When you talk of Ajmer, the first thing that crosses your mind, is the famous shrine, Ajmer Sharif Dargah or the nearby town of Pushkar.
On a recent visit to the city, I got to know the city a little intimately and fell instantly in love with the slow and positive vibe of the place. Ajmer is located in the heart of Rajasthan and thanks to the wonderful road network, is easily accessible from Delhi/NCR.
On a cold winter morning, we decided to take off to this city and reached there after a smooth and comfortable drive of around 8 hours, stopping midway to have lunch at a rural setting roadside dhaba which stood majestically amidst golden yellow mustard fields.
Since we had got to know that Ajmer plays host to the huge migratory Pelicans during the winters, we directly hit the Ana Sagar lake to capture some close-up shots of our strikingly beautiful winged friends. With the sun setting fast, we were worried that we might not be able to spend some quality time with these exotic birds, but were pleasantly surprised to see flocks of birds, gliding on the glistening waters of the setting sun, with absolute ease. They seemed completely unperturbed by the presence of humans, so close to them! They posed and we clicked until our memory card was almost full 😊
After a long day’s drive, we were tired and so checked into our pre-booked hotel. The foodies that we are, as usual, the first question my husband asked was where could he get some lip smacking ‘laal maans’? We were directed to The Mango Curry. It is one of the most famous eating joints in Ajmer and also have an in-house bakery. Adjoining this non vegetarian outlet, is the Vegetarian branch of the restaurant under the name, Mango Masala. I tried their wood fired pizza which was delectable and then wound up dinner with a generous helping of the sinful hot chocolate fudge sundae! The Laal Maans didn’t match up to hype and was quite average in taste.
The next day, we decided to wake up early, as I wanted to walk around the narrow lanes which lead to the Dargah and get a feel of the place. It was interesting to use the GPS to navigate the snaking extra narrow lanes and then land into a bazaar, selling Soan Halwa in almost every shop. Some beautiful souvenirs were displayed, which caught my attention and I bought a small souvenir for a friend who has firm faith. On my part, crowded places in India, intimidate me and I’m always on tenterhooks when I’m at such a place, so I avoid them totally. Just took a quick picture at the entrance of the Dargah and walked away.
Since hunger had already struck by then, some famous kadhi-pakoda was to be enjoyed. The aroma of the piping hot kadhi, being poured over freshly fried palak-aloo pakodas was irresistible! We enquired whether the vendor had some pyaaz pakodis too, but he almost told us with great pride, that his dishes were absolutely – No onion, no garlic! Just a few meters away from the dargah, it was amusing to see a totally pure vegetarian thela.
As we had a wedding coming up in the family and had fallen short of a kurta pyjama for my son, we decided to check out the local market to buy the same. Asking locals for directions, we ended up in Diggi Bazaar near Madar Gate. We asked for Kurta Pyjama shops and were immediately directed to a small shop where the owner welcomed us with a broad smile and showed us a wide variety of Ajmeri cotton fabric unstitched designs. We told him that we were looking for something readymade as we were short on time, but he insisted that we should just focus on selecting and he would do the needful. I ended up buying three unstitched kurta pyjama sets – One, because the shopkeeper seemed genuine and two, he treated me to the naturally sweetest Ganne ka Ras, I’d had in the recent past :-D Most importantly, I agreed to buy because we finished selecting at 1pm and he assured hotel delivery of the finished/stitched products by 8pm. I was skeptical but his confidence and the confidence of the tailor masterji restored my trust. Since our son had not accompanied us, I just told the tailor his measurements and seriously….what magic! By 8pm, they had managed to neatly stitch sets which when our son wore, fitted him so well, that we were exuberant!
Lunch was eaten at Rasoi-The train restaurant which offers some authentic Rajasthani meal. After some rest, we were again up to explore the city. When I say explore, I actually mean, we set out to eat some more! Quite close to our hotel was the Ajmer Fort which we didn’t visit as it was closed for the day, so we walked around Naya Bazaar, absorbing the sights and sounds of the place. It surely is a shopper’s delight coz it has the most exquisite lehengas, gota kinari shops, choori bazaar and what not!
Our focus however was to satiate our greed for food. Shankar Chaat at Gol Pyau in Naya Bazar was our stop to gorge on some chaat. They have a wide variety of pakoda-chaat, samosa chaat, aloo tikki and loads of sweets. Trying a little bit of everything, we moved onto a paani puri wala and then moved on to a small hub opposite Shankar chaat and helped ourselves to the best lassi we’ve ever had. Imagine some thick lassi in a kulhad, with a dollop of rabdi thrown over it, served at a modest price…..who can resist that! A rapturous feeling engulfed us and we wanted to try some more. So we hopped onto the next shop on Railway road near the upcoming Mittal Mall, to dig into some Pyaaz Kachori. Divinity it is, when I recall the taste of the food, we had that evening. Naturally stuffed beyond measure, we decided to skip dinner….or did we? 😉
Still not fully over the kadhi pakoda adventure, we headed for a small thela, opposite CBSE office on Todarmal Marg, and enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast of kachori kadhi and pakodi kadhi. The sight of the vendor, putting pakodis/ kachori in that patta dauna and then topping it up with some spicy kadhi is sure to make some saliva run down your throat. We ate some and then even got some packed as we were to leave for home and wanted the peeps back home to get a flavor of Ajmer.
What is the most appealing part is that, having stayed in NCR, I had started believing that India has also become quite expensive but it was heartening to see that everything in Ajmer was so well priced that even a daily wage labourer can have a full breakfast meal for Rs. 15/- only!
We had to start back for home but the foodie journey was still not over and we stopped for lunch at Rajshree Resort outside Jaipur and treated ourselves to a full Rajasthani thali with gattey ki subzi, dal-baati and choorma. The Chandrakala at the sweet shop inside, is definitely the most luscious one, I’ve ever had.
When one reads this account, it would seem, as if I wrote it just to talk about food, however the intent behind writing this article was the feel-good factor, I experienced during my visit to the city. Ajmer is a popular pilgrimage for both Hindus and Muslims as it is the gateway to Pushkar, which is the abode of Lord Brahma and it also is the final resting place of the great Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisti. The quaint little town also has some churches and it is remarkable to see that despite so much of tourism, the place is sparkingly clean!
One might assume that the place would be full of restaurants serving non-vegetarian food, but surprisingly, there are hardly any!
What struck me most about Ajmer is that, it is a perfect place that can be symbolized for demonstration of Indian culture, ethics and display of perfect blend of wide plethora of diverse religions, communities, cultures, linguistics etc. all coexisting and flourishing in peace and harmony.
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