It was sunday the 24th of august, i was quite devastated, life seemed to have halted , i could see nothing but a black hole ahead. It is when my brother suggested to do hell with everything and go on a trip (he pointed to goa but my dearest bro just missed a small detail that i being a lone women traveler, even if i turn to minimalistic clothing and run on the beach, still it might not be that fun ;-) ) So I viewed my options and zeroed down to Jaipur ; considering it to be accessible from delhi, but most importantantly it had my friend Kanwalpreet kaur doing her postgraduation in pathology from SMS Medical college. So i messaged her and after throwing some,"I have my seminar" tantrums (she is a PG afterall)  the date was decided to be 6th of september.

Journey 

                     I got my train tickets booked. Delhi Bandra gareeb rath that leaves delhi sarai rohilla at 9:20am was the only train that could make me reach around 2pm, the time my friend's duty gets over. I have to say i was'nt very positive about the train but beyond my apprehensions the train was good. It is an AC train, it started EXACT on time. There were two foreigners to accompany me, about 17 year old boy and 20 year old girl. Looking at them i was wondering , that is an age my mom did not even let me go alone on a bus. Indian moms and we poor Indian kids take a lot of time to be bold enough or blind enough.
                   There were lot of vendors serving food and tea inside the train comming every 5 min. You can't remain hungry even if you want to. Some sleepy guy took my upper berth so i happen to get his window seat. The view was so soothing. Small hills accompanied the entire way with occasional site of peacocks. Women could be seen working in the fields and everyone had one thing in common , Flourescence. All were wearing dull ghaghras with bright duppattas coloured flourescent pink, orange or yellow.
                  The train had arrival time of 2:10 and it reached at 2:10. The garib rath was'nt that Garib. I took an auto to the college and it took an exhuberent 120 rs. (I gave 50rs on return). Finally i reached her hostel and seeing her i screamed her name. She always has a 1000 watt bulb lighted on her face that lights up your heart. I hugged her and it was such a bliss.

                  But OMG what happened to her. The ***y curves she had finally got after 2 years of hardwork (for postgraduation) are all gone in 2 months of pathology. Bechari , i wonder what medicine or gynaecology would have done to her. Lol

  Her hostel

                 We talked as if steam is coming out of a pressure cooker . After about 15 min we actually had to calm each other down as we had limited time. We had to get ready for our first outing which she had decided to be World trade park . ( Just so you can get a feel of her hostel , it was an old 60s style hostel with high roofs and lots of corridors. The best part about it was her room window, it was actually a kuch kuch hota hai window ,only it had no Rahul on the other side but something even better ; the morning breeze and view )
                 I took a few minutes to call my mom. I told her i am in Jaipur. Yes , i did not ask her or even tell her about it. I genuinly thought my parents will have apprehensions about it and i did not want them to be all worried till i reach. I am that lucky girl who has all access to my parent's atm cards so i could take this liberty and my parents are so sweet they said ENJOY.
                 Then just as we leave , kanwal tells me i am actually going to a self invited birthday party in the evening which happens to be her batch mate Priya's. As expected out of me i told her i love free food . Just before we left i wished Priya ; a very sweet girl with lush long hair ; just to have a bite of her birthday cake.

World trade park

                  In about 20 min and 70 rs we reached the mall. A huge place that looked majestic from outside. Kanwal became the guide and walked me through. It has very innovative architecture with intricately carved roof and pillars. There is this whole section of shops depicting statue of liberty, leaning tower of piza, boat , train, etc . It actually makes one appreciate the architect. I concentrated on the architecture so that i could go blind to the shops and it actually helped.

                  After roaming through and getting tired we decided to eat. There is this restraunt that actually offered us chat platter, including papri chaat, dahi bhalla, pau bhaji, dhokhla and sone pe suhaga ; gulaab jamun. We had our taste senses all awakened. To finish it perfectly we ordered garlic bread exotica from pizza hut corner. 

