She thought it was like any other day that the journey started.The inception was as clear as crystal;her urge to spend time with him was no less than that of the cloud desires to kiss the earth as droplets of rain.But gradually the ironed piece of cloth got shrinks to its shine and glamour.She started to gaze through the opaque mirror,both shattered and shivered;she understood this time the view was blank not due to the unspoken happiness but because of the silence that spaced them.The space has creeped in, like the stream flowing in between two banks.The warmth that they once shared,has turned into the chilled iceberg.Hours passed, but still she wasn't placed back to the center of the roof,from where she used to circulate the pleasant and ecstatic swirls of ambiance and he was never tired of floating his thoughts and imaginations in it.She was cornered at an extreme axis of the graph,with no hope to be seen again. The sign of detachment was obvious. The saga walked back from clinging arms to clasped palms to fingertips and finally the souls jumped apart.The bridge of love broke with no assurance of getting restored.She looked out of the window pane and could relate the houses,streets which were getting left behind to the good times that they had shared.The moon looked down and awed at the seperation. The happenings which were never meant to happen.

Splashed

The kiss of the pour, the pitter-patter  on the roof top,the splendid splash from the waterlogged roads, petrichor draping the eternity, blurred view of the entire city, yet so clear like never before.

The only one thing that I have left behind in the framed fond memories of girlhood -The paper boat saga.The boat which took a little effort squeezed out from me and gave me back a million of reasons to smile,unlike the boat of the hour which doesn't seem so kind enough to offer me the same. The yesterhood's boat could sail itself through thick and thin and tried its best to be under my nose.The boat of now has its own condition and has a less of thins to cross.Too burdened with the expectations and calculations and has too far a sea to engross.

Let the soul take a nap along with the stars and moon above.Let the rain splash its ecstasy on your canvas and let the colours roll down the rectangle and settle at an edge.The palette had more colours to share,yet it chose to decor the canvas by bestowing its vibgyor and the one in between the black and white.
The boat will float, through the thick and thin both and will reach the coast with its burgee toast.

The melody and charm of the rain will prevail, devoid of the fact of the yesters and todays; for now is a whisper of the then in its ears which has indeed overpowered all the odds and fears

The warmth of the solitary land

This time it was meant for family and friends. We had arranged for a trip to the state of ethnicity and beautiful architecture- Rajasthan. The trip was for 5 days and the places included Jaisalmer and Jodhpur.

We started from Delhi during dawn at 4am on the 25^th of Jan. We were 7, which included 2 senior citizens, my cousin sister at her 50s and we four –the gang at their 20s. One can easily hire cabs from Delhi for Rajasthan tour. The best deal which we had got was 11Rs/Km and it included the diesel charges. Though we had to pay the tolls and state tax and also 250Rs/night for the driver.

The distance between CR PARK (from where we started) and Jaisalmer is 821kms and it takes around 12hours to reach the destination. However, as we had senior citizens with us, we took ample halts and also visited the temple of Khatusham which was on our way to Jaisalmer.

We reached our destination on the 25^th evening at around 9pm. We had our booking at Rawla Resort, Jaisalmer which offers tents  and huts to stay. We had booked three deluxe  tents for seven people and the tents were really spacious with one bedroom, one washroom and a changing room. The staffs of the resort were very humble and have set goals in the field of hospitality. Our tent was actually amidst the sand-dunes. They had a different dining place, where all the guests come together to have their meals. After a good sleep, we woke up at around 6:30am next morning (i.e 26^th ) in order to witness the magnificent sunrise which takes place right behind our tents. We climbed the sand dunes to soothe our eyes with the view of the inception of another day.

We had our breakfast included in our booking and so we could well satiate our hunger with the food offered by the resort. After our breakfast we started for the “Jaislamer Darshaan”. On our way to Jaisalmer fort, we saw a place where there was some paragliding and sand biking activity going on. The adrenaline rush triggered us to go and participate in the same. The paragliding costed us 500Rs/person and the sand-biking costed us 600Rs/ride. We really had a wonderful experience when the birds in us got the open sky above and the desert  all around to show its flying skills.

There is a parking area infront of Jaisalmer fort beyond which the cars aren’t allowed. However one can find the local autos which charge 20Rs/person to take us till the fort. There in the fort.they charge 100Rs/person as entry fee and a separate charge of Rs.100/camera that you carry along with you. No wonder why Satyajit Ray had named the Jaisalmer Fort  as Sonar Kella, post which the actual name of the fort had turned to “Sonar Kella” which means the Golden Fort. The architecture and marble work on the floors of this fort can really make you fall in love with the place.

