hmm.. at last 'Rajasthan!'

 

March has been a merry go round for me. I wonder how I get an MBA degree (leave alone placement) after this semester because little time am I spending to understand these courses. Anyway, 21 lakh conferred APOGEE 2k9 provided us with another awaiting break. Btw, is it better or just bigger? Somebody tell me.

 “...this life is often overrated but it gets better as we go...”  I duly agree with this line of a track of ‘3 doors down’.

Bikaner- Jaisalmer- Jodhpur was the route of our trip. 2 taveras, 13 of us! Now, I’ve got a lengthy reply to every friend/cousin who frequently pester me about ‘Rajasthani’ stuff like camels, desert, cuisine, art, artifacts, outfits blah...blah...Dare you ask me now: P

MapmyIndia.com helped us frame our trip and of course budget. Bikaner, the other B of our SBBJ, founded by Bika Rao (strange name, isn’t?) seemed to be a rapidly developing city of Rajasthan. As expected, all the streets are flooded with sweets shops and sandstone buildings. Junagarh fort was our first stop followed by Laxminath temple (devudu karuninchaledu; closed) and some 500 yr old Jain temple. The fort was a feast to our eyes with its Rajput, muslim, and hindu architectures. Artillery collection was amazing, better than Nizam’s really! Our drivers who were as knowledgeable about the place as us, played ‘Tavera game’ around the city junction, had fun though. Suddenly everybody could find two avid cameramen in our crew: Pavan and Gali. Thnx guys for all those memorabilia.

 

Rat Temple!! - :D yes, u read it right.. Rats reign roosts in this temple worshipping Goddess ‘Karuni’. Thousands of mice, big and small run everywhere freely and fearlessly. Look at those pictures if u don’t believe. Rat-dung is cleaned off frequently, so no worries! This is the most exciting part of my tour is ‘the pradakshina’ around the temple where rats were running and squealing. I was really afraid of them and later I thought they should have been more scared though J We are lucky to sight The white rat and I am eagerly waiting for some auspicious events to unfold that should theoretically follow it J

Off we were to Jaisalmer, the heart of Thar desert and the Golden City founded by Jaisal Rawal. Seriosly, people have no other living but tourism as can be observed. True! As our guide was saying, local people should be thankful to Indira Gandhi for developing the town into a tourist spot during her visit to Pokhran in early 70’s. Guide spoke in broken English but fluently and artistically. Jaisalmer fort, built of sandstone interlocking where carvings were made of single monolithic stone. That’s truly amazing man, no water-no adhesives...As a Civil Er., I am shocked by our ancestral craftsmanship. Where the hell are we in honing our skills? We just pass our time in engineering. Ok, ok. That’s a controversial topic. Let’s leave it.

Patwon-ki-Haveli- I imagined a HAVELI of the Hindi films and latest roadies episode (where Devarshi was ousted: P). But it’s contrastingly magnificent and colorful. Yeah, I am disappointed! I am not good at describing things but certainly, nobody would shy away from living in this haveli. I loved it!

 

Next stop- a wonderful local Dhaba where food was delicious and cheap much to the amusement of our financial controller Mr. Kunda. After serious and lengthy discussions about whether to leave for the India-Pakistan border or not, we ended up heading to my wishlist#1 The Thar desert. All along the journey, the roads were fabulous. As I learnt in my Transportation Engineering, Rajasthan roads due to their higher temperature variance, require both bitumen and acumen (in the form of engineers) of high quality. That’s exactly what we witnessed out there. Well, the road to thar seems like Dravid’s innings with no vigour but long and steady. We cruised past 40-50 kms at a speed of 120km/hr. All along, we could see the water pipes laid parallel to the road and cell phone towers (remember the maruti service station ad in early 2000’s?)

Camping tents are bright and just similar to any filmy setup. The fact that we were amidst the longest desert in India thrilled us and drove us to take some weird snaps. Katchak!! We heard a call that Camels were waiting for us. oh my, here is a chance to show all those camel enthusiasts at home to drive a point. Every two of us except Shetty (fair enough!) were to ride a camel. That 2-3 Km ride was awe-inspiring. But as Pandari rightly said ‘Movement was exerting so much pressure on the abdomen that the riders may get 6 pack abs by the time camel-ride is over’ good exercise not for the ‘pillion riders’ though who complained that something(s) got ruptured in the process :P

(Sorry To be continued...too sleepy now) 

P.S. : Other12 guys, plz leave ur comments to make this post better and share ur experiences 

A Week to Remember.......

“Dude, I got to move” I mumbled to Saayan who took a quick snap of mine for MBA profile. Thus ended our suit-up session in the absence of bady buddy ‘Modi’. This caused a sense of incompleteness to me because without him, a happier chunk of my Bitsian life would be missing. Well, undressing and getting ready for travel back to my friend Caes’ sister marriage took a meagre 10 secs. So hasty I was!

A wondrous journey...... it has really been.

