The last time I went on a trip was in October of last year. After five refreshing days in Kashmir, I decided I wanted more of that beautiful valley and those beautiful people and promised to go back in March of this year. Unfortunately, I got sunk deep in work and never got that opportunity. On top of that, the punishing and demanding challenges of work, study, responsibilities, and life in general made it seem as if the walls of stress and torture were closing in on me. So when my mother expressed her wish to travel to Ajmer, I immediately booked my parents tickets to Delhi.

This is my 5 day travelogue from Delhi to Ajmer and Udaipur undertaken during the first week of October during Dussehra holidays and just after Rendezvous ‘25.

PS: I only took postable pictures of Udaipur, sorry! Also, be nice and ask me before using any of these pictures, thank you :)

Day 0 (30th Sep): In the heat of the moment

The toll of the last few days will surely wear me down, I thought as I settled myself into my sleeper berth on the AC bus bound for Ajmer. It was around 11 in the night and we had just boarded from Munirka. My parents were in the adjacent compartment. I took out my newly bought phone and started setting it up - in the rush of the fest, I had dropped my last phone and shattered it into a useless mess.

The new phone had glyphs and I spent some time playing around with it. After thanking the advisory professors for the tech success of the fest on the hastily setup Whatsapp, I could feel the weariness grow in my bones so I pulled my blanket and tried to sleep. I knew I had to wake up early and get us to hotels in Ajmer - the bus was supposed to reach around 7am.

Day 1 (1st Oct): The adrenaline wears off

I woke up around 6 am due to my father’s cajoling and got down from the bus before I could process what was happening. It turns out the driver had left us around 20km away from Ajmer and 2km away from the nearest town called Kishangarh. I was awake by then. I tried to get us Uber intercity but I was aware the attempt was futile and desperate. My mother was standing in the middle of the road. We somehow got onto another bus and reached Ajmer alright. The driver charged us a reasonable 200 rupees. It seemed like a pre-arranged agreement between these drivers. I was shocked because I had booked my tickets through GoIbibo precisely to not be a victim of such tricks. I figured that a complaint email was due but first I needed a bed to crash. The adrenaline build was wearing off and I could feel my muscles all cramped and aching.

We got a hotel around 200m from the Dargah Shareef after considerable hotel hopping. It cost us 2K INR per night since I insisted on a road facing window. The room was on the third floor and secluded enough from the clamor of the streets below. It had an elevator as well for my parents. Being conscious of my parent’s comfort became a recurring theme during this trip and I hope I was able to deliver reasonably.

I slept till afternoon, went out to have lunch and then visited the Dargah in my kurta and pyjamas. I saw huge 100kg+ metal containers on top of a 10ft tall bonfire used for cooking food for the poor. People were donating food and money. The place was swamped with khadims literally meaning “servant” or “attendant”. These supposed descendants of the saint would take you inside the mausoleum sanctum and help you to amplify your prayers to the saint. They, of course, charged a fee. We made sure to stay clear of them.

The rest of the day was restful and quiet as I spent some quality time with my parents at the Adhai Din Ka Jhopra (“The Two and a Half Days Hut”), one of the oldest mosques in India and the cacophonic streets of Ajmer - my most cherished time, always. We put off going to the Taragarh hills to the next day due to fatigue. We had some Mughlai spice and fat heavy dinner at a restaurant after some googling.

Day 2 (2nd Oct): A day of reawakening faith

Day 2 started slow but I had a good sleep so I was rejuvenated. Plans for the day were to explore other things in Ajmer and prepare to leave for Udaipur the next day. I still hadn’t booked any hotels or transport and was pretty much rawdogging it (very unlike me).

We went on a cramped tempo to Taragarh hill, a 30 mins ride costing us around 200 INR for 3 people. The city of Ajmer felt like lego bricks from atop the hill. After averting our share of khadims ushering us to know about the history of the dargah on the hilltop, we went to the inner sanctum and I was honestly blown away by the grandeur and meticule of the architectural design. Millions of tiny mirrors bouncing the warm golden brown light around, giving a playful yet royal feel to the place and on top of that, the cry of khadim, almost intimidating, the background murmuring of prayers and the silent teardrop rolling off the cheeks of the faithful standing in a corner. It was impossible not to feel faith stir up within my soul.

Uber service is highly unreliable in small towns as I soon discovered. We somehow made it to Anasagar Lake and I spent some time meditating, noting, and accounting for the expenses. My parents went for a boat ride on the lake. My mother wanted to visit the Dargah once again and I obliged. Local transport on the auto was dirt cheap.

I could hear the qawwals before I could see them as we entered the inner courtyard. The sanctum was closed but we stood on the sides - some kind of possession seemed to be underway. The qawwals were singing a qawwali (literally “wise utterance” or “saying”) - overgrowth of hair, veining hands masterfully playing the harmonium while their voice continued to hit notes higher and higher. Their entourage assisted with rhythmic hand claps and supporting vocals and accents. Everyone was dressed in white kurta and colorful overcoats just like Nehru used to wear.

Just then, a man emerged from the inner sanctum with a broom and he started mildly hitting the head of people standing in the crowd ahead of us. People started rushing to him as I stood staring. My mother nudged me signaling me to move forward. I resisted as I looked at such things with contempt but she told me “for my sake”. It was a command now. I stepped forward but the man was gone. I turned to my mother and signalled “Tough luck”. She said “Just keep standing”. As if by miracle, another man emerged from the courtyard and landed his broom right and square on my head. I turned and saw tears in my mother’s eyes.

