Rajasthan

Kumbalgarh Fort near Udaipur

Rajasthan conjures up images of vast desert expanses criss-crossed with camel caravans connecting the walled cities of the Great Thar Desert of western India. Unimaginably wealthy maharajahs ruled the land while living opulent live styles in fairytale castles. Towering desert fortresses rose above the desert sand providing an oasis of security for friend and a rain of arrows, boiling oil and cannonball sized stones for foe. Now the maharajahs have been replaced with indifferent bureaucrats and the camel caravans have been replaced with the honking, beeping, smoke belching vehicles of modern day India. Once clear desert skies are giving way to the polluted haze of the industrial society. Pristine deserts are now strewn with the detritus of modern civilization. Rajasthan, like much of the rest of India, is a study in contrasts. Old and new, sacred and profane, pristine and filthy, lovable and hateful.

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We visited the towns of Jaipur, Pushkar, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bikaner in a circuit around Rajasthan. The towns run the gamut between utterly charming and spiritual to dirty, polluted s%#tholes that have little appeal. We had the misfortune to undertake this leg of our journey during unseasonably hot weather with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees every day. Somehow it seemed fitting even though at times it was extremely uncomfortable and exhausting.


My notes on Rajasthan are too extensive to relay here, so in the interest of brevity I have included a brief overview of our circuit coupled with extemporaneous impressions to take you there. As always, a picture is worth a thousand words so I have included several of Deb’s photos to complete a picture for your mind’s eye.

We left Khajuraho (I am still blushing) in a hired car as the other transportation options were very limiting. We had intended stopping in the town of Orcha which is said to be a smaller and mellower version of Kajuraho. However, in conversing with our driver we discovered he was actually going all the way to Jaipur so we shifted gears, as we often do, seized the moment, and after the requisite haggling for an hour agreed on a price to go all the way to Jaipur some 400 miles away. Being too far to drive in one day we spent the night in Agra and started early the next day and soon crossed into the Indian state of Rajasthan.




As we crossed the line into Rajasthan, the character of the landscape changed almost immediately from the great plain of the Ganga to the scrub and sand of the Great Thar Desert. Ox carts became camel carts. Brightly turbaned men and equally brightly sari clad women replaced the more conservative dress of Madhra Pradesh. Within a few hours we arrived in Jaipur which is the third apex along with Delhi and Agra of the so called Golden Triangle of India. These three cities are considered the “must sees” of India. However, I am not sure why Jaipur is included with the other two. There is no other way to describe Jaipur than as a s#%thole. It is dirty, polluted, over-trafficked and the most pedestrian unfriendly place I have ever been. We took an immediate dislike to the place. Oh, and I forgot to mention it was hot.


Deb and I were both in a “so what” mood as we did drive-bys of a few major sights and ended up high above the town at the Amber Fort. This soaring edifice of golden colored sandstone is well worth a trip (but skip the rest of Jaipur).



Less than 24 hours later we were on a bus to Ajmer. While waiting for the bus we met another traveler , Tom, from Washington. After a brief chat, we took our seats but this was not the last we saw of Tom; for the next ten days or so everywhere we went he kept turning up. It was uncanny how our paths kept re-crossing.



After a few hours, we were in Ajmer which is the jump off point for the holy town of Pushkar. I was going to skip this town because its most prominent feature, a lake, is dry. Despite this, Pushkar turned out to be one of the highlights of Rajasthan. This is one of those places on the planet that has a strong spiritual connection. Even though I am not a religious man, it is a place where you feel the spirituality and an indefinable sense that something very powerful is going on. Although heavily touristed, it is even more heavily visited by pilgrims who come to bathe in the sacred waters of the lake and visit one of the few temples in India dedicated to Brahma, the most supreme in the Hindi pantheon of gods. We were so enchanted by the town we spent and extra day here but finally and reluctantly hopped a late afternoon train to the Lake City of Udaipur. Of course we ran into Tom even though we had parted ways in Ajmer.

One of Udaipur's "floating" palaces

Udaipur was another town that immediately captured us. We arrived well after nightfall and spent an enchanted evening at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the lake. Opposite us, two “floating palaces” lit up with strings of lights created a fairytale scene. We were carried away by the balmy evening breezes with visions of the opulent lifestyle of the Indian Rajas. We ate and drank well past midnight lost in the magic of the moment. Of course the next day we ran into Tom on the street.

We next visited the town of Jodhpur renowned as the blue city of Rajasthan. It seems many of the current inhabitants did not get the memo about being blue but enough of the town is painted blue that the moniker still applies.


Aside from its colorful reputation, the main feature of Jodhpur is a magnificent fort built on a 200 foot hill that towers over the city. The 80 foot walls seem to grow organically out of the hill as the hill and walls are of the same red stone.

