A trip to Mewar: land of bravery, beauty, bhakti, sacrifice & loyalty!

  It was a much needed break, at least we thought so! And we were looking forward to it. Initially we were apprehensive as our plans to go to Udaipur had fizzled out twice earlier and converted into Pachmarhi trip once. However, as time closed in, things kept on becoming smoother and omens were good!
We reached in morning and were fresh that gave us whole day for activities. From the train I could see that the city was surrounded by hills on all side. What I was seeing was Girwa valley! We reached the land of most celebrated Raputs of the country- Mewar! It has been the kings of Mewar who are considered to be the epitome of the spirit of freedom and have been the icon of hindu resistance against invading muslim rulers. The kings who led their forces from the front riding on horses against their enemies who rode on elephants with sepoys in front to fight and protect them. Paintings of battle of Haldighati at City Palace beautifully depicted this. These paintings are remarkable for various reasons. One, the magnitude with which they depict the battle, second, how they animate the sequence of events that happened and third, what looked very strange to me! The horses were shown wearing elephant like trunks.

Statue of Chetak at City Palace, Udaipur!

I wondered what kind of a deceit tactic that was! Rajputs of Mewar under Rana Pratap had developed art of Guerilla warfare that needed various tricks to outsmart the enemy. Elephants in Mughal forces used to wield swords in their trunks. May be horses with trunks were mistaken to be baby elephants by adult elephants thus preventing them from attacking the horses! But then wouldn't a white trunk have been more deceptive?? I think the nearest real world animal would be a Tapir!!

This trip added another dimension to my understanding of Rajasthan. My earlier trips had been to Jaipur and I thought that is what Rajasthan is! They glorified kings of Amer and Jaipur, the lineage of Man Singh. Then I visited Jodhpur in 2010, the region known as Marwar and Jaisalmer. Rajasthan has north-western desert region of Thar and south-eastern hilly region. Mewar lies in the hilly region. It has been ruled by Moris, Guhilots and Sisodias. It was the sisodia rulers who started using the title 'Rana' or 'Maharana'. Maharana Hamir Singh, who took the kingdom back from the governor of Allauddin Khilji was the first to use the title of Maharana.

Other notable Mewar king has been Maharana Kumbha who built the kumbhalgarh fort. The fort that is located 1100 meters above sea levels in the Aravalli Ranges and is said to have never been conquered. Its 36 km strong wall is said to be second longest in world after Great Wall of China. This fort was used as a safe haven for the Mewar rulers in times of attack. It separates Mewar from Marwar. In fact, this fort is associated with the story of Panna Dhai, the lady who is considered to be sacrifice personified. After killing son of Rana Sanga, Banvir Singh wanted to kill his younger son Udai Singh II to usurp the throne. However, Panna Dhai, in order to protect the young prince, just in the nick of time, got Udai singh smuggled out of the palace and placed her own son in his place whom Banvir Singh brutally murdered. Later Panna Dhai took Udai singh to the safe Kumbhalgrah and after few years helped Udai Singh II regain his throne by helping him establish the identity and disappeared for ever. 

Banvir Singh killing son of Panna Dhai in place of Udai Singh

Kumbhalgarh has become the place of resorts now for people who want to spend vacation time. The light and sound show is said to be the best but to see that one must stay around Kumbhalgarh as it becomes unsafe to travel after dark. It takes around 3 hrs to reach Udaipur by car. I wonder how much time it took for Udai Singh II to reach and establish the new capital of Mewar from Kumbhalgarh to Udaipur after Chittor was taken.

The traditional capital of Mewar was Chittor and the fort known as Chittorgarh fort. It is around 120 kms from Udaipur. We could not visit it as it needed another day in in the itinerary, however we learnt about it from the Haldighati museum and city palace in Udaipur.

