The pink city of Jaipur is a well established tourist
destination of north India . Thousands of Indian as well as foreign tourist
visit my city annually . The customary
things to do in Jaipur for tourist ,
is visiting Amber Fort , City Palace and Observatory . Of
course I take pride in these majestic monuments but Jaipur has so much more to
offer than popular monuments .
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| Front Facade of Jaipur Markets |
To me its the walled city of Jaipur , which
fascinates me the most . Nowhere in India i
have witnessed such profound
example of town planning , with dead straight roads , symmetrical pink coloured
buildings, wonderful chatris and
intricate screen work , its truly a architectural marvel.
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| Old Picture of Jaipur City |
Jaipur has recently
celebrated its 286th birth day on November 18th. Thankfully inspite very little
attention from the concerned authorities
, the original city’s fortification
wall, gateways , historic temples and Havelis of Jaipur are still
standing tall , sounds as if even the God has too fallen in love with the PinkCity and is showering its
blessing of “ Long Life” on these
weary structures.
Its spell bounding to know about the town panning of Jaipur. Its hard to believe that even 286 years back the width of the main roads
was 108 feet, so that the city road can cop up with
maddening tariff of today . There were proper shaded verandas in the main markets , so people can do shopping in shade, gradients of
streets were carefully calculated so city can be saved from disgrace of
flooding . There were Gas lamps in
front of all important building , which were imported from Birmingham ( U.K.) in those times . Its a shame that our new cities , though having modern
look of glass facade buildings and far less visionary in other civic
amenities and town planning.
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| Historic Temple of Walled City |
Traders , priests , artisans were called from various regions on India and well as outside to come
and reside in Jaipur . Different communities were allotted in specific areas of
the walled city . Hence the streets of the old city is marked by the trade ,
community and occupation of its inhabitants
. For example “ Johari Bazaar” ,since the early day till today ,
its a major centre for jewellery trade and manufacturing.
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| Old Haveli in Johari Bazaar area |
For me discovering my city on foot has always been like “Vipul in Wonderland “ ,
engulfed in deep curiosity to know what lied behind these historic gates and arc shape entrances
, took me to many hidden nooks
and corners of the old city . To my surprise many of these historic havelis of
Jaipur are inhabited by the same family
whose forefather were invited to live in
Jaipur in the early years . For instance I know a family whose forefather came 17th generations before , much
earlier than Jaipur city came into
existence and Amber served as capital .
They originally belonged to Fergana Province ,now a part of Uzbekistan. To my
surprise they were invited to make arrow and teach archery to former Jaipur
army . Likewise most of these havelis
and their residents have a captivating tale to tell . Hence my thirst to know about my city remain
unquenched , as the more I try to discover my city the more lost I get . The
more I came to know undocumented facts of my city and more spellbound I get.
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| Typical Haveli of Old Jaipur |
My passion to
discover and share the hidden wonders of
our Jaipur city resulted in the birth
of www.virasatexperiences.com
, three years back , where we
specialize in Walking Tours
and offering other unique travel activities
in Jaipur and other cities of Rajasthan .
If you have interest to know about our captivating cities beyond its tourist
monuments , we welcome to you take part
on our tours.
