Rajasthan Tour
Once the train of the PhD gathered momentum, we—Aditya, Debkanta, Richeek, and I—began to feel a curious reversal of physics. Time, instead of stretching as Albert Einstein would have us believe, seemed to shrink upon itself. Days collapsed into instants and weeks flashed like streaks of light. We felt less like travelers than photons: propelled, unpausing, cutting through moments. In the corner of the room, the debate on relativity sat quietly, almost wounded—its grand equations unable to console our lived compression of time. Startled by this quiet rebellion against relativity, we imagined stepping off that iron caravan and testing our theorem in the sky instead. A plane, we thought, might grant us altitude enough to measure time anew. But before takeoff, debate became our runway. We circled possibilities—Ladakh’s austere heights, Kashmir’s mirrored valleys, the peninsular warmth of the south—each destination a different hypothesis of escape.
Then Rajasthan arrived not as a choice, but as a meteor. Its arid vastness struck our drought-stricken hearts and minds. In that blazing aftermath, the question of time—once so urgent—fell silent. The impact sent waves far beyond us, summoning Gemini, ChatGPT, and other tireless knights to a single, more elemental question crystallized from the dust: how might we draw water from the desert within a week? On that, we found rare unanimity. To answer it, we would have to move not like passengers, nor even like pilots, but like a whirlwind itself—entering the desert not to endure it, but to change its course. Chronology surrendered to survival; relativity bowed before thirst.
Immediately, the plan was forged, and quiet signals traveled through Airbnb and Google Maps, informing distant hosts and coordinates of our impending arrival. Routes traced, shelters secured. In this quiet orchestration, even the desert seemed forewarned—awaiting not merely our arrival, but our attempt to coax water from its silence and restore something long-dry within ourselves.
Day 0 : 18-07-2025 (saturday) - Kolkata
Evening train from Kharagpur to Howrah. Night stay at Kolkata airport lounge with dinner and herbal monk. Awake all night till dawn.
Day 1 : 19-07-2025 (saturday) - Jaipur
Early morning flight from Kolkata to Jaipur.
8:30 AM; Jaipur welcomed us with a cloudy sky and drizzle. The weather was very nice with the cold breeze.
After tea and snacks, we kept the luggage in the room and immediately started for the Amber Fort. On the way, we stopped at Jalmahal, took photos as kings from history. We visited a museum nearby with old books and art.
Amber Fort was heavily crowded, and it is a large fort spread across a vast area. People live in homes and run markets within the fort boundaries. The driver arranged a very friendly guide for the visit. The fort has its own flag, and a smaller flag below it indicates the presence of the king. Amber Fort and Jaigarh Fort are located close to each other, and we headed there next.
The day ended with a sunset view of the city from Nahargarh Fort.
Day 2 : 20-07-2025 (sunday) - Jaipur
jaipur..
At 22:40, the 19665 KURJ UDZ Express, a night express train operating between Khajuraho (KURJ) and Udaipur (UDZ), would take us from Jaipur station (JP) to our next destination, Chittorgarh (COR). The driver dropped us off at Jaipur station after requesting a rating on Google Maps.
Day 3 : 21-07-2025 (monday) - Chittaurgarh, Udaipur
At 4:10 AM, around dawn, we deboarded the train at Chittorgarh (COR). With sleepy eyes and a sip of tea, nature’s call forced Debkanta and Aditya to experience the station’s medieval-age toilets. Each of them returned one after another like prancing colts, while Richeek and I were still struggling to open our eyes. The reason behind their sudden burst of consciousness was explained in vivid detail over another round of tea while we waited for the car to arrive.
Vijay stambh, Kali mata temple, Meera temple, kirti stambh, gau mukh kund, maha sati, padmini palace…
Rana kumbha’s palace, Fateh prakash palace …
After descending from the fort, we had a roadside lunch and continued our journey to Udaipur in the same car.