It is not known that who built the chittorgarh fort. Bappa Rawal, the founder of Mewar kingdom, is said to have established it as his capital in 8th century AD . Chittorgarh represents the glory of Mewar. It was here that rani padmini committed Jauhar after it was seiged by Allauddin khilji. Jauhar again happened in this fort twice, by Rani Karnawati et al on being captured by Ahmed Shah of Gujarat and again on being seiged by Akbar. Rana Pratap reclaimed all of the Mewar from Akbar except Chittorgarh fort and died with this unfulfilled wish. Chittor has represented the heroism of Mewar whether it was Rana Sanga fighting Babur or Rana Pratap fighting Akbar. The romanticism of Chittor is added by being associated with Meera. She is believed to have been married here and resisted all the brutality after the death of her husband due to her bhakti for Lord Krishna. 

Thinking that so many of the most glorious stories of Indian history and culture emanate from this small region of the country, Rani padmini, Meera Bai, Panna Dhai, Rana Pratap.....makes me wonder!!

Udaipur was made capital as Chittor remained under seige, by Udai singh II and continued to rise in prominence. Artifical lakes, huge in size were created; Pichola, Fateh Sagar, Raj Samand...... over time so much so that it became a city of lakes in the desert state of Rajasthan, but as I have mentioned earlier, it is the hilly area rather the core desert area of the state. Elaborate Palaces and Havellis occupy the land around and in the lakes and then beautiful gardens were developed. Lakes, palaces and garden make udaipur serene, grand and beautiful. What pleases the eye is that it is relatively clean. Udai Vilas, palace converted into hotel is said to be one of the most expensive and plush hotels of India.

Boat ride in lake Pichola at Sunset is the highlight of Udaipur trip as one's eyes savour the beautiful palaces all around which light up as the sun sets. We visited it when moon was also in it's full bloom. Very pleasing experience it was!!

Before moving on I would like to mention about horses of Mewar. Mewar developed their own breed known as Mewari. They are known for their in-turned ears that are capable of turning 180 degrees. Ranas used their horses against Mughal elephants. These horses lost their sheen during british times due to neglect and breeding of imported horses. 'Chetak' a legendary horse from Mewar epitomizing loyalty was, however, a kathiawari breed! Whatever breed it was, it has etched a golden letter history for horses for all-time.

Udaipur is one capital that has been totally developed by its rulers. It might have been like any other hilly area of the region prior to that and not endowed with much natural beauty otherwise. 'Saheliyon ki Bari' is one great example. The Ranas had already developed the huge Fateh Sagar Lake. It is said that Rana Sangram Singh's wife brought 48 maidens with her in dowry. The Rana built a garden with fountains. He built a pond with where the queen with all her friends could frolic in water. Five domes with fountains coming out of birds beaks were built. There was no electricity at that time and some physics was used to create these fountains. The ponds were built at a lower altitude that fateh Sagar lake and channels were drawn from the lake to the fountains with valves placed to control the water-flow. I think it's the oldest water park I have seen. At the rear is a beautiful lotus pond surrounded by elephant statue fountains on all sides. One wonders how was the channel for fountain made through  the monoliths' trunks. On the left is a section called 'Saavan-bhadon' that gives a feel of perpetual rain. When we entered this section the breeze was unusually cool. In fact I was surprised to see so many of plants, that need perennial water,  growing there! The compound also has a 200 years old bougainvillea tree. It's a very picturesque place and we loved relaxing and spending time here. Easily the best garden of the city. It gives an insight into the luxury enjoyed by erstwhile princesses when there were no waterparks!

At Saheliyon Ki Bari

City Palace Zoom in from Karni Mata Temple

Overview of City Palace

City Palace as viewed from Lake Pichola

City Palace is the emblem of the city!The exteriors reminded me of Monaco. They were that clean!One goes through the palace looking at various exhibits narrating the royal history of Mewar. One can feel that it was used for residence till lately. There is a courtyard that is rented out for lavish functions. It has a very different feel compared to the City Palace of Jaipur. One feels it is real, something contemporary that has it's history.

Continued......

In our hospital there are many trees, wide in variety, in fact a treat for a plant enthusiast! And I now of at least one plant enthusiast in our hospital.He introduced me to some of the amazing plants in our campus. In fact, he has created a small nursery in the campus out of his own efforts. 

