The story so far...
As we shifted ho from Kunwarda towards the nearby village of Bhadrajun, we were greeted by a road that slipped in towards a vale encircled on three sides by mountains, and seemed headed for what seemed like a dead stone wall ( you've seen Rajasthan hill fortresses in the movies and tourism shows, then you know the kind)...which magically turned into a well disguised opening that led us straight into a well populated walled city rather similar in layout and appearances to infamous Wadas of Pune..and then leading towards the royal palace.
As we were inspecting our rooms we were accosted by Raja Gopal Singh of Bhadrajun himself ... royal hosts are something else!
Having enquired after all our creature comforts he invited us to breakfast at his palace the next morning...
Our rooms at the Rajwada were situated on either side of a nice long terrace where we were decided we would spend the night , accordingly the instructions were given and we came back to find a neat row of 8 beds on the terrace ..rather reminiscent of my I-block days it was...with one BIG difference...the view...ensconced on three sides by mountains bathed in moonlight, the fourth side facing the palace gates which themselves lead to the cobbled path right down to the entrance to this fortressed hamlet...and the sky, an absolute delight( so so many more stars than I've ever seen..anywhere!!!)...There really wasn't much to it, Avya, Pintya, Das, Parbat ( savvy's younger bro, who is, I'd venture even more of a handful than his significantly pahucha hua elder sibling) and Self resigned ourselves to the only activity that justified such a magnificent seting... serious boozing and intensely heated Daru debates!!!
Ironic that you never have a camera when you really want one!!..:'(
At somewhere past three we instructed the attendant( who stayed patiently awake, waiting on us and even fixing our pegs) that 10 a.m. would be the right time to breakfast...then turned in...
Next morning , Das and me, who were the last to go to sleep were gently woken up at ten...a quick shower and then we joined the rest of the gang at the palace dining room for breakfast and an audience with the Raja...
Breakfast done, we spent the rest of the morning lazing around and smoking Four squares ( which despite being one of the foulest poison sticks available in the country is for some reason the only brand in Rajasthean)...also explored the palace and generally had a nice time...
In the afternoon we piled into the car and headed to Sawai's where,
surprise !!
We were greeted by Subbu, which was a true delight, coz none of us conceived he'd come all the way from Dubai to attend the wedding..but when Savvy gets married public G maraa ke aata hai ( aana hi padhta hai..pyaar hai pagle!!:)..).....and Santy Singh Bappara was there too ...they'd tootled down from Delhi
So from there we headed full filmi style dancing and all towards Parakhiya...
Reached there in the evening , had dinner and dozed off..(the wedding was late at night ..remember)...all this while from about 7 p.m. in the evening till really late in the night sawai had to sit seriously (which is SERIOUSLY difficult for Sawai) all decked up in an extremely becoming ( and, I'm sure, uncomfortable beyond human tollerance levels in Rajasthan's broiling heat) full length suit , while we ayeeshed!!
Late at night we sort of arm twisted Sasur ji into letting us be there at the pheras( not that it helped,coz, we still could'nt see the bride)...and then went straight to bed as soon as the pheras were done..the ceremony continued for a couple of more hours I believe....
[aside2]
Having seen two indian weddings( my sister's wedding) at close quarters, I've come to rest on the conviction that traditional weddings are a real pain in the private-parts-that-hurt-the-worst atleast for the marrying couple...bengali weddings by this count are even worse..oh yes, our muhurats are really late at night as well
[/aside2]
Next morning Subbu had to scram in order to reach Jaipur in time for a flight, and we had to scram if we wanted to stop over at Mt.Abu on the way back...so the plan we hatched late at night was we'd get up nice and early and leave for our respective destinations....
On the way back, we stopped at Mt.Abu, a short detour through the ghats and we were there... beautiful!!...
We:
>Skipped Lunch
>Saw the Dilwara:.. amazing artistry, unbelievable craftmanship, definitely one of the wonders of the world...we also saw the awe inspiring statue of rishabh dev which weighs in at a staggerring 4250 Kgs...
of pure gold...
>hired a camera {mercy!}
>bought some (lots actually:)..) beer
>drank all of it
> drove to the higest point there called Guru Shikhar
> climbed it...( Das was pretty Okkay by this stage..if you know what I mean..and so when our guide said that here is a not so easy trek to the top..Das quickly told him off in no uncertain terms," Boss!..mai teen beer ke baad na , tu mujhe abhi Everest chadne bol mai chad loonga..samjha??"...after some time...{near the top}...Das:" Boss, Everest kal chadoonga to theek hai, kya?"...
> rang the bell there( which is what you're expected to do by way of entertainment once you reach the top, and ate diced/slice/spiced raw Mangas..yum)
> climbed down
>drove to random rock structure with the Mt.Abu Observatory in the background
> danced in the middle of the road, blaring "Kajra re" at full volume from Bunty aur Bali
>bought some more beer & drank it as well
> drove to the lake there
>did some boating
>returned hired camera
>skipped town
We drank all the way back to Bombay...In short trip me full INNjoy maara...
{Sone Pe Suhaaga} As we enter bombay , on the 20th, we are greeted by fulll blown monsooons...happy-happy!..joy!joy!
