I have a lot to tell you all. It was a fun weekend. We (me and my housemates) had gone for a trip to Ajmer in Rajasthan (Indian State in the west). It was a fun drive on NH-8 Delhi - Bombay Highway from Gurgaon all the way till the Jaipur bypass to Ajmer. The road was one of the best I’ve seen you could call it a road trip in itself. With arid to semi- arid desert like expanses to both sides, the neat roads with trimmed bushes with yellow flowers in the dividers dividing the lane, the road seemed to get lost into the desert-like horizon. You could make sure you were in Rajasthan once you spot forts, abandoned old palace sort of buildings all along.
The first place which we passed through was Neemrana. I heard it is a resort of sorts. Nestled in the hills you could spot the fort- turned - hotel as you drive on.Now the frequency of spotting camel carts becomes more. As we zoomed along we stopped for a quick gulp at a cafe coffee day. Being a hardcore Aishwarya Rai fan, this trip took me to places that had connections with her latest release “Jodhaa Akbar”. We neared Jaipur in a record 4 hours time. It is about 250 Kms from Gurgaon i guess. Oh! By the way, the fabulous lunch of tinda - tomato subzi, potato - brinjal subzi (that was yummy!) with tandoori baked rotis and dal is unforgettable.But my taste buds were oblivious to the fact that we were going to Rajasthan. Food, colours and amazing buildings. A treat for all your senses.We took the Ajmer bypass a good 30 kms before Jaipur city. The bypass was an elevated road stretch which went right through the edge of the city of Jaipur so you could actually ’see’ Jaipur as you coursed through. Still a good 100 Kms away we were already enjoying the trip. And finally we were there in a record 5 and a half hours time. It was a good day on a good road with almost a trickle of traffic so we had managed it. We parked our car in a private parking space as we walked into the Dargah bazaar. We had planned to see the renowned Ajmer Dargah Sharif. This is the final resting place of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti ( i hope my facts aren’t wrong), remember the song “Khwaja mere Khwaja” from Jodhaa Akbar?
It was my second visit to a dargah / a mosque. I liked it in there. Though it was jam packed as the last of the weekend visitors thronged the place, I had a strange peace about even in that crowd. I got a tray of flowers, washed my hands and legs in the common pool where devotees wash themselves and proceeded to get into the swarm outside the entrance of the shrine. Outside the shrine sat two mullahs who beckoned the four of us. My ex- roommate is a muslim. He was asked for his name and was petted with a peacock feather bunch. So were the flowers and shawl he held . I thought it was some kind of purification ceremony. Next he called us up out of the queue. Later I learnt from my ex-roommate that they were trying to make us nervous and make some revenue. Of course this was unfamiliar terrain for us. But i was not nervous just wondering at what was going on. He asked us for our names. I was shocked about the reaction what the mullah might get when i would tell my hindu name. By that time my friend had intervened and told him they have all told their names or something along those lines. Which essentially meant leave them alone. The people who had lovingly beckoned us had scorns and scowls on their faces now and told us to get back into the queue. Who knows what had actually happened, maybe their intentions were good and my muslim friend had mistook them. Still, he was on familiar ground so he knew better.
As we neared the place through the doorway a strange peacefulness engulfed me. No noise in that area was disturbing. I was amazed. A person standing in the main shrine took my flower tray, told me to touch them and strewed the flowers on the grave. Later on asking him what lay beneath the bed of shawls and flowers my friend told me that it was the grave of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti. He was the messiah of god, though not god himself he is closer to god than us ordinary mortals. Essentially he would recommend our pleas to Allah. After coming out of the melee we came face to face with a prayer group which was singing sufi style songs in praise of the khwaja. It was so much like the Khwaja song.
Another interesting thing that happened there was the tying the thread in front of the shrine. It is said that you make a wish and tie a knot and when it comes true you go back and untie a knot. In that way you make someone else’s wish come true (by untying their knot.. you cant find out where your thread was years back when you tied it can you?). On the way out we saw a very big vessel on top of a wood stove which would be used for public feasts maybe of biryani. After collecting our footwear from the shop we got the flowers we started looking for a place to stay.
We asked a local constable whom we spotted. He was very helpful with his patient explanation and good directions. Then we went to a shop which sold lassi, ghee , butter etc. We had cool lassis topped with malai (cream) in small earthen cups. We asked him about a place to stay. He patiently explained about various places he knew. H e also told us what we can visit in and around Ajmer. As we move along we found a decent looking hotel right on the Dargah Street and we decided to check in. The surprise in store here was, I met a long lost college mate in that very hotel. I mean how would you feel if you saw an unexpected person in an equally unexpected place! I was speechless. After freshening up and placing our orders for dinner I went up to his room to meet him and we reminisced our college days. It was just one year ago that college got over and the memories were fresh.
On return I found my Special North Indian Thali. The food was bad. I didn’t quite like it. The chapattis smelt as if cockroaches had crawled on them. The gravies were OK. But the Boondi Raita was very good. So was the Jeera Rice. After a bit of hearing music and reading we all dozed off as we had changed our plans for the next day. We planned to go to the Sambhar Lake, the largest inland saltwater lake in India. This was definitely a fun Saturday.
Today is Monday. I am back to office, bored with no work. When will the work come?!