                  There we were after a perfect meal revitalized to roam a bit more . Just then we saw a shop that said , " 50% off flat " . I need not to mention how excited two women can be to see that. It was a shop that sold vases and flowers , soft corner of kanwal. Just by looking at the shop i knew , today kanwal's father is getting looted. 

                 I have to say it was heaven. Everything we saw was what we liked. We roamed around like two little girls left alone in a chocolate shop. It was all 50% off. After so much struggle we got down to a blue coloured vase; it was beautiful; just to know it was in fresh. There was a moment of silence and we began our struggle again. We also wanted flowers so we asked the shopkeeper to make a bunch. Per flower was 300 to 600rs. It was time we came down to some humility. We told him,       " bhaiya sabse saste waale ( show us the cheapest)" and there with a slight side smile he gave us what we wanted. Btw the cheapest were also 160rs per stick and far more gorgeous.

                  After approx 45 mins we had what we wanted. Special thanks to the person showing us through. He was very patient with us specially as we asked him the cost of almost everything he had.

                 And so we came back as we had a birthday party waiting.

Priya's birthday

                 Comming back we got all decked up for the party. Specially me as i was fed of just being in my pajamas. It was time my eyes got the feel of the kajjal back again. Oh! i forgot to mention i bought a card and chocolates for the b'day girl. I do'nt know whether it was to save myself from the shame of pressing myself on her or just the feel of having her remember me in future.

                  Garden cafe was the selected venue. It had a beautiful open air seating. The food was good , though a bit spicy but just because of the chocolate brownie with ice cream in the end i would give it full marks. It actually made me remember chocolate brownie with icecream of kobe sizzlers amritsar.

Birthday girl

                  Taking some time i and Kanwal chit chatted. Somebody suggested to visit Chokhi dhani. It is a place that depicts Rajasthani culture and actually gives you the feel of being in Rajasthan. To this Kanwal lamented , " It is after 7:30 pm."  We both knew the meaning . So i took it as an opportunity for some spicy sarcasam and asked kanwal," Why don't you have a boyfriend with a car?" lol. ( Now this is on all of you to guess whether my friend does not have a bf or has one without a car. I can't figure out which one is more tragic...lol)

                   The day ended with a walk to the hostel. I warned kanwal to get up early morning so that we can see the maximum places possible, and i went to sleep with alarm for 6 am.

Sunday the 7th

                  The alarm went off at 6 am. I enjoyed the slow breeze from her window and went to sleep again. At 6:30 am i finally managed to sit up on the bed just to fall on the other side in exactly 4 seconds. Final finally we got up at 9:30. All ready, we did our breakfast with parantha and chai and left at 10;30am.

                  We wanted to visit 3 forts namely Nalagarh, Jaigarh and Amer. Somebody had told kanwal that Nalagarh and Jaigarh were just 1.5 km away so we thought visiting these two only due to time constraints.

                  We took an auto and asked him to drop us at Nalgarh or Jaigarh whichever is nearer. He took 120 rs and dropped us somewhere.

Nalagarh fort

                    Before i start with i must tell you that it is not necessary you might like it. We had our reasons to like , in fact love whatever we did during the day. So fort haters or impatient people should not read further or visit the forts as there were a lot of WHAT IS HAPPENING moments.

                    The auto driver left us at a place saying it was the way to Nalgarh and we have to walk. Just by looking at the path a screamed effortlessly "Iss pe kaise chadhna". The path was steep as a coconut tree and my body was yelling NO before even trying it.

               

                        And yet we held each others hands and started walking. The area was beyond imagination. Cow dung everywhere with peculiar smell of cow pee. Pigs were roaming all around. Goat shit and even common house waste was littering all the way. First we thought he left us at a wrong place. We enquired from an old lady and she said "Chadhte jao Chadhte jao" (keep going keep going)

                    So the way was right but now i was sure there has to be a second way also, that leads directly to the fort gate, and the driver just to save money left us here.