Right next  to the fort one can see a Jain Temple. The narrow roads which lead to the temple are garnished with beautiful shops of scarves, puppets, bags and jewellery and one can smell the camel leather at every nook and corner of the roads.

After the fort, we headed towards the Patwaon ki Haveli. Again one can find auto rickshaws which will take you till the Haveli. Right infront of the Haveli, we could actually make ourselves dwell in the Rajasthani folk culture when we heard a man in his middle age singing- “kesariya balaam” along with  a small kid of around 6years who was equally good as the man.

After the wonderful journey through the fort, temple and haveli we decided to stop for our lunch. The same auto rickshaw took us to a restaurant –Riddhi Sidhhi near Hanuman Chowk. Here one can find delicious thalis. We had ordered for Gujrati and Rajasthani thalis. The Gujrati thali had a dish called sev tamatar which is made of tomatoes and sev(bhujia/mixture) and is too tasty to resist. On the other hand the Rajasthani thali had churma which is again one of my favourite. Also their lassi was tasty. The owner of the restaurant asked us to taste a local dish which was haldi ki sabzi and is prepared with haldi, curd, ghee and garlic and was undoubtedly the best. After the relishing lunch, we headed towards our resort as we had booked a jeep safari to view the sunset. The resort people charged us Rs.2200 for the jeep safari. We boarded the same and the driver took us some 10kms away from our resort to see the sunset. The exhilaration reached its peak when he started the sand bashing which was actually adding screams of fear to our enjoyment. The free falling of the jeep from almost a height of a two storied building sand-dune,made us engulf in the sand and frame a life-time memory. After all these activities we sat quietly to see the sun set and also we celebrated a friend’s birthday along with the sunset by cutting cake and dancing to the tune of the local folk singers and dancers.

On our way back to our tents we could actually feel the cold wind passing by our ears and I could very well recognize the teachings of my Geography teacher about deserts. We attended the cultural evening with camp fire which was organized by the resort with complimentary snacks. After a couple of hours of the pleasurable evening we occupied the dining hall and started with our dinner. Many a families were there which included both local and outstation people. With a local guy who on being asked to sing for us, flourished our souls with his melodious voice of “Aj jaane ki zidd na kaaro”, followed by my mom who is again a profound singer, we all participated in antakshari and this continued for another two and a half hours.  The night said a good bye after we stared right up at the sky full of stars and could actually make out the constellations of the old school book.

The next morning the resort  offered us a complimentary camel ride and this was again a wonderful experience,

After the ecstatic stay in the land of indigenous people and traditional sociability, we headed towards our next destination which was Jodhpur. We had stopped at Haveli Resort and Spa to snack over and we reached Jodhpur at around 5pm.We had our booking in a home stay right infront of the Mehrangarh Fort known as K.K Family Homestay or Kuku Homestay and there is nothing on the earth as worse as this place as the owner was too indecent and ill-mannered to deal with. We decided to book a hotel through Make My Trip and move out. We reached our the next hotel which was Kamdhenu hotel.The rooms were nice and specially the staffs were helpful. We tried to entertain our night by playing cards. The next morning we started for Mehrangarh Fort after a tummy full of breakfast and yet again our eyes could visualize the historic fort and its beautiful architecture.

The best part was at every turn of the fort, we could hear soulful Rajasthani folk singers playing their instruments.
The fort is too big and the paths which lead to the interior of the fort are very steep. After the Shangri-La we had our lunch at Janta Sweet House which is famous for its kachoris and scrumptious dishes. We had ordered for two different varieties of pizza which was actually a competition to Pizza Huts and Dominos.

After a peep into the Ghanta Ghar

and Umeid Bhavan

we decided to add some Bollywood to our trip and went to see a new release of Hrithik Roshan at a nearby Inox.
Finally after a marvelous Rajasthan Diary, 29th marked our day of returning to Delhi with all the beautiful memories of Rajasthan. On our way back to Delhi,we could see plenty of deer and peacocks.

And thus ended our tour of the soulful land.

The mirthful poses for the shutter bug.

The blue city..

"Maati bandhe paijani,bangdi pehne baadli"- truly said.