Jaipur – An incredible heritage site entrenched in Chaos and Apathy

In the December of 2022, we had embarked on a 9-day long trip to western Rajasthan. A trip in December 2023 to Jaipur in the Eastern side would then complete the missing jigsaw puzzle of the Rajasthan touristic circuit. The western Rajasthan trip was booked via Nivalink agency, this Jaipur one we decided to do it on our own, booking our homestay, transport, and sightseeing itinerary. Our Shatabdi train from Gurgaon arrived at the Gandhinagar Jaipur Railway station around 11:20am, 50 minutes behind schedule. Chaos reigned supreme as soon as we alighted, several auto drivers requesting our gracious company. At the exit was a chaotic auto stand, and a 6-seater vehicle booking didn’t work on the Ola app.

After a lot of push back, I relented to hire an auto guy, now the issue was about the location of our homestay. Hawa Sadak, I told him. The auto’s here, interestingly are modified versions, with the boot space that fit all our luggage, easily putting a SUV boot to shame. A quick 15 mins ride and thanks to google maps, we reached the Anandmai sustainable Living spaces, it was an interesting homestay experience, we booked the 3 bunker-bed private room for our family, that could fit 6 people. It was quite a nice experience with hot shower, good drinking water, decent lobby with some books, easy check-in and check-out. Also, they provided heater on request, it has kitchen to cook, can order from Zomato and use the dining table. Location although bit away from main action, it’s easy to hail Ola cabs.

After a smooth checkin, we dropped our luggage, freshened up a bit and booked Ola Taxi to visit a popular restaurant “Spice Corner”, a No.2 rated restaurant in Jaipur, it was popular for local delicacy Laal Mhaas (Mutton Curry). The driver also pumped up our expectations of this restaurant. The outdoor seating was really nice. We ordered Butter Roti, a full Laal Mhaas, and half butter chicken. Butter chicken was very good, but I thought the Laal Mhaas was just OK, the meat was quite bony. Overall, it has a nice ambience for a good lunch with family in Jaipur.

After lunch, we booked Ola taxi to Hawa Mahal. One taxi guy came, asked where we wanted to go, then asked us to cancel as he didn’t want to go to that crowded main area. My wife then booked another taxi on her app, this guy was OK to take us there. So, watch out for this kind of experience, too. Hawal Mahal was quite crowded, as expected, but ticket queue was quite organized. Inside, there were many places where a group of musicians happily sung local songs to an excited group of tourists. People looking for different poses and shots, busy in their own worlds. Few kids entertained by the puppet show, some completely uninterested. Overall, a lot of people around here and if possible, you can avoid this time of the year.

The fort, in my opinion, is brilliant. But alas, it’s not maintained well. Entry ticket costs Rs.50/- here, and the management isn’t doing a great job at protecting this heritage site. Foreigners are charged like 10-20 times this price, and to see what I wonder! We quickly exited the place, went to the back gate for the most famous side of the Hawa Mahal to click some pictures. Crowded, and repeatedly pestered by Auto, hawkers & beggars, the entire experience was not so nice. We then walked through the local markets, hunting for this elusive “Bapu Bazaar” that Shwetha was determined to shop at.

It was a long walk along some brilliant pink bricked building (hence the name Pink city!). The entire stretch of buildings is so beautiful, but again in a sad state of affairs. While the ladies were busy shopping, I would stop and look at these glorious structures and it was like these buildings were trying to talk to me, in despair, yearning for better respect, love and their rightful place. Along the way, we also had some Malai Lassi and Mixed Carrot beetroot juice, both very good. Markets were vibrant, mostly lined up with footwear and textiles (Sarees, dresses, bedsheets). We hit the Bapu Bazaar finally after walking around a kilometer or so.

In all fairness, this was one of the nicest markets I ever visited – Bapu Bazaar, decorated with lights to welcome the new year in style. It was crowded, and not a comfortable walk along the shops, but it was quite an experience.

We bought some shirts for me, bedsheets, bags, etc. We walked back at one end of the market and took an auto. Along the way, the Albert Hall made a visible impact with its well-lit and tastefully designed building. We would visit it next day. After reaching our homestay, we ordered some Roti and Dal Tadka over Zomato for dinner, had it at their dining table, took a nice hot shower and slept off. It was a great day, although a bit sad how this brilliant site had not been managed well.

On Day 2, we took an Ola taxi to the Samrat shop near the Hawa Mahal, famous for its Kachoris and Jalebis. Although a bit chaotic to order, I managed to use google Pay to buy some Pyaas (Onion) Kachoris and Dal (Lentils) Kachoris. Pyaas Kachori was probably the best Kachori i ever had, the filling was so delicious. Dal Kachori was kind of OK, nothing great. Chai, was very good, yet again, but i thought it was expensive for Rs.25/-. Jalebi person seemed completely lost, busy in his online orders that he didnt entertain the folks who had taken the trouble to arrive at his shop on this cold morning!

We walked to the Jantar Mantar. One big mistake we did was to *not* hire a guide, this place is brilliant. Lot of thoughts (and science!) has gone into its making, we tried to eavesdrop on group guides who were explaining some instruments very well. On our part, we managed to click some brilliant pictures.

Aishani loved the above section of Rasivalaya, an enclosure of 12 distinct structures, each used to find the latitude/longitude of the 12 constellations. She proudly clicked some pictures in front of her constellation. I highly recommend this place, especially when travelling with curious young minds, and please do hire a good guide.

