India

Friday 10/16/2009 - Deogarh Mahal, Jeep Safari, Fort Seengh Sagar

We woke up at 6:30 a.m., showered, and got packed and ready to leave Jodhpur. We realized we hadn’t even seen the hotel pool yet, so we went to find it and take some pictures of the grounds. It was gorgeous (with a water wheel and waterfalls), and we wished we had some time to take a dip. Even this early in the morning, the sun was strong and warm.

We met Mukul in the indoor dining room at 8 o'clock for breakfast. We had moong dal chhila, bhaji, sambhar, medu vada, malai poha, hash browns, cereal, and fresh sweet lime juice. We then went back to the rooms and settled up money with Mukul. Diwali is seen as a clean start for business ventures, and it is tradition to get monetary matters and paperwork settled before the holiday. This way Mukul would be able to dispose of his receipts pre-Diwali.

As we left Ajit Bahwan Hotel, Mukul took our picture with the Rajasthani doorman. We got on the road at around 9:15. We passed through Pali, which is known for its dyeing industry. It is problematic because aquifers are damaged by the use of chemical dyes nowadays. There was a sign for the Pali “Bye Pass” [sic] which made us smile.

Then we passed through Sojat, an area which produces henna, and Siriyani, which is a Jain holy place. The landscape was getting greener and we started to see mountains again. Toward the end of the 3 1/2 hour drive, Mukul was a bit unsure about the best route to Deogarh, but he and Rajendra figured it out.

At around one o'clock, we arrived in Deogarh, whose name translates to “Fortress of the Gods.” Rajendra let us out at the city gate and we wandered through the narrow windy streets past some vendors' stalls. The streets were decorated for Diwali, with silver, gold, and blue garland outstretched above our heads. We browsed in the stalls and I purchased a bright yellow veil decorated with sequins and gold embroidery for my mom.

As we were walking toward the palace, a large army Jeep pulled up next to us. It was driven by Rani Saheba, the wife of the current Rawat of Deogarh. "Rawat" is a local title equivalent to "Raja". The royal couple lives in the Deogarh Mahal palace, which is also the heritage hotel where we would be spending the night. Rani Saheba was delighted to see Mukul, and she warmly greeted us. Craig and I were both unsure what the etiquette was in terms of shaking hands. Is it proper to shake hands with a royal woman? We didn't want to cause offense. She outstretched her hand and took away our doubts, and we relievedly shook hands with her. Her adult daughter was seated next to her in the Jeep. She said that her husband Rawat Nahar Singh II would be pleased to receive Mukul later in the afternoon.

We came to the 17th century Deogarh Mahal and were given cool wet towels and juice in the streetside office at check-in. We were led through an archway which had murals of horses flanking it. We were led across stone patios through courtyards to the palace itself. The architecture reminded me of wedding cake. It had so many different levels; all of the turrets, gazebos, and balconies looked like cake tiers. The palace was painted a mustard yellow with bright white trim.

We were brought to to our room, room 227, which is called Moti Mahal. Entering the room was like stepping back in time, into a world you previously only knew from movies or books. The room was decorated with frescoes from 1845, depicting events in the life of Krishna. It had niches and scalloped marble archways, translucent curtains, and the floors were covered with layered durry rugs. Mirrored mosaics created wainscoating around the lower half of the walls, framing paintings of battles on elephant-back. A fan and old fashioned glass globe lamps hung from the painted ceiling. Architectural scalloped marble archways separated the sleeping area from a small sitting area with two low chairs and a low table. A detailed quilt and square pillows covered with shiny gold brocade pillowcases adorned the bed. The bathroom had a deep soaking tub finished in blue tiles right next to a window for natural light. A small balcony was accessible from our room. It looked like the kind of museum rooms we had seen in some of the city palaces we had toured – yet we were actually going to get to sleep here? It was incredibly surreal.

Mukul’s room, Mayoor Mahal, (right next door to ours) was amazing too - it had inlaid mirrored mosaics of peacocks, window seats, and stained glass blocks embedded in the walls. The three of us went outside and sat in the courtyard near our room for what had become our traditional lunch of lassi and fritters. The silverware they gave us was heavy and hand-wrought. It was a real work of craftsmanship. An employee came by and gave Mukul a wrapped present, which turned out to be a copy of Rawat Nahar Singh II's new book (Rajasthani Painters Bagta and Chokha: Master Artists at Devgarh), which featured a photograph of the paintings from our room.

