Winter excursion to Jaipur

The month of January marks the beginning of the year and with it comes an exciting vibe of exploring new places and starting the year with some beautiful memories in hand. To start the new year on an exciting note, a winter excursion to Jaipur was organised by School for classes 6-8 from 3-5 January 2018. The itinerary boasted of several places of interest in the Pink City.

On the chilly morning of 3 January, we assembled at School at 5 am. 119 students were divided into groups of 10 and accompanied by 12 teachers. Alas the poor visibility on account of the fog delayed our departure to 6 am, as against the scheduled time of 5 am. But the wait slipped away as we were excited to be spending time with our friends in the bus! The excitement had just begun!

We reached Hotel Crimson Park, Jaipur by around 1 pm. The hotel is a beautiful heritage hotel on Amber Road. We soon checked into our rooms while a scrumptious lunch awaited us on the hotels front lawn.

After a hearty meal on the sun-kissed lawn, we started for Johri Bazaar for a stroll and to pick u mementos. We were a little tired after the bus journey and this leisure time felt welcome.

Jaipur is a treasure trove for shoppers. There is a wide range of handicrafts available in the markets. The Johri Bazaar, popular market, is famous for antiques, decorative items and silver ornaments. We had a tough time making our choices as the variety was overwhelming. Soon each of us found something or the other to carry back home as souvenirs for those at home.

Next we headed to Choki Dhani which is a destination for sampling local culture and cuisine. The richness of Rajasthan was in abundant display in a created rural setting. There was the old style bioscope, a local photo studio, palm reading by the neighbourhood jyotishi , artists applying mehendi and traditionally laid open spaces to lounge around. We relished a typical dinner served on pattals.

The next morning after breakfast, we left for the City Palace Museum . Here we were shown around the palace by a local guide. The City Palace was the seat of the Maharaja of Jaipur, who was the head of the Kachwaha (Rajput) clan. The palace complex incorporates an impressive and vast array of courtyards, gardens and buildings. As we forayed into the palace, we were struck by the majestic proportions which complemented the delicate designs. We felt we were matching steps with the royalty itself!

Our next destination was the Jal Mahal which is a palace in the midst of the Mansagar Lake. The palace is a grand architectural showpiece of the Rajput style and offers a picturesque view of the lake. The palace, built in red sandstone, is a five-storied building, of which four floors remain underwater when the lake is full and only the top floor is seen.

Post lunch we left for the Amer Fort. The weather Gods were kind enough to share the sun that day! The palace glistened in the sun. Constructed of red sandstone and marble, the attractive, opulent edifice is laid out on four levels, each with a courtyard. It consists of the Diwan-i-Aam, or "Hall of Public Audience", the Diwan-i-Khas, or "Hall of Private Audience", the Sheesh Mahal or the Jai Mandir and the Sukh Niwas where a cool ambience is artificially created by breeze wafting over a waterfall within the palace.

The evening was reserved for the light and sound show at Amer Fort. Here the history of the Fort came alive before us in a spectacular presentation of music, sound, light and narrative to recreate the unique story of the 600-year-old royal fort. We learnt about the history of the town of Amer, its traditions and the grand lifestyle of the royal family. We watched in awe, comfortably ensconced in our seats. The experience was surreal.

The last day of the trip began with a visit to the Albert Hall Museum which is the oldest museum in the state and functions as the state museum of Rajasthan. The place houses a rich collection of artefacts including paintings, carpets, ivory, stone, metal sculptures, and works in crystal.

After lunch we started back for Delhi. To our dismay, the trip soon came to an end. However the trip had greatly ignited new curiosity in us to see, find and discover in a continuous exercise edutainment, as we call it at our School!

Mirambika Mukherjee XI D