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We woke up at 5:30 a.m. and enjoyed the warm water from Hemant's nice solar heated shower. We packed up and were downstairs for breakfast by 7. We had toast, cheese, bananas, juice, tea, and grilled cucumber, cheese, onion, and tomato sandwiches. Hemant and Alka's son Abhinav sat with us and looked through the photos on our camera while we ate. We said our goodbyes to the Agrawal family and thanked them for their tremendous hospitality before loading up the car.
We left the house just after 7:30. We talked in the car about the fact that Craig's brother Steve had received a summons for month-long federal jury duty. Mukul didn't know a whole lot about the judicial system in the U.S., so we explained jury duty and our past experiences with it. By 9:15, the surrounding landscape started to get sandy and we could tell we were headed into the desert. Trees were planted on dunes in order to stabilize the ground and decrease the severity of sandstorms. All of the plants that we saw were adapted to the desert. The landscape once again reminded us of Mali, but it was greener. We started to see sheep as opposed to all goats in this area. The highway was in surprisingly good shape and we were able to keep a solid 100 km/hr pace most of the time. We stopped in Fatehpur, a small town which is half way between Jaipur and Bikaner. The town was established in the 15th century. Its claim to fame are the various 19th and early 20th century havelis (mansions which belonged to the merchant class) in various stages of disrepair. They had elaborate facades and frescoes depicting Hindu motifs as well as scenes from secular life. Scalloped archways and elaborately carved wooden doors yielded glimpses into foyers with mirrored mosaic ceilings and open courtyards. We wandered through the dusty streets of the quaint town admiring the havelis. We garnered a lot of attention from locals walking the streets and driving their donkey carts. One haveli had an exterior wall ripped off which provided a cross-sectional view of the house. It looked like what might be left standing after an earthquake. We could see inside the top level window of one house and could get a peek of some mirror work inside. After walking through town, we met up with Rajendra at a small food stall. He was sitting in the doorway drinking tea. Mukul bought us piping hot samosas that we could barely hold on to without burning our fingers. Craig's habit of keeping napkins in his pocket came in handy as we wrapped the piping hot samosas to spare our fingers. Meanwhile a man sitting in the shade was hand rolling chick pea flour into little balls and frying them. As soon as they were done cooking, Mukul bought us some of these as well. It was a delicious snack. A donkey cart was parked nearby, and the donkey had a pretty purple flower on its forehead. Once we had finished our food and Rajendra had finished his tea, we got back into the car and continued our journey. We passed by some condo developments and Mukul explained that a lot of Indians who work abroad and send money back to their families have been investing in property in India. We passed some fields of leafy greens and Mukul said that they were peanut fields. We said that we had never seen actual peanut plants. Mukul spoke to Rajendra in Hindi and Rajendra stopped the car, hopped out, and returned with a handful of peanuts for us to inspect. We saw camel carts on the road, piled high with goods to be transported. After a while, I needed a "comfort stop", as Mukul so euphemistically puts it, so we stopped at the roadside Hotel Maharani. The facilities there were rather primitive, but it did the job. Craig got sprayed with water while he was in there. After using the facilities, we sat down at a table and enjoyed a Fanta before continuing on our way. At 1 p.m., we arrived at the Junagarh Fort in Bikaner. We were earlier than expected due to the great condition of the roads. The fort's construction dates back to the late 1500's. It has been the home of 20 successive rulers of Bikaner between the time of its construction and 1902. It was interesting to see many of the furnished rooms within the fort. There was a mesh "ceiling" above the courtyards to keep birds out of the architecture. There were small cannons in the courtyards. Most of the fort was built out of sandstone, but there were some use of marble as well, particularly in the interiors. Small details such as elephant carvings on the tops of columns made the architecture very interesting. You could see some foreign influence in the design in details such as blue and white Chinese tiles. The Karan Mahal (Hall of Public Audience) contained a red throne and some very plush carpets. Anup Mahal (the Privy Council Room or Coronation Room) had gold wall decorations, a throne, and some carpets which were made by inmates from the fort's jail once upon a time. The ceiling was elaborately painted in gold leaf. The Badal Mahal (Hall of Clouds) was decorated to look like a