There is one type of tree that has fascinated me ever since I joined here. These are big trees, that shed their leaves completely by the winter end, that is not even a single leaf is found on them at that time, but the whole tree bears only red coloured flowers and then these fleshy flowers keep on falling till spring arrives and once they shed all flowers, new leaves arrive. It looks like a totally different tree. The flowers that fall initially are quite fleshy and so messy. It's a bane to park your car under this tree from Jan to March. Whenever I saw crushed flowers, I always wondered whether these can be used for making natural colours, or for food. I came to know that this tree is called 'Semal' or 'Shalmali' ( making me understand from where did the singer 'Shalmali Kholgade' got her name) (Can't help it but have fixation for origin of names!!) It's botanical name is Bombax ceiba. In fact it's fruit is used to make cotton and certain edible things like pickle. It is said to have medicinal value for hemoptysis. I wonder whether I can collect the thousands of flowers that fall in my hospital to make some remedy for hemoptysis - an indigenous solution!! I tend to generalize things and thought that "Oh! so it belongs to cotton family!" but when I checked, I found cotton is Gossypium, oh ya ya, I could recollect!

A Semal tree in bloom in Delhi

On our way from Udaipur to Mount Abu and also on our way to Haldighati I saw trees that looked like Semal. They had only flowers with no leaves. These flowers were the colour of flame and more beautiful than Semal flowers. At places, where there were many trees in the forest, it looked as if there were flames in the forest. I asked my driver, "which tree is that?" He said, "That is Palash" "Oh Palash, my eyes widened!" I asked him to park the car so that I could have a closer look!

A Palash tree near Haldighati

A blooming Palash tree: resembles Semal

A Palash flower with the tree in backdrop!

A myriad of thoughts crossed my minds. My introduction to this flower was through the celebrated hindi poem 'Palash ke phool' or is it an Upanyas by Dr Saroj Vyas?? Though I do not know the intended reference there! I could not see Palash when I visited Plassey in Bengal. I recalled it is also called "Flame of forest",how apt!! I used to think that it is found predominantly in Bengal but I was wrong, I found it in the desert state of Rajasthan! Our driver told us that these flowers are collected and natural colours for holi are made, I thought' "Obviously I know!" Over a gap of 5 minutes I was again more knowledgeable than our driver! I told my kids, "it must be of the same family as Semal as they look so same and have so similar cycle" My confidence was growing. My kids said, "Papa, kuchh bhi!!" I tried to convince them regarding my great understanding and knowledge and inferences and .... so on! However, I failed to satisfy them, as usual!! I knew I had help. I resorted to "baba google!" My confidence got brutally 'dharashayi..ed' when I came to know that Palash is Butea monosperma belonging to a different family 'Fabacae'. While Palash tree wood is strong and used for timber, Semal wood is weak and can not be used for timber. Gum of Palash, called 'kamarkas' is used in food while the cotton from Semal is called 'Kopak'. I tried to regain my ground. Cotton and Semal both belong to Malvacae so I was right initially, some years back when I must have thought about the relation. Did I?? Must have..... . Then, both Shalmali or sumbul and Palash are common names. ( I know only one person each with the names Shalmali and Sumbul! !) Anyway! the whole thing led to such an 'izafa' in everyones botanical knowledge!! Kids were still not listening! They never do!!

We were going from Udaipur to Mount Abu on the day of Chhoti Holi. We were bit anxious, as we had heard about the notoriety on that day. We were also told that we would be crossing an area inhabited predominatly by 'Garasiya' tribe. Till then we had heard about the laurels of 'Bhils' who had helped Rana Pratap and achieved glory! The origin of Garasiya tribe is said to be in this region of 'Sirohi' of Abu region, where they live. They are rajputs. It is claimed that they descend from the Chauhan rajputs of Jalore, who were defeated by Allauddin Khilji. They probably married Bhils who were inhabitants of the area. We were told that they carry a hansiya or daranti (Sickle) like weapon which they hang on the back of their collar and attack to loot if required as they don't have means of earning. We saw the colourful dress that they wear. In fact, their Ghaghra or lehenga is made of pleats of different colours, popularly known as 'assi (80) kali ka ghaghra' meaning that is has 80 triangular strips of different colours.

