Destination Ajmer

Dedicated to my grandsons Ashwin, Rishi and Rohan

RAJASTHAN CALLING  -  Part 2 

Destination Ajmer (25 December 2015)

It was 10.30 in the morning when we drove from Jaipur airport to Ajmer. Mannu and Gungun, the two ‘princesses’ of the Ashutoshs, seated themselves at the rear end of the SUV, to be in their own world; Ruchi, Amma and I in the middle row, and Ashutosh by the driver, to guide him. Since it was a little over two-hour drive, we decided to do it non-stop. 

Ruchi, dormant till then, suddenly became alert as the vehicle bordered Ajmer city. She was keen not to miss the institution from where she graduated - Sofia College. “Stop, stop. there it is,” she said, in the Eureka style, after a while. “My God, it has totally changed. There used to be a …..” she said in total surprise.  Then with equal suddenness she corrected herself, “No, no, this is not the one, because next to the college is the city’s Jail.” In her eagerness not to miss it, she erred a couple of times more before she finally identified it.

The college was closed for vacation. Ashutosh talked to the security chap, got his clearance for an ex-student to visit the college to satisfy her nostalgia. We all followed her. As we passed through, Ruchi showed us, “This was our …..class, and the one over there, …., etc. Then she took us to the playground, a vast one. It was situated right at the foothills of a mountain. What a scenic beauty, we told her. Then we accidentally met the Principal. She was overseeing the Christmas celebration arrangements for the evening. Ruchi told us later, “She taught me …….. subject.” Ruchi had a chat with her for a while, and then as we walked Ruchi met another lady, her senior by a year. She is now the Vice Principal. The two together had a long chat as rest of us busied ourselves emptying a plateful of Christmas cake and a few other eatables that had been offered to us. By then the Principal joined the two in an operation-recollection drive. She initially had difficulty in placing Ruchi. “But I do recollect your look-alike, Anjali; she used to bring me honey bottles from Naini Tal, but not exactly you. “Oh Sister, it was I who used to bring you those honey bottles.” That was enough for the Principal to unfold a series of common incidents involving them. Exchange of email IDs followed. It was going on and on with Ruchi least willing to leave the premises. But Ashutosh politely reminded her that their hosts, his cousin and family, should not be made to wait indefinitely for lunch, a reasonable delay was okay. Before leaving the institution, we passed through the venue with Christmas tree and the other decorations for the evening celebration.

At Ashutosh’s cousin’s place, we were welcomed with warmth and hospitality, and the table was almost laid for lunch, as we were already late. A delicious lunch with two desserts - rasagolla and hot gajar halwa - awaited us. The hallmark of the brief sojourn was the outpour of love and affection from the hosts. Kapoor Sahib, the senior member of the family gave us timely tips on how to manage our way at Ajmer Dargah (to pass through Gate No. 6, and take his name if needed), it being a Friday; again at the Pushkar temple, as also at Shrinathji’s temple at Nathdwara the next day.

We headed for Pushkar temple, made a hasty retreat after two kilometer to pick up the backpack that Ashutosh had left behind. We engaged a guide, who explained the significance of the place. While I can’t vouch that I understood fully his delivery at 160 words per minute, here is what I have pieced together from Google on the importance of Pushkar.

Brahma, the Hindu creator God, saw a demon trying to kill his sons. He immediately slew the demon with his weapon, the lotus-flower. In this process, the lotus petals fell on the ground, creating a lake: the Pushkar Lake. Brahma then decided to perform a yajna (fire-sacrifice) at the Pushkar Lake.  However, while performing the yajna, his wife Savitri (or Sarasvati in some versions) could not be present at the designated time to perform the essential part of the yajna as she was waiting for her companion goddesses Lakshmi, Parvati and Indrani. So Brahma married Gurjar girl, Gayatri, and completed the yajna with his new consort sitting beside him. When Savitri finally arrived at the venue she found Gayatri sitting next to Brahma which was her rightful place. Agitated, she cursed Brahma that he would be never worshipped, but then reduced the curse permitting his worship in Pushkar, and Pushkar alone.  Endowed by the powers of yajna, Gayatri diluted Savitri's curse, blessing Pushkar to be the king of pilgrimages. We did puja and tarpanam by the lake and later had darshan at the temple.

Now it was the turn of Ajmer Sharif Dargah. A Dargah is an Islamic shrine built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint. Ajmer Sharif Dagah is a pilgrimage centre for the shrine of the Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. A R Rahman, the famous film music composer, is an ardent devotee of Sufi Saint Khwaja, as far as I know. He has bought a house near the Dargah and visits the Dargah every year with his family. There was a lot of crowd that evening, it being a Friday as well. As advised we went to Gate 6, and Ashutosh telephoned his contact who came in and took us inside without much trouble. We offered prayers carrying a basket full of flower petals as per the custom. 

As we were bidding good-night to each other at the hotel, Ashutosh said, “So we could visit a church (sort of), a temple and a Dargah in one day. In other words, a day well spent.” All of us were dead tired and hit the bed soon. Also, we had to catch a train to Udaipur the next morning.

(Next: Part 3 - Off to Udaipur, the city of lakes)