When and Where?

It was the month of October when I visited Udaipur. If you don’t know, Udaipur is a beautiful city situated in the state of Rajasthan, amidst the Aravali Range. It is located just near the Gujarat border. Udaipur is around 250Km from Ahemdabad, 400 Km from Jaipur, 660 km from Delhi and appox 800 km from Mumbai. If you want me to describe Udaipur in a single sentence, I’ll quote from ‘Delhi 6’ : “Yeh seher nahi mehfil hai”.

Why?

It was my first trip with my boyfriend (now husband), and it wasn’t pre-planned at all. My boyfriend was supposed to go for sailing in November. Since it was already October I decided to surprise him by visiting him at his home city, Jaipur. I booked my flight and hotel. But I couldn’t keep the lid on my excitement and blabbed to him, that i’m coming to see him. So, I took my flight and reached Jaipur on a fine October evening. And God, the city is green. I belong from east of India and I have always imagined Rajasthan to be a dry old desert. I was taken aback by all the grass, bushes and trees.

My boyfriend picked me up from the airport and dropped me at the hotel. He promised me adventure is in the schedule for the next day. Little did I know, he was going to take me on a road trip to Udaipur. It was my first road trip and I was pretty stoked. The driving distance from Jaipur to Udaipur is around 400 Kilometers. 

Our Journey

We started at 8 in the morning and reached around 5 in the evening. While on the road I saw hills and greenery everywhere. Just after two hours of drive, it started raining. And I saw rains in Rajasthan, the state known for Thar Desert ( unbelievable for me ). I was amazed. The winding road, flanked by trees and hills, the light breeze, the clouds hiding the sun and the downpour. It was like a scene from a movie. We enjoyed the trip a lot. I saw few banjara people on the road and camel too. I booked hotel from Makemytrip while on the way to avoid hassles after we reach Udaipur.

We followed Google Maps and my husband’s instincts blindly, and entered Udaipur little before sunset. Udaipur is also known as the “City of Lakes,” or the “Kashmir of Rajasthan”. It is also called “Venice of East” and why not it has those beautiful lakes, colorful markets surrounded by hills and majestic palaces. It is named after Maharana Udai Singh of Mewar, who found the city in 1553 with the aim to shift his capital from Chittorgarh to Udaipur. After Independence of India from the British rule on 15 August 1947, at the initiative of Maharana Bhupal Singh, the Mewar kingdom merged with the Indian union in 1949 along with other princely states of Rajasthan.

I’m not an avid traveler. I’m the lazy tripper. Both sunrise and sunset in the same day is impossible for me. I know people who get up at 4 and run to the hills to see sunrise, but are still pumped up to see two museums, three “mahals” and sail into those romantic sunset. I prefer to sit back and enjoy everything slow.

About the place

After strolling a bit in the city, we checked into our hotel at 7 in the evening. Our hotel was situated just by the Lake Pichola. We had rooftop dinner that night. It was so calm and peaceful. We could see lights everywhere. The Jag Mandir looked so royal to be true. There are some real beautiful luxury hotels, such as ‘The Oberoi Udaivilas’, ‘The Leela Palace’, ‘Taj Lake Palace’ and many other. I had had rooftop dinners earlier in Mumbai, but it was very different. It was soothing and soul touching. You can just sit silently and stare at the long lost horizon. Red and purple reflections in the lake water along with the city lights etched a vivid picture in my brain.

To be continued..
More to come in my next post.

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