Zindagi Everyday

After finishing up Jantar Mantar visit, we headed towards the City Palace which is just near by. Need to buy tickets from here. The entrance of the palace led us to the museum built in the palace. As no camera was allowed inside it, so unable to post the inside museum pics here.

Actually the City Palace is combined with following galleries:
Friends of The Museum
Bagghi Khana
Sarvato Bhadra
Pritam Niwas Chowk
Sabha Niwas (Durbar Hall)
Sileh Khana (Armoury)
The Mubarak Mahal (Textile Gallery)

The Mubarak Mahal (Textile Gallery):
 Firstly we entered in the museum gate. This museum is actually called 'MUBARAK MAHAL'.It was constructed by the orders of 'Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II '. The Mubarak Mahal building is a small two storied building laid out on a raised platform with rooms grouped around a central, double height hall. On the ground floor of this building display is a collection of royal costumes. We were not allowed to the first floor, but for information it has  museum offices and the Pothikhana or library.

This museum had the clothes of the kings, queens, the various objects used by them like chess pieces, their quilts, shawls, hukka, armour used in the war, weapons used, and many more. It has the huge collection of dresses which the kings wore during day and night, the special black dresses of the queens and kings which they wore on Diwali, the different variety of material, and art used in weaving them. Many of the dresses had the fine work of thin gold and silver wires.
 The main attraction of this place is the 'Atamsukh' of 'Sawai Madhosingh I' who was believed to be 1.2 metres wide(3.9 ft) and weighed 250 kilograms. Now what is Atamsukh actually.Atamsukh in sanskrit means “giver of comfort to the soul”. It is similar to jama but quilted. It used to be worn by Rajasthan’s royal family males. It was mainly developed for the purpose of keeping the wearer warm.

Picture of Atamsukh (image credit: http://www.rajasthantour4u.com/blog/)

The finest examples of Sanganeri print, Tie and Die Lehariya, Pashmina shawls, Mishru (50% silk and 50% wool), 17th and 18th century cloth and fine Daca Muslin are displayed here. Musical instruments, glass cutlery and Indian games are also in display. 

There were also the dresses which the king wore while playing polo, cricket, badminton etc. I do not exactly remember how many types of it were in the museum.Posting few pics of the Mubarak Mahal..

Entrance to Mubarak Mahal

The rich architecture of the Mahal

A closer look

Trying to capture full view from other side.

Friends of The Museum:
After finishing up Mubarak Mahal, we proceeded towards Friends of the Museum Workshop. Here we saw the Indian Miniature Paintings, rajasthani jewelry items, perfumes(ittar) and non smudging kajal( charged Rs 400), local traditional showpieces made of bronze and metal, and many more.Personally I liked the miniature painting, the person working on it with so much details..thats really an art. As no photography was allowed so no pics of this gallery.

Freinds of the Museum Art Gallery

Sarvato Bhadra/Diwan –E-Khas:

Diwan –E-Khas got its name from its architectural typography which means any single storied hall open on all four sides but enclosed at the corners.It is place where the Maharajas had discussions with his courtiers, Ministers and nobles on the any crisis approaching their Kingdom.
On the entrance of Diwan-E-Khas, two huge silver vessels known as 'Gangajalees' are put for display. As per wikipedia, each vessel is of 1.6 metres (5.2 ft) height and each with capacity of 4000 litres and weighing 340 kilograms.They are officially recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest sterling silver vessels.These vessels were specially made by Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II, who was a highly pious Hindu, to carry the water of the Ganges to drink on his trip to England in 1901 (for Edward VII's coronation) as he was finicky about committing religious sin by consuming the English water. Hence, the vessels are named as Gangajelies (Ganges-water urns)

One of the Silver vessel (GANGAJALEE)

Along with these wonderful wall hangings, there are beautiful chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.Also there was this huge royal round table which fascinated me.It is made movable by adding wheels on the base columns.

The round table with beautiful carvings at the bottom

Sabha Niwas/Diwaan-E-Aam:
The Diwan-E-Aam was used as the durbaar of the king. And this part of the palace is a real beauty.Still after so many years, its charm, its decor, ceiling, colours, everything is so fresh and intact.
As camera was not allowed so no pictures.It now has an art gallery which displays miniature paintings (of Rajastahni, Mughal and Persian art), ancient texts, embroidered rugs, Kashmir shawls and carpets.In the centralpart of the Diwaan-E-Aam, there are chairs placed adjacent to throne of Maharaja, called Golden throne ( known as  Takth-e-Rawal).

