The next day we were woken up early at dawn to get ready for the travel. We went for aarti (prayers) to the Shila Devi temple for the last time before travel after finishing our bath . I conveyed my thanks to God for giving me such a caring family and prayed for a better future.

After breakfast, we were bid farewell by the royal family.



Entrance to the Jaleb Chowk from the palace side



View of the palace and Diwan -i-aam from the Jaleb Chowk



A modernized example of the kind of rides they had.

I was amazed to see our ride, although I somehow was expecting it but actually seeing it in front of me brought a huge smile to my face. It was a big procession of beautifully decorated camels with carriages attached behind them lined up at the Jaleb Chowk waiting for us to board them. My happiness seemed to be contagious as Vasundhara and Gayatri joined me in my excitement. I couldn't let them find out that it was my first time on a camel cart as according to my story I had been travelling in such vehicles all through my life. I let them climb up first so that I could observe their style and climb up too like a pro.

They I saw had climbed up using a pedal like structure attached to the back of the cart, as a step. It seemed easy enough but as I started climbing up after them my lehenga (skirt) got stuck between my mojari (kind of shoes) and the step pedal. I would have fallen backwards and hit the ground , but a hand held my arm to stabilize me till I climbed in.



Mojari

As I turned to thank the person, my eyes popped out and my mouth opened in surprise.

"Shut your mouth close and next time hold on to the side of the cart, if you don't know how to balance properly. We don't want to be delayed further if you hurt yourself" Rudra almost growled through his teeth. It seemed only I heard his remark as others kept on talking among themselves as if nothing unusual had happened, especially now that I was family too. Then he left from there as if he had never come.

My anger rose again, my happy mood vaporized and I wished that I had actually fallen down instead of taking his help but I knew that the arrogant man would have found a way to accuse me of deliberately causing a delay.

My sullen mood vanished as Vikram bhaisa and Udai bhaisa came to check if we had settled down.

"A little bird told us that someone was in love . Can you guess who Udai bhaisa" teased Vasundhara slanting her eyes towards Vikram bhaisa. He looked taken back at that and looked at Udai bhaisa accusingly, leaving us in splinters laughing at him.

"Come bhaisa you should actually ride with us. We have a lot to discuss about your future" said Gayatri joining the fun.

"Yes Vikram you better keep the girls' company as you would find no better advisers then them for your aching heart."said Udai bhaisa joining the sisters in their teasing.

"So it has become official now ... that bhaisa's heart has been stolen by a beauty . Let me guess who the lucky girl is" I said smiling widely.

The whole scenario seemed quite similar to what might happen at any college students gathering where one person's leg was being pulled over a hidden love affair. Then it all stopped and all the smiles vanished.

"Vikram , Udai are you planning to travel with the girls in their carriage like other ladies" came Rudra's voice from the front side of our cart. We couldn't see him as the curtain panels still hadn't been drawn up.

"Coming bhaisa "both the boys shouted in unison , as we girls giggled at their quick response. Vikram bhaisa though seemed to be relieved at escaping the ribbing.

After the boys left I asked" Why are both of them so scared of Rudra sa?"

"They are not scared. They just respect him too much, so obey him instantly" said Gayatri. She looked at me thoughtfully and asked "Are you annoyed or something happened with bhaisa?"

"No" I said so quickly that both the girls looked at me surprised. Gayatri was too observant for my liking, almost had an uncanny ability to read faces. "I mean why I should be upset with him. Like maasa said we have met only once."

Gayatri nodded her head in affirmation and gave a deep sigh. "He was not like this always. He used to laugh and talk just like Vikram bhaisa, but... Oh! Leave it. We should talk all fun things as we are at least going to be together till the Chand Baori (a stepwell) ". Her saddened eyes lightened up again with the thought.

As everyone finished boarding the carriages the curtains which we had pulled up to look outside were again dropped for privacy and also to shelter all from the blazing noon sun which would soon send his merciless glare on everyone even though it was still winter. The edges were lined up with soft cushions and the seat were made of cotton mattress like structure for soft comfort. We all had to sit with our legs folded but it had enough space to lie down if tired on the way.The front of the carriage where the driver sat was separated from our portion by a small carved wooden wall and a curtain.

The men rode horses and camels . The camel was used as a beast of burden and thus carried all the luggage either on its back or on the carriages attached to it depending on the size. The horses were used more to monitor the caravan procession and were also swift in case of emergency.



A glimpse

I peeped out from the corner of the curtain to watch the view outside as I was curious to see how much had changed in my time. Though I was expecting a lot of changes but was surprised to see that none of the iconic building Jaipur was famous for were there. No Hawa mahal , no Jaipur city palace. It was fields and more fields all around with few houses and few trees at a distance. It seemed a desert in true sense unlike the Jaipur of 2015 where irrigation canals had brought quite a lot of greenery to the place . Even the area seemed to be sparsely populated unlike the little traffic jams we faced in 2015.

I had hardly seen much of the view outside the fort except for that one time on the terrace so though I had expected this much change, the scenery looked somewhat bland and incomplete to my 2015 eyes. I so much wanted to discuss my feelings with someone but maasa who was the only person with knowledge about me being a time traveler was in a different carriage.

The carriage seemed to make very slow progress as it moved on the desert sand. I could identify lot of babul trees here and there, and sometimes could see some far off villages almost near the horizon.

As the sun rose high in the sky the heat diminished the happy feel of what I had once thought to be a kind of desert safari for me , in the beginning of the journey.

All of us dissected and bisected the topic of Vikram's mysterious love affair to the core trying to affix all the could be girls beside him. My votes were still for Maitri .

"I would be the most happy if Maitri was to wed bhaisa. She I think is infatuated with him" I said.

"Yes I remember how she had blushed when you had mentioned her and bhaisa being in love" said Gayatri.

"That would be most wonderful as she is our friend too, but didn't you see Roopmati hovering around bhaisa when he had come to talk to us. She had crossed the same way four times. I had actually counted" giggled Vasundhara.

"I don't like the girl. She has too much pride."Gayatri frowned at Roopmati being paired with her brother.

"You can't stop him can you? Love is blind they say. Moreover no matter how much we don't like her , she is very beautiful" said Vasundhara throwing her portion of wisdom.

"Our Maitri is also very beautiful. You can't deny that fact too. She is both beautiful inside out" spoke the loyalist in me.

"It's not in our hand , I mean we can ask... Why did the carriage stop so suddenly? We have not even reached any dharamshala (a rest-house free for traveler's or pilgrims' use built by patrons) " said Gayatri at the sudden halt in the motion of the carriage.

We all looked outside and saw taisa coming out of the carriage which was behind us, as baapusa and tausa traveled back on their horses towards her from the front of the procession.

After conferring a bit everyone went back to their original position and the carriage started moving again.

I didn't know if it had been my imagination or not but I had felt taisa look directly at me thoughtfully as she talked to both baapusa and tausa. This in turn made me thoughtful too but in the end I shooed the thought away as it must have been my imagination or the heat affecting my brains.





For my curious readers

The Hawa Mahal (It is a huge ventilated structure from where the Palace ladies watched any festive procession passing below in the streets)



Ariel view of the Jaipur City Palace (Residential area for the later rulers of Jaipur)





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