Driving Trip to Rajasthan

I, Shums and Munchy decided to take a break from our hectic lives and go off to a driving trip to Jaipur, Ajmer and Pushkar. We also decided to take our parents and parents' friends along.It was an amazing trip. We all took off on friday and combined the weekend to get 3 days for the trip. We started at 5 AM on friday morning and after taking susu breaks at a couple of roadside dhabas reached the famous Amer fort at around 11 AM.

The Amer, whose actual name is Amber was built some 500 years back and has an amazing history. It is huge and majestic. The elephant ride from the base of the hill to the fort is royal. The bedrooms still have an amazing art all over the roof and walls. And queen's saree wieghed 9 kgs and jewellery weighed 40 kgs! They had rain water harvesting in 1592. And we had coffee in Raja's dining area.

After that we went to the famous LMB restaurant in Jaipur and had some traditional rajasthani lunch. We then drove to Ajmer and checked in after a long tiring day. Us kids were okay but our old folks (parents) got tired.

Next day, we went to the famous Ajmer sharif.

It is one of the holiest places of worship in India. We travelled in a Tonga on the journey back to the hotel. The horse's name was Johnny and Shums' horse was named Raja.

We then went to the Ana Sagar Lake in Ajmer and tried our hands (rather legs) on pedal boats. But it was too hot and we came back.

After taking lunch and a nap for some time we headed to Pushkar. It is a very famous Holy place, has many temples, a lake and a very long road where one can spend any amount of time. We bought some interesting stuff, had dinner and headed back to the guest house. These old folks get tired rather easily.

Happy Holi

Happy Holi it was! Sadly, papa was not here as he had gone to Bangalore to attend a training. I missed him but still enjoyed it. Ma and I went to dadaji’s home to celebrate holi. It was his b’day as well. Sudha naani had made delicious dishes (gujhiyaa, matthi & namakpaara) and sent them over. On choti Holi (a day before Holi), we played with flowers and chandan (sandal). I got 2 pichkarees (water canons) – one small boy (named pichhu by dadi), who used to pee on pressing his belly button and the other, a mouse (given by gaurav chachu).
I liked the pichhu so much that bua got me three more (in different colors). Dadaji also bought me blue gulal & water bombs (balloons in which you fill water and throw at others). We then went downstairs with bua and ma to play holi with other children. I was the youngest of the lot, but enjoyed myself thoroughly (unlike last year, when I used to fear water & water bombs). The children were all bigger than me but I forced them to spray water all over me. I also threw water bombs at others but
my aim was too bad and all my water bombs went waste. I cried whenever anybody else shot a water bomb on me ?. I also applied gulal (color) on myself each time it came off due to water splashed by others. In the end, I threw all my water bombs (about 100 of them) one by one, on the road from the balcony.

Finally after cleaning myself, I dressed in my favorite lehnga chunni and went for holi lunch downstairs (poori aaloo, idli, vada & icecream). What a day!

Graduation Day

That's what they called the day i "graduated" from play school (GAIA) to a big school. It was actually my school's annual day and I was performing. Our sweet little play was about going green, the fact that trees are our friends and we should conserve forests. I was one of the Trees :) and had fun dancing with other trees. I think i did well, much better than papa (who is known for being a poor performer in annual days during his school days). The credit goes to Maa though - she had volunteered to work with the teachers and make sure all kids were ready and decked up.

Another good thing happened on the same day. It was also Garima Bua's convocation on the same day. She also graduated with me :). Okay maybe graduated is not the right word as she got her post graduation and she's a big doctor now.

However, like all good things, my stay at GAIA is also coming to an end. I will go to Amity from April and i don't think i like that. I am not sure if it will be as good as this but we'll soon find out.

BTW, we went to a flower show last weekend. It had an amazing display of flowers and lot of fun games.