A Photo of Garasiya girls on web

The Lok Kala Parishad gave us insight into tribes of Rajasthan. While we had become familiar with Bhils and Garasiyas, we knew about Meenas who are our colleagues. We also came to know about 'Gadhiya Lohars'. I had seen these people many times in my childhood. They were the 'banjaras', that I knew of. These people are blacksmiths who travel in groups in their carts, which are distinctly designed and decorated and in fact is the 'gadi' that gives them their name.

The 'Gadi' of Gadiya Lohars

We have seen them live by the roadside for years. They sell all kinds of iron tools. They are said to be rajput descendants of Maharana Pratap's Army.

Another nomadic rajput tribe is Sansi, usually people from civilized world take their name associated with crime.

Another tribe is Kanjar, again a term used as a derogatory remark especially in Punjab. Other tribes are Sahariyas and kathodi.

Mount Abu was almost a different trip!

Aging

on a different note:

I happened to run into one of my senior colleagues recently. We met each other after pretty long. He was the one in whose unit I joined my job and stayed with him for 4 years. He had constantly encouraged me and was a big support that lead to honing of my skills and confidence. A feeling of warmth evokes every time I meet him, though it is becoming decreasingly probable with time.
He made a comment, "You seem to have grown up quiet a bit, you have managed to get your hair grayed, and sparse. Howsoever you may grow, but you shall remain younger to me. Is there a lot of stress?" he asked.
His comment made me ponder. I also have been thinking that stress or unhealthy lifestyle should be the cause of my rapid aging.
Same day, in the evening, I met one of my neighbours. He is my namesake and same age. I know him since childhood. He was an unruly child who used to pass with difficulty. I don't know whether he did his graduation, however, he joined his family business. For last 20 years he can often be seen roaming around drunk, talking in loud and abusive language to his wife or other people. He commonly spits a mouthful from the first floor on which he lives on to the road. The point where he plops the rusty  spit everyday after chewing tobacco and beetle leaf has become saffron indicating its suffering and martyrdom. Sometimes, he is seen relieving himself in park adjoining his house, though it is estimated that he may be having one of the best bathrooms in locality. I many a times hear him abusing somebody on phone for not making payments.
When I met him that day, it was different. I noticed his hair, they are thick and black! May be they are coloured, but they are not weaved definitely. He looks the same, that he used to 10 years ago.
I wondered, does this guy have less stress than I have? Is his body healthier than me??

Our generation

Our generation

With me a generation was born

That would grow with me

And all others- elder or younger,

Would it critically see!

And this generation was

‘Giant robot, Different Strokes’ generation

Black and white TVs

Larger than life dreams

Good to be a perfectionist

Right was right and

Wrong was wrong

Because that is what

Was right or was wrong!

Then came coloured Tvs,

Beautiful sets of Yash Chopra Movies

Good looking was right

And ugly was wrong

And the western influence increased

Rock became heavy metal

Disco into beach dance

For ‘MTV generation’

Novel was right and

Conventional wrong!

Technology advanced further

FM became available

‘computer generation’ set in

Fast was right and slow wrong

And then mobile phone,

The harbinger of technology revolution,

Mobile became answer

To all that was needed

And the mobile generation

Changed to hands free

And handsfree to ‘SMS generation’

SMS – the nemesis

Nothing is right and nothing wrong

Objectivity increased,

Acceptability increased,

What you like is right

What you don’t wrong

Fine to be gay

And gay to be fine

Wives can be swapped

And your husband

Is equally mine!

Then came social media

Whatsapp, twitter and facebook,

The age of global connection,

People spend more time

Connected to their childhood friend

Across seven seas

Than their family

Across the dining table!

Times come and times go

They are better and worse

Than all other times

But ‘our generation’

The one where we spent

Our childhood

Remains the best for us!

My wife – An incomplete ode!

My wife – An incomplete ode!

I and my wife have a strange relationship, like that of any other married couple! Both of us have one leg tied to each other so we have to walk the same path. When one person wants to run out of this path, the other doesn’t let him or her do it. If one wants to stop or run fast, the other doesn’t let it happen. We end up walking the same path steadily, and although we have not reached where we think we could have but when we look back, we do seem to have covered some distance.

