Udaipur

Truly the city of lakes; deep, glistening and beautiful.
The ideal time to visit Udaipur is August to February. It’s about 637 kms from Delhi and about 12 hours by train.
21st to the 31st of December every year is the annual festival at Shilpgram which is like a mini Rajasthani village re-created.With huts from all over India, handicrafts, musicians, dancers and a little dhaba it’s all quite complete.
Other great places to visit are City Palace, Lake Palace, Jag Mandir, The Vintage Car Museum, Lake Fateh Sagar, Pichola Lake and Ambrai (which by the way is a restaurant). Jaiwana Haveli being a terrace restaurant is rated higher than Ambrai, however personally I found Ambrai much better. Ambrai by the lake overlooking all the palaces and hotels all lit up on a dark night is really as picturesque as it gets. Another must go to place for dinner is the Jag Mandir palace. It is a restaurant on an island palace and one needs to be ferried across to reach the place. I still can’t make up my mind if I enjoyed the boat ride more or the fantastic rajasthani laal maas and non-veg platter at the hotel. For the vegetarian janta a place that is recommended is Aap ki Dhani, a traditional Rajasthani Restaurant.
Other places to visit are the Jagdish Mandir with its intricate design and architecture and also a temple 22kms away from Udaipur called Eklingji dedicated to Lord Shiv which dates back to 734 A.D. Just 4 kilometers ahead of Eklingji is Devi Garh a fort hotel that still stands tall in all it resplendent gloryand grandeur. This by the way is where Liz Hurley and Arun Nayyar tied the knot. The views are absolutely breath taking and the food brilliant.
The shopaholic will also find value for money and time as the bazaars are full of trinkets and artifacts. From silver jewelry to stone sculptures to wooden décor to brightly coloured bandhini there’s a lot to look at and a lot to buy.
For those who enjoy a quiet stroll the city has several ancient parks like the Saheliyon Ki Bari apparently built by the Prince for the love of his life and the 48 women who accompanied her as part of her dowry. I found the stories around the parks more fascinating than the parks themselves.
After a long day of sight seeing and shopping one can indulge in a spa treatment at ESPA in the Hotel Leela . Great ambience, masseurs, music and products are just some of the things I can recall. Sunset at the lake Pichola is a stunning sight and so are the hotels around it.
One of my favourite places is the Vintage Car Collection which belongs to the current Maharaja and a place which is a haven for car lovers.
Udaipur is truly a mesmerizing city which establishes a connection with your soul and will keep you wanting to re-visit the place.

Sanchita Johri

Terms and Conditions Apply!

So I sat there just staring into oblivion wondering about how he managed it, how did he love everyone and have everyone love him. He didn’t have much of a conversation, didn’t buy people gifts, I mean he never even paid anyone a compliment! Yet he managed everyone so well and even his time.
Then I thought about everyone else around me, everyone who is part of my circle of caring and all the others I know. I thought about how most of us have these apprehensions about approaching someone to be our friend, tell them we like them or for that matter people we are closest to don’t often get to hear how we much care. We are so caught up in judging others and also judging ourselves from their eyes that the mind is the Great Wall of China in most relationships.
Intrinsically most of us want the same things … love, health , wealth, recognition, etc - in not necessarily that order and yet we are so different or are we?
You see we all need definitions to survive and therefore pride ourselves more on the fact that our judgment of someone was right more than the quality of relationship we share. More often than not I realize that once we take a dislike to someone no matter what they say or do we look for proof to justify to ourselves the dislike for this person, even though we may have forgiven the same thing in someone else.
Oh Lord! Like I said this staring into the oblivion isn’t really the best thing, it gets me lost in a chain of thought and then I find myself ignoring him whom I had referred to when I began. He is my Golden Lab Scooby.His best attributes - he doesn’t live in the past, has no apprehensions, doesn’t judge others and best of all doesn’t judge himself !

This is a quote I read which said, " Don't take life too seriously, no one gets out alive anyway".

The Road

No that road is not the one outside your house, neither is it the one outside mine. Actually honestly it really isn’t outside anymore, but it used to be.

No, it isn’t lost, neither can it always be found, it takes you places if you want to go there and where you decide to stop is where this road ends.

This road has gone from being rock solid concrete to being light enough to fit into concentric circles of smoke from that cigarette in your hand.


Sometimes I wonder if this road is coming from or going to somewhere, I think maybe both. It sometimes comes from where I’ve been and goes to where I haven’t…


This is a puzzle if you want it to be and not if you don’t. It really is just like the road, it takes the form, the origin and the destination you decide to give it. It really, trust me or yourself for a change, starts and ends just where you intend it to.


