RAJASTHAN DIARIES - Day 1

BANGALORE to JAIPUR

Hand painted Ganesha at Hotel Sunder Palace

Earlier this month, we went on a trip to the colorful state of Rajasthan. In the 19 days we spent there, we covered most of the top tourists attractions here be it the magnificent palaces that speak of the grandeur of an bygone era or the impregnable fortresses that stand testimony to the brave Rajput men and women who always chose death before dishonor, the great Thar which has become synonymous with the western state or the dry, deciduous jungles that are inhabited by the magnificent stripped felines. The entire trip was the brain-child of Da who spent months going through Lonely Planet Guide Books and travel websites to meticulous plan the smallest of details including accommodation, the places to see, train tickets and so on.

We i.e. Mummy, Da, Bhabi and me left for Jaipur on October 1 at 10:00 am in the morning. Though the driver booked via Mantri Cabs did not turn up, the guys at Meeru arranged for an airport drop within 20 minutes. Our flight - JetLite was on time and we reached the Delhi airport at 4:00 in the afternoon after a three hour journey. As we neared the national capital, we spotted some of the hallmarks of the city from the sky including the Purana Quila, the Lotus Temple, the Commonwealth Games Stadium (CWG), the Qutub Minar Complex and my favorite - Humayun's Tomb.

Mummy and Bhabi pose for the camera

After having our lunch at McDonald's, we passed walked through the Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport to catch our connecting flight to Jaipur. Inaugurated in July 2010, the Terminal 3 is huge and with its state-of-art infrastructure, it is bound to impress any person coming here, me being no exception. Effort has been made to showcase glimpses from our rich and ancient culture to visitors; the ones that I can remember are the sculptures depicting the twelve asanas (postures) of the Surya Namaskar, the Hiranya Garbha mural and the Mudras or Hand Gestures of Buddha.

We reached our destination - the Pink City at 6:40 pm later that evening; the second journey that lasted for little over an hour was much comfortable when compared to the earlier one. This was the third time that I was visiting Jaipur and I must confess, I am totally mesmerized by it. After all, it is one of those few places in the country that despite of all the growth, has managed to hold on to its medieval heritage as evident from the massive walls around the old city. Take for example the Chhatris that have been built at the end of flyover close to the airport; the statues of the peacocks around the cenotaphs only add to the charm. We hired a pre-paid taxi to reach Hotel Sunder Palace where we had booked our room.

Rasleela painting at Sunder Palace (Left) & Raj Mandir Cinema (Right)

Located in the vicinity of the Hathroi Fort near the Vidhayakpuri Police Station, Hotel Sunder Palace was one of the best hotels that we stayed in during our trip. The rooms here are spacious, well maintained and like in so many hotels across Rajasthan, the ceilings and the walls are decorated with elegant hand paintings. The verandahs are full of paintings depicting scenes from Hindu Mythology (Lord Krishna being the favorite), gun metal statues and the best - Medieval Rajput arms. Then there is this big canvas of a royal procession going past Jaipur's most famous icon - the Hawa Mahal in the lobby area. I was too tired to click the pictures of the various things that are on display here. We were to come back to Jaipur a fortnight later and we had thought that we would stay in the same hotel. Thus I assumed that I would get all the time to get some good snaps of the exhibits. Unfortunately, the hotel was completely occupied when we returned back to the city for the last leg of the tour.

We wanted to go to Bappu Bazaar for some shopping in the evening. However, we were told that most shops in the city close by eight and going to the markets would be futile, we would find later that the old city is 'awake' till 9:30 pm. A rickshaw driver took us to Maharani Market - a large shop selling some local items which was a complete waste of time. It seems that the shop owners here have some sort of 'setting' with rickshaw wallas who insist on taking you there, probably because they get some commission. Next, we went to Gulab Chand Prints which is renowned for its block printed ladies wear. It is located opposite Raj Mandir cinema which is Jaipur's most famous theatre.

We returned to our rooms at 9:30 pm where we were joined by Dad; he had taken an evening flight to the Pink City via Hyderabad. We had our dinner at the Peacock Roof Top Restaurant which is located on the terrace of the Hotel Pearl Palace which was hardly 100 meters from our room and next to the Hathroi Fort. The place seems to be popular with foreign tourists. Amongst the dishes we had there were Lasooni Kebab, Lal Maas, Chicken Lababdar and Paneer Butter Masala. Though slightly over-priced, food was tasty and the staff were quite friendly. We came back to our rooms close to midnight and were off to sleep since we had to catch a train to Ajmer at 6:00 am on the following day.

Q TIME: SOUTH AMERICAN CAPITALS

A QUIZ ON THE CAPITAL CITIES OF SOUTHERN AMERICAN NATIONS

This is a quiz on the cities that serve as capitals of South American countries.

