Royal Holi In Udaipur before the #corona #Lockdown 

Our trip began on 8th March at around 11 am when we boarded the bus from Bhopal to Indore with our masks on, although it was very weird to put masks at that time. Everything was going according to plan except for the COVID19 that was predominating in India.

We reached Indore at around 4 pm and our train to Udaipur was at around 5 pm. It was a 12-hour journey. We played UNO and lots of other games. The whole night we were laughing and cracking jokes and we enjoyed our train journey!

Day 2: Vibrant Udaipur!

We reached Udaipur Railway Station at around 5 am in the early morning. As soon as we stepped down from the train we could feel the chilly winds against our faces and Udaipur welcomed us with soothing shades of ivory and turquoise. :)

Our hostel was 20 mins away from the railway station. The auto ride was amazing just like we are going through the silence of the city. As we reached our hostel "MUSAFIR HOSTELS" we put our bags in the open space and went straight to the terrace for the sunrise.

It was calm around the city. It was chirping of birds, blue waters of the lake and the backdrop of mighty Aravali Mountains, melancholic sunrise. It was blissful to watch the sun rising and disappearing of the moon. It was among the best sunrises I have ever witnessed in my life. We stayed for a few hours at the terrace and enjoy the calm view of Udaipur.

This place is so tranquil and calm. There were boats all around and people were boating in Lake Pichola. We sat on the stairs and dip our legs in the water and it was so relaxing. We clicked plenty of photos there :p and witnessed the silence of the lake.

There was a stage show and all around the firangis who were dancing, singing and enjoying the festival (with their masks on). We danced on the stage and the whole crowd was watching us. That moment was one of the best moments of my life. Around 7:30 pm people started performing the rituals of Holika Dahan, started burning the crackers and there were hustle and the bustle all around. People started wishing each other with full enthusiasm. It was so fun and a joy to watch and experience even the wind has the royalty in Udaipur!

The situation worsened after that, and then the lockdown was imposed after 2 weeks.

As much as I miss traveling, I know the situation will get better soon and we all will be traveling back again completing our bucket lists :p There may be a tough time ahead of us but I am sure we will all go through this together.

This was the day for which we all came to Udaipur especially! We all wake up early and had breakfast and got ready in our Holi attires.

The day begins with the beats of the dhol in the corridors of the hostel and we started it by putting shagun ka tilak on each others faces. We left the hostel with the fellow travelers to celebrate Holi in an imperial manner. As we step out we felt the riot of colors and water splashes from all the sides. The kids were having fun with their pitchkaris and water balloons. We were all excited to play the Holi with the foreigners who were carrying dry colors and dressed up in white Rajasthani attire.

We went to a private party near Ambrai Ghat, there were so many people from different culture celebrating a universal festival and it felt like Holi brought us and so many people from around the world to a commonplace. It was as if this was a world without borders where everybody was dancing on the EDM music and playing with colors and enjoying every bit of mesmerizing Holi. The city became vibrant with color, music and laughter of the people.

When we were heading back towards our hostel with lots of colors on our bodies, the crescent moon was shining dim on high, the gold was fading into grey and the City Palace was all lighten up. Th Holi celebration in Udaipur was an enchanting and exuberant experience!

The following day began with the packing for our ride back home. Our train was scheduled in the evening.

I bought some cotton kurtas with magnificent Bagh prints and some silver jewelry :p from the shops on the streets.

We packed our dinner from the hostel along with the luggage. It was very hard to say goodbye to our friends and we exchanged our Instagram handles and followed each other and we are still in touch and together in this pandemic situation and Thank you Musafir Hostel for such a loving hospitality and for hosting us. Hope to visit you again. :)

As I was going through the lanes of the city in the auto and as the streets were crossing me I was remembering my last 3 days in those streets which I have spent strolling, celebrating, dancing with the bunch of the strangers who have become my friends now.

Nevertheless, I was happy that the trip ended smoothly without the hint of corona anywhere. Our train was on time and eventually, we also reached the station on time. And we boarded our train for Indore with lots of moments in our bags of the royal Udaipur!