Nuances of a trip - IV (Final day - Jodhpur)

After a tiring journey by bus, nothing could've been more frustrating than to search for a hotel to put our baggage as well as our bodies to some rest. And the end result was nowhere close to what we were able to achieve in Jaisalmer without much effort. And that too when we had a guide (in form of my sis, who had studied here for 3 yrs) with us. Anyways, everyone was too tired to crib, and the best thing in the world was that 'Good for nothing' hotel bed which was inviting everyone of us, an invitation which everyone accepted gleefully.

After the most minimal of sleep, we were again good to go. And after having a bit of breakfast, we hired Auto-rickshaws(the luxury of cab was not there this time round :( - as the hotel we got this time round was again like its beds - 'good for nothing'). The first place we went to was a palace-cum-temple where, unlike other normal temples, the deities were their long gone kings. We did only a bit of photoshoot there, and then we were on our way to the Jodhpur Fort(the earlier fort which I visited in Jaisalmer wasn't as good as I had expected it to be, but had heard from our guide that this one's much better).

Rishi bought tickets this time. There was an option of going up via an elevator, but everyone gave it a thumbs down, as we didn't want to miss the fun of whatever was there to be encountered on our way to the top. So rightfully we moved forward, well aware that a steep incline was awaiting us with bated breath, and we were equal to the task. On the way up, we found a cannon, blocked from both ends(who knows, anyone might've fired a round had it been unsealed :)), and being the photoholic(any guesses who am I talking about??) miss photogenic is, a pose with the cannon was very much on the cards, only that the adventure got a little too far for the comfort of a guard : Isha gave this pose by sitting on the barrel, and the guard started shouting, but not before that moment was captured in Rishi's cam - Kodak Moment of the day. And after that mild scolding, we were back on our way.

The fort had a museum, which mainly housed the royal belongings. A robe of king was there on display, which was so big that only a giant like Hulk(or Chacha Choudhary's friend Sabu) could've worn it. And then the height of doors was so less, that only half the king would've been able to enter through that. And the reason for the lesser height of doors in words of a guard - "The doors were made of lesser height so that even an enemy would enter only after lowering his head". Nice theory - but what about the poor Giant King?

But the robe was only a beginning. Lots more was there to be unfolded. There were weapons all round - of all kinds. There were some traditional ones like spears, swords, knives etc, and then there were guns and rifles also, which gave a feeling of completeness to the collection. And it was not only about brute force kings, but the tender queens were also very much part, as there were those beautiful dressed statues, grand palanquins and luxurious palaces of her majesties. And best amongst all was Diwan-e-khaas. The ambience of the whole place was just awesome, and you need to be there to feel what I am unable to put in words. All these were witnesses to an unbelievable era gone by.

And from the palace and museum, we had just one more place to visit. A place where just a week back a tragedy had struck - a stampede, which took with it lots of precious human lives. A stampede, which is not very common, but given the nature of the place and the time of the year, could've been avoided had there been enough security. The place I am talking about is Goddess Chamunda temple, and during Navratri, the no. of visitors increases 100 times than what this temple sees on ordinary days. And when we went there, to our surprise, it wore an unusually deserted look, and the no. of policemen outscored the no. of devotees. Seems like tremors of a tragedy can overcome the religious sentiments of Indians, which is an extremely rare thing to happen considering the ever so religious nature of us. But still we were glad to see that we were not the only ones to have reached there. There were only a handful around, but they were enough to give the feeling that we were in a temple.

After that temple visit, we went back to hotel, had lunch, and then girls were out - this time on the original mission for which they had put in so much effort. The dreaded 'S' word(atleast for me:(, specially with di - don't mind di, I would still accompany you to market places). But that splurge provided some relief to guys, as we invested that time to get some rest, which refreshed us and by the evening, we were again raring to go, but this time back to Delhi.

Like all good things come to an end, our trip was also over. It was like waking up once more to find out that what we just saw was a beautiful dream, which came to an end with the break of dawn. But unlike other dreams, this one bore a fruit for everyone. I learned some new words - 'Moar-chang', 'basukha', 'kartaal', 'bhapang' are some of the musical instruments. A pair of slippers is called 'mojri'(rhyming with hosiery). But the best of the lot were the terms used by Isha for fasting and feasting people - 'Vrati' and 'Non-Vrati'. I also got good friends on this trip. Friends who are alway willing to accompany on trips like these, and who are fun being with. I am very much willing to go on more such trips if everyone else is ready. What say guys???

P.S. : Though we had decided many things on the trip, there were few which got missed. Some of them are:

a) Shooting everyone's experiences of the trip in the form of videos.
b) Clicking a pic at the time everyone de-boarded the train(to get the measure of increase in luggage due to shopping)
b) isn't feasible now, but just hoping that a) might happen some day in near future. With that hope, its adios time. Hope you enjoyed this journey through my writing as much as I did while experiencing it, and then by sharing that experience here. Sayonara, Dasvidaniya, Bye.