monsoon in progress. The bright blue walls were punctuated with curlicue white clouds. There were wall niches containing sculptures and statues of Hindu deities. Back in its heyday it would have had functioning fountains with running water to complete the illusion. There were museum articles on display, including swords, wooden sandals, and Siddhis (boards of upright spikes that people called Jasnathis were able to step on without getting injured). We saw a magnificent set of doors which were covered in embossed silver. There was a room called the Phool Mahal which was locked, and the staff said that it was private. Mukul asked to speak to the curator, as it is one of his favorite rooms in the fort. It is the oldest part of the palace, having been built by Raja Rai Singhji. Mukul was able to work his magic and a man came over and unlocked the door for us. We were led into a suite of rooms which had the most amazing paintings and elaborately painted relief carvings of deities embellished with crystals. In these relief carvings, there were representations of Vishnu, Krishna playing his flute, Hanuman the monkey god, and Ganesh the elephant god sitting on a lotus. We also recognized the now-familar motif of Vishnu in his half-lion Narasimha form killing the demon Hiranyakasipu. There were paintings on the walls as well. Some depicted vases and jars. Others, depicting hunting scenes, were as old as 300 years, but their colors were still vibrant. Light filtered in through stained glass windows and projected jewel-like colors on the marble floor. Delicate piedra dura inlay work on white marble walls looked stunning. To think that this room was (today, anyway) not open to the general public! What a shame, as it was surely a treasure box. We were thankful that Mukul had been successful at gaining entry for us. Otherwise we might not have known what we were missing! One building housed a transportation museum. It included seats which were strapped atop elephants, palinquins (litters), and even a shot-down World War I DH-9 De Haviland biplane which was gifted to the Maharaja from the British government. Having thoroughly explored Junagarh Fort, we headed to the nearby Lallgarh Palace Hotel. We used their fancy rest rooms (after seeing the automatic hand soap dispenser and towel dispenser, Mukul joked that we should have had our comfort stop here instead of the Hotel Maharani). We sat in their pleasant dining room and enjoyed a glass of rose lassi. Next we headed to "National Research Centre on Camel," a camel breeding center. They artificially inseminate females with the best gene pool to breed the strongest most durable camels. Camels have a myriad of uses in the desert environment of Rajasthan. You see them pulling carts and carrying loads the way people would use a pickup truck. They are even ridden by border patrol troops in this region which borders Pakistan. Mukul bought us pistachio and saffron flavored camel milk ice cream treats which were quite nice. We passed the corral labeled"stud camel" and noticed a bird sitting on one camel's back, apparently eating any insects which decided to alight on his fur. We then walked over to the corral and the female camels came over to say hello to us and the other tourists. They were very docile and sweet. One kept nuzzling my hat and eventually licked the back of my neck as we posed for a photo. I held onto the string for my hat as I had visions of her eating it At 3:30, the camels were led out of their corrals to have some water. Some would stray and try to eat some eucalyptus but their handler verbally scolded them and they soon got back to the water troughs. A dog came through and started to hassle the camels, but when they turned and looked at him head-on, stamping their feet and squaring off against him, he ran away scared. The late afternoon light was really beautiful, and the camels seemed to be glowing in the golden light. After this we went for a short drive to Deshnok to the Karni Mata temple. Upon reaching town, there was a sign which read "World Famous Karni Mata Temple." The temple is an important one for Hindus, but it has also gained some notoriety among non-Hindus because it is a place where rats are cared for and revered. We had seen it on television, and were interested to take a look for ourselves. The temple's namesake, Karni Mata, lived in the 14th century and was worshiped as an incarnation of the goddess Durga. There are several versions of the story of how rats came to be sacred to her and her followers. All seem to agree that Karni Mata asked Yama, the god of death, to restore life to a deceased young man of the Charan (storyteller) clan. Some say that it was her step-son or nephew, others that it was the son of one of her clansmen. In one version of the story, Yama says that it is not possible to restore the young man to life because he had already been reborn as a rat. But Yama promised her that going forward, all of her male descendants would be born as rats in her temple. In another version of the