                   Kanwalpreet kaur was wearing a full sleeved kurta and sports shoes. Poor Manpreet Shinhmar was in a half sleeved kurta under the Jaipur sun and slippers on that backbreaking path. And those were the slippers i had already repaired using feviquick atleast 2 times.( That does not mean i do'nt have shoes.I have atleast 25 pair of shoes but rare that comforts my feet) . So long story short i was actually fearing i will have to walk with those slippers in my hand.
                  To top it up with cherry we were not carrying any sunscreen or bare protection such as dupatta. For all those who wish to visit jaipur , should come with there arsenal loaded. Have a sunscreen above spf 50, wet wipes , duppattas, shades ; if you have any; and ofcourse comfortable clothing. The sun was kind enough that day , still i have burnt patches, so you can imagine what its RUDRA avtaar can do.

                    After one or two turns my patience gave away and i wanted to know if there was a different way.  So we asked some kids who confirmed there  was another way right uptill the gate. I was filled with emotions of anger , self pity , and excitement all at the same time. The kids told us they were going to the fort and will help us up . We were in a dilemma , i did not want to faint on the path but just the thought of going all the way back down for an auto also seemed difficult. The kids were nice and just to motivate us to walk they said auto will charge 400-500. I felt there effort to be really sweet. And also me and kanwal knew that if we want to remember this day ever after then Walking it is even if it leaves us with just visiting one fort.

It was only after i saw the pic that i realized that they were posing  as i did , and yes that priceless sunny expression.

                   We kept walking and just after 1-2 more turns we knew our decesion was not wrong. The view on the way was breathtaking. There lie the entire city down there looking so beautiful just like the poem to his poet. (shaayar ki ghazal). And i am not overrating this part. You take few moments with self just to admire the city and then the magnificence of god and the strength of humanity that created it..

                    Admiring the scenery we kept walking with many halts. One of the kids was named Manish. He had counted the turns on the way to be exact 12. At one of our halts 2 guyz passed by . They did not do anything overt but you know that bad look in the eyes. I just disscussed it a little with kanwal. That was when Manish ; who was sitting far off; told me not to worry and dial 100 in case required, as there was a policestation up there. I was so surprized at the sensibility of that kid who seemed nothing more than 12. Those are the things even your brothers or dad don't notice (specially dad) and there is this kid who noticed even the mildest form and assuring me not to be scared. And this came from a kid who lived in an area about which i was making all bad judgements just a few minutes ago. I was happily surprized.

                     So there we were up on the top. Although we thought it to take 1hr but we did it in 35 mins. ACHIEVEMENT.

                 For all those atheletic people it is not a disclaimer. If we in our 20s with a body of 60 can do it, you definately can, and for those with not so atheletic body , if we can , you definately can. There is this song that says "Manzil se behter hain ye raaste" (the way is more beautiful).

Inside nalgarh

                     Going inside we tried to look for a refreshment corner. We required some energy before we could go any further. So we asked the gate keeper where is the restraunt? And he replied it opens at 2pm and then Mr judgemental asked " kyun tumne bear peeni? (do u want to have bear)" And already tired i  panicked a little and blurted immidiately " Nai paani" ( no water). I still feel amuzed at my own reply. He showed us the way to a caffeteria ( which was different from the restraunt). It was written DURG CAFFE to which we took a second to realize that it was not DRUG CAFFE..

                      Lemon juice was refreshing. Kanwal talked to the person asking if we could stay there, and if rooms were available.. Basically a little sweet talk had us special treatment and we were allowed to sit inside the premises which was beautiful.

                      Now we were up and ready to see the fort. It had beautiful rooms with engravings, beautifully carved pillars, tinted window glasses,but the best part was a narrow corridor with plenty of windows.

actual view was even better

. 

                      And yes there was a Rani's room. How do we know it?..... It had a mirror, what else could it be ;-)..lol 

                       We went right upto the roof. It was somewhat cloudy but beautiful. I ended the fort visit with my favourite pose "The balcony pose".

The camera belongs to kanwalpreet kaur so the poor thing could only do this much. ( still decent enough).

