Rendezvous with the inner child

In our ordinary lives sometimes, there are few moments of extraordinariness when our inner child comes out and decides to take control. It directs us towards our innate ability to be creative, be childlike and helps us find the lost piece of the puzzle, our inherent natural being

For a while, I was thinking of taking a trip on my own. I wanted to travel to neverland, some place that will be so different from my current world yet grounding. But life’s busyness kept me so occupied

Till I decided, no more! I need to take a break n one day, out of nowhere, I found myself checking out options for a stay in Jodhpur. Jodhpur a small sleepy yet touristy town in Rajasthan where I had spent few beautiful years of my childhood

I totally trusted my intuition, intuition is a weird thing, it comes from a deep, lost sea within us and guides us towards our true calling, our desires. It does create some sort of unrest in our hearts and most often we tend to ignore it… the safety net of known tested path keeps us tangled.

But this time I listened to my intuition and decided to plan my whole trip on intuition I booked by tickets for Jodhpur. I planned for a short 3-day trip

I picked a beautiful 180-year-old heritage home for stay … the place spoke to me, and I was very sure, this is where I wish to stay

But alas! There was no availability during my chosen days, since I had decided to be guided by my intuition, I postponed by trip by few days and chose not to go for any other place to stay

Let me now take you through the most beautiful, grounding experience of my life .. I soared high in my spirit but still stayed centered and grounded

Day 1

I reached Jodhpur at around 9:30 am. Quaint lil small town airport amused me, it was so small that only one or two planes could land there at a time. The plane stopped right at the door of the airport.

The hotel taxi was waiting for me at the arrival gate. I was greeted by a cheerful, tall man, who became my companion and friend for next three days.

Madan Singh, a Rajput Rajasthani who never stepped out of Jodhpur all his life yet he had seen the world through the eyes of all the travelers he met during his tenure of 25 years in this hotel.

Madan Singh ji loved to talk and I loved to listen... we really complimented each other.

As soon as we entered the heritage home / Hotel... I fell in love with the place

Rustic artistic place with a small ancient temple in the entrance, surprisingly the place was lush green.

Now Rajasthan is a state in the middle of Thar Desert, we don’t see as much of greenery as we see in other parts of India

But this Heritage Home was filled with plants, creepers, waterbodies a mini sanctuary of sorts.. Now let me reveal the name of the place. The home was called “Devi Bhawan “Devi Bhawan is now itched in my memory forever

So, I was again greeted by certain Mr Bhom Singh, Bhom was fairly younger than Mr Madan Singh Ji, a restless enthusiastic guy with a gleam in his eyes it was a cocktail of pride for belonging to the land of warriors and also a desire to explore the world beyond Jodhpur, the so-called glamorous city life.

My room had a lil window and a sit out areas. I could easily visualize myself sitting there and doing my morning routine there…

I could actually feel my body and breath relaxing...’ I am home’ , my inner child whispered to me

After resting for a while, we planned to go to a sand dune, followed by some music fest by local singers there, the placed was named as Osian ..

I set out for the adventure with Mr Madan Singh ji. On our way to the Osian, I was keenly listening to the stories told by Madan Singh, he surely was a good storyteller, the tales of the Bravehearts of Rajasthan, the grapevine of the Royal Family and so much more. We visited Mandor Garden on our way. It is said that Mandor Village was the Birthplace of Mandodari, Raavan’s Wife. The visit took me back to my school trip to the same Garden many moons ago

Apparently, Devi Bhawan was owned by one of the distant cousins of the current king of Jodhpur, the royal family keeps visiting the house. They have a very opulent lifestyle.. but they are very generous and take good care of the staff, so on and so forth.

Also there were tales about the woes of the local villagers... water is precious in this land since it’s a desert. A person’s wealth is measured by how much water he has in his house!

I was loving the conversation... and in no time or actually 2 hours we reached Osian.

We went for a small Jeep Safari in the Dunes. It was exhilarating!! And then I met this lil girl named Khusbhoo there, so came forward and asked me if she could take a pic of me. I have great camera skills, give me your phone!” she said with beaming confidence!

She took few pictures said goodbye and moved on to the next Jeep.

It was almost 5:00 PM by now, time for Sunset, the whole sky was pink, the air was fresh and crisp. I could feel the nip in the air.

We headed towards the camp where musical performance of supposed to happen. I was served some amazing snacks and a cup of Chai.

 Sunset was at its full glory by now and sky had many colors… I had a complete moment of presence right there, nothing else existed for me at that moment, just the pink sky and flaming red sun!

After witnessing the gorgeous sunset, we sat down for the performance.

The performers were from a specific tribe in Rajasthan called kalbelias. They are nomads and keep travelling to various places within Rajasthan.  They are known for their singing abilities and dance performances

The sang folks songs one after another, the songs brought back all the memories of this place and my childhood time that I spent here.

I found myself going up there right in the middle of the sitting area and in complete trance. I started whirling and dancing, some other folks joined me after a while.

After this breath-taking performance, me and some of the other tourists sat down for a meal, breaking bread with strangers, gushing over the performance we just witnessed it all felt very surreal. The food was delicious, and I was fed with lot of care and love.

After the dinner, we headed back towards Devi Bhawan. It was nighttime, Madan Singh’s Chatter and stories took a break; we travelled in complete silence. The moments were impregnated with a feeling of overwhelm and gratitude. Gratitude for this moment, the sunset, the simplicity of the villagers, performers, the snack which was served without any cost. just because the camp manger thought, I must be tired.

For everything that was part of the flow and not the prescribed hospitality.

After coming back, I came back to my room, read a bit and said goodbye to the beautiful day