I looked around and found a lot of infants and children running around the sanctum. I inferred they may have been the mannat kids - a personal vow or request for prayer one makes to the saint. I closed my eyes and made a short prayer myself. There were much less crowds at this hour of the late evening and it added to the spiritual surrealism of my second visit.

We left after mother shopped for some memoirs for relatives and friends at home. We went to a shopping mall and roamed around a bit. We had food from the food court and I enjoyed Hyderabadi biryani and savoured the heavenly concoction as my nose relished the aromatic jugaalbandi (“interplay” / “medley”) of the spices.

Day 3 (3rd Oct): The city of lakes and palaces

I had already arranged for transport and booked us hotels in Udaipur. Transport was through a privately booked cab through the receptionist at our Ajmer hotel. The transport cost was 4K which was reasonable given it was a point-to-point drop with very minor inconvenience.

Our driver was a Gujarati late-20s guy who chewed tobacco. He was well-spoken and educated. Our conversations dwindled into his enterprising nature and how he owns a fleet of 20 such cabs and runs these intercity services. He told us how he wants to be “closer to the roots” and that’s why he drives the cab himself once a month or so - to understand “customer grievances”. After a 6 hour journey, we reached around 1pm at our hotel and checked in.

We immediately set out to the City Palace after a hearty thali lunch at a nearby restaurant. The city immediately struck me as more lively and prosperous than Ajmer. The air was more lively and youthful. There were also swamps of tourists - both Indian and foreigners. I was in the city of lakes!

Personally, I was feeling numb and don’t have much recollection. The instinct to ensure safety and comfort had kicked in and I could only see myself planning and researching. I watched everything with a sense of detachment. And then, it rained. Cats and dogs.

We somehow managed to get out of City Palace and make it back to the hotel, tired and weary. My father didn’t feel like eating so I went out with my mother. In that tiny cove far away from other people, even father, I found myself growing vulnerable and I spoke my heart out. About a lot of things that were bugging my mind. My mother, ever so patient and understanding - probably, the only person who understands me - listened to me attentively. It felt so good being heard after so long.

Day 4 (4th Oct): Exploring the city

We had a quick breakfast at a cheap hotel (there were so many options!) and booked a reasonable auto for a city-wide tour. We started out with Aravali Vatika (a normie garden) and went for a boat ride on the Fateh Sagar Lake and then to some random arcade place and then to some other monument and then to a traditional Rajasthani show. We finished off at the Bagore Ki Haveli but found that the tickets were sold out to my dismay. It was drizzling and the contoured, congested lanes and bylanes of the city center, dotting with hawkers and shops selling a gazillion enameled and dyed accessories and garments looked a bit too beautiful and annoying at the same time. I wasn’t meant to give up. We rushed to the second venue and caught the same show. The rain had stopped and we walked back to the hotel. Udaipur is a small city.

We had food at Bawarchi, serving a variety of cuisines. I wanted to have their thali but unfortunately they only served on a per person basis which I felt would be too wasteful. We settled for an a la carte menu. I really enjoyed exploring Udaipur’s food offerings!

At the hotel, I booked our bus tickets back to Delhi using FlixBus after being annoyed by the GoIbibo service and was careful and wary. It cost me a bit more but the trip quality and service was worth it.

Day 5 (5th Oct): Wandering Body and Wandering Mind

Our bus was in the evening and we had the whole day. I had no particular plan and so got more carefree and relaxed. Aimlessly wandering around the city was the plan. As I was relatively more relaxed, I found the mental bandwidth to click a few pictures. We went to Navlakha Mahal, a palace turned into a tourist attraction, and saw a short film on the history of Maharana Pratap Singh and Emperor Akbar. The film leaned towards an anti-Mughal sentiment which was understandable. We roamed around the city through its lanes and streets, along the banks of the Pichola Lake, aided by my handy Google maps. Dad had some tea, mom did some window shopping. We stumbled into the Muslim-majority area along the banks of the lake and dad was a bit shocked. I could see sense the change in the clealiness of the area. We went to get some comfort food and then to a random mall where we rested. It was almost time so we went back to our hotel, collected our baggage and went to the bus stop. After some initial hiccups at the designated stop zone, we onboarded and started out. The bus stopped around midnight at a dhaba and we had some parantha and got snacks for my parents. The ride back was comfortable and restful.

Few cool things I saw at the Bagore museum

Day 6 (6th Oct): All good things end

At around 7 am, we reached Dhaula Kuan metro station. We were in Delhi. The campus was around 2km away and I got an auto after a futile Uber search. I had breakfast at my hostel and checked mom and dad at a nearby hotel. Alas, it was back to drudgery and the monotonicity of assignments and deadlines.

Reflections

I won’t kid myself or patronise myself by just admitting the truth - I find it extremely tiring to plan out trips especially when there are dependents. However, it is an incredible experience and an amazing learning opportunity.

Human songs and dance is such an incredible and potent form of human expression. I love my country. My advice to you, my dear readers, will be to travel. Travel a lot across this magnificent land where the east and the west and the north and the south bear no semblance but all are united through the idea of India. It’s a beautiful idea that just seems to work.

Can’t wait to know more of my motherland.