The Road Trip – I (Gurgaon, Jaipur, Jodhpur)

This was our plan for long. Our love for the roads and love for travel, squeezing in the leaves, tying up with our friends from different cities to meet up in Jodhpur thereafter travel to Jaisalmer.

Our friends had booked flight tickets to Jodhpur from Mumbai and Kolkata where they stay and my husband was tempted once should we take a flight to Jodhpur. I did put my foot down then, I mean taking a flight to Jodhpur and then booking a car or train for Jaisalmer… where would we get the feel! His next idea was shall we hire a vehicle from Delhi but depend on a driver with rash driving in all respects and over-the-top music to bear with! I again uttered a big no!

Here I’d like to mention that being a lover of soft music of yore with Gulzarish lyrics, once we had travelled by car to Kaushani …in the lush Himalayas and the driver in his late teens kept playing the super nasal vocals of Himesh Reshammiya with the latest chartbuster then ‘Aashiq banaya apne’ which began with some ultra-nasal octave beginning with O-o-o-o! Till then I had this phobia of traveling with drivers.

Day One: Official commitments, leave management. We started for Jaipur after 6.30 pm from Gurgaon after picking husband from the office. Would give credit to my husband ( albeit unwillingly) for booking a nice hotel on the outskirts of Jaipur which gave us a regal feeling and one of the best feasts of the entire trip.

Day Two:  The fabulous food and kind of Royal Rajasthani hospitality and music lifted our moods and after a real sumptuous breakfast where we savoured Kadhi kachoris  and lots of other delicacies with relish we sat out for our day’s drive to Jodhpur.

The drive through the busy roads of Jaipur was not pleasing and soon I was questioning myself was the road trip a really good idea. But then outside Jaipur roads widened and welcomed us just the way we wanted and after a routine tiff with husband I was behind the wheel, a bit nervous but it was fun with my pestering daughter to play all the mushy old school road songs I love. Roads were surprisingly traffic-free and traffic-disciplined no unnecessary honking or overtaking sprees, a breather from Delhi roads.

Barring Ajmer not many places for stopover, since we normally set out after a heavy breakfast, our lunch was late at Megh Malhar, Khinawari. The food was fresh and loos clean and the break was welcome. Thereafter we reached Jodhpur in the evening, drive was smooth except for locating the hotel inside the city somehow navigating through almost kuccha road as directed by google. The hotel was located in a clean peaceful area of the city and we joined our friends for big hullabaloo in the night.

Day Three: Jodhpur

For the blue city we all geared up in blue and boy it was fun! Umaid Bhawan, Mehrangarh Fort and Jaswant Thada was on my list as I could recall my more than two decade old trip to Jodhpur with my parents. The artefacts, grandeur, elegance and contemporary look of Umaid Bhawan had the kids in awe as well and after a delicious Kulfi in the blazing sun, our next stop was Mehrengarh Fort.

Umaid Bhawan

Mehrengarh Fort

Jaswant Thada story intrigued me when I visited in my late teens, though our driver this time shrugged it off as nothing but a tomb of the king…he might have missed the part it was built by his wife with love, grit and more love.

We did venture for the old city in those autos which run through the heart of the city. Being Choti Diwali the rush was mad and as they said roads were closed we missed Clock Tower, Ghanta Ghar and those beautiful blue doors.

There just might be a next time!

Soma Bhattacharjee

In next part – The road Trip II – Jaisalmair