A trip without something adventure is like a cake without an icing. So a few days ago, we went on a trip to Jaipur. My sister and I have been to the city before but it was for our mom. She had not visited the Pink city before and had a keen desire to do so. Hence , we thought of taking her to explore this beautiful city.
The idea of a visit had been there since long but the plan got finalized only at the last moment. I love the idea of planning, researching about the place, looking for lodging, places to eat and visit. But this time, I let my sister do all of it on her own. I took a back seat and did not care at all where all we were going to stay which train we would board. I knew we were in safe hands.
A day before the scheduled departure, in the morning my sister did all the reservations, bookings of hotels. This time she went ahead with a Groupon deal for a hotel. She had shown me pictures of a few that she had shortlisted and both of us together zeroed in on the one we decided to go ahead with. This was the day when I had an interview too. So in the morning till afternoon I had been out. When I came back home, I knew I had to do some packing. Since it was just a two days trip, it would not require much of an effort. We packed our bags and slept after dinner as we had to board the train in the morning. I booked a cab for us till the railway station and then slept.
The alarm on my Mom's phone rang at 4 (or was it at 3 30). I had woken up but was lazying around a little. All of us got ready in time. I called up the taxi driver and he said he would be there in time. He was taking sometime to reach. so I called him again. The anxiety level was shooting up in my sister and mom for the fear of missing our train. After a while he shows up. My brother in law sees us off. So the gang of girls set forth in our journey. Gang includes our youngest member of the family, my mom, my sister and I.
Where is adventure so far? Do not stretch your imagination too much. We are not going to tell you stories of things like jumping off Amer Fort or diving in the "Jal" to reach Jal Mahal.
So where were we? In the taxi. While we are sitting in the taxi, my phone rings up. It is my brother in law calling. He has a piece of information for us. And quite a significant one. The voucher of the groupon deal has been left in the house. We have forgotten to carry it along. Generally, they need to check the voucher to be able to avail the deal. For a second, I feel tension mounting . But come on, we live in an era of smart phones. Where we show our e tickets in train without wasting paper, we can show our vouchers on phones too. We believe in saving our trees. So I ask him to send the voucher on my email. This is resolved.
The driver is taking us through roads we have never seen. Actually, I have never been to Gurgaon's railway station before. So I am clueless anyway. Even my mom is and my niece too. My sister, I guess she knows. But only once she has been there too. So I am clueless on her stance as well. But the problem is not the route. The problem is the driver. He is driving as he pleases. Not slowing down at all, he would have almost hit a cyclist had he not applied the breaks on time. Not that he was at fault but he should have atleast been alert to avoid the sudden application of break. My mom has some problem in her spine so she has to avoid such thrills. And this one has certainly hurt her a bit , or a bit too much. With strict words we tell him to be careful. A few minutes later, we reach the station. Finally.
After a few minutes of waiting, our train's arrival is announced. We get all ready to board the train as it stops only for two minutes. We have two bags, my niece to be carried. I tell my sister not to worry. I assure her we might find some help amongst our co passengers. Not that we are only looking for help. We can certainly manage on our own. The train enters the platform. My niece clings to her mother as tightly as she can. The whistle of the train, so loud has frightened her a little. The train stops and we board it. My mom enters the train through the second door. I jump on to the compartment first with the bags and then my sister and niece come inside. We have to pass by a few seats to reach our places in the compartment. As I drag my bags, I stop in front of our seats. My sister, niece and my mom have taken their seats. I am standing right now, waiting for others to pass me by and settle so that I can keep the bags at their places. The bags are not light. They are kind of heavy but not that heavy but still it is not like a feather either. I ask my sister to help me put the bags in the cabin above our seats. Amongst the whole crowd of men passengers, only two gesture to help, which is quite nice of them. When the bags settle, everyone settles, we settle, my sister reminds me of the help I had just talked about. And then I realize that in reality how less people help each other. But somehow I think you will certainly find someone with a helping hand.