(1) Name the Spanish General who founded the city of Santiago in 1541.
Alonso de Ercilla
Rodrigo de Quiroga
Diego de Almagro
Pedro de Valdivia

(2) Which South American city was earlier referred to as Longchamps and Stabroek?
Georgetown
Bogota
La Paz
Caracas

(3) The Italian saint Don Bosco is associated with which of the following South American city?
Brasília
Caracas
Buenos Aires
Lima

(4) Which is the southernmost of all the capital cities in South America?
Asuncion
Montevideo
Buenos Aires
Lima

(5) In which city is the National University of San Marcos located?
La Paz
Brasilia
Lima
Bogota

(6) The Palacio de los López, the Panteón Nacional de los Héroes, the Cabildo, the Catedral Metropolitana, the Hotel Guaraní, the Teatro Municipal Ignacio A. Pane and the Iglesia de la Santísima Trinidad are known as the seven treasures of which of the following cities?
Asuncion
Brasilia
Buenos Aires
Quito

(7) Which of the following cities is located in the basin of the river Guayllabamba?
Bogota
Caracas
Lima
Quito

(8) Which is the highest capital city in the world?
La Paz
Quito
Asuncion
Montevideo

(9) Which of the following cities is named after a tribe?
Asuncion
Quito
Bogota
Paramaribo

(10) In which city was Simon Bolivar born?
Brailia
La Paz
Caracas
Bogota

(11) Which city is known as the 'the Athens of South America'?
Bogotá
Montevideo
Caracas
Buenos Aires

(12) The term 'porteños' is associated with the people of which city?
Bogota
Buenos Aires
Paramaribo
Santiago

ANCIENTS BEHAVING BADLY

ANALYZING THE BEHAVIOR OF SOME OF HISTORY'S GREATEST MEN

An eight part documentary from Blink Films and Yap Productions, the series examines the lives of some of the most 'cruelest' men and women from the ancient world, focusing primarily on the acts of horror attributed to them by historians and other sources. The dominant personality trait of the subject under investigation is identified and he/she is then rated on a unique index. Lastly, the personality is also compared to a modern person who he/she resembles the most. Each part is about 44 minutes long and besides speaking to the experts, the gruesome acts that they are believed to have done are shown in form of anime, something that you would not find in most documentaries. The eight people on whose lives the series focuses on are Hannibal, Alexander the Great, Juluis Caesar, Cleopatra, Ghenghiz Khan, Attila the Hun, Caligula and Nero.

The best part about this documentary is that many of the events reported by ancient literary sources are analyzed using modern methods and certain myths are also laid to rest. Like in the case of Cleopatra where it is proved that the claim that Cleopatra instantly dissolved a pearl in vinegar and drank it while on a cruise with Anthony on the Nile was a big fat lie. Other revelations done using modern technology include the actual cause of Alexander's death or the poison that Cleopatra consumed to die as the Romans closed in on her and so on.

However, what I did not like was that modern value system is used as a yardstick to judge ancient warriors. I mean, Hannibal slaughtered thousands of men in his battles across Italy so that he could beat his arch rivals - the Romans. Of course, it is not right to kill people but that cannot label it as 'genocide' either. After all, didn't the Romans exactly do the same when they waged wars across the Mediterranean. Ditto with the likes of Alexander, Attila and Caesar. The times during which these men and women lived were drastically different. Terming their acts as a genocide would mean doing grave injustice to such important historic personalities.

AKHADA - Part IV

THE RESULTS

In a state where the BJP had won just four seats in 2009, its tally of 47 five years down the line is simply remarkable, especially considering the fact that the saffronists never had a recognizable face in Haryana and its organization here was virtually absent in most of the places till sometime back. However, the elevation of Narendra Modi and his many rallies in various parts of the state seemed to have stuck a chord with the voters. The Congress on the other hand was virtually wiped out; the party which was in power for a decade was relegated to the third position. The INLD whose top brass is in jail in the multi-crore recruitment scam too failed to make a comeback as the NaMo bandwagon swept it aside. Kuldep Bishnoi who was nurturing hopes of becoming the next CM of the state paid a heavy price for breaking off ties with the BJP as his party - the HJC managed to bag just two seats.

The BJP's victory in the Haryana 2014 state polls is simply astounding, perhaps even more impressive than its performance in Maharashtra. The party leveraged the anti-incumbency and the corruption allegations against the Congress and the INLD to its advantage. Of course, the image of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi did play a key role in the numbers that the saffron camp got. Besides, an exodus of leaders from these two parties helped it consolidate the non-Jat votes in the states. Moreover, its decision to cut off all ties with Kuldeep Bishnoi in spite of an understanding with him prior to the 2014 General Polls also proved to be a right decision. Massive infighting and the various allegations of corruption against the Hooda regime saw the Congress drop 25 seats. The INLD too suffered a severe low as the Chautala failed to win especially in the non-Jat regions of the state. Meanwhile, Kuldeep Bishnoi had a horrid time; his decision to refuse the BJP's offer of 25 seats was a blunder with his party ending up with just two seats.