story, Karni Mata was angry at Yama for not helping her, and she angrily swears that all of her descendants will be immediately reborn as rats so that they will not spend time in Yama's kingdom. Either way, Hindus agree that the rats in Karni Mata's temple are temporary vessels for human souls while they await reincarnation as humans. This allows them to be reborn as Charans rather than other castes or clans. White rats are supposed to be particularly auspicious. We took off our shoes and gave them to the attendant in exchange for shoe covers. We looked around and although most pilgrims were barefoot, Mukul was going to wear the booties so we decided that it would be ok if we did too. We expected to be a little uncomfortable and grossed out, as rats are generally something to avoid in our culture. But we wanted to be open minded and fully experience this surreal place. A diagram of the temple complex can be found here. We entered through a marble gate into the pink-walled temple complex. The marble is carved in various motifs, including depictions of the rats themselves. The rats also appear embossed on the large silver doors within the archways. We found ourselves in an outdoor courtyard with netting high above our heads in an effort to keep out birds of prey. We passed some grain repositories where rats were gorging themselves right at the source. Some pigeons (which must have flown in through the doors) were in on the act as well. Across the courtyard is the white marble entranceway to the shrine. There is a railing guiding you toward the shrine, and Craig warned me, "Don't lean against the railing!" I looked down and noticed rats lounging amongst the metal scrollwork. Some young Indian men were in front of us, and they were really skeeved out by all of the rats. We were glad that as foreigners, we weren't the most squeamish ones. The black and white marble checkerboard floor was sticky and peppered with rat droppings and crumbs of food. Rats congregated around pans of water, taking a drink. Though there were a lot of rats (it has been estimated that 20,000 rats find refuge and sustenance in Karni Mata's Deshnok temple), it wasn't as crowded as I had envisioned. I had expected it to be difficult to walk without stepping on rats (a heinous sin, given that they are the repositories of human souls), but this was not the case. The rats congregated in corners and near the railing, but they were not underfoot. Craig and I weren't allowed to approach the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine. "Indians Only!" we were told. We were a bit frustrated at this, as we had paid our entrance and camera fees like everyone else, and it didn't seem to be a policy of the temple, but instead the preference of some of the pilgrims. But not wanting to offend anyone or cause a scene, we decided to be satisfied with the photo of the shrine that they allowed me to snap. We went back out and watched the rats for a while. It was interesting to observe their behavior. Even at this temple, where their food is basically limitless, their instinct is still to fight over resources. They would crowd in together, jockeying for position around the perimeter bowl. One clever guy walked the rim of the bowl to a side where there were no other rats where he could get his fill of water. Pilgrims visiting this holy place touch the ground that the rats have walked on, and give them offerings of food. They share food with the rats, believing it to be a blessing. In addition to physically sharing food with the living rats, they also symbolically share food with the rat carvings on the walls of the temple complex, by pressing a dollop of stickyfood onto the mouths of teh rat carvings. There were huge empty cauldrons in which a milk drink is prepared for the crowds of people at festival time. Rats hung out beneath the cauldrons. we could imagine how frenetic this place must get at festival time; it must be something to see. On the walk back to the car, we passed a cart from which a man and his sons were selling sugar cane juice. They would feed a stalk of sugar cane through a press which flattens the stalk and extracts the sugar cane juice. It looked very tempting to us in the afternoon heat, but Mukul advised against it. He had bought us street food this morning with no qualms, so we didn't feel he was being overly cautious now. We trust his judgment. Instead he stopped at a small shop to buy some water and lentil snacks for our ride. We were trying to get to other side of town, to beat a train which would cause us to be stuck for a while. Due to construction, certain roads were closed. The whole way the sun was setting and wer tried to get photos, but none of them successfully captured it. About half an hour out of Bikaner, we arrived at our hotel, thehref="http://www.heritagehotelsofindia.com/india/gajner-palace.html">Gajner Palace, just as the last rays of sun disappeared from the sky. We climbed a stone staircase and entered through scalloped archways into the reception area. We were