The next morning Tanvi and Maddy took a tour of Bikaner. There was no schedule to follow. They just wanted to enjoy and with Maddy’s tongue in cheek humour there was never a dull moment. The tour of Lalgarh Palace, the main tourist spot of Bikaner and its royal anecdotes was enchanting. The Prachina museum of Junagarh Fort that is right in the heart of Bikaner city all adorned with age old aircrafts, baggi and palki was a trip down the lanes of history.
The lanes and narrow bylanes of the old city with houses built in ancestral style were fascinating. The food stalls frying sizzling mirchi pakoda and kachoris in a huge cauldron was inviting. Tanvi savoured them like a little excited girl while Maddy clicked her. Rajasthani men, lean and tall, with moustache and a bright turban and, woman draped in traditional lehnga and lehriya duppatta, and camels strolling around were a common sight on the roads of Bikaner.
Towards evening they drove to Gajner palace which is around 30 kilometres away from the Bikaner city. It is a famous lakeside palace, now a restored luxury hotel which has a sanctuary adjoining and is set in the middle of Thar desert. Gajner Palace is picturesquely set in a sprawling 6000 acres of area. You can enjoy a boat ride and spot migratory birds or just stroll around the lavish and flamboyant royal ambience.
The Gajner Palace, Bikaner
Today, it was Tanvi’s turn to speak while Maddy was engrossed in clicking. Dinner was complimentary by Gajner palace. They had arranged for bonfire and Kalbelia dance performance in the open courtyard with lounge chairs set around. Full moon was peeping from between the branches of huge trees spread around the courtyard. Later, dinner was served in silver utensils laid out on crisp white linen in the restaurant whose walls were decorated by chivalrous stories of royalty. Truly presentation does matters and works as appetizer increasing your hunger. Though, the food was equally scrumptious, especially the mutton kadhi which was so succulent that it simply melted in mouth.
It was an eventful day. Tanvi really enjoyed playing the muse of an artist. She was grateful to Maddy for making Bikaner trip really awesome for her. Tanvi had let go of a lot of her personal baggage. She was more confident and assured of herself. Maddy’s charm had worked like magic to revive her spirits. She felt younger, enthusiastic and more experimental with life. She was less scared of taking risks in life. Shouldn’t this be the way to lead an ideal life? Free and soaring! Maddy had come like a whiff of fresh and inspirational breeze in Tanvi’s life.
The pictures clicked by Maddy were simply out of the world. Tanvi’s soul was captured in those. Her essence of free spirit bespoke in them. Tanvi fell in love with herself. And, isn’t it the first and most important love that you must have in life which sadly is ignored by us. We look for someone to make us happy. We expect someone to gift us, pamper us, be with us to make us feel special and happy. But then this kind of love and happiness is bubble. The real love comes from within, from the happiness you have in your heart, for yourself.
Tanvi left Bikaner with a new found love and confidence.
Read the previous post here – Chapter 29 – Inspiring And Fantastico Story of Gulabo Sapera, The Kalbelia Dancer
Read the next post here – Chapter 31 –
This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
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