monumental world’s largest cannon. Avoid a trip to Nahargarh (and yet another hill) during the day – try reaching their by twilight (but for lone travelers, try finding a group or better still find out if the Rajasthan Tourism is providing night tours that include transport, dinner and entertainment in form of folk dances at the time you are there). There somewhere between earth and sky, see the city lights giving competition to a sky full of stars. It is the best city view to be had. And if you want to do that extra romantic thing, you can even rent rooms right in the fort, including an octagonal room with windows looking out onto the city and its expanse.
And then there is the Birla Mandir- but its like the Birla Madir anywhere else – elaborate marble edifice – still doesn’t feel a patch on the unfortunately closed to public Moti Doongri fort (where apparently the royal family stays) that you can see right above it.
Want to do more? – Feed pigeons a la Trafalgar square at the Albert Hall museum. The building in its details is more fascinating than any exhibit -and from what I remember it was a very badly kept museum – including a model of a fish – which was simply labelled fish.
Go to Raj Mandir and catch the latest sentimental movie. Its one of the first really fancy theatres in India and very famous of its time – a time much before the multiplex phenomenon- the kitschy larger than life interiors stand a testimony to that.
Read the papers and get lucky to catch a screening, a mela or if you are really lucky a concert at the Jawahar Kala Kendra. It is very worth a visit in any case – with a beautiful Charles Correa designed building on the theme of the nine divisions of the cosmos, which also forms the basis of the