Churu - Flavour of Rajasthan offering diverse experiences like Sand Dunes, Huge Havelis, Frescos, Lacquer work, Music & many other national award winners in the Art of Wood Carving

When I look back at all the trips VJ and I have done together, Churu stands out for more reasons than one - the long drive to Churu and back, my first experience of sand dunes, the thrill of staying in a century-old Haveli, the delight of discovering beautiful frescos on random walls, the joy of listening to Rajasthani folk artists and so much more. There is no dearth of lingering memories when I think about our trip to Churu. This blogpost is a compilation of different experiences we had, places we visited along with some inspiring facts about this wonderful part of Rajasthan state in India.  

A well-maintained and inhabited haveli in Churu

A little more than 3 years back, we were invited to spend a couple of nights at a Haveli turned hotel known as Malji ka Kamra. While the other guests were taking the train, we decided to drive. Google Maps at that time weren't as advanced as they are now. They showed us that the shorter route was the one through Rewari and it would take us a little more than 4 hours to reach there. At that time, I was the only driver among the two of us, and four hours seemed doable even though it was the first time that we would be going on a long drive. We set out early in the morning and the initial 100 kms went pretty fast. We stopped at a dhaba after Rewari for Breakfast. I still remember the parathas were really tasty and the tea must have been okay too. However the smooth ride ended right there.

Well-maintained roads of Rajasthan

The road after that was so bad that it took us about three hours to cross about 70 kms. The potholes were large and numerous. Moreover, it was a two lane highway, with hardly any space to maneuver and  overtake. This was horrendous. However the nightmare ended abruptly as soon as we entered Rajasthan. The potholed excuse for a highway was replaced by a smooth, broad road and we took a sigh of relief. And also stopped for another cup of tea.

Interesting Autos on the way to Churu

The good roads continued almost up till Churu, where it simply vanished and we were almost driving through sand. The road was still being made and there was a traffic jam, pushing light vehicles off the road. One juncture was especially tricky where the sand was deep. But I am proud to say that yours truly managed to traverse that rather well and our BRITney (Blushing Red i10) supported us rather well. That was also my first experience with offroading, arising not out of choice, but out of necessity. I have since done offroading for fun several times, but on vehicles that are better equipped to handle it.

Malji ka Kamra at nightime

Anyways, at the end, we managed to reach Malji ka Kamra. A drive that was supposed to take only four hours had taken seven, and I was dead tired having driven the entire distance on my own. We were the last to arrive in Churu, the others had reached early by train. Despite all the turbulence, I do not regret our decision to drive. All such experiences help you grow up a bit.

Local folk artists singing Pabuji ki Phad - In the background you can see the religious scroll

The second memory is of us enjoying an evening full of music and good snacks at the hotel. The hotel owner, Deepak Balan, had invited some local folk artists to perform Pabuji ki Phad. The Phad is a religious scroll extolling the antics of Pabuji, a folk-deity who lived in the 14th century. While singing Pabuji ki Phad, this scroll is displayed in the background. The company that performed for us consisted of an old man with handlebar moustache, a middle-aged woman, who sang most of the songs but kept her face covered throughout, and a bright-eyed little boy dressed in traditional Rajasthani attire who did most of the dancing. Some of us joined him in the dance. It was a truly wonderful experience. Deepak had also invited a local historian to come and speak to us about the history of Churu. I don't remember much of the talk except a little trivia about the historical site we now call "Mohenjodaro". Apparently, its actual name is "Moinjo dharo", which means mountain of dead bodies. I don't know why none of the history of Churu stuck, but this fact simply won't fade.

All of us at the Desert Bonfire

After listening to the Phad, we headed out to the sand dunes. Luckily there was a meteor shower that night. We spotted quite a few shooting stars lying back on the sand, sipping on chilled beer. Those of us who do not drink beer, felt slightly left out. We missed our glasses of wine. But there was live barbecue to make up for it. I remember us making ghost faces to the cameras and simply being crazy. It was a fun group to hang out with.

A scary room in Malji ka Kamra. If you look closely, you can see weird faces carved in to the frames.

The most challenging part of the trip was sleeping in the room on the terrace. Our room was tastefully done, but simple. During the tour of the property, we were shown several rooms that were scary has hell. They had weird faces carved into the walls. "What were they thinking?" was the question on our minds as we wondered about the people who had got the haveli built. We were so glad that our rooms were simple. Yet the fact that we were all the way up on the terrace and amidst total and complete darkness, with the faces leering in the creepy rooms below, was unnerving enough.

