November 28th 2006
Woke up early in the morning. Today we plan to see Sukh Mahal and the 2 Baoris and then proceed to Kota.
Ishwari Niwas Hotel was quite bad. Although, the ambiance outside is quite nice, garden style chairs and swings to welcome you, but the rooms, atleast the type we stayed in, were pathetic.
8.00 am - Went to the restaurant to get some breakfast. We had omelettes and toast with juice. Pineapple ONLY, they offered no other choices.
At another table, there was this group of foreigners also having their breakfast, and they must have asked for Pineapple juice, so that was the only kind available. I don't mind pineapple, but am more used to mixing it with orange juice. The guy came by to ask us how was the breakfast, and I said politely it was good. Can't tell the guy they need a lot help keeping the place clean and spotless.
9.05 am - Left Ishwari Niwas Hotel for Sukh mahal, which was close by.
9.15 am - Reached Sukh Mahal - means Pleasure Palace. This place is supposed to have been used by Rudyard Kipling while writing KIM. It had a view of the lake at the back, making it a serene, quiet place to relax in. While we were walking up the road from the gate, I happened to see a dead dog, whose face was quite badly smashed. Being a doglover, I was horrified and sick to my stomach (the pineapple juice at that time did not suit me at all). After seeing the Mahal, as we were returning, I aksed the guy who had shown us around why didn't someone remove this dog from this place, considering so many tourists must be visiting this spot? He replied that they had requested the proper authorities to remove it and that the dog was dead for the past 2 days. I asked him, why did not he not remove it to a side atleast? He replied to my shock, " I am a Rajput and cannot touch a dead animal". I kept thinking about his statement!!!! He would rather wait for a "jamadar" - a janitor, the cleaning person for days but not move it to a side himself, being a "Rajput". Talk of.........
That was not a very pleasant site, and needless to say, I did not enjoy the Sukh Mahal - the Pleasure Palace.
10.10 am - Reached Rani Ji Ki Baori. The place was very impressive. The Rani Ji-Ki-Baori is 46m deep and has some really superb carvings. It was built in 1699 by Rani Nathavatji. We walked around the Baori, and there were lots of steps, baoris mainly mean a deep bathing place with lots of steps leading to them. Entering the main structure, we found a huge gate which was locked. It looked like there was a treasure inside. It was massive, so we requested someone to see if we can have the gates opened to do some photography. Mr Mahesh Sharma - the monument attendant - came by with a folder under his arms, to explain to us that the gates are locked by order and showed us some papers to prove his statement. While we were explaining to him as to how the world does not get to see our national heritages, he did open the door and murmured that he is not looking, but if we want to go inside and take pictures, it is not with his approval. While we were discussing this issue, I saw a couple of foreigners walk inside and merrily take pictures. The steps were very steep and I was not able to walk down, but Pavan took a quick tour inside and came back almost immediately, saying that the Baori is infested with millions of mosquitoes. So, a wonderful monument, not accessible to most people (except mosquitoes) is waiting to be found and marveled at, in an unknown place.
I wish our Government would take some action or let the private sector manage these for a fee and maintain all the structures which are more than a couple of hundred years old. We had gone to the Walled city of Old Quebec in 2006 and although they have nothing much to offer except, a beautiful, fun city and the locals who are proud of their city, show everything in such a delightful way, that I wonder why don't we see what historically rich monuments our country offers! The Sunheri havelis, the Sheesh mahals all over Rajasthan are mind boggling and all one sees there are pigeons. Why don't 600 rich Indians/Industrialists adopt one district each and turn our country around, with clean facilities and cleaner roads etc? It does not take a nuclear scientist to figure out the math and take pride in our own country. If they don't know, copy from other countries but DO IT.
The one facility, or the lack of, were restrooms throughout Rajasthan. This is a basic requirement for anyone, and specially, when the tourists come, the minimum requirement is a clean, WESTERN style toilets (some places offered only Indian style), handpump soap (not a bar of soap as they carry germs), toilet paper and paper towels. Do this and see the tourism soar! Reliance Petroleum is the only company which understands this to some extent, but even there, we once found that toilets were locked and someone had to come and open them. It's really OK to charge a fee, but provide a CLEAN BATHROOM with toilet paper and running water.
