This was a trip that was supposed to be all about the cranes, errr… Demoiselle cranes who flew thousands of kilometres to escape the extreme cold of Mongolia & Siberia. You may recall in Part No. 1 I had given a little preview about the Havelis of Khichan.
Since there were more stunning photographs to be shared, it necessitated another post. I may not have enough words, so lets turn this into a photo story :
Exquisite, intricate designs on the red sandstone with contrasting doors. These Jains seem to be masters at beautiful architecture.I could only mutter ‘wow, wow’ after looking at these frames. This door seems to be a new one, though.Locked, all of them… I tried going inside but to no avail. A ghostly feel in this lane where I encountered no one in more than 2 hours.Doors are the windows to happiness…Crumbling architecture paints a sorry picture in Khichan.This was a house that looked inhabited, in retrospect I wonder if I should have gone in.Gorgeous doors, time and time again.A dash of colour too… so many of these havelis… All of them abandoned.. Hope the government finds a way to make this a heritage trail or something.Impeccable designs, I think this is the famous Golecha Haveli.Converting one to monochrome, gives the photograph a very haunting feel.Red sandstone produced locally from mines at Jodhpur & Pokhran. A pretty window on the street in Khichan.One of my favourite photographs from Khichan! The only turquoise coloured door in a Haveli.If the Havelis of Shekhawati are all about frescoes and paintings, Khichan is about architectural finesse and class. These Havelis had a very European feel about them.Brilliant, simply out of this world beautiful.Similar design to the earlier doors but this one has been stripped of any colour. Glorifies the fine carvings.I was loving this extravaganza of culture and heritage. Would you believe there is not one instance of the ‘Havelis of Khichan’ on the internet?I hope this blog post is a start for more people to change how they travel and converse with locals to find hidden treasures in a destination.Fascinating entrances and the porch to a Haveli, architecturally quite different from Shekhawati. Incredible India indeed.
If you liked checking this out, here are some photo stories :
It was so much fun to put together these photographs, there are many versions of the decline of trade and subsequent abandonment of these Havelis – I will put them down when I can find locals who know the story. There is simply no information available on the internet and the people I’ve tried contacting want to sensationalise this by saying these are 15th Century Havelis – which is absolutely not true.
