Rajasthan Trip 2006

At Ajmer we got down and in the train we had decided that we would go to Pushkar straight away. So after getting down at Ajmer, we boarded a Mi9nidor auto and got down at Agra gate. He charged us Rs 3 each from there. One man guided us to a place where buses to Pushkar are available. It was a walking distance and the bus was waiting. It was an empty bus but got full in 5 mins. The bus started immediately after it was full. The way to Pushkar was through a hill and the way through was like a serpent, therefore the mountain is called as ‘Nag pahad’ which means snake mountain. It was a half an hour journey and on the way we saw a lot of langoors. We reached at Pushkar, and bus stand is far away from the town. After getting down from bus, i called a few hotels and finally decided to stay in Paramount Palace.  It was a good place and had a good view to the lake. Our room had a lovely balcony from where we had a beautiful view of whole of Pushkar. Immediately after checking in we went for a stroll in the market of Pushkar. We roamed around and went to a few temples. Since it was a Laxmi poojan Day (21^st of October 2006), all the temples were beautifully lit by Diyas. Most of the people were performing pooja’s in their shops and they were using sugarcanes for performing pooja. Three sugarcanes were tied together to make a pyramid like shape and pooja was performed. We went to Rangnathji temple which is the temple of Vishnu and it showed two women on his sides. On enquiring with the poojary, he told that one was Laxmi and the other was Prithvi, the earth. Palkhi was taken out, with the god in the palki, on that day. And every one was in very joyous mood. Food was a big problem in Pushkar as many hotels were closed due to Diwali and finally we had to eat at the hotel opposite the Brahma Temple. The food was expensive and substandard.  Afettr having food, we went to our room and slept.

22^nd October 2006

Next day we got up at 5 am and went to Brahma ghat. There I took bath and sprinkled water on Sakhi, Tanvi and Vidya as they didn’t want to take bath. We recited the Morning Prayer at Brahma temple and then went behind the temple. There were lot of peacocks and we were pleasantly surprised but before we could take photos they ran away. Then we stayed there for almost half an hour and could not take a photo of peacock.  But I took the photos of the sunrise and the photos of Savitri which was on the top of the hill. This Brahma temple is unique as it is said to be the only Brahma temple in the world. This story goes like this. Lord Brahma came to Pushkar and found this place to be very holy. So he decides to perform a Yagna here. But since his wife Savitri was not here, he married to Gayatri and performed Yagna. But when his wife Savitri came,. She came to know of what had happened. She cursed Brahma, that no where else will Brahma be worshipped and therefore this is the only Brahma temple. Then we had breakfast at roadside vendor and then we went back to our room. When we came back at around 10AM we went back to grounds at Pushkar fairs. It was 10 mins walk from the room. The reaching the ground we saw lot of camels. Everybody insisted that we have a camel ride, so we paid Rs 100 each and hired 2 camels. On one camel Vidya and Sakhi were sitting and on one Tanvi and myself were there. We took a round of the fairground which took an hour. It was a wonderful experience which had to be experienced to know the form of it. On coming back we went straight to our room and picked our bag. It was almost 11 am when we were going to bus stand, we saw Hotel Garden view. We inquired about the lunch and they said that it was ready. So we went there and had a nice lunch. Then we got into the bus for Ajmer. On getting down at Ajmer, we walked all the way to Durgah. Our bags were really heavy, so on the way, in one of the shops, we kept our bags. He was a utensil vendor and was a real gentleman. He readily accepted to keep our luggage. We kept luggage inside his shop and went to the Durgah. We reached the Durgah at 2.30pm, but it was closed. It is closed from 2.30 to 3.30pm. We bowed from outside and the proceeded to see the Adhai Din Ka Jhopda. It was a wonderful site to see. It was a Sanskrit college which was plundered by Mohd. Ghori in 1198 and was converted into a mosque.  On coming back we took our belonging from the shop, thanked him profusely and proceeded to the station. We took a cycle rickshaw to the station, and he dropped us at the station. The train was scheduled to leave Ajmer at 4.20pm. so we were at the station well in time. The train was late by 15 mins but when the train arrived it was completely empty. We went to the seat that we had reserved and Sakhi and Tanvi started playing. We reached Jaipur at around 7.30pm. on reaching Jaipur I called up Karni Niwas. He picked us up from the station, but we were not happy with the rooms. So we said we will see other Hotels also, and so we went to Jwala Guest House. He was a thorough gentleman and gave us some very useful tips. We got a room at Rs 500 per night. It was an AC room and a good one. Some of the tips that Mr Shekhawat gave, was not to buy anything from Jaipur. Everyone will try to take you to a shop and will make you buy some exquisite item, but he said that anyone who takes tourist to this shop are paid 20% of the sale proceeds. Hence he told to be very careful about this one thing. Then we told him to arrange for hot water for bath. Then we had our bath and went to Hotel Mohan. It was a good hotel which served good delicious meals. We had our stomach full here, then went to our rooms, started the A/C and went to sleep.