City Of Dreams..

Whether it was the impact of Jodhaa Akbar or maybe I really did have a fascination for palaces, kings and queens... I don’t remember anymore. But I do know that I’m in love with them now. Jaipur has exceeded my fantasies. It’s funny how I never thought about visiting Rajasthan before. NIFT has certainly changed the way I look at the world now. The passion to explore has grown into us. The visual arts have become more fascinating than ever. It’s weird how much a mere painting holds. In fact it’s funny how much the small smile of Mona Lisa says. The world is full of textures and colour...every song has the ability to be converted into a profound artwork. The power we hold! The power to express...to think...to see...humans are truly blessed.

18th December, 2008, I scoot down beside my friend from Jaipur in the bus...rather unsure of whether it was a good idea to come along. I’m half tempted to step off and get on the first bus to Chandigarh that I see. Maybe they are just goose-bumps...my first travelling experience without family. The engine roars and we’re off. I hold tight on my guts and take a deep breath. Bon Voyage.


5 hours later we’re sore from the continuous sitting. We’re on the outskirts of Jaipur and I get my first glimpse of the Pink City. It’s love at first sight. We cross loads of palaces which have been converted to hotels. My friend, who incidentally got through the first phase of NID with me, had researched a lot about her city before the interview. So she was my personal guide to her hometown. It’s amazing how much she knew! I got queasy again...only this time it was inferiority complex. :-) The first night went fairly well. New faces...awkward ‘namastez’...great malwari food...and then sleep. I sleep like everything around doesn’t exist. It’s just me and my black void. Sleep at home is indeed the sweetest of all. Though I do end up having a weird dream of meeting my EOD (Elements of Design) teacher’s kids...but that’s about it.


NAARGARH
Remember Rang De Basanti? The ever famous jumping into the water? Naargarh is the same place the shooting took place. The view from there is breathtaking. Jaipur is actually enclosed within the Arawali hills. One can just keep sitting there...and stare. Stare like a lecher if you have to. But in front of such beauty...manners don’t really come into the picture. It is one of the major hangout zones of the Jaipur youth. I envy them. Most intensely.



RAMGARH
Can you imagine this whole space filled up with water? If you can, good for you...if not, you better. Ramgarh was originally a dam that supplied water to a lot of parts in Jaipur. Now its all dried up and kilometres of land stretches out as far as the eye can see. You sit on the steps stacked up neatly on the banks of the original water body and I tell you it is breathtaking...The land just keeps on and on stretching and on account of the distant fogginess...i couldn’t even make out the horizon properly. So seemingly, it was never ending. That was exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to be alone, just me and the vast expanse ahead of me. And i didn’t want it to end. Have always wanted to be in a place like that somehow... Nobody else just me and myself.But practically it couldn’t be...we had to get going....there was a lot of Jaipur waiting to be seen.


GAITOR KI CHATTRIYAN
Gaitor...this was my favourite destination after Naargarh; A small area which were probably constructed by kings as resting grounds for their queens. A very serene, quiet location....an excellent place for photography. I was so badly regretting not having a decent camera with me. Yet the feeling that you get just sitting there staring out at the Arawalis is one of its kind. Thankfully, cameras can’t completely grasp emotions. Otherwise people would stop going places. No one would want to move their asses for a first-hand experience. Sometimes imperfection itself is a blessing.

Thats why I sometimes don’t like the idea of making movies out of books. It just somehow steals the essence of the book itself. The first hand experience is lost since we’re too lazy to go through the entire thing. Short-cuts everywhere. Though I can’t entirely blame movies adapted from novels...as a self proclaimed harry potter fan in my early teens, I never would’ve known the books existed, had it not been for the first movie.

Anyway steering back to the main point... This is the view of Garh Ganesh, on whose foot lies Gaitor. One has to climb hundreds...maybe a thousand stairs to climb all the way up to the highest point of the mountain where the temple is situated.





Besides these major spots....I went around the city and saw the birla temple, the Art Centre, the fave hangout zone, Saras parlour. Dined at one of jaipur’s famous dhabas...Sharma dhaba. Visited the exquisite jal mahal and hawa mahal. But thanks to all my Jaipur buddies...Neha, Dhwaj, Abhinav, Sagar, Tanay, Pragya and Rajul for making it an excellent trip! The jalmahal icecream was a really amazing experience! I’m never gonna forget my icebreaker hot-seat and the dhwaj’s excellent driving skills. Neha you have inspired me to learn driving this very winter by hook or by crook! And ofcourse I’ve just realised there is still so much of Chandigarh that i myself haven’t seen. Funny, how we want to roam the world instead! I still have more than half of delhi to discover by the way... hehe. But I’m definitely going back to Jaipur. I haven’t had enough of it yet. In neha’s words: my journey stands “to be continued...”