Purpose of visit was to attend a marriage ceremony of a dear friend Rahul Sihag.
So 'Four Guys of BRCM' met at Gurgaon. Initially we planned to visit the place by bus but due to some reasons, we decided to execute a daring journey of around 700Km by Car.
We started for Pushkar at 11:00 morning from Gurgaon. A long and traffic-prone national highway was waiting for the 'modern era gladiator' Ankur. Vikas was not feeling well in the first half of journey because of last 'furious' night but he managed to recover later. Rakesh was the most excited person and eagerly looking for something, must be 'neermrana ka kila' aur 'haryana ka border'.
I was on the back seat and was listening 'Haryanvi language' which I was missing from so many days.
Our first stop was for dude 'Raka' who was feeling thirsty and we got some water bottles and cans from a roadside shop. Raka was now fit to sit.
Journey began with a stroke was now converting into long sitting hours.
Next stop was very short and full of shots. Cameras flicked at their speed and we got a nice shoot at the National Highway backed by hills. Raka's black lenses raised the excitement of many children of surrounding villages. Now commander 'Vikas' was incharge of our 'flight' after recovering from last night's injuries.
We managed to reach Jaipur in the evening and I was not feeling comfortable after sitting continuously for four hours. I urged guys to stop at some good hotel and they didn't mind after they understood the situation.
We stopped at 'Mirchi hotel', Modinagar Jaipur. There we had a quick and south-indian lunch. We were planning to have a halt at 'Chokhi Dhaani' of Jaipur but Rahul forced us to come straight to Pushkar. Debates left 'Chokhi Dhaani' back and we were on the best road of our journey, the Jaipur-Ajmer national highway cum expressway.
Jaipur-Ajmer express way is a 8-lane partitioned road. It was a great scene of Arawalis in yellow light of the Sun. Cameras flicked again and we captured few moments from running car. In such an exciting phase of journey, Vikas was still sleeping on the back seat.
We were planning to have a nice cup of tea and soon we got our next destination as we saw a 'Cafe Coffee Day 25Km Ahead' sign board.
Obviously next stop was Cafe Coffee Day at Jaipur Ajmer express way. It must be one of the best location and the situation to have a CCD punch. We waited for the coffee by looking the natural beauty surrounding this place. This was a great time to spent with friends. After spending almost 30 minutes at this beautiful place, we resumed the journey to our destination but before that Cameras paid again.
After travelling nearly 2 hours, we reached Ajmer. The city was looking awesome and we had a nice glimpse of illuminating hills. Ankur took some correct and steep turns and finally we were in the holy city of Pushkar which is not far from Ajmer.
After reaching the Marriage venue which was full of lights and enthusiasm, We met Rahul and congratulated him on this wonderful occasion.
We also met two other dudes Moodi and Dudi. We participated in the marriage ceremony, had a bhangra dance on two separate tunes at same time. This was a crucial test of anyone's dancing skills and we reached bride's place after following our choreo-man Rakas' moves.
We left the 'Dhukaav' venue for the dinner. Soon we were back in the reels on the occasion of 'Varmaala'. We were desperately missing some gift to fill our empty hands on the stage but hope Rahul didnt mind this mistake.
Rahul welcomed Bhabhiji on the stage and they exchanged 'maala' in the presence of their friends and relatives. These days Varmala ceremony is mainly kept for capturing the photos of relatives giving their wishes to the couple. Looks like Rahul was not feeling comfortable in front of a big crowd. A Young crowd was dancing to latest tunes of a Sardar's DJ.
Vermaala ceremony went very well.
Soon we were searching for the location where we can have undisturbed sleep and we found that. We got a corner in a big hall. Before sleep, we had a small chat with Moody and Dudy. Both guys left for their hometown in the midnight only.
Morning was full of energy as sunlight coming past the hills were showing the beauty of Pushkar city which was invisible in the dark night.
We had a quick bath at the Dharamshala and went for breakfast. Raka and Vikas didn't consider it worth to have a bath in such a chilly morning which was not so chilly. We went to attend 'sauthni' ceremony where Rahul went through the phase where the rate of earnings per hour will be highest throughout his life.
Now we were ready for a return journey of approximately 350 kilometers long. Here Vikas left us to catch the Baraat bus which was going back to his hometown.
So '3 man army' shoot for the journey. But before leaving Pushkar, we decided to look at historical and mythological sites of the city.
We hired a guide to help us to visit city temples and Brahma sarovar. He took us to Brahma sarovar. There we listen the history of Brahma temple and 'Brahma Sarovar', which proved last night Moody's theory wrong. We touched the holy water and prayed in front of the holy Sarovar and reflecting sunlight.
A Priest helped us to pray with proper rituals. As per the traditions, we visited 'Pracheen Brahma Temple' after having prayer at sarovar. This is the one and only temple in the world where priests pray the God Brahma.One Priest told us that Pushkar was named by two words "Pusha" and "Kara". "Pusha" means flower and "Kara" means hand. As per indian mythology, Pushkar was formed when a Flower was dropped by Brahma's hand in presence of the God Vishnu.
Image: Brahma Sarovar, Pushkar (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushkar)
Priest told us that the praying at Sarovar is the only way to pray the God Brahma. Brahma Sarovar is true Brahma.
Following the steps of guide, we visited a nearby Guru Jambheshwar temple and pronounced 29 rules in front of statue of the great saint and environmentalist of fourteenth century.
We left Pushkar city around 1100 in the morning and touched express way within next one hour. I found some interesting patterns in the shapes of the Arawalis surrounding Ajmer city. Deep observation may push anyone to think the presence of energy inside these hills.
After travelling for an hour, we felt drowsiness in the cabin. Soon we were searching for our next stop.
We traced a road-side Dhaba near Kishangarh town. Hot and delicious Rajasthani dishes 'Dal Baati Churma' and 'Gatte ki Sabzi' was sensational. Taj's well-served soup cann't beat those two glasses of Lassi. We left this foodie's paradise after spending few memorable moments.
Ankur's flying hours were increasing as we were steadily progressing towards our destination, cyber city gurgaon. Far away from the driver's paradise, lots of mining was happening in the Arawalis. We stopped at another road-side dhaba for a cup of tea. Ankur was feeling tired, so we decided to halt to have some rest. After sleeping for an hour, we were ready to shoot for our destination.
Milestones were passing as we spent our time talking on various topics. Cyber-city was coming closer..
