Chapter 27 – Relaxing With Rajasthani Folk Music At Laxmi Niwas Palace, Bikaner

The Open air restaurant was set in the open courtyard of the place with ornately designed magnanimous walls on all sides. Across the manicured garden was the stage where live Rajasthani folk music and dance program was about to start. Round tables covered with pristine white linen with a candle in centre were placed for tourists who can enjoy architectural magnificence, royal service, ethnic program and gastronomic delight all under the beautiful sky.

It was a relaxing evening and Tanvi was feeling happy about her life. She also felt proud of herself! Proud of the fact that she had been on the roads. She couldn’t believe she did it. She was living her dream. It takes a lot of courage to make your dreams reality.

Live performance had started. There was a sense of mysticism in Rajasthani folk music. The program started with a beautiful rendition of ‘Padharo maro desh re’. The singers in traditional dress and pagdi set the mood right. Rajasthan is an engaging state. There is so much tradition, art, culture, history, royalty and, not to miss shopping and food – that you can never get bored here even for a minute.

Tanvi was enjoying her Bloody Mary cocktail with dahi kebab. She had already ordered for the most authentic non-vegetarian Rajasthani dish, ‘laal maas’ with roti.

“Excuse me; can I click a picture of yours?” Tanvi was astounded by this request. A young gentleman hanging a huge camera from the neck was standing right beside her chair.

“And, why do you think I will let you click me?”, Tanvi said sarcastically. She was pissed at this odd pick up line to become friends with a lone woman. This is quite common in India but she wasn’t expecting this to happen in a five star resort like this.

“Because I am blind and you will have nothing to fear”, the young man said with a big smile.

Tanvi was taken aback.

“Oh! Oops! I am sorry. I was quite rude”, Tanvi fumbled with words.

“One request first – Don’t feel sorry for me just because I am blind. I have a much more impressive personality beyond blindness”, he chuckled, pulled the chair next to her and placed his camera on the table.

“My name is Unmad Bhattacharya but everyone now calls me Maddy Bhatta! Over the years, I have earned this prestigious name owing to my delusional craziness”; he introduced himself with vociferous laughter and ordered for a whiskey on the rocks.

As per the clearly segmented boxes of ideal society Maddy was a handicap, but here he was exuberating confidence and amour-propre that can leave any able bodied person gasping. Tanvi was intrigued by this charming personality.

“So, going back to your first question as to why I am interested in clicking you”, Maddy continued speaking making gestures with his hand and modulating tonality of his voice giving it a dramatic presentation.

Read the previous post here – Chapter 26 – Royally Fantastico Bikaner

Read the next post here – Chapter 28 – Peppy And Inspiring Blind Photographer, Maddy

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.