Jodhpur Fort

We arrive at the gates early and I find a spot to wait for the massive gates to open. I sit on a low stone wall as the desert morning sun warms my back. The cool of the night slowly dissipates in the heat of the rapidly ascending sun. I face the Jey Pol (gate) of the Mehranghar Fort. The Persian style arched doorway pierces the delicately carved façade providing a view into the treed courtyard beyond. As they probably have for the last 600 years, women dressed in brightly colored saris enter through the gate. Soft rhythmic music starts to play over the public address system. Although I don’t understand the words, the lyrics provide a plaintive welcome to the day. A sitar followed by a wooden Indian flute creates a musical chorus for the lyrics. A gentle breeze wafts up the ramparts carrying the sounds and smells of the old city below. Birds chirp as they flit in and out of the gate and arrow ports of the fort. A flock of pigeons bolts into the sky spooked by a bent old woman coming to clean a small temple near the gate dedicated to Ganesh. She rings the temple bell and leaves an offering of small flowers. She circles the temple, offers prayers, bows and wanders off into the warming day.

People continue to stream up the slope of the large stone paved walkway into the fort. The ochre walls soar 80 feet into the clear blue sky. A palace perched on the walls cantilevers into space providing a delicate counterpoint to the massive walls of the fort. A faded mural to the right of the gate tells of days of grandeur long past.

Palace on the wall of Jodhpur Fort

Of course we run into Tom in a back alley near our hotel.

Detail of palace at Jodhpur Fort

Leaving our hotel in the early morning we shared an auto rikshaw with Justin, a misplaced Irishman now living in Vancouver, Canada. Justin, like Tom kept turning up over the next several days. We caught a bus to the town of Jaisalmer, another in the string of desert outposts in Rajasthan. It is another town with a soaring fort on top of a hill that looms over the city. We are in gold sandstone county now.

Jaisilmer Fort

As we approach the town, the fort looms out of the sand looking like a sand castle built at the beach. Its rotund bastions look like they were formed with a giant's pail and shovel.

Repair work at Jaisalmer

Of course we run into both Tom and Justin at a festival in the fort and retire to an Italian café perched on the wall of the fort and enjoy beer and food after a very hot day. The glow of the setting sun on the fort walls is soon replaced with floodlights that accentuate the height and architecture of the fort. The next day we decide to move on to the last stop in Rajasthan; Bikaner.



The alarm goes off at 4:45AM. It is much too early but we need to catch the 6AM bus in a futile attempt to beat the desert heat. The past several days have exceeded 100 degrees with yesterday being the hottest at 107. Our room looks like a Chinese laundry that was hit with a bomb. A jury rigged clothesline strung from curtain rod to door hinge to coat hook and back again to the door bolt is draped with the now dry laundry. The contents of our bags are strewn from wall to wall. Yet fifteen minutes after the alarm shocked us into consciousness, we are packed and ready to walk out the door.

On empty stomachs, we wheel our bags through the dark streets of Jaisalmer. With the help of our headlamps, we dodge cow pies, trash and the open gutters of sewage that cross the road. The streets are filled with demonic eyes as the blue LED beams of our lamps reflect in the eyes of countless cows and dogs. Deb and I are both leery of cows. I have been butted twice in the past week and yesterday Deb was charged by a cow. If the cow had not slipped on the pavement we may have been in the hospital instead of on our way to Bikaner.

I also notice that our lights seem to be illuminating swarms of small insects. I am relieved when I realize that is only dust motes. My realization turns to revulsion as I ponder on the composition of this dust; cow dung, camel droppings and who knows what else. As I involuntarily cough, choking on the toxic mix, a dog, awakened by our passing, charges us barking ferociously. In a panicky voice I yell, “Back off!” and the dog slinked off into the darkness. With adrenaline coursing through our veins, our pace quickens and we arrive at the bus stand in short order. The welcome glow of a chai stand beckons. I order two chai and we are soon sipping at the hot sweet elixir as we wait for our bus. After a half hour wait we climb onto our “deluxe bus” to discover that instead of the usual three or four abreast seating there are two narrow seats on one side of the aisle and three on the other. Since this is a seven hour bus ride through with 105 degree heat likely before the end, I am less than thrilled.

The driver climbs in, fires up the diesel, and we are on our way to Bikaner, which is to be our last stop in the desert of Rajashan.

The bus fills with passengers in stop and go spurts as we lurch our way out of town. The day warms and we gather more and more passengers until the aisles are packed. By 8:00 AM the air is hot. The heat is compounded by the jammed aisles which restricts the air flow through the bus. I dig my elbow into one smelly old man who keeps leaning into my lap. He finally gets the message and moves down the aisle to be replaced by a snot nosed kid who stares intently and incessantly at me. Only five more hours to Bikaner. I can’t wait.

Richard, Justin and Tom after a hot day in Rajasthan

Bikaner is another dusty, dirty, desert town but we visited a fine fort with a palace that was the best preserved of any we have seen. Of course we ran into Tom. We missed Justin here as he opted to go to Jodhpur instead. We head to the railway station to take the night train to Amritsar where we will leave the desert, the heat, and Rajasthan behind.