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World Rover: Road Trip to Ajmer & Pushkar: This time my road trip took me to Ajmer & Pushkar. It was Diwali and we got 5 days off from the Office. These two were the only places that ...

Road Trip to Ajmer & Pushkar

This time my road trip took me to Ajmer & Pushkar. It was Diwali and we got 5 days off from the Office. These two were the only places that we did not explore in Rajasthan. Since it was the onset of winter, the time to visit was ideal.

My parents, younger sister and I started at 6.30 a.m. in our CR-V, loaded with unnecessary luggage, pertaining to the big boot of the car. We wanted to make the most use of it, because this was a luxury we rarely get. Eatables, drinks also found a place in the car and we started.

The roads in Gujarat and Rajasthan are unparallel. We took the route from Ahmedabad through Chittorgarh to Pushkar. This was a distance of 548 kms which we covered in 8 hrs flat, including an hour for breakfast near Udaipur. By 2.30 we had reached our hotel in Pushkar too.

Our hotel was called Arambagh, which was located 8 kms beyond Pushkar. The area around us was completely barren, with Babool trees dotting the whole scenery. From the main road, we could see a camp like setting of our hotel which was 1 kms off it. We reached the gates of the hotel, and were welcomed at the reception. Nothing was visible beyond the reception as it was well guarded by walls, increasing the curiosity of the guests. Ultimately we entered the hotel’s womb and were bamboozled. A lush green, Mughal styled garden welcomed us, adorned with a stream and fountains. Here and there, tiny miniatures of birds and animal ornamented the whole setting. Snow white ducks were lazing out in the sun. Our tents bordered the whole garden and our hearts became swollen with joy. This was going to be our habitat for next 3 days!     

The tents were every bit luxury, endowed with a personal plunge pool and an aangan behind it. It all gave me a hedonistic high and I marveled at the beauty of the place. It was a Green Oasis in the middle of a barren desert!

We lazed around the whole evening and took a dip into the beautiful swimming pool within the property. By evening the weather changed completely and it became quiet cool, but none of us carried any woolens. Rajasthani Dance show was arranged for us and we indulged ourselves with the lovely food, enjoying the dance performance.

Next morning, we went out to see the Pushkar Lake and the only Brahma Temple in the world located in Pushkar. We had to park the car on the outskirts of the lake itself due to small congested roads. The walk till the temple was most pleasurable, with small handicraft shops donning the streets, luring us towards them. The Brahma Temple was a nondescript structure containing a small statue of Lord Brahma. After paying our homage, we proceeded towards the Pushkar Lake.

The lake was beautiful, with numerous Ghats surrounding it. The only drawback was that the innumerable pundits attach themselves like leeches to tourists. We were not spared either and before we knew what hit us, we had joined hordes of families in performing some ritual to appease God. In 15 minutes time, we were sucked out and became like a discarded chicken bone, bereft of any meat, useless to the hungry Pundits, who were on a lookout for a plump Tandoori Chicken.

 On the streets, we ate a delicious breakfast of pakoras at a Halwai’s road side shop and watched the life of people living in Pushkar go by. In between, a lone Cow decided to share our meal but we did not oblige. Mouth-watering pakoras for a cow! No way! Later it found its way to a diner called Tree!

We came back to our hotel in the afternoon and took a siesta. Around 5 p.m. we took a camel cart from the hotel for a ride in the desert. The ride, thought bumpy, was very enjoyable. Our Camel’s name was Johnny. Johnny took us around the nearby villages and farms in the desert, and after an hour’s ride, deposited us to our hotels. The whole experience was fun.

We were scheduled to stay back a day more at Pushkar, but since we had nothing more to do, we planned to go to Mt. Abu & enroute pay our homage at Ajmer Sharif Dargah. So next day morning we started for Ajmer and 10 kms before the Dargah itself, the two Khadims started following and attached themselves to us. This was alright, because I had heard horrid tales of how 100s of them suck up your blood until you say yes to one of them to show you around. We parked our car about 2 kms away from the Dargah and walked our way. The streets leading to the Dargah were laden with eateries and shops. People were gorging on Biryani, Mutton and Naan at 9 a.m. itself! We reached the Dargah and bought the ‘Chadar’ and other worship material. We all covered our head and like others, placed the chadar and other worship material on our head, coolie style and went inside. The inner quadrangle of the Dargah was brimming with people and the inner recess was jam packed. We somehow had to push and shove to get near the Mazaar. I fully braced myself for the uncalled-for touching and pinching at the wrong places and took a plunge into the chock-a-block crowd, with my arms working as shield, ready for blind punches to anyone who rubs me the wrong way, literally! We found our way inside, after a lot of shoving and pushing. One should let themselves loose in a crowd because the crowd will take you wherever you want. We did the same and within 10 minutes we were holding the railing of the Mazaar and our Khadim did the honors of placing our chadar on the Mazaar. And within 2 minutes we were out! Surprisingly nothing wrong happened with any of us and as we feared earlier, pilgrims were not reeking with disgusting odor of sweat. We gave the credit to the rose petals that were decorated the whole mazaar which overcame the possible stench of sweat!

The whole experience was exhilarating and to my surprise I enjoyed every bit of it, which was in contrast to my crowd aversive nature. After this we went to see the Mayo School, but were barred from going inside as tourists. The Building from outside looked very stately to me, with a majestic statue of Lord Mayo adorning it.

For our journey to Mt.Abu, we took the road from Pali, onwards to Sirohi to reach our destination. We expected to see it crowded, but what awaited us was different altogether. We reached Mt. Abu around 7 p.m. and got stuck into a Jam! Crowded is a small word, it was mayhem! The crowds of Kolkata would be in their infancy stage compared to this. Newspapers next day reported that 31 lakh tourist were in Mt. Abu that day! We reached our hotel at 9.30 p.m., ate our food and went straight to bed. Next morning was the same scene and we ran away from Mt. Abu at 11 a.m. next morning for Ahmedabad.

My lovely Ahmedabad was deserted! What a relief was that to see. We ate our lunch at a small restaurant called Momoman near our house. It was awesome to call the least. With a sweet and sour journey, we came back home and ended our trip with a divine siesta.