Udaipur : Day 1
The year is 1559, Chittorgarh was besieged by Akbar. The kingdom of Mewar needed a new capital. Nestled in the Aravalis, next to a small lake Pichola, Udaipur was born. Even today, if you go to any view point around the city, you can see hills dominating the horizon. I remember getting down in Udaipur, excited to see the palaces surrounded on and in the lake surrounded by hills.
Suddenly, as I was getting off the bus I was hounded by autowaalas, asking me where I want to go, how long I am in Udaipur for, that they’ll take me around the city. Keep in mind this happened before my feet were on the ground. After I managed to drown out the cacophony, I negotiated the price down even though I know I would be vastly overpaying for a 4 kilometer ride. This is a bane of most tourist places. No meters, no Uber/Ola/Rapido. So you have no way of knowing if you are being exploited (you will be, but can’t do anything about it). After I reached the hostel, I checked in, got into the room, saw the bed and the lack of sleep and bus ride caught up to me and I passed out.
I have always been an ambitious person, an optimist and reached for the stars. For large things and small. That’s how I applied to Columbia and got in. That’s also how I set an alarm for 2 PM and woke up at 4. By the time I left the hostel, the afternoon heat was on the way out, golden hour was setting in and I was headed to Ambrai Ghat and saw a gorgeous sunset overlooking a vista of Udaipur with City Palace, Lake Palace and Udaivilas.
Ambrai Ghat is one of the closest location to Lake Palace. I saw it and remember thinking that a night there would cost well above what I would spend over the next 13 days for the entire trip. I decided then that I want to get to a point in life where I both the costs feel equally inconsequential to me. Soon the navy blue of the sky went to pitch black. I could not hold it back any longer, the dam broke and this peaceful blue lagoon full of motivation, clarity and beauty that the moment gave me was drowned out by a tsunami of hunger. Once I rushed to the closest restaurant and got some much needed fuel, I headed back to the hostel, looking forward to the trip, and wondering if the places that I visited so many times online would live up to the unrealistic expectation that I had set for them. Little did I know, they did. And that concludes Day 1.
A view of City Palace and Taj Lake Palace from Ambrai Ghat
View of Taj Lake Palace from Ambrai Ghat
