I'm back from a very eventful 10 day trip...Me & my sister flew from here to Delhi & my parents from Kolkata to Delhi at the same time..We met at the Delhi airport while we were still frenzily waiting for our luggages to be downloaded..! I can never forget the exhilarated call of my sister when she saw my father..'Babaaaaaaaaaaa!" aloud with all delight! The entire mob, comprising partly of genuinely sophisticated people & partly of well-made hypocrites gazed at us both in amusement & annoyance..
A night's stay at Delhi..Next day morning, a car booked with Delhi tourism was waiting outside our hotel & our dream voyage began..We drove to Pushkar & Ajmer, then to Udaipur (white City), Jaipur (pink city), Ranthambore (National park, particularly known for tigers), Bharatpur (bird sanctuary), Agra, Fatehpur Sikri,Mathura & back to Delhi...
For the first time in my life, I entered an Islamic place..the famous Dargah in Ajmer.. Though its a well built place but they did try their best to make us pray the Islamic way... My father had his hands folded in prayer, & the priest reprimanded asking him to keep his hands in 'dua' position... (Normally the priests at Hindu temples are also quite a pain in the neck!)
Pushkar is unique in having a Brahma temple (perhaps the only one in the world) & both of them are twin cities.
Udaipur is a beautiful city...lakes as big & transparent as my heart..:-), & white all around..People must be damn wealthy to be able to have every square inch built of marble, which is very cheap in the city...
Jaipur is only conceptually pink now... At both these cities, we visited quite a few palaces & forts...It appeared that the kings had lots of space & wealth to show off!!
The king of Jaipur, Raja Mansingh had succumbed to Mughal reign, so they were sort of rolling in gold, precious stones, best of clothes & accessories, weapons studded with semi-precious stones... & they too managed to marry a countless list of women, only one of whom would politically be the queen....
My Dad had a big hole in his pocket when me & my sister merrily shopped away to glory at Jaipur!
But Mughals were ...!! Akbar, the GRRRREAT emperor, had 830 women in his harem, with each of whom he would have one night stands!!!! The plight of women has been as evergreen as the earth itself!!! (Jodhabai enjoyed the rights of being his wife politically)
& Taj Mahal is famous only because Shah Jahan loved his wife a little more than the other kings..:-)
So they call it.."A Tribute to the grace of Indian Womanhood", "A Dream in Marble","An epitome of Loveliness" & the last but not the least.."A Replendent Immortal teardrop on the cheek of time"..:-)))
& That too, it was built after demolishing an upcoming Shiv mandir...
But the two most exciting events were the ride in an open vehicle across the national park in Ranthambore & watching wild animals in their secluded cocoons & birdwatching at Bharatpur.. We had a big & powerful binoculars & could see beauuuuutiful birds...ones with pink feathers, yellow beaks, blue & green bodies, crimson tail..it was fabulous!! I saw a kingfisher at an arm's distance & to catch a glimpse of its flight is a dream come true..Its like 'Coming up with flying colours'..:-)
The near view is exactly as in calendars, picture postcards & books..
There were starks, green pigeons, a variety of parrots, some Siberian birds, some domestic but rare birds...
The sanctuary is on 30 square km area & even after moving around for 6 hours, we could only strech to 7 kms..
Ohh!!! Eagle has ferociously cunning eyes..! My Binoculars made them look all the more scary..
On the whole, Rajasthan is very colourful & has good people..The moment we entered Agra, I could make out from the faces & looks that it is ..Uttar Pradesh!
We had a few interesting encounters with the myriad foriegn tourists. Its, we in India, who give more importance to our guests only to earn a few dollars/pounds/euros...& Sometimes, we overdo it!!
At a restaurant, there were too many foriegners & the owner overlooked us completely! When he didn't even offer us water for quite some time, my father called & asked him whether they serve only beer & coke & no water... He then said "Oh..You didnt tell us whether you want mineral or plain water!"
At another place, a couple of French men & women were smoking & causing immense nuisance to my already choked nasal tract. On request, they put it off but when the waiter was asked if it's a no smoking zone, he said, "Its perfectly Ok...You can smoke at the other table!" My parents again taught them the country's moral basics...the fact that smoking is banned in public places in India. :-)
Most interestingly, for the stolen & assorted Kohinoor, now in British Museum is portrayed as a gift from an Indian king while the guides to foriegn tourists, even from the Consulates are not supposed to say that all the precious & beautiful stones in Tajmahal have been brutally taken away by The British... (As they only confirmed that history has it)
Save the country, my friends!!
The overwhelming sentiments at the Delhi airport while we were waiting for our return flights, (again the departure time of the 2 flights were same), was even greater than in the former case. The snobs of Delhi (Don't take this to personally, they indeed were snobs!) thought we were meeting for the last time. All of us didn't know when we would meet together again! We have only met in groups of 2 & 3 in the last 1 year......