immediately swept off our feet. The place was absolutely beautiful, on 6000 acres of land. It was built in early 1900's by Sir Ganga Singhji, and was used as a hunting resort by former Maharajas and visiting British dignitaries in the days of the British Raj. At the reception desk we were given jasmine flower leis, cold wet facecloths for washing up, and a glass of orange soda. Needless to say, we felt right at home. We crossed two courtyards with fountains and gorgeous landscaping to get to our room (#121). Only much later did we realize that this was the same number as our elephant yesterday at the Amber Palace. Was this our lucky number for the trip? Parakeets were flying everywhere; they filled the trees and their song permeated the air. Our room turned out to be a small suite with a sitting room, fireplace, flat screen TV, marble floors, etc. As we were getting settled, Mukul came to the door excitedly to tell us that he had spotted a scops owl in a tree using a flashlight that he borrowed from the hotel. We headed outside to take a look. The hotel was situated on a lake, and had beautiful gardens and courtyards. There was even a small temple on the grounds. When we got to the tree, the owl was so well camouflaged in the knot of the tree that you could barely tell it was an owl at all and not just part of the tree. We believed Mukul, as he has a very keen eye for spotting birds, but we couldn't quite discern it ourselves. It reminded us of those 3-D images where you have to unfocus your eyes slightly to see a hidden image. It was twilight and absolutely massive fruit bats were flying by our heads and landing in the trees. We could hear jackals howling in the distance and it was very spooky. I tried to record the sound but of course it got dead silent the moment I turned by camera on. We wandered around the prettily lit gardens looking for more owls. We really felt isolated from the rest of the world. This place was magnificent. We contemplated eating outside on the patio overlooking the lake. We sat down and staff immediately arrived to set the table and bring us menus. But we found it to be just a little bit buggy and we opted to eat in the dining room instead. The decor was eclectic, featuring crystal chandeliers as well as taxidermied deer heads. Craig and I each ordered large platters and shared with one another. I got the veg thali (mattar paneer, cabbage, lentils, okra, cucumber yogurt, and basmati rice) and Craig got the tandoori platter (mutton, chicken, and fish). Mukul encouraged us to eat meat where it was available. It was all incredibly yummy. We all split an order of cheese naan. Mukul and Craig had a beer and I had a fresh lime soda (fresh lime juice, sugar cane syrup, and soda water). We discussed the possibility of one day visiting southeast Asia together. Craig and I would like to visit Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. Mukul has been to Angkor Watt, and would love to go to Vietnam. Leave it to us to start planning furture trips before even finishing this one! Mukul also suggested that we should come back to visit the south of India (Kerala) some day. Our Indian visas would be valid for ten years... For dessert we had vanilla ice cream. They brought us mouth freshener afterwards, similar to the way restaurants at home might give mints. They are little sprinkles of minty freshness that you toss into your mouth with a spoon. Mukul retired to his room after dinner, but we headed to the courtyard to watch the Rajasthani music and dance performance. There were male musicians (harmonium, drum, mouth organ, and sets of 4 wooden clackers) and three female dancers, one of whom was a child. They were all dressed up in traditional Rajasthani style. They were sitting on the ground waiting for an audience, and when we took seats in the outdoor chairs, we got a private performance. The music was great, and the men vocalized as they played. The women danced one at a time. The dancing was like a combination of hula, belly dance, and whirling dervish. By now a bunch of other tourists had arrived. The young girl chose me and one of the guys to come up and dance. We danced to the rhythm and had a lot of fun. It involved a lot of spinning around. After my dance, I took my seat. They were trying to get other tourist women to dance, but most of them declined. In order to be a good sport, when they asked me again I accepted. I got very hot and tired but finished out the song. The young girl would do backbends and pick up a ring with her eye(!) and pick up tip money with her teeth. We were having a great time, but at 10 o’clock it stopped abruptly. We thanked the performers and retired to the room. I wrote in the journal and we went to sleep at 11:11:11. View Larger Map |
               Rajasthani folk dancer and musicians at Gajner Palace (20 second clip) Rajasthani folk dancer and musicians at Gajner Palace (20 second clip) Rajasthani folk dancer and musicians at Gajner Palace (20 second clip) 
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