Traveling Through the Sands of Time

Deepti Pookat
A new year and like always I was looking forward to my jaunt to the north of India. A 9 day
vacation packed with plans to visit Delhi, attend Saket’s wedding, check out Agra and
Fatehpur, finally head out for the deserts of Rajasthan and pack in anything else in between.
Two weeks before the start, all my free time was spent ogling at the desert packages of
Jaisalmer, forts of Jodhpur & booking tickets for the various laps of the journey.

So one fine Friday I set out from B’lore city, Ajay picked me & my brother from the airport and
we headed out to Faridabad where we stayed at Ravi’s place. After a late night session of
gupshup we caught some sleep b’coz we planned to check out the sights of Delhi the next day.
I am going to resort to a diary style coz that would help me keep the train of events.

Day 1: This trip was meant to be a gourmand’s delight and it was flagged off by Ravi’s mom’s
yumm parathas and uncle ke haath ki banayi hui bindi sabzi (my mouth waters when I think
about it). That day we checked out the India Gate and the Delhi metro. Highlights: The
flyovers in Delhi are commendable; we had the audacity to pose for a picture right in front of
the security check at the metro station, thankfully we were stopped before we clicked else we
would have had to shell out 500 bucks as fine (Note: Do check out the rules of the land before
u board the tube else it can prove to be very expensive). In the evening we got back to
Faridabad, dressed up and headed out to Saket’s home from where the baraat was to set out.
Everything was so colorful and beautifully done up. The women looked so gorgeous in all the
bright colors and finery.

We discovered the dance floor a little late. Nevertheless with our MJ Mayur at the lead we
were the last ones to quit once we started dancing. Did not wait for the wedding ceremony to
complete since, like all Punju weddings, it was slated for the wee hours of the morning and we
had to set out early morning the next day. We got back to Romi’s place, unpacked and
repacked for the two day trip to Agra and Fatehpur.

Day 2: We (me, Ashish, Ajay, Romi, Mayur & Gera) set out in a Quails from Delhi at 6 in the
morning. With short breaks for b’fast & lunch we reached Agra by 1 in the afternoon. Since our
hero Raj Babbar was visiting there were lots of crowds on the roads. Our first visit was to the
fort at Sikandra which houses the tombs of Akbar and his wife. An impressive structure in red
sandstone with well manicured lawns all around. Those kings did live & live after death in
style. From there we headed out to the Agra fort. What stays in my mind is the beautiful
carvings in marble and the view of the Taj from there. Other points of interest here were the
Diwan-e-Khaas & the Diwan-e-Aam where the emperor addressed his council of ministers and
the commoners. The Sheesh Mahal stands testimony to the fact that every facet of royal life is
really royal. From there we set out to Fatehpur Sikri, the capital city during Akbars reign. The
highpoint of this visit is the man from the past who guided us through the ramparts of the old
fort. Let me introduce Kalakar, a man with copper colored hair & beard whose language was
poetic loaded with Urdu-Hindi & shayari. We first visited the tomb of the Shaikh Salim Chisthi.
The jaali marble screens are remarkable here. It is believed that if you tie a thread around the
jaali here and pray your wish will be granted (we did try it & I am waiting for my wish to come
true). The 54 m high Buland Darwaza or the Victory gate is the main entrance to the compound
that houses the Jama Masjid & the Saint’s tomb. I found this during my google search on
Fatehpur:
A koranic inscription upon the gate read, "The world is a bridge, pass over it but build
no house upon it. He, who hopes for an hour, hopes for Eternity, for the world is but
an hour".
Kalakar told us of Akbar’s 3 wives & 300 girl friends (did that make all the guys jealous). The
palace of Jodhabhai, Akbars Hindu wife was the main harem in the enclosure. The Hawa Mahal,
where the king must have spent some lovely evenings watching the sun set with his wife (wives
rather), is made entirely of stone latticework. There was Mariam’s (the Christian wife) palace
which was at one time completely gilded with gold. The Diwan-e-Khaas is a single vaulted
chamber with the massive central lotus throne pillar which is intricately carved. To me the
most audacious display of power was the huge pachisi gameboard (similar to ludo) drawn on
marble on the Diwan-e-Aam courtyard where Akbar and his courtiers used slave girls dressed in
colorful attires as the pawns in the game.

When we were about to leave the place we came to know that Kalakar is the man who used to
dive from the top of the Buland Darwaza into the well below. He was featured on many
television channels. Since the government banned the act he has taken up to being a guide.

We then returned to Agra and found ourselves a place to stay. Since ‘Rang de basanti’ was the
theme for the trip we headed out for the night show (for your info we had one fourth timer,
two third timers, 2 second timer & one first timer amongst us). Worthy of mention is the
adventurous travel in the ‘autos of Agra’ (Jintax is the word I would use to describe those boom
boxes). At least my auto driver was sober unlike Romi’s. She was fighting with the guy to put
the loud music (aka noise) off, at least while passing through the residential areas. And believe
it or not at one in the night (or early morning) there were 6 crazy souls walking the streets of
Agra knocking the doors/gates of every hotel and asking if they had a coffee shop or a disc
(since Gera insisted that one guy had told them that every hotel had a disc, it took us some
time to realize that maybe that guy had mistaken a disc for a dish or whatever..) We finally
accepted defeat & got back to our rooms where the night outers had a “who sips tea the
loudest’ competition.

End of long day 2.

