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We are always on tight schedules when we go to our hometown. Still we have always visited my brother-in-law in Rajsamand. They are perfect hosts and know our weakness very well. Every time we crib about our short visit, they always put forth some wonderful opportunity of visiting an interesting remote place, which we just cannot resist!

Their generosity has pampered us and made us a schnorrer. So true to this noun, meaning “a person who habitually takes advantage of other’s generosity often through an entitlement”, this time we put forth the condition that we would visit them only if they promise to take us to an agricultural farm. Being nice hosts they happily agreed.

Rachit was keenly interested to visit a farm since long. He always imagined and asked us how the tomatoes, brinjal … grow on plants. Are they so big and red from beginning or what! We also wanted Rachit to appreciate the bounty of fruits and vegetables Mother Nature has bestowed upon us and to avoid the notion that Mother Dairy grows fruits and vegetables in its factory.

View of a cloudy day in Rajsamand, from my brother-in-law’s terrace

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Rs 250 a night for a room and everything else…

It was the usual Thursday evening when I gave a ring to “Mohit” on a possible visit to somewhere during the weekend and as I predicted, he was all set to go. We were nearing weekend so the only undecided question was “Where to go?”. Being a “Punjabi”, he insisted on going to Mussoorie (Nandan will understand why I am saying so) but after exploring, we finally agreed upon Udaipur. The little more exploration about the transportation, city, tourist spots, staying facilities etc, put the final nail into our plans. So, there we were ready to go to Udaipur - The City of Lakes & Palaces.

As Mewar Express was over booked, we both agreed to go to Udaipur by DTC run Volvo. It started at 6:00 pm sharp from ISBT, Kashmiri Gate; the fair was Rs 700/- and after crossing Gurgaon it caught NH-8 route. The best part was that the seats that were quite easily available. I boarded Volvo from Kashmiri Gate while Mohit caught it from Gurgaon. Bus crossed Jaipur and Bhilwara. From Bhilwara, it took a left exit towards Udaipur bypassing Chittorgarh on the way.
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We wanted to go somewhere. Preeti, the doc wife of Dee (Deepender) didn’t want to go to hills again, we were at Mussorrie on 26 Jan same year. Incidentally me and Smita had no great idea on where to go but we wanted to go. After all it was feb and a time when one must get out and visit places. So courtsey an old friend, we booked ourselves a part of Piramal Haveli which is a Neemrana property.

We were going to Shekhawati which is a region in Rajasthan best known for wall murals and old havelis. It lies between Jhunjhunu - Bikaner - Seekar triangle with Mandawa as central town and Fatehpur, Dundlod, and other small places around. We were in two cars (Mahindra Scorpio and Toyota Corolla), a total of 8 adults and 3 kids (Harshal, Tanya and Pihu)

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Another business trip, this time my wife’s, another attempt to squeeze some meaningful travel out of it. There was to be a event at Jaipur and she needed to be there to supervise things (aka boss around). I could accompany her and make it worthwhile (for me). So after brooding for a while, the deal was that once we are done with the event on Friday evening, we would drive to Sambhar (what Sambhar, wait) the next morning instead of usual shopping in Bapu Market. While Sambhar lake excursion made me go there, I must confess that there was one more reason. And that was the Delhi-Jaipur drive (I know I have been on this road for n times and I really do not like dry-fast stretches but a drive is better then watching Delhi temperature go up), the charm and happiness of which I very tactfully hid lest the better half should try to barter it against another bout of shopping, if not Bapu Market then may be another round of jewelery hunting in Johri Bazaar. The result of all this conspiracy theories was that, it was to be Jaipur. Good job.

A full work day converted into a half through a valid and intelligent use of flexi-timing at my office. It ensured that we were able to leave at 2 PM and hoped to be there by 7 PM. The drive to Jaipur has always been smooth yet dry owing to well laid NH8 and nothing else to see beyond the road, of significance.

Sambhar Lake

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