History-rich streets of Churu

Grand havelis with fresco paintings

The next day was very interesting. We walked around looking at dilapidated havelis of Churu. Many of these havelis were in advanced state of deterioration. While some still had people living in them, the others were so overgrown that we were warned of a possibility of venomous snakes lurking around. Sweet! After Churu, we moved on to Ramgarh, where we explored various Chhatris and explored the streets laden with beautiful frescos that have survived centuries of weathering.

A wooden sculpture by a national award winning artist.

On our way back we visited the family of wood-carving artists in Churu. We were prepared for mundane touristy mementos, but were completely taken aback by what we saw. The art has been passed on from generation to generation and each generation has added its own touch to it. The family has been a recipient of national awards and the art speaks for itself. Watch this video and prepare to be blown away.

The day didn't end just yet. We had our evening tea accompanied by biscuits and samosas near Sethani ka Johara, a huge man-made water reservoir surrounded by beautiful Chhatris. We sipped on our teas and watched the sun go down. We clicked crazy pictures and stood silently at the edge of the water. All of us felt refreshed even though the day had been very tiring. And by the time we headed back, we weren't really sorry. We were all dreaming of taking a shower and a relaxing dinner at the hotel.

Sethani ka Johara at twilight

We started back early next day, when it was still dark. It was really dark and dusty and the drive was slow. Moreover, the fact that we had office that day took the joy out of the drive. Also the fact that this time we were aware of the terrible roads that lay ahead. It took surprisingly long to cross Gurgaon and we reached Delhi at around 11. It was a shame that taking a leave wasn't an option for either of us that day. We could have done with a day off. The trip, though exciting, had been really tiring too. But given a chance, I would visit Churu again, with more time in my hands, and may be dwell among those ancient walls to soak in all the history.

In the past, after reading various posts about Churu & Ramgarh, lot of viewers have asked very questions in past – how to reach Churu, what’s good time to visit these place, any recommended place to stay, main things to see/explore or something which shouldn’t be missed when in Churu region of Rajasthan, India. All these questions make me think about the quality of my earlier posts :), but then I found reasons to justify it. Anyways, all my earlier posts were more about the experience of various places in Churu & Ramgarh and I hardly talked about the way I reached there etc. 

How to reach Churu, Rajasthan - So we chose to drive from Delhi to Churu, but I don’t recommend that. Haryana roads are pathetic and frustrates you to the core. Although roads in Rajasthan are amazing. Since there is railway station is there in Churu, why not travel comfortably and hire a taxi for local commute. And in fact, try out local transport system to enjoy the trip in better way.

Where to stay in Churu (Rajasthan) -As far as stay in concerned, I was invited by Malji Ka Kamra which is a haveli converted into hotel. A nice place to stay. Apart from that you should be able to find some home stays in this region. 

Main places to do/explore around Churu region of Rajasthan state in India – I am sure there must be lot of things which I didn’t explore. But here I would mention some of the places I visited or recommended by close friends or bloggers I know. 

Haveli Tour - Churu is popularly known for it's heritage and havelis left behind by Kothari business families. There are huge havelis spread over the streets of Churu and lot of them are in ruins. Accompany a local who can tell you some eye opening stories about different families who owned these Havelis. Families of care takers are living in some of these Havelis, but it's certainly hard to maintain these huge buildings in Churu. 

Lacquer Jewelry of Rajasthan state is very popular and there are few families in Churu as well, who are into this business for many generations now. That can be a good gift for your family and friends, when you return from your trip.

When we were in Churu town of Rajasthan, we also planned to visit a shop of lacquer bangles and witnessed the process of making bangles out of lacquer, which is also known as ladh or lakh. This Photo Journey shares some of the photographs and videos created during the visit to the lacquer bangle shop.

Bangles are traditional ornaments which are worn mostly by women in India. Usually glass bangles are used by women in northern India and occasionally some fashionable bangles are used, which can be made up of lacquer. Bangles also have a very traditional value in Hinduism and are considered inauspicious to be bare armed for a married woman. Lacquer bangles are very popular in Rajasthan and Haryana states of India.

After a round of Havelis in Ramgarh town of Rajasthan, we came to Churu Market to do some shopping and mainly for buying some lacquer bangles. This was an interesting shop where a bangle artist was making bangles from lacquer by giving appropriate shapes using a long iron stick, burning coal and something to pat on the lacquer to shape it. Basically colorful lacquer is pasted around a stick and then it's heated to give it appropriate thickness and shape. He showed us the whole process of making Lacquer bangles. Don't miss out the video in the bottom of this post which shows the way he made some bangles for us.

