SO MANY PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS ABOUT RAJASTHAN TAKE A BEATING IN JUST A FEW DAYS ONE SPENDS HERE.
The fancy tourist brochures will have you believe that Rajasthan is the land of endless desert and dunes with herds of camels trotting all over it. Truth is that Rajasthan is too big a place (believe it or not, it is bigger than Britain, Belgium and Netherlands combined) and has too varied a geography to be crammed into a single brochure. Udaipur is situated on the southern edge of Rajasthan and is separated from the Thar desert on the west by the Aravali mountain range. So you would not find any desert or dunes here. On the contrary, what you Will find plenty of is lakes.
Yes, lakes and hillocks and palaces and forts and museums and bazaars and curio shops and cows and camels and boat rides and beautiful sunsets and sumptuous food and the famous Rajasthani hospitality.
SOUNDS FUN?
IT DOES TO ME. AND THAT IS PARTLY THE REASON I SIGNED UP FOR THE CYCLING TOUR OF RAJASTHAN.
Rajasthan had been on my travel wish list for a long time and I could not think of a better way to explore it than on a bike. The idea was to discover this land at leisure, not rush past it. I also wanted to get my legs moving. The nine-to-five desk job had made my body rusty and stiff. I was craving for physical challenges. And I was looking forward to make new friends, both Indians and foreigners, in the biking group.
SO, CYCLING IN RAJASTHAN SEEMED A WIN-WIN ALL THE WAY.
What I was not very keen on were Rajasthan touristy cities like Jaipur, Jodhpur or Udaipur. Cities, I have believed, are alike in more ways than they differ in, and I did not hope to find anything really captivating or out-of-the-ordinary in Udaipur, the first port of call in the Rajasthan biking holiday trip. Well, as it turned out, that was my preconceived notion.
On our first day in Udaipur, the cycling group consisting of eight members (we called ourselves the G8) decided to take it easy and promptly jumped on the tour guide�s idea to drive us to Badi Lake and another spot called Pipliya about 25km out of the city in his cab.
Badi Lake was situated on higher ground and a few minutes of uphill trek gave us a beautiful birds-eye view of the surrounding hillocks. Pipliyawas still farther up and turned out to be an excellent spot to see The Aravali Range and a perfect vantage for landscape photography. Had we been less lazy, we could have cycled our way there.
BUT NO WORRIES. NO SOONER DID THE G8 GET BACK IN UDAIPUR THAN WE WERE OUT AND ABOUT ON OUR BIKES, PEDALING ALONG THE CITY LAKES AND TAKING IN THE VIEW OF ITS PALACES.
City Palace is the biggest tourist attraction and deserved a visit. A bit of googling told us that it was built 400 years ago around the time when Udaipur was becoming the new capital of the Mewar kingdom. More than a bit of strolling in the palace revealed to us a sprawling complex of many gateways, assembly halls, courtyards, chambers, gardens, and royal residencies with many artworks and weaponry still extant. Frankly, it was all a touch too overwhelming and took up a lot of time and put paid to our plan of cycling to the old part of Udaipur, which is said to be a crowded labyrinth of narrow streets.
But we were not to be put off by a canceled plan and made most of the evening loitering around the bazaar, visiting the curio shops, buying souvenirs like they were going out of fashion, eating at local restaurants, and even witnessing a roadside musical performance by a Rajasthani man playing the string instrument called the Ravanhatha.The melancholy sound of the instrument and the tune that the rustic musician played really cut deep with me, and I would have stayed a lot longer if not for the boat ride.
Yes, the boat ride in Lake Pichola, the largest manmade lake in India. The sun was sliding down the sky and there was not a moment to lose. The boat took a circuitous route around Lake Palace and Jag Mandir, both majestic structures built on islands that are no longer visible underneath and therefore create the illusion of floating palaces. It is here that our group, which had been chatting nineteen to the dozen throughout the day, was spellbound into silence by the surreal scene of the setting sun, the amber sky, the bleeding lake, and the floating palaces.
THE SPELL OF UDAIPUR WAS FINALLY CAST ON US.
And not even the Ghoomar dance performance we saw at the museum at night, the performance that had a danseuse balancing ten pitchers on top of her head, could really snap us out of the daze we were into.
We all took something special from Udaipur that day. Good memories, souvenirs, hearty laughs, snapshots, cultural encounters and stunning sights, etc. I, for one, was made rid of my preconceived notions about the city.
Granted that Udaipur was a bit chaotic and crowded, but if one listened beneath the surface noises and looked beyond the teeming hundreds, one would find a great deal to appreciate. A strange kind of nostalgia pervades the city. Maybe it is because of the ancient palaces, old houses and their architecture. Or maybe it is because of the many cultural holdovers from the city is past that still survive and catch one�s eye in the moments most unexpected.
Like the rustic musician playing the haunting notes of the Ravanhatha by the side of the road, all for loose change. I wish I could have stayed longer to hear more of his music.
