November 29th 2006
Went downstairs for breakfast and met with Mr HarshVardhan and his brother JaiVardhan in the front porch. The brothers own and manage the Haveli as a hotel/guest house, and live in their own individual homes behind the Haveli. We talked for a while and then moved to the dining area, and both the brothers chatted with us while we ate.
As we were got up to go clear the bill, they both said not to worry about it, as now we have become friends. We declined and insisted on paying. They felt that we were doing something good for the State of Rajasthan by bringing out the issues relevant to it's tourism. We paid Rs 900 for room + Rs 345 for food, and tipped the 6 guys that suddenly showed up from nowhere. We were served by 2 guys, I don't where they all came from.
9.05 am - Left Kota - SukhDham Hotel
10.00 am - Reached Kaithun - we could not figure out at first where to start from, as we did not see any factory but a small village, but eventually were led to a small 2 storey house, and saw a woman weaving in a medium sized room. She was weaving very exquisite and detailed work but I was still confused as to the scale of Kota sarees sold around India. I asked her, does she work alone, she replied yes, and seeing my confusion, told me that the whole village does this kind of weaving! It is a true cottage industry, and they all work together to supply larger quantities. Wow! We went to few other houses, but the first house was probably leading in this business.
1.40 am - Left Kaithun for Baran - our 15th district. Baran means 12 - twelve (Baarhaan)
On our way, Pavan asked me where were our jackets? Apparently, we never looked inside the cupboard before leaving Kota. But, since we have to go to Chittorgarh via Kota, and had to stop somewhere anyways, we called SukhDham and told them that we had forgotten our jackets in the room, which they had already found, and told them that we would be there again next evening and pick them up.
12.05 pm - Mr HarshVardhan had also suggested we stop on the way at Palaitha. We shot a few pictures of Kalisindh (spellings?). Not an impressive location, so we left soon after.
As we were driving to Baran, we spotted a lot of signs for "Air Conditioned - Fun Food" and so we decided to stop there when we reached Baran so we could eat and also use their rest rooms. It took us a while but finally we found it, as the rest of Baran had not much to offer.
1.15 pm - Reached "Fun Food" - ate Idli Sambhar, Bhature Chole and Aloo Raita. They only had men's toilets, but the owner told me to use the hotel's restrooms. After lunch, I went there and noticed they have hotel rooms which are more like apartments. So, in case one has to stay in Baran, stay at Hotel Midtown at Old Civil Lines. The rates were low too, around Rs 400 and with a restaurant downstairs, that helps. The food was pretty good and we left quite satisfied. We found the location of the library from the restaurant owner, Pavan decided to go there for more info.
2.15 pm - Pavan came back with Babulal Sharma from the library. I was told that when Pavan told them there is not much known about Baran, Babulalji was quite offended, and told him that Baran is neglected by the administration because of communal reasons. he told him that Baran was named after the 12 famous Hindu temples in the region. He was willing to guide us to visit those temples. But since we were short of time, we decided to take a rain check. He took us to Shilastambh temple that dates back toMauryas and at 2.20 pm - Pyare Ramji Ka Mandir, a new development - Hanumanji Ka mandir.
Babulal Sharma turned out to be quite a Krantikari. He started to recite a poem on the pitiable status of the country. I wish we had a video camera or an audio recorder ready, but missed recording his very interesting poem. He wanted us to visit another temple, but we got stuck in the traffic for a long time, and told him we would have to visit it on our next trip. We dropped back at the library, Pavan offered him Rs 50, which he flatly refused to accept. He was just happy to show us around and proud of his city. He insisted that next time when we visit, we must meet with him and have lunch with him. He bid us goodbye with a very warm smile.
Contact info : Babulal Sharma, Electrician and Self proclaimed Historian; Snr most member of Public Library of Baran. Vishnu Vyayamshala Baran, near Kumaron Ka Mandir.
We have to search for a book called "Kota Rajya Ka Itihaas" - by Mathur Lal Sharma
2.42 pm - Left Baran for Jhalawar - our 16th district - 1/2 way thru to the 32 districts!!
After leaving Baran for Jhalawar, the first 12 kms were through kachcha and slushy roads. We had seen that a lot on the west side of Rajasthan, Although it is encouraging to note that throughout Rajasthan, they were constructing 4 and 6 lane highways, so hopefully, we and others who travel on these routes will probably encounter excellent roads.
We were given the address of the Vilas Palace which belongs to the Maharaja of Jhalawar by Harsh Vardhan Rathore. We should have called ahead and booked, as no one seemed to know about this Palace hotel.
6.10 pm - Finally, we reached Vilas Palace and saw no signs of life. The drive through the private road was pretty dark and not a comfortable feeling. Just before the Palace, we approached a hut like structure, where someone informed us that no one was in residence at the palace right now. We drove up, and a couple of attendants came running down. after hearing who had sent us here, they requested us to sit inside so they could call the manager. After about 10 minutes, a guy came and apologized to us that the cooks and others were not available, as the Maharaj had gone to Delhi that morning, but if we wanted, he could prepare a room for us quickly. Not feeling comfortable staying alone there, we asked him if there were any other hotels in the neighborhood, He recommended RTDC which was quite close by and so, we went to RTDC - Chandrawati.
6.45 pm - Reached Chandrawati - we were relieved to see that it was quite a nice hotel and the rooms were very clean. We also checked sleeping arrangements for Saravan Singh, and decided to take a room at Rs 500 (the only kind available, and Rs 50 for the driver. I insisted that they give him clean sheets and blankets. The room was nice, NO CARPET (do not like carpets in Indian hotels), but a lot of mosquitoes also came in while we were checking the room.
The RTDC hotel in Jhalawar offers:
- Good, clean rooms
- Very good food (we had soup and sandwiches)
- Curteous service
- Extras provided graciously e.g. pillows, sheets, salt & pepper, mosquito repellant, fruit knife etc
The negatives were: Too much noise outside, there was a family with kids having a birthday party, kids continously scratching on the balloons for more than an hour, and the party went on for too long for the other guests' comfort.
There were too many mosquitoes, but eventually with the spray and the all Out (plug in kind), we got rid of them.
Pavan turned on the geyser and the lights went off in some areas of the room. We called the manager, and they told us that the geyser in our bathroom was malfunctioning and requested us not to turn it on. There was a switch outside of the room that reset the power. They told us we will be provided with hot water in buckets next morning and profusely apologized. This was the only room they had available!!
Saravan seemed happy too.
We had soup and sandwiches for dinner in the room. There was decent sitting room area where we could eat etc, and the room also had a dressing table with a huge mirror and lights built into the wall.
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