Heater Hog

It's time for me to start taking this seriously! Let's start with a joke. This is the first pic taken on the digi cam for our Rajasthan trip. It's my brother and I fighting over drying our towels near the heater in Ajmer.

It might take sometime to load so just read this meanwhile. My brother and I planned this trip quite last minute and quite by chance, we were joined by one of our friends from Bangalore, Smriti Kumar, who was the one with the digi cam.

It doesn't help that I'm listening to the Beatles while typing this, but I really want to make this a daily thing. 'I'll write home everyday and I'll send all my loving to you!'

So we started with a 4am train to Ajmer...or so we thought! Turns out the train was 2 hours delayed, so we went to the Gurudwara opp the train station to pass time. That sounds so WRONG! 

Gurudwara, Delhi

That's what the inside of a Gurudwara looks like, courtesy my phone cam. We were there for almost an hour when I checked in on Facebook despite rebukes from Zo. It's just that we've become so tech-savvy these days, we don't think twice about whipping out our phones and checking in even at a religious place! I even tried to look up the Durgah in Ajmer while we were sitting there waiting. Apparently it's the only one where women are allowed. Also worth googling - 'What's the difference between a Mosque and a Durgah?'

Gurudwara, Delhi

I was quite amazed and amused by how some parts of the Gurudwara prayers were similar to mass at church. There was a loud sound like bombs going off and everyone stood up. There are times to kneel and times to respond to prayers. But my favourite part of mass has always been the 'Giving Peace' bit and the Sikhs haven't left that out of their prayers!

Persian Artwork at Ajmer Sharif

I'm uploading these pics and realizing I don't have any of the Durgah in Ajmer! That's a shame! Or is it? I wasn't very moved by the energy there. It was too intense, too crowded, too money-minded.

Persian Artwork at Ajmer Sharif 

We would have been lost without our self-appointed guide, Salim. He dragged us through narrow lanes, kabab-filled gallies, interweaving through goats and men to reach the durgah. Once there, we almost lost Smriti trying to get into the holy room. There were 2 entrances to the holy room and people were only selectively allowed into the front entrance. It seemed like our guide was pretty popular with the authorities, cos he was almost in charge of not allowing people in! We got in and waited with the crowd. Many of them were holding a thali of flowers on their heads, for offering - phool chadana as it's called. We asked what was about to happen. From what we could understand, namaz was to start in 20 minutes and everyone was lining up to get blessed. We decided to get out of the crowd and check out the durgah till the blessing started. We found many prayerful women and men tying orange dhaagaas to the gates and trees. So we bought dhaaga, prayed, made our wishes and tied them where we could find place. Then we started chattering and felt quite like the kids at the last few pews in church, when we realised everyone else was deeply engrossed in prayer.

Jodhpuris from Jodhpur

There's a hashtag being overused on Instagram #100daysofhappiness. I don't mind reinventing it.

I used to be a Facebook album addict - an album a month - sometimes sharing over 100 photos at a time all through college. Then I slowed down and almost disappeared. I still feel like a shutterbug when I hold a phone camera or even a digi. I was never a big fan of the DSLR. Don't hate me for not knowing the buttons. I almost dunking one in a plate of sauce once and was rightly rebuked for it.

This is just an experiment to see if I still have it. Not the photos, that's the easy part. But the writing. Something I've never intentionally given up. I don't 'make time' for my writing. It happens. It's too much a part of me to give up. So I'm going to use the 'lack-of-a-muse' excuse for not writing for over a year.