Jaipur Trip

We reached jaipur on saturday morning at around 8 am.Instead of finding lodging as LI suggested,we had a picture session near the lake of Jaigadh Fort.



(i am in green jacket and blue jeans)
Slightly misty morning added that lil ???? that makes pictures look gud.Went to the Jaigadh fort after that.It was a steep climb with the smell of elephant $#!t all around.It was time for some more pics.After that we went to the main section of the fort and the view was great.





The sun just above the horizon shining not too brightly,the ancient walls of the fort,the misty morning and the elephants-all made a fine picture.Here we went about taking pics in quite a few poses.This was followed by a 'Mirchi Bajji' session at the end.And it was the finest bajjis i have ever had.YUMMY is all i can say.After eating the bland food in north,this sure was a welcome relief.Then we were scampering our way down,overtaking elephants,dodging elephants coming in the oppposite direction and playing a game of stepping stones with the elephant dung all around,i finally managed to reach the base.Unfortunately,I suffered a casuality.I had lost my cap.

It was around 10am by the time we found lodging.We took a short break to freshen up and went to the hotel's restaurant for brunch.Amazingly baaad food.I was hoping for a refreshing cusine and this seemed to be no good.Just edible.

Next on the agenda was the jauhari bazar.It consists of a line of shops on either side of the road.Roadside hawkers were in abundance.It is time for bargaining.

I would like to digress for a moment and write about the 'bargaining' that happens in delhi.This aspect flows in the blood of ur average delhiite.And i dont know how this started.But i surely have had to change myself-as long as i stay here.The typical bargaining goes like this

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Bhai yeh Kitne ka hai.

250 saab.

100 ko deh do.

Nahi saab yeh toh sau rupaiya ke liye nahi milega.

Mil jayega yaar.Deh do.

Saab,150 ko le lo.

125 final.dena hai to doh.

theekh hai saab!!!!!!!!!

If u thought that was ridiculous(atleast that is what i thought), beat this.A friend of mine bought a shirt quoted for Rs 500 for Rs 85.He quoted 75 initially and got it for 85.It was a fake nike but what the hell.Any newbie couldve been fleeced.

A typical auto conversation

CP jaaoge??????????

Baaithiye.

Kitna loge?????

Rs100

Nahi.Pachaas rupaiye(50)

Theekh hai.Baithiye!!!!!!!!!!!!

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U even find aunties haggling in small retail shops!!!!!!!!

Anyways.I went shopping in jauhari bazaar and bought all sorts of weird stuff right from processed mango to a hookah!!!!In the middle of the entire flank was a huge sweet shop.As soon as i went in,i was mesmerised.This is HEAVEN.Bloody.These guys even made me have lunch.But that did not stop me from trying 4-5 sweets before i realized that we were short of time.On my way back,i came across this shop.I was attracted like a fly is attracted to fire before my friends warned me to stay away.

Next was the birla mandir.And it was such a beautiful monument.After the darshan,it was time for a photo shoot.And next was the planetorium.But there were the paani puri bhandars waiting for us to devour their contents.After initial hesitation,i decided to go for it.And i had paani puris as long as these guys were around.Though a slow eater, i managed to have 25 odd gol gappas in the 10-12 minutes.I could go on!!!!!!!!!And inside the planetorium,once the lights were turned off,so did we.That was the soundest bit of sleep ive had in quite some time.

Refreshed,it was time to go to the other end of the city to Chowki Dhani(ala Dhola ri Dhani in Hyd) which is a rajasthani village setting.Went for a camel ride and it sure was fun trying to hold on from falling.Visited some shops,saw some amazing folk dance before we went for dinner.

And it sure was some dinner.We had 12-14 items served.Butter and ghee were served generously as if we were some guinea pigs.Even jaggery was served.It surely was a dinner that made up for the losses in the entire day.Some took it as a challenge,some gave up initially.Among those who took it up,some succeeded but many failed.Some people's plates gave the impression that they hadent even started.And among those who succeeded were the bengali babus of our batch.I barely made it through.In the end,people were having difficulties trying to tie their shoelaces or in getting up from the floor.Battered and bruised we lived on for another day!!!!!!