Indian Summers and monsoon magic
Visiting Rajasthan during the monsoon is a rare and beautiful experience.
When billowing clouds bring the first drops of rain, people rush outside just to feel it splashing on their faces. And as that rains feeds the flowers, making them bloom, and the parched earth turns lush and green, the landscape literally comes alive.
I love this part of India, with its wildly romantic Rajput history – those princely clans whose tales of heroism and chivalry still echo down the centuries. It’s a land of palaces and peacocks, tigers and temples, royalty and romance. Once again, it seems, I’ve fallen under Rajasthan’s seductive spell.
Delhi is the gateway to Rajasthan – and I spend a couple of days here visiting my favourite local haunts, shopping in Khan Market for clothes and gifts, eating chaat (street food) and checking out the nightlife in the historic Hauz Khas Village.
I check in at The Oberoi, New Delhi, where I stayed on my first trip to India many moons ago. The chain of some 20 hotels will be hosting me on my travels and its hallmarks are excellent service and elegance. The rusty red Humayun’s Tomb, a masterpiece of Mughal dynasty architecture set in a lush garden, makes for a great view, too.
A scenic six-hour train ride from Delhi brings me to Jaipur, the bustling capital of Rajasthan, known as the ‘Pink City’ for its distinctive, rose-tinted buildings.
I’m staying at The Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur, a secluded Indian palace hotel with an ancient temple and beautiful gardens where peacocks parade. You can stay in a tented villa, or in delightful, airy rooms, set within fountain courtyards. It is quintessentially Rajasthan, from the colourful block-printed quilt on the bed, to the statue of the elephant god Ganesh outside my window.
Waking early, I stroll to the lily pond to see the morning puja, when the Brahmin priest opens the temple door and rings its bell to wake the gods, then scents the air with sandalwood incense.
Even off-season, there are always crowds at Jaipur’s Palace of the Winds, its famous pink and white exterior overlooking the street like a giant wedding cake, or at the Jaipur City Palace Museum, with its wonderfully quirky collection of royal treasures. The Rajput love of war is well represented in the armoury, with its dazzling jewelled daggers, and gold-embossed shields. Moustachioed and turbaned old retainers glare in regal hauteur at the tourists posing by the massive marble carved elephants at the entrance.
I escape the tourist hawkers along the Hawa Mahal and explore the bazaars of the Badi Chaupar, a labyrinth of alleys devoted to various crafts and trades. The lanes are packed with spice sellers, incense merchants, sari shops, flower markets, and food stalls with mouth-watering aromas.
I give into temptation and stop for a thick creamy mango lassi at Ramchandra Kulfi Bhandar, the best in town. I feel like a local as I dodge careening auto rickshaws and haggling housewives in colourful saris.
In the afternoon, I arrive by jeep at Naila Fort, the exquisite private residence of the Oberoi family (open to hotel guests by appointment), with its sweeping views across the Aravalli Hills and Man Sagar Lake. As the sun goes down in a blaze of colour, a regal attendant materialises, with a glass of champagne and cucumber sandwiches.
The next day, I visit the 16th century Amber Fort, ancient seat of the Kachwaha dynasty who founded Jaipur. In high season, you can queue for ages for an elephant ride to the top of the majestic citadel, but soon, I am bouncing along on a brightly decorated pachyderm called ‘Rani’.
Just below the fort is the old town and its historic Jagat Shiromani Temple, famous for its gateway, where carved marble gods and goddesses cavort, oblivious to the mere mortals below. As I enter, a bevy of village women all singing in Sanskrit are blessed by a saffron robed priest, with not a tourist in sight. I stroll along the cobbled street, past a beautifully preserved step well, where rollicking monkeys are having a noisy party.
My love of elephants takes me to the Jaipur Elephant Village, where a wiry young mahout is busily bathing a frisky young elephant in a muddy pond.
For me, the most special place in Jaipur is the Jal Mahal, a honey-coloured 18th century royal pleasure palace, recently restored to its former glory. The Jasmine Garden with its painted pavilions, flowers and waterways is a peaceful retreat from the chaotic city.
A gruelling seven-hour drive takes me to Udaipur, but I’m thankful to have Kuldeep as my driver. He’s a Rajput road warrior who blasts Bollywood love songs while weaving fearlessly between lorries.
Arriving at twilight, I see the fairytale beauty of the famed Lake Palace rising in white splendour from the sapphire waters of Lake Pichola, ringed by the undulating green Aravalli Hills.
The old town radiates from the colourful Jagdish Temple, thronged by worshippers and tourists alike. The lanes nearby are filled with shops and it all has a hippy vibe. I opt for a boat ride on the lake, where I can watch the daily life of Udaipur unfold in peace.
I stop off at Jag Mandir, an island palace built in 1620, and the sanctuary of Emperor Shah Jahan long before he built the Taj Mahal. When I first came, it was wonderfully ramshackle and atmospheric. Now it’s been ‘restored’ and turned into a tourist hangout.
In the James Bond film Octopussy, the villain’s lair is a fantastical Indian palace perched precariously atop a high peak. Called the Monsoon Palace, it is now open to the public, and has easily the best views of Udaipur. A lone guide greets me, happy to see a customer at last. Below, the city looks like a Rajasthani miniature painting, all its landmarks in perfect tiny detail spread across a shimmering canvas.
I decide to spend my last day exploring the treasures of the City Palace, where generations of madcap Maharanas have indulged their whims. The result is a series of extraordinary individual palaces, with unique features, such as a suite of furniture made entirely in crystal.
It’s late afternoon as I return to my hotel. On a terrace overlooking the lake, I watch the swirling arabesques of birds in the golden afternoon light. Once more, Rajasthan casts its spell and I know I will always come back.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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