Doe’s Ecotours – Page 3 – My Favourite Things

The havelis of Jaisalmer

Posted on April 7, 2013April 16, 2013 by sudhagee

Sometimes words are not enough to describe experiences; seeing Jaisalmer’s famous havelis (mansions) was one such experience. It was one of those moments when time just seemed to freeze, and only the mesmerising sight before you is in focus. Imagination takes over in an instant and one just gets transported to times gone by.

Of a time when artists and their art was nurtured and treasured and patronised.

Of a time when artists went unknown and the owners became famous through the very art of building such structures.

And of more recent times when modern tourists must have seen these havelis and gasped with delight at the work. Just as I did and just as I know others will when they see the havelis for the first time.

An abandoned Haveli in Jaisalmer — An abandoned *Haveli* in Jaisalmer

While I saw most of the havelis from the outside in passing, I did spend some time at the Patwon ki Haveli and the Nathmal Diwan Haveli in Jaisalmer. Both these havelis were so grand that at my first sight of them, I think just forgot to breathe.

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Three minutes with Demoiselle Cranes at Khichan

Posted on April 3, 2013August 1, 2014 by sudhagee

Our story begins on a warm, sunny day in late February this year.

A tourist bus turns off from the Bikaner – Jaisalmer highway at Phalodi and rattles its way towards a village called Khichan. As the bus passes a sign announcing that Khichan was just a kilometer away, excitement mounts. Sunglasses are readied as are cameras and binoculars. Soon the group will be seeing what they have come to Khichan for — to see the Demoiselle Cranes, which migrate here to escape the harsh winters of Eastern Europe.

Everybody in the group is a birding enthusiast. Everybody, but one person who is frankly quite bored with all the bird talk going around and trying to be as indifferent as possible to the contagious and palpable excitement filling the bus. That person is me.

As soon as the bus stops, the group tumbles out looking all around them. “Where are the birds? Where are the birds?” they demand. A local, who is passing by points vaguely and mutters “across that rise” at which the group sets off purposefully in that direction. I trail behind the group, dragging my feet and looking disinterestedly around me.

As the first of the group crests the rise, sounds of “Ooh ! Look at them, there they are”, floats back to me. My steps quicken of their own accord and in a minute I am over the rise myself and get my first glimpse of the Demoiselle Cranes. And stop in my tracks so suddenly that I almost slide all the way down to level ground.

The sight of so many live birds outside of a TV screen or a photograph is a sight that I am never going to forget for as long as I live.

Demoiselle Cranes 1

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There’s something about camels !

Posted on March 30, 2013March 31, 2013 by sudhagee

I am at a trinket shop in Udaipur looking for souvenirs to buy for family and friends back home in Mumbai. When I see a some quirky earrings in the shape of various animals and birds — elephants, dolphins, peacocks, butterflies, swans, deer, etc. — I decide to buy some of them for my niece.

As I set aside the ones I want to buy, I ask the shopkeeper, “Do you have camel earrings?”

“Look at these elephant ones, Madam. They will bring good luck and strength. These birds are so delicate, they will look beautiful. And the deer earrings, they are unique, Madam. Nowhere else will you find them in Udaipur. And this butterfly ones…

“I am buying a pair of all these. But I would also like to buy a pair of camel earrings. Do you have them?” I ask again.

“Um… yes,” he says, pulling out a pair from under the counter. “Why do you want to buy camel earrings anyway?”

“Because I like camels,” I say.

“You like camels?” the shopkeeper asks incredulously. “They are smelly, stubborn, and quite ugly. What is there to like in camels?”

“Oh there is plenty to like. You see, there is something about camels,” I smile.

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Forts of Rajasthan – 1: The Junagarh Fort of Bikaner

Posted on March 27, 2013June 5, 2017 by sudhagee

It was about 10.30 in the morning and vehicles were depositing tourists outside Bikaner’s Junagarh Fort. As I walked up to the Fort’s entrance, I overheard these comments:

“This is a fort? Isn’t a fort supposed to be, like, on a hill?”

“This is no fort. It looks more like a walled palace.”

“And why is it called Junagarh Fort? Junagadh is in Gujarat. Shouldn’t this be called Bikaner Fort or something?”

“Are you sure we are at the right place? Is this the only fort in Bikaner?

Now, if I had also been deposited outside the Fort in question like these people and was seeing the Fort for the first time, it is quite possible that I might have asked some of the questions myself. But since I had the opportunity to see the Fort from my hotel terrace the previous evening (see photo below), I knew that though it was not on a hill, it was a proper fort alright with a moat and all other fortifications befitting one.

Junagarh Fort, Bikaner, Rajasthan — View of the Junagarh Fort from the terrace of the Bhairon Vilas Palace around sunset

I could also see Bikaner’s flat landscape from the terrace, which indicated that the builders of the fort had no choice in the terrain. And, yes, I could also see that this was the only fort around. The only answer that the view of the Junagarh Fort from the hotel terrace did not give was why it was called so.

I hoped that a tour of the Fort complex would answer questions for all of us.

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The Bhairon Vilas Palace Hotel

Posted on March 22, 2013April 10, 2013 by sudhagee

“This is your room, Madam,” said the hotel attendant as he opened the door and switched on the lights.

And I saw red. Literally.

Bhairon Vilas Palace Hotel, Bikaner, Heritage Hotel — My room in Bhairon Vilas

“This is a very nice room, Madam,” beamed the attendant. “Don’t you like it?

“It’s too red, ” I said in a dazed voice taking in the red walls, red carpet, and furnishings shimmering away in different shades of red .

The attendant said soothingly, “This room is one of a kind, Madam. No other room is like this. In fact, all rooms are one of a kind. I promise that by the time you leave the hotel, you will love the room.”

He was right. By the time I left after 2 days and 2 nights at the hotel, I was not only in love with my red room, I was also in love with the hotel this room was a part of — the Bhairon Vilas Palace.

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Dear Rajasthan…

Posted on March 17, 2013July 4, 2013 by sudhagee

Yesterday my boss walked into my room to find me staring out of my office window, apparently lost in my own thoughts. He waited a while before clearing his throat and saying, “Thinking about that Rajasthan Trip of yours again?” My sheepish smile confirmed his guess that I had indeed been thinking my recent 11-day trip to Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Ranakpur, Kumbhalgarh, Chittorgarh and Udaipur.

It has been 2 weeks since I returned to Mumbai, but you are still in my mind during all my waking and sleeping hours. The bright blue skies, starlit nights, gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, and peacock calls are something that I sorely miss. It was a trip that challenged and reiterated in equal measure my notions of who and what you are. It was also a trip that delighted, surprised, awed, and sometimes saddened me.

Do you know that my visit generated 1,752 photographs? That 90 percent of the photographs have been deleted is testimony to my photography skills, and not due to any fault of yours. How clearly I remember the first of the many photographs I clicked: the arid yellow landscape, green shrubs, the bright blue skies and a woman clad in bright-coloured clothes.

Rajasthan Trip, Bikaner, Arid Desert — En route to Bikaner from the train

Bikaner Railway Station was the first of the many surprises you sprung up on me. Are you sure that it was not a sprawling haveli once-upon-a-time, which then got converted to a railway station? When I posted a picture of the railway station on my Facebook timeline, many people did not believe that it was a railway station !

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