A Rajasthani adventure

After spending 7 months away from friends and family in the UK, my best friend and partner in crime Hollie decided to come and visit me here in Delhi. This also coincided with my roommate Mallika’s holiday from college so we decided to plan a trip to Udaipur. We originally planned to go with a larger group of friends but in the end it was just me, Hollie, Mallika and her friend Vikrant that decided to go.  We planned and booked everything ourselves and I was excited to finally be able to explore more of India.

On 5^th March, after a very rushed start due to getting our train times mixed up, we got an Auto to Nizamuddin railway station, jumped on our train and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. We were travelling in 3^rd AC class which holds 3 tiers of fold-out bunks/benches and was reasonably clean and comfortable. To pass the time, we played various games and ate plenty of food. After a while, we clambered oh so elegantly

Photo: Hollie Thomas

(ha!) into our bunks and attempted to sleep. We drifted off to a typical train’s lullaby of creaking bunks and snoring uncles. We woke at 4.30 feeling not entirely refreshed and tried to get all our stuff together without falling on people (though Hollie did manage to stand on someone whilst climbing down from her bunk!) I even managed to use the toilet on the train without falling in as I feared; it really was just a hole in the floor!

We arrived at Chittorgarh train station just after 5am, had terrible chai in the station and took obligatory photos under the station’s yellow sign (every station has one). Thanks to Mallika’s grandfather’s connections, we had organised to leave our bags at a military school in Chittorgarh, so once daylight appeared, we took an auto to the school. Very generously, they had provided us with a room in the guesthouse so we washed up and all piled into the bed for a desperate attempt at some sleep. I woke up at around 9am and got myself organised for the day ahead (organisation is clearly more important to me than sleep...). Slowly, very slowly, the others started to wake up. We all got washed and changed, and after a grumpy start we headed to breakfast which had very generously been laid out for us. An hour and a half later than planned, we eventually set out for the day.

Photo: Mallika Sobti

We took an auto to Chittorgarh fort and spent most of the day exploring the ruins and taking photographs. The ruins were really beautiful and had some great views too! After lots of walking and hopping between

patches of shade for our resident ginger Hollie, we decided to get an auto to a nearby market that had been recommended to us. Unfortunately the market was pretty disappointing, so we bought some grapes for the evening and caught an auto to a place called Hotel Meera for dinner. After devouring our butter chicken, we headed back to the school to pick up our bags. On our way out, we thanked the man who had organised for us to stay there and very generously refused to let us pay. At the train station our only option was to take the 2 hour journey to Udaipur in general class but it turned out to be a very quiet and pretty clean train so all was well. Once we reached the hotel, it wasn’t long before we were sleeping like babies!

Our hotel in Udaipur was located in the heart of the tourist market, making it easily accessible from most places. Over breakfast at a German bakery called cafe Edelweiss we planned out our day and soaked up some mid morning sun. After breakfast we walked to the City Palace, stopping off at several shops along the way, which would soon become a recurring theme throughout our trip! After

downloading the city palace tour guide app (genius idea), we made our way into the palace to look around. Initially we planned to spend just a couple of hours in the palace but there were so many beautiful things to see that we stayed for at least 4 hours! Exhausted, we started a desperate hunt for some thali for lunch. For those of you that don’t know, thali is like a taster dish, you basically get a bit of everything, including things like daal, rice, raita, various curries, breads, sweets etc. We ended up in a restaurant called Bawarchi and ate until we could eat no more. Next we headed to a cable car to take us up to Machla Hills. Unfortunately, we just missed sunset but the views were still beautiful. We decided to explore beyond the viewpoint and ended up at a little outdoor temple right at the very edge of a precipice overlooking the city. Night had just taken over the sky and looking over the edge was like looking into an abyss, it was all very dramatic, especially as there were no fixed handrails! Due to the location of the temple, there was almost a 360° view which was absolutely stunning.

