Bundi, Rajasthan
My article on Bundi is now up on Gonomad. I still remember those beautiful lotus flowers so vividly. Here are the starting passages of the article-
When my nephew Sunil and I visited the Sukh Mahal (Palace of Comfort would be the rough translation) at Bundi, the caretaker who opened the room filled with paintings told me (in Hindi), “This is where the Mowgli writer stayed.”
I told him the writer’s name was Rudyard Kipling and the book that is associated with Bundi is Kim not The Jungle Book. But he told me firmly, “It was the Mowgli man who stayed here.”
That is how Kipling is remembered in Bundi. Kipling is said to have got inspiration for writing Kim in Bundi (I have yet to read that book but it is now high on my agenda) and I can imagine why. The Phul Sagar Lake behind the Palace gets filled with lotus flowers in September. I have never seen so many lotuses at one place in my life.
Oh the painting of the peacock in your article looks so nice! and even the pic of you with the two brats 🙂
Nicely written. You have a childlike honesty in your writing.
I didn't know this Mowgli connection…thnks
good one, Mridula!! didnt know about Kipling and Bundi…
Thank you Doli :DTarun I am trying hard to think if that childlike honesty is a compliment or not! :DShrinidhi, people at Bundi do talk about it a lot.Thank you Anu, if you get a chance do there.
Thats a compliment because that was a very easy to read. Unlike many others in which context usually loses itself in the prose.
Sukh = Pleasure/ Happiness (I think) not Comfort.
Atul, thank you for that one. I started with pleasure and don't know why settled on comfort!