Day 3: Early morning get ready & head out to see the colors of the rising sun on the Taj. By the
time we got there the sun had already risen. I guess I had set my expectations very very high
and so in some sense I was disappointed. (One Mr. Reginald Massey is to be blamed for this. We
had a lesson in our 12th Standard English in which he had written about the Taj “When you have
seen the pictures of a building taken from every possible angle by the world’s best
photographers, it still cannot prepare you for what you experience as you walk through the
doors on whose walls are inscribed the holy Koran”). The place was swarming with groups of
tourists from foreign lands. We took a lot of pictures there. After the most expensive b’fast at
Udupi Park we started our return journey to Delhi. Once we reached Delhi I, Ashish & Ajay set
out to the station to start the next part of our trip to the exotic Rajasthan. Here Mua-the trip
coordinator did the first goof-up. I assumed that the train would be from New Delhi station
whereas on arriving there we realized that it was from Old Delhi & so we had to race against
time (& Delhi traffic). Fortunately we made it to the station on time. Me friend Neelu (pal from
school) joined us at the station. So four of us were all fresh & geared for the next 3 days trip
into the deserts of rajasthan.

Day 4: We reached Jaisalmer station at noon. We were attacked by touts from various resorts
and hotels the moment we set foot outside the station (I wish we had that scene on camera
where each one of us was gheraoed by a group of drivers promising various things). We then
headed out to a restaurant called “Bhilwara”. Jaisalmer truly is a golden city since all its
buildings are made of yellow sandstone and the fort at the centre of the city on a raised
plateau reminded me of pictures of sandcastles on beaches. The food at Bhilwara was truly lip
smacking and both the food freaks we had with us truly freaked out.

After consulting with the man at the counter at the restaurant we decided to head out for the
deserts of Khuri rather that the dunes at Sam (though our cab driver was pitching in heavily for
Sam). Khuri is an hour’s drive away from the city of Jaisalmer. Enroute we got to see the dry
deserts of Rajasthan, with just a few shrubs for vegetation and no human habitation for miles
together. At Khuri we checked into the Khuri Desert Resort which had the option of huts or
tents or dune stay for accommodation. (No guesses, we chose option 3). Immediately we set
out on the camel safari to watch the sunset from the dunes. Mounting and dismounting the
camel is as scary as a roller coaster ride but it was very different experience. They took us
through the village where we watched a potter make a pot and also visited one of the
traditional huts in the village. I really dreaded each time we had to stop and get off the camel
(Thankfully we had to do the entire circus of getting off & on only thrice). The sand patterns on
the dunes are really beautiful. Here we could see one big expanse of sand dunes surrounded by
scrubland (I guess the Sahara desert is where we would get to see dunes till where the eyes can
see). After the sunset we headed back to the resort where they had some cultural programs
organized in the courtyard between the huts. There was a local Rajasthani troupe that
performed. The guys played some local musical instruments - that part was very good. Also
there was a Rajasthani dance recital (me & Neelu also joined in towards the end). After a not
too impressive dinner we returned to the dunes. They set our cots on the dunes. The most
memorable part of this place was sleeping under the canopy of the star studded sky (simply
fabulous – it was like being in the world’s biggest planetarium).

Day 5: The next morning I walked into the dunes (though it does get scary if you’re alone and
you reach a point where you’re all alone and wonder if you can find your way back). After the
sunrise we headed back to the resort, freshened up and set out for Jaisalmer fort. We were low
on energy so we did not go around the whole fort, just checked out the museum there. The
fact that sets this fort apart from the others we saw is that it is like a colony with lots of
people living inside it even to this day. Then it was bye bye to Jaisalmer as we boarded a local
bus to Jodhpur (one really long 7 tiring journey which as always Ashish slept through). We
reached Jodhpur in the night & caught a rick to the place I had chosen to stay. It is a homestay
called Saji Sanwri. As we passed through many twisted and narrow gallis to reach the place I
wondered if it was a good decision. Thankfully the saving grace was that we could see the
Jodhpur fort from the terrace. This is run by a very friendly Jain family. Though Neelu will
never ever forgive me for taking her there (the artificial flowers and lamps all over the place
psyched her out – she gets nightmares to this day)

Day 6: I guess there was something wrong in the dinner because three of us had severe stomach
upsets. I even thought of ditching my visit to the Jodhpur fort. Thankfully with the medicines I
was able to manage it. The Meherangarh fort is privately maintained by the Maharaja’s family.
It’s a very well maintained place. You can hire a guide to take you around or do a self tour with
a walkman guide that gives a commentary on different points along a marked route through the
fort. From the fort you can also see the blue painted houses in the city below from which the
city gets the name of ‘blue city’. From here we set out to the Umaid Bhawan palace. We were
told that the entry into the hotel part of it was Rs. 500. However on reaching there we came to
know that prices have been hiked to Rs. 1700 and since none but Neelu had an appetite we
returned without seeing the palace. That night we started back from Jodhpur to Delhi.

After five full days on the road we really needed a break. I spent two more days at Delhi
recuperating and reached home sweet home.

Handy tips:

1. Try to visit the Taj during a full moon, so that you can visit it in the night. (night entry
is permitted only during the full moon time & they charge Rs. 500 per head)
2. Check out the roof top dinner at Meherangarh fort in Jodhpur
3. Drink a lot of water to avoid dehydration while in the desert
4. Take the rear seat on the camel ride if you are not the “enjoy roller coaster” types