The Golden Triangle … A Mighty liaison

I was up before my alarm boomed, maybe because I was excited about the next few days. Yes, my perpetual dream was coming true. The delusion itself was making me restless. We quickly got ready, my daughter; a sweetheart with zero tantrums was up and ready instantly.

I had planned my baggage in advance and sooner I had the cab driver calling me. We boarded the cab and made sure we reached the airport much earlier than the schedule. She was running all around and one could spot me running behind her and trying to smile at the passerby’s. Though some with kids could understand, while others were staring at me. That dint get me bothered at all.

As soon as we boarded the flight to New Delhi, I was apprehensive about Siri’s mood. I tried to appease her with all that she wanted. I engaged her in stories, music and what not?? She seemed to not like anything. A lady sitting next to us involved herself in trying to please her, that dint work either. I was pretty embarrassed with people looking at me. I am sure they would have cursed us for not letting them take a nap. I must admit, next two and half hours wasn’t pleasant and the lavatory was busy with us (You know what I mean). I was wanting her to sleep like never before and however there weren’t any signs at all.

As soon as the flight attendant announced, we were to land, that moment I was glad and you couldn’t imagine how glad I was. We got down with the cries n crams and recognized my phone ringing and yes it was my hubby trying to locate us. All at once, this gal was so happy to see her dad and rendered as a good gal. “That’s how a mom’s life isn’t it?? I wondered”

We quickly got into the car and got started to the land of Palaces, Jaipur. He asked me how was my flight and I smiled. My evident smile made him understand it all. He immediately told “I am sure she would have troubled you”. This little girl was busy telling her dad what he had missed in the last few days while he was away. I was busy watching the big buildings and the wide roads. The journey to Jaipur was about 250 kilometers and easily took us 4 hours with few pit stops.

As we reached the Jaipur city, I could sense the royalty in the land. Every road was wide and neat. There were sign boards to all the tourist places, the intersections were huge with well controlled traffic systems. I could spot women with colorful sarees, bindi, ghungat and yet driving. Some roads I could remember, Tonk Road- Where most of the hotels were located, Mirza Ismail Road- named after Sir Mirza Ismail, the prime minister of Jaipur princely state and is one of the main streets in the towns of Rajasthan. Sawai Jaisingh circle popularly called the statue circle has a statue of Swal Jaisingh- The ruler of Amber kingdom. The compounds, shops, the government offices were all painted in Pink making the pink city look so brilliant. Every other building had an historic architecture making it a vintage city.

For the next two days, we visited;

Chouki dhani, a village resort in the outskirts of Jaipur. There had a remote Rajasthani village setup with camel rides, bullock cart, horse ride, their traditional folk dance Ghoomer; performed by women in swirling robes accompanied by men and women singing together. Few outdoor games like the slide, see-saw, ferris wheel. My daughter couldn’t get out of this place. We went there that evening and the lanterns lit allover was definitely a treat to the eyes. We had our candle light authentic Rajasthani dinner and I must say it was delicious and scrumptious. As we got out of the restuarant, and was surprised to see the rain, It looked like the rain Gods were blessing us.After the downpour, the fresh aroma and the earthy fragrance was so pleasing and was an unexpected bliss.

The next day, we visited Amber palace and fort. It stood spectacular with the forts on either side, an overlooking puddle gave a majestic look. At the entrance there were a lot of pigeons and was a perfect place for few clicks. The father-daughter duo thoroughly enjoyed the sight and I was on my photography duty. It was considerably hot though we dint sweat a lot. There were elephant rides to the fort, though we chose to climb up the fort. The staircase gave us some spectacular views. We spent the next few hours enjoying the palace and the coffee amidst the palace and the fort was relishing. This place attracted lot of foreigners and my gal managed to befriend some. The display of the royal kadai’s was an attraction among the tourists and one could imagine their scale of cooking.they and they were so huge to even imagine their scale of cooking.

