No cheap thrills here. Jodhpur is the true Blue City that has made royal living a part of every man’s life, says RITU PANDEY
Walking around Jodhpur’s Tripoliya Bazaar can be a heady experience. It’s hot and dusty, chaotic and colourful, modern and medieval, all at the same time. At first glance, I’m struck by the number of women in floral silk ghagra-cholis on the road. But these aren’t the ghagra-cholis I usually relate Rajasthan with. So even though the shops are overflowing with colours of Bandhni, the market place is abuzz with floral prints.
The Bishnoi women, I’m told, wear ghagras different from the usual leheriya and tie-and-dye garments that Rajasthani women so love. They just carry the signature bright tie-and-dye odhnis. Bishnois are followers of Guru Jambheshwar, who preached nature worship around 540 years ago. The community is the reason the famed black buck survives in the region despite years of hunting. So much so that way back in 1730, 363 Bishnois are said to have given up their lives to protect Khejrali trees in the area.
COlOURS OF CONTRADICTION
Contradiction is a way with things in Jodhpur. If the extreme nature-loving Bishnois go to the extent of giving up their lives to save trees and black bucks around them, Marwaris lend the city its strong vegetarianism. In the land famous for spicy non-vegetarian delicacies such as lal maas and safed maas, it’s the vegetarian fare that screams loud at eateries, big and small. lehsun kachori, malpua, feni, fafda, faluda, dal baati, churma, sev… there’s plenty to choose from at the bustling Janata Sweet Shop. And that stands true for your shopping bag too. Saris, odhnis, chunris, jackets, laakh bangles, jootis, handicrafts, bags, namkeens, there’s so much to pack in that one can almost lose one’s head splurging. And yet regret having left that one thing they wanted to buy so badly. Just as I do. The jacket I am looking for turns out to be in silk instead of cotton and so I decide to return the next day.
On the way to my hotel, Shyam, my flamboyant cab driver (a newly acquired Tablet was strategically displayed on the dashboard), gives me a lowdown on the touristy spots around. Any personal favourites, I ask inquisitively to get an idea of local preferences. “My village, which is around 150 km from here. I’m tired of seeing Umaid Bhawan Palace, Mehrangarh Fort and Jaswant Thada,” comes the prompt reply.
The young and the restless appear to have little patience for Jodhpur’s history and its languid pace. It is disturbing. But not disheartening. In fact, in a strange way, it pushes one to find out just what keeps the world’s high and mighty so enamoured of this city other than its forts and palaces. Of course, it has to be something more than the mundane wide roads and the mushrooming malls, if not antiquity. Is it the mesmerising notes of the mystical MaandIJ Or is it the high of polo parties and sipping wine atop the Mehrangarh FortIJ Or the sight of ethereal sand change shapes under a full moonIJ Or is it just the captivating red sandstone structuresIJ At every street I am completely taken in by the rows of ordinary buildings in sandstone, which make them look so extraordinary. “Only the malls use bricks here, the locals use only sandstone for construction,” informs Shyam. Talk of local building material and localised techniques.
CAST IN SANDSTONE
In fact, even my place of stay, Ranbanka Palace, a classic heritage hotel, is a pink sandstone structure built almost a century ago by Ajit Singh Rathore, the younger brother of Umed Singh, the erstwhile ruler of Jodhpur. The royal family still stays in a part of the hotel premises. Regal and warm are the words that sum up Ranbanka Palace. Be it the architecture, the hospitality or the food, the place has Rajput hospitality well packaged to take you back in time. “Heritage hotels are difficult to maintain. A lot goes in letting them stay the piece of history that they are, not just in terms of objects but also the feel. One person sits by the pool through the day only to pick the leaves because trees are so essential here,” says Ranjit Singh Yadav, the restaurant manager at the hotel.
lIFE KINGSIZE
Evidently, post-Independence, the Rajasthan royalties were pretty quick in figuring out the key to maintaining their grand properties — link them to tourism. From Umaid Bhawan (partly a hotel and a museum) to Mehrangarh Fort (with a museum and a café) to smaller private residences such as Ranbanka Palace, the architectural heritage of Jodhpur and other towns of the state today stays intact as living, breathing habitats, and no decaying relics of a distant past. And the opportunity this lends to the ordinary traveller is immense. After all who doesn’t want to experience life kingsizeIJ The hotel is full through the tourist season and the rest of the time is taken up by weddings. “Traditional weddings are in these days and such locations make an ideal setting. Even the foreigners want it,” says Yadav. It doesn’t take long to guess why.
At how many hotels do we come across “khamma ghadi” greetings by men in colourful turbans and dhotis with folded hands and a smile at every turnIJ And which one gives you a chance to have a royal candle light dinner atop a private balcony while the songs of the Manganiyars reverberate belowIJ And where do you wake up to the sight of humming birds and swifts chirping on your terrace and then get to sip tea or smoke a hukkah (whatever your taste) sprawled on a cot under the sunIJ It’s about luxury and style, the earthy, royal way. And it must be experienced at leisure, not in haste. “80 per cent of our clients are leisure tourists, who spend nothing less than a week or a fortnight here. There’s a lot of repeat tourist. In fact, those are the kind of people who prefer Jodhpur. The come-and-go ones are those who do the desert circuit (Jaipur, Pushkar, Jodhpur, Sam, Jaisalmer and Bikaner) in a week,” reveals Yadav.
DESI TADKA
Corporate consultant Bibi Sena is at the fag end of her five-day trip when I meet her. But the Indonesian has already started planning for her next visit to the city. “Jodhpur is safe and I like the pace and the Indianness here,” she says. Those last three words almost just nail it for me. Its Indianness is what perhaps makes the Blue City so appealing to the outsider, the everyday contrasts that define India. Jodhpur comes to represent all of them in small ways. And it does so at its own leisurely pace. It may disappoint if one comes looking for typical city-type nightlife and thrills — pubs and discos — here (most such places close by 10 pm). But it’s a treasure trove of experiences if you’re willing to experiment the Indian way.
Copyright: Exotica, the wellness and lifestyle magazine from The Pioneer Group, available in all rooms of select five-star hotel chains