As we approached Udaipur, the landscape gradually transformed into verdant green hills. We reached our Airbnb booked lodge, where the host, Sangeeta, showed us our delightful air-conditioned room, complete with a sofa, three beds, a kitchen, and a spacious dining area. After freshening up, we went for an evening stroll around City Palace, Bagore Ki Haveli, beside Lake Pichola.
We walked back to our room, picking up some food and the local sura, “Maharani,” along the way, to relax our body and mind in the heart of the oasis.
Day 4 : 22-07-2025 (tuesday) - Udaipur
After a long battle between “frugal Gandhi” and emotion, we yielded to Debkanta’s spear-like blackmail and boarded the boat to Jag Mandir.
Sunset view of the pichola lake and reflection of light on the ever-running ripples were deeply serene.
At 10:05 PM, we boarded an AC sleeper bus from Udaipur to Jaisalmer — onward to the Sonar Kella and the vast Thar Desert.
Day 5 : 23-07-2025 (wednesday) - Jaisalmer
At 8:40 AM, the bus dropped us at its final stop, Jaisalmer. From there, a taxi picked us up and took us to the Sonar Kella. After freshening up, we went to visit the fort.
After coming out of the living fort we started for Patwon Ji ki Haveli while exploring the alleys. Bought some ‘hing’ from a local store as the guide described it to be of good quality. At the end cold refreshing lassi was must as the heat increased significantly in noon.
After having our lunch we started for the desert by the same taxi. We reached our tent in the afternoon. After settling down we boarded a jeep and started the journey to the heart of the desert.
Around evening we came back and had shower as fine sand has penetrated into our body. There was preparation going on for a cultural program. We enjoyed the program with few sips of sura that we had with us and the body relaxed at bed after this non-stop sprint.
Day 6 : 24-07-2025 (thursday)
On our way back, we visited the abandoned village of Kuldhara, which was mysteriously deserted overnight in 1825 by the Paliwal Brahmins. While walking through the ruins, it suddenly felt as though scenes from the movie Kaalo — which I had watched on TV as a young boy — had been shot there. Later, I looked it up and discovered that it was indeed true.
TThe next stop was Bada Bagh, a historic complex of royal cenotaphs set amidst an oasis.
After lunch at Gandhi Nagar near jaisalmer fort, the cab took us to jaisalmer station for our train at 3:30 PM.
The Sabarmati Express reached Jodhpur around 9 PM. Our booked room, “Kotam Vista,” was located very close to Mehrangarh Fort, near Ranisar Talab. Due to the rain, the talab was full, and the uphill road had turned into a small river. We had a delicious home-cooked dinner on the rooftop. There was also a tough round of negotiation over the room rent in Jaipur for the following night.
Day 7 : 25-07-2025 (saturday)
With a view of Mehrangarh Fort from the rooftop, we had our morning tea. We then booked an auto to visit Umaid Bhawan Palace.
After returning and having lunch at Sardar Market, passing through Ghanta Ghar, Jodhpur and the famous Toorji Ka Jhalra (Toorji’s Stepwell), we climbed up to Mehrangarh Fort around 4:30 PM.
The heavily designed windowed walls of Mehrangarh Fort appeared to be made of wood because of their texture and color.
We came out of Mehrangarh Fort through Fateh Pol, from where our room was nearby. Later around 7:30 PM, we left the room for the 22996 / Mandore Express from Jodhpur Junction at 8:30 PM.
Day 8 : 26-07-2025 (sunday)
Around 1:30 AM, we reached Jaipur. The room we had booked was close to the station. After spending the night there, we left our luggage at the lodge and headed out for our final day of shopping. After rushed shopping in the hot weather, we had tea near Badi Chaupar metro station. We bought plenty of Ghewar for our family and friends back home. We returned to the lodge via the city’s only metro line. While collecting our luggage, booked a cab to Jaipur International Airport for our flight in the afternoon.
In the evening, our flight took us back to Kolkata, where my father was waiting with the car to take us home. On the way back, in the humid weather and with tired eyes, I narrated the story of our journey to him.
