Thinking out loud

Temple of Rama, Lakshman and Sita In Chittorgarh, I first went to the Meerabai temple which was built by her husband. It was very beautiful, but small from the inside. There were many monkeys around the temple. I had to be careful with my shoes! Right next to the Meerabai temple was another temple which used to be a Vishnu temple but now has Rama, Lakshman and Sita. It was really nice and the sculptures were amazing. Vijaya Stambha We then went to the Vijaya Stambha (Tower of Victory which was a 7-storey tower to commemorate the victory of Rana Khumba. We are allowed to go inside this tower until the top, but I went only until the 4th floor.  Shiva Temple There was also a Shiva temple I had visited which had a beautiful Shiva idol with big eyes. Then, there was the Main Gate of the fort which I went to. It had holes on the walls so that archers can shoot enemies easily. Queen's palace Lastly, we saw then queen's palace which was surrounded by a sm

Jiya and Urmila were both born in July.  They were both 9 years old. They both had black hair and brown eyes . They both lived in Mumbai . They both lived on Dr. Dalvi road . They lived 2 banyan trees and 1 wall apart. Jiya lived in an apartment with a bedroom to herself. Urmila shared a room with her parents, brother, uncle and grandmother. But, for 9 years, they hadn't met even once . Then, once in school, Jiya had a project to find a non-green leaf. So, she went inside Mr. Jajoo's garden to pick one up. Urmila saw that she was doing this and asked her to get out from there. But it was too late. Mr Jajoo saw them. He said that he would call the police. They rushed out of there. Jiya and Urmila became friends. Mr. Jajoo decided to write a letter to Jiya's principal. Jiya and Urmila come up with a plan to record Mr. Jajoo doing wrong things. WHAT WILL HAPPEN THEN? Read the book to find out! Mr. Jajoo always gets angry because people always come into his gar

CITY PALACE BEST TO VIEW ON A COMPUTER City Palace is one of the main highlights of Udaipur. It is the main palace where the king used to stay. It took about 400 years to build this palace. Its construction started in 1553 by Maharana Udai Singh ll. It is built on top of a hill. WELCOMING ELEPHANT The entrance had a huge elephant statue, beautifully decorated to 'Wow' people in the beginning. The palace looked very scenic from the outside. Just seeing this blew my mind. On the way to the City Palace museum, there were some wall art painted of Maharana Pratap on Chetak. When Maharana Udai Singh ll fled from Akbar, he came to Udaipur and stayed in this palace. WEAPONRY The first things I saw when I entered the museum was Maharana Pratap's armor. There was that metallic suit that he wore during the Battle of Haldighati. (Check that out here ). There were also some of his swords and weapons. CHETAK WITH ELEPHANT MASK There was also a painting

Mani Bhavan is a memorial for Mahatma Gandhi, the most important freedom fighter of India. It is located in Mumbai, alongside a small lane. It is also where Gandhi used to live when he came to Mumbai. He did not have 'Mahatma' in his name. It literally means 'great soul' and was given by the people when he came back from South Africa. His actual name was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or M.K.Gandhi.  Miniature This place was also where he launched the Satyagraha act in March, 1919. He had a lot of association with Mani Bhavan. He also had a major library over here which had over 50,000 books. Miniature They had a small auditorium which showed his speeches and important scenes in his life. There was also a picture gallery which showcased the different stages in his life. It was really nice. He also  had a letter from Einstein telling his famous line; ' Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon t

HALDIGHATI The Battle of Haldighati took place on 18 June 1576 between Maharana Pratap and Mughal emperor Akbar's representative, Man Singh I. The Mughals were victorious but did not manage to capture Maharana Pratap as he fled away. The Mughals captured Chittorgarh. Meanwhile, Maharana Pratap headed to Kumbalgarh near modern-day Udaipur. He made his base over there. PAINTING DEPICTING BATTLE OF HALDIGHATI In this battle, Pratap's horse, Chetak died after climbing up on Man Singh's elephant where Chetak's hind leg was injured. Chetak died after running away with Maharana Pratap and crossing a stream taking Pratap to safety. SCENE WHEN CHETAK JUMPS ON ELEPHANT As you can see, on the top left there is a horse lying down. That is Chetak, dead. You can see the path hr took to cross the stream and lead Maharana Pratap to safety. This war was a very bloody war. The picture to your left was taken in the Maharana Pratap museum. Go to the &

National Gallery of Modern Art During our full trip to India (blog coming soon) , I visited the National gallery of Modern Art Delhi. It was part of Jaipur House. It had a beautiful dome on top from the outside, looking like a palace. It is currently owned by the Government of India. I stepped in, purchased the tickets (Rs. 20 only) and dropped my bag off in a locker given.  I went to the first floor which had beautiful sculptures made in the 'modern' period. There was also an amazing sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi. I really enjoyed the sculptures made with different materials such as stone and bronze. Majority of them were made of bronze. Gandhi statue I moved on to the second floor which had lots of paintings. The artists I really liked were Raja Ravi Verma, Thomas Daniell, Chitaraga Krishnappa and M. F. Pithawala. There was also an artist, Antonio Xavior Trindade who painted during the British rule. His painting Lady with Jar was fascinating. The third and fou