At the end of the trip, I said to myself (and my twitter account), “If you ever feel like a not so proud Indian, visit Jaipur”. But that’s the end, let me begin right from the start.
In October 2015, my sister, my dad, and I, lazing around on the sofa of our living room, decided to put the Dussehra vacation to good use. After much contemplation, tantrums about the weather, almost giving up, and a box of chocolates, we settled that Jaipur it would be.
Yes, we travelled to Rajasthan and ONLY went to Jaipur, for SIX whole days. Many think that if you’re making the long journey from Bangalore to Rajasthan, why not explore the state completely, why sit in one city for a week?
The three of us happen to be those kids who didn’t fall asleep in the History classes. We wanted to learn all that there was to the Pink City of Jaipur, and that wouldn’t have been possible in a span of six days if we were hopscotching to different cities.
We were pretty glad with our decision, because at the end we figured that we need another trip to completely explore just Jaipur.
Rajasthan, ‘Raja ka Sthaan‘, translates to ‘The Land of the King’. Rajasthan was and still is the seat of enormous historical regality. To describe in words, what we experienced in Jaipur is a tough ask. However, over the next few blogposts, I shall try to share (along with pictures), all that we did there. It mostly involved being mesmerized by the craftsmanship of the 18th century architects, admiration for Indian heritage, hunt for authentic Rajasthani food, and fail attempts at bargaining, among other things.
One of the most cherished memories I hold of Jaipur will always be the sheer hospitality and warmth of each and every person we met, which I will share along the way. The kind of amiability and welcome I experienced at Jaipur, I have never seen before. I was a bit astonished, to say the least, by the friendliness and reception of the people. This short stay at Jaipur made me introspect about the kind of people we are becoming, holding a general haughty attitude while debating the tenets of humanity.
Written by Radhika Sethi
1 Comment
Good writing 👍🏻