Skywatch Friday - Jal Mahal, Jaipur..

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Jal Mahal in Man Sagar Lake is one such place which none can miss while driving from Jaipur city to Amber. The palace is a five storey structure, of which four storeys are under water when the lake is full.

Built in Rajput and Mughal architectural styles, the palace is built of redstone which resembled most of the other heritage structures of Jaipur. It underwent restoration in 2008 to get its present look.
Not sure if the palace is open to public, but you can get a glimpse of it on the way to Amber.

Next post on Golden Triangle Tour Sri Jagat Siromaniji Temple, Amber
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Book Review - Transforming Indians to Transform India

Its about International Yoga Day everywhere since last couple of days, be it on television or blogs. The Day got special significance this year with PM Narendra Modi's, to be rather called the revolution of Yoga, when PM along with 36k people performed Yoga at the Iconic Rajpath. What was the need for a PM to take Yoga to every individual? This question very much related me to the book, Transforming Indians to Transform India, by Chinmaya mission, which I had read few months back.

My brother who did his MBA from NMIMS Mumbai, received this book along with this Management Degree Certificate at his convocation. I had accompanied him to his convocation, and he who had got through his campus and was ready to mint money, didn't find it apt to read the book, thinking it was something spiritual(which is definitely not the case, its a perfect read for anybody of any age group). The book for some reason attracted me and I took it from him to read, and promised to hand over to him back when he really felt it was apt for him to read it, lol.

Book:  Transforming Indians to Transform India

Publisher: Chinmaya Udghosh

(All India Chinmaya Yuva Kendra, Chennai)

Binding: Softbound

Pages: 304

Price: Rs.250/-

Genre: Nonfiction

Through 7 interactive stories, the book tries to bring in the over all transformation of an individual, which in turn contributes to the transformation of the nation. First 6 stories, help in the Patriotic, Physical, Emotional, Intellectual, Cultural, Spiritual transformation, the last chapter which helps in developing a universal outlook, completes the over all transformation in you. Each chapter has transformation toolkit at the end, practicing or inculcating tips from the toolkit in your life helps you transform.

The book is made interesting with scientific reasoning and day to day happenings in everybody's life. I could easily connect each situation to my own, and give a thought on what would be my take at such situation. The tips too are very easy ones, which can easily be incorporated in your daily routine, like few minutes of yoga or a scientific Indian thali. The book relates to many individuals, whose transformation helped in the transformation of the nation, from Swami Vivekananda to Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, from Lakshmi Bai to Dr. Abdul Kalam. "In-Significant Desiland", a chapter on Cultural Transformation takes through different parts of the country, highlighting Indian culture, heritage, artforms, which definitely interested me as a travel blogger. The ones which I felt too hard to follow were emotional and intellectual transformations, I think this can be brought about with quite a lot of practice and a mind set to bring about the transformation.

I suggestion, every individual to read this book, this book will definitely bring about a change in your life style, your acts and thinking about yourself and the nation, which can somehow contribute to the betterment of the nation.

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

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Our #ZuperDayAtKidZania !!!

Our visit to KidZania gets merrier each time, and I can't stop myself from posting here every time I visit. (Do check out my previous post on KidZania here, with a complete insight about the park). Kiddo's school excursion too has been to KidZania since this year and she doesn't want to miss any of her visits, with her friends as well.

Bache, Vita and Urbano welcome you at the Independence Fountain with their Declaration

Last weekend I(along with kiddo) was invited by KidZania as part of #ZuperDayAtKidzania activity by Blogadda. They kept it completely informal and asked to choose the slot of my choice. We opted Saturday after slot and were welcomed by Riddhi from KidZania team. She took us through the tour of the park and left us for ourselves to enjoy. Kiddo had already made the list of the activities she wanted to be part of. MOD has always been in her list and due to long queues, still haven't visited.

