How could I not visit Jaipur ?

Jaipur is where a part of me lies. I had to visit the city atleast once in this lifetime. And when the Universe really wants you to be somewhere it will make it happen - by hook or by crook.

First time around our ticket got waitlisted and the second time around we booked it in Tatkal and got a reservation.

Jaipur will always remind me of him and when I visited the city - I felt nothing but looked after, loved and cared for - just like I felt with him.

Boarding the train at 7.00 pm from MMCT Mumbai Central Terminus we reached Jaipur the next day at 11.50 am. We made friends on the train - justshutup and navneedy ( these are code names ofcourse I cannot reveal their identities ) and we had a baby keeping us up all night with his shrill crying and a dog barking in the first class compartment.

Finding an auto was hard but we managed somehow and my bargaining skills came to use. We reached our hostel Go Stops and dropped our luggage and decided to go and explore the city starting with God ofcourse.

We visited the Ganesh Temple and the Birla Mandir and had some street food for lunch - Vada Sambar with Idli. Post darshan we visited the Albert Hall Museum.

Finding an auto was hard but we managed somehow and my bargaining skills came to use. We reached our hostel Go Stops and dropped our luggage and decided to go and explore the city starting with God ofcourse.

We visited the Ganesh Temple and the Birla Mandir and had some street food for lunch - Vada Sambar with Idli. Post darshan we visited the Albert Hall Museum.

Finding an auto was hard but we managed somehow and my bargaining skills came to use. We reached our hostel Go Stops and dropped our luggage and decided to go and explore the city starting with God ofcourse.

We visited the Ganesh Temple and the Birla Mandir and had some street food for lunch - Vada Sambar with Idli. Post darshan we visited the Albert Hall Museum.

Then we met a Rickshaw Wala and he took use around Kallu Chacha's Shoe Shop and showed us block printing but I wasn't interested in buying anything. Only later we found out he worked with the shops on commission basis so my intuition was right to guide me against purchasing anything there.

In the evening we went to Jawahar Nagar and I had connected with a food blogger called @jaipuri_foodie and he took us to five different cafe's: Jaipur Retro, Mugs Cafe, Club Naila, Chai Adda and Kathi Junction. After a long night we finally retired to our hostel at about 3.30 am!

I woke up at 10 am and got some work done - then we left at 2.30 pm and decided to visit the GT Mall which I absolutely hated. We had the street food outside the mall and then went to the Patrika Gate for some snaps!

Moving on we went to the City Palace but the heavy entry fee turned me off and we decided to go to the Hawa Mahal instead. We met our food blogger friend here once again and made a Collab reel along with some amazing food and content shots for the gram.

Post that I went shopping to Johri Bazaar and Bapu Bazaar and my obsession with Co-ordinated Sets had left me wanting for one from Jaipur as well.

Guess what? As we ate the Dahi Vade, Rain welcomed us and we were able to have the time of our lives with monsoon in summers!

I made another friend via Instagram and we hung out in the evening with his other friend who was a Criminal Lawyer and they took us around to Nargarh Fort, Jal Mahal, Amber Fort and we saw the Jaipur City at night. It was a pleasant drive which ended in Dal Baati and me having the opportunity to meet my student who came down from Delhi to Jaipur to meet me!

We hung out till 1.30 am post which we returned to the hostel and I went to sleep.

The next day we woke up early and decided to explore Amer and the monuments there. However I got a call which sent me into a very bad BT ( bad trip it's a term smokers use when they're smoking up and it isn't a pleasant experience) and I had to deal with the consequences of that.

I still tried to think straight and went to MI Road for Kachodi and Lassi and enjoyed the delicious local food items.

The Amer Fort was a lovely climb and I learnt alot about the lifestyle at that time. We then descended downwards and met our friend, the food blogger yet again and visited the Peena Meena Ka Kund and the Mira Bai and Krishna Mandir and then headed back to the city.

In the evening we visited her another chai tapri and I must comment on the love for chai that the people of Jaipur seem to have. I've not had so much chai in my entire life.

After bidding good bye to our new found food blogger friends I yet again couldn't sleep because I kept thinking of the reason why I'd come to Jaipur in the first place.

I'd come to Jaipur to try again. One last time. To give us another shot. But his walls were so high up he just wouldn't let me in or even budge. He had pushed me off completely. Yet I held onto a sliver of hope for God knows what reason. I still believed in us and I wish I could change that.

I was slowly beginning to lose interest in everything related to Jaipur but then I decided to go to Gaitore ki Chhatriyan and get some snaps there. Post that we went shopping for Ghevar and boarded our bus back to Mumbai at 3 pm.

We reach Mumbai at 9 pm IST and home only by 10.30 pm. This trip has been memorable for so many reasons and in so many ways it gives me closure. I was holding onto a person and a relationship that didn't even exist and I decided to let it go and never look back to the city that made it difficult for me to breathe.

A note on the boys of Jaipur they seem to not like it when they are second preference they want to be first in everything and have alot of ego issues. Don't ask me how I know - I just do.