Romancing the Road

If you8217;ve 8216;done8217; Jaipur, give the city a miss and carry on to Ajmer instead. That8217;s what we did8212;only to find ourselves in the tightest crush ever of human beings. Visions of sitting at the dargah listening to qawwalis and watching a few dervishes vanished into thin air as I found myself caught in eddies of human movement with my chaadar and prasad. A word of advice: Check when the Urs is on and avoid the dargah.

But don8217;t miss the Adhai-din-ka-Jhonpra on the outskirts. Legend has it that it was constructed in 1153 in two-and-a-half days, hence the name. Taragarh Fort, Akbar8217;s palace which now houses a museum, and the Nasiyan Jain temple are other must-sees. Avoid staying the night if you can and drive on. The 200-km stretch from Ajmer to Jodhpur remember to turn right from NH 8 at Beawar unless you want to carry on to Udaipur via Rajsamand directly is a class act. As you approach the edge of the Thar, the landscape changes subtly and you find yourself flying on an endless ribbon of gorgeous black tarmac flanked by desert sands and scrubs.

Lahariyas, makhania lassis and mawa kachoris are a few of the things that make life worth living. And they are at their finest in Jodhpur. As you sample the thick lassi and dig into the steaming, stickily sweet kachori at Mishrilal8217;s in Ghantaghar absolutely the only place to have them, you decide the world is a fantastic place. Forays into the Sardar Bazaar for embroidered cushion covers, spices and other gorgeous stuff only reinforces that belief.

While in Jodhpur, hit the Mehrangarh Fort8212;it is exceedingly well-run, complete with a neat little cafe run by a trust of the erstwhile royal family of Jodhpur. There are no touts, so a guide8212;available for Rs 1008212;is a great idea. Among the must-not-misses: the cannonball marks on the second gate, the sati hand imprints near Lohapol, the Rang Mahal and the absolutely stunning view of the blue city from the southern ramparts.

The Jaswant Thada, the white marble cenotaphs of the royal family, a little way off from the fort, is also worth seeing. The Umaid Bhawan Palace built for Maharaja Umaid Singh has a great museum, including the most exquisite antique crockery, silver, weapons and clocks. You could, of course, also stay there if your budget permits.

Next, the road led us south to Mount Abu. It8217;s impossible not to fall in love with the place, never mind the hordes of Gujarati tourists who descend with frightening regularity. In fact, they have a positive spin-off: good, reasonably priced, all-you-can-eat Gujju thalis are available everywhere.

Named after Arbuda, a serpent who rescued Nandi, Lord Shiva8217;s bull, Mount Abu is centered around Lake Nakki the lake8217;s name derives from the legend that a god scooped it out using his nakh or fingernails. Guru Shikhar 1,722 m is a great place for a fantastic view but the only truly must-do is a visit to the Dilwara temples.

Imagine for a moment that someone has armfuls of the most exquisite ivory lace in delicate patterns. He tosses it up in the air where it catches a gust of breeze, spreads out and freezes for eternity. All of Dilwara is like that, almost impossibly beautiful.

The road to Udaipur is one of the greenest, most picturesque roads I have ever travelled on. Time yourself8212;Udaipur is about 4-5 hours away from Jodhpur8212;so that you reach Gogunda before sunset, unless you wish to risk being ambushed by the Bhils, who do this by the simple means of erecting roadblocks.

Surrounded by seven lakes, this romantic city is steeped in Rajput chivalry and prides itself on not intermarrying with the 8216;8216;Mughal invaders8217;8217;. We spent four days in and around Udaipur8212;living in a quaint haveli on the lake, admiring miniature paintings and glazed tiles, and visiting the astounding Fateh Prakash palace, where the Crystal Gallery boasts of the only known four-poster crystal bed in the world. A lake tour to Jagmandir, a night at the fabulous Lake Palace Hotel, and, inevitably, watching bits of Octopussy every night every restaurant and hotel seems to screen the film which features Udaipur, rounded off our trip and, reluctantly, we headed back home, cursing the trucking traffic and longing to turn back.