The Royal city Patiala

The Royal city Patiala

Patiala city is one of the oldest and beautiful cities of Punjab province. The city is famous worldwide because of its unique Patiala Shahi turban style, Patiala suits, Patiala peg and it’s the city of Captain Maharaja Amrinder Singh (Chief Minister of Punjab) and for various tourist places. This city is located in Quila Mubarak which was built by the founder of the royal dynasty of Patiala Baba Ala Singh.

Rolls Royce and Maharaja of Patiala Bhupinder Singh

Apart from this, there is also a real incident has famous which relates to Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala. The incident is” Maharaja was roaming in London city of England; he stopped outside a showroom of Rolls Royce cars. He entered the showroom to know about the features of cars. But, Manager of that showroom insulted him and taunted about the poverty in India. At that time Maharaja not gave any reply to the manager. After getting back to Punjab, he not only bought all the cars of that showroom but also used them for Garbage haul, cleaning roads and to carry vegetables from the market.  When the Rolls Royce Company heard about the use of their vehicles for these messy works in India, they come to know about the reason behind this and apologize to Maharaja Bhupinder Singh. After realizing that the company has got their lesion, Maharaja stopped using their cars as garbage carrier.”

Tourists attractions in Patiala

Despite this story mentioned above, visitors can find various tourist attractions in the city by visiting in any season of year,  Patiala city is also famous for its Gurudwara Shri Dukh Niwaran Sahib, Quilla Mubarak, Moti Mahal, Saras Mela (Heritage Festival), Omax Mall, Kali Mata temple and numerous hotels and restaurants with different verities of foods. 

Sheesh Mahal and Heritage Festival (Saras Mela)

Literally meaning the Palace of Mirrors, Sheesh Mahal was built as a part of the Old Moti Bagh Palace in the 19th century. There are a lot of frescoes, mostly made under the reign of Maharaja Narinder Singh. In the boundaries of Sheesh Mahal, every year a heritage and Saras Mela has been organized. But the festival of 2018 has organized after the gap of 11 years. 

Traveling options for this city

Patiala city is easily approachable by road as well as by railways transportation systems. This city is few kilometers away from the borders of two neighborhood states Rajasthan and Haryana. Various schools and colleges/universities from different states organize one day trips to visit Patiala for the witnesses of its beauty and to know about the history of Sikh kings. Along with this, Patiala city is also becoming a good location for filmmakers. Shooting of movies like Bodyguard, Mausam and one upcoming movie “Ek ladki ko Dekha to Aisa laga” has done in this city.

Tertiary and Graduation education options

This royal city also has its university where students come from different parts of the country to complete their tertiary education as well as to start their graduation level study. This university is in the core of the city, where students not only get their education but also took part in various cultural and sports events, not only at the university level but also on national level. In addition, there are other universities in the city such as Thapar University for technical education and Rajiv Gandhi Law University. This also makes the city a hub of world-class education for national as well as for international students.

My visit to the city

I visit Patiala city after few gap to pay homage at Gurudwara Dukh niwaran Sahib. I spend most of the time of my visit in gurudwara sahib. I perform Sewa at gurudwara sahib. Furthermore, the city also has a number of restaurants such as Gopals, Jaggi sweets, Sheetal and cafés in Leela Bhawan market. The market is also the hub of small institutions of computer learning, IELTS, TOFEL, Immigration counselors, and Saloons.  Here, foodies can find international taste cuisines of Chinese, Italian, Punjabi, South Indian, in vegetarian and non-vegetarian choices. 

For the tourists who love to do shopping, Omax mall is there for them where they can find most famous brands of clothing, shades, shoes and wrist watches. From this city, visitors can buy famous Patiala jutti (a Punjabi style shoes). 

Moreover, my experience with people of Patiala is always good during my every trip even during my visits to the city I made few persons my friends to whom I call when I ever visit the city. But, comers need to be aware of the local transporters such as auto drivers; they may charge a huge amount from new persons for the travel of few kilometers. 

Besides this, if tourists are planning to stay in the city, there are not many options for staying. Visitors can only find rooms in the territory of Gurudwara Sahib. Options for guest houses are few. Transportation from the city is working 24/7 so, a day is enough for the visitors to complete their visit to the royal state. 

In the end, I would like to share an incident when a newly married couple visited the Gurudwara Sahib; they lost the key of their car in the domain of Sikh Temple. They said they are new to the city and have no contact in the city. So the committee members of the Sikh temple got them a room to rest and called the police. First, they tried to find the keys but when they were not successful, they called car technicians and key maker to open up their car for them. After the complete verification that the car belongs to them, police officers handed over the car to the couple and let them go to their destination with a happy memory.

Traveling facts of Patiala city

The way to reach this royal city is possible by road and railways transportation system. It is less than 70 km. away from the capital of Punjab and Haryana, which is connected through airways from other places of the nation. This means visitors, who are planning their tour of Patiala from the other beyond parts of the nation as well as from abroad through airplane should reach first the city Chandigarh. 

Furthermore, If tourists are planning to stay in Patiala city than, they have only one option to buy rooms in shrines.  But if any traveler is looking for quality guest services of hotels, they should book their rooms in hotels in Chandigarh, Mohali, Zirakpur, Ambala, and Patiala as these are the nearest big cities of Fatehgarh Sahib.

Tips to remember

Patiala city is a district and CM city, so the policemen’s are deployed at every square of the city and need not to worry in the city. 

During the month of Feburary and March Heritage and Saras mela has organizes at the Sheesh Mahal. 

Contributed by - Harneet, Punjab