T
HINK of Rajasthan and a
plethora of colourful pic-
tures hit your head. Tur-
baned and moustached men,
women clad in ghaghra attire, typ-
ical Rajasthani dialects fill your
imagination. Vivid images of the
state rich in world class palaces
and pristine lakes start playing in
your head.
A road travel trip on a weekend
is always a more than welcome
idea; especially when it arrives be-
tween the deadlines of the corpo-
rate world. And, Rajasthan hap-
pens to be a popular choice
amongst Delhi dwellers for a two
day weekend.
Having had the chance of visit-
ing Ajmer, the spiritual capital of
the state in addition to the future
smart city, was exciting idea in it-
self. From being shortlisted in the
first half of the year as among cities
to be transformed into smart cities
to reading about smart city up-
dates, this was my only chance to
get up close and personal with the
city aspiring to and working to-
wards becoming a smart city.
The city houses tourist spots in-
cluding Pushkar and Ajmer Sharif,
contributing a considerable chunk
to the economy of the city. These in-
cidentally were also going to be the
major stop points of our journey.
Pushkar is the house to the only
temple to god Brahma’s temple in
the whole wide world. Ajmer sharif
is the widely visited dargah from
people of all religious backgrounds.
But our hopes did hit a rocky
EXPERIENCING FUTURE
SMART CITY OF AJMER
BY SHVETA SETHI
patch when our convoy got down
from the highway towards the
Pushkar district for one of our pit-
stops of the trip. Suddenly when our
speeding cars were made to com-
pete with bullock carts, we were
jolted back to reality. We did hold on
to the steering wheels hard and re-
lied best upon the vehicle’s head-
lights. We were thankful to have
made it alive that stretch with bro-rounded by lush green aravali hills
was a welcome sight to the eyes.
Rest of the journey was more
about exploring markets, malls
and other highlights. As much as
only one small part of the main city
which houses the coveted Mayo
College, appeals to the uptown
population, the other part of the
city appears to be ignored by the
authorities in terms of being
worked upon. With two-thirds of
its population hailing from rural
areas, Ajmer has to work overtime
to realise the smart city dream,
and to be at par with other smart
cities in making. The potential
which lies in the textile industry
and marble industry can do won-
ders -- if explored well.short take
ken dilapidated roads scattered
with stray cattle in abundance all
through.
Although the moment we de-
scended from our vehicles, the dawn
was breaking and we were greeted
by cool fresh breeze giving us the
chills we weren’t pretty well pre-
pared for. Seeing the place nestled
beautifully in a valley being sur-The appealing beauty of the
place is its peace, serenity, lack of
maddening pace of the capital life
and wonderful cafés which very
well make up for the bumpy ride.
We wonder how easy and comfort-
ing it would be to have access to
this tiny little blissful place on
earth once this gets transformed
into a smart city. <