Exploring the wonderful Pink City of Rajasthan – Day 1

Jaipur aka Pink City was formed by Sawai Jai Singh in 1700’s. It took around 4-5 years to complete the construction of the Pink City i.e. construction of main roads and main areas of the city. Present day it’s the largest city of Rajasthan.


Do check out my previous post where I have given details about different regions of Rajasthan we have visited and how we planned this trip.

After check-in to hotel and relaxing for some time we started our tour after lunch. We stayed in Jaipur Marriott. The property is quite big with 300+ rooms. We stayed in Executive room on the top floor and the view was quite good.


There is one restaurant ‘Okra’ which serves good and quality food. We had daily b/f and dinner at this restaurant. There is one more restaurant/bar where you can have high tea or drinks.

Service is very good; we missed our high tea on the first day and requested them if they can send at least tea to room as we were really tired after the tour. We were surprised when the room service came with a big tray.

The chef has sent fresh aloo bonda(aloo Vada) with a sandwich, some cake, cookies etc. Everything was tasty and fresh.

First day we have visited Jaigarh Fort and Nahargarh Fort. These forts are situated above Amber Palace and there is a way to reach Amber from Jaigarh fort which was used by the queens in case there is an attack.

First, we went to Jaigarh Fort and the main attraction in this fort is worlds biggest cannon named ‘Jaivana’. The weight of the cannon barrel is said to be around 50 tons and 4 elephants were used to turn the cannon from one direction to other.

It is said that the only time it was fired they have used around 100 kg of gun powder and 50 kg of cannon ball. When it was fired it travelled a distance of 30+ Km and a small lake was formed in ‘Chaksu’ were the cannon ball landed.

This fort has its own water harvesting system as well, as water scarcity is there in Rajasthan from long time so they use to clean and store a lot of water.

There are small museums inside the fort one displayed the swords, shields, guns, and also a 50kg, cannonball with other smaller cannonballs. Other one has photographs, stamps and other stuff of royal family.

There is a small garden which is quite well maintained but cannot be accessed by public, one can see that from fort walls.


Many movies were shot in this fort/garden area.

View from here is amazing you can see Amer palace and Maota Lake, we can also see the Nahargarh fort walls which are spread over several km. Roads to this fort is in good shape but it’s a single road broad enough that 2 cars can pass.

Timing of this is from morning 9 to 5 in the evening. Ticket price is Rs 100 per person. One good thing about this place is you can take your car inside the fort, ticket price for car is also Rs 100, driver fee is included in car fee but if you are driving then you have to take ticket as we were told that driver can not step out but our guide managed it for that time ?

From here we went to Nahargarh Fort. Opening time is same as Jaigarh but it opens till late in evening due to sunset point. Ticket price is Rs 50 pp and Rs 50 is for car parking. There are 2 parking places one is inside, and one is outside so if you want to visit the sunset point and parking is available inside then do park inside else you have to walk extra.

Best time to visit this fort is in the evening time, you will witness amazing sunset and can click some amazing pics, when we were there a couple came for there pre wedding shoot.

Sunset point Nahargarh

There is one restaurant Padao as well which is operated by RTDC and they charge Rs 100 pp as entrance fee. Our guide said that the food quality is not that good, and we can get the pic from outside as well, so we didn’t went inside.

There is a wax museum at the entrance of the fort and the ticket price is Rs 500 pp, they have built a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ small palace made of different color glass and few other attractions.

We didn’t visit this as well as the price is more, and we don’t want to visit wax museum as we have seen Madame Tussaud’s in NL and Sheesh Mahal is there in City Palace as well.

Nahargarh Fort

In the main building of this fort there are around 9 rooms which are exactly same created for 9 Ranis(queens) of that time king.

We can even climb on the roof of this building and the view is just amazing.

Nahargarh fort

While returning back from the fort to hotel in the evening we visited the Pink city. The city building are well maintained and are maintained by the government. No one is allowed to do any other color inside the Pink city.

Pink city has 7 gates to enter/exit, the wall of Pink city and the gates are still intact and well maintained. This city is well planned city and was constructed as per ‘Vastu’. There was no modification done with any of the buildings(there are new constructions but old is as it is).

We missed taking pics at night as our guide said that lights will be there till late night, so we went out around 11 PM one of the gates was closed so we have to take a de-tour and found that the lights are off.

I am not sure if they close some gates at night daily or it was due to Covid they closed it. There are lights which lit the full pink city at night and the lights are turned off by 10-10.30 PM daily.

This concludes our first day out of 10 days. Keep following my blog and Instagram for day by day trip details.

10 days road trip in different regions of Rajasthan

After a year long break due to Lock down and different restrictions due Covid-19 we finally dare to step out and went on a 10-day long Road trip to Rajasthan.

This was first time we went on any road trip of such a long duration covering 6 cities/towns/villages in different regions of Rajasthan. As usual our planning started around a month in advance and we started looking for good properties with different themes.