It however needs a frame for it to be visible, a context maybe, sometimes just the truth and usually the truth as we have chosen to see it. It is a road,( that by now should be obvious ) that you have travelled and now it travels on you and yet you travel on it, for better or for worse.


That is a road you have left behind or have you? That is a road that defines you or should it. That is a road that you had taken, (Oh! ok I heard that, you were made to take it) either way you took that road. That road, this road, those roads all of them are now a construct of your mind and are criss- crossing in the labyrinth aka maze of your memories. And yet there is one more road waiting to be taken, the road you always wanted to travel, but didn’t for the maze of other roads that kept you back. That road is still waiting, it is usually called, THE ROAD LESS TAKEN


Sanchita Johri

My Soul is a DJ

I can’t believe they played that song on the radio today. It had been so many years since I had heard it… or maybe not. I think I probably heard it almost everyday, some part of my soul had gotten used to humming it. Then I realized that there were so many songs that my soul hummed to itself almost like a background score to my thoughts. Every song had a little memory attached to it. The images seemed distant but the song as fresh as sipping a hot cup of tea on a winter morning!

There was this song that our Rickshaw puller used to play on his little black radio making a remix version of it with the water bottles and tiffin boxes clanking away all the way to a school called Tender Hearts in Lucknow.I can’t believe I still remember the name Chitrahaar – The MTV of those days ;) and even the Aakashvaani that happened before the Mahabharata started( Main Samay hoon), then the Pop era with the Philips Top Ten, the boy bands, the songs played at socials in school -all of it now seemed like a medley in my head!!!Then there was these MJ songs my brother played several times on his “oh so new disc man”! The Tamil songs our Van Driver Raju Uncle played on our way to school in Muscat, the songs of the several Antaksharis played in the garden with my dad and songs that we practiced hours together on the school stairs with “my gang of friends” to just see who remembered the lyrics more!Then there were Christmas Carols we learnt at choir and my dad played them for a month before Christmas every year at home, in the car and any other place where we could hear them. The sounds of the aarti during Diwali sung by different members of the family and also songs sung during the weddings of cousins getting married.There were songs that I had begun associating with different people like a song that one of the teachers sang in school ( it was the same song every year- lest we forget), songs sung by people in college as performances in college fests, the song that spoiled the walkman for repeat play during the first break up and of course the song that we thought would play in the background when we met the person of our dreams!

There were so many songs in the past and there will be so many more in the future, but for the fear that the DJ in my head takes over, I paused to hear the song playing outside the window- The song of a little bird on a tree!

Sanchita Johri

The Present, A Gift Today!

So you really thought that if you topped that exam, life would be so perfect.You thought that you truly were the brilliant types who didn’t need to study (that’s for nerds).But this time it was different there was this special someone in class, you just couldn’t afford to have them think that you’re any less smart than the one who seems to wear the medal like it was uniform. If this special someone didn’t fall in love with you, no one probably ever would. Just this once it was so important or life just wouldn’t go on.So you crammed the whole night, did decently well but the medal swindler stole the show.The special someone…Oh I forgot, they sort of moved on to a different city, ummm life , it went on… at least you did ok on the exam!

You just so had to graduate with honours, lose weight ,get into shape, look great well duh how obvious is that…it was going to be Grad.Day!If only that new love interest would look at you the way you always candidly looked at them, if only they would join you as your date for the party at your place after the ceremony…life would be so perfect! Else it might just be over! So there you were looking your best, umm maybe a little more toning might have helped, but never mind, you had personality! The degree came and so did the honour of being introduced to the fiancée of that someone special! Life it went on, after all you did have to find the perfect job for the perfect life.P.S. – you also hoped you’d meet that special someone at work, looking at the work hours nowadays, where else?

So there went your updated resume like the morning newspaper delivered on time everywhere it was supposed to reach, life was going to be perfect you knew it, we all do.Why were they taking so long to call, Oh just this once the perfect job…life would turn out just right. There came the calls and ofcourse you got the job, it all seemed perfect till you actually understood the terms and conditions, but then again life went on atleast the chances to meet that perfect someone were still open! It was only a matter of time till you found your next job, the perfect one…Life then would be so perfect!!!

And you like all of us spent your life so far ignoring the imperfect perfect life, in anticipation of the perfect one which you may someday have and call it imperfect for the perfection of it! Inspired by a quote I read which said that the past is history, the future is a mystery, the now is a gift, that is why we call it the present.

Sanchita Johri