At the entry gateway to the Diwaan-E-Aam, two large elephants, each made out of single marble rock are on display. I was ableto click them so posting pic here.

This is one elephant, parallel to this one is the other elephant too

A closer look at the beautiful carvings on the elephant

Sileh Khana (Armoury): 
sileh stands for ‘weapons’ and khana means ‘a place of storage’.
The silehkhana of the museum has one of the largest and finest collections of weapons and antique handguns in India. The weapons include various kinds of swords, double edged cutters, daggers, knives, axes and arrows of various shapes. There are three types of guns in the collection – the matchlock, the flintlock and the percussion cap. Some of the swords in the collection are of historic importance, such as the swords inscribed with the name of Mughal emperors, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. In medieval times, weapons were regarded as prestigious gifts and the Mughal swords were probably gifted to the rulers of Amber-Jaipur. Many personal weapons of the rulers of like Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II, Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II etc are also a part of the collection.  
No cameras allowed, so no photos :(

Pritam Niwas Chowk:
It is an interior court yard of the Palace. It has four gates representing the four seasons- spring, summer, autumn and winter with murals depicting dancing peacocks and the blossomed lotus, built during the reign of Sawai Pratap Singh.
Here, there are four small gates (known as Ridhi Sidhi Pol) that are adorned with themes representing the four seasons and Hindu gods. The gates are the Northeast Peacock Gate (with motifs of peacocks on the doorway) representing autumn and dedicated Lord Vishnu; the Southwest Lotus Gate (with continual flower and petal pattern) suggestive of summer season and dedicated to Lord Shiva-Parvati; the Northwest Green Gate, also called the Leheriya (meaning: "waves") gate, in green colour suggestive of spring and dedicated to Lord Ganesha, and lastly, the Rose Gate with repeated flower pattern representing winter season and dedicated to Goddess Devi
Picture of one of the gate, called as Lotus gate(with flower and petal pattern above the door).

Lotus Gate

Bagghi Khana:
It is a museum having collection of old baggis, carriages are kept.
Pictures clicked :




 Just could not resist these beautiful huge doors of the palace.

The Beautiful canon

Actually these were 3, i had to cut the 3rd beauty due to couple sotting near it :(

My camera was able to capture only this much of the huge and beautiful wall of palace

And with this, we finished our City Palace visit. Mesmerized with the beauty and architecture of the great City Palace. A must place to visit in Jaipur.

PS:
Information courtesy to :  http://msmsmuseum.com/index.php 
                                          http://www.rajasthantour4u.com/blog/
                                          wikipedia

We somehow wrapped up our Day 1 from Alwar and started towards Jaipur on Day 2. Finishing the breakfast we checked out of the hotel. There were not many varieties in breakfast which i was not expecting from the Hive group. Apart from it, the room service was good. 
Now focusing on the road trip from Alwar to Jaipur. The distance between Alwar and Jaipur is 155 kms. We started at 9:00 am from Alwar. We drived on SH 13 and Delhi-Ajmer Expy/Delhi-Jaipur Expy. The way was full of greenery, beautiful mountain ranges,along with rain at some places. Around 30kms from Alwar is situated 'SARISKA NATIONAL PARK'.But it was raining heavily so we dropped this point of Alwar trip.Now,it took around 3.5 hours for us to reach our Hotel 'Holiday Inn'. We reached around 1:30 pm and checked in there. All the way through GPS and google were our faithful friends to guide. After taking a quick refresh, we planned out our visit, starting with Jantar Mantar first, then City Palace as both are in the same premise, followed by Birla Temple, and we called off the day visiting  Jal Mahal.