Marriott Jaisalmer

As we are native of Rajasthan so we went to our hometown first spent few weeks there and then started our road trip as Directly traveling from Mumbai was taking 2 days of time to reach(reason we don’t rush while driving and we don’t drive in night, so we usually take a stop in long drives)

Also we have to visit our home town as it’s been more than a year we’ve been here. So this saved us 4 days of travel time, which leads to good number of days spent in each city/town.

Usually good time to visit Rajasthan is winters i.e. till March mid around but this time it was little hotter in March start itself, but it was bearable around 32-34 degrees. Nights and mornings are colder not too cold but very pleasant.

Road trip Rajasthan

We started our trip from Jaipur and ended it in Jodhpur and then back to our hometown.

Cities covered

Jaipur -> Nawalgarh -> Mandawa -> Jaisalmer -> Pokhran -> Dhundhara -> Jodhpur

We travelled around 1400 Km of distance in these 9-10 days. Roads are dam good and few are newly constructed. It’s a combination of State and National Highways

We skipped Bikaner this time, but will visit it next time?

Days spent @each city

  • 2 nights in Jaipur
  • 2 nights in Mandawa/Nawalgarh
  • 3 nights in Jaisalmer
  • 2 nights in Dhundhara and
  • 1 night in Jodhpur(I know which is less min is 2 nights)

Different Regions of Rajasthan

These cities/towns are located in different regions of Rajasthan like Nawalgarh & Mandawa are located in Shekhawati region Jodhpur & Dhundhara in Marwar, Jaipur in Dhundhar region.

Last year we have visited Udaipur which comes in Mewar region which also consists of Chittorgarh which has the largest fort in India.

Word ‘Rajasthan’ literally means ‘Land of kings’ (Raja + shtna means राजाओं का स्थान). There were so many great kings who ruled in Rajasthan the most famous and fearsome was the Great Maharana Pratap.

Rajasthan has rich history and while on the trip we came to know that it was partially a part of Indus Valley Civilization as well.

The Shekhawati region is located in Northern part of Rajasthan and consists of Jhunjhunu, Sikar & Churu district. Places we visited came under Jhunjhunu district. As per the guides this region was founded by ‘Rao Shekha’ and was named after him.

These places are famous for grand and beautiful Havelies build by rich merchants of this region. This area was part of the ‘Silk rout’.

Jaipur is part Dhundhar region or say the main and biggest city of this region which got its name from river ‘Dhund’.

Marwar which consist of Jodhpur, Bikaner etc. means region of Desert. Mar was derived from Sanskrit work ‘Maru’ which means desert and ‘wad’ which means regions. People speak Marwari language if this region which is quite popular. If you are from Rajasthan, then most of the outside Rajasthan people assume that you are a Marwari ?

Rajasthan road trip

Things to Pack

  • Good Sunscreen
  • Hat/Cap
  • Sunglasses
  • Comfortable shoes, as it will be a lot of walking
  • Colorful & comfortable cloths, as most of the monuments are made of single color stones so you can get beautiful pics
  • Less things to carry while on tour as you have to walk a lot so a small sling or handbag or just a backpack
  • Do carry water bottles while on tour(visiting any monument)

    * sunscreen can be removed if visiting in winters as that time sun is not that harsh but quite pleasant

Do follow my Blog and Instagram for detailed posts about the places visited in each cities, different charges/fees, timings, where we stayed, places to eat and shop.

Check where we stayed and what all we saw on Day 1 of our trip.

Experience with Borosil Oven- Prima 60 L OTG

My baking experience with borosil oven Prima 60 litre OTG

Pin it

Baking is like a therapy for me, I started baking in oven after my little one was born and it worked as stress buster for me.

That time we bought 21 L LG microwave convection oven as we were not sure how much we would be using it. But my love for baking kept growing and I kept on learning new new recipes and trying in my small microwave .

I have baked breads, cookies, buns, pizza, bati and many more items in my LG microwave .

But frankly I was not so satisfied with microwave oven baking as end results were not up to mark. As it was 21 ltr oven I need to bake limited quantity every time. So my baking time and electricity consumption was increasing.

So we finally decided to buy proper oven and our search started with all available brands.

What we searched before buying oven?

  • Capacity
  • Temperature settings
  • Reviews
  • Multiple uses
  • Baking time
  • How much you can bake in one go

Why above points are important !!

  • It’s really important to decide how many ltr oven you need to buy as per your baking requirements, here you should consider future needs as well. You won’t be changing your oven any time soon
  • Temperature settings is important as there are many recipes that need higher temperature. In many ovens the max temperature provided is 200 – 220 °C
  • Reviews, user feedback is also important as good looking and feature pack product does not mean it’s good.
  • We should always consider oven which has multiple features like bake, toast & grill are most common one
  • Timer is another important feature as if you want to bake multiple trays in one go then you might need longer time to cook. Many ovens come with just 60 min timer
  • How much you can bake in one go, again if you want to make large batches and want to cook it in one go & if you have smaller capacity oven then it will consume a lot of time & energy

After our search we finally decided to buy Borosil – Prima 60 L OTG as it was one of the few which fulfill almost all of my requirements. So let’s see why I choose to buy Borosil.

