Page 40 - Seniorstoday September 21

structure and is one of the largest residential camels and horses are traded. The animals
palace building in the world. It was built in
the early 20th century to give employment
to the people of the city in times of famine
and drought. The museum houses many old
artefact belonging to the dynasty of Maharajas
of Jodhpur.
Apart from the incredible Umaid Bhawan
Palace Hotel, you have many other old-charm
hotels in Jodhpur. The Ajit Bhawan Palace
Hotel , Ranbanka and Devi Bhawan are fine
examples of palaces converted in hotels. If you
have enough time on your hands you should
also consider The Balsamand Palace on the
lake side and Khimsar Fort which is also a
beautiful old palace.
Family resting at the Pushkar fair grounds
From Jodhpur, we travelled North and drive
to the medieval town of Nagaur. The ancient
fort of Ahichhatragarh Fort is the center of
this town which was part of the erstwhile
trading route. With many different rulers,
the fort added portions which had different
influences – with the most prominent being
the Muslim rulers and so you will find
many mosques, and tombs. The presence of
celebrated Sufi sheikhs made Nagaur also
a centre of learning and of pilgrimage. The
garden palace has recently been restored and
is the venue for the annual Sufi festival held
along with the one in Jodhpur.
Nagaur is also very famous for the cattle
fair where approximately 70,000 bullocks,
40
are lavishly decorated and even their owners
dress up wearing colorful turbans and long
moustaches in true Rajput traditions. At the
Nagaur Fair, you can do trades of sheep to
Marwari horses to spices. A big attraction is
the Mirchi Bazaar (largest red chilly market
of India), wooden items, iron crafts and camel
leather accessories.
From Nagaur we drove to Pushkar and
Ajmer, another beautiful drive through the
arid landscape – barren but very charming.
We arrived around mid-afternoon at Pushkar
– an important pilgrimage town of Rajasthan.
Famous for the lake and the camel and cattle
fair which takes place in November every
year ( Kartik Purnima day). Unfortunately
we missed that by about three weeks. After
arriving in Ajmer, we went straight to the 14th
century Bhrama temple, which fortunately
was not too crowded Located on the banks of
the lake, this seems to be the only temple in
India dedicated to the creator. Pushkar also
has a very large Gurdwara and after seeking
blessings we went to unwind for the night at
the Pushkar palace. And what a sight it was.
Both hotels, The Pushkar Palace and Jagat
Palace, belong to one owner and are very well-
run. From the rooftop restaurant you could
see the entire Pushkar town and the lake. A
really enjoyable evening, inspite of it being a
totally vegetarian and alcohol-free evening.
Yes, that is right, being a holy town the town
is vegetarian and spiritless.
After an early morning rooftop visit for
breakfast, we left for Sariska (near Alwar).
The Ajmer–Jaipur highway is one of the
finest in the country and can be called a super-
highway. I was dreading the drive through
Jaipur (had done it many years ago) but now
there is a bypass and so reached Shapura in
no time. The road from this point turns right
to go to Sariska and Alwar. The road is not