                         

                        Moving out there was a Bawari ( rain water harvesting unit) on the way. it is amazing to see that in middle of rajasthan and in those days ,they knew how to harvest rain water that too on top of a hill and use it efficiently; something that we need to learn today.

Bawari

Way down

                         No auto to be found nearby. We had no choice but to walk all the way down again. This time we decided to walk the other route considering it will be less steep hence EASIER..  I was hungry so had a bhelpuri. The vendor told us ," Have you lost you mind, it is 9 Km down this way and it is forest area". All thanks to my hungry tummy that saved us. I was imagining  myself asking for lift down that road like Pooja Bhatt of Dil hai ki maanta nai. Anyways that eventuality was prevented and we went down the same track that we used to come up.

                        Down the road we met Manish once more. We bought him some kurkure and cold drink. He showed us way to the auto stand. Now we wanted to go to Jaigarh fort. We asked for how much will that cost. The driver said 500 rs. My heart screamed BC, C******  samjha hai kya India se he hain Amreeka se nai . Pardon my language but those were my actual feelings. We asked again just to clarify if our eardrums were'nt reverberating for themselves. And they were'nt.

                       The rent included a round trip plus a wait till we roamed around in jaigarh. Kanwal brought him down to 400 rs. Now i actually realized the kids were not lying when they said the other way will cost 400-500. I remember even after boarding that auto Kanwal looked at me and said ,"Are you sure on visitng jaigarh?" 

                         The way was beautiful and yes quite far off. Even the whether had turned cloudy as if God wanted to have some mercy on us.

Pic on the way having JAL MAHAL in the backdrop

Jaigarh fort

                 
     The fort in itself is not that pretty in terms of architecture but the view all around the fort is worth, for a visit. It has few attractions like the maharaja's seat , and ofcourse seats of several of his ranis. Those seats were used to be kept on elephants. Then there were dining room for both men and women. For me special attraction was the puppet dance. There was dancing girl,Micheal jackson, snake charmer and other puppets.( yes they had a micheal jackson) I loved them all.

Dining area for women

                          We got a guide since the fort is in form of matrix, to protect from enemies. He showed us a tunnel direct to Amer fort. ( I was surprized to know this, since kanwal had informed me that Amer was quite far off from the other two forts so we won't be able to visit it.) And then the guide took us to  a window and asked us to take a look. There lied Amer down that window standing majestically just about a Km away. You can very well imagine what we felt.

Amer down the window

Amer as seen from jaigarh

                        From far of , Amer seemed to be the most beautiful fort out of the three. Unfortunately even after collecting all our energy we could not gather the courage to visit one more fort. We both knew there is a fair enough chance that we will lie on the gates of Amer. Hence there was a LONG DISTANCE photo shoot with Amer and the fort at 1 Km was left for future visit.(  I forgot to mention that even Jaigarh has a Bawari. )

Look at her face and you would know why we dropped Amer

                       We somehow found our way out and i was hungry. Kanwal still asking if i was sure. (This lady can starve you to death. ). In fort restraunt ( obviously expensive) we chose Rice (the cheapest one) and raita. It was teamed up with lemon soda and TEA. The last ingredient finally had us up and about all over again.

                        There was a small section of the we had still not explored. So we moved towards it and just then we had our auto rikshaw driver somehow finding us and yelling ," Aur kitna time madam. Dhai ghante ho gae" (Iit is already 2.5 hrs wait how much more time do u want). And there we were running to see the last segment. It housed Asia's largest canon. Kanwal only allowed me 1-2 pics since she feared the 400 rent might just turn into 500. 10 mins and we were out on our way back.

Tope  pe bhi nakashi. (Even the canon was carved.)

Shopping <3 <3

                       The dropout location was decided to be any market that would be open. Going to Jaipur and coming home all dry is quite close to a nightmare. So he took us to a FACTORY outlet. Even we thought it was a good idea as factory prices should be low with high quality products as compared to retail market. It had a huge variety from clothes to shoes to showpieces to jewellery. Prices not so "Factory " but i wanted something, so bought two earrings worth 600 rs for 500 rs. That was a price not for the earrings but a memory from Jaipur so it did not pinch that much.