 

The best part of our visit was Camlin studio launch the same day and there was gift hamper for every participant, so the first she wanted to visit was Camlin. It is an art and craft studio, where kids get creative, she got to make a cat mask, which she coloured and decorated with Camlin craft supplies. Next she wanted to be a Police. Being a police, they are given a sketch of a criminal whom they have to search for with each clue they get from different establishments, to end up finding the criminal has taken a flight to Mexico, lol. Though this activity calls for kids of age 4+, the activity requires running around the park and I don't really suggest for 4+, this can be better enjoyed by might be 8+, similar are others like Pepperfry, DHL, Dabbawalas, Godrej Security Solutions, which requires wandering around the park. 

While you have 5hours to spend inside the park, few mins go in just waiting for the slots at the activity you look for, the best thing to utilize such slots is participating in free activities like shopping at Big Bazaar, kiddo was so fond of it, the custom made kid's size inventories and the super cute shopping trolleys. She also role played Pilot, Fireman, Construction Engineer, dinning service trainee at Grand Avenue Hotel. Her visits are never complete without a performance at Metropolitan Theater, while she was in a fashion show in our last visit, she took up Shiamak Davar's dance academy this time and performed for the Bollywood song Manva Lage. Bollywood acting is still in her list as she doesn't meet their age limit.

 Thats kiddo(first from left) performaning at Metropolitan Theater

KidZania is having treasure hunt and other fun activities(family activities) till 21st of June, we took part in treasure hunt by Kellogg's Chocos and won their hamper. Take my words and take your kids to KidZania, kids would love to role play at every studio.

This post is a part of the KidZania bloggers meet activity conducted by BlogAdda and KidZania.

Aamlicious, Mango Fest at Khandani Rajdhani!!!

I still remember those childhood days when visiting a restaurant was a happy moment. It was either on any of our birthdays or appa-amma's wedding anniversary which took us to restaurants. As times passed, things changed, it was a weekend event, when visiting a restaurant was a matter of relaxing days for moms to take off from kitchen. But recently with restaurants coming up with mid week offers, having restaurant food is no big deal, but part of a routine. 

I was introduced to Rajdhani Restaurant in Dubai, when it was newly opened few years back. Their restaurant in Bur Dubai was just close to my office and that was where most of our friends gathered for birthday treats. Khandani Rajdhani is a vegetarian thali restaurant which serves authentic Rajasthani and Gujarati dishes. Though most of the dishes are regular ones which are offered by others as well, my personal favorites of Khandani Ranjdhani are Dal Baati Churma and Malpua, which I miss in other restaurants, to add on is their sweet khadi. The one which I miss here in Mumbai, from their Dubai restaurant is smoked chaas, the pinch of smoky flavour to the cooling chaas, chaas can be had as many glasses by me.

With the mango season on, Khandani Rajdhani has come up with Mango festival, Aamlicious(Aam delicious, Aam meaning mango). The menu has the mango dishes on rotation, when customers get to taste different dishes on each visit. I am not that fond of mangoes, but visited them few days back for hubby and kiddo, who just love mangoes and can savour mangoes in any form. Though I expected most of the dishes to be of mangoes, it was Aam ki Launji, Aamras, Mango Lassi and Aam Panna in the menu for the day. Off which Aamras was limited to one bowl and mango lassi and aam panna were add-ons which were not included in the thali.

Mango festival is on till 15th of June, at all Khandani Rajdhani Restaurants. Their midweek offers include 50% off on Tuesdays, 50% off for Ladies on Wednesdays. They have other meal boxes and offers on them on particular days.

Costing: Rs. 900 for two(Unlimited thali)

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.  

OYO Premium Review and Wandering Around Bangalore, #Oyoxplorer!!!

Its been a while I blogged, had been to native for kiddo's summer vacation and got to travel around Bangalore, Mysore and Hassan. The best of my vacation was #Oyoxplorer activity with Oyo Rooms and Indiblogger, when few of we bloggers got to review Oyo Premium Rooms at Bangalore and explored places around their property. 

I was just back at native after my short visit to Bangalore that I found a mail in my inbox about the #Oyoxplorer. The activity was on 30th May at four cities, Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Gurgaon and me still being at native during the activity applied for a slot with Bangalore bloggers. It had to be a two day trip for me and worried how kiddo would behave without either me or hubby. I somehow convinced her and left on 30th morning. On the way had breakfast at Vidyarthi Bhavan and left for OYO Rooms.

