January - Jaipur, Rajasthan (New Year Resolution - Trip 1)

The first of my trips was to Jaipur for the Jaipur Lit Fest. Held annually and starting off with just about 100 attendees, this year the fest saw 1000s flocking to Rajasthan's capital. Among the crowd pullers were Tom Stoppard, Girish Karnad, Barkha Dutt, Ayesha Jalal, Chetan Bhagat, David Remnick, Fatima Bhutto, James Shapiro, Lionel Shriver, Shashi Tharoor, William Dalrymple and ofcourse Oprah Winfrey. 

Jaipur Lit Fest 2012

Tina Brown called JLF the greatest literary show on Earth, and though I have attended a meagre number of lit fests myself, I'm pretty sure she's got it right. Set in a picture postcard palace (Hotel Diggi Palace), thronging with well read, kitschy dressed people from all over the world, the lit fest is another world. On the last day, sitting on the back lawns (surrounded by the many books I had purchased with a bloody mary in hand), I wondered how any moment could be more perfect!

JLF was one part of it! I cannot visit a new city and not go sight seeing. I'm one of those people who has to see everything that time permits. Thankfully I was travelling with like-minded friends. Palaces, forts, ruins are some of my favourite places. There's just this feeling of being transported back to that era, standing where others stood so many centuries ago, walking their footsteps, seeing what they saw. And so began my marathon trip.

City Palace, Jaipur

By 9 (when the palace opens) we were at the City Palace. The seat of the Maharaja, the palace was built between 1729 and 1732 by Sawai Jai Singh II. We took the guided audio tour (which i personally hate! I try to take the human guide if i have time. His stories are so much more interesting!), and walked through the (compared to others) tiny palace in just over an hour. The palace was exquisite and the interspersing of marble and red sandstone against the cornflower blue sky was a sight to behold.

Amer fort

Later in the day we visited a fort - Amer Fort. Located about 11 kms from Jaipur, we took a rickshaw to Amer Fort. It has a series of gates and cobbled paths and has a Kali temple in which whisky is given to the gods. In the 1700s when it was built there was human and later goat sacrifice. It's beauty lies in the architecture - a mixture of both Mughal and Hindu architecture. It is surrounded by a natural moat, the Maota Lake.

Our human tour guide regaled us with ghost stories - Apparently it isn't advisable to be in the fort past nightfall. The King still holds his royal durbar and there is much song and dance. Outsiders are not allowed to attend and are usually never found if in the fort at night. I love these stories! There is the option of seeing Amer as well as the 2 other forts (Nahargarh and Jaigarh) from a hot air balloon (too expensive) and an elephant ride all the way to the fort through wooded hils (we were too late for that), so we took the open jeep which is just as interesting. The tourist complex has an interesting demo on handpainting with vegetable colours as well as typical rajasthani cuisine.

Jal Mahal

After spending a couple of hours here, we returned to the lit fest with a stop at the now un-inhabitated Jal Mahal (water palace), and later for rajasthani non veg cuisine at the well known Niros. The next day, after reaching early and navigating the throng for Oprah, we settled sown to a surreal experience. Something about the way she talks is reassuring, earnest and sincere. I always did like her but now I'm a fan!

A quick bite and an hour bus journey later I was sadly back home in Delhi. To sum up my trip - 3 palaces, a fort, rajasthani food, a camel ride and literary genius!