During the last Christmas holidays I had an occasion to visit Udaipur in the company of some of my class-fellows. We decided beforehand that we would travel by bus. It was morning. The bus was to leave Delhi for Jaipur at 8 A.M. There was a long queue at the booking-window. I got into the queue and purchased ten tickets.
Image Source: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Citaro_Oxford_Bus_Company.jpg
We were now inside the bus. Our luggage consisted of a bedding and a suit case. These were safely deposited on the roof of the bus. The bus left the bus-stand at 8 A.M. exactly. We were now speeding on. Fortunately, I had my seat at the window side and, therefore, could have an excellent view of the Indian rural life. Farmers were working in the fields. Cattle were grazing here and there in the pastures in sunshine. There was an air of quiet stillness all around.
The bus moved on. It halted at several places. Some passengers got in while a few got down. After a long journey the bus halted at Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Jaipur is one of the most beautiful cities of India. As the next bus for Udaipur was to leave in the evening, we had a couple of hours at our disposal to see this bright and beautiful city. It was, indeed, a city of palaces and we were all struck by the magnificence of some of the buildings, specially the palace of the Raja Jai Singh.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
From Jaipur we went to Udaipur. On the way we saw the fortress of Chittor. It reminded us of the prowess of the famous Rana Pratap who fought single-handed against die Great Mughal Emperor Akbar. The lonely castle, the steep rock on which it has been built filled us with wonder. We travelled for the whole night till, when the sun was about to rise, we reached Udaipur. It was a long and an tiresome journey. The bus seemed to climb up a steep hill and sometimes it looked as if it was going down the hill. There were vast stretches of land with bright green patches of pastures and fields at intervals. The scenes and sights looked most pleasing to the eyes.
The bus stopped at Udaipur. It was a terminus. We got down. We collected our luggage and drove straight to a hotel. The journey was very interesting and we were not sorry that we had chosen a new mode of travelling a long distance by bus. After going round all the places worth-seeing at Udaipur, especially the lakes, we came back home. The journey proved very instructive. We added a lot of information to our knowledge of the history of Rajasthan, the home of the brave Rajputs.