I find the past more beautiful and prominent, than the present and the future. The city of Jaipur has history written on it walls. Its royal clan has the the valor running in their blood, for how else they would have survived the most tumultuous of invaders with the might of their sword and their mind. I have to do my little bit to Jaipur.It was then i decided to write about Jaipur.
But I had to ask myself about how much I know about my hometown?.
I had visited many of its historical monuments over the years and have taken photos.
As I child, I had gone to see the Jaigarh fort in Amber. There, I had stood near the largest cannon in Asia. Those days, photography is only for firangees.
Later, After my marriage I had visited the Amber palace sometimes. By then, I had bought a canon model F1n camera (with power winder). We clicked a few snaps Jodily. Later my job took me to different parts of India and landed me finally back to Jaipur couple of years back.
Now, I have a lot of time for reading. Its one thing that keeps me going to forget the loneliness that my wife`s departure had brought. I socialize so little, as i always say it too difficult to become a civilian back again. Rather I find solace in visiting the past.
The next day I took my contessa classic car for service to some second hand repair shop near sindhi camp. I had to cross the walled city of old Jaipur at two places to reach there. I had got up early and whizzed past the old pink city. The red sandstone walls stood ablaze in the morning sun. My car flunked on the Tripolia bazaar and refused to start. The bonnet let out fumes of vapour from it sides. I opened the bonnet and let some hawa to enter. Somewhere do
wn the road is a structure known for its forced circulation of air, the Hawa Mahal. But my cars cooling system seemed to have given up.
As I was sipping a tea to cool myself as the car cools itself down, I saw a an elephant driven towards the direction of Amber town in a truck. It would have completed it regular service unlike my Contessa.
A day later, I decided to drive towards Amber with my loyal palanquin called as Contessa classic (1980 model) which churns out 39 horses power and gives a maximum speed of 30kmph.
It would have been the beginning days of Jaipur, Sawai Jai Singh I formed the new city of Jaipur on the foothills of the ancestral town of Amber. I had always loved to visit the town of Amber which is around 15 mins drive from Jaipur. In my contessa, it took more than an hour. The carburettor breathed heavily as it neared the Amber. With a lot of ooomph-imphhh I reached the foothill of the mountains which house the Amber palace, Jaigarh and Nahargarh forts. Understanding this place is important to know about what made our kings so strong.
For this we have to go back a little, to the humble beginnings of Kachchwaha clan of Rajputs.
Amber had been the seat of power for the Kachchwaha clan of Rajputs (Jaipur Rajputs) right from the 11th century when the procured the state from the meena tribesmen.
Once our kings were the most powerful among the Rajputs, but fate had made us to be defeated by the moghuls.
Our Kings served as distinguished governors and generals for the imperial mughal empire. Mirza Raja Man Singh served as governor of Bengal under Akbar. Later when he was deputed to tackle the troubling tribesmen in Afghan by Akbar, Man Singh secretly learnt the science of making cannon. He then made a cannon foundry in Jaigarh fort in Amber.
Mirza Raja Man Singh was a loyal general to Akbar and was connected to him through a marital alliance. His later days were not so smooth as Jahangir badshah had a bitter relation with him.
At the top of the Jaigarh fort , I saw the five coloured Jaipur flag fluttering in the breeze. The five colours are from the flags of the five troubling tribesmen in Kabul whom Man Singh I tackled.
As I finally parked my car, I decided to take a more reliable form of travel to reach the Amber palace in the top - Well, How about an elephant ride.?
