Outdoor trips and picnics: The sounds of outdoor trips and picnics bring cheer to the people and brighten their faces. They immediately get into a holiday mood and for a moment the long hours and rigours of the daily grind in the institution are forgotten. Sometimes, the outdoor trips and picnics involve long hours and perhaps involve more rigour than the daily routine in the institutions. Exposure to the ongoing works, manufacturing conglomerates, buildings and structures and monuments outside the institutions, provide unlimited learning experience to the students and staff of professional institutions. Informal mixing and interaction between the students and the staff during outdoor trips and picnic is extremely relaxing and is of considerable help in boosting the general awareness and personality of the students. Monsoon was at its fag end and the staff and students were raring for an outdoor push in fine weather. One fine morning, sometimes in the last week of September 1959, all students and members of the staff of Ajmer Polytechnic were rubbing shoulders with each other in the passenger train, running between Ajmer and Ratlam. Members of railway staff and regular passengers of the train had never witnessed such a sudden burst of passengers. However, they seemed to be happy and rendered a helping hand for everybody to squeeze in. Most of the students boarded the train at Ajmer, while others got in at Makhupura. About three hours of halting run took them to Chittorgarh railway station. Thereafter, seven to eight kilometers trot from the railway station, looked like a cross-country race and finally found the students and staff standing on the banks of Gambhiri River, looking at the Chittorgarh Fort, the hallowed fort of Rajasthan, the biggest fort of India and perhaps of Asia. It stood majestically on the top of an almost unassailable hill at a height of 180 metres ( About 600 feet ) above the valley.
Access to the fort: The crossing over river Gambhiri is a classical example of a pointed arch bridge of the good old days. It was built in limestone and ran over ten spans, ultimately facing the main entrance of the fort on the other end. In those days, the gates of the forts used to be very heavy and imposing structures with sufficient height, width and thickness for smooth run of the combat forces, which included soldiers riding on horseback and elephants. The doors were provided with spikes on the outer side, for resisting the assault from elephants. Cittorgarh Fort was built on the top of the hill and could be reached through a difficult zig zag path cut and carved through the steep side slope of the hill. Since the path was used by the forces attacking the fort, as also by the forces defending it, heavy gates were provided on all the twists and turns to stall the enemy and to provide strategic advantage to the defending forces. Chittorgarh fort had seven gates spread over one kilometer long access path of the hill. For centuries, the flower of Mewar youth had shed their blood on the access path for the defence of the fort. The chronicles of valour, exploits and sacrifices of legendary warriers Gora and Badal, Jaimal and Patta are part of popular folklore and are sung in the remotest parts of Mewar and most of India. After crossing the bridge over river Gambhiri, the staff and students of Ajmer Polytechnic rushed through the entrance gate of the fort, at the foot of the hill and after running through the seven segments of the paved access path, with all its twists and turns and imposing gates, they passed through the main gate of the fort at the top, known as Ram Pol. In the meantime, the advance party of the polytechnic had prepared tea, mouth watering snacks and something substantial to satisfy the bellies. And as soon as the bell tolled, there was a mad rush for the so called refreshment, which pumped in sufficient burst of energy in all and sundry. Thereafter, 300 students and accompanying members of staff formed themselves into convenient groups and spread out gradually into the sprawling expanse of the fort and its monuments. For almost three hours, everybody moved freely through the monuments and the ruins, trying to delve deeply into the images of the golden period of Mewar. Chittorgarh, the fort of Bappa Rawal, Rana Hamir, Rana Kumbha and Rana Sanga was abandoned in 1568 and mostly lay in ruins for almost 400 years. Restoration work was taken up sometimes in the closing years of the nineteenth century.
Chittorgarh Fort: Chittorgarh Fort was most probably built by Mauryas, sometimes in the seventh century AD. Bappa Rawal who was the first ruler of the dynasty of Sisodias of Mewar, seized it in 734 AD and made it his capital. It remained the capital of Mewar upto 1568 when Moghul Emperor Akbar occupied it and Rana Udai Singh moved to the new capital at Udaipur. The fort of Chittorgarh was almost impregnable and apart from the siege of 1303 by Alauddin Khilji, siege of 1535 by Bahadur Shah and siege of 1567 by Akbar, it enjoyed invincibility, peace and prosperity during the almost uninterrupted rule of the Sisodias for 834 years. Bapa Rawal, Rana Hammir, Rana Kumbha and Rana Sanga were distinguished rulers of the dynasty.
The fort covers an area of 700 acres. The maximum length of the fort area from end to end is 5 kilometres (3 miles). It is bound by battlements with top width of 10 feet to 12 feet for speedy movement of horsemen for vigilance. The circumference of the battlements is 13 kilometres ( 8 miles). The fort complex comprises 65 historic structures including 4 palace complexes, 19 main temples, 4 memorials and 20 water bodies. Some of the prominent structures in the fort area are:
Palace of Rana Kumbha, where the ranas lived. Rana Udai Singh was born there and was saved by Panna Dhai, by carrying him to safety in a fruit basket outside the fort, when he was a child. Meerabai also lived in this palace and the Jauhar performed by Rani Padmani alongwith other Rajput ladies was also committed there in one of the underground cellers. The palace happens to be in ruins now.
Palace of Rani Padmani, where she lived and where Alauddin was permitted to see her image through a mirror in 1303.
Vijay Stambh built by Rana Kumbha in commemoration of his victory over Sultan of Malwa.
Kirti Stambh built by a Jain merchant Jiaji Rathor and dedicated to Adinath and Temples of Meerabai and Kalimata temple.
Get-together prior to departure from Chittorgarh: Sometimes, late in the afternoon, the students and members of the staff started regrouping for an informal get-together and late lunch. This was followed by short presentation about their visit to Chittorgarh, interspersed by music, dance, drama and skits. And very soon, it was free for all. Most of the students and some members of the staff had come fully prepared for the occasion and were looking forward for this moment anxiously, for participation with gay abandon. Everybody seemed to have dug in for a long show and had almost no intention to leave. That was the time, when the evening shadows were trying to send signals and ultimately, it was time to wind up. The curtains were drawn with a return trot from Chittorgarh fort to the railway station and back to Makhupura and Jodhpur by train.
Man is a wonderful creation of nature. He does not tire out, as long as he enjoys, what he is doing. Excitement and exuberance overtake all his physical toils and tears. It is one of the normal functions of professional institutions to mould the students for handling all types of rough and tough jobs and getting used to long hours of arduous involvement. This is only possible, if they enjoy all that they do and gradually develop a liking for challenging and physically tiring jobs. By all accounts, three hours of train journey, in crowded compartments of a passenger train, followed by seven to eight kilometers of trek from railway station to the foot of the fort and one kilometer of steep accent to the top of the fort are physically tiring. It is really a wonder of wonders, that, in spite of all the physical strains, the students were in high spirits on reaching the top of the fort and were keen to spend all available time for the visit of the monuments and ruins of the renowned fort and subsequently, performed during the get-together in the evening in high spirits, as if it was business as usual.