Rajasthan 2020 March

 

Written in early march 2020 as we just completed our Rajasthan trip just before lockdown one was declared by PM .

Those maskless free days of no quarantine or social distancing the only beaking the chain was the breaking of boredom by travelling footloose but today more than 7 months into a pandemic and a bout pf bad Covid personally it looks far and dream like .

Pre and post Covid will definitely tell in all our lives who lived in this era .

 

We said Goodbye to Rajasthan  hopefully to visit again .

We could manage to touch upon Jaishalmer ,Jodhpur,Mount Abu ,and Udaipur .

It shows we had not visited so many others .

Rajasthan is a big state some of its districts are as big as my Kerala .

Travelling between cities take time .

We missed Bikaner, Ajmer, Chitrogarh and Khumbalgarh to name a few .

Hundreds of towns and villages exist which need months to see .

Bikaner specially is something I need to see  .

Not only for its royal grandeur and to view a lonely outback , but becuse of a filial connection .

My grandfather, the venerable PCM Raja had stayed here for more than 5 to 6 years after a domestic fight with my grandmother incognito working under the royal family !

Being from the Maankaavu kovilakam of Kozhikode he may have done some name sounding to get a job , of course that was before India got freedom 🙄

These days it wouldnt work .

So to me Bikaner needs a long stay to introspect and maybe write more on this .

Mebbe one day.

Jaipur I had visited twice , liked it but were very short visits .

The state has 3 sectors .

Mewars of Udaipur region

Marwar of Jodphur

And Maarwaadi of Jaishalmer .

Though they share a same culture there are differences in life styles ,habits,cuisine,and art .

Both Jaishalmer and Jodphur has the desert in them ,the sands,the sun, the cactus,the shrubs,the huge distant forts while Udaipur more nearer Gujarat and surrounded by Aravalli hills is filled with lakes and is greener and cooler .

Mount Abu is an excuse of a hill station and could be categorised in the  level of Yelagiri or Yercaud not ooty or Kodaikanal .

But its Dilwara jain temples are mind blowing .

Brahmakumari foundtion to me was another  spiritual mall .

The ten days was enough to let us peep into the rich heritage and natural goodness and honesty of Rajasthanis .

No wonder, once you consider they have the blood of the noble Rajputs flowing in them to whom honour, valour, and service was divine .

The state is a tourist paradise naturally, with hundreds of palaces , thousands of havelis ,and temples ,waiting to be uncovered .

Best time to visit would be late january or November .

Late february is definitely warmer .

If one comes to Rajasthan ,food is central.

For South Indians most of their food is available in cities .

A keralite he would sorely miss meat to bite upon though available .

Fish is unheard of so the Bengali will be in trouble along with the mallu .

But isnt this an oppurtunity to delve into very rich culinary creations of Rajasthan  ?

We did and had no regrets .

I really am amused at tours declaring special south indian cook comes along .

You have to leave your baggges when u travel i meant your habits .

Baggages lighter is always better

We did carry woolen thinking it would be colder which was a burden .

Shopping is good here

textiles,specially handicrafted kurtas,sarees,folk jewelerry ,stones,curios,antiques and prices are reasonable if one avoids touristy points .

Travelling in train isnt bad at all preferably book overnight AC sleeper to save on days, or book into Palace on Wheels if you have money floating around paying not less than 1.5 L per day .

Between Jodphur to Abu road we did take a sleeper class non AC which we were worried about as in north India we had heard it would be a mess

Strangely it was not only neat with good toilets ,and more fun as more things are sold by vendors than in sanitised AC compartments .

Buses and cabs are good though we didnt travel in buses 

Roads are excellent .

Keralites please note ,its not that the rest of India is reeling in poverty .

The country has left you behind long back .

Literacy is rising ,people have money ,jobs,.

All villages are electrified and potable water is avilable .

So looking back Rajasthan,a small part of

Gujarat and the largest statue in world have been eye openers .

Jaishalmer photo story

 The hat did give a shade .

Rajasthans summer had faded , and winter was awaited .

It all started in Jaishalmer .

He had arrived in the train an overnight one from Ahmedabad .

The sun wasnt hot but it was piercing .

He scaled the fort quickly his eyes darting to locate the target .

He had to find him and quickly

He had taken a jeep driven into desert and then the camel ride he learnt Khan bought a revolver as he suspected 

He returned to the fort went up 

It was his brief .

To stop Khan getting away with the papers .

The tingle in his bluetooth brought Sharma Sir to his ears .

" Anything

Nope searching

Tc "

They were cryptic men of few words .

He climbed into the second terrace jumping across the barrier 

The big moustachioed security guy jumped agiley to him

"Arrey yehi permission nahi hey saab jaao ".

He pinned him with a stare and showed his  card .

Hari Singh

Asst Director RAW 

The man saluted saab acha sorry saab 

He sprinted ahead to the parapet close to the cannon and peeped down 

He had a birds eye view now 

He spotted him way down having an earthen cup of chai .

He was feverishly harried 

he almost looked up 

Hari singh pulled his head down and  in two minutes he peeped back  but the man had fled by then 

he saw him getting into an auto .

He jumped down 

got into lift

 "Jaldi ...jaana " he told the security who wordlessly took him down .

No one messed with Raw agents .

He asked some auto drivers found out the man  had gone to the Rly station .

He too hopped into one and reached the station.

The Jodphur express was just speeding awat as he reached the platform 

he knew Khan had fled but he guessed to where .

Jodphur was more plausible .

The papers were there in the Ubaid bhavan 

Why did he come here then ?

 For the  revolver of course and best place to get one who had sprinted across border was Jaishalmer .

He patted his berret and took the next train to Jodphur

He would reach  Umaid bhavan .