When we had finished lunch, we explored some of the common rooms of the yellow and white palace. It was as if we had the place to ourselves, as we saw no other guests at this time. we walked up to the roof to see the view. We could see gorgeous mountains in the distance. A neearby lake was just about all dried up. It's rather unfortunate for the gorgeous architecture of the palace that cell phone towers have been installed on the property. I took some photos from creative angles to try to block them out. It seems that different family members have different ideas of how to finance the ongoing upkeep of the massive palace.

Mukul said that he had found a nice can of tea and some cookies that Sunita had packed in his suitcase as a surprise, and we decided to have an impromptu tea party in our room. Craig and I sat in the low antique chairs, and Mukul spread out on the durry rug. We used the electric water pitcher (a staple in a lot of Indian hotel rooms, and very handy) to boil the bottled water and we enjoyed the tea and cookies.

We then took half an hour to freshen up and met at 4:15 for our next Jeep safari. One of the employees was shining up one of the brass antique cannons in front of the gift shop as we climbed into the middle seat of the oversized very military-looking olive drab Jeep. A boy who worked at the hotel hopped into the back seat with a picnic basket. Mukul sat in the front passenger seat. We passed through the narrow streets of town. We were surprised that the oversized Jeep even fit down some of these roads. It felt a bit like we were getting some kind of military escort as we headed out from the palace. We passed a six-foot-tall silver leaf Ganesh statue in a shrine. A man at a water pump gave water to his bull. Women in bright fuschia veils bought vegetables from a seller at a cart.

Our first stop was at a 400 year old step well. Multiple sets of staircases led down multiple levels to the water level. The water used to be crystal clear but now it is littered with trash. With the myriad of staircases and the afternoon sunlight and shadows, the whole scene looked like an Escher sketch, or the scene from the movie "Labyrinth" where the baby crawls around on upside down staircases. It looked absolutely surreal.

Across from the step well was a flight of stairs that led up to a 9th century cave temple called Anjaneshwar Mahedeva. There were two brightly painted life-sized elephant statues flanking the entrance, one of which had a huge beehive in its mouth. We hurried past this obstacle and entered the cave temple. It was dark inside, with just a little bit of daylight coming in through the door. Garland was strung across the cave and there were murals painted on the whitewashed rock walls. There was a shrine behind silver stamped doors and a silk curtain. We took some photos so that we could see the place illuminated with the flash. Mukul went down a corridor and started chanting “ohm” trying to hear an echo. This place of worship had been used for over a thousand years; it was just mind-blowing!

We exited the cave temple and got back into the Jeep. As I scooted over across the seat to let Craig in, my skirt got caught underneath me and ripped. I immediately started stressing about it, as we would be eventually meeting Rawat Saheb and Rani Saheba at the conclusion of our Jeep safari. I wanted to be properly attired and suitably respectful, and I was angry with myself for being careless.

As we drove through the countryside, the soil was rocky and there was a lot of green scrub-brush. We drove over some rough terrain, up and down sopme hills. We came across a narrow guage railroad, and the timing was succh that we saw a train go by. We saw some antelopes, and not far away were two golden jackals. They looked a lot like coyotes. When we passed a goatherd and his flock, we warned him about the proximity of the predators. Our driver stopped when we came across a star tortoise in the road. It was a small tortoise, and the plates of his shell had coloration that looked like starbursts. Mukul, having rescued some turtles and kept them as pets in Agra, picked it up and moved it out of harm's way.

The sun started to set and the sky got very orange. It had just set when we arrived at the Rawat's lakeside retreat property. Fort Seengh Sagar, one of the family's former forts, had been converted into a luxury villa. We were shown the four guest suites which were absolutely unbelievable. They were fully modernized, each with its own deluxe ensuite bathroom complete with stonework and waterfalls. There was amazing art everywhere we looked.