About OYO Rooms:

OYO Rooms is a network of branded hotels, operating in 16 major business and travel destinations including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Goa, Jaipur, Gurgaon, Ghazabad, Manesar, Neemrana, Kolkata, Varanasi. The properties start at Rs.999, promising a comfortable stay which includes AC rooms, complimentary breakfast and Wi-Fi with 24*7 customer service support. OYO offers budget hotel stay experience that would otherwise cost twice or thrice more.

My experience at OYO Premium, Bangalore

OYO room we were invited at, was OYO Premium Majestic near Race Course. Though most of the auto rickshaw drivers knew about Hotel Bangalore International, non was familiar about OYO Rooms. But as soon as I reached Crescent Road, I could spot the OYO Premium in bold. I was quite on check-in time(12AM) and was welcomed by OYO team. I completed the formalities and soon got my room all for myself. 

It was a standard room with two single beds and comfortable linen. I don't know but I have a special liking for wooden flooring, which gives the room luxe feel, and that made me awed. The room had TV with most of the channels, but I hardly watched them, also had dresser, cupboard. There was mini fridge as well, which makes your stay comfortable especially when you have a kid, with all their perishables. There was a electric plug point underneath the side table, which I always look for at most of the rooms, when I need my cell phone to be put for charging bedside, if not for anything but to wake up early with alarm. I also look for plug point next to dresser to use hair styling gadgets, both the dresser and the mirror in the washroom had plug points next to them. The washroom was quite compact and neat, with shower area separated by curtain(while few other rooms had bathtub as well). 

During check-in we were handed over the Wi-Fi user-name and password. There were so many secured Wi-Fi connections of the hotel with different series, I had to take the help of the hotel staff to get the Wi-Fi connected. But again, since I had both my cell phone and tab, I had to wait for 5-10mins to log in to the second one after logging in the first. With no Wi-Fi, the hotel had very weak data network connectivity, I could hardly access my net, with out Wi-Fi. We had complimentary breakfast, which included cereals, with south Indian dishes and samosas, along with juice, coffee and tea. 

While Hotel Bangalore International's traffic starts at Rs. 6,000 for double deluxe room, this OYO Premium is available at Rs. 1,899(it varies for other rooms).

#OYOxplorer, Wandering around OYO Premium, Bangalore

Just next to my room was Shrinidhi's and got to meet him for the first time, though we knew each other online. Later met Vidya Sury and Shailaja, who had checked-in as well and were about to leave to explore Bangalore. Meanwhile Roohi dropped into my room and we thought of getting around the place together. 

We headed to Mantri mall for lunch, wandered around(window shopping, lol). Since most of my family and friends are put up in South Bangalore, I had hardly explored North. Every time I wanted to plan a visit to Bangalore Palace one or the other cousin's said, they were not sure if the palace was open to public visit. So this time, I really wanted to check out Bangalore Palace. So before taking an auto to the Palace, I inquired about the palace at the information center of the mall and all the lady at the counter said was, she knew there was a palace in Mysore, but not sure about Bangalore Palace. Laughing at her and myself(for checking with her lol), I checked with one of the policemen in front of the Mall, he said it was open and helped with an auto to get over. 

I was really stunned by the architectural beauty of the palace and wondered why people hardly visited this palace and why there was so less crowd. Our auto driver was ready to wait till we could return and while we were getting around there he was honorable Home Minister of Karnataka, K J George. Later we took the tour of Vidhana Soudha and Attara Kacheri(Karnataka High Court), before reaching Ulsoor lake by sunset. There is a small garden at the entrance of the lake, just wandered around, had road side snacks and returned back to our room. Had dinner, later Roohi and me joined Swati,, at her room. We spoke almost till 3 in the night, all about blogging, vlogging, bloggers and more, till we went back to our rooms to call for the day. Next morning joined the other bloggers at the restaurant, met Partha for the first time, had some chit chat and groufies before we checked out. 

It was one of a kind experience for all we bloggers to experience the stay at OYO Premium and explore the city(guess what, we were paid to explore as well), and to get to know the bloggers from the city.