Again, the biggest winner out of this is BJP President Amit Shah. The very fact that the party won a simple majority in a state where it lacked even basic organizational setting till a few months ago speaks volumes of his ability. With the wins in Maharashtra and Haryana under his belt, Modi's Man Friday has shut all his detractors both within the party and outside, who had questioned his strategy during the by-elections. Also, the victory is also a big thumbs up to PM Narendra Modi and the work he has done so far during his tenure. The election defeat could signal the end of road for former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda. In spit of the growing clamor against him from the likes of Kumari Selja and ABC, the high command had kept its faith in the Jat leader. However, following such a disastrous defeat, he may find it hard to stage a comeback in the near future. The Chautalas and their party, the INLD too flopped as the results have shown. Even Dushyant Chautala lost from the family bastion of Uchana Kalan. Winding up the list is Kuldeep Bishnoi. The HJC chief who dreamed of becoming the next CM of the state could only win two seats, a decline of 4 from the 2009 state elections.

For more posts on the Haryana 2014 State Elections, click here (Link)

The Chart displaying the results was created on Meta-Chart (Link)

MAHASANGRAM - PART V

THE RESULTS

For the BJP, the year 2014 continues to be perhaps, the best year in its three decade long history, that is, if we choose to overlook the setbacks in the by-elections (Link). The saffron outfit created history as it emerged as the single largest party in Maharashtra in spite of bitter fallout with its oldest ally - the Shiv Sena (SS). After the break-up of the two major alliances in the western state, nobody would have anticipated that the BJP could put up such an impressive show, so what if it failed to cross the half-way mark on its own considering that it was a five sided contest. The Shiv Sena did well to win nearly 20 seats more than in 2009 but the performance was far from satisfactory. The Congress and the NCP who had jointly ruled here for three consecutive terms had to face the heat. However, the numbers that they got were better than those in the General Polls fought in May. The MNS was obliterated, quite literally.

The wave of anti-incumbency against the Congress-NCP combine, the numerous corruption allegations against the leaders of the two parties and the image of the PM Narendra Modi seem to have helped the BJP in registering an impressive tally of 123 seats, its best figures in the state so far. There were rumors if the party had not done the right thing by pulling the plug on its alliance with the Shiv Sena, considering that it did not have a solid base in rural Maharashtra. However, the Modi wave worked in its favor; it managed to woo several leaders from the ruling combine on to its side besides holding on to its alliances with several smaller outfits. On the other hand, its former partner, the Shiv Sena was dealt a rude shock. Its 'Uttha' campaign failed as it finished a distant second, winning almost half the number of seats that the BJP bagged. The death of Balasaheb and the rise of Modi prevented it from winning a major share of the anti-government vote. Meanwhile, the Congress should be happy that in spite of winning just 2 seats in the parliamentary polls, it got 42 seats in the state. The NCP was saved the blushes as it managed to do well in its bastion of western Maharashtra and finished with a tally of 41 seats. Raj Thackeray's MNS was decimated; the party dropped 12 seats to end with just one seat. Owaisi's AIMIM and the PWPI (Peasant's and Worker's Party of India) won two seats each.

Perhaps, the biggest winner in the Maharashtra 2014 state polls is the party president Amit Shah. Questions were being raised about his leadership after the BJP's polarized campaign in the UP by-elections failed to get the seats. However, the resounding victory in the western state even after the break-up with the Sena has made the former Gujarat Home Minister the second most influential leader in the saffron camp behind Modi. The results are a big thumbs up to PM Narendra Modi too. He addressed as many as 26 rallies in the state, tearing into the Congress and the NCP while refraining from attacking the SS out of respect for late Balasaheb Thackeray. Five months into office, the Modi waves is fast transforming into a 'tsunami'.

The losers, on the other hand are many. With just 60 odd seats, the Shiv Sena has to reconcile to the fact that it is no more the bigger player in the 'saffron alliance' if it ever joins hands with the BJP in the future. The fact that the party could not even cross the 70 mark even after being in opposition for the last 15 years shows that the SS is on the decline and that Uddhav Thackeray & Co need to introspect to identify the many factors that are ailing the regional outfit. The decimation of the of Raj Thackeray and his MNS is another highlight of the polls. After scoring a blank in the General Elections earlier this year and being reduced to a single seat in the state assembly, many have even begun to write the political obituary of Raj and his party. The Congress too has been forced to eat the humble pie, yet again. Rahul Gandhi's six rallies in the state have not helped the party at all and it seems that the grand old party has nothing to combat the NaMo bandwagon. Moreover, the NCP which was the second largest constituent of the UPA has called off its alliance with the INC. And 2014 continues to bring more miseries upon the Pawars and the NCP. After the hammering in the big polls, the party managed to win just 41 seats in the state.

For more posts in this series: Mahasangram (Link)

The Chart displaying the results was created on Meta-Chart (Link)