By tommorow evening he would finish his work .

Khan will not go back to Multan he thought.

He would say goodbye in the centoph the cemetry of the royals of Rathore dynasty he will see to it .

Its time he got even with Khan 

he was one up ,when he finished off

 Raju nair  in 87 

its 3 decades but we rarely forget man .

Umaid bhavan he stepped out of the antique car waiting in the station for him 

The Rajah had sent it for him his old friend .

He  checked in to his reserved suite 

Nothing but the best 

He remembered the long evenings when they sipped the amber single malts in the freezing winter nights 

But this time that will wait 

Khan was in his mind now

He knew by now khan would have planned the exchange .

His sources told him it would be in the centoph .

Today

Now 

He hurriedly left  in the car git down in the centoph and with the tourists walked into the setting sun 

He left the crowds turned behind a tomb jumped down into the bushes and peered ahead 

It was dusk but he spotted Khan in the fading light

Khan he called out loudly 

He was with the traitor 

Both drew thier guns but then Khan knew a second chance with Hari singh wasnt heard of 

Two silent shots felled them both in a nano second

Hari singh took off his hat 

Time he left his hair loose

He touched his bluetooth

Done

Sharma smiled in Mumbai .

And so did the Rajah of Jodphur while dropping the ice into the whiskey .

A long evening with his old friend 

Hari

Kerala Piravi

 Happy kerala Piravi day

Kerala has always been different .

Then and now .

It was a land created from the sea by the axe of Lord Parasurama according to legends  .

So it was never part of pre existing geography of India  but formed by magical powers ,of course this can be dismissed as myth for none can prove this .

The other story of King Mahabali and Vamana too is part of legend than documented history .

Strangely compared to other parts of India the recorded history of Kerala isnt that far behind .

We do know of prehistoric structures of stone formations in Marayur and rock engravings in Edakkal caves in Walayar .

In the immediate past of CE there was supposed to be vigorous trade between Rome Greece Sumerians  Egyptians ,Babylonians,Phoenicians,Jews ,Arabs,and Chinese .

Cotton and spices were the main attraction .

Ports like Muziris ,Nelycinda,Berkarai are mentioned .

Megasthenes the Greek Ambassador to the court of king Magadhan mentions Muziris as a great port in 4th century BC .

According to him ships sailing from Red sea ports in Egypt can reach Muziris in 40 days sailing with the monsoon winds .

Roman maps of this time shows thier garrisons .

An ancient stone tablet of 3 rd century BC of Emperor Asokha describes four kingdoms as chera chola pandava and satputra ruling the south and names Ketolaputa or cheraland as of possible kerala 

Ancient Tamil literary works like  like Puranaanooru and Aganaanooru talk of gold from Rome and Greece in exchange of spices specially pepper in Muziris .

The find of plenty of Roman gold coins inside Padmanabhaswamy temple in Trivandrum recently when its ancient unopened vaults were opened makes this a historical possibility as much wealth were hidden here fearing attack from enemies like Tipu Sultan etc .

With trade ancient Jews too could have come though official migration of jews happened in the 5 th century CE when they were permitted to settle practice trade and build synagogues .

Like the advent of Portugese in 16th century and later Dutch colonies who were surprised at the existence of Christians in Kerala  not under the pope but of a more ancient Syrian orthodox type where its liturgical language was in Aramic ,the very language spoken by Jesus Christ himself , because of possibly the visit of St Thomas apostle in 52 CE  not very long after Jesus Christ was crucified and the Christianity he established had a more ancient tradition melding on local Hindu customs and Jewish patterns then followed by early christians .

These are still at debate but the Orthodox community of Christians who hold thier lineage ,customs and traditions dearly  are quite clear on thier difference from the Jesuist catholocism that came to Kerala after many centuries .

Similarly immediately after the time of Prophet Mohammed Malik Ibn Deenar is supposed to have taken Cheraman perumal the Chera king to Arabia and he got converted to Islam sending message to his subjects to convert to Islam .

After this Malik Denar expires in Kasargod where his grave exists in Malik deenar mosque .

Buddhism and Jainism too existed in ancient times and in 7 th Century Adi Sankara born in Kalady in kerala started his epic journey of Hindu revivalism and spread of Advaitha philosophy .

Once Chera power declined local Nair chieftains held power .

The kingdom of Ay of southern kerala would later give form to the Travancore royal family and Eranad and malabar Nair chieftains would become samoothiri or those with the sea as one border .

The arrival of Vasco da Gama in 1498 thier initial friendship with samoothiri later joining hands with Cochin kingdom in mid kerala and later the advent of Dutch colonists and in one place called Mahe French colony .

The British took reigns of power from the Dutch and ruled certain parts as Madras presidency which included Malabar .Zsmotins quickly becoming vassals .

The invasion of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan did change the demographic pattern of north kerala with his forcible conversion of Hindus and destruction of temples and thier fighting the British as part of invasion and not as freedom fighting as distorted by leftist historians of India and encouraged by the present politicsl powers 

Similarly th

e Moplah rebellion was made into an imaginary freedom fight based on Khilafat movement but was really a local rising on feudal families which quickly becsme a malignant mayhem of forcible conversions rape descecration of Hindu temples by the moplahs or powerful section of the malabar muslims .

It was the British using the Gurkha regiment that finally and firmly put down this orgy of violence but again csmouflaged as a freedom struggle by present powers and left leaning historians .

During Indias Independence in 1947 Travancore and Cochin joined to form a state

 in 1956 lingustic division of states gave rise to Kerala state on November first which now included malabar and southern karnataka areas like kasaragod 

This is written after just reading some online sources and i do not vouch tge authenticity or historicity of documentation .

Maby pics are too from online which csn be removed on request .

I invite comments and inputs .