Drive into Aravalis

Drive into Aravalis
Unplanned encounters

When we think of Rajasthan it is always an arid land. We forget what lies before that, a great mountain range that divides great region into two parts. Aravali is the range of mountain formed by orogenesis which dates back more than 440 million years ago. It is the oldest mountain range of India. It stretches for 430 miles from Delhi to Gujarat. As soon as I saw the beauty of lush green mountains, I had to keep my sight out of the car window every time. In monsoons nobody would ever want to miss this unseen greenery of this royal land. Everything truly presented  biodiversity in nature. Can anyone create this beauty except God?

My trails in mountains are no less than an experience of walking in the skies. When I entered Rajasthan during monsoons I was thrilled to see how green layer covered those rocky mountains while cloudy fur hovered above them. Seeing those hills I recalled old drawings of two mountains and sun, which so interestingly remainsed same for each child in early days.

As not all this was planned, the time passed was still feeling me with aspirations. Sometimes a walk or a drive between greens brings smile on our face and that is what we all are in search this days! Not always an adventure and excitement is what we need for a break from our regular jobs. Just some  nature and few loved one's are perfect combos.

The natural habitat in west land was covered with dark clouds and slow wind  blew gently. Here, step farming happened on every hill. Farming is main occupation and mainly spiny gourd grows here in monsoons. On the way there were many vendors selling baskets of spiny gourd. Spiny gourd is commonly called kantola or kankoda in West part of India. They are basically climbers which grows mostly in monsoons. Thus, provided income to local farmers. Custard apple also grew on the little piece of land between rocks. I was amazed to see number of fruit plants growing  between the rocks.

Flora and Fauna

Ecological balance was very clearly seen here. Each living species is interdependent on one another while respecting each other. It was when we were searching for an open space to have some snacks on the way, we entered a narrow lane heading towards Rajsamand. Farmers walked with their long wooden stick on shoulders and a paghdi (turban) on head. On one side we saw bird Sughri (Baya weaver) nests on a tree. It is about ten to twelve inches in height and has one or two holes of three inches beneath as an entrance tube to the nest. The nest is made up of wild green grass grown after rains. As time passes this nest turns into brown colour due to sun's heat but still acts as a shelter of the bird. It is very beautifully weaved and is one of the architectural marvel in itself.

When wandered more, we discovered family of tortoise as if was crawling towards their home. Those shells seemed like a stone at a glance. But they were Indian star tortoise. The scientific name is Geochelone elegans and inhabits in dry vegetation types like desert edges, grasslands and agricultural landscapes of fields. In India they are found in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Orissa. This species are in verge of extinction. at 18th meet, a ban was imposed on International commercial trade of Indian star, by the conference of the parties to the United Nations Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP18), Geneva, Switzerland.

On other hill, flock of sheep was grazing peacefully. All the hills had become lush green due to arrival of monsoons. Even from between the rocks grass grew and sprawled largely on hills. The whole environment was full of peace. Only few cars passed by the place where we sat for snacks.

Rajsamand Nau Chowki - Kankroli edge

India has varied culture due to its difference in geographical condition from East to West and North to South. The above Rajsamand lake is one of the important lakes of the country in State of Rajasthan between the town of Rajnagar and Kankroli. The ghat here has inscriptions, Pavilions and torans. The lake is known as Nau chowki and was constructed by Maharaja Raj Singh in the other half of seventeenth century AD. The lake measures about 6.64 kilometers * 2.9 kilometers and 16.5 meters in depth. It is fed by the water of river Gomati. The Northern side embankment has flight of nine steps and each level descend to the water edge. The marble pavilions with gateways were constructed with intricetly carved gods, goddesses and animal figures, out of which three gateways exists today. The Rajprasasti is fixed in the niches all along the ghats which elaborates the history of ghats.

Maharana Raj Singh I, during a great famine in seventeenth century to protect people, ordered the construction of a lake and a dam over Gomthi River. The construction of dam and lake both provided employment to the people. After compeletion water of lake was released for irrigation through canals.

The edge here that I am talking about is South edge of the whole lake.  In between irrigation park in East and palace in West lies the city of Kankroli. An irrigation park and lake shares same boundary. This irrigation park is a new construction. A decent walkway is developed around the periphery on South bank. Waters of the lake remains full and burbles in monsoons. But in summer, water almost reduces its depth. I started my walk from the temple palace and reached the opposite side to the irrigation park after a walk of approximately five kilometers. Yes, to take this views you only have to walk around the periphery of lake. The other way to reach that point is through a road by crossing whole town in Auto Rickshaw.

Architecture

In any talk of the history, architecture of the place exactly depicts what we call culture and traditions. Rajasthan, having dry climate, kings built many water bodies and constructed palaces out of sandstones. Common man's house was built with stones and mud plaster. Also, the thickness of  walls  is about 18-27 inches. Windows carved with perforated jali filters hot air and jarokhas shades wall and sometimes even streets below it. These techniques helped to keep difference of about 5-10 degrees than exteriors. The first image is of  a temple palace known as Vallabh ghar of Kankroli where two swaroop (form) of shreenathji resides. One Dhwarikadhish prabhu and Mathuranathji prabhu. This temple is owned by descendants of  Shree Mahaprabhuji (Vallabhacharya). It is located on the banks of  Nau chowki.

The air from Nau chowki keeps whole Rajsamand town moderate in climate. The windows of palaces and houses receives cool air from lake through jalis. The mornings in this town is so pleasant. When morning arrived I was standing on one of the temple's window and I all of a sudden saw the sun rising from behind the ghats. Beauty catched my eyes.

No one can deny that houses of the settlements in Rajsamand are not beautiful. The way they used bold colours have become inspiration for today's designers. Do you see jali above the window pane? They are basically ventilators. The impressions and motifs on facades as if they celebrated the construction shows how dedicated were those craftsmen.

Can India be presented without colours? Answer is no, not at all. The red colour on street was of celebration. The joy of celebrating any festival in Kankroli is so special that once you celebrate here you would always love to visit this place during that festival. People here has so much eagerness to celebrate festivals. Then, what I observed here they have a natural gutter system starting from top of the temple as it is the highest point. This keeps roads free of water in whole town. There is no water accumulated on roads.

Kankroli is also one of the blue cities of Rajasthan. The blue plaster is of limestone and Copper Sulphate in water. Both minerals are found in abundant in Rajasthan. Houses have small courtyards in between. This is one of the architectural element for built forms of arid and semi-arid regions. In Rajasthan you see small and perforated openings and at macro levels the shelters are closely packed.

So, if you want to have a look of the town you can take a route which turns to the left of the main gate of temple. It shows a glimpse of the town. Huge steps climbs down to the local street.

People

Here, life surrounds lake. On the bank there are vendors who sell fish food at 10 Rupees per dish. I bought a dish, it contained small balls of brown and white colour. When I went down to the bank there was an old man sitting on the steps of ghats. He brought about a one kilogram of wheat flour dough for fishes. He gave us some part. We threw small pieces of dough into lake and fishes jumped to eat that.

Visitors and devotees are mainly seen here. Water and the fishes on bank amuses every person that visits this place. No one goes back without feeding fishes. Children actually enjoys the most.

When I left the temple complex and entered the town, I saw a lady cleaning streets. So she was the most important person I came across. As early morning she started her work to clean roads there was no rapper or any other trash on roads.  "Swachh Bharat Swasth Bharat"

Freedom!

Waiting!

Mouth watering!

- All photographs belong to me and are captured with Samsung Note 4 during my visit to the place mentioned. -