THE JOURNEY BEGINS...
Day 1: 23rd Oct 08 (Kolkata - Jaipur)
I could barely sleep… was up and about by 6:30am, even though my flight was not till 2:00pm, much to amazement of my parents…my excitement about the trip was only curbed when I looked at my pet Labrador, Bala, whose ‘emo-sensitive-canine sense’ was warning him that something was amiss… and he kept running away with my shoes…
After listening to safety code & phone call orders from Ma for what probably was the Nth time… I took my leave, after deftly escaping the clutching paws of my beloved pet…
Dad as usual decided to accompany me to the airport, “it doesn’t look nice for you to go alone, when I am there” he said, I sighed and shook my head… I mean.. I was travelling to Jaipur alone… but had to be accompanied to the airport… hilarious… but knowing my father… I didn’t bother contesting it…Dad dropped me at the airport entrance & saw me off with a cheerful wave… but only after I promised him to keep him properly updated about my every move…
Entered the airport dragging my maroon strolley and my Tommy Hilfiger knapsack slung over my shoulders…immediately made a beeline towards the book stall in the rear… without even checking in… well, I cant travel the long roads without a booking in hand can I…??? I bought a couple of acclaimed paperbacks… Jean Sasson’s ‘Princess’ as well as Lauren Weisberger’s combo treat ‘Devil wears Prada’ and ‘Everyone worth knowing’… happily armed with the literary add-ons… I went to check in…
As usual… I asked for the window seat… Its been sooooo many years… even today I experience a child-like thrill when I feel the humming of the plane’s engine… the smoothly-bumpy run on the runway… the exact time when the plane takes off and tucks in its wheels… the sudden reducing sizes of the land-structures, as it falls below…
The flight was on time… so it was quick boarding after the security check…
I took my seat… and no I wasn’t expecting a sexy looking hunk to come and occupy the seat next to me…so I really wasn’t disappointed when a hulking fellow with a wart sat next to me… I decide to concentrate on my book in hand because I knew that the flight attendants will be serving nothing…(Low fare airline and all that… damn… I paid quite a lot of money…)
The air-plane dashed along the runway in full throttle… I looked out to see the objects outside vanish in the wink of an eye… and suddenly we were airborne… I peered out through the portholes… almost plastering my face on the fibre pane… It was fun… from high up in the air I could make out a lot of the famous structures of Kolkata…
I could make out the two Howrah bridges… meandering river Hoogly… Victoria Memorial… Tata centre… among others… The City of Joy, smiled and called out a cheerful “Au revuior” while waving its lush greenery at me…
Leaving the thoughts of my lovely hometown behind… I became transported to another realm… Saudi Arabia… that was where the story of the book I was reading, was based… the inhumane atrocities reduced me to tears… I consoled myself by taking out a bar of Mars and chomping on it…
Its sometimes unbelievable to see the clouds floating about like pristine white cotton shreds… looking below one can the vast landmass…zigzagging roadways… inundated by rivers…green patches of vegetation, twisted rise of new & old fold mountains… it was like checking out Google Earth…
As we approached Jaipur… I looked down… the ‘Aravalis’, old and wise… welcomed me with a crinkle eyed, weather-beaten smile… the topography looked brown … (quite the opposite of the lushness I left behind…) the sun’s golden rays catching the mirror like surfaces of the small water bodies… around them lay the clustered settlements… This leg of the journey otherwise was uneventful… apart from a small turbulence which forced speed reduction and hence a delay of 15mins…
As soon as the plane grounded to a halt on the tarmac… I switched on my mobile & called one of my team-mates… they had taken the Volvo from New Delhi and were supposed to have arrived at Jaipur before me… I had requested one of them to come and pick me up…
The line connected and a familiar voice said, “Hain… where are you?”
“My flight just landed… where are you?” I asked.
“Outside the airport, waiting for you… hurry up!!”