On the way, we visited JalMahal- A palace located in the middle of the Man Singh lake. We weren’t allowed to get to the palace with the renovation in place. The view of Jalmahal from the lake bank was spectacular. We also visited Naharghar fort, Hawa mahal and City palace the same day. The royalty in each palace was overwhelming. We ended the day with some local shopping

Jaipur, City Palace, Mubarak Mahal

The next day, we started towards Agra. The transition from Rajasthan to Uttar Pradesh was so evident including the roads, people, soil, food and the crossover of cultures. It was quite a sunny day, we reached Fatehpur Sikri on our way and this was another beauty of the Mughal kingdom and was now maintained by ASI- Archaeological society of India. The private vehicles were stopped way ahead of the fort and had electric buses to commute to and fro. The once capital city of the Mughal empire still had its instincts intact. It is said that, Akbar took a great interest in building this place and dictated its architectural style based on Persian principles. The Jodha mahal, Tomb of Salim Chisti, Jama Masjid, Birbal’s house were some of the in house attractions. The architectural designs were exceptional and looked magnificent. The glimpses of Jodha Akbar movie was flashing all over us.

The subsequent was yet to come and I couldn’t wait to see the ‘Beautiful”. We were heading towards Agra, 23 kilometers from Fathepur Sikri. As we passed the local streets of Agra, I found them crowded and every other shop was making the famous sweet ’Peta’. There were bike rickshaws, tongas, autos and a lot of two wheelers speeding the narrow streets. We reached the Taj parking and were escorted in an electric bike rickshaw, the rickshaw wala told us about the famous Banana saree made from the peels of the banana and how every tourist would buy one. Enroute, he took us to the Government handicrafts which was worth a visit. We reached the west entrance of the Taj and we were flooded with lot of tourist guides and photographers. We headed to the security check and few minutes later, we were approaching the Taj. I ran short of words to explain, how wonderful I felt seeing the magnanimous appear closely as we entered the gate. It seemed like how an image appears when we zoom in slow motion. That was the ‘Wow’ moment. I had waited to see this magnificence for years and it was worth every minute. There were hundreds of tourists and every other person was capturing the goodness. We strolled around clicking pictures, singing and running around the naughty gal. The cool breeze inside the Taj was so refreshing, the Yamuna river at the North was still and peaceful. While, I was asking the fellow tourists to click our picture, my daughter said, give me the camera and clicked a picture of us. This was her first click on DSLR and its definitely our million dollar picture and couldn’t I have asked for more. The musings and reminiscences of Tajmahal will always remain close to my heart.

Our last drive to complete the triangle continued to Delhi and we were on India’s most prestigious roads, the Yamuna expressway. I must admit, they were breathtaking. You could see one stretch road for more than 5 kilometers long. There were a lot of restaurants on the way, we pit stopped and the food was decent and worthy. As we approached Delhi, the traffic was obvious and took good 50 minutes to reach our hotel despite of it being a Sunday.

For the next two days, we covered Lotus temple, Qutub Minar, Akshardham temple, Raj path, India Gate in the crowded metros and the local auto rickshaws. At Akshardham temple, I was flattered by the spiritual tour, they demonstrated in a boat ride. One must definitely experience this. Every detail of India and its significance is well depicted. The illustrations of our inventions, kingdoms, creations, people were fantastic. We were filled with Pride and recommend this to every Indian.

The weather Gods were kind to us and was eventually not that hot. Delhi, the country’s capital has lot offices and company’s headquarters and people were fast-moving. The fashion on their dress and trendy accessories were apparent. We did some local sightseeing too’ Agrasen ki baoli’, Shopping at chandini chowk, karol Bagh and connaught place. We visited a Shivas temple on Shivaratri and were blessed to do the Abhishekam for the Lord.

This trip was about to end and I was filled with mixed feelings, I was glad that we could experience the heritage, glory and the royalty in the land. The next day we took a peaceful flight, while the spice-jet were celebrating Woman’s day and was lucky enough to receive a memento and  we reached Namma Bangaluru  with a ‘Happy Us’.