books – UdaipurBlog

Udaipur – City Trails: A city-guide for the young explorers by a young explorer

Here’s a book about Udaipur for young explorers!

Udaipur – City Trails is a full-hearted book written by a young girl from Udaipur. The book is specially written with young readers in mind to connect them with the history, heritage and culture of the city in an interesting way. It takes you on a joyous guided tour of the city with attractive illustrations that displays all the important and amazing things of Udaipur.

The book is written by Aanya Bhandari, a high-school student who hails from Udaipur and studying at Mayo College Girls’ School, Ajmer.

The book lets you discover Udaipur’s best tourist spots including the seven lakes, City Palace, Monsoon Palace, Saheliyon Ki Bari, the cultural hubs of Udaipur – Lok Kala Mandal and Shilpgram and also a few visit-worthy places around the city like Kumbhalgarh Fort, Shreenathji Temple etc. It shares amazing stories of these places, their importance in history along with some lesser-known and fun facts.

You can also learn about the famous Vintage Car Museum of Udaipur that showcases the classic car collection that belonged to the Maharajas of Mewar and the popular local festivals celebrated by the city.

Aanya recommends the readers to take a walk in the old city streets, check out the local bazaars, and have some amazing time in the sunset boat ride on beautiful Lake Pichola.

Udaipur – City Trails is a perfect guide for young explorers who are fascinated by history and wants to know the story behind the famous places and things. It will show the readers the significance of every important place in the city.

I personally enjoyed reading the brief facts and recommendations in ‘Do you know?’, ‘Must See’ and ‘Do not miss’ sections which Aanya has presented in a very engaging way. It compels the reader to explore the place and experience the culture.

On the whole, the book is an interesting read for kids and adults both. Recommended for kids of 8 years and above.

About the author: Aanya is an avid debater who has a strong inclination towards history and politics. She is one of the youngest speakers to deliver a speech at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. At a young age, Aanya is deeply connected with the history, heritage and tourism of Udaipur. Her passion for tourism has materialised into the conception of this book – a travel guide for kids to make their journey all the more attractive and colourful, just like the book!

The Oldest Public Libraries in Udaipur

Good books are your best friends. These good books can be easily found in libraries. But are you aware of the public libraries in the City where you can go and read? For all the people who aren’t aware of the public libraries in Udaipur, here a brief listing of 3 of the oldest libraries in Lake City, which have been a learning point to many of the big scholars from Udaipur- Have a look!

#3 Kunzru Library

The Kunzru library is situated inside Seva Mandir, founded by Mr. Mohan Singh Mehta. The library was opened for public on 7 October 1973. It was named after Pandit Hriday Nath Kunzru who was the man who stirred Mohan Singh Mehta to found Seva Mandir.

The library currently holds a good collection of 10,000 books which includes many journals and magazines. Membership is open to the public and over 100 visitors use the library every day. The Kunzru library is one of the oldest libraries in Udaipur which has served a lot of people. The library serves and helps in building intellectuality, self-advancement, and people from all walks of life from students preparing for government exams to elderly people, the Kunzru Library helps everyone.

#2 Jagdish Chowk Library

Dating back to 1955, this library was once a haveli of Asind Rao. Also, it was a court which later on got abandoned. Coins were also checked for purity under the then ruler of the Mewar Kingdom. The library was once built at Badhbhuja Ghati in Udaipur which shifted to Asind Rao’s Haveli post-independence.

According to the current librarian, Mr. Bhagwat Singh ‘Rao’, the library was once known as ‘City Corporation’ which was a hub of books and readers from across the world used to visit it. The Jagdish Chowk Library has 70,000 collections of books, of regional languages as well as foreign books.

The architecture of the place and smell of the books take you to a bygone era. Many college students, avid readers, and historians still sit and find a place of solace in the library. Mr. Rao also added that under his serving tenure of almost 20 years up till now, many doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, including 13 RAS and 3 IPS officers have read the books and studied in the library on a regular basis. The Jagdish Chowk library boasts to be Rajasthan’s biggest public library and also the 1^st fully computerized public library. Source- Mr. Bhagwat Singh ‘Rao’ (Librarian at Jagdish Chowk Library)

#1 Saraswati Bhawan Library

Sajjan Niwas Garden or the Gulab Bagh also has a library known as Saraswati Bhawan Library. It was built by Maharana Fateh Singh in 1887 and opened for public in November 1890. The Saraswati Bhawan Library was once known as Victoria Hall Museum and is currently used as a library. It was the first ever museum constructed in Rajasthan.

A statue of Queen Victoria was erected to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in front of the library. The statue was taken off and a new statue of Mahatma Gandhi was erected post-independence.

Almost 32,000 books of various fields like archaeology, Indology and a collection of ancient handwritten Manuscripts are available for scholars, historians, and writers. One can have a registration done and can avail the facilities of the library.

These three public libraries are the oldest of the city and have served various scholar, intellectual readers and students. It is a must visit to these places if you are on a hunt for knowledge.

Also, let us know if you know any other library do let us know 🙂