After my hunt for the blue in the Blue City and spotting the Blue of the city. Now it was time to pursue and capture the Blue.

As usual I set out on foot towards the Ghantaghar, to have some tea at my now frequented tea joints. I took some directions from the kind people of the city and set out.
It was 2.5 km walk and it took me about 30 mins to reach the junction. The streets of were not very wide. The average views of the busy street with people opening their stores, frying jalebis and samosa, and boiling milk set the tone of the buzz in the city. The people were hospitable and greeted with a “hello” and helped with the directions as well.

As I reached what is called Nav Chokia, the first sight was of a temple, outside of which “God of Sex” written on a small pillar. What I thought might be a taboo in the conservative old city of Rajasthan, was normal and acceptable to have a platform to pray for the divine pleasure, nature has gifted to the ‘human being’. It surely wasn’t a taboo in this little village.

The two old water bodies are well maintained in the deep of the Blue City. I traversed and followed the streets of Nav Chokia ignoring the two random bulls on the road, some garbage, people stepping out for morning rituals.

Below are a few random clicks of the streets of Nav Chokia. Apparently the Swach Bharat campaign hasn’t yet taken effect inspite of efforts from the local authorities.

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As I reached the end of the street to a large banyan tree, I saw a water body under the majestic shadows of the Mehrangarh Fort. Quiet had found its comfort there, with no other human being in sight, the space was exclusive to me. I sat by the lake and soaked in its beauty for a bit. The place seemed like the hangout for local men as beer bottles and leftover from the previous night out could be spotted there.

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As I stepped out, I saw a frail looking old man, resting on the platform under the tree. I asked him in the Hindi I could manage, “Sahib, yahaan aur koi talaab hai kya?” He pointed to a little entrance at a large fort gate. There were hardly 4 others who were interested in the place. Here are some videos and clicks of this really beautiful water body and stepwell near the back gate of the Mehrangarh Fort.

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This water body seems like the main source of water into the Mehrangarh Fort, and therefore was protected. The body was well populated with fish and people are not allowed to go down the steps towards the water.

The space at the back of the Mehrangarh Fort seemed a lot less crowded and this intrigued me to check if one can access the fort from an entrance from Nav Chokia side. And there was indeed an opening.
With just few architecture students present making sketches at the entrance, this seemed like the perfect way to explore the Mehrangarh Fort, away from the crowd. The guard at the entrance was a kind man. We struck a brief conversation, exchanged greeting and I began the climb.

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Well soaked in the beauty of the gigantic structure, I stepped out to explore Jaswant Thada.
As I start, curious villagers of Nav Chokia who have been observing me, engaged with me to find out my story. I mentioned about my intent to reach Jaswant Thada and they were quick to suggest a road less traveled from beside the water body. They said “road kaccha hai, lekin agar app yeh nahi kiye to app kuch kiye nahi” (roads arent great, but if you haven’t this by walk, you haven’t covered anything). True to what they said, this was a beautiful wild route giving some new perspectives to the water body. After a good 45-60 mins walk, I reached the main road from where Jaswant Thada was just 300 meters away.

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Jaswant Thada is another spectacular structure, made in marble and houses tribute to all the marwar rulers. The garden outside is beautiful. It would be a ornithologists paradise if one was interested in sighting and observing birds. As I sat outside the marble structure, the cleaning lady of the space decided to join me for a brief chit chat. Just as we clickEd a pleasant moment, nature gifted us with some spectacular clouds. Some Of my best clicks happened in this moment.

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After the magical moments over Jaswant Thada, time inched towards my train timing. There are times you want cover just another place so that the journey feels completed. Mandor fort was that place for me in the Blue City. It is a place of significance and hence worth making it a part the travel destination. Mandor was the first capital of Marwar region. I am told that the place gets it’s name from Ravana’s wife Mandodiri.

Since time was a bit crunched, I took an auto from Jaswant Thada to travel a distance of 10kms and be dropped back at the clock tower. I paid Rs.400 for the same. All the money I may have spent in all of 2 days was spent on the 20 km trip to Mandor fort.

At the fort there is a park and museum apart from the ruin of the old fort. At point it may be worthwhile to understand the difference of what gets called as Qila/Quila (pronounced as Khila) and Garh/Gadh (pronounced as Gad).A Quila is a structure on the ground. And the Gadh is what build on a high mountain with a vantage point over the destination.

I walked through the garden for about 1.5kms to reach the fort. I gave the museum a pass as I didn’t have time. People climb to the top to get a view of the ‘Mandor Garden’. The garden also had a few structure which probably were meant to be temples, but were left unfinished. They look like the kind of temples structures you find in Khajuraho. I don’t have too much information share about the various elements inside the Mandor Garden. Hence my advice if you were to cover this place, do it slow.

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I sat in the setting sun for a bit and started back. I would like to share an observation in this place. On a weekend, several people gather in the garden to play cards, mostly older men. I noticed many small groups. There were also communities, joint families or family friends circle come together and have some moment of fun playing something like a tambola. These are distant memories from my past. Seemingly, human connections are more alive in the rural india than on our urban side.

I headed to take one last look at the fort in the setting sun. This is should be a destination to cover, on every traveller’s list. Two days is justified time in Jodhpur.

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To know all about Jodhpur, read my post here