Features

  • It has multiple functions that includes convection, rotisserie, grill, bake and toast
  • As it’s Borosil it has borosilicate Double Glass Door
  • Adjustable Temperature Control 90° – 250°C, max temperature is 250°C
  • 0 – 120 minutes mechanical timer, it was really important as when you are baking for many people your oven can bake continuously for 120 minutes
  • It has keep warm function, which will keep oven running at set min temperature to keep your food warm
  • Power Indicator automatically turns on when the timer is set
  • Motorized rotisserie for uniform grilling function available in Borosil Prima Oven Toaster Griller
  • 12 Stage heating options in Prima Oven Toaster Griller
  • Illuminated chamber helps in baking as you can keep an eye while you are baking.
  • As it’s 60 ltr we cam keep multiple trays at once

Items included with Borosil 60lt

  • 1 Removable Crumb Tray for better cleaning
  • 1 Cooking Tray
  • Grill Rack
  • Handle to take out Cooking Tray
  • Rotisserie Rod Set
  • Rotisserie Handle
  • Recipe book
  • Instructions manual

My experience with Borosil Prima Oven

  • Very easy to operate as it has four knobs for setting temperature, mode & heating rod and timer to adjust as per your recipe
  • For easy assistance it comes with a guide book and recipe book with all details to understand your oven
  • It’s quiet spacious to bake multiple items. I have baked around 25-30 medium size cookies in two trays, two cakes in one go, lasagna, breads, baked vegetables.
  • One point to mention, baking time increases little more if you are baking more items in one go.
  • Illuminated chamber is really helpful to keep a check on items baking. I would say it’s really important as I have worked with another oven without light bulb and it’s quiet tough to see the baked level without taking out tray.
  • Big double glaze glass on front so it’s quite easy to keep an eye on every corner of the tray.
  • Initially there was uneven heating issues so I was getting some dark and some light color cookies. In my case it was thermostat issue and got it fixed.
  • But still to avoid that you can change the tray directions when you see it’s getting darker at one end.
  • Oven overall weight is not heavy so you can shift on your own if required.
  • Oven thermometer is must to know the exact temperature of oven as it’s always less or more then what you have set. You should get a good quality one else temperature issue will be there.
  • Oven trays/wire rack quality is ok, but can’t keep heavy pans like Dutch oven or iron tawa on the wire rack which is required in sourdough baking.
  • Overall a happy customer as I love baking in my oven and every oven behaves differently so you will get use to when you bake.

For more product reviews check here.

How fast is the right growth for kids

When you are parents, your life runs around your kids and their growth is your utmost priority. Adya was born with good weight but slowly we noticed she was falling behind and I was really worried that this might affect her activity level. 

Growth is an important indicator to know the status of health and nutrition. First 6 years are critical growth years for every child and we need to monitor their growth.

This will help in understanding if there is any nutrition or health problem. Accordingly, we can take corrective measures to improve their health and overall development.

When children are young there is a lot of worry around if their height and weight is appropriate as per their age and how fast should children grow in India. I too had this worry because did you know, 1 in 3 children don’t grow as per their age?

The most important thing is to take care of their growth and understanding everything behind these parameters of weight gain and height. This will help us in making a perfect nutrition plan for our kids and it will help in their growth.

I found this Grow Right tracker online by PediaSure and I have started measuring my child’s growth because that is the #FirstStepToGrowRight. Why is that?

Once you enter your child’s details you can get a report that is downloadable. It has been super helpful in finding out the nutritional gaps that may have been slowing her growth. That way this growth chart is really helpful in understanding their growth rate.

With the help of this report and doctor’s prescription, I have created a perfect nutrition plan for Adya, that I am sure will nurture her growth. 

Nutrition plan 

  • Including one fruit daily in her diet.
  • Proper home cooked meal two times a day including chapattis, vegetables curry salad.
  • Milk with benefits of PediaSure, two times a day. 
  • Dry fruits for munching
  • Paneer/curd 
  • Home-baked cookies/cake as sweet treat.

This is a simple nutrition diet plan I have been following for her and have seen change in her weight and height. She is not under-weight now and her activity level is really good.

The main takeaway of using the Grow Right Tracker has been the fact that she is now following a proper balanced diet which includes fruits, vegetables and proper meals containing essential vitamins and minerals to support growth. And last but not the least, drinking water as per their age.

Like most of the kids she is also a fussy eater especially when it comes to drinking milk. I am really happy now that with PediaSure she enjoys drinking her milk.

I have taken proper steps to monitor my child’s growth with the help of the Grow Right tracker, and give her proper nutrition for proper growth and development. Share with me what steps you think are essential to ensure that the children grow right.

The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not reflect the views of any brand. Any omissions or errors at the author’s end does not assume any liability or responsibility on any party mentioned in the blog.