My wife has never been interested in symbolic gossip. She doesn’t converse in similes. She doesn’t take indirect taunts well and she criticizes directly. She does not talk of her dreams; she talks of what’s possible today. She believes in talking only about things we can make effort to happen. She does not believe in enumerating one’s own negative qualities or deeds, she does not crib over spilt milk. She does not talk about goals that could not be achieved. She does not even take blame for them and glorify them. I do all that!’

She is a mentally hard working person. She plans hard to achieve what she wants. She considers that most of the things can be done until unless proved otherwise. She puts in all the effort to make it happen. She can use and mobilize her few resources to achieve what she thinks she should. She does not believe in keeping her resources reserve till they become redundant. Failure does not affect her for long.

Mostly, what she lacks is confidence. She is easily scared but is ready to fight with all the fear. She does not have that much faith in God that I have and that is why she likes to take the responsibility of doing things herself. She is stubborn but that is where her strength to pursue comes from.

She is edgy about people’s opinion but likes to go her own way.

I am yet to understand her more!

शुक्रिया ऐ दोस्त!

शुक्रिया ऐ दोस्त!

आज मेरी महफ़िल में तुम भी थे
फिर उमड़ आये वो दिन बीते!

आज जब मैं ग़ज़ल पड़ रहा था
तो तुम्हारे माथे की शिकन में
तुम्हारी भावनाएं भी पड़ रहा था!

तुम उनके साथ आये
जैसे एक जिस्म दो साये,
तुमने उन्हें देख मुझे देखा
और फिर उन्हें देखा
मानो मेरा तआरुफ़ उनसे करवाया!
और फिर तुम्हारी हलकी सी हँसी
मानो पूछ रही थी
"हैँ न तुमसे हसीं ?"
फिर खो गयी तुम्हारी मुस्कान कहीं,
पूछती "क्या थी मुझमें कमी?"

तुम्हें मेरे शेर पसंद थे
पर मुझे भी अपने शेर ही अज़ीज़ थे
क्या मुशायरों में मिली दाद
से तुम्हारा पेट भरता?
क्या रोज़ वही सफ़ेद कुर्ता -पायजामा
तुम्हारी ज़िन्दगी को बेरंग न करता?
न सोचते क्या सिला मिला मेरी यारी का?
इंतज़ार कभी महफ़िलों के ख़त्म होने का
कभी उनकी तैयारी का!
क्या तुम रोज़ मेरा इंतज़ार कर
ऊब न जाते?
क्या तुम मायूसी के समन्दर
में डूब न जाते?





वो लोगों से मिलना
तोहफे देना, उपहार पाना
वो गाड़ियों में घूमना
वो सपनों को चूमना
वो गहनों की चमक
तुम्हारे बदन पर
उनकी सितारों सी झलक
वो तुम्हारा श्रृंगार करना
गर कोई उसे निहारने को न होता ?
क्या तुम सिर्फ मेरे अशआरों से मिले
उस क्षणिक आनंद
को ज़िन्दगी भर चबा पाते
या ग़म का सागर बन
मेरे फ़न को उसमें डुबोते?

आज तुम इतरा रहे थे
मुझे तालियाँ मिलने पर
उनकी बाँहों में समा रहे थे
पर मैं भी मन ही मन
मुस्कुरा रहा था
चाहे कोई कोशिश कर
मुझे चिढ़ा रहा था
पर एक बात और है
बताने को तुम्हें,
तुम जिसे मेरा रकीब
समझ रहे हो
उसका मुझ पर क़र्ज़ है
जो निभाना था मुझे
निभाया उसने वो फ़र्ज़ है,
दिए उसने तुम्हें वो लुत्फ़ सारे
जिनके लिए थे तुम मेरे आसरे
और मेरी वो आख़री ग़ज़ल
"खुद ने हम दोनों को
तुम्हें बख़्शा है..... "
उन्हीं की नज़र थी,
जिस तरह तुम्हें फक्र है
उनका होकर
मुझे भी नाज़ है उनके होने पर
ज्यों तुम्हारी हँसी का ज़िम्मा है उन पर
मेरा सुख भी उनका शुक्रगुज़ार है !