After our tour, we went out on the grounds and met Rani Saheba and Rawat Nawar Singh II on the shore of the private lake. I was still self-conscious about my torn skirt, but I'm sure in the twilight they didn't notice. The young man who came with us from the hotel broke open the picnic basket, handing us china teacups which he then filled with tea. I was feeling very self-conscious, and ended up spilling a bit of my tea. Not only did we not want to embarrass ourselves, we also didn't want to embarrass Mukul, who was introducing us as his friends. However, I was soon put at ease. Both husband and wife were very charming and down-to-earth, with an easy sophistication to them.

They had great things to say about Mukul. Rawat Sahib and Mukul share an interest in birds, so Mukul relayed the storyu of the camouflaged scops own that we had seen at Gajner Palace a few days ago. Rawat Ji told Mukul that an "owl" was sitting in front of him (in reference to Rawat Ji's own maturity and wisdom). We all sat next to the infinity pool (this was the first time Mukul had seen an infinity pool and he was impressed!) looking toward the lake with its egrets and pond lilies in the twilight. Rani Saheba engaged Craig and myself in conversation. She said that President Obama was the first U.S. President to give a Diwali message, and she was very impressed by that.

Shortly after 7 o’clock, we looked at the stars and were able to point out the space station to them (we had seen it in Sam a few nights ago and had asked Steve if a shuttle was up, but it turned out to be the space station). We said our goodbyes to Rawat Ji and Rani Saheba and thanked them for their company and hospitality.

I had been so concerned with not appearing like a tourist snapping pictures of Mukul's meeting with his royal friends that I wound up not taking any photos at the fort. I somewhat regret that now, as I would love to have had a photo of the three of them together, and of the beautiful lakeside property. But I didn't want to cheapen the experience. It was a lovely night, and we will treasure the memories, even without photographs.

We drove back the 5 km to Deogarh Mahal. The Jeep had no roof so we were able to continue looking up at the amazing stars for the whole ride. When we got back to town, we found it all lit up with Diwali lights. We changed our clothes (out of my torn skirt and into my salwar kameez) and then headed for the hotel's dance and musical performance. We sat with the other guests and watched as men were performing mujsic and women were dancing. The dancers had cymbals strapped to their legs and they sat on the ground, swinging cords with metal tips, which rang the cymbals in a rhythmic pattern. They then stood up and danced standing on the blades of swords and on upright metal cans. They balanced ten foot flaming pots on their heads as they danced around the courtyard. I got picked along with some other tourists women to go up and dance - always fun but very tiring and by the time I was done I was majorly overheated and in need of something to drink.

After the performance, we and the other guests headed to the rooftop restaurant for dinner. A table was reserved with (more or less) Craig's name on a card. From up here we had a beautiful view of the castle. We felt like royalty ourselves in this lovely atmosphere. The scale of the place was so large that even with a few other groups of tourists, we felt like we had the place to ourselves. For dinner we had subz panchranga, dinghi matar, and paneer kadhai. I had pineapple juice with vodka and the boys had beer. Mukul accidentally poured some beer into Craig’s half-full water glass, which caused a lot of laughter and jokes about Mukul being shut off. As we were eating dinner, we could see the silhouette of a young child on a neighboring porch. The child was running around exclaiming excitedly, “The lights! The lights! Diwali lights!” It was very cute. For dessert we had a spinach dessert specialty of the house and Indian ice cream with fruit and nuts.

We took a few night photos of the palace, all lit up nicely with floodlights. Then we went back to the room. I borrowed Mukul’s laptop and wrote in the journal. The whole day had been so surreal. We went to bed at 11:30, feeling like a prince and princess in our royal chambers.


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Deogarh
Vegetable seller, Deogarh

Vegetable seller, Deogarh


Our room - Moti Mahal, Deogarh Mahal

Our room - Moti Mahal, Deogarh Mahal


Our room - Moti Mahal, Deogarh Mahal

Our room - Moti Mahal, Deogarh Mahal


Deogarh Mahal

Deogarh Mahal


Deogarh Mahal

Deogarh Mahal


Tea party in our room at Deogarh Mahal

Tea party in our room at Deogarh Mahal


Jeep safari

Jeep safari


400 year old step well

400 year old step well


Entrance to Anjaneshwar Mahedeva, 9th century cave temple

Entrance to Anjaneshwar Mahedeva, 9th century cave temple


Rajasthani dancers, Deogarh Mahal

Rajasthani dancers, Deogarh Mahal


Deogarh Mahal

Deogarh Mahal


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