My Exploritales: Padhaarosa Rajasthan!

This Diwali vacations I had decided to go to Rajasthan with Shreya,my daughter but she could not make it due to her project submissions.So,this was to be my first trip going long distance all alone and I was truly excited.I planned my trip with Nikhil Agharkar's Mangal Darshan Travels as they were reasonably priced and my photographer friend Nikhil Gaikwad was also accompanying me.I booked my tickets at the last minute and thanks to my friend Sangeeta's husband who is in the Indian railways ,I could manage to get them confirmed.If it was not for his timely help,this tour would not have been possible.

The 27th of October was the day we were to leave for Abu road from Bandra Terminus.I met up with the tour leader Nikhil and my photographer friend,Nikhil at the station.It was a journey from 3.05 pm to 4.30 am the next day and I travelled alone in the long distance train for the very first time!!!!!(I know I mentioned that earlier)Throughout the journey I read half of the novel I had carried,a Nicholas Sparks' romance,ate some Diwali faraal,drank lots of water and slept peacefully through the night.I awoke before four am and readied myself for alighting.We reached Abu road a few minutes behind schedule and made our way to the hotel in autos. Similarly on our back too I travelled solo and read the other half of the novel.The return journey was spent having a long chat with my co-passenger,an elderly lady who too had come to Rajasthan on tour from Pune.She was a retired teacher and hence we had a lot to chat about other than the tour.On the return journey I had three servings of hot and tasty tomato soup as the dinner was too much for me to finish.I reached back to Mumbai on the 4th of November and was home by 7.30am.I made a day wise note of all the places we visited during the tour and that has helped me write this blogpost.

The tour on the whole was exciting and enchanting. Rajasthan is the land of valour and we can sense that the locals are proud of their culture, tradition and tales of valour of their brave Rajput Kings.I visited Mount Abu,Udaipur,Chittorgarh and Jaipur.It was a fascinating and unforgettable trip.I had taken my new cell phone along and had a great time clicking picures with it.I clicked more than 700 photographs.(the photo freak that I am!!!)Most of the people in the group had come with their family and only Nikhil Agharkar,Nikhil Gaikwad and I were going solo in the group.I was hoping to eat more of Rajasthani cuisine but could not do that as we opted for food that would be liked by the majority in the group who preferred the tried and tested regular fare.They did not want their food too spicy.Anyway,I am not complaining as we did have the famous Rajasthani Daal-baati churma on our last days stay at Jaipur and the unforgettable onion kachori at Rawat Misthaan Bhandaar(It compensated for all the Rajasthani food that I didn't have!)But of course,we did have the yummy and sumptuous Gujrati and Rajasthani thali at Natraj Restaurant at Jaipur.We also had tandoori chicken and chicken tikkas when we went shopping in Jaipur.I bought back some famous gajak,petha,bandhani dupattas , a momento of a sword and shield and tee-shirts with camel-print on them.It was a wonderful experience for me and I made a few new friends.I was really inspired by my tour leader Nikhil who really had a lot of enthusiasm and energy.It was great to know him and hopefully I will be joining him on more tours in future.

Here are a few snapshots of my visit to Rajasthan,the land of valour.