Hotel Holiday Inn:
Before going into in depth of locations, let me say something about the hotel 'Holiday Inn'. Its really grand and amazing. Many foreign tourists make a stay here. Its a 4 Star International kind of hotel.It has Wifi (that is charged for Rs 400 per day), nice swimming pool, restaurant, party hall, lawn. It has great reception and the employees are also nice and well groomed. The hotel room is not so huge but its sufficient for couples. The interior and exterior of the hotel touches the famous Rajasthani architecture. The morning breakfast buffet has so many good and healthy options available, while the dinner buffet didn't had many items especially for vegeterians. But no doubt the staff is way too serving and humble. One greatest advantage of this hotel is its location. From here the famous locations like Amber Fort, Nahargarh Fort, Jaigadh Fort, Jal Mahal etc are easily accessible, or I should say are located on the same Delhi -Ajmer highway.
The best part for us, due to off season we got a approx 50% discount on the room tariff. :D Lucky we ;)
One can get full information on the Hotel Website
http://holidayinnjaipur.com/

Posting a pic which i managed to click from the road opposite to it, Delhi-Ajmer Highway

Holiday Inn

Jantar Mantar :
Starting from the hotel we reached to the parking for Jantar Mantar.The parking charges for cars were Rs. 40 for full day. From there we started towards Jantar Mantar. One need to take tickets for the places like Jantar Mantar, City Palace, Amber Fort(Amer Fort), Nahargarh Fort and many others. So we took a composite ticket for all which cost Rs 100 per person, and has a validity of 2 days. 
Jaipur is famous not only with Indians but also foreign visitors too. Lot off foreign visitors were already present in groups inside Jantar Mantar. As we entered there, we booked a guide who charged Rs 200 from us. They were govt authorised guides so we need not to worry. If one does not want to take guide, the audio option is also available which is cheap too.
Finally we proceeded with our guide to the land of vast ancient knowledge and instruments. Here there are 7 instruments along with their prototypes( or can be said earlier versions) are installed whereas the Jantar Mantar in Delhi has only 4 instruments. 
The list of the instruments we saw is as listed:

a) Dakshinottar Bhitti /Meridian Wall -> measures the altitude or the angular height of a celestial object when it crosses the meridian

Dakshinottar Bhitti

b) Yantra Raj /Astrolabe -> measurement of time and position of celestial objects.

Yantra Raj ( At the left hand side is the prototype & on right hand side is the original instrument)

c)Nadivalaya Uttar Yantra -> It helps is determining time. It has two circular dials in the plane of the Equator - a North facing one and a South facing one

This instrument is in 2 parts just opposite to each other one facing North and other facing South

d) Rasivalaya-> measures celestial latitude and longitude of a celestial body.

The shadow of this structure is measured  on the zodiac sign structures

All 12 zodiac signs structures are built here

e)Vrihat Samrat Yantra-> largest sundial which gives time to an accuracy of 2 seconds.

The triangular wall whose shadow is used for the calibration of time

f)Chakra Yantra-> Its a ring instrument which measures the global co-ordinates of declination and hour angle of a celestial object.

g) Laghu Samrat Yantra -> It is a sundial which can give time to an accuracy of 20 seconds.
h)Ram Yantra -> measures the local coordinates of altitude (angular height of an object from the horizon) and azimuth (relative angular position of the object measured eastwards,starting from the direction North) of a celestial object.


i) Kapali Yantra -> 

There are two such hemispeheres. Telescope are kind of based on this instrument concept.All celestial bodies at the same place.But to make exact calculations, there is no way to get to inside it. The guide told us that due to this the Jai Prakash Yantra was designed.

j)Jai Prakash Yantra ->

These are again two hemispheres.The black shadow visible are the stairs made to get inside to calculate exact observations

We spent good time there getting to know things. All thanks to our guide. Luckily the weather was good but a little humid, still far better from Alwar. Due to cloudy weather we could not see the exact demonstration of all these intruments. But it was a great experience to know how our ancestors were so mastermind and intellect. Always proud to be Indian ...Sare jahan se accha hindustan hamara :)

The City Palace, Birla Temple and Jal Mahal covered in next post.
Stay tuned :)

This is a long post due, finally making its way to this blog.
Recently we had a long weekend in which we planned for a family outing by road trip . But as its monsoon so were pretty confused in finalizing the place. Nainital was in our hot and favorite list, but due to rain and landslides we dropped it. As we were driving so thought of skipping hilly areas and after reading lot of reviews on the internet we opted for Alwar Rajasthan which is 165 kms from Delhi.

