So we began and we began from the Pink City. A 6 am bus from Pilani and after 5 hours or so, we were there. We were finally in the city of Jaipur, the capital of the state that had been grilling us for these past years. This was though just a pit stop for us. Our actual destination was Udaipur. No wonder we spent just about a day here visiting some of the most "cliched" areas of the city. A quick recap of how we began...

The temperature kept soaring as the day passed. And roaming around inside the Janta Mantar could not have been any more fun for us. So, we visited only a few instruments and made up stories of how they would have been used. Most of these were made up by Suman. We just listened. Meanwhile, we got pictures under our respective sun signs. But, on the whole, we were constantly on the lookout for a shady place to rest!

Despite knowing we had bought tickets for Hawa Mahal and Albert Hall already, and that they were supposed to be closed at 5 pm, we refrained from moving out of Janta Mantar. It was not the shade but the cards that were stopping us! When we finally did, we knew we had to hurry. When we finally reached Albert Hall, it was 4.30 pm and when we were done with this museum, it was 4.45 pm. That was real quick!

It was a long journey by bus, some nine hours or so. And when we finally reached Udaipur, the energy was back. The hot 'kada' and the sweets at the Gurudwara, the on-time cab and a good rest before we began the day at 9 am made sure we got the best out of us, in terms of enthusiasm, at all the places we visited. The only problem we faced was the search of a place to eat, first for breakfast and then, for lunch.

On the banks of Lake Pichola, this place has a flamboyance of its own. We had visited the City Palace of Jaipur already but this one stood out. Despite not being allowed cameras inside the palace (read: they had camera charges higher than what we wanted to pay) and the unexpectedly expensive restaurant here, we wound up our day on a good note, thanks to this place. Do not forget the greenish grass at the entrance, where we did much chit-chat and where some serious creativity came to the fore.

"Congratulations! You have been booked with Tarun in Udaipur on Feb 1-2 for one night"

The magnificent Mewar fortress, a World Heritage Site and the birthplace of Maharana Pratap! The walls of the fort of Kumbhalgarh extend over 38 km, claimed to be the second-longest continuous wall after the Great Wall of China. We got introduced to this place as the better alternative to Mount Abu. Having visited it, we probably realize it was worth it!!!

We never clicked photographs en route Ranakpur Temple and even after we reached the place, we were not allowed to. But, it will be difficult to evade the memories of the spectacular architecture of this place. Several hundred pillars were in place and we discussed for a while, what the exact number could be. However, the real charm was the road travel from Kumbhalgarh to Ranakpur, isn't it? Even while returning to the city of Udaipur, the road travel became fun with those song dedications. 'Which song will play next' was never a bigger suspense! Returning to spend some time in the evening at Lake Pichola was a wonderful decision we took. Ah! That evening!

This is just a teaser of the video we made for that grand entry into Udaipur's railway station. Yes, there was a reason for that grand entry. Check it out if you don't remember!!!

It was a crazy journey in the train to Ajmer. When we finally reached the city, we had drained ourselves of any sleep despite knowing we won't get a chance to get some good sleep ahead. The slow walk towards the Ana Sagar lake was completely lethargic.But the lake and garden treated us well and when we departed for the Dargah Sharif, we were supposedly active again or so we said. It only needed a trigger to recall the sleep monsters inside us. And I remember what happened at Aunt's House :D Not to forget, on the 3rd of February 2014, we never brushed our teeth. Kanav would exclaim "Ewwww!!!!!!"