I had written about Jaipur some days back. Now something about Ajmer, which is famous for Dargah of Khawaja ji and for Pushkar. Ajmer is around 414 km from Delhi and is well connected by road and rail. If one is going straight to Ajmer then need not to touch Jaipur. Around 50 km before Jaipur there is bypass highway going to Ajmer. This is a very good highway; I would rate it best in north. Govt. has taken care of building toilets on this stretch, which are clean and well maintained.
Ajmer was known as Ajay Meru in older times, when great king Prithviraj Chauhan ruled it. Ajay means undefeatable and Meru means mountain. It used to be city of Indian Railways people, but now it has changed. Till few years back, it had meter gauge line from Delhi, which has been converted in broad gauge and Shatabdi Express is one of the fastest train on this track.
Rajasthan land has its own distinctive fregrenence, I can tell with closed eyes when we crossed Haryana and entered in Rajasthan. This is peculiar during onset of monsoon. Ajmer is now a crowded city. It has a busy market known as madar gate just opposite to railway station. There is a lane in this market where you would find ice cream shops in row. If you are with lady companion, it is funny to see that shop keepers standing out of the shops will loudly announce that this lady is their sister and would invite- didi come in, meri behan idhar aao. Once you are inside the shop, he will start looking for another sister. This is busy market and you get every thing. Nice eating joints of rajasthani chat, sweets etc. Traders of Ajmer prefer to deal with Mumbai rather than Delhi. They call Delhi businessmen as cheaters.
Rajasthan tourism bungalow Khadim is near roadways bus stand. Taj mansingh hotel is also there in vaishali nagar area. Budget hotels are not many. There are number of restaurants near khailand market but are not really good. One can either go to Khadim or honey dew near railway station.
Places of interest – 1. Khawaja Ji ki Dargah- Very popular and most visited shrine. If you go there by auto and as you get down, people will follow you for offering chadars and other things. Just go to any of flower shop and ask for Pholon ki chadar for 51/-, 101/- or whatever amount you wish to spend. Put a handkerchief over your head and carry flower basket on your head. Once again people will come and offer their services for taking you inside. Avoid them; if someone persists tell him that you will pay 5/-, 11/- and not more than that. He will join you and take inside for offering of pholon ki chadar. Inside the dargah some people will be sitting with registers and books and will ask you to enter your name or taking a particular service. Avoid them and come outside. While going in you would have seen two very big Deghs(utensil for cooking). These deghs are permanently mounted over furnaces and there are steps to go up to the mouth. One is called small degh and other one as big degh. During Urs fair, the food is cooked in these and there is ceremony called Degh Lootna. Rest of year pilgrims visiting the shrine put offerings in these in terms of cash, gold, watches and what not. I have seen bundles of currencies lying in.Near to Dargah there are other places like 2 ½ din ka jhopra(hut made in 2 ½ days)
Anna Sagar and Daulat Bagh- It’s a huge garden area on side of which there is substantial water body called Anna Sagar. Locals come here for evening walks and picnic.
Bajrangarh temple – This is Hanuman’s temple on a hill near Daulat Bagh only. There are staircases to climb up and after darshan you can have parikrama. From parikrama area, anna sagar is visible.
Jain Nasihanji- This is very old Jain temple with very good paintings and gold statues. Gold glitters like any thing in yellow light. These things are kept well preserved.
Prithviraj Smarak – Few years back government has developed this place. It’s on a mountain and is a good museum. Down the hill there is Shirdi Baba temple. Up the hill way goes to Taragarh, this place is quite high and inhabitated.
Pushkar Ji – This is famous Hindu pilgrimage place and is famous for Pushkar sarovar and for Brahmaji’s temple. It is said that this is the only Brhama temple in India. People from all parts of country come here. Pushkar is famous amongst foreign tourists also. It still keeps its old charm. Pushkar is around 20-25 km from Ajmer and one has to pass through mountain to enter into Pushkar valley. This is beautiful valley with greenery and Rose is one of the important crop of here. There are many resort type hotels. There is good forest, desert area.
When you are at Pushkar sarovar, many pandas will follow you for conducting puja. It is better to fix before hand if you want to perform a puja. I think once we go that far we must make the offering. You can buy lots of handicraft items at Pushkar but remember to bargain. One can enjoy malpua, puri and lassi near the Gau Ghat.
There are desert safaris conducted from Pushkar and details can be found locally. There is J P resort in desert, which could be a good place to stay in. Pushkar is famous for fair in winter months and is bubbling place during that period. If you happen to see crowd here, you can understand what do I mean by colorful state.
Once here we saw a local bus that reminded us of Fevicol advertisement. There were people everywhere in the bus, on the bus and it was looking as if they had been pasted. Unfortunately I could not take that photograph.