It was exciting to see making of lacquer bangles in front of us and almost all of us preferred to buy the bangles which he was making at that point of time. Although girls grabbed some of the other bangles which has painting or glass work on them. After shopping, idea was to visit a farm but we spent lot of time at this shop to see him making these bangles for us and we dropped the plan then. 

Price of lacquer bangles varies a lot. One of the factors that adds to the price of the bangles is the kind of artifacts or the work done further. What we bought were simpler ones with few designs which were done during the process of molding the lacquer.  Other types of work on bangles include - embroidery or small glass pieces or paintings or even small hangings that are attached to the bangles. The rareness of a color and its unique value also increase the value. Bangles made from lac/lacquer are one of the oldest ones and among the brittle category too.

Bangles are part of traditional Indian jewellery for women. They are usually worn in pairs by women, one or more on each arm. Most Indian women prefer wearing either gold or glass bangles or combination of both. But lacquer bangles are preferred for some special occasions. Lacquer bangles are more popular among urban women, as many of the rural indian states prefer glass bangles over others due to some beliefs involved. Lot of fashion designers use lacquer made jewellery for their shows or clients.

Lac/Lacquer is clay like material which is molded in hot places to make these bangles and give appropriate shapes/designs. Among the recent entrants are the rubber bangles that are worn more like a wrist band by youngsters while the plastic ones are there to add a trendy look. But when in Rajasthan state of India, it makes sense to visit a small lacquer bangle shop and ask for bangles of your choice of design. Lacquer bangles are one of the best gifts from Rajasthan for your loved ones.

Pabuji ki Phad is dying craft of Rajasthan. It seems that there are very few folks now who can tell the whole story accurately. It's essentially a story depicted through songs, music, dance and pictorial representation. Some publications have tried to capture the history and stories associated but it seems that skill of telling stories is the key and that was honed by few families. In Churu you can experience it. 

One of the most exciting activity during our Churu trip was the beautiful evening when a bhopa family who narrated the story of Pabuji, the Rathor Rajput Chief through their local musical instruments and songs describing the story. The evening was full of fun with some of the awesome folk songs along with the popular lyrics like - 'Kesariya'.

'Pabuji Ki Phad' is a basically a religious painting, which is mainly used for telling a musical story of Pabuji. Pabuji is considered as the Rathod Rajput chief. Bhopas of Pabusar are considered as traditional narrators of this art form.

This art of telling story of Pabuji is very popular in Indian state of Rajasthan and it seems that there are very few folks in the world who know about this story. and there are only handful of folks, who know the complete story of Pabuji. Pabuji is also known as 'the Ascetic Deity of Sand Desert'. This family came dressed in red with all their musical instruments including a Ravan-hattha; which is made up of goat skin and camel teeth, a dhol and a metallic instrument. 

Desert Camping  : 

Churu is also surrounded by desert on one side and hence one can plan to camp in desert. I am not sure, if there are camps to stay overnight but one can certainly go there for few hours, enjoy snacks and star lit sky.

There was a time when I was crazy about the star trails and spent significant nights in Himalayas to shoot star-trails which have won various contests and then suddenly tendency to do Night photography rested on the back bench. But I had never attempted to click shooting stars. Probably because of the lazy for not doing the homework and avoiding the wait for right moments to capture. This time, by chance a shooting star got captured in my Travelling camera when we were in Churu.

It was a beautiful evening with lot of shooting stars around the desert. Meteoroid is  basically a small rocky or metallic body which travels through the space. Meteoroids are extremely smaller than asteroids. Size of a meteoroid ranges from small grains to 1 meter wide objects. 

These shooting stars look beautiful in the sky full of stars. This was a super meteoroid shower that night and everyone was really very excited about the same.

This event made me think about photography shooting stars and started studying more about it. This post is more about sharing some of the information we gathered about photographing shooting stars and soon will share some of the results we achieve through our experiments. 

The very first steps is to know the appropriate meteoroid shower. It's important to know appropriate dates and how moon is positioned. Sometimes people want to avoid moon in their frame, although I like to take that call on the basis of brightness of the moon, time and clarity at that particular time.

While planning the shoot, use your widest lens and aim at the radiant. You will need to use very high ISO (sometime like 1600 or 3200) and short exposure times, so that you don't capture star movement. Otherwise it will start looking like a smaller version of star-trails and it will be difficult to capture the movement of shooting star. Something between 5 and 30 seconds. Another reason for avoiding long exposure is that it may wash the movement because of glowing sky. It's better if you have an intervalometer program to shoot continuously. If you don't have, I am sure you wont mind using your figures. 

