Sifar se Safar tak...Ajmer (Part-1)

I was standing in the middle of a very narrow street, part of a very crowded market, little exhausted and equally anxious and my body begging me for a quick energy bite, so I just bought one of the sweetest “Dates” available in this part of India, welcome to Ajmer land of Divine “Darga” and Puskar best of the both world.

Ajmer is not far from Jaipur, it’s just 2 & half hours journey and there are plenty of places where one can roam like Annasagar Lake, Dargha, Saibaba temple and of course the local markets and many more such places. I left Jaipur at 9am from bus to Ajmer. I was going to meet one of my close friend Ajay, who invited me to spend a weekend at Ajmer. It was cold winter morning of January 2009.

I reach Ajmer at 11:45hrs. Bus journey was quiet & relaxed, thanks to the good roads. At first time when I enter the city I find it very quiet & peaceful including the streets, means less traffic & people. My bus stopped at the main govt. bus stand which is located at Kachari road and luckily I got my taxi easily. Both options are available to hire a taxi, i.e. shared and personalized to reach your destination. Within five minutes I reached my friend’s office. We decided to have some food first and then we will go to see Dargha, one of the most visited holy places in the country, where people use to come from all around the world and of all the religion. We hired an auto taxi; it took only ten minutes drive from Kachari Road. Since the taxi is not allowed near the Dargah campus, he left us around half km before the it. The streets near Dargha are very narrow and badly crowded, and also there was lots of baggers who actually take your life unless you won’t give them some money, so my suggestion to all visitors is to keep few good number of coins if you want to give them else just keep on walking and try to ignore them as much as you can. Also do take care of your valuable items like wallet, purse etc. The campus of “Garab Nawaz Dargha” is very big in itself. There are several shops inside the Dargha campus selling Chadar, Caps, Fresh flowers and other items required at the time of performing prayers in the mosque. 

"The moment you enter the Dargha campus, you will experience enormous peace of mind. You will find everybody in religious state and surrendering themselves in the name of God. You cannot stop your body to react, like your eyes will get wide & wet, your whole body will get electrified with full of energy and your soul will ask to stay here as long as possible as there is nothing better than worshiping God. Whatever and wherever you are in this world, you will get the real peace of soul when you surrender yourself to God."

The shopkeeper from where we buy the Chadar & Flowers assigned us a man to show us the path and also give us directions how to pray and perform all the rituals. Before entering the Dargha he ask us to wash our face, hands & legs properly as it is mandatory to do so; for this there are several taps are installed in the campus itself.

Garib Nawazsarif Dargha

There are four gates to enter the Dargha building and three gates to enter inside the actual Dargha. Among first four gates one is always closed (opens once a year at the time of “Urrs”), and another two gates are used for both entering and exit, and the last which is very small one, is used for entering purpose only. We entered from smaller one & we find three people setting near the main gate, they were recording names and other details of every person visiting the Dargha, and for this you have to give them some money as a donation, so do keep some currency with you when you enter the Dargha. We both entered inside the main Dargha from a very small gate as rests of the two gates were very crowded. Dargha was very crowded from inside and it was very hard to walk. Few persons were standing near the ‘Kabra’ of holy man Nawaz Sarif, they were performing the rituals for every visitor’s and asking to donate some money for Dargha. Somehow we manage to complete the rituals and came out of it. It was nice feeling for both of us after coming out of it.

The color of Dargha is white & the top of the dome is of golden color, which looks very beautiful and because of that golden dome in the middle, it looks more stunning structure. Outside the Dargha few people were singing Kawali which making the atmosphere more harmony and spiritual.

We both observe that there is a huge miss management inside the Dargha, firstly all the gates are very narrow its very hard to get inside and secondly, since no body is managing the crowed, people use to fight to get inside first, they use to push each other’s and nobody is bothers about the aged & females visitors. Several times old persons & females get stuck inside specially children’s and they also get hurt. In one of the visit I also got a scratch on my elbow. But now the scenario has been totally changed, there are dedicated persons to manage the crowed and entering is done in a proper queue this result every person gets equal chance and there is no money takers in between. Since Dargha always remain crowded, my suggestion to all the visitors is to try to avoid visiting this place during festival season like Id or Urrs. Try to visit in early morning or post 1pm.

After Dargha, we headed towards Annasagar Lake. Ajmer is also very famous for its Kadhi-Kachori. So, we went first to one of the very famous shop of Ajmer which is situated at Gool Piyao, a kilo meter way from Dargha. We enjoyed our Kadhi-Kachori there, trust me it’s was superb taste and equally spicy.

Annasagar Lake View

Sweet breeze was blowing on our faces and I can see only water around me, this was enough reason for me to get relaxed. Birds were flying near the lake side to get relief from hot sun, so do we. Although it way winter season but still the sun was still bright enough to make us wet as we were walking all the way. We rested in the park which is attached to the lake side. It was very quiet place to relax; you can see the water waves and hear the sound of birds. It was just like listening a classical instrumental music. I love this small and beautiful city – Ajmer. This city is very versatile with mixed culture of Hindu & Muslim. There is something which attracts me a lot, I don’t know what is it but I want to come this place again and again.

About AJMER:

Ajmer is located in Rajasthan State, its only 131 km from Jaipur and 391km from Delhi. The city is famous for Dargha dedicated to Sufi saint Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti and also more popular as a gateway to Pushkar.

GETTING TO AJMER:

Ajmer is well connected from all major cities like the closest one is Jaipur then Delhi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

By TRAIN: There is a good connection of trains from all three major cities i.e. Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and of course Jaipur. Kindly book your railway tickets a month prior to your visit if you want a confirm tickets.

By BUS & TAXI: Personal taxi will take not more than 2 hours and government bus services are very good, it will take 2.5 to 3 hrs. You can catch these buses from main bus stand at Sindhi camp from Jaipur.

By Flight: There is no airport at Ajmer so the nearest airport is in Jaipur and later you have options like Train, Bus or Taxi.

ACCOMMODATIONS

RTDC KHADIM TOURIST BUNGALOW: Owned by Rajasthan Govt. it’s a nice and economic place to stay and has a bar inside it.

HOTEL MANSINGH PALACE: It’s a 3 star hotel, very nice rooms, services and food; it is located on the main road way to Pushkar.

HOTEL EMBASSY: It is located in the heart of the city; all the tourist locations are close to it. Rooms are good but food is not so up to the mark, rest is fine.

MUST SEE:

DARGHA: Dargah is a major pilgrimage centre for Muslims and also from all other religion peoples. Auto taxi is easily available near the bus stand and railway stations.

ANA SAGAR LAKE: It’s a manmade Lake, one side city and another side is hills. Lake is attached with a Marble Pavilion and a beautiful garden known as Daulat Bag. It’s a nice place to relax and refresh.

SAI-BABA TEMPLE:  It’s a beautiful constructed temple of Sai-baba, its only 5 km from railway station located in Ajay Nagar in Ajmer.

JAIN TEMPLE: This temple is on the way to Ana Sagar which is quite beautiful structure both from inside & outside.

EAT:

There are several places for food lovers in Ajmer. The most famous fast food of Ajmer is Kadi-Kachori, Soan Halwa, Mal-Puha etc. And there are plenty of restaurants like – Tandoor Restaurant (near bus stand), Honeydew (near Railway station), Mahadev ka Dhabha (opp. Daulat Bagh), Café at Kachari road.