Adventures of Venom - 4!!!

Day 4: 15th November 2007
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The day starts late – as usual. This time for a change, I am in bad shape. The dust has caused my sinus to aggravate and I can’t breathe. I have a running nose and am cranky. (I usually am, but when I am unwell I can be intolerable).
We have breakfast at the Hotel and then push off, of course after clicking a picture of where we were staying. We needed to know right? it was too dark at night to realize how shady the place was. Ajmer is still almost 70-80 kms away. We again realize that someone has been playing with the trip meter, and it is again set to zero. Damn!!!!

We have enough time at hand, and we cruise away. Nothing of mentionable importance happens on our way, except for my insistence of having an ice cream, which we never managed to get.

We reach Ajmer – our 1st stop being the “Ajmer Sharif” dargah. It is said that this is a very holy place and that whatever you ask for here, is always granted. We are asking for directions every 2 minutes – it is in the old city, and we all know how congested and confusing can that be. The lanes are extremely narrow – to the extent that 2 bikes cannot pass each other in parallel. It’s amazingly crowded and it feels like sunlight never touches these lanes. We have trouble finding ourselves any parking. Suddenly we hear someone creaming “yahan aao”. We obviously do not know anyone there and this is very surprising. We turn around to find out that one extra helpful gentleman is calling us out to follow him. Not knowing what to do, we stand there, while he insists that we come with him. Having no other choice, we follow him deeper into the intricate lanes. Finally he helps us park in front of an over crowded food shop and points towards a gate which reads “khwaja Garib Nawaz Guest House”. We are asked to deposit our bags there, as no bags are allowed inside the dargah. We reach the cloak room – a fat lazy guy looks at us from head to toe and says “Isme kya hai”.
I am amused by this question and say “Kapde hain, aur kya hoga?” He clearly takes offence to that and says, “Check karana padega”
OK. If you say so! VS promptly emptied the handbag. Then he turns towards the saddle bag and wants us to empty that as well. I am annoyed by now.
I tell him “Packing kya aap kar ke doge wapas”. This is too much for him and he goes on a tangent. “I can check all bags, I am a defense personnel”.
OK. “Show me your I-card” (That was of course me, while VS is banging his head on the wall, literally). He promptly takes out his card which reads “police constable”. I am almost laughing at this!!!!
Needless to say that after all this story, the ‘defense personnel’ insisted on us taking out each and every piece of clothing. VS, by now, has lost his patience and refuses to keep the bags there. He picks up (more like throws it over his shoulder) the bag and walks out. I run after him.

The guy who had taken us there in the 1st place, now offers to let us keep our bags in his shop. “Why is he being so helpful?” is what VS wants to know, but I tell him “Learn to trust people, Bhagwaan to darwaze pe khade ho”. We accompany this character to his shop, and he lets us keep the bags. Now its time to buy flowers – 350 bucks for a Chadar & some flowers. OK now I know why he was being so helpful!!!! LOL

The Dargah is crowded and like most other places of worship, there are people at every step trying to fleece you! Thanks to VS’s bad mood, we manage to get out of there without paying too much.

Then we head towards Taragarh Fort. I am insisting on it as I am a sucker for Forts / Palaces. The way to Taragarh is very cool. It is steep and the turns make it sexy. After a strenuous ride, we reach the top, only to find that the fort has been demolished (long long ago, by some invader) and all that remains is a Mosque which was built after demolition of the fort!!!!!!! Enough of worship for the day, so we decide not to go in.

We just click some snaps and push off. On our way back, the inevitable search for loo starts!!! LOL!!! We stop by “Prthviraj Smarak” hoping to find something interesting (monuments AND the loo), but all that we see is some couples seeking privacy. Again, we are unwelcome, so we push off.

We enquire about Pushkar, but people tell us that its no fun going there now. The world famous Pushkar Mela is due to start on 18th and that is the time we should visit it. OK. We will do it on our way back then.
We plan to take a night halt at Kishangarh. Again, for the fort. The plan is that we will see the fort in the morning and then push off to Jaipur.

Somewhere down the line we have already ditched the Jaisalmer plan, and I am cribbing about it. Jaisalmer has amazing sand dunes I am told. So that’s a regret I have – traveling all the way to Rajasthan and not seeing the sand dunes!!! Some other time, maybe!

Its already 330 PM and it will get dark before we realize. So we are on our way. By this time, my running nose has made my life miserable and I am unable to enjoy anything. We decide to skip Kishangarh and head straight towards Jaipur. By 400 PM it is clear that I am in a bad shape and could do with some rest. So we decide to head to Delhi (Gurgaon) to our friends place, and do Jaipur on our way back. I can’t keep my eyes open, have a terrible headache and am claiming high fever (which VS does agree to). I cling to him like a monkey and try and get some sleep. (Remember, I told u that I sleep on any moving vehicle unless I am the one diving /riding it!). It is getting dark and cold. The Ajmer – Kishangarh road is bad and takes maximum time for us to cover. Once we cross Kishangarh, the road to Jaipur is just beautiful. It’s a 4 lane highway nicely planned and better constructed. It is chilling on the highway. But we decide to cover as much distance as possible before it gets dark. At around 700 PM, after riding for 3 hours non-stop, VS’s fingers are numb coz of the cold; he can’t see a thing, coz he is wearing shades; and there is no fuel in the bike.
We search for a petrol pump and with each km I feel that I will have to push the bike any minute now. Finally just after crossing Jaipur (on the highway), we spot an IOC petrol pump. We take the opportunity to wear warm clothes, gloves, fuel up and change glasses. Back on the road again.

At around 800 PM, I create a ruckus. Just coz I haven’t asked for a break, VS is not giving me one!!!! I need food! We stop by at some dhaba for Kadhi-Chawal – yummy!!! Hit the road again, hoping that the next stop will be Gurgaon. But we need to stop at 930PM again – we need a coffee to thaw ourselves. VS is wearing all his T-shirts one over the other by now (he is looking funny and fat, but I will skip that!!). I am not that cold, coz I am clinging to him and avoiding the wind all along!! LOL!

The last 20 kms were most killing. Just when you feel that you have reached now, you hit a traffic jam – just outside Gurgaon. The jam took us 30 mins and a lot of off-roading to clear.
We finally reach the friend’s place at 1030 PM. Want to hit the bed right away, but as soon as I reach home, I am already feeling better.
We chit chat till 200 AM, planning about the next day and the trip to Agra. VS has never seen the Taj Mahal and I think that it’s a crime to come all the way here and not see it.
I finally doze off around 230, not realizing that people are still probably talking to me.
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Day 4 ends. Trip meter reads apprx 475 or something.. I am losing track of kms