Day1:
Started around 10 am from home towards Alwar following google maps on the road. The journey was good as the road we took is national highway. Within 3 hours we reached our destination.
This was kidos first road trip with us. Earlier we went to Amritsar but at that time she was just 4 months and that too her grandparents accompanied us. But this time she is 1 year and 10 months grown up kid and she has her own tantrums now. We were apprehensive about this trip with her as we were not sure how she will travel or how comfortable she will feel. Proving all our worries wrong she enjoyed the journey. During the start of the journey she sat with me on the front seat , and after half an hour she moved to the back seat where we arranged her comfortable bedding. She slept there, ate there. All time the music has to be on in the car else she will ask to put it on. Finally we reached our Alwar, and straight went o Silisirh Lake which is about 15 km, but the road is not that great as it reaches out through villages to the lake. The famous Lake Palace had full bookings for that day which brought our joy down. Actually we asked a Travel agent to book for us, and he said its off season so no need of advance booking. Crap...Nothing can be done now, so we decided to view the Silisirh Lake and take boating.

1.) Silisirh Lake (courtesy :http://siliserhlake.com/)
Siliserh Lake is situated in north eastern part of Rajasthan. Lake was built by maharaja Vinay Singh in year 1845 ,The Lake and reservoir of Siliserh was created by Maharaja for people of Alwar,because water can be channeled to Alwar city. A beautiful Lake palace was also built by Maharaja for his beloved wife Shila, It was used as Lake palace and hunting lodge.

Siliserh Lake is situated just 13 Kms from Alwar city and also can be used as stop over before you move on Sariska Tiger Reserve / Sariska National Park. Siliserh Lake Palace provides option for stay with a breath taking view of 10.5 Kms lake, Beautiful back drops of Aravali hills adds it beauty.

The weather of Alwar was partly cloudy and humid. No rain at all. At the entrance gate of the Silisirh Lake Palace, visitors need to buy ticket which costs 50 rs per person. Then the boating has its own charges. We chose motorboat which was charged 800 rs per person.
The view of the Lake and the Aravali hills is amazing. Though it was hot and humid but the mountains and water offered a great relief and pleasure to eyes.

After clicking some snaps, we proceeded downwards through the stairs to the boating point. In the motor boat only our family was seated. So it was great and comfortable. The moment we reached near to lake, we could feel the soothing cool breeze. The boating in the lake was a great experience with viewing the awesome Aravalli Hills and the beautiful lake. In between the lake there is an island of the ancient times itself. The boats do not take people on that island. The lake is so deep that in the so hot Rajasthan also, the water never dries up. This lake has crocodiles in it, so people are warned not to swim or put eatables in the water. This could be a reason that the lake is so clean. 

The Lake Palace overs a great view from its premises. There is a cafeteria also in the Lake Palace which is open for visitors. I am unaware about the amenities,ambience, staying experience of Lake Palace as we missed our opportunity to book it in advance, all thanks to mr. travel agent :(
After the sight seeing and boating at the Lake we decided to head towards hotel in the city. While we were starting our car towards Alwar city, i put on the GPS and Google maps. Bang....No Network coverage. We started on the road and finally reached at a point where network come alive. GPS started working and Google maps landed us to our hotel "Hotel Hive, Alwar".
Now we were thankful that we didn't get booking at the Lake City Palace ;)
Near to Silisirh Lake is Jaisamand Lake, but as informed by the locals it is all dried up.So we dropped our plan to visit it, as it will again need a drive of around 15 km
Now, posting some pics of Silisirh Lake....Scenic beauty of the Lake..like an oasis in the desert :)

View of the Lake

Motor Boat in the Lake

The island in the center of the lake

Serenity of Aravali Hills

After the lake visit, we checked into our hotel 'Hotel Hive' (http://hivehotels.co.in/alwar/). It is situated in Malviya Nagar, Alwar. Its on the Pratapgarh-Burja-Tiraha Road, which was smartly guided by google maps. Its really a very good hotel, and since it was an off season for Alwar visit, we got pretty good discounts on the room tariffs. The facilities included free wi-fi, buffet, swimming pool along with other standard provided facilities.

