Lalita Iyer

  AJMER SHARIF DARGAH WITH DEVOTED  CROWDS We drove into Ajmer to visit the Dargah. I had heard so much about it and sworn to visit it. The Governor saab indulged us. Higway No 8 was crowded and it goes right up to Ahmedabad via, Baroda, Surat and other places. Trucks, buses, cars and two wheelers abounded. Repair of highway is going on and so the siren whooped everywhere. At one toll booth one of the security guys would not allow us till we showed pass. He of course got a lesson in protocol. There is one dhaba famous for its 32 inch parantha, but we just had a sweet tea off a mud kulhad. And we reached Ajmer. Apart from the crowded roads, the highway is dotted with restaurants, dhabas, hotels, all along the way. Natural greenery but no agriculture because of lack of water. We had to go to Delhi Gate of the Dargah to be escorted and so we drove into the slimmest of roads with shops on either side. Shimmery stuff and had I walked I would have bought everything. It was dazzling ...

  Wed, 15 Feb at 8:42 pm GUESTS OF RAJ BHAVAN, JAIPUR I am in a bit of a daze. Post breakfast, my toes and thighs toasting in the sun, I am watching peacocks crying out and running around in excited circles, just a foot away from me, while orange bougainvillea leaves fall over me in the slightest of the breeze. The parakeets and various other birds woke me up, along with the rest of the nearby world from the plentiful green trees that surround this well designed place. You may not have guessed but Murali and I are guests of the Governor Kalraj  Mishra at Jaipur. Murali is on the advisory  board of the governor for MSME and Employment. This time I am the attachment. Luckily M has to attend meeting while I can be lulled by the distant traffic sounds, the bird calls and the entire magical beauty of it  all. They have these huge well appointed rooms with well designed beds and the warmest and softest of razais (someone actually asked me if I got up in the morning for a w...