'Jane Kya Dikh Jaye' tagline of Rajasthan Tourism echoed my mind before I planned my next excursion or rather I should say assignment. After crossing several items on the list like reaching half the height of Mt. Everest, diving in the middle of the ocean, winning a race on camel back in the desert was the next nail in the coffin. This nail prompted me to visit the Golden City of Jaisalmer.
A policeman used to come every 15-20 minutes to beat and send them back outside. Who likes to get disturbed during sleep. One of the drunken man retaliated but was not in a position to give a fight to the policeman with a wooden stick and that too having a diameter of 5cm. Others also refused to buzz. They kept on coming back to beat the cold outside. When I left my seat to catch my train, smile on the face of one such guy who rushed to take that seat was something which I will not forget.
We have already booked a room at Zostel in Jaislmer. We were surprised to see a guy having Zostel board in his hand waiting for us at the station. He booked an auto, directed us and a foreigner to sit in that auto. We four sat on the back seat, not comfortably obviously. That's when you curse increasing obesity in India rather than malnutrition. Seeing us occupying the back seat fully, foreigner guy was confused as there was no place left for him to sit. Auto driver asked the guy to sit with him. He was thrilled and equally amused to see that a small 3 wheeler can actually accommodate 6 people.
While the guy was enjoying this new experience (Jane kya ho jaye), auto driver on seeing the traffic police at a chowk stopped the auto. He requested the Videshi Atithi(foreigner guest) to get down and walk for some distance. Before we could understand and offer some help, he got down and started walking. Auto driver crossed the chowk and stopped to wait for the atithi. Luckily, atithi understood and reached the auto to re-board. Atithi Devo Bhava. Anyways, we all reached Zostel and decided to visit fort after taking some rest.
Well, we moved further to get inside the fort. From inside, fort seemed like a bhulbhullaiya. This is a living fort and about a quarter of city's population still live inside the fort. We get to know this when we hired a guide to escort us through the fort. He was super excited to show us around and click our pictures. He told us the stories of the fort with humor and in between also campaigned for Modiji for 2019 elections. He took us to the Bor-ri-haveli initially, then to Raj mahal and museum.
The fort's massive yellow sandstone walls are a tawny lion colour during the day, fading to honey-gold as the sun sets, thereby camouflaging the fort in the yellow desert. We decided to stay back near one of the cannon placed at the outer wall of the fort. The view from the top was breath-taking. We sat on the wall with legs hanging outwards. From the top we could see miniatures of lake, houses, hotels, vehicles. We stayed there till every house lit up in the dark after sun set, changing our landscape from golden sandstone in the day light to golden lights during night.
Click here for Part-2
The start-Valentine helps
It all started with 4-5 people nodding for the trip enthusiastically and a day before the trip you are left alone. It took high level of emotional blackmail , humiliation of lonely valentine week and a wish to escape from Delhi life to finally board the train. My journey started with reaching Gandhinagar Railway station of Jaipur(Country's first all women railway station) to board the same train.Trains and wait are synonym of each other
Indian Railways never surprises you. Train was delayed by an hour. Typical Indian family adds to this trauma of waiting. No exceptions here. I reached railway station 2 hours before the scheduled arrival time. Thanks to my procreators. It is a small station so I had to wait in the area where counters for reservation are present. As per the digital clock it was 9:52 pm on the exceptionally cold night. The open space in front of counters which is filled with passengers during daytime became sleeping shelter for the homeless and drunk.A policeman used to come every 15-20 minutes to beat and send them back outside. Who likes to get disturbed during sleep. One of the drunken man retaliated but was not in a position to give a fight to the policeman with a wooden stick and that too having a diameter of 5cm. Others also refused to buzz. They kept on coming back to beat the cold outside. When I left my seat to catch my train, smile on the face of one such guy who rushed to take that seat was something which I will not forget.
Series 'Jane kya dikh jaye' starts now
I woke up early in the morning(yes, 8 AM is early these days) as the glossy sunlight crossed the hazy glass of window and reached my face. The familiar voice of 'chai chai' added to the flavor. I wasted no time in stirring other three. Happiness of waking other friends far outweigh the abuse you get to listen after that. It all dissipated with the 'Aww' for view outside. One can only see arid land till the farthermost point without any settlements but with small vegetation mainly comprising of vilayati babool (Prosopis julifora). When train crossed Pokharan, sights of windmills running in full swing were next in line of the series : Jane kya dikh jaye.We have already booked a room at Zostel in Jaislmer. We were surprised to see a guy having Zostel board in his hand waiting for us at the station. He booked an auto, directed us and a foreigner to sit in that auto. We four sat on the back seat, not comfortably obviously. That's when you curse increasing obesity in India rather than malnutrition. Seeing us occupying the back seat fully, foreigner guy was confused as there was no place left for him to sit. Auto driver asked the guy to sit with him. He was thrilled and equally amused to see that a small 3 wheeler can actually accommodate 6 people.
While the guy was enjoying this new experience (Jane kya ho jaye), auto driver on seeing the traffic police at a chowk stopped the auto. He requested the Videshi Atithi(foreigner guest) to get down and walk for some distance. Before we could understand and offer some help, he got down and started walking. Auto driver crossed the chowk and stopped to wait for the atithi. Luckily, atithi understood and reached the auto to re-board. Atithi Devo Bhava. Anyways, we all reached Zostel and decided to visit fort after taking some rest.
Magic bedsheets and golden fort
We left for the fort at 2 pm in the afternoon. We have embraced ourselves for next 'Jane kya dikh jaye' moment. Jaisalmer didn't disappoint us. On our way to fort we found some shops selling bedsheets and unique handicrafts. Our eyes got stuck to some of the posters on the shops hanging near the bedsheets. We can't blame our eyes for that. The poster near 'Magic Bedsheets' reflected 'No need for viagra', 'Make you plamtree higher', 'Bedsheet size one wife' etc. If you ever visit Jaisalmer, I bet your eyes too won't miss these humorous quotes on the products on display. I actually wonder whether this has led to increase in sell!Well, we moved further to get inside the fort. From inside, fort seemed like a bhulbhullaiya. This is a living fort and about a quarter of city's population still live inside the fort. We get to know this when we hired a guide to escort us through the fort. He was super excited to show us around and click our pictures. He told us the stories of the fort with humor and in between also campaigned for Modiji for 2019 elections. He took us to the Bor-ri-haveli initially, then to Raj mahal and museum.
Calling it a day, but where is the real desert!
Nobody was in a mood to leave the place and wanted to stay there throughout the whole night but the sudden drop in temperature didn't allow us. We left the place, visited Jain temples built inside the fort on our way back to the Zostel. But there was one thing that we were all eager to see but could not catch the glimpse. Yes, sand dunes. We were amused by everything that we saw in the series of 'Jane kya dikh jaye' but still we all were like 'sand dunes kab dikhenge bhai'. Another stereotype busted: Rajasthan is not only desert and camels.Click here for Part-2
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