Old has its charm

While in Udaipur I did a LONG walk around old city. I also took a guide along with me to explain the places better rather than just seeing shops. It was like time travelling to the past as some of the streets and shops have stayed the way they were 100 years ago.

Paneer, Rabdi, Gulab Jamub and similar sweets are extremely popular in Udaipur. Needless to say there are shops that make just Paneer. And loads and loads of them.

Spice shop where they also grind and give fresh masalas. There is something about making fresh masalas and Rajasthan. In the homestay I stayed in, they said they made fresh Aata and Masala right at home. They had a small masala mill in their home.

While spring onions are usually small in size, I saw this variant where the spring onions were massive in size. I have seen such spring onions in Bangalore also. But these were available all throughout the market and the only type of spring onions I could see.

We visited the place where Tandoors in all shapes and forms were made. It was interesting to see the place where massive amounts of clay and hay were mixed to make these giant tandoors.

There was a potter’s street and I had my attempt at making small cups. It was my first time trying out pottery. It was crazy how clay could be moulded with so little pressure.

These were the cups I was referring to. The one on the top was made by the potter. The bottom two were my attempts. Not bad for the first time I feel.

There were other shops like blacksmiths and gold smiths. History has it that Maharana Uday Sing who built the Udaipur city got these skilled goldsmith, blacksmiths etc. from various other Rajasthani cities and told them to settle here. Their families are still into the same business. They are invited and given a special place in the Royal ceremonies even today as they were pivotal in developing the city. This history was fascinating.

We later headed to Jagadish temple in the old city for the Arti. It was a LONG Arti for almost 25 minutes. Almost all the people at the Arti were singing along and knew all the Arti songs. The Arti in South Indian temples are short and mostly silent with just few drum beats. Here it was different.