The Journey to Jaipur…

Current Tune: Teri Deewani - Kailash Kher

As we had left off, Mumma, Papa, Chandni, Heena, and myself had boarded the train to Jaipur from Bandra Terminus. We were in two different dabbas (S2 & S3). With all of our bags divided evenly in both dabbas, we were trying to decide how we could get all of us sitting together before my mama, mami, and cousin Arpita joined us from Surat four hours later.

We asked the three guys that were in the berths near the S2 dabba where Mumma and Papa were sitting. They refused to move to our other seats. We asked the couple in the side berth to see if they would move, but they had said that they have too many crates of mangoes to move. Now what?

In the berth where Chandni, Heena, and I were sitting — no one had occupied those seats. Oops, talked to soon. The next station was Borivali and here comes a family!

We asked the father if he would have his family move to our other seats (there were four of them, and we had four seats in the other dabba), he said that he wanted to check them out. He came back and agreed to move his family, and now we had all of our seats together:!:

After the day we had at home with the rush and then the moving of bags here and there, we were hungry:!: We ordered train dinner food for later, and then whoever/whichever vendor would come by with food we would take it. By the time Surat came around, we were stuffed — but who knew that Gulu Mama and Santosh Mami had brought food too:!: As many of you know, I can’t resist paneer so I had a bit to eat while the other gals finished off the rest.

There are two people that were very memorable for me on this train ride:

Attendant in our dabba

Little girl from Colaba on her way to see her grandparents in Jaipur

The attendant was very nice — till the minute we got off the train in Jaipur as he wished me best of luck for the marriage, he was very courteous, friendly, and even funny! Its amazing how you meet people like him for a brief period feel like you have known him for ages and then part your own ways. Thanks for brightening our trip!

The little girl was in our dabba, and she didn’t really have anyone to play with on the train. She would come by our seats as she passed by to go to the restroom, etc… Mumma immediately understood that she was interested in us so she talked to her the next time she came by. She joined us in playing antakshari, she danced for us, drew me a picture, and chatted with me for hours. She really didn’t chit chat with my other cousins, but she sure did sit with me. I think I now know more about her than anyone else!

Now what was I thinking on the way to Jaipur. Was I scared or worried? Did I feel like a bride? My feelings were that I was excited more than anything. I was excited to get married, I was excited to see Neeraj and his family, and I was excited that the moment that we had waited for so long was finally here. All I wanted to do was enjoy every minute of it.

Upon reaching Jaipur station, we were greeted by Chandni & Heena’s cousin sister and jijaji who live in Jaipur. You could just feel the dry heat and there I was back to covering my face with a handkerchief.

We began to work out with how many rickshaws we needed as there was only jijaji’s car. We all got in with all of our luggage and off to Hotel Shalimar we went.

Next post: May 14 and the beginning of the shaadi festivities:!:

Alvida. Jai Mata Di.