I seldom write posts without an SEO perspective but this website has two such blog posts, and both about Jaipur. One about what the city means to me, and one about leaving Jaipur.
I think it is high time that my blog becomes my personal journal of documenting my learnings through travel, because something about this moment just feels right. August slipped away, but it also took away that last month of living in Jaipur.
As hard as it is, I am onto a new chapter of my life, but everything isn’t over until it is and even when it looks like it is over it is not. Jaipur means the world to me and it always will. But before I go, there is simply so much to do.
I mean, I have places to see that I still haven’t, people to meet that I haven’t yet interacted with, and stories to find and share about.
Leaving Jaipur
Imagine having one year of pure bliss amidst 30 years of absolute chaos. This is how I can define what Jaipur felt to me. I haven’t been in a calmer and peaceful state of my mind across my whole existence. It feels so freaky that I am not sure if I’m ever going to have this calmness in my life ever again.
Imagine being isolated with the person you love away from all the problems you ever had. I kinda lived like a housewife before marriage for a significant period of my life, as work went down and I went back into learning more than earning.
The time hasn’t been easy but it hasn’t been the worst. It has been secure and secluded. It has been peaceful over everything else.
The good the bad
Don’t cry because it is ending, smile because it happened. This is the only quote I have for myself when I’ll think about Jaipur. Every time I will scroll through my gallery and check the posts that makes me remember my time here, I will smile. I know I will cry at times, sometimes little and sometimes a lot, but I will still be grateful that it happened.
I wanted to get married in Jaipur, but that didn’t happen. My dear Universe, I have a bone to pick with you when it comes to the games you played with me. Making me feel like I have it all and then taking it away from me, and repeating the cycle until I surrendered to what is. And what was, wasn’t here.
But Universe, I didn’t ever imagine you’d bring me here. That I’d be a few kilometers away from the Pink City for a significant period of my life. I still can’t imagine that only within 4 hours, I can book an auto and catch the most beautiful sunrise at Jal Mahal. I won’t be able to do this for long, I won’t be going out in four hours too, but I can still choose to do this.
Rain rain go away
Jaipur monsoons have been really bad in 2024. In 2023, I’d have recommended anyone to visit this place while it rained but not anymore. The city is lush green, pretty and less crowded. But this year, the rains have dampened my spirits.
I mean, come on, I have a few more weeks to go and the rains don’t seem to stop. What is it going to take to call Indra Dev and ask him to not make the city have downpour? Maybe cry a little after I go, but don’t do it until I am here, what say?
At this point, I am not sure if I have descended to madness or I am just talking to myself. But I wish I could tell you what it feels to live in Jaipur. I mean this is simply one of the most loving, soothing, nurturing places that one can be – a place where you come for new beginnings and learnings.
New beginnings?
Jaipur has definitely helped me take a step ahead towards losing my past identity and helping me steer clear towards my next. It has helped me break the shackles of pain and be in constant conflict with myself. It has helped me realize where I am a problem and how my solution can also come from me. How to be grateful, loving, nurturing, and prepare for all that’s coming.
I know life will never be the same. It will come with new set of challenges, suffering, joy, and happinesses. But the learning experience that you get from being at absolute zero, the change of mindset, and the feeling of fulfilment all came from the city.
I will miss the sunshine the most, the Sun makes the city look like what it is. It clearly exhibits the blessings of watching over the people who belong to the solar dynasty life after life.
I am grateful to be able to appreciate the power of Sun and the true significance of what He has to offer.
It is not over
Jaipur will never be over for me and I will never be over for Jaipur. At this point I don’t know what this means, but something that is absolutely internal and inexplicable. I have been using this word a lot, but my association with Rajasthan is happy and inexplicable, and it always will be.
Yes, I have countless blog posts to write, helpful content to share, but they are never going to be able to help me express the reality of how I feel about the city and the state, Rajasthan. I only have gratitude that it happened and that it lasted for such a long time.
But now, it is time to go, and start afresh with all the learnings the city has offered me. I will miss the Pink City and I hope it calls me back soon. I hope I am always one flight away from Jaipur.
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