Rajasthan Aravalli trek-Nov 2012

Madhan and I had been on a trek in the Aravalli range in Rajasthan in the Kumbalgarh reserve forests in Nov 2012.

The forests were so green and so dense in places, this was nothing like what I had imagined the desert state to be. I had to keep reminding myself that I was in Rajsthan and not in Mizoram or the evergreen rain forests of western ghats.

Got to eat the food of the region, the amount of ghee and oil used was quite shocking but I guess it goes with the temperature swings in the day, the days were hot and the nights extremely cold and we weren't anywhere near the desert.

Had the popular curry of Ker Sangri (dried desert berries and dried desert beans), the Sangri costs Rs 800 a kilo. Didn't find it too appetizing, probably is an acquired taste.

The fort of Kumbalgarh, the history surrounding it, especially the part of Maharana Pratap's Afghan horse Chetak, who carried Pratap to safety depite being injured in the Haldi ghati war with the Mughals was touching.

The jain temple at Ranakpur was lovely. We also did visit another jain temple called the Muchala Mahaveer, this was the only Mahaveer statue to have had a moustache. The statue does not have a moustache today.

For me the Parasuram temple at Futahdeval turned out to be a pilgrimage of sorts. After a 10 hour trek we had reached this 'off the map' village of Futahdeval, called thus as there is a broken temple in the village. About 1.5 kms downhill the village in a cave in the mountain, Parasuram is said to have meditated on Lord Shiva, who had appeared before Parasuram with his family. There is a 'self manifested' stone with 2 eyes representing Shiva and Parvathi and shapes on the same stones of Karthik and Ganesh. The small 3 feet diameter cave is full of stalactites dripping water, and there is one dripping water right on the self manifested stone. The downhill walk for the few of us who attempted the second trek of the day took nearly an hour and surprisingly the uphill climb which should have taken at the very least 1.5 hours just took us about 45 minutes or so it seemed.

The peacocks and Parakeets are every where, in the jungles and in the vilages adding a touch of brilliance.

Udaipur where we spent a couple of days after the trek is a nice planned city. The city palace is ingeniously built around a hill and thus has trees on the 5th floor which is the top of the hill. The Palace is beautiful no doubt but was very show offy, as the halls and approches were grand and the sleeping rooms very small. The kings kin today is making good money from the tourists, smart guy. At his whim he can cancel the sound and light show and give away the venue for wedding receptions, and thats how we missed the sound and light show which turned out to be a blessing as we went for a wonderful song and dance show at Bagour ki Haveli.

Also enjoyed the street food, puppet shows and sunset in the Fateh Sagar at Udaipur.