The Story of a Certain Era!

Two years ago I witnessed a beautiful story of an era with my family. That story made us weave our certain story, a story of a family, a story where the relationships were made and the bonds were strengthen. When we decide to go down that memory lane, mere mention of it is enough to put up a wide smile and unknowingly we visit a place which is comfortable and pleasant enough to keep us going. 

This is our sojourn through passe’ sand dunes and coastline, an assembled photo collection from my, cousins and uncles camera. I wish I had clear frames of images sans’ the tourists! The more I waited to have a clear picture, the more tourists used to pour in!

Well the moment we hear the word, Rajasthan, the desert, sand dunes, puppets, their typical folk dances, palaces and forts cross our minds, and guess what, Rajasthan offers the same. A perfect place to be in perfect winters.

A regular feature of the monuments - pigeons and camels. You simply can’t miss them.

A place full of sand (if you are a good observer sand is on the tree leaves too) is the first thing you notice when you enter this state, and yeah here the road breakers are in even numbers… 2..4..6..), imagination, creativity!

It boasts of desert on one side and a chilly hill station on the other side and itself being full of lakes and palaces and forts. When you go around it, you are sure to get spell bound. Whatever you have read in books or seen about it on discovery channel, it offers you much more - truly a visual treat!

The most catching things here are it’s puppets or dolls. They are just gorgeous. Breathtakingly beautiful and well carved.

And yes, this place is a shopper’s paradise. They offer so many varieties and the rates are so low that you are forced to shop.

You name it, you have it. Wooden toys, painting frames, various camel or elephant show pieces or wall hangings - all are in very reasonable rates. 

The folk artists greet you here and there in the town (small towns or forts) and they feel proud to keep the tradition alive! They are more than eager to tell you their "Maharaja's" Story!

Now some of the shopping lists :


They have these famous ‘jutis’ or ‘mojadis’, a must buy!

The most famous cloth of Rajasthan i.e ‘bandhani’ work is quite exquisite, and the work on the sarees just fabulous. Here cloth has so many varieties. Be it bags, stoles, shawls, salwars, shirts, kurties, turbans, caps, sarees (banana saree, bamboo saree, bandhani saree etc), scarfs, bed-sheets, you just can’t ignore them!

And the most favourite accessories of girls (and for that matter boys too!) It’s just great! I am damn sure they will just say to themselves I want this one too! Trust me, they are worth a buy.

And last but not the least it’s a heaven for foodies! I still remember having three kachories for only Rs. 10/- and that too with that special tarri! Dal bati, churma, gatte ki sabji, ghewar, mawa kachori, and that mirchi bada - mouth watering! These special Rajasthani dishes, those fruits and milk after a nice lunch/dinner, yummy! And yes how can I forget the low rates of pasteries/cakes there! (courtesy- our mukaram (driver hanuman), the only good thing he did was to show us the good ‘chai tapri’s’ and good restaurants (yeah, we still talk about them!)

People here are quite down to earth and polite. Even the rikshaw wala chatted with us throughout our destination (marketplace). When we see and talk with them just one word comes in mind and that is ‘garib’. ‘Garib’ not as in poor but in the sense that they are true and innocent in nature. All men have their typical big mustaches. In more rural towns women are seen in their typical attires. Lots of white bangles. They wear these bangles from childhood and keep increasing as they grow and it is believed to be the reason to develop longer hands. While in big cities they are rarely seen roaming around the city unlike here. People here are still not used to of the fast lifestyle or what we call modern lifestyle. They are still somewhat laid back. The most striking thing is that they have a great respect for their respective Maharaja’s.

As now we have done with the most important part of tour (shopping) we can switch to the site seeing! All the forts and palaces here are a good visit. Each one has it’s own story to tell. All have different histories, structures and architectures still sharing a single common point - royalty! Seeing all their luxury you can’t help wishing to be one of them or at least living in that era. Really short of words to describe that. Just a short stroll through the museums I bet you gonna say that ‘I am proud to be an Indian’! Seriously!

Random thought - wouldn't it be a fun to live in a huge fort?

Jaipur - Amer Fort, Jal Mahal, City Palace, Hawa Mahal

Jaipur! The pink city! Yes, the whole market area, the forts, hawa mahal all are pink! Even it has the 'gulabi' thand! The worth noticing thing about the markets here is that all are arranged in numbered blocks! They are like small numbered row houses full with variety of accessories! Yes, they all are pink 

A regular feature in the palaces- museums, elephants, a single peacock in the garden and a vintage car collection. Amer fort is one of the main attractions of Jaipur and well know for its design, location and as one of the complex forts!

Bikaner - Junagarh Fort, Palace and the Rail Museum

Bikaner, a really small town is near the Pakistan border. You notice many army trucks along this minimal traffic route! The sight of these trucks makes you think, how close you are the India-Pakistan border! You feel proud, protected, happy and scared at the same time!

The fort and palace are wonderful and yes the rail museum is good too, no doubt about that, but you can never ignore the sight of a train passing right in front of you right in the middle of the market area! It is something unexpected! No security gates, no sirens, the train just passes as if it has to cross a road!

And yeah, the food here is awesome especially the kachories, papads! Bringing the papad packets home is a must.

Jodhpur - Mehrangarh fort and the Umaid Bhavan Palace

One of the tallest forts in Rajasthan. Peeking down and seeing the blue city feels like heaven! Yeah, this fort was shown in Dark Knight Rises and here we can do paragliding and zipping too! Jaw dropping was the fort! Anywhere you see, you just say out loud, how did they manage to build that?!

Udaipur - Lakes, Palace and Museums! Wish I had taken my camera that day instead of depositing in the baggage area! Recently captured in the Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani movie!

Mount Abu - View from top of the Aravali Range - Once you come here, that wide smile on your face hardly fade. You end up being a happy and contented soul for the rest of the journey downhill!

Some places in Gujarat - Ahmedabad and Dwarka

This tour ended on a bitter sweet note. Super happy as it was one of the best times with my family and a little sour due to some encounters!

I happen to visit many temples, mosques or churches! The thing I noticed and felt bad about was the conduct of people! How can you force anyone to do anything? What is this bossing about? Do we actually need that? We visit because we want to, no one has forced us. Where is that freedom that we always talk and boast about? God has never told us to do that! He is a parental guardian taking care of everyone! He doesn't want all this. The question is why are we doing that?

In this crazy age of competition have we forgotten the right path? Have we lost the track of the right verse? Where is the humanity? Courtesy? Politeness? Where have we come? I am sure no money can buy these. What if you have money and none of the above? Does anyone think about that real big picture? For the time being, it is all okay! But what comes next?

Something needs to change and have a serious thought!