                      The auto dropped us  at Ajmeri gate . Some of the shops were open. I bought a skirt. I love long skirts. And a 450 rs piece for 300 is a good buy. I adore it. Then we landed in SHOP NO 45 near Ajmeri gate. I was filled with both EXCITEMENT and REGRETS. The same earrings that i had bought from factory for rs 350 costed 10 0rs. In fact this shop had greater variety. My heart was weeping. But i took control of it, as it was time for real ACTION. So i showed my original form and bought such pretty pieces of jewellery. So for those who want to shop in Jaipur , factories are a big no no. Walk down the street and u'll get what you want.

One is 350 rs and other is 100 rs

Coffee shop

                      From day 1 Kanwal was screaming about this absolutely amazing coffee shop. She had made absolute castles about it and kept it as the last place to visit. We first went to the hostel to take a bath ( absolute necessatity by now). We reached coffee shop by 7:30 pm. It looked like VERKA BOOTH. I thought in my mind 'Is this girl joking'. It is a shop at Sawai Jaisingh Chowk. She got a cold coffe with icecream. We sat in the nearby garden facing Sawai ji's statue. I have to say the coffee was yummmmmmmm , so creamy just melting down your throat. A perfect way to end the day.

Last moments with her

                       We walked back to the hostel. (Yes again walked. And i am so proud of my favourite slippers that survived all that abuse.) I slept early since i had a 7:55 train in the morning. Next day morning  before leaving i asked kanwal for breakfast since i knew food was not included in train ticket. It is quite obvious that if you have some friend visiting, you offer her food.( basic minimum manners). But this was kanwalpreet kaur and as BESHARAM as she is, she retorted " Mess 7:30 khuldi, tainu kch ni milna" ( mess opens at 7:30 , u r not getting anything). The poor me who can't tolerate hunger did not bother as i thought the train will have lot of vendors. ( The previous train had one comming by every 2 min)

Journey backward

                     I bid goodbye to kanwal. My train was JP DEE EXP. Chair car . It was on time. I got window seat. So as the train began its journey i started dreaming and ofcourse waiting for tea. ( I am a big fan cum addict). One station passed., 2nd passed. no sign of a single vendor. I was feeling doomed. That sulky feeling that I might not get a glimpse of food for next 6 hrs was settling in.

                     And just then the guy sitting next to me opened up his paranthas. OMG just by the aroma i could tell it was plain prantha with perfectly made mango pickle. ( Those who know me would know what a big fan i am of home made plain prantha with pickle.) . That aroma was all around me and i looked away , raised the music to its highest volume just to divert my mind but all efforts fell flat. I think i was quite close to what a man would feel if a hot women, probably the love of his life is lying by his side all naked and he can't do anything....... but sniff. (that too from far off.) Ok now do'nt imagine for real. I was hungry and that Chintoo ji Din't even bother to offer. (Yes his name was chintoo..After an hour later his aunt sat by my side telling all stories , how many sons she has , what do they do, who all are accompaning and what are their names... so i know the name )

Back

                     The first thing i did after getting down the train was getting my teeth into Mc Ds chicken wings.   I reached home at around 2:00 pm. The next thing i remember is getting up next morning at 9:00 AM. That was a whooping  19 hrs of sleep and i required it. Just as i got up I saw red patches on my arms due to SUNBURN. I should have felt bad but i started laughing and messaged kanwal and she replied by saying, " That is an Adventure story worth writing." So here i am sharing my travel experience.

                     After all that fun , and not so fun moments turned into fun i realized it does not actually require the right place to make travel stories , but the right people. She is one women who never judges me on my failures or short commings, lets me be myself and the women around whom i never have to BEHAVE , which is the most important ingredient of an adventure story and so we HAD one. :-)