Tuesday, October 10, 2006

9th October: GIR Leg 2 Day 6: Jaipur



9th October: Jaipur

After yesterday’s episode, we all got up today with no hint what so ever of the tensions that had gripped us yesterday! Strange but true, we lazily got up by ten and only Sunil left for the hospital to see what was going on, while Sunny, Ashish and me stayed in the room. The hotel seemed to be a non-running one with the guy at the reception refusing from breakfast as they didn’t have anything! Off I went to the local market and got a litre of cold milk and some Pao Bhaji!

Anytime by the time we were done with ‘room made cold coffee’ and Jaipuri Pao Bhaji, Sunil had come back from the hospital with no results. He did seem full of tension, but that’s bound to be to anyone involved in such a messy situation in an unknown city. We all didn’t know what to do and it was hot outside plus the physical and mental strain that we all took yesterday still seemed to be there which made us fall back to sleep-mode. It was good in a sense as it really recharged us all and by half past four, we all were ready to go two different ways. Sunny and me had to go to Nahargarh Fort while Ashish and Sunil had to go to The Rock Lounge to meet Bhanu to carry on with the actions.

With Sunny on the Honda CBR 1000RR Fireblade and me on the Kinetic Jupiter, it took us good thirty or so minutes to reach the top of the fort. On the way, we did get lost and had to take some bad roads but nevertheless as we joined the Jal Mahal road, the sudden change in weather (sun going down...) and the roads really felt very uplifting and crossing the Jal Mahal on our right, we took the road up to the twin forts of Nahargarh and Jaigarh. For the first time in the Leg 2 of the GIR, we came across such nice curvy roads, with next to no traffic and terrific views around, that of the city as well as the massive Jal Mahal. Ofcourse, how could I resist myself from playing around with the Jupiter but with the rear brake not working, I couldn’t risk relying on the front disc brakes in the middle of a peg-scraping (in the case of the Jupiter, engine-scraping!) corner antic! So I decided it would be better if I concentrated on the beauty around and soaked myself in it. And for the first time in my life (apart from my child-hood visit to the zoo) I saw so many peacocks together, all lined up next to the road, only to be alarmed with the roar of the Blade! The ride to the fort was truly wonderful but as we got their quite late, the main fort entrance had closed but we could still roam around and could many places.

We started with the Durg café, a nice chilling bar and restaurant with an open-air as well enclosed sitting place inside the fort. We took our bikes up to the café through the narrow steep stone lane and the pictures really speak for themselves.

Next up, we came down and went to the other café, Padao café, which overlooks the city and once again had only foreigners as the guest! Good or bad, you decide! The sun was setting and the total lack of any kind of hawkers, beggars, street-sellers, tourist and the wonderful ride to the fort really outsets this place a must visit for people. I really wonder how other monuments, heritage sights and all would be without irritating hawkers and beggars? It would only make us all enjoy the place, make us understand the story behind these structures more and appreciate India’s history more. But I am not forgetting a major fact that this is India where corruption and middle men will never cease to exist, where no major politician will take the initiative to make his city’s monuments and tourist places free of the scum which makes our guests (tourist from abroad as well as other cities) swear never to return. Places like the Nahargarh are the saving grace and truly make you spend as much time as possible there to actually appreciate the place.

The ride started with the lovely twisties followed by rush hour traffic of Jaipur in which the Blade’s instrumentation showed the engine temperature as 114 degrees! Finally reached back to the hotel and proceeded to Sunny’s Mamajee’s place to hurry up with the proceedings regarding taking out the Comet from the station. As of now, the ball seems to be in our court and most probably we will be off to Udaipur tomorrow. As sunny selects the pictures for uploading the blog, I am off to getting some much deserved Ice-cream for the gang! Between, I am beginning to fall in love with Jaipur for many reasons. It seems to be a planned city, there is mix of heritage sites as well as modern day living, both of which blend with each other wonderfully…this pink city has cast its spell on me!

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