Jaipur diary: part 1....

11 June 2011
Jaipur, India

a weekend is a weekend if you get to use the time at your own discretion.... well, in this case, coming to India, we did have one weekend in our schedules... we planned for a getaway to some place near.... a place that can be reached and returned from within the weekend.... Agra was one option, and the other was Jaipur... already some cautions were aired by some colleagues regarding the unsuitability of Jaipur in this season.... but we ultimate went for it.... Agra is a great place, but unfortunatel, its one of those very typical places that everyone visits.... so, we would rather explore the unknown if we have only one precious weekend.... touching both Jaipur and Agra was also not an option, since that would've meant that we would be on the road most of the time, enjoying very little sight-seeing, and no rest...






















anyway, a car drive very early in the morning was planned.... Jaipur is usually around a 5-hours' drive from Delhi... we reached there by 11:00AM.... the plan was to reach Amber Fort first, which was just outside the City.... we reached Amber under unbelievable heat!!... they said that it was 46-degree Celcius on that day!!.... its a magnificent fort to say the least.... its grandeur is something to see.... it has some lovely architecture inside.... the palaces inside reminded of the luxury enjoyed by the rulers of those times... the monkeys inside the palaces are the only attractive residents now-a-days.... great place!!... worth a visit; but gotta come during season....







Amber was something of a challenge under that heat.... took lunch inside the city and rested at the hotel..... waiting for the sun to give us a break.... there's a lovely place called Jal Mahal, which was our target for the evening.... its a palace in the middle of a lake, surrounded by hills on two sides.... we spent some time taking some snaps there.... lovely reflections of the building in lake waters..... the lake was also teeming with various aquatic birds.... Egrets, Herons, Lapwings decorated the already pristine view..... the heat was still on.... even well after the sun's departure from the skies, the heat was still difficult to digest.... the locals resort to many ways to save themselves from the tremendous heat.... a lot of people wear robes around their heads.... some women wear some hand gloves which cover their whole hand, almost up to their shoulders.... women wear both traditional and modern dresses.... traditional dresses are extremely colourful and remind us of the National Geographic covers... the streets are full of activities that would seem unique to a visitor.... but you have to have the time to see all that....

we took to RTDC (Rajastan Textile Development Corporation) after seeing Jal Mahal.... its a huge complex.... even though it says that its about textile, it was actually a mix bag of everything.... RTDC is just the sponsor, and under their umbrella, all of Rajasthan's handicrafts were on display.... a great place to promote the State's products....








we were keeping an eye on the watch, as we had another target... some light-shows at the Amber Fort... before coming here, I found on the web that Nahargarh Fort was the best during the evening.... so, we had a notion that it would be a good idea to go there in the evening... but ultimately we planned for Amber's 'lights-and-sounds' show... this is something I didn't read about before.... once we reached there, the show was already on.... there are two versions; the English one starts at 7:30PM and the Hindi one at 8:30PM.... we caught up with the latter one.... its more like a narration of the history of Jaipur in its glory days, when Rajput warrior kings ruled and made history.... the nice audio is given a lovely visual touch by some dynamic light-show on the huge walls of Amber.... the overall experience was awesome... it surely would've been a great miss if we failed to pay a visit there....

anyway, a dinner at a local restaurant brought the day to an end for us at Jaipur.... we were dead tired.... mainly because of the sapping heat and very little sleep the night earlier.... we had a lotta plans for the next day; so, some rest was essential....

more to come....

Delhi diary: part 1.....

08 June 2011
New Delhi, India

well, a first time is always a first time.... you can never claim that you know this and that.... and when its only my second visit to India, its gotta be a learning process all the way... my first impression was something that dictated me so far... big city.... mega city, in fact.... but pretty organised.... only if the authorities could change the weather.... summer temperature of Delhi is something that people experience in their nightmares....

the bad part of Delhi and of any other place in India for foreigners is access to communication.... its almost a rule here that foreigners are not going to be allowed to be tension-free while in India.... perhaps its been planned in a way that somebody on holidays don't get phone calls or e-mail from client.... perfact get-away place, eh?.... anyway, its a great place to visit for a short while.... many places to see and many things to experience.... gold-mine for photographers... but as this is mainly an official visit for me, my turist ventures have been limited to evenings only... looking forward to this weekend...




yet, evenings are not completely without possibilities either.... not being a party guy, had to limit myself to other entertainment possibilities.... movies are one of the most important things among those... two movies in last two nights.... Saket is a cozy place with a lotta possibilities.... huge malls with all the brands that you can muster from around the world.... several of the developer giants have invested here to make it one of the coolest hangout places of New Delhi.....

DLF Place had been our target during the last couple of days.... some window-shopping didn't hurt.... it was also an observation of the buzzing progressive middle class of India... their activities spoke a thousand words about India.... their outlook, eating habits, brand choice show a lot about the direction India is heading... but its also showed how one part of India was marching without even thinking about the other parts.... but those contrasts are not visible there at Saket...

got a bit of a surprise when I was asked last night not to do photography inside the DLF Place.... I actually did photography just the day before in another part of the same building.... even the security people were in my frame.... now this complaint.... argued with them about so many others using cameras.... in fact, others were using cameras right on the opposite side of the atrium.... apparently my arguments didn't stand against that brick wall.... gotta be careful from next time onwards... perhaps the LX-5 would be better choice for such places.... it seems harmless enough.... have used it sporadically, but may be thats the key to some difficult lockers....













our staying place is at Kailash Colony, a nice residential place.... quiet and peaceful... seems quite safe too.... was really surprised to see all cars parked outside the houses all night.... something that I haven't experienced a lot.... the main road also contained the age-old proven ways of life.... rickshaws... they were plying right under the cutting edge of Indian transportation, the New Delhi Metro... all that glitz of technology comes to a halt in those three wheels...

some landmarks are visible during my everyday travel.... hope to touch upon those sometime..... have also seen some places where old and new faces of Delhi meet.... lets see whether I get the chance to get some snaps.... have some possibility of travelling outside New Delhi on official field visits.... so, that may open up some more possibilities, perhaps....

more to come....