Tuesday 28 April 2020

Into The Clouds at Sajjan Garh

The Great Gujarat Road Odyssey – Day 19: Udaipur and Sajjangarh

Country Roads Take Me Home

Fateh Sagar Lake in Udaipur

Monsoon Palace or Sajjangarh Palace in Udaipur

This is your second time in Udaipur. Things are already looking cleaner and there is no dust flying. The march back home has begun and you don’t have the motivation to go into the city. You will come back to walk the lanes of the old city this time. You remember the perfunctory boat ride on the Pichola last time you were here. But the scenes from ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’ make you want to come back and do the town again. The plan is to spend some moments at the other lake of the town, Fateh Sagar and see if the setting of the Monsoon Palace does something to make you drive up the hill.  

Bye Bye Gujarat

Hello Rajasthan

Yes Rajasthan is sparkling clean

Udaipur: The Dreamy Fateh Sagar Lake



The pavilions provide the perfect spots to take in the beauty of the Fateh Sagar Lake


Rajasthan knows how to keep its tourist spots squeaky clean; okay, maybe not all. You remember being shocked how littered and scribbled the UNESCO Ranthambhore Fort was. The nice devotees always perform their duty faithfully. The banks of the Fateh Sagar lake gleam even as a battery of workers sweep the lakefront. You still don’t understand how just a simple change of political border changes things so drastically. Everything here looks well maintained and cared for and the pristine water reflects the blue of the skies. Pretty pavilions on the promenade provide perfect spots to sit and watch hours go. Dholka women will kill to be able to wash their laundry here.


The Udaipur Solar Observatory in the middle of Fateh Sagar Lake in Udaipur, Rajasthan


In the middle of the lake there is a structure that apparently looks like a solar observatory. This is Udaipur’s modern equivalent of Jaipur’s Jantar Mantar. The view sitting in one of these pavilions is both soothing and thrilling. Gentle hills are walking into the misty horizon. On one of these hills, sits a white fort with a tall gateway. This is Sajjangarh or the Monsoon Fort. Yes, you will have to go up and see it for yourself, if not for the fort, the views should be interesting.

On the way up to Sajjangarh in Udaipur

View of Fateh Sagar Lake from Sajjangarh



Welcome to Sajjangarh, The Monsoon Palace


Sajjangarh provides awesome views of the lakes and hills of Udaipur




A View to Die For

Water Harvesting & Conservation in the Monsoon Palace

The Monsoon Palace was not just a place high on the hill to enjoy the breeze, rain and the views; it was an innovative rainwater harvesting machine. The fort built in 1884 could teach today's cities, planners and architects. Every storey of the palace has in-built tanks in the roof where water flows in to meet the needs of the occupants of that floor. Excess water drains through water pipes embedded in the masonry walls of the palace into the underground tanks that can store upto 200,000 litres of fresh rainwater that can used for drinking and other purposes. Down there, the runoff water from the hills flow into the various lakes that provide drinking water to the towns and charge the groundwater which in turn helps agriculture. 




Sajjangarh Palace in Udaipur

A narrow, sharply winding track takes you up to the Monsoon Palace or Sajjan Garh built atop the Bansdara peak of Aravallis at a height of 3100 feet. The palace is entered through a tall gate with three storeyed projecting balconies high above. You are here for the views and they are out of the world. The landscape with the lakes and the hills is what makes Udaipur such a lovely place. Now only if they don’t dig out the hills.




You are sure in monsoon, the palace would be the ideal place to come to see the rain-bearing clouds rolling in and the hills are a bright emerald colour. Sajjan Garh offers some scintillating sunsets when you could actually see the lakes down there turn crimson and pink. It will have to wait for some other time.  

So many choices




 

Rajsamund: Love that Sign

Every hill has a story in Rajasthan

It is noon and you are back on the highway. Rajasthan highways in some ways are better than Gujarat roads. Delhi is about 700 kms away. You have never driven this far in one day. You will shoot for Ajmer and then take it from there. The scenic roads go through the Aravallis and you are going at a steady clip thought the intermittent toll booths keep slowing you down. Rajsamund, Deogarh, Bhim, Beawer are already in your rear-view mirror. Do you really want to stay in another hotel for the night. You have already slept in 16 hotel rooms on the trip in 18 days.

Highways are themselves picturesque frames

Ajmer is already behind. 400 kms more to go. You stop and stretch a little. Ajmer-Jaipur highway is a breeze. Let’s decide once you reach Jaipur. It is dark. Sun has quietly settled below the horizon behind you. You have a good feeling going. This is what a road trip is all about. Open roads and you at the wheel. You are crossing the several light signals on the highway as it crosses Jaipur. Do you want to spend an hour looking for a hotel this close to home? Let’s cross the city and have dinner and then think about it.

Will climb the hill someday to check the fort out

Marble for your apartments




It is a cold night and you don’t feel tired though you have been driving for nine hours now. You make up your mind. You are going to go for it – about 300 kms more. You are in this zone. It is like you have hit triple century and now you think you can get to the 400 mark.



With the radio playing colloquial local AM stations, you are making your way through this thicket of trucks on NH 48. The Jaipur-Delhi highway always sees a huge rush of trucks speeding to the capital to douse the desire frenzy. You never go beyond 90 and make steady progress on the still under construction highway which has been going on for years. It is 2 am when you find yourself in Gurgaon.

You feel triumphant as you drive through the final lap. The road-trip had not taken a huge build-up and planning. It was almost on a whim and about doing something that you always wanted to do before the chances run out. You had a rough idea what to see and and it was mostly about keeping a schedule and keeping on moving and not falling for a place. The only thing that you could have done different was to stay a day longer in pretty Diu.

Will you do another road trip to Gujarat? Oh yes, in a heartbeat. And you already have some idea what you are going to see this time! Only thing that will stay same is that you will again go around in Jan around Uttarayan time! Another road trip idea is to start from Bangalore and do a circuit of Vijaynagar sites in TN, AP and Karnataka and which will of course include a long stopover in Hampi. 

 


The journeys will continue!




Day's Stats
  • Route Taken – Udaipur to Rajsamund to Deogarh to Bhim, Beawer, Ajmer, Jaipur to Delhi and home
  • Distance covered today – 704 kms
  • Total Distance covered so far - 4806 kms 

References





Day 1 - Viratnagar
Day 2 - 
Pushkar
Day 3 - 
Vadnagar
Day 4 – Siddhpur
Day 5 - Dholavira
Day 6 - Lakhpat
Day 7 - Narayan Sarovar
Day 8 – Jamnagar
Day 9 – Bet Dwarka
Day 10 – Porbandar
Day 11 – Gondal
Day 12 – Junagadh
Day 13 – Sasan Gir
Day 14 – Diu
Day 15 – Gir Part II
Day 16 – Palitana
Day 17 – Dholka
Day 18 – Vaso

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