[laluks]

Day 10
1st January 2012
Chittorgarh

More pictures from Chittorgarh


















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[laluks]

Day 10
1st January 2012
Chittorgarh

I look down and see them resting there




There is a temple submerged in the pond


The deity


The stream never dries up




The stream and the deity


There were a lot of small fishes


It was tickling


Now I had to look up to see them


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[laluks]

Day 10
1st January 2012
Chittorgarh

Nice views from there






Kiddies were checking if they could see the fish from there


Kiddies get themselves a picture


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[laluks]

Day 10
1st January 2012
Chittorgarh

Mom and Kid




Kiddie




Some people were feeding them




This fellow strikes a pose


This fellow wanted to show me his long tail


This old fellow was relaxing


Look at the legs!


This guy was definitely thirsty

[laluks]

Day 10
1st January 2012
Chittorgarh

We went to Padmini Mahal




The Palace in the Pool


We went inside








Padmini Palace


This is the mirror mentioned above


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[laluks]

Day 10
1st January 2012
Chittorgarh

More views of the Palace in the Pool








Views around the Fort from the Palace










A lot of school kids were visiting Chittorgarh


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[laluks]

Day 10
1st January 2012
Chittorgarh

By 13:00 we decided to start our onward journey







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[laluks]

Day 10
1st January 2012
Ajmer

We reached Ajmer by 18:30 hours

The crowded street towards the Durga


We were cautioned about pick pocketing, so we carried absolute minimum with us.

The street is dotted with sweet shops on both sides







The Entrance to the Durgah




We left our foot wear at a counter near the gate for a small fee. We were told not to leave the footwear at any of the shops.

Inside Photography is not allowed. Hence I carried my P&S which could be slid into my pocket while inside, than leaving at any counter which has no guarantee of getting the camera back.


As I had experienced in Nagur Dargah near Velankanni in Tamil Nadu, a few self proclaimed Pirs came towards us in the pretext of showing us through and blessing us for a fat sum. We ignored them and went on our own inside.


There were many people in the queue to go inside the prayer room of the Dargah. We were not allowed to stand in the queue with out an offering in hand. So we got ourselves the standard offering which were being sold inside the Dargah and stood in the line. The crowd was really impatient as the queue was quite long.

Once I reached the sanctum, all I could listen was the loud screams "भेंट दो भेंट दो" and while I bowed to offer my prayers I was punched so strongly by a Pir in the sanctum that Jr. PPG screamed with pain. By the time I could get myself to the reality all I could see was they were taking the money offered by the people and putting into their own pockets. The second attempt to push me from the sanctum I resisted, carried Jr. PPG on my shoulder and got out of the place with a very sad and strong bruise in my heart. Even today when I think of the whole episode I shrug at my decision to visit this place in pain.

While I respect the religious sentiments of all, my experiences at both Nagur in Tamil Nadu and Ajmer in Rajastahan were the same.



A few months after this episode, in April 2012 while I was on an official trip to Chennai my attention fell on an article published in The Hindu. While it gave me an insight what caught my attention was the debate the article started off in The Hindu a fortnight after that http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-e...cle3321349.ece

the fact is that the sociology of Sufi institutions has undergone a tremendous change which is most obvious from the exploitative instinct of the pirs of the subcontinent, irrespective of where they come from. A Sufi believer will get seriously disappointed during a visit to Nizamuddin Auliaya's dargah in Delhi due to the intrusive and annoying behaviour of the pirs at the shrine. Meditation is certainly out of the question due to the constant and bothersome interruption by the keepers of the shrine who are more interested in extracting money from the visitor. Ajmer and other places are no different,

The experiences of this money mindedness were almost similar when I visited Krishna Temple in Mathura and ISKON temple in Vrindavan. So I believe the corruption due to easy money is an universal phenomenon. But at least they did not get physical.


The views are from my personal experience and if I have hurt anybody's religious sentiments, please accept my sincere apologies.

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[laluks]

Day 10
1st January 2012
Pushkar

We reached Pushkar by 20:30 hours
















We wanted to visit Brahma Temple




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[laluks]

Day 10
1st January 2012
Pushkar

We reached Brahma Temple by 20:45 just in time to witness the last aarti, (Ratri Shayan Aarti) of the day. We were the only people in the temple then, and we considered ourselves to be extremely lucky to have been able to witness the same.

More details about Brahma Temple http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma_Temple_at_Pushkar

The temple is one of very few existing temples dedicated to the Hindu creator-god Brahma in India and remains the most prominent among them.

By 21:00 hours the Temple Doors were closed.

Some Pictures of Brahma Temple at Pushkar








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[laluks]

Day 10
1st January 2012
Pushkar

We were booked for the night in Jaipur and we would never make it to Jaipur in any sane time for having dinner. So we decided to have dinner at Pushkar and head to Jaipur

A sleepy Sprited one with Starvegabond places the order


While some enjoy the warmth of the heat from the fire


The ladies were making hot hot rotis




I am yet to find out the name of this delicacy




What a gracious Bull


Cow fight


By 22:00 hours we finished with our dinner and started to Jaipur.

The famous Pushkar Camel Fair happens here


By midnight we reached our hotel at Jaipur. The hotel guys were waiting for us and immediately allotted the rooms and transferred the luggage to the rooms. They also quickly made the extra beds in each rooms.

What a wonderful day, starting from the blessings by the elephant God to offering our prayers at the Dargah to The aarti at Brahma temple, the day was very much lucky for us.

After a Thanks giving for a wonderful day, we hit the bed for a comfortable sleep.

[samarjitdhar]

Lalu sahab, at the outset have been following this beautiful log for quite some time. Looks like this will be my main go-to Travel Rajasthan compendium . Fantastic pictures all through.

Originally Posted by laluks

While I respect the religious sentiments of all, my experiences at both Nagur in Tamil Nadu and Ajmer in Rajastahan were the same.

Tell me about it. We have the famous temple at Kalighat here and the "pandas" (not the Kung Fu ones , they are just the "pir" counterparts) have created such a huge mess now that the whole thing is in the high court and they have been officially barred from entering the temple. However unofficially they still flagrantly violate the court's orders.

Originally Posted by laluks

A sleepy Sprited one with Starvegabond places the order

One thing that I always meant to ask is how did your friends get their names.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by samarjitdhar

One thing that I always meant to ask is how did your friends get their names.

Starvegabond is the handle of my friend at TBHP. How the other friend got his name "The Sprited One" is a story hidden in this travelogue
www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/86437-civic-city-celebrating-friendship-day-mahabalipuram-tranquebar-velankanni.html

[laluks]

Day 11
2nd January 2012
Jaipur

We were sleeping like a log, but the rooms were facing east and the rising sun, really woke us up


I went to the sit out, the weather was pleasant


There were some plates with paintings hung there




Some paintings were in the room too




I guess this hotel is certified for some ISO standards


We all got ready for the day ahead in Jaipur.

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[laluks]

Day 11
2nd January 2012
Jaipur

Kiddies had some fun time with the games






We researched on Rajasthan delicacies






We had a nice breakfast, the spread was good


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