Travel time again - Udaipur

Earlier this month, Sep 2 and 3 to be precise, we (my department of 6 from work) had our offsite in Udaipur. Celebration of a good year gone by. Two people planned the trip out.. It was done immaculately. Lots of fun, enjoyment, some work. All in all a good 2 day break from work.

Will try and let the pictures do the talking :)

This is the entrance to the Udaipur Palace. Looks royal during the day and enchanting at night. The tour of the palace is really good and one gets a good dose of history.

The sound and Light show, which runs every evening is very tastefully done. It captures the history of Mewar (of which Udaipur was the capital) very well. You almost feel it in your guts when they describe the number of times the women in kingdom of Mewar have committed Johar (where the women commit suicide by jumping into sacrificial fire, rather than be captured by enemies - when defeat is inevitable - this enables the warriors to fight unto death without care that their women folks would be 'illtreated')

This is picture of the famous Lake Palace (Taj Group). It looks pretty during the day but by night, the white light, under moonlight and starry sky its breathtaking. No wonder it costs INR 30,000 a night there.

The dinner was brillianto! The place was restaurant in the palace premises. The backdrop was the palace, enchanting in its presence. The restaurant was by the lakeside with the Lake palace in the distance. And the entire place was done up in soft yellow light and candles. And ofcourse, the moon is all its resplendant glory, white washed the night. To me it seemed like lake Pichola knew that she looked beautiful and she was basking in all the attention, with the water glimmering in the moon light.

We just did not want to leave. We were almost thrown out politely :). I am sure that the to-be- married, married-long-ago folks in the group swore to come back here with their respective partners. And I, well I just sighed! ;)

This is the place where I stayed. Very very tastefully done up. There were traditional paintings on the walls. The colours used gave a very earthy and comfy feel to the whole place. And there were baitaks (sitting areas) where we just lounged. I am sure that when I build myself a house ( whenever that is), it would definitely have a baitak.

And ofcourse, how can I not do the touristy thing of riding a camel. I tell you, it is not very comfortable or lets say pleasant. :P

Its been 2 years and 3 months since I started work and they have flown by. I counted the other day that I had done 19 states in India - cities, towns and villages. In my life, not just in 2 years. But last two years have been fun. And while we are on this topic ... I got promoted. Effective October 1 , I am a Manager.

Paths

I saw 'Rock on' yesterday. Good movie. Dil Chahta Hai .. part 2, I guess. But it has been shot in a very, very realistic fashion. Captures nuances pretty well. But this post is not about Rock On or about Dil Chahta Hai. Or in a manner it is.

In DCH, towards the end when Akash (Akshaye Khanna) and Sameer ( Saif Ali Khan) get back in touch, Akash asks Sameer why he hasn't proposed to Pooja (Sonali Kulkarni). In his reply, he mentions, 'Now that you are back, I am more confident' ( Or something on those lines).

In Rock On too, when friendship is rekindled there is confidence, energy and posititivity enthused into the character's lives.

Ok so, why do I write this? Well, why do I write this? I guess I share the same sentiment.

K & I are closest of friends. We spent most of college life together. Ok correction - almost all of college life. I don't think there is any one eatout/hangout place in Madras (which is affordable in college levels) that we haven't hung out at, together. Post college, life took us on separate paths. We chose to do different things and the stands we took on certain issues forced us to walk our own ways.

But, last 1/1.5 months has seen revival of one of my most cherished relationships and a wonderful friendship. I guess it is a wonderful feeling when you realise that a lot of things have changed around you but not much between the two of you. And that, is the silver lining in the dark cloud that once hung over me.

And definitely in the past 1.5 months I feel more positive and enthused. Confident and energetic.