The Rajasthan Diaries - V

The last segment of our trip was a stopover at the famous hill station/resort of Mount Abu in Rajasthan. The ride from Jodhpur to Mount Abu was uneventful, but after a prolonged stopover for dinner at a famous eatery run by the Baba Ramdev organization, we reached Mount Abu at an unearthly hour. As we went around the deserted streets of Mount Abu, we were reliving the experience of Jodhpur, where there were no hotels available. After a few stops at dirty hovels which were masquerading as hotels, we came across a nice, decent place at the foothills of Mount Abu. Luckily for us, the hotel had rooms for us, and all of us trooped in, after a long ride in the day.

Mount Abu is a scenic place set in the Aravalli ranges, where the main attraction is the cool climate and also some temples which are revered by the Jain community. In the morning, after a refreshing breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel, we made our way to the actual hill station (we were at the foothills .. so it was a long and winding road to the top of the hill). The road wound its way slowly up, and as we went up, we could see the temples on the hilltop which had made the place famous. There were a lot of monkeys all along the way, and any vehicle which would stop along the way, would have the inquisitive simians board them and not leave until the vehicle started up and picked up considerable speed. The road was desolate and deviod of human habitation, and all one could see were cars and jeeps making their way to the top, or coming back down. Our first stop was at a temple for the Goddess Durga (or one of her many incarnations, I don't exactly remember the name). The climb was long as there were innumerable steps to the temple, which was on the summit of a hillock. As for the temple, it was just a cave, where the deity was supposed to have incarnated as a rock formation ('Swayambhu' - which means being incarnate on his/her own wish/inclination). The entrance to the cave, was a narrow opening, where one had to do some amount of bending/twisting to get in/out. There were many rock formations outside the temple, where we took some photos.
The next stop was the stunning temples of Dilwara, which are famous for their marble carvings. The architecture of the temple was such that the temple itself was not visible to a person walking on the street. The temples were built in a depression in the ground. The logic behind this strange architectural design was to prevent the temple from being seen by invaders who would then proceed to loot and burn the temple down to the ground as was the trend during those days. Adherent to the Jain tradition, the temple prevents any kind of leather from being taken inside, so after depositing all our leathery articles, like belts and purses in the jeep itself, we went inside. The cool confines of the temple contain some of the most intricate marble stone design which can be made. The unfortunate part is that no photography is allowed within the temple, and therefore all the designs are only a memory. There are five temples in the complex, each one dedicated to one of the 24 Jain tirthankaras. After coming out, we made our way to the highest point in the Aravalli ranges, which housed the temple of Dattatreya. Above the temple is the summit of the hill, which provides a splendid view of the plains. We reached there, to get a stunning view of the plains around the hills. A river was visible in the distance, which had dried up. The summit had a bell, which was a sort of wishing bell. Rumour had it that if the bell was rung, then whoever was unmarried would get married in the next one year. All of us were single at that time, and all of us rang the bell, thinking about the obvious. Till date this has been proven to be false as none of us is yet to get married.
After a quick lunch, we made our way to the sunset point to watch the sun set over the Aravalli ranges. The setting sun always is a sight to behold, and watching the sun set from a high ground, with the plateau as the backdrop, was a different experience. Once the sun had set, and we had soaked in the best images of a cold winter evening on the hills, we moved out to make our way back to our hotel as we had a train to catch in the night. We alighted at Mount Abu station, and were picking up our luggage, when a group of sadhus appraoched us. One of the sadhus pointed at Shivam and wanted to "bless" him, which we watched with a lot of amusement. Shivam was very uncomfortable facing the sadhu who was making threatening gestures at him and generally causing him some grief. The sadhu left Shivam alone only after he had parted with 20 bucks, while we had a hearty laugh at Shivam's expense.
We were lucky with the train this time, and as it entered the platform on time, we got to our berths and curled in for a good night's sleep. We had a flight to catch from Delhi the next evening, and we slept peacefully, little knowing the surprise awaiting us the next day.