Jodhpur - The Blue Maze of India

Jodhpur aka the blue city of India. Perfect paradise for a avid traveller just wanting to explore. The city has a lot to offer, from huge castles to narrow passages, stepwell cafes to rooftop restaurant, calm mornings to breathtaking sunsets. While traveling across Rajasthan, Jodhpur stole my heart for sure. Jodhpur was like finding calm in a chaos and getting constantly lost in that blue maze where google maps don't work.

Day 1

I arrived Jodhpur early in the morning and had to crash in the common area until i checked in to my hostel. I had a brunch and left to see the old Turja ki Jhalra Bawdi (Stepwell) which was among the few Stepwells open for people to get in. Seeing kids diving in a stepwell having small fishes from 20 feet without a second thought was a treat to watch for sure. I decided to wander on foot rather than taking a tuk tuk (Rickshaw) to explore the city, just the way I like it.

Wandering took me to some history of jodhpur as well, looking at the statue of the Rao Jodha the founder of the city in 15th century and witnessing a beautiful and lavish palace of Jaswant Thada. As a DC comics fan knowing a Christopher Nolan's Batman was shot in Jodhpur, I had to check that place out no matter what.

After that long day all you could ask for was a sunset that you could just sit and watch and admire the time passing by. But Jodhpur won't give up such a sunset so easily, after asking many locals and people around finally a place I'd like was known to me - Maa chamunda temple, which gives a view of sun setting over the old town of the blue city. The hard part was finding that small place which was not on google but only known to the tourist guides, but at the mercy of locals after being lost several times, I made it just in time for the sunset.

Day 2

Jodhpur is known for it's traditional fashion markets more specifically - Mojdis (Traditional Shoes). I decided to visit the "Mochi Bazaar" (Shoe markets) to get some cool Jodhpuri mojdis. Once the shopping was done i went off to try some street food of the city suggested by a guy in the market. The samosas and kachori was too good for a Mumbaikar for sure. No wonder suya namkeen (the place) had a 5 star rating on google.

Now shopping and food out of the way, I met some friends which I had made along the way and we went to check out the the museum and the mighty Mehrangarh.
The museum has a lot of information about the history of marwar which was more interesting than I ever imagined. The architecture of the fort was very much intact even after so many years and stole the show. The cherry on top was the sunset from Mehrangarh fort which looks down on the whole city. As a sucker for sunsets you couldn't ask for more......

Day 3

The last day in Jodhpur, I decided to take something along with me from this trip, a lesson, for my passion of cooking. After talking to the manger of the restaurant, very generous of him to allowing to cook for ourselves. Gulab Jamun Curry was the best thing I made that day and that was "Finger licking" good. Before learning to cook I had some spare hours so wandering into the old building was the best decision of the trip to capture the beauty of the old town of Jodhpur (The real blue city) and that's how I said my good-byes to this city.