What an end and what a start of an year..!!

Every year towards the end, I start counting days and hours for the new year to arrive but last year (technically :P) it was not the same. After 26th Dec I just knew it was 2nd Jan. Time flew by like a second and all thanks to the awesome rajasthan trip....wonderful friends...and a great host. I have been to many outings and trips with friends (my orkut and picasa albums would vouch for that) but this one was unique in its own sense. This trip was more like a movie than a tour. Yes a typical bollywood movie which starts with the arrival of each charachter one by one and the host receiving each of us followed by a lunch and shopping(courtsey our host). While some of us were busy shopping, others were busy in the 'roothna-manana scene' :P :D



And thereafter started a once-in-a-lifetime journey, a journey which had moments which one would want to live again and again......the first sight of sand dunes, camel ride or rather camel race, sunset from dunes, bakkar on sand dunes under a clear moomlit sky, some awesome pics and the laughs that followed, search and experiments for decent food in rajasthan, DDLJ poses in sarson da khet.....and many more.

Jodhpur didn't have many things to see..just a couple of forts and palaces which all could be seen from the mehrangrah fort top (so we saved a lot of time).



And then started our ordeal to find a decent place to eat. Our hotel owner had recommended us a place called 'fun and food' so without exploring much we decided to go to that place. But finding that place turned out to be an ordeal and to add to it the fact that people there somehow are not clear about road directions. They say left and show the right hand and vice versa. So we had a tough time locating that place. However we were determined to find that place and after around 45 minutes of struggle we finally tasted success. However the food served there was not worth the efforts. It was already evening by this time and we decided to go back to our rooms and play cards. Since I didnt know the game, we had a few rounds of trial games after which started the 'rang-a-rang' game..!!! With beginner's luck on my side it wasn't difficult to win that day but after that day, I lost badly on all other days :(. Then again started the search for 'On the Rocks' (another place suggested by the owner for dinner). This time even our driver was irritated by people's direction sense and after making 2 rounds on the same road and still searching, he said ' On the rocks hai ya xerox hai!!!'. But this time, the place was worth the pains.



And how can I forget to mention this. Jodhpur turned out to be the most eventful place as far as my trip was concerned. I had a bet with one of my friends (who claims that Don kabhi Wrong nahi hota) and the stakes were too high. The topic of bet was as simple as the time taken to drive from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer and the stakes were my fav sunglasses (if i lose) and my trip expenses to be borne by my friend (if he loses). The distance between the 2 places is 285 km and it might sound a simple time and distance calculation. My estimate was 3 - 3.5 hrs and his estimate was 5 - 5.5 hrs. Thanks to the awesome roads of rajasthan and the low population density(though the highway boasts of some 'ghani aabadi aage' boards), the drive was successfully covered in 3 hrs and 1 minute. Though throughout the drive, he prayed for some delays like railway track gates closed or vehicle breakdown and tried to add all sorts of terms and conditions to the bet (which included conditions like finding the 'Jaisalmer 0 milestone' etc). Par sach ki jeet hui and I won the bet. :D



Jaisalmer is the best place to go if u wanna goto rajasthan to see the desert. Without wasting time, we went to Sam (40 kms from jaisalmer) which has sand dunes to the extent you can see and the sight is just awesome.



Camel ride or rather camel race added to the fun and then started the much awaited event of the trip 'the sparta..!!!'. But amidst all this fun in the sands, one cam started showing lens error due to sand. The sun setting in the sand was also a scene too good to miss and while we were still enjoying the sunset, started the emergency exit :P



Our next halt was at Ajmer where our day started the earliest of all. It was also the last day of the year and the last day of our trip and we had to cover as much as possible on that day. So we went to the famous dargah at 6 in the morning, then to the Pushkar temple and then rached jaipur by afternoon. The Amer fort there is truly huge and well maintained and one of the best in rajasthan. And helping us seeing this huge fort, we had raju guide at our service....who knew nothing except posing and overhearing other guides..!!!



We spent the new yr eve at Choki Dhani which included reliving some childhood moments like the swing and playing hide and seek. We all laughed and giggled like children once again...with no other thoughts in our mind and no other feelings in our hearts. That was just awesome. Then came the dinner part. Though the food there tasted good, it was rich with ghee. We could take out spoon-fulls of ghee from any prepration there. By the time we finished our dinner, it became very cold and we returned back to our rooms, wished for a great new year ahead and went off to bed.


The next day we started early as one of us had his train in the evening from Delhi. But en route there were so many sarson da khet which reminded us of the DDLJ days and in spite of the tight scheduled, we spared 5 mins and jumped into the fields for posing. Seeing the golden flowers of sarson, Wordsworth lines about daffodils came to my mind and the feeling was quite the same.



"Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

.....

In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils (read sarson :P)."


Thinking about this trip, innumerable memories come to my mind and it's impossible to put them all in words.




Cheers !!!