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India Exotic

For one who fights hundred odd battles everyday in a metro for mere existence and survival, combats the stresses and tensions of handling hordes of difficult people and situations, not to mention the roads, smells, heat, dust, grime and everything else that goes with a city bursting at its seams, an escape, though out of compulsion, into the exotic past of India comes as a welcome respite and rejuvenation to the soul.  Casting away the benumbing fatigue that every now and then grips one’s mind and body, it is a remarkable experience to set your foot into another realm altogether that snares you into  this mystic old world charm.

My recent visit to Jaipur and Jodhpur was an altogether out-of-the-world experience. It is of course impossible to remember the place when you were cradled in the crook of your mother’s arm as a neonate and grew up for a couple of years as a toddler amidst the hills, forts, palaces, camels and elephants. But when my feet touched the very ground where I had left my tiny footprints years ago, I could experience the sense of belongingness and immediate connection I had with my past, and with India’s exotic past.

What a rich cultural heritage we possess!  While there are those who criticize our nation’s penchant for holding on to customs and practices that originated eons ago and continue till this date, it does bring out goose pimples when you realize that you are treading the same ground where our maharajas and emperors once lived and breathed. It is amazing that our forts were built on sound scientific principles and aesthetics hundreds of years ago. What is mind-boggling is the fact that ages ago we had highly advanced and amazing architecture.  We were dumbfounded to know how rain water was captured into a colossal natural tank of inconceivable dimensions, diverted through a meandering channel, naturally filtered and stored to quench the thirst of forty thousand soldiers and the inhabitants of the Amber Palace. We were surprised to know how the sentinels kept vigil through the innumerable ‘windows’ in the long and winding walls of the quaint fort. The  lavishness with which ‘ladies’ rooms  were built in exquisite marble and adorned with innumerable mirrors on  the pillars and walls is indeed a bewitching wonder.  As your body revels in the caress of the breeze, you endeavour to comprehend how the hawa mahal in Jaipur has been so constructed to allow a lot of ventilation and light. And to add a touch of spiritualism as well as beauty, the façade of this mahal is shaped in the form of Krishna’s mukut or the crown. Sheer beauty that elevates your mind!

True to its reputation, Jaipur is indeed embellished with gates and pink carved walls that stand out majestically at many places in the city. As you travel along the car from Jaipur to Jodhpur, you are surprised at the well-laid and wide roads with hills, forts and palaces dotting the skyline. You are not bowled over by the sight of elephants or camels here and there or the women daintily clad in resplendent clothes balancing pots over their heads. One wonders why they are attired to completely cover their bodies and then realizes that there is a scientific reason for such a custom. The resplendent and cool cotton clothes shield them from the scorching sun that blazes down on the earth ruthlessly. We too are not spared the rage of the sun and we end up emptying bottles and bottles of mineral water.

The colourful cities of Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur are not only homes for historic relics but are also centres of arts and handicrafts. No wonder tourists are enamoured by the innumerable artifacts and articles of use embellished with mirror, embroidery, conch shells, coloured semi-precious stones and myriad other adornments. Most emporia and showrooms of arts and artifacts have artistes sitting and painting quaint pictures of the scenery of Rajasthan, its villages, people including men in their characteristic huge turbans and dhotis and women in their kaleidoscopic attire and massive ornaments, desert, forts, camels and elephants. There’s even a jal mahal, a palace in the midst of a lake in Jaipur.

While a trip to  the desert was  not possible due to lack of time, I am sure it must have been an out of the world experience to mount a camel and live in a tent in the middle of no-where and all you get to see is extensive  land covered by fine sand all around you. I made a note of doing just that in the future.

A hurried visit to the renowned dargah at Ajmer, brought about a sense of spirituality and oneness with Mother Nature who has showered us with  such wealth of beauty and bounty, of which we are either not aware, or  are too busy to be bothered or just don’t care. While the cities of Rajasthan continue to entice foreign tourists, I feel a visit to this state would be a very meaningful and enthralling experience to most of us. It did alter my perceptions and attitude towards life.

As I entered the aircraft to fly towards my hometown, Chennai, I glance out of the window of the plane and sense that I was leaving behind a wonderful dream of beauty and old world charm. Back to good old Chennai and the myriad trapeze acts!

Ciao

Swati Amar

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