I ran inside the building…craned my neck to locate my team... but with no avail… people were milling about… standing around the conveyer belts, waiting for their check in baggage… I waited for mine… My patience was wearing thin, when I atlast saw by maroon suitcase moving in… I grabbed it and rushed out of the building… and at last found my team-mate haggling with an auto-rickshaw driver… He smiled and motioned me to come… Boy!!! Was I glad to see him… I could feel the tension seeping out of my limbs…
“Hi… How was the flight? Everything ok?”, he asked..
“Sure … never better...!!!” I replied happily.
The auto driver led us to his auto… he was handicapped so I had to lift my hefty strolley on to the auto myself… the Sanganer airport was actually quite far from main Jaipur city… the airport being situated at s….
It was just past 5:00pm and dusk was setting in rapidly… and there was a slihjt nip in the air…The first glimpse of the new city was that it was planned… spacious… modern… dry & dusty…
Saw quite a few malls… As we travelled further towards the old city…roads became narrower… a bit more cluttered… there was huge bottleneck at the site where a flyover was being constructed… I nearly choked at the dust!!!
By-passing, lanes & by-lanes… we at last managed to reach our hotel…. ‘Sarang Palace’… I checked in… there were no surprises… as it looked exactly the same as was shown in the internet…
Luggage dumped & refreshed…The team met up… we all wanted to go out shopping, since we knew that nothing else would be open… we scrambled out… hailed the autos… we got a chance to see the Jaipur city at night… the city was slowly gearing up for the festivities… lights were either being put or were already blinking around…
We scouted around in the markets… went to different emporiums… bought a few nick-knacks to bring back home for friends... bought a mojri for myself... then we came to Tirpolia Bazaar… thankfully due to the upcoming Diwali festival… the markets were open till late… we went into, what we thought to be a small shop… till we found, that it had a huge space below… I think we went a little crazy over there… we shopped like maniacs… I bought a silken razai… a silk bed-cover… couple of silk saris with bandejh work… one of my team-mates very sweetly gifted me a salwar suit… (lucky meeeeeeee!!) I bought an exquisite Kundan necklace set from one of the jewellery shops there…
Tired with the entire shopping binge, we trooped back to the hotel… had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel and crashed off to sleep…
Day 1: 23rd Oct 08 (Kolkata - Jaipur)
I could barely sleep… was up and about by 6:30am, even though my flight was not till 2:00pm, much to amazement of my parents…my excitement about the trip was only curbed when I looked at my pet Labrador, Bala, whose ‘emo-sensitive-canine sense’ was warning him that something was amiss… and he kept running away with my shoes…
After listening to safety code & phone call orders from Ma for what probably was the Nth time… I took my leave, after deftly escaping the clutching paws of my beloved pet…
Dad as usual decided to accompany me to the airport, “it doesn’t look nice for you to go alone, when I am there” he said, I sighed and shook my head… I mean.. I was travelling to Jaipur alone… but had to be accompanied to the airport… hilarious… but knowing my father… I didn’t bother contesting it…Dad dropped me at the airport entrance & saw me off with a cheerful wave… but only after I promised him to keep him properly updated about my every move…
Entered the airport dragging my maroon strolley and my Tommy Hilfiger knapsack slung over my shoulders…immediately made a beeline towards the book stall in the rear… without even checking in… well, I cant travel the long roads without a booking in hand can I…??? I bought a couple of acclaimed paperbacks… Jean Sasson’s ‘Princess’ as well as Lauren Weisberger’s combo treat ‘Devil wears Prada’ and ‘Everyone worth knowing’… happily armed with the literary add-ons… I went to check in…As usual… I asked for the window seat… Its been sooooo many years… even today I experience a child-like thrill when I feel the humming of the plane’s engine… the smoothly-bumpy run on the runway… the exact time when the plane takes off and tucks in its wheels… the sudden reducing sizes of the land-structures, as it falls below…
The flight was on time… so it was quick boarding after the security check…
I took my seat… and no I wasn’t expecting a sexy looking hunk to come and occupy the seat next to me…so I really wasn’t disappointed when a hulking fellow with a wart sat next to me… I decide to concentrate on my book in hand because I knew that the flight attendants will be serving nothing…(Low fare airline and all that… damn… I paid quite a lot of money…)