After Janta Mantar, we took an auto to look for this Blue Pottery Art center. The google map put us at one location, but apparently, they moved their workshop some 30 kms away from the city. The auto guy, meanwhile, had been watching on us. He jumped as soon as we came out the shop, he had a friend along, who wanted to sell us footwear in the shop right across the street. We politely refused but asked the auto guy to take us to Amer fort area, Jal Mahal and drop us back to town. He quoted exorbitant Rs.600/-, but it was quite some distance, so probably it wasn’t such a bad deal after all.

First stop, the Jal Mahal. I haven’t seen a worser managed monument. There she stood elegantly in the middle of Man Sagar Lake, but the viewpoint was filled with rubbish.

Street vendors selling all kinds of stuff to eat, trinkets, souvenirs. Garbage all over, taking the “free” entry has its own problems point home. We probably spent just 10 minutes there, click some pictures and went on our way to the Amer fort. The road was bit uphill and the tuk-tuk had its own challenges. The Amer fort looked amazing.

We didn’t walk up as the elderly ladies weren’t up for it. We took the auto back to another blue pottery center that Shwetha managed to find in google. This turned out to be the right one, and they did have a workshop just a few mins walk away from the main road.

Nice experience, the place was 10th generation in its blue pottery making history. Shwetha and Aishani both enjoyed the painting on the bowl and tile respectively.

The guy showed us the ingredients used, comprising of Quartz stone (80%) and 4 other soil/rocks like Multani mitti (soil), black rock, glass and some green rock (each 5%).

Grinded to fine white dust, made into a dough and transformed into respective shapes. Finally, it was baked in oven after painting. Originally sky-blue color was used, and hence the name blue pottery latched on. The darker blue shade came from Persia (Iran), and these days they have more colors. We bought some pottery items, which he would ship safely to our address in Bangalore. The whole experience of 2-3 hours was quite unique and nice.

We took a taxi to “Thali & More” restaurant. Dal Bhati Churma Thali was good, but quite heavy for me. Masala Bhati was phenomenal. Dal was very good; Khadi was a tad bit sour for my liking. The Churma was quite tasty, but too sweet. It was already 5:30pm by the time we finished our “lunch”. We checked-in next at the Albert Memorial Hall, which was open until 8pm, the place was very nice, historic and hosted a lot of prized relics.

The ladies wanted to have a final shot at the Bapu Bazaar. Another small round of shopping, long round of walking and then we hopped into a tuk-tuk, again a ride along Bapu Bazaar, again the fantastic Albert Hall from afar, with some traffic jams in between. A tired body and mind, a good reason to drink some chai. Mother prepared some good chai at the homestay and then we called it a day. Mixed feelings of an otherwise brilliant heritage city.

On the final day, we checked out by 10am and went to Rawat Mishtan Bhandar, a grand welcome into another mismanaged place. Self-service was still ok, we went behind to their restaurant area, which was quite chaotic. We need to order and pay at the counter and go take a seat, the guy will somehow track where you sit and get your orders to your table. Food was ok, Jalebis were good. Chai was OK. Probably we were by now having an overdose of Masala Tea, so it didn’t taste special anymore.

We took an auto to GovindJi temple, auto guy told it would be closed, so he convinced us to go visit the Birla Mandir instead. We just made it with 5 minutes to spare, the Laxmi Narayan statue was brilliant, almost similar fashion to that in Vrindavan. Temple architecture was nice, white marble. Shwetha pointed to a portion of sculpture where they also had Jesus Christ, Mother Mary and Confucius. This is a nice place to visit.

We then took a taxi to Patrika Gate, the Instagram friendly pink gate almost near the airport area.

This one was yet another case of an otherwise brilliant monument badly managed. The interiors of the arch were very colorful and artistic.

It had some beautiful, landscaped garden but it mostly seemed like a lover’s spot, general vibe didn’t feel so safe and nice for families.

The place has great potential, if management could work it out. It was ridiculous how one needs to reach the gate in the first place. Other than personal vehicles that can go inside the parking lot here, taxis would need to stop across the street. Passengers had to alight here, and then cross the busy street, fighting some insane traffic without any zebra crossing, treacherous and difficult, especially for kids and elderly.

We took a taxi back to Anandmai homestay, the driver turned out to be another huge fan of our PM modi. He said “Modiji ne Rajasthan ka Dhor apne haath me le liya, sir. Nayi sarkaar ke aane ke baad, badlav turanth dikh rahe hai, saaf safayi chal rahi hai, Dekhiye” – Modi has taken control of Rajasthan, and within few days of new government you can see ground level changes here, lot of cleanups happening. “Mein tho Modiji aur Yogiji ko saamaanya Vyakthi nahi samajtha, woh tho avatar purush hai” – I don’t consider Modi and Yogi as normal human beings, they are supreme incarnations. Interesting discussions to end the Jaipur leg.

After reaching the homestay, we played some card games, ordered and ate some masala Maggi and masala chai. Finally, it was time to take the taxi to airport; we booked 2 taxis due to luggage. Conveniently reached within 20 minutes and checked-in with good time to spare. In summary, this historic city has so much to give, but completely mismanaged, I think. History & Heritage everywhere, but not treated with respect. The present has camouflaged the past, the royalty and elegance has made way to traffic, Chaos and haste. Probably, not the best time to visit during the peak season, but there is so much scope for improvement here!