This post is really close to my heart, and why not,
I today proudly present this beautiful architectural gem 'Haveli of Fatehpur Shekhawati' from Rajasthan, India.
Rajasthan is the state I belong to! Beauty, food and innocense of Rajasthan has attracted millions of tourists over the years. I think it is one of the only states that managed to conserve most of its architectural integrity over so many years. There are a lot of famous forts and tourist spots there but then there are still some unknown or not so acknowledged places which deserve being known by the world!
One such place is the aforementioned Haveli ( Hindi word for a villa). How did I come across it? Everytime I go to Rajasthan I go to see my grandparents and we generally make a road trip from my hometown Bikaner to the village of my grandparents ( a place so remote you cannot find it on google maps. lol.) .And you go through the Fatehpur Shekhawati. So last December on one such trip, we decided to stop there to eat something. While my dad was driving towards the restaurant I caught a glimpse of this amazing ages old villa and well, now you all will as well.
So here we go
My mom just casually photobombing the building! But just look at it, it just blew me away. Imagine the amount of work and love the sculptor put into this.
This is the glimpse that I caught from my car. It looks like a ruined old ghost town from there. But wait till you see the art.
So we enter from right here...
Now this is the painting you see right above the door. Beautiful isn't it? But the most fascinating thing is that the golden parts that you see are in fact made with pure gold! Combined with the breath taking wood work, every detail says it's own story.
When you enter you see this small hall (every room was made super small for some reason, but the amazing thing is that you feel plenty of air passing and a lot of light! That's the guy who gave us some details about the villa.
You will notice, on all four doors the four designs are different from each other. Although each painted with the same heart, same love and same meticulously hard work. The amount of diligence this must have required, today we do not even want to vacuum our houses and look up robotic cleaners. LOL.
There are very very rare moments when I see my parents being cute or take selfies. You know, young people stuff! But when I see it, I try to capture it. Now, on either sides of the wall you can see some tiny shelves, in older times when they did not use to have eletricity many such shelves would be used to place diyas ( A type of candle made of soil, you put a cotton wick and light it with oil) among other things.
Image of a diya.
Through this door you enter a room. Now this was a villa meant for a very big joint family, so each such room was shared by parents and all the kids.
Windows in the room.
So this was the room. Let me explain about it. It was an extremely small space and mind you temperature in Rajasthan goes up to 49 degrees sometimes. So I asked the guy how on earth did so many people survive in one room. So he told me that the walls in the rooms were made of such a material which automatically regulated the temperature in the room. Keeping it cool in summers and warm in the winters! Talk about technology. Oh and hats off to the kids who shared a room with their parents. But then again it's not like they had to go through puberty like that. Why you ask? Well at that time and still in many parts of Rajasthan child marriage was a thing. I will not even go there right now.
Well that was all the accessible area. I am so happy to have shared this with you all today and yeah I am all choked up. I am so proud of where I come from because of such aspects of my culture.
Oh and last but not the least
A picture from my village!
Dearest Desert, I LOVE YOU. Oh, and you as well mighty peacock.
Peace out.
Mona
