Ajmer

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That what I would call an old city, small lanes snaked around, criss-crossed each others, no idea what the scene would be like around the corner, got yourself completely lost but wouldn't complained, that was the main ingredient for an old city, and they was the old city in Ajmer(@450m). The city was founded in the 7th century by Raja Ajai Pal Chauhan, Ajmer once was a Hindu empire ,but nowadays it was a moslem city with many old houses inside the dense city. Although there were some Hindu temple in town, but no one aware of their existing. The action definitely was around the 13th century temple The Dargah, the tomb of a Sufi saint, Khwaja Moin-ud-Din-Chishti. Muslim pilgrims kept the area busy almost 24hrs each day, especially on Friday where they brought with a parade band, carried an huge carpet canopy where people throw donation in. Around the temple complex you would see many dirts clad beggars,many of them were deformed or handicapped, added a dash of sadness in the festive atmosphere. Many beggars just squat outside the restaurants,I suspected muslims restaurants would gave out left over foods in certain time of the day, as I saw the same sight while in Jaipur outside a restaurant with muslim owner. There was so many hotels inside the old city for the pilgrimages, but same...most were only for Indian, luckily I got tipped off by the tourist office to an economic pay guesthouse. At first Ajmer wasn't very appealed to me, as there wasn't any accommodation around the bus station, and got none of the chaotic scene of an India bus station, it was quiet indeed, very rare! But once I settled down and got my bearing of the place, it was as crazy as any other Indian city. with abundant markets and the food scene was great, with the muslim community, tandora and khaba again in the menu. Everyday I developed better skill to dealed with the streetwise encounter, choose to responded to whoever I want and ignored all the others, I began to enjoyed the walked in the street. People in Rajasthan just liked to got their photo taken, and it gave me much more chance to got portrait of the locals, and always parted with a solid handshake! Other sites in town was the empty Akbar Fort where held a empty museum, not far away was the Nasiyan Temple complex, only the exhibition hall was opened to public in the back, a two storey building house a huge model of wood crafts in gold, depicting the Jain concept of ancient world, but it was difficult to view and understood the idea of the displayed, the lighting was bad and everything were golden in dark tone behind thick glass panel and wire-mesh. The Adhai-Din-Ka-Jhonpra, The two and half days Temple, legend said the temple was constructed in 2.5 days. An Indo-Islamic architecture, Originally a Sanskrit college, but converted into a mosque by Mohamad Ghori in 1198. It was an impressive structure indeed, and the calligraphic inscriptions on the building was noteworthy. There was a Parsis Temple on the east side of the railway, The Agiari(fire temple) was only 80 years old, provided serviced for the 30 devotees in town. Ajmer was under control by the British from 1818 until India's independence, and the town still could witness some colonial legacy, there was many churches and colonial bungalows buildings in town, and the 1875 Mayo College was most outstanding, but it wasn't opened to public. I was more in delighted with the walked up to mid-hill for the scene of the town and the Ana Sagar lake, looking at the lego blocks like houses laid out underneath. Of course one could go all the way up to Taragarh Fort for a more deeper view, but the heat during the day stopped me from attempted it.

Note
Bus Jaipur to Ajmer Rs80.

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