Jaipur - The Conclusion

On the flight back home, none of us felt the sadness that we usually feel when our holiday ends - neither me nor Tanvi nor Sathya. We all felt this just once before after the Chennai trip. We had been through this rare feeling of not missing the place or the holiday when we had returned from Chennai.  And now it happened after the Jaipur trip. 

Did it have to do with the hot weather of Jaipur? Well, Hyderabad was hot, hot, hot too. But when our Hyderabad vacation ended, we were in tears. We literally dragged our bodies back home. We loved Hyderabad.

So what was it with Jaipur and Chennai? Why didn’t we cry hoarse that now we had to return to normal life, the daily grind and routine? That our short, 5-day vacation, sudden and unplanned had ended? 

Food? It could be the reason. I actually got fed up with roti, hundreds of varieties of it - hard, not easily digestible. And the aloo in everything! A simple South Indian meal was such a rarity and such a luxury here. Rs 140 per plate - just papad, rasam, rice, palya.

The weather was definitely another. 

Most importantly though was the noise in Jaipur. The men seem to place their hands on the horn as soon as they exit the gates of their houses in the morning and do not, mind you, do not remove it until they reach the gates of their houses in the evening. Those darned fingers are pressed tight to their horns. The honking does not stop. No sir! This crazy city is far from romantic. Itna zyada honking - unbelievable sound levels. 

And all this while, we used to be annoyed by the honking in Bangalore. Compared to Jaipur and Agra, Bangalore is still taking baby steps in the race for "The City with the Maximum Noise".

I remember reading the travel account of a foreigner on Quora. He had said India is high on decibel levels so much so that when he returned to his country, he wondered if the city had any living people on it anymore! It seemed so eerily quiet! The loudspeakers blaring devotional songs, the processions, and the honking - he immediately felt the vacuum.

Nevertheless, here are a few things that will stay with me when I think of the city of Jaipur. 

The row of shops with their names written on the walls. I had never seen this method of naming in any other city yet. And I  found it quite unique.

The flavors of Rajasthan at just rupees fifty for 300 grams!

The street outside Sisodia Rani Bagh - the Jaipur Bikaner Road

The Monster Paapad. Can't remember if it was priced at Rs 5 or Rs 10 only that it was really cheap.

The block printing work on the fabric in progress right outside the Gram Udyog premises

We bought two skirts here - one for me and one for Tanvi. The treatment the customer gets here is something you have to see for yourself. It's really hard to say 'no' to the persistent staff. When you use the last resort and say, "Not enough money", they immediately say, "No problem. Pay whatever little you can now, write your address and we will mail the product to you. You can pay later." We used that option just to see how the whole thing works and true to word, the delivery arrived right on time.

Below is the place where numerous movies have been shot showing the hero and heroine runring across the street, with the pigeons leaping into the sky. I wanted a shot of the pigeons in flight but they were all too busy eating. This is right in front of the Albert Hall Museum. 

You must visit Albert Hall if you are interested in history. It is the oldest museum of the state (was opened in 1887) and houses a wonderful collection of paintings, artifacts, monuments, ivory carvings, crystal works, metal sculptures and all things used and sourced by the kings back in the days. 

We didn't use any tour package to explore Jaipur. Like all our family trips, it was a self-exploration. We had made a list of places not to be missed and added a few after we went there. Sisodia Rani Bagh was one such last minute addition. We are glad we saw this beautiful residence of the Queen.

It is very well maintained and has few visitors. So it's a welcome patch of green, of peace and quiet in  an otherwise noisy city. 

Birla Mandir is another tranquil spot. The pure white, marble structure is beautiful in its simplicity. The Birla Mandir is present in many other cities as well like Delhi, Bhopal and Hyderabad, all of them built by the Birla business family. So if you have been to any of the other places, and don't have enough time, you can skip this one. 

The iconic Hawa Mahal. The stretch of road on which it stands is a very busy, crowded one today. Built in 1799 in red stone, it was meant for the queens and other ladies to watch the street processions and to escape the prying eyes of the public. It is supposed to have 950 windows!

I loved the forts, the palaces, the gardens, and the roads. The infrastructure is really good. So strange that a city with such good infrastructure has very few companies and people have to migrate to other cities/states in search of employment.

Sikkim - Part One

I had been on a six nights seven days trip to Sikkim and Darjeeling in November 2016. From 11th to 17th Nov. There were a lot of firsts for me on this trip. It was the first time in eleven years of marriage that I had missed Sathya’s birthday which fell on the 16th. Just missed! It was also the first time in eleven years of marriage that I went on a week-long vacation without him & Tan. 

It was also the first time that I drank; a glass of brandy. That single glass, oh it was just Rs 60 /- by the way, got me so high I actually felt dizzy and realized what being drunk or “tight” meant. I still don’t know how it hit me so hard. It was just one small glass, after all. Maybe it was the fact that I gulped it down in one shot in order to beat the cold of the mountains. Or blame it on lack of experience! 

The women selling everything from beer to hot maggi to rented gloves and boots. 

