Salutations Rajasthan!!

Life never ceases to surprise me – last two days have been full of surprises…there have been times when I have gotten sick of my travels in this role…yet there have been days when I have thanked my lucky stars for getting these opportunities to go around and see places, especially when I have that passion of capturing moments. I don’t have words to explain the tremendous satisfaction I have got in last two days when it comes to photography. I went berserk with my camera and ended up clicking 289 pictures – there is no dearth of frames, everywhere you look, there is a story that speaks. Thank you God for giving me the time and opportunity to look at more creative and beautiful things in my life. Yesterday it was Amer fort, a factory where workers are at their creative best, and of course dinner at Shiv Villas – a 5-star deluxe which is breathtakingly beautiful with Leanne, my friend from Australia – wife of our General Manager at the bank is a wonderful company! In few hours, she has taught me things that maybe I never would have realized in a lifetime. Thank you Leanne for coming into my life and sharing so much.

People, Rajasthan is one helleva place. It is BEAUTIFUL – and what makes it even more beautiful is its people. They are so highly skilled and creative that when you see them doing their bit, you want to buy each and everything that they do out of respect. We think we are the ones slogging our asses and burning midnight oils – you have wait until you see a guy doing block printing on cloth or the one making a carpet or another one making a simple wooden box carved with metal wire. Hats off to them! I did buy some tokens for the fond remembrance of their hard work and I know this place will always have special memories in my heart…when I had the first hand experience of what all people do to earn their livings and how creative and colorful can they get to chisel a things beyond recognition.

Rajasthan – my salutations to you and your people!

Pictures from jaipur

Last week I was in Jaipur - some glimpses of the time spent there...

That;s Nu-Nu baby (my customer) standing with those royal rajasthani gaurds in City Palace.

I loved this pigeon...waiting in anticipation probably...

Awww..that's my dear friend Celeste and me..I love her..she is adorable..we are looking forward to going to Agra while she is here. An italian by origin, she settled in Australia. Her son, Marcus, is a dashing little guy. Its amazing to hear her say 'Chuuuup raho..."

Celeste again...:-) striking a pose for me...

Nua...the pretty one with those pretty flowers...

Some israeli couple...asked me to click them...i did but then i clicked the guy alone too for he seemed so much into what he was listening too...

Delhi-Jaipur-Delhi

After my last trip to Singapore 5 years back, this short official trip to Jaipur was the first of it's kinds for me. It is tough to be among so many people but at the same time, it is tough to be alone as well. With that note, let me tell you my experiences.

Monday morning I woke up at 3.15 am to be ready at 4.00 am - I was a zombie because I had slept only around 12.30 the previous night. The cab was right outside my door around 4.15 am. Picked up my boss from his place near east of kailash and off we were on the Delhi-Jaipur highway. The next 5 hours went by in discussing work and working on our respective laptops (it ain't greatest of ideas to travel with you boss!) - we hit jaipur around 9.30 - went to the hotel for a shower and change and were back in office at 10.30 am. The grilling began then. Until 4.30 in the evening, there were meetings one after the other. A quick lunch at 4.45 pm and back for workouts, training session and by the time, it was 7.30 in the evening, I almost felt I will crash. With my tummy not in the best of health, I had to be very particular in what i was eating. After ordering food in the room, eating it half heartedly, popping the 2 medicines which are a routine now for last one week; I finally crashed into bed around 9.30 only to wake up at 5.15 am next morning. I hate it when I am up that early..and I am usually up early, real early. Skipped my breakfast and reached office at 7.45 am again. Until late afternoon, we were busy in meetings. Around 5, my boss comes and tells me that he intends staying for another day. I panicked. The roads to Delhi were blocked some places and I couldn't have taken a chance alone since he wasn't travlling alone. In lfat 5 minutes, I booked myself in IA and reached delhi at 7.00 sharp. People, it is sometimes a bad idea not to carry your camera with you...you come across such brilliant frames...the sky was exceptionally beautiful yesterday..with a silver lining. I did carry my mini cam but could not capture what I wanted to...will post the pictures sometimes soon...you know how my schedule was so all I could click was the view outside my room's window and some things within the room...can you imagine going to a place like jaipur and coming back without shopping? Do that because I just managed to do that. And needless to say how much I hate it.