The Golden Triangle

Mid October marks festivities in Calcutta with Durga Puja being a big celebrations amongst the people here. The city celebrates with a 4 day off from work and a longer break for school. The entire city is filled with abodes for goddess Durga. Music, lights, dance, crowd- all the highlight of this grand festival.

So, here, we get this break and we decide to head off to Delhi to go on a trip to Agra, Jaipur & Udaipur, affectionately known as the Golden Triangle (Delhi-Agra-Jaipur)

The trip starts with us reaching the airport half an hr before the scheduled departure of our flight to Delhi from Cal. We are told that we are absolutely the last to check-in...but we realise that we weren't that late. When we boarded the flight, there were people behind us waiting to board. We board the flight and are welcomed by a full flight. Knowing my luck, I had problems settling down in my seat. Why?? All because there was already someone sitting on my seat with my seat number printed on his boarding pass. Indian efficiency for u! So, the airhostess tries to find out what happened while I struggle to give way to the inflow of passenger, given the narrow aisle. Eventually she comes and requests the guy sitting on my seat to move to another seat. He refuses and she tells me to go. Good I agreed coz I had plenty of leg room. Stupid guy for refusing! We then reach Delhi 2 hours later.

The heat is cruel and we were again whisked into our car that we had arranged for our travel. We take a 5 hour drive to Agra, get a glimpse of the awfully congested roads of Delhi, compliment Kolkata on its 'Not so bad after all' status and also a rally which i hear ended ydy. People from all states congregated and were walking from Bhopal. Madhya Pradesh to Delhi to meet the governor. We finally reached Agra and checked into our hotel for a brief rest.

Shortly after that, we started to make our journey towards the wonder of the world- Taj Mahal. Wat a mess it was outside the entrance. There were 2 queues, one for the ladies (which obv had no sign suggesting that) and one for the men. Reason : Security screening. Unaware of the 2 queues, I lined up together with Vinod in the men's one. As we reached the entrance, the guy tells me the ladies queue is on the other side. What #$%^& luck! I had to go all the way to the end of the ladies queue, only to find myself waiting for another 30min.. Ladies jostling behind with one sticking to me like i was a magnet which attracted her. Some others tried to jump queue from the men's line to the ladies. I refused t budge. I pushed them aside and barricaded such that they would end up behind me. Tats wat these brainless women deserve. Wats worse, they have the audacity to tell the security guys that they were in the queue when obviously they out of it.

After the severe jostling, I eventually made it in. All my anger and frustrations disappeared looking at that magnificent piece of architecture. Lovely surroundings. Had a damn good look around the Taj Mahal and then headed to the Agra Fort. The place where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son. After that we went back to our hotel for a gd nite's rest.

Day 2: We started our journey to Jaipur, also known as the Pink City. Once there, we visited Palaces and forts...Just trying to imagine the kind of luxurious lifestyle these rulers lived, makes my head spin in wonder. Highlight of the trip was a visit to Choki Dhani, an ethnic Rajasthani village. Exhibitions, dance, rajasthani dinner,etc etc all awaited us.

Day 3: Was also spent in Jaipur

Day 4: We headed next to Udaipur where we spent 2 days. The city is gorgeous and is known for its lakes and beautiful palaces. Amazing architecture. Highlight: Fireworks on the last day of Navrathri while having dinner by the lake. How romantic!

Day 5: We set off for Kolkata, eager to go back to a pleasant and not-so-harsh weather. Rajasthan was awfully hot. All in all, a damn good trip!!

Next trip : Singapore & Bangkok! :D

Cheers