Wood Carving Artists (National Award Winner Family)

Churu has National Award winning family which is famous for it's unique wood-carved art pieces. This was my best experience to see unimaginable art-pieces and family of artists who won national awards multiple times and shown the talent over the generations. 

Wood carving using special wood like sandal, sheesham and rosewood is done to create some beautiful handicraft items showing symbols of rich Indian cultural heritage. This is one of the old art-form in India and done is few of the states like Rajasthan. You must have seen wood-carved elephants, peacocks and other cultural symbols in various handicraft shops across the country, but lot more than that is created by Wood-carving artists for special clients, museums and some exclusive art-galleries. In Churu, we met a family of artists who have been doing this for many years now and various members of the family have got national awards for creating some exceptional art-pieces of wood-carving. This family has some records in Limca book as well. This was a great rendezvous, which exposed us to another great art-form of India. 

 While we were roaming around Churu streets full of old Havelis, we realized that every haveli had beautiful wooden doors carved with beautiful designs on them and most of the furniture, windows and chattris were wood-carved. All this shows that how important this art would have been in old times as well. Most of the palaces and forts across the country have rich wood-carved art-pieces. Another great example comes to my mind is - Indian Institute of Advanced studies in Shimla which is Viceregal Lodge. I am sure that India must have many families doing this work in old days, but not very sure how this art-form is performing these days and how much demand we have. Maintaining these art-pieces is very challenging and everybody may not be able to afford good wood-carved art-pieces. Here I am not talking about the smaller elephants & peacocks.

Here is the family of Wood-Carving artists. Don't be surprised if I say that the little boy also does carving, although his father says that he wastes lot of wood as of now :). But still taking such lovely art form further is a big thing and I really salute such families in India who are preserving these important art for next generations. Wood carving art is shown as xyloglyphy. The artists carve design on wood by hand with some sharp carving tools as you can see in the photograph on left. It is a traditional art which is extremely popular in India and abroad. This family has made so many wooden souvenirs which are in a great demand in Delhi as well as some specific families abroad. They usually give these art-works to galleries, 5 star hotels and handicraft emporiums in Delhi to sell and also get direct orders from existing clients who are different parts of the world now. Rajasthan is one of the renowned states of India for its excellence in wood carving. Churu has few more families like this but this one is very special which is recognised by state and centre government for many years. Different generations of this family has got national awards for wood-carving art. Rajasthan has high number of people involved in wood carving.

This family uses sandal wood to create some marvellous art pieces by craving very intricate designs on them. This Photo Journey has one of the beautiful example to share. The art-forms made of sandalwood are the most famous among the other wooden artifact for its sweet fragrance and it seems that sandalwood is most appropriate for intricate carving. At the same time, sandalwood art-pieces are most expensive amongst the all. Apart from states like Rajasthan, Mysore, Tirupati, Madurai, Coimbatore in Tamilnadu, Delhi and Varanasi are few of the main areas to find wood-carving artists in India. btw, Sandal is known as 'chandan' in Hindi.

Above photograph shows a flower carved out of a sandalwood piece. Isn't it amazing. But hold on, this one is very basic as per the artists. btw, the upper part can be collapsed and it looks like a rose.  The most popular articles carved out of sandal wood are  elephants, peacocks, square figures and rectangular boxes to keep jewellery, photo frames, key chains and chess sets etc. These are few which are easily accessible in handicraft shops in different cities of India.

Let me share some details about this amazing art-work created by this family. This is a creation to simulate the pocket clock with a string. The above photograph shows the clock with a wooden string. Here notice the designs carved out of this sandalwood piece and one thing which I want to highlight that  - this whole creation is made out of single sandal-wood piece without any joints which is brilliant. Before I say further, you may have guesses things from the other photographs shown on both sides. Two parts of the clock can come out and inside them, we have few more creations. On one side, when we open it, we see Tajmahal. Story doesn't end here. There is another creation under the Tajmahal. When we unfold it, there is a a grave under it as we have in real Tajmahal. Again this grave could be opened to see the body. Please see the photograph below to have a closer look. This was very tiny. Can you imagine the way this whole creation would have been made. As per artist, this creation took 5 months to complete or may be more. He showed us many of such creations. 

Prem Sarovar 

It's another water body nearby surrounded by farms and trees. Such water bodies are spread over different parts of Rajasthan. 

