Laxmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara. Day 2. 23rd Feb

Day two, I visited the weapon room and interiors of the palace. Photography was prohibited inside but still I manage to capture some.. There you go....

Its said that warriors were given the sword based on the ability to defend themselves. Mr. Jadhav told me that this room alone for worth atleast of 5 crore and security is very tight in the place, be it a day or a night time.

Glimpses of Darbar Hall...

Some shots from outside

Laxmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara. Day 1. 23rd Feb

Lamxi Villas palace, also, most commonly known as Raj Mahal is Vadodara had so much to offer I never had known.

This time when I visited home I was sure to have a lot of free time so was prepared to venture my own city.

Thanks to my dad for arranging a free visit in the palace and a special thanks to Mr. Jadhav who was an excellent guide all thru out my visit.

Laxmi Vilas Palace, is an amazing sructure of the Indo-Saracenic school, which was built by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III in 1890. It had cost him GBP180,000 back then. Major Charles Mant was the architect. The Palace "compound" is spread over 700 acres. It has 186 rooms and still king with his family still stays here.

On left, The Maharaja entrance, meant only for king and his fellow mates and on right Maharani entrance, only for ladies. I was surprised to know that this custom is still follwed by the family.

Two public entrances which directly leads into Darbar hall where king use to address his people. These days the hall is most commonly used for music concerts and other cultural events.

If you see all the four entrances closely you'll see each one of them symbolizing the 4 major religions in India. Maharaja entrance looks like a Gurudwara, Maharani like a Temple, Public entrance on left is like a church and one on the right is like Mosque. This is only palace in India that has combination of all, king was thoughtful enough to not hurt anyone's sentiments.

Further, this is the only place in the world where you will find most of Raja Ravi Verma's paintings. It is said that Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad admired his paintings and offered him space to bring out his most inner most thoughts on canvas. Photography was prohibited in this area but its a must see for anyone who visit Vadodara.

Vadodara Calling..!!

I was going home after 2 months which was the longest time ever for me to stay away from home. I started from Bangalore on 19th Feb and it took almost 10 hours to reach home. Thanks to Bangalore airport which is bloody 3 hours from city and same story at Ahmedabad also.

After almost 10 years I took a ride in GSRTC bus from Ahmedabad to Vadodara. I was hoping to relax my back in the bus after 2 hours of bumpy ride in Indigo, thanks to the weather conditions.

Conductor came over and asked "Kyan Javu chhe?" That’s where you wish to go in Gujarati. I replied “Vadodara”. He gave a bill of 68 bucks and asked the same question to the guy who got into the bus along with me.

This gentleman got a place to sit because of me other wise he was all set to stand on my head all the way to Vadodara. He thanked me and started with the set of questions I hate the most to answer and ruptured my dream of relaxation.

1. Where are you from?
Ans: I wish I could say South Pole or hell. But said "Mumbai" I usually do not prefer to give out the correct information to strangers.
2. What brings you here?
Ans: Murder. But chose to keep quite to point out my unwillingness to speak, no use.
3. You seem to be a Gujarati?
Ans: No I am British. But I said "Yes" and it was lie.
4. Are you studying?
Ans: Ya, plotting the murder.. But I said "No"
5. Working?
Ans: I gave him what the fuck look and said "Yes"

Before he could barge in with some more questions, I was rescued by my mum's call. Soon after getting off the line I forced earphones in to my ears. It was playing Rahet Fateh Ali Khan's Ore Piya, I looked around and passed a smile to the young boy beside me who seemed confused to understand why I chose to sit beside him. Even I had no clue why I set beside him probably, because he looked safe or because aunty sitting in the front seat had occupied most of the seat and offered me too little.

It took an hour and half to reach Vadodara. Dad was there waiting for me and along came my mum too. I was glad to see them both. Mum had prepared my fav fish fry and prawns curry. I intentionally took time to finish my dinner because I knew mum was waiting to shoot questions which I do not wish to answer.

I set with her for 2 hours chit chatting, gossiping and avoiding unanswerable questions as much as I can.

2 AM 20th Feb, 8 more days to go, this is the longest break ever and I closed my eyes.