GET HUNGRY Walking through Mehrangarh Fort is one great way to build an appetite. The sights and sounds, the variety of colours, and the wealth of historical evidence is not just amazing, but will hold enough fascinations to see you through many visits.
But if forts are not really your scene, or if you have trudged up the route one time too many and prefer the cool hotel interiors, you can work off the sumptuous meals by walking along the shady courtyard and taking the steps that lead somewhat mysteriously downwards, to end at the gym.
State-of-the-art equipment and an attentive trainer ensure you have a happy time slogging it out on the torture machine of your choice — the stepper, walker, treadmill — or you can choose the weights if you wish to pop a few muscles.
A walking track, floodlit tennis courts, a putting green and croquet courts are other avenues you can try to burn your extra calories.
EXPLORE JODHPUR There’s plenty to do in Jodhpur, despite the fact that this is one of the sleepiest towns in the trinity of Jaipur, Udaipur and Jodhpur. Walking through the bazaar is a good way to get a taste of local culture; the bustle of shops under the watchful eye of the ancient clock tower offers everyday goods and best buys like the light-as-air, but warm-as-toast Jaipuri ‘razaais’, and a bewildering array of oil and brine-based pickles.
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK Alternatively, you can take day trips out of town, and taste a slice of Rajasthan in the buff. A village trip could be a half-day affair, while the trip to the dunes makes for an exotic visit with dinner thrown in.
The village safari is one of the tours the Hari Mahal travel desk organises. Leave after breakfast, with a guide, in a jeep or car, to visit the villages of the Bishnois. It’s a drive that will take you past the tiny workshop-cum- residence of master weavers who spin magic out of camel hair and whose traditional designs have achieved worldwide fame courtesy Shyam Ahuja, through semi-forest land where the endangered black buck roams.
The Bishnois, who achieved instant fame when they took on Salman Khan for killing the animal sacred to their tribe, live by dairy farming, and are a proud and beautiful race.
At the village that has been adopted by the Taj, you will be treated to a lunch almost royal in its sumptuousness, but saturated with the warmth of home cooking. Also check out the old, heavy treasure chest that holds a sword, a scimitar belonging to Aurangzeb and an edict issued by him, behind a three-key lock that defies your attempts at opening it, but slides open to the right ministrations. The fact that the lock, unduplicated, has never needed oiling through the centuries makes the long drive worthwhile.
DESERT SAFARI The desert safari is quite another side of the exotic. The first step is a long ride to the dunes; then you take a four-wheel drive that manages, despite no signage, to find the oasis of hospitality laid out for you by Camp Thar. Then, there is the camel ride in the sunset, and even as you dismount and feel your bones to ensure that everything is in its place, and marvel at the camel owner speeding away homeward on his mount, the fires are lit and the stars come out.
The dunes form a romantic backdrop, and to another great dinner — to the accompaniment of the musicians who have materialised from nearby villages and spread out a carpet of rustic magic.
Classical overtones and self-trained voices and the unspoken but very marked ‘guru-shishya’ relationship among the performers make you proud of the Indian tradition that has lingered in this unfriendly terrain.
The roads speed past as you return to Jodhpur, and the fort looms its welcome once more. And when you leave, laden with wooden bric-a-brac and perhaps a sampling of snacks and pickles, you know you will come back for a taste of exotica once more.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY THE TAJ HARI MAHAL