which served as air conditioned room for the royal family 

Sheesh Mahal as seen from the first floor of Ganesh Pol

Top arch of Ganesh Pol, you get the view of the second courtyard with Diwan-I-Aam

While returning back from Amber fort, our guide took us to Rajasthan Small Scale Cottage Industries, a single stop to shop all Rajasthani handi craft. You can as well have a look at the craftsmen at work. The shops have textile, marble work, paintings, jewelry and other art works. They strictly restrict photographing. 

Travel Info:

Getting there: Amber is around 11km from Jaipur city, you can hire a taxi or auto rickshaw to reach Amber.

You can reach the fort by foot(around 200+ steps) or take Elephant ride, they charge around INR 1100(one way)/per elephant(for two people), or hire jeep, they charge around INR 350, we booked the jeep for the tour of Amber, Jaigarh and Nahargarh Forts for INR 900.

Timings: 8AM to 6PM
Entry Fee:
Indians: INR 25/adult, INR 10/child
Foreign tourists: INR 200/adult and INR 100/child
(We had bought the composite entry ticket for Rs. 70/adult(Indian, valid for two days), which covered Amber Palace, Albert Hall, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal and Nahargarh.

There is also Light and Sound shows in the evening
Timings:
English: 7:30PM onwards, entry INR 200
Hindi: 8PM onwards, entry INR 100

Related Posts: Check out the complete series on Golden Triangle Tour.  

Heritage Tour of Pink City, Jaipur!!!

We were about to reach Jaipur by 5:30 in the morning and we needed a confirmed hotel booking for reaching an unfamiliar place that early. We booked with Golden Hotel(review coming up in following post) who also arranged for pick up from Sindhi Camp Bus stand. We relaxed for a while after reaching the hotel, had breakfast and left for the city tour. While there were many autorikhsaw wala's offering city tour, I knew we didn't exactly needed an auto for the tour, as most of the heritage places of Jaipur were quite closer, apart from the Forts(Amber, Jaigarh, Nahargarh) which we had planned to visit the next day.

Palace cities have a different charm in themselves, the monuments, the streets, the bazaars, speak so much about the royal rule, the city of Jaipur always reminds me of the palace city, Mysore.

Albert Hall Museum

Albert Hall Museum

As soon as you near museum, all you find is hundreds of pigeons, they are everywhere near the museum and you can find nets dropped down at almost all openings of the museum to stop them entering in.

In display at Albert Hall Museum, Jaipur's well known craft form Blue Pottery

Dating back to 1880s when the construction of the Hall was started, it gets its name after Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, who laid the foundation. Its an Indo- Saracenic structure with stone ornamentation, with varied classical Indian style from Mughal to Rajput. The inner walls and corridors are decorated with murals and paintings depicting stories from mythology and history. The Museum has a collection of art forms from across Rajasthan and around the world, including metal work, pottery, marble work, ivory, wooden work, miniature painting(one of the well known art forms of Rajasthan). The museum also has a collection of arm and armature, coins, sculptures, carpets, musical instruments.

City Palace/Sawai Man Singh Museum

Diwan-I-Khas

The drive from Albert Museum to City palace reflects the culture of the city, if time permits its better to walk along the route. As the weather was quite hot and had my little one as well we drove to the palace. Though main entrance looks simple, it has quite to offer inside.  Maharaja Sawai Mahsigh II Museum, well known as city palace was the royal residence of the Maharajas of Jaipur. Its said the outer wall was built in 1729-32 by Sawai Jai Singh II and later on additional buildings were added by successors. 

The Royal flag flaunting on Chandra Mahal

Starting with Mubarak Mahal(textile gallery), you get along Bagghi Khana, Sileh Khana, Sabha Niwas(Diwan-I-Aam), Sarvatobhadra chowk(Diwan-I-Khas), Pritam Niwas Chowk and others. Off all the one which gains significance is the Chandra Mahal, most of which is still royal residence and Pritam Niwas Chowk, the courtyard providing access to Chandra Mahal. Pritam Niwas Chowk has four gates representing four seasons and its Northeast Peacock gate representing autumn gains everybody's attraction. The royal flag flaunts on the Chandra Mahal, indicating the presence of royal family in the palace. The whole palace has collection of paintings, textile and royal belongs for display. There is also a store inside the palace with artisans selling the art and craft of Rajasthan.

Jantar Mantar

It was during the rule of Sawai Jai Singh II, that Jaipur city was constructed and the royal rulers moved from Amber to Jaipur. Sawai Jai Singh II, who became the ruler at the age of 11, worked very much on societies well being and contributed to culture and science. It was during his rule, that he built five astronomical observatories in Delhi, Mathura, Banaras, Ujjain and Jaipur. Off which the Jaipur one is still functional. Jantar Mantar has nineteen instruments measuring time, predicting eclipse, tracking location of major stars as the earth orbits around the sun and other astronomical movements.

You can take guided tour of the observatory to better understand each instrument. You really get astonished with the precision and accuracy with which the instruments operate even today, and their construction back then, without any modern technology. Its said, the precision of an instrument increases with the size of the instrument and hence gave better results. There are lots of books been sold about the observatory in and around Jantar Mantar, you can buy them to know each of the instrument better. Do check out Wiki for more info on the observatory.

Hawa Mahal

By the time we were done with Jantar Mantar, we were already late and had to skip visiting Hawa Mahal(inside), though its the outer wall of the palace, which has more significance. While most of the other buildings in Jaipur were built by Sawai Jai Singh II, Hawa Mahal(Hawa, meaning Wind and Mahal meaning palace, Palace of Winds) was built by Sawai Pratap Singh. Its a five storeyed red and pink stone structure, in the shape of honeycomb with 953 small windows. This palace was used by women of the Royal family to observe the street while they would be unseen from outside. Its just not Hawa Mahal, but the other buildings along the street too which are red and pink stone structures and giving an heritage look to that area, so does the city gets its name Pink City.

Shopping in Jaipur

Rajasthan is well known for its handcrafts, which include blue pottery(specialized to Jaipur), miniature paintings(both on marble and fabric), marble work, block painting, tie and die, embroidery, leather works, footwear to name a few. There are many emporiums through out Jaipur city and other places of Rajasthan where you can shop. You can also shop at the street vendors on the Badi Chaupad.

Travel Tips:
Jaipur is the capital city of Rajasthan state in India. Its well connected with rest of the country by road, train and air.

Timings: 
Albert Hall Museum: 9AM to 5PM
City Palace: 9AM to 5PM
Jantar Mantar: 9AM to 4:30PM
Hawa Mahal: 9AM to 5PM
While entry to all monuments is allowed upto 30minutes from closing time.

Entry Fee: Go for composite entry ticket if you plan to visit these places in one or two days, the composite entry costs Rs. 70, valid for 2days and covers, Albert Hall Museum, Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal, Amber Palace and Nahargarh Palace.
Entry fee for City Palace is Rs. 75/adult, and photography inside the galleries is prohibited.

There is also Light and Sound show in Jantar Mantar in Hindi as well as English in the evening. You can plan for a shopping around Badi Chaupad after your heritage tour and go back for the show.

Best time to photograph Hawa Mahal is during morning hours, I wanted to share this because I didn't have my SLR then and photographing the monument in the evening doesn't turn up well.

Related Posts: Check out the complete series on Golden Triangle Tour.