You felt like you could see the whole of the city lit up below you. Standing at the edge made me feel both powerful and incredibly vulnerable. It was very surreal. After a few moments to myself soaking in such an intense view, I joined the others and we travelled back down the cable car. By this time we’d done so much slow walking that my ‘old lady knees’ were causing me quite a bit of trouble but I soldiered on. We ended up in a place called Pushkar’s for a light dinner and drinks. The brit in me jumped at the chance of a gin and tonic or two. We spent the evening lounging on cushions, drinking, playing cards and listening to reggae. It was the perfect ending to a very long day.

The next morning we went for breakfast in a dhaba next to the local temple and had my favourite breakfast of poha and chai. After breakfast we got an auto to Shilpgram tribal village which was a very surreal, model

tribal village. After exploring for a while, we decided to head out after a quick break for kulfi. Refusing to pay extortionate prices for an auto, we set off walking. After walking for what felt like miles in direct sunlight, we decided to try hitching a lift to the nearest town to get an auto. After a few tries, we ended up cramming into a small car filled with huge boxes of snacks and spices. Eventually we found and auto and soon realised we had been walking in completely the wrong direction. Oops! Next we visited Saheliyon ki badi gardens, had a look around and travelled on to the Vintage car museum for another thali lunch.

After going back to the hotel to pick up our bags, we took an auto to the bus stand to catch our 7pm bus back to Delhi. At the travel office, we were told that our bus had been cancelled. So, there we were, in a seedy (even by my standards) part of town, looking like obvious tourists and with no way of getting home. After trekking to the train station and back we decided that our best option was to take another bus from Udaipur to Jaipur and the Jaipur to Delhi. This meant waiting until 11pm so we got the hell out of there and went back to the bar we’d spent the previous night in. We chilled out, trying to block out the sound of obnoxious travellers bragging about their gap year revelations and then headed back to the bus station again. Between the four of us we had two double bunks on the bus, which was actually pretty plush and comfortable (there were even tv screens in the bunks). I drifted off to sleep with that falling feeling jolting me awake every time we went around a corner. At 7.30am we arrived in Jaipur, made our way to the bus stand and found a bus that was leaving for Delhi in 5 minutes. We rushed to the bus, loaded our bags and hopped on. This is where the never-ending journey from hell began. This bus was nothing like the previous, comfortable clean bus.  There were standard coach seats down the length of the bus with small bunks above. We sat on the seats at first, trying to sit tactically away from the creepy stares of strangers but as the bus filled up, we had to sit up in our bunks. I use the term ‘bunks’ loosely. Coffins may be a more suitable word. With slightly tinted sliding glass doors, the bunks were both sweaty and not very private. Once again I shared a bunk with Hollie which was unfortunately in perfect line of sight for the creepiest guy who stared at us for almost the entire journey, and I’m not exaggerating! Not only was the bunk hot and sweaty, it was also incredibly dirty; there was an old dusty mat to sit on that itched even through our clothes. After 7 hours of awkward sleeping, mind numbing boredom and filth, we finally arrived in Delhi! After a 15 minute metro journey and hauling our bags up endless stairs, we were eventually home.

Despite the not so fun journey home, it was really nice to take some time off from work and see a bit more of India. Even better that I could do so with good company and on a budget too!

A very Delhi Christmas

2013 definitely held host to the most surreal Christmas I've ever had. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary happened but when you break lifelong traditions for the first time it feels pretty strange. I am a huge fan of Christmas, I love everything about it (ok, so maybe not the tv adverts) but the main things for me at Christmas are good food and spending time with my family. We did manage to organise a nice enough Christmas dinner but it was easy to see that we were all missing our families.

I spent Christmas with my two British friends out here and I think we managed to make the most of a tough situation; one of the things we've definitely learnt out here is to make the most of what we've got! We did manage to keep to one Christmas tradition though; we spent the majority of our time eating and drinking much more than usual. We all got chance to Skype our families too, which put me in such a great mood, I'm really glad that talking to my family back home makes me giddy rather than upset as I'm terrible with emotional stuff.