10.20 am - Went to the second, lesser known Baori - Dhanabai Baori - when we reached the location, Saravan Singh stopped the taxi and told us this is it. I saw there was not even a road, it was a dirty, broken road with an open sewer - meanwhile, I had started to feel a bit sick- so, Pavan decided to go alone. He returned after quite a while, He said, the absolutely marvlous Baori which should really be preserved, as it has a mention on the web, had UPPALS - cakes made from cow dung, all over the walls. There were a few locals, who were busy putting these up wherever they could find a spot!! Who IS looking after these monuments? It is appaling to anyone's senses to see our monuments being neglected so badly.
Left Bundi for Kota. Feeling very sad, I wish we had more time here, but honestly, what time we did spend here was heart breaking. When we had gone to the Fort last evening, I had met one European, I forget which country he came from, and he said he had been climbing up the older, higher fort every day for the past few days, just to see the sunset. He said he loved it, and told me he loves Bundi. I wish I had a better experience of the place, but to be fair, perhaps, if we had stayed here longer, stayed in a different hotel, maybe our experience would not have been so bad. On that note, maybe we should come back, stay for atleast 3/4 days and review Bundi with different eyeglasses.
10.35 am - OFF TO THE 14th DISTRICT - KOTA
11.00 am - Reached Kota. Went to Palace Hotel, they were full but recommended "SukhDham" guest house to us. And we are so lucky that Palace Hotel was full and that we were recommended this wonderful place. We met the owner, Mr HarshVardhan Rathore, in his lawns. We asked him if they had any rooms available, and although, he does not directly deal with his customers, something led him to attend to us directly. We walked inside, they just had a few rooms vacated which were not yet ready to be occupied, but even then, very graciously, he had one of the boys show us a few, we selected Room # 10 at Rs 900. This room had the most number of outlets and also one that was more appealing, and requested that to be cleaned for us. This room wass very big with an oversized bathroom (with semi circular shower curtain, a comparatively newer bathroom with a nice marble top around the sink for toiletries. The room had a huge balcony with cane furniture. Good value for money. We requested for extra pillows and mosquito repellant etc which were immediately provided.
Mr HarshVardhan invited us to wait in the waiting room, very nicely furnished with British style furniture, and we started to chat. While we were waiting, we ordered a pot of tea and also preordered lunch to be served at 1.30 pm. The guest houses do not have ready cooked food, but will cook on order, so one needs to order it ahead.
Mr HarshVardhan made a few suggestions on what all should we see in Kota. One suggestion was to take a boat at Chambal River. The rate was Rs 800 per hour, and he even booked it for us for 3.30 pm. He also suggested that we first visit Kaithuna which is known for the famous hand woven Kota sarees.
11.00 am - Our room was ready and we decided first to freshen up.
11.15 am - When we came back downstairs, Saravan Singh was not to be found. We waited for a while and were told by one of the Hotel staff that Saravan Singh had gone to get some welding done on the taxi. He was not back for quite some time, so we decided to eat our lunch, and decided to go only on the boat ride now. Fortunately, Saravan Singh returned in time to take us to the Chambal River. We had a private boat, and the ride was unforgettable. The ride is between a gorge where one can also see some wildlife, and our boatman showed us locations where vultures rest as those spots on the gorges have large areas with white droppings. The River has a lot of dams, supplies water to the region and generates power. We did not want to go too far, as the rate was quite steep, and told the boatman to return us in an hour. We were later told that had we gone a little further, the sight was amazing. Yes, maybe, next time, we will go for 2 hours, as it was definetely worth every rupee.
We returned in good time, I had not been feeling well most of the day, and now finally I crashed. Mr HarshVardhan, whose wife was in Jaipur at this point, called us around 7.30 pm to invite us downstairs to meet with an interesting couple. I could not go, but Pavan went. When he returned, he said there was a nice couple, but the lady left soon after when she realized that I would not be joining them. The three men had a few drinks, and Pavan returned back. We requested for soup and sandwiches in the room and called it a day.
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