Kick started by me racing to Nutan bus-stand only to find a 150% filled asli aam admi ka means of transportation. My football trialled legs were tested for about two hours. Ironically there, limbs are trained for moving indeed moving swifter. Suddenly ek seat mil gaya; maiko nahin but to the one standing in front of me in a line which looked like a bridge cable. Fortunately, a guy who seemed to be a kind-hearted person exactly like me, offered me to share ‘his’ seat. The quotes here need an explanation of acute observation of my fellow passengers. Some are so adamant like the US as if the late comers boarding the bus are H1B Visa holders who would have absolutely no space in their territories. After all, the public is the public. This is the second major reason why I hate Democracy.

Some of the episodes at this point of my journey were not disclosed coz I as a blogger have a moral responsibility of not engulfing readers into my miserable journey. (Ping me if you are sadistic enough) Following some nail-biting, heart-thumping (simply nervous) moments w.r.t. my rail reservation, I had to stay in ‘Delhi-65’ for a long, boring day in spite of my hurry. Bhagwan achcha karega tho saadhu bichcha karega..bichcha! Kindly let me thank my savior for providing me shelter for that day... here it goes: Srini Kurma, **** you ra!! :-)

I boarded next night Link-Dakshin ( better call it Gaadi # 2722 coz I prefer not to call it by any worthwhile name as such. I could now understand why Vizagites are called ‘Kondas’ OMG, zamana bogies!! I don’t want to waste anymore ‘bits’ penning down its magnificence. I leave it to your crazy, creative, and imaginative mind. Adding to my misery is this German girl named ‘Mariah’ who was too hot to talk to. Btw, hot here refers to English adjective which depicts the degree of friendliness. I felt even Modi (Living legend@ BITS) might not be able to break the ice.

~home~ Apprehensive that I could not share brotherhood duties of the marriage, I decided not to miss any little thing happening on the mandapam coz I was too naïve w.r.t. marriage rituals by covering every interesting part of it with my digi-cam. I dint ever imagine (‘dream’ should have been a better word but dreams have become too scarce these days) that the most lively & lovely capture could turn into a gifted photo frame.

Let me clarify that I was out of Pilani (esp.ly Interface ’09) not for a hands-off experience of marriage but to reunite with 3 other idiots distributed across various parts of South India after 4 years.

~Sec’bad~ I could not resist applauding grandeur of our own Goutami express after experiencing ghastly dakshin express. Telepathy between me and ‘Goutami’ worked and it rushed to sec’bad 10 mins earlier than scheduled arrival where Ravi and Varma were waiting for me.

“Maahi, maahi,.... maahee”..my lips pursed as I saw Varma( credits to his Emraan-Hashmi type goatee) Next stop after reaching Ravi’s room was IMAX. I pitied if IMAX would become non-existant without Pradeep experiencing it ,as it was in vain on two previous occasions to host me. Now, it got lucky :-) And the movie was Outlander in which I endlessly irked Ravi and Varma in the recess saying that Morwan (the dragon in the movie) was ambushing at the toilets. Nice watch if you like dragons etc.,

{btw, another idiot ‘Caes’ had to accompany his sister’s hubby. Bloody rites!!} Later during the walk, we’ve talked about our inaugurations (:D), aspirations and of course ‘the recession’. The last topic especially called for an MBA expertise like mine :-)

After surveying Himayath Nagar streets for more than 3 hours, got on a bus. Here started struggle. ‘Life is a harsh teacher..It punishes and then teaches a lesson’ somebody should have enlightened me about this quote earlier. Air tight container depicts that metro bus the most. I was virtually hanging with a hand in a pocket of ice-blue jeans and the other lurking at a near post. After 30mins of overheating and sweating, we jumped out. Me with hands in the pockets now..Guess what?!

In one, I felt nothing. I turned towards the two idiots. They shrugged and I nodded acknowledging stolen mobile by some @#$^&!% now my lost mobiles’ count jumped up to 2. The same nostalgia about the lost contacts (esp.ly those of farewell bidden psenti-semites @ BITS) These days mobiles have become so personal and customised that I felt like Arsenal losing to ManUtd..so disheartening. My suggestion to you all: Keep a backup of contacts be it a e-book or a phone-book. You may be pretty confident of your mobile safety but am a little more confident of dexterity of pick-pockets.

The 4^th musketeer ‘Caes’ joined the next day. Photosessions, dancing, and wrestling happened; but unfortunately no time for the willow game. I dint know whether it’s the weather change (Rj Vs AP) or nostalgia of parting with them tomorrow or the wondrous journey...something had taken a little toll on me. I had to delay meeting another friend of mine, which was very painful in deed. Managing travel was the one I messed up and not satisfied I am at the end of the day. Could I spend fruitful, ample amount of time? Could I gather my hovering thoughts about four of them while I was in train and shared all of those? I felt a little emotional after they saw me sent off.

But that’s what life after BITS is all about.. Enjoy your psenti-sem to the core.

Btw, I pity the one who stole my ‘Chinese’ iPhone... chargers etc., are rarely available :P

Aaaww, somebody’s screaming to switch off light. Have I complained their snoring for so long? Unjustified!! Okay, Let me snuggle under my blanket.. btw I am on AP express heading to Dilli-basti hai mastano ki dilli dilli

last word: this post is very unplanned; suggestions are solicited.