The air-plane dashed along the runway in full throttle… I looked out to see the objects outside vanish in the wink of an eye… and suddenly we were airborne… I peered out through the portholes… almost plastering my face on the fibre pane… It was fun… from high up in the air I could make out a lot of the famous structures of Kolkata…
I could make out the two Howrah bridges… meandering river Hoogly… Victoria Memorial… Tata centre… among others… The City of Joy, smiled and called out a cheerful “Au revuior” while waving its lush greenery at me…
Leaving the thoughts of my lovely hometown behind… I became transported to another realm… Saudi Arabia… that was where the story of the book I was reading, was based… the inhumane atrocities reduced me to tears… I consoled myself by taking out a bar of Mars and chomping on it…
Its sometimes unbelievable to see the clouds floating about like pristine white cotton shreds… looking below one can the vast landmass…zigzagging roadways… inundated by rivers…green patches of vegetation, twisted rise of new & old fold mountains… it was like checking out Google Earth…
As we approached Jaipur… I looked down… the ‘Aravalis’, old and wise… welcomed me with a crinkle eyed, weather-beaten smile… the topography looked brown … (quite the opposite of the lushness I left behind…) the sun’s golden rays catching the mirror like surfaces of the small water bodies… around them lay the clustered settlements… This leg of the journey otherwise was uneventful… apart from a small turbulence which forced speed reduction and hence a delay of 15mins…
As soon as the plane grounded to a halt on the tarmac… I switched on my mobile & called one of my team-mates… they had taken the Volvo from New Delhi and were supposed to have arrived at Jaipur before me… I had requested one of them to come and pick me up…
The line connected and a familiar voice said, “Hain… where are you?”
“My flight just landed… where are you?” I asked.
“Outside the airport, waiting for you… hurry up!!”
I ran inside the building…craned my neck to locate my team... but with no avail… people were milling about… standing around the conveyer belts, waiting for their check in baggage… I waited for mine… My patience was wearing thin, when I atlast saw by maroon suitcase moving in… I grabbed it and rushed out of the building… and at last found my team-mate haggling with an auto-rickshaw driver… He smiled and motioned me to come… Boy!!! Was I glad to see him… I could feel the tension seeping out of my limbs…
“Hi… How was the flight? Everything ok?”, he asked..
“Sure … never better...!!!” I replied happily.
The auto driver led us to his auto… he was handicapped so I had to lift my hefty strolley on to the auto myself… the Sanganer airport was actually quite far from main Jaipur city… the airport being situated at s….
It was just past 5:00pm and dusk was setting in rapidly… and there was a slihjt nip in the air…The first glimpse of the new city was that it was planned… spacious… modern… dry & dusty…
Saw quite a few malls… As we travelled further towards the old city…roads became narrower… a bit more cluttered… there was huge bottleneck at the site where a flyover was being constructed… I nearly choked at the dust!!!
By-passing, lanes & by-lanes… we at last managed to reach our hotel…. ‘Sarang Palace’… I checked in… there were no surprises… as it looked exactly the same as was shown in the internet…
Luggage dumped & refreshed…The team met up… we all wanted to go out shopping, since we knew that nothing else would be open… we scrambled out… hailed the autos… we got a chance to see the Jaipur city at night… the city was slowly gearing up for the festivities… lights were either being put or were already blinking around…
We scouted around in the markets… went to different emporiums… bought a few nick-knacks to bring back home for friends... bought a mojri for myself... then we came to Tirpolia Bazaar… thankfully due to the upcoming Diwali festival… the markets were open till late… we went into, what we thought to be a small shop… till we found, that it had a huge space below… I think we went a little crazy over there… we shopped like maniacs… I bought a silken razai… a silk bed-cover… couple of silk saris with bandejh work… one of my team-mates very sweetly gifted me a salwar suit… (lucky meeeeeeee!!) I bought an exquisite Kundan necklace set from one of the jewellery shops there…
Tired with the entire shopping binge, we trooped back to the hotel… had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel and crashed off to sleep…
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