Working has really slowed down my spirit. My calling to take a voyage somewhere is yelling to me, and I am ignoring it for very long. I am not showing the best trait of being a traveler, that is spontaneity. Really that is required. To travel long distance sure we need to plan, but the short distances are easy to cover and more enjoyable and more over what I like the most about the small trips is the unconscious plans, like get out off your bed and leave.

And you know this time I am just leaving for this small trip. Last time the best of the unplanned trip we had was to Kumbhalgarh. It was month end, had 2000 bucks in hand and we just left. And that is so very enjoyable, you have no idea which bus to take, where to get down and the best part the kick of this whole episode is fun. You travel just to see the ruins of a fort, isn’t that amazing!!!
Another thrill is nothing but food for me. Yes you know I can talk endlessly about this meal management thing while traveling. The quirkiness about the unknown genre of a particular food and then trying it out is so exhilarating.

Now what is the fun part is that if you are acquainted with the general backdrop of a place you are visiting, then try out the things that are not the part of its civilization. You know what I mean??? Like, in Kumbhalgarh, near Udaipur that is in Rajasthan we gorged on Chowmein, instead of dal, baati, churma. I am very much familiar with this typical Rajasthani dish. So lets try the Rajasthani Chowmein, and you bet it’s typical in its taste, the Indian spices make its way in this Chinese gourmet. The heat of red chilly powder burns your eardrums and the larynx and I don’t know what else. All the vegetables are a soggy mess and fashion themselves into a pulpy mass merging them with the noodles, appearing to be a mushy heap. But you know this is the excitement, traveling in your own country, or in your own state cannot be a fatigued experience till the time you just know how to alert your senses and let the hormones of titillation and thrill rule over your brain.

And then wandering in the rural market of the place, trying to search a nice pack of snacks and then miserably fail to get one, you find not more than a pack of glucose biscuits. The shopkeeper shrugs and give you a stern look saying take it or leave it, and poor you, are left with the solo option of bowing down to him, thank him that he at least have had these biscuits for you.

I remember when infants my mother was all packed and prepared when we were traveling. You ask her for even a pin and its there. Biscuits, snacks, napkins et al. but now all this is so very predictable to me that now walking in the opposite of a planned traveling has been on my itinerary. I am just putting across that even your land can be a mine of excitement, and can be an enjoyable trip.

If you are traveling to Udaipur, then try Kumbhalgarh Fort. It’s a picturesque scene during rains. You get a chance to hold a mountain, feel the cool breeze teasing your hair strands, your lungs thank you for the pure dose of oxygen and you are in bliss. Its not the usual fort seeing trip but it’s a short trip made to crisp and unwind and uncontaminated your senses.

64 kms from Udaipur in Rajasmand district, Kumbhalgarh Fort stands like unconquerable fort and Aravali range making a fence. Maharana Rana Kumbha built it in the 15th century; the fort is constructed on the tiptop ridge and is 1,914 meters above sea level and the fort extend to the length of 36 kilometers making it to be in the international records. Being the second longest wall in the world, the first being ”the Great Wall of China”. Isn’t this a lengthy fascination?

The waggling road going through deep ravines and thick forests will take you to the fort and the journey becomes more soothing than the destination.
And is palace called ‘Badal Mahal’ or the Palace of Cloud is beauty of its own kind. It is also accredited to be the birthplace of Maharana Pratap.

The huge complex of the Fort can make your trip to be a pleasurable romantic evening while strolling through the ruins. Traveling can bring in the best in you, appreciate the ruins, and relish the not so relishing food and then thanking God for being such a marvelous creator, and helping us to see the best of his creation. Fantastically amazing, isn’t it?

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