What was really tough for me was actually jealousy. My parents had flown back to the UK from The Gambia to spend the festive season with friends and family but I know that if I’d done the same I probably wouldn't be able to leave again. I do sometimes have moments were I find myself thinking "What the hell am I doing here? Why am I not in the UK with my friends, family and the security that comes with them?" It is tough sometimes but I know that this is an incredible opportunity for me and I’d kick myself in years to come if I didn't make the most of it!

Getting out of the city

So, after 3 months living in one of the most polluted cities in the world, I finally got the chance to breathe fresh air again! Being a country bumpkin at heart, I was excited to hear that we would be doing some work in the Indian countryside, working with kids from villages surrounding Pench national park in Madhya Pradesh.

Though I've been in India for quite a while now, I'm ashamed to say I had never travelled by train here, so I was pretty excited about our journey. It turned out that there was no need for excitement. After 13 hours of trying to sleep in a coffin-like bunk and restricting water intake to avoid the horror of the toilets, My boss and I arrived, sporting splitting headaches and with the sound of pig-like snoring ringing in our ears.

Next up was...yet more travelling! I assumed the 3 hour car journey to Pench would be a good chance to catch up on some sleep. Of course I was wrong. After about 20 minutes of smooth tarmac, the potholes began. Though I'm not sure potholes is an extreme enough term for these roads. Our little generic taxi seemed to fly over each lump and bump in the road and crash back down, only to be flung back into the air by yet another bump. Amazingly we managed to sleep a little due to extreme exhaustion but ended up with bruised faces and drastic hair (not that we cared by this point).

We were then transferred into a Jeep to be taken through the national park to our rest house in a place called Karmajhiri. The Jeep's suspension felt heavenly! After a beautiful drive through the park, we arrived at the rest house, dropped off our bags and walked the short distance to our classroom for the next 2 days.

Shortly after setting up, children from one of the local village schools turned up and the lesson began. Our topic for the day was renewable energy which consisted of activities using solar panels and making potato batteries. After a timid start, the kids started getting into the swing of things and seemed to really enjoy taking light measurements and competing to build batteries out of root vegetables.
After lunch and a quick sunbathe we were back to class for our second lesson of the day. We ran the same lesson again for another group of kids from a different school nearby. By the time we had finished the lesson, we were truly knackered!

As my boss went to find the ever elusive phone signal hotspot, I could think of nothing better than a nice long nap! I headed back to our room where the most horrifying (yet strangely amusing) thing happened to me. Our room had an Indian toilet, which was no problem for me as I spent 3 months using one last time I was here, but this time it played host to the scene of nightmares (OK, maybe I'm being slightly dramatic). So, without going into too much detail, when using an Indian toilet you have to look down to be sure that you're ‘aiming’ right. This time, as I looked down, I saw a spider just smaller than my hand, crawling up out of the toilet. This caused me to freeze out of fear and panic. The strangely amusing part was that I was still 'going' and I couldn't seem to stop. Basically, I pissed on a massive spider. How many people can say they've done that? Actually, how many people would want to say they've done that?! 

On the third day, we rose at 6.30 for a bird walk with Subash, a guide who takes time out to help us with our classes. It was so beautiful being in the jungle first thing in the morning; the only sounds were leaves rustling in the wind and the sweet cheep of birdsong. We saw Forest owls, a Flameback woodpecker, canary fly catchers, bobtails and more, though I was more interested in the general scenery, which I saw mainly through the viewfinder of my 35mm camera, though the photos are yet to be developed.
After the mornings class with yet another group of kids, we moved to a lodge just outside the national park gates called Mahuavann, had a proper shower and headed out to visit the school we work with in a village called Telia. After a quick tour of the school, meeting some of the children and a discussion with the head teacher about our plans, we had to head back to pack for our flight home.