सन्देश एक तारे का

सन्देश एक तारे का 

एक तारा ज़मीं पर छिटक गया
ऎसा तेज, न देखा, न सुना
सब रोशन हो गया
सब दिखने लगा
छुपने को कहीं
अन्धकार न रहा,
सब स्पष्ट नज़र आने लगा,
अँधेरे डर गए!
अंधेरों ने कहा 'घेर लो'
पर उसकी उल्काएँ फैलने लगीं,
एक घमासान हुआ
अंधेरों ने अपनी जीत घोषित की
तारा अपनी जगह लौट गया
पर कुछ चिंगारियाँ
अब भी वहाँ सुलग रहीं हैं,
तारा अब भी देख रहा है,
मनो सन्देश भेज रहा है
"तुम शमा बन
जहाँ को रोशन करो,
अंधेरों को भी रोशन करो,
बस जंगल की आग न बनना,
अंधेरों का जन्म
आग से ही होता है!!" 

Swine Flu!

Swine Flu!

Swine flu, swine flu!
but how?
I had heard
that should be bird
and bird flew,
that was okay
but swine flew??

Swine flew from America to India,
In America they have pigs who fly,
visa no problem, money no problem,
they board the plane with bow & tie,
with open arms we welcomed
plane loads of American pigs
and we don't differentiate
American from Indian Pigs,
Pigs are Pigs!

Swine Flu!
sounds as if I just sweared,
for the problems it is causing
I shall call this flu
well! Swine Flu!

Swine flu, Swine flu,
don't hug, don't kiss,
do not even shake hands
be three feet away from each other
but we are warm people
how can we do that
and not clean our noses
on other's shirt,
Can cars get Swine flu?
If we could teach them
or make them scared
may be our traffic chaos
would be spared!

Swine Flu,
an imported disease
disease of elite,
appropriately only they got it
but how could they swallow that
scared to die
they gave it to common man
who is more supposed to die!

Swine Flu!
but I never ate pigs,
I am vegetarian,
I eat only human beings,
those ones who are vegetables
those who don't have brains
are idiots!
I never touched Pigs,
Animals are dirty,
Okay, at least change the name,
don't label me "Swine Flu"
call it Lion Flu or swan Flu
or anything but not swine Flu,
H1N1 sounds fine,
I have always loved number one
but give the medicine to me
and keep it in stock
for my children
and in reserve for my grand children,
but don't give it to pigs
or to humans who are no better than Pigs
and please remove the side effects
and yes, I can pay for it!
make it expensive
so that poor can't buy
we need to control our population!
But yes, give it to my watchman,
my cook, my servant, my washer-man,
my driver, my peon, my postman
and their kith and kin
or they shall have excuse for a leave,
It's okay even if you don't give,
I am not gonna hire them anyway,
but I don't know why my boss
refused to meet me?
bloody narrow minded coward swine!

Swine flu, Swine flu
everybody wears mask
they all look the same
may do whatever task
Swine flu, an equalizer!
nobody coughs on face
sneezes on shirt
mask takes all the dirt,
will we learn the cough etiquette!
Swine flu, a great teacher!
We may learn hygiene
from this pandemic,
but at what cost,
how many shall fall sick?

Swine Flu, Swine Flu,
when shall you become humane
rather it's easier for humans to be pigs,
we know all the tricks
but may be pigs are more humans
or have humanity
remain together even in dirt
or like lord Shiva
are they divine?
serve as scavengers benign,
even lord Vishnu took
Varha avtaar,
Is this Swine flu another incarnation
to teach us
to remain together in crisis
to teach us what we ought to know,
to give bread and butter
to uncouth news channels
autocratic pharma companies
idle administrators!

Swine Flu, Swine Flu
but better you remember
we will get used to you,
We forgot Hiroshima
we forgot Godhra,
we continue to be corrupt, mean and greedy,
can turn the face away
when some body is bleeding,
unless the genetic code matches,
If you can change us,
I shall change your name
and call you not swine flu
but divine flu,
I shall then thank you
o divine flu!
Swine flu, Swine flu!