Like Sethani ka Johara, tourists love to come here during sunset time to enjoy colourful sky and it's reflection in water. On the way to Prem Sarovar, we came across and group of peacocks and we found that Prem Sarovar is usually surrounded by peacocks and especially during early evening when this place gets more sunlight as compared to the nearest village there. Deers are also found around Prem Sarovar in Churu.

Golden Temple of Jains 

There is a beautiful temple near clock-tower in the middle of Churu market. Beautifully designed. Check out the link to see more photographs of the place.

During our Heritage walk through streets of Churu, we reached a beautifully maintained temple near market. This is a Jain temple and have outer structure similar to a building inside Amer Fort of Jaipur, Rajasthan. 

This Jain Temple in Churu has some of the best paintings painted in Golden colors. This special temple , which is maintained by Kotharis, is at least a few centuries old and worth a visit when you are in Churu.

The Paintings inside Churu Jain Temple are mostly of moral living suggestions type. There are some beautiful paintings on walls and some glass work as well. Whole temple is very well lit with colorful lights.  

Apart from this temple Churu has various other temples, Gurudwaras & Masjids. Almost all the times, we were hearing prayer sounds from one or other religious places. While walking through the streets, we saw various smaller temples as well. And there were some smaller temples inside few of the Havelis as well. 

This Jain temple is surrounded by various old Havelis which are comparatively in bad condition. The Havelies in Churu are impressively decorated with Belgian etched kaleidoscopic glasses in many shapes and designs in interiors as well as outer walls. Their intricate designs and wood-carving on door-frames are commendable. 

Whole temple was glittering with colorful lights and their reflections on golden paintings and galss-designs. Above photograph shows the roof of this temple.

Desert Bonfire - 

Bonfire in desert can also be a good idea. Thanks to Malji Ka Kamra folks, who arranged everything for us. It was very special experience during Churu trip. Do check out the link to know more. 

Sethani ka Johara :

It'ss a beautiful place in Churu town. It's a huge water body surrounded by beautiful architecture. I found it a good place to spend time around sunset. It's little away from hustle bustle of the town and safe as well. 

When we visited Sethani ka Johara, Ithe idea was to reach this Johara before sunset, have tea and head towards the desert for Bonfire. 

'Sethani ka Johara' is one of the must visit places in Churu and specially during Sunset. This water-body has huge open area around it and sunset hues look awesome in the water reflection. 

Sethani Ka Johara is essentially a reservoir, which was constructed by widow of Bhagwan Das Bagla during the terrible Chhappan Akaal. This Water source served as one of the relief projects... Sethani ka Johara is a historic site which is away from Churu town and lies on the western side of the Ratangarh Road.  Bhagwandas Bagla was the first Marwari shekhawati millionaire and was a very wealthy timber merchant. He was originally from Churu Rajasthan but he even proceeded his business to Burma and settled in Rangoon. One can witness birds and mammals including Nilgai or blue bull near the huge water body. Although by the time we reached, there was hardly anything to see or wait for :)

Shopping options (Silver utensils) : 

While visiting Churu, I got to know that lot of Silver stuff is made in these streets and exported to different parts of the world. This boy was making beautiful silver spoons and there were good number of such shops making silver utensils. 

While Churu is a fantastic place to explore, right stay there can make the experience even more special. We were invited to Churu by Malji ka Kamra which is a hotel inside a haveli. 

We stayed at Malji ka Kamara which is located in the middle of Churu town and this property was a Haveli of Kotharis and now converted into a Heritage Hotel. 

Malji ka Kamra was built long time back in 1920, which was use by Kotharis for many years and then turned into ruins for a significant duration. Restoration of this Haveli started in 2006.. Haveli was in very bad shape when restoration started, because it was locked for more than 20 years and condition was very bad, which is happening with many of the other Havelis in Churu. Kotharis used to have this Haveli only for guests. Their family Haveli is just across the street which was again a huge building with colourful paintings. Malji Ka Kamara has mint green exteriors and there are different personalities sculptured on the walls, although these creations look very odd :) . It seems that original color of the Haveli was almost same and restorers attempted to retain those hues of this building.

Churu is not very popular destination among majority of the tourists who visit Rajasthan State of India, but it's definitely a hot off-beat destination and many of the foreigner tourists visit Shekhawati region and Thar Desert. Churu which is gateway to Thar is another special destination for those visitors. Due to seasonal and lesser inflow of tourists, local hospitality industry is not that mature but that gels well with the local atmosphere. So if you plan to visit this region, expect some hiccups and some non-touristic things.