Pics are still in the memory of our fondly bought, new digital camera :-)
A night's stay at Delhi..Next day morning, a car booked with Delhi tourism was waiting outside our hotel & our dream voyage began..We drove to Pushkar & Ajmer, then to Udaipur (white City), Jaipur (pink city), Ranthambore (National park, particularly known for tigers), Bharatpur (bird sanctuary), Agra, Fatehpur Sikri,Mathura & back to Delhi...
For the first time in my life, I entered an Islamic place..the famous Dargah in Ajmer.. Though its a well built place but they did try their best to make us pray the Islamic way... My father had his hands folded in prayer, & the priest reprimanded asking him to keep his hands in 'dua' position... (Normally the priests at Hindu temples are also quite a pain in the neck!)
Pushkar is unique in having a Brahma temple (perhaps the only one in the world) & both of them are twin cities.
Udaipur is a beautiful city...lakes as big & transparent as my heart..:-), & white all around..People must be damn wealthy to be able to have every square inch built of marble, which is very cheap in the city...
Jaipur is only conceptually pink now... At both these cities, we visited quite a few palaces & forts...It appeared that the kings had lots of space & wealth to show off!!
The king of Jaipur, Raja Mansingh had succumbed to Mughal reign, so they were sort of rolling in gold, precious stones, best of clothes & accessories, weapons studded with semi-precious stones... & they too managed to marry a countless list of women, only one of whom would politically be the queen....
My Dad had a big hole in his pocket when me & my sister merrily shopped away to glory at Jaipur!
But Mughals were ...!! Akbar, the GRRRREAT emperor, had 830 women in his harem, with each of whom he would have one night stands!!!! The plight of women has been as evergreen as the earth itself!!! (Jodhabai enjoyed the rights of being his wife politically)
& Taj Mahal is famous only because Shah Jahan loved his wife a little more than the other kings..:-)
So they call it.."A Tribute to the grace of Indian Womanhood", "A Dream in Marble","An epitome of Loveliness" & the last but not the least.."A Replendent Immortal teardrop on the cheek of time"..:-)))
& That too, it was built after demolishing an upcoming Shiv mandir...
But the two most exciting events were the ride in an open vehicle across the national park in Ranthambore & watching wild animals in their secluded cocoons & birdwatching at Bharatpur.. We had a big & powerful binoculars & could see beauuuuutiful birds...ones with pink feathers, yellow beaks, blue & green bodies, crimson tail..it was fabulous!! I saw a kingfisher at an arm's distance & to catch a glimpse of its flight is a dream come true..Its like 'Coming up with flying colours'..:-)
The near view is exactly as in calendars, picture postcards & books..
There were starks, green pigeons, a variety of parrots, some Siberian birds, some domestic but rare birds...
The sanctuary is on 30 square km area & even after moving around for 6 hours, we could only strech to 7 kms..
Ohh!!! Eagle has ferociously cunning eyes..! My Binoculars made them look all the more scary..
On the whole, Rajasthan is very colourful & has good people..The moment we entered Agra, I could make out from the faces & looks that it is ..Uttar Pradesh!
We had a few interesting encounters with the myriad foriegn tourists. Its, we in India, who give more importance to our guests only to earn a few dollars/pounds/euros...& Sometimes, we overdo it!!
At a restaurant, there were too many foriegners & the owner overlooked us completely! When he didn't even offer us water for quite some time, my father called & asked him whether they serve only beer & coke & no water... He then said "Oh..You didnt tell us whether you want mineral or plain water!"
At another place, a couple of French men & women were smoking & causing immense nuisance to my already choked nasal tract. On request, they put it off but when the waiter was asked if it's a no smoking zone, he said, "Its perfectly Ok...You can smoke at the other table!" My parents again taught them the country's moral basics...the fact that smoking is banned in public places in India. :-)
Most interestingly, for the stolen & assorted Kohinoor, now in British Museum is portrayed as a gift from an Indian king while the guides to foriegn tourists, even from the Consulates are not supposed to say that all the precious & beautiful stones in Tajmahal have been brutally taken away by The British... (As they only confirmed that history has it)
Save the country, my friends!!
The overwhelming sentiments at the Delhi airport while we were waiting for our return flights, (again the departure time of the 2 flights were same), was even greater than in the former case. The snobs of Delhi (Don't take this to personally, they indeed were snobs!) thought we were meeting for the last time. All of us didn't know when we would meet together again! We have only met in groups of 2 & 3 in the last 1 year......
Pics are still in the memory of our fondly bought, new digital camera :-)
2 comments:
Enteratining..that was, for ure.
But i feel sory for the guide who tried to change history like the rulers of the past :P
Well this reminded me of my boarding years spent in rajhasthan. We would go on trips to these places every moth..back then it seemed as we would die of boredom.but after so many yrs seeing them makes memories flood back.
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