From Ahmedabad we went by train to Jaipur where we spent the next eight
days at the home of Srilata and Mahendra Chowdhury. Although our base
was Jaipur we visited and stayed two nights at a real fort, on the
outskirts of Jaipur. It was my first visit to a fort and it was quite
an experience living high up in the residential part of the fort with
its cool rooms, some large, others tiny, some corridors so narrow and
so low one had to bend one's head to walk through. The time of our
visit coincided with the famous solar eclipse which was the talk of the
town but I was disappointed with the eclipse as it darkened only
briefly before returning to normal again. My friends told me later that
the TV experience was far more wonderful.
In Jaipur we went sightseeing almost everyday, visiting forts, palaces
and shopping bazaars, and had delicious kulfi and lassi in mud pots,
and mouth-watering chicken tandoori. We drove down to Udaipur, where we
went boating on the famous lake, saw some more palaces and then to
Srilata and Mahendra's second home in Ghantali where we swam in the
river behind the house and fished with the village boys.
The vacation ended with a 3 hour bus journey to Ratlam station, from
where my brothers and I returned to Mumbai with my mum while my dad
went on to Delhi.
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