2.) After taking a quick refresh, we set out to our next visiting point "Mooti Doongri". Dont have too much information about this place on the internet also, but still got some. 
"Built in 1882, Moti Doongri was the main residence of the Alwar royals till 1928, when Jai Singh decided to raze the palace and build a more magnificent one in its place. However, the ship carrying materials from Europe sank, and with it ended the grand project".

There was no guide available for this place, so couldn't collect much information. But got a basic idea that it has 3 floors( can be imagined like a spiral) . On every floor there is a maintained garden. There are stairs to reach to other gardens below this top one. On the top garden, there is a Hanuman temple , and also a mazar. Both are in the same premise.The beautiful Aravalli hills offer a great scenery and one can see the grand view of Alwar city from the top.FYI, some of the parts of this fort are damaged.
Posting some of the pics here.

Some structures made on the surface with coloured grit

View from Mooti Doongri

In the center stood this huge pole

way towards Moti Doongri

Damaged wall of Mooti Dongri

3.)Company Bagh
After Mooti Dongri we headed towards Company Bagh, Alwar.
This garden has a prominent structure which is called Shimla House famous for its large vault shape. It was built by Maharaja Mangal Singh in 1885 A.D. to serve as a summer house.
By the time we reached there, it was already 5:30 pm. So unfortunately this shimla house was closed. Other than this structure, there was nothing special about this company bagh. In some parts, families were on outing with kids playing, and in some other parts the old people were gambling on the path itself. Some where the young couples were roaming around and at some other parts, smoking was going on. Overall it was a bad experience, though regret missing Shimla house.

Company Bagh

Shimla House

4.) Musi Maharani Ki Chhatri/Bala Quilla
After Company Bagh we decided to head towards Musi Maharani ki Chatri and Bala Quilla. As this quilla was closed due to timings, we moved towards Chhatri. 
This Chhatri is a magnificent piece of architecture. Most part of it is occupied by the government for official Courtrooms.

Information shared here is taken from http://www.alwarcity.com/hot%20spots/Moosi%20Maharani%20Chhatri.php

History:-
  Outside the city palace in Alwar there nestles an ornamental impressive Moosi Maharani ki Chhatri (cenotaph) built by Vinay Singh in 1804 A.D. It was built in the memory of Maharaja Bakhtawar Singh and his queen, Rani Moosi, who committed sati (self immolation of a widow on her husband’s funeral pyre).
Description:-
  This double-storeyed cenotaph stands on a platform of pillared red sandstone. The upper storey is in marble and has some splendid arches and unusually rounded roofs. The interiors have some great carvings, though most of the frescoes on the ceilings are not visible any more. And if you're lucky, you'll get a real visual treat – that of hundreds of peacocks and other colourful birds flapping around the place. Against the backdrop of the Aravallis, the entire complex looks grand.
  Near the Chhatri's is a huge water kund (SAGAR). It was created in 1815 by Vinay Singh and is lined with steps on three sides like a baoli (stepwell). The desert kingdom of Rajasthan has many such tanks which served as community centres, and constructing them was considered an act of great generosity and benevolence. On the bank of the kund are several temples. 

The rocks behind the chhatri are awesome, all in red along with a beautiful white marble rock studded like a gem in the huge hill.Posting the pic for reference.It really looked amazing.

But this Chhatri and Sagar lake are facing the negligence of govt and people.On all the stairs we found monkey shit. Strange but at many places inside the chhatri people use to pee, by mistake we landed to other side and came across this pityful condition of this marvellous architecture. Similarly the Sagar lake is all so dirty with lots of plastic bottles, and polythenes floating on its surface. Inspite of all this, this place is a must visit in Alwar
Posting the picture of SAGAR lake .

Posting some of our clicked pictures of splendid architecture of Musi Maharani Ki Chhatri.








After this we were so tired that finally landed in the hotel room. Advice to the people planning to visit Alwar is, there is not much to see inside the Alwar City. Maximum visiting points are located outside the city within 30 kms. So make sure you have a driver ready to let you drive in to the places, and also note down the open and close timings. Apart from this visit while the monsoon is in full swing or if its winter, else summer is going to spoil your vacation. We were lucky to have a good weather but humidity took a toll on us. Thus, we concluded our Alwar trip on the day 1 itself and headed towards Jaipur on Day2.
The details of Jaipur trip will be available in next post. Stay tuned ;)

PS: With this post I completed half century on this blog... :)