It was also the first time I went on a girls-only trip. All my trips have always been with Sathya &Tan. I have gone on a few solo trips but they were mostly on work. I am an expert at combining work with pleasure. But I had never been on a trip with two other girls.

The one in the middle is my friend from school. She was the one who had organized the whole trip. She had coordinated with the lousy MakeMyTrip guys throughout the trip. Big thanks to her. The one on her right, in the picture, is her ex-colleague. It was the first time I spent a week travelling with a person I never met before. She was the one I met only and directly on the trip. As good as travelling with a stranger. 

It was the first time I stayed overnight in 2-4 degree Celsius cold. This was at Lachung. Freakishly cold! It was the first time I bought and wore thermals. I never even knew what thermals were or where to buy them. I had shopped at Jockey for the thermals. I don't remember shopping at Jockey even once before.

It was the first time I went on a package tour. All trips we have been on have been self-planned and self-executed.

It was the first time I did paragliding. It is a must do when in Sikkim. We chose the 8 minute, 1200 meters high, flying option which cost us for Rs 2500 and an additional Rs 500 for the video. It was an experience of a lifetime. It was not part of the tour itinerary of MakeMyTrip (MMT) and we had to really do a lot of "circus" to make it happen. First, the demonetization bomb had dropped just one day before we set off on this trip owing to which we didn’t have the cash in hand to pay for it. None of the paragliding operators accepted cards. All the ATMs had dried out of cash. 

We finally found one operator Arun, thank you Google, who agreed to accept card. He even solved our cash problems by agreeing to swipe the card for an additional amount, deduct the paragliding charges and pay the extra to us so we could pay the cab driver. The cab driver had agreed to take the detour to the paragliding location and charged us for it. 

We also had to request our co-travellers, an elderly couple from Delhi who had been clubbed with us for all local sight-seeing as this was a group package from MMT. The kind couple waited for 2-3 hours for us. Was it worth all the trouble? ABSOLUTELY. That ten minute flying-in-the-air-like-a-bird feel is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Scuba diving comes a close second.

So how was Sikkim and Darjeeling? What did we see and do? How was our package tour experience with MMT? More on all that later. 

Matheran

Mathera had been on my mind ever since I first made a list of places I wanted to see in India before I die. Finally after eons when i did get to see Matheran, it blew my mind.  This is why:

The clouds clearing away, slowly, gently, to give our hungry eyes a glimpse of the majestic mountains

The clouds kissing the mountains in a lingering moment of passion, sending sweet chills down our spine.

This was mid afternoon & yet the pace was so misty & cool.

Who wouldn't fall in love with this?

The lovely stream on the way up to the hill station

The forests are pristine. 

The valley below

Being spellbound

Matheran is the smallest hill station in India & the first in ASIA that is vehicle free. Eco-sensitive zone. No vehicles are allowed into the hill station not even the privately owned bikes & cars of people who live there. It has to be parked at the start of the hillock,in a designated space. You explore the hills

on a horse

Or this hand-drawn cycle-rickshaw.

or by walk.

The horse, in the pic, is named Lakhan, bought by the owner at Rs 70,000. The ride costs Rs 1100 per person to view 5 popular scenic spots. A car drive would have cost us less than Rs 500 in petrol or a bike ride just Rs 100. Takeaway: animals are definitely expensive! But the experience of going on that ride will be etched in our memories for ever, especially for my daughter Tanvi who loved it. She wanted the staff to let go of the lagaam (handle) so that she could ride the horse all on her own! She sat on it like a pro, no fear of falling. She was constantly rubbing the horse’s neck & saying he is responding.

We took the horse ride to go into the hill station. And later walked around & explored the town. We walked back to the parking spot in half an hour. As you can see in the pic above, we walked along the railway track, in a drizzle, suitably dressed in local rain gear which is plastic sheet snugly hugging your body & a plastic hat. The price of these rain protectors Rs 50 only!

The pathway through the lush green forest

One of the waterfalls

There are many beautiful cottages owned by Parsis who visit Matheran to beat the heat, grime & noise of Mumbai. Here is a cottage of the State Tourism Board

The hill doesn't grow or produce anything. Everything you find on the hill is either brought from neighboring big cities like Pune or Mumbai or Lonavla or from the town called Nerul. Horses, smaller ones, by breed closer to donkeys, are used to ferry cement, sand & other building materials and also grocery & household stuff. They are quite simply called the maal-gaadi (maal meaning material & gaadi meaning vehicle). 

The Nerul village

The countryside

Now,let's look at the logistics. Matheran doesn't have an airport. One has to fly down to Mumbai and take a 2 hour/90 KM car drive to Matheran. If you add up the cost of two way flights from Bangalore to Mumbai, two way taxi fare from Mumbai to Matheran, horse ride & sight seeing charges, lunch & snacks expenses, it would cost you Rs 10,000 approx for a one day tour to this beautiful hill station. 

The drive from Nerul to Matheran

We didn't stay overnight here. We chose to spend the night at Lonavla which is another beautiful place with more modern amenities and stay options. but about Lonavla in another post.