My niece is one year old. She has learnt how to walk. She loves walking by herself without any help. In all this excitement of hers, she doesn't understand how she cannot walk everywhere without our help, because she is unaware of the danger of hurting herself. This awareness is only our responsibility. Oh, how free she is! So in the train she would like to walk a little. It is actually a little difficult to contain her movements. Sometimes under my supervision and more often in her mom's she walks a little in the very narrow passage that has been provided to her in the compartment by Indian Railways (I am not at all complaining here) After some excitement, she might have tired herself and she dozes off in her mom's lap.
We come to have some calm and peace. The train approaches its destination. We have to call the travel desk of the hotel to get us cab. The hotel people will provide us a free pick up from the station which is quite the norm in Jaipur. My sister takes care of it. She has been asked to message the train details and so she does. We know there is a cab waiting for us. We have now reached our destination. We get off the train.
As soon as step down, my sister takes out her phone to check on the cab driver if he is there. The call ends itself without even ringing once. She asks me to call from my phone. Same thing happens with me and similar is the case with my mom's phone. All three of us have the same network connection and same company phones. There is some problem which we are unable to understand. This inexplicable phenomenon gives us our share of headache. We come out of the station. I whatsapp my bro in law to call us to check whether our incoming calls are doing fine. And guess what? We can receive calls. So this whole confusion takes place for about 15 to 20 minutes when finally the travel desk calls up my sister and asks us to board the taxi. We ask them in turn to ask thE cab driver to contact us because we are facing a serious problem with our phones. As soon as he hangs up, we see a man with my sister's name written in a sheet of paper. So everything is so simultaneous, that we finally take a deep sigh to let this whole thing sink in.
We have now gotten into the taxi., The hotel is not very far from the train station. We reach there in say ten minutes. The hotel is beautiful from outside., It has a traditional Rajasthani architecture that attracts us all the more. We get inside the hotel. We go straight to the reception desk, ask him to check our details. We tell him about our Groupon deal. The e voucher it seems should be okay with the hotel people. He doesn't ask us for a print out. Can we be now relieved a bit? Yes ofcourse, you would tell us. But no, we can't. This guy he cannot find our reservation. He checks the computer there is no entry of booking in our names. How is that possible? It is one of those moments when any one of us can lose our cool and shout out loud on this guy who has just ruined our whole excitement by declining the idea of us booking a room. To our surprise, all three of us are as cool as the morning breeze. We are chatting normally, trying to locate where resides the problem and also the solution.
As of now, our phones have remained in the same state of being non functional with respect to outgoing calls. So we ask permission to use the phone at the hotel. My sister calls up my bro in law to check out with Groupon for such a huge mistake. She also uses the internet to check out other hotels. There is one right next to this one, which is just about okay but would not match the standards of this hotel. I have been asked to find out whether the other hotel is booked or does it have some place. I go and check. It seems almost vacant. No one has preferred to stay in this one. As the rooms do not fulfill our requirements we decide to keep on checking other hotels. We are also aware that our empty stomachs have been too empty and they need their share of food. So we go to the restaurant of the hotel to have some food. While in the restaurant, my sister and bro in law are still looking into what can be done.
The hotel that wasn't supposed to be ours
So basically, we have reached our destination but we haven't yet found a place to stay. Our schedules are running behind what we had planned. There is a taxi wala who had been booked to take us arounfdthe city. He has been calling us. He doesn't understand the intensity of the situation we have found ourselves in. And then I think, with a few people getting involved in the whole issue, what finally comes out as a solution is that the hotel's owner who has two three properties in Jaipur has decided to make us the very first guests of his new property whose inauguration is today and that is in the outskirts of the city near Le Meridien. This was not at all how we had planned it out. We finally decide to go ahead with it. The historic moment in their lives and in our lives too. (Historicity comes at its own price). So we take a cab till this hotel which takes us all the way to Delhi Jaipur highway and then drops us to the hotel. It seems at one point that our travelling part would never end. But finally it does. We have reached. We certainly have a place to stay.
But this trip hasn't come to an end yet my entry has. I feel now I cannot write anymore today. So maybe if I feel I would continue it in the next entry or just leave it like that.. I am so unsure myself!!
So I am going to rename my entry's title as Jaipur - Part I or should I leave it as Jaipur?
PS: Do not be surprised if no Part II follows. Pray for my mood to be as in form the next time as it is now to have the complete picture.
