she came to jaipur four decades ago and fell in love with the city elena karachkovas love affair with rajasthan has now reached a new level as the russian research scholar has penned a book on the heritage of jaipur and dedicated it to rani lakshmi kumari chundawat an eminent author in the rajasthani language the result of an exhaustive research by the writer the book in russian gives an insight into rajasthani history art and culturerussias love affair with jaipuras the title dialogues with the past ethno history of a rajput princely state suggests the book explores the social and political scenario of the erstwhile princely state jaipur which was earlier called dhundhar ask her whether she faced any struggle while writing the book and elena says not at all its been 40 years since i have been coming to the pink city ive never faced any problem traveling and living here and this place is very close to my heart mujhe har gali aur mohalla yaad hai yahan ke log sab apne se lagte hain claims the writer in a firang accent and why not the lady is wellversed in hindi and a bit of marwari a research scholar from the institute of oriental studies moscow elena came to jaipur in 1973 for a cultural exchange programme her stay in the city for one year masters course at rajasthan university made her fall in love with the city my father was a diplomat posted in new delhi though i never lived here the stories he shared with me made me completely fall in love with jaipur even before i physically came here she adds during her stay she extensively travelled the state for her research project on meera bai the famous poetess and devotee of lord krishna her love affair with rajasthan took a turn and she decided to write a book on jaipur i was planning to pen down the book but due to something or the other it took so many years and finally i am done with it informs the writer who now plans to come up with an english translation of the book which will be launched during the jaipur lit fest 2015 rani lakshmi an inspiration her book is a detailed reference guide of 350 pages outlining the rule of meena dynasty over amber jaipurs foundation by the kachhwa dynasty the entire dhundar region socioeconomy polity folklores art and culture the books content is mostly out of the research she did on her own and not on information provided in other books my book is peoples perception and imagination of the glorious past that the city has witnessed my idea was to learn what people think of the city she asserts and what inspired her to dedicate the book to chundawat she is the one who inspired me to write the book she is a great woman who coming from a traditional rajput family accomplished so much i could not think of anyone