As an M.Phil. research scholar in the subject of economics at a university in New Delhi, I frequent the cities and towns in Haryana for surveys and fieldwork for my research topic. One of the most frequented towns was Rewari in Haryana itself. Being a research scholar is probably the most unrewarding and stressful work of all things. Writing theses and presenting papers on subjects like the growing or declining economy of the various suburbs and small towns has been a tiresome journey for the past one and a half years. My closest friend, Ashita, who is a Ph.D. research scholar at different university in Delhi, has been nagging me for the past month to take a weekend trip to this hardly known place called Neemrana in the Alwar district of Rajasthan. But due to immense pressure and tight deadlines, I have always had to reject her proposal. But this time, I decided to arrange the weekend trip. I called her up and asked her if she was ready for the short trip. She agreed at once and I took the initiative to avail a convenient taxi service in Rewari.
The Lazy Friend Who Hates Effort
At the time I was in Rewari itself and Ashita was in Delhi. The distance from New Delhi to Rewari is around 82 kilometres and takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes. I asked her to arrive at Rewari so that we can take a cab from there to Neemrana, which would be cost-effective too. As irritating as she could’ve gotten, she wanted me to return all the way to Delhi and then directly book a cab from Delhi to Neemrana. Well, I am not easy to convince and I knew that her plan was more hectic and time-consuming. It would’ve taken around 3 hours with the stops and pullovers. Hence, I convinced her to follow my plans, where management was my field of expertise.
Reaching Neemrana from Rewari
My arrangement though was on point. When she reached Rewari at 8:30 AM, I met her at the bus stop and we stepped into the pre-booked hotel that I had always preferred to stay in while working there. We dropped our luggage, freshened up in an hour and got ready to enjoy our weekend madness. The cab that I had booked from the most reliable
Adwick Taxi service was waiting outside. We got in and started the journey. The road was quite smooth and the passing landscape was too beautiful to not ogle at. With the accompaniment of a few old Hindi songs, Ashita and I were taken back to our college day memories together. Finally, we reached the ancient historical town of Neemrana in even less than an hour.
Exploring the town of Neemrana
As we reached the town of Neemrana, we realized that not many people know about this place. Ashita has just heard about it from her maternal grandmother who was born in that very town. I’d made a list of all the places that we would visit. The one place that topped the list was the Neemrana Fort Palace. With a fee of about INR 1700 including entry fee and lunch buffet, we entered the palace. As mesmerized as we were to witness its tremendously beautiful construction and sheer magnificence, the view from the fort was even lovelier as it overlooks the city of Neemrana. They also had the facility of ziplining but we were too scared to try that out. Besides this fort, there was the Baori where the structure began to look smaller and smaller as we climbed down the 70 steps into the fort. Another place that I had looked up on the net was Bala Quila which had six gates stretching 5 kilometres from North to South and 1.6 kilometres from East to West. So we decided to visit this palace located on a stiff cliff and what a view it was! When I go somewhere for a trip or for work, I make sure to bring a piece of that place back with me. There were so many local shops selling handicrafts and the traditional Rajasthani ghagra cholis that both Ashita and I could not resist ourselves from buying the finely made clothes, jewellery and other colourful handicrafts.
Returning to the same old New Delhi
Never have I wanted to return from vacations. But Neemrana was a tad bit different. At the end of the trip, I told Ashita, “Maybe last-minute trips always leave a lasting effect on our minds!”