What can be as incredible as going to a new town and living the life of a local there? Going to a beautiful city and live a day like a royal 😀 Wondering which town I am talking about? When the word ‘royal’ is mentioned, the brain automatically jumps to one name – Rajasthan.

Although I have been born and brought up in this land of royals, it is now that I am truly witnessing the varied faces and colors of Rajasthan. Coming back to the point, on an office road trip few days back, I visited the famous and surreal blue city – Jodhpur, for the very first time in my life. A die hard lover of road trips (good company and good music are obvious prerequisites), I have always valued them more than any other kind of journey, the reason being – watching the roads take us from urban areas to rural ones to highway, and leading us to the eternal untouched beauty – Mountains.

While I am used to visiting these towns in Rajasthan and stay in beautiful yet not too flamboyant properties, it was pretty spectacular to have entered the grand gate of Ajit Bhawan Palace and literally feel royalty in every air bubble. Another feather in the cap was added when I called the room service from the grand and gorgeous room and they addressed me as ‘Hukum’. It was almost a ‘Khoobsurat’ moment 😉

The first day I was drowned in the field work but that did not refrain me from noticing that every time I would step out of my room to get fresh air, the staff would already be cleaning the room. A really humid but a satisfactory day was followed by a visit to ‘On The Rocks’ which happens to be their cafe cum restaurant cum bar for years and the first one to have served non vegetarian food in the city. After renovation, it’s truly an equivalent to a rocky experience with exotically done interiors and eccentric yet thoughtful props used inside the place which kept me wondering what all they were about.

Despite being extremely short on time and an incorrigible non-morning person since childhood, it was a cakewalk to wake up early in the morning with the sun shining up there because no way was I going to miss the bustling blue city located in the old quarters of Jodhpur. Excitedly, we picked up our cameras, sat in the royal jeep, and took off! Well, the jeep dropped us outside the blue city and rest of it was to be covered on foot. The truth is that the way the blue city looks and shines at the time of rising sun, is matchless, completely justifying Jodhpur’s second sobriquet – Sun City 🙂
As we began walking and the lanes kept getting narrower, there was the sight I had always seen in movies, photographs- the bucolic streets, houses, cafes, temples, all of them painted in the happiest shade of blue – indigo!

Although the reason behind the blue color stays debatable, it’s interesting to know that some say it’s due to the majority of houses owned by Brahmins and the color being associated with them, some think that termites munched the walls and some call ‘indigo’, a natural dye the reason of the blue tint.

And then there was a sight which I had never seen before, dirty streets full of garbage, unbearable stench and animal faeces horrible enough to drive us away. It was indeed sad to see that one of the favourite tourist spots of Rajasthan has been so brutally ignored that it was impossible to even pass by that street.

On our way back, we found a little pretty cafe, whose rooftop seemed to be the ideal place to get a panoramic view of the city. But what we did not notice were these not so tiny turtles ambling along the terrace, looking beautiful in that perfect sunlight.

With little energy left after a walk in the excruciating heat and the strongest sun, we left for the mighty Mehrangarh fort, one of the largest forts in India, built around 1460 by Rao Jodha. Mehrangarh is one of the few forts of India that has been used for shooting a lot of Hollywood movies viz. James Bond and Dark Knight Rises.
Moreover, Mehrangarh happens to be the only fort in India with a working elevator which makes this worth a visit.

To our sheer serendipity, the colossal fort was surrounded by a crowd of villagers who had gathered there for Ramdevra Mela also known as Jodhpur Mela that takes place every year. The sight of men and women clad in the most vibrant clothes walking in queues was a truly soothing view to end this short yet fulfilling morning visit to Jodhpur.