Galta Gate: A lone expedition [Part-I]

That Sunday, sitting idle in my room I was thinking to go out and visit someplace. I had cleaned my week’s laundry and was arranging it before giving it for iron. I called some friends from the office to ask if any of them would like to go out for a little sight-seeing. Nobody seemed to be interested, which was completely understandable on their part. After all, we all had office in the next day. My roommate was already on vacation to see his hometown; whereas I, on the other side, had no week-off(s) to visit some place. I needed to get out, but I wasn’t sure where. In confusion, I pulled out my laptop to Google the nearest places around.

I was staying at Raja Park in Jaipur, which is considered to be an upmarket area in town. Though I had been in the city for more than six months, I did not travel much because of constant work pressure. Leaving aside a few trips here and there, and a maiden visit to the Jaipur Literature Fest 2014, I had not seen most of the places Jaipur is famous for. I typed on Google and a long list of places came on screen. I filtered my search and narrowed down places that were closed to Raja Park. Eureka! The next moment I was clear in my head. I was going to see the centuries old temple inside the Aravali Hills, i.e. Galtaji.

The clock was ticking half past four; I packed my gear, took my camera and in next fifteen minutes I was ready to go. Both, the temple and these hills are well known in Rajasthan because of their own reasons. While the Aravali is famous for its geographical existence; the temple, on the other hand, rose to fame after the production of a documentary series called Monkey Thieves by National Geography Channel.

The camel cart owner, in Jaipur 

So, I reached the bus stand hoping to catch a bus to Galta Gate, but that didn't happen. At the bus stand, I realised that no bus was going straight to Galta Gate; I was wrong. People at the bus stand told me that first I go to Transport Nagar, and from there I can get a direct bus for Galtaji. But how shall I reach Transport Nagar, I wondered, until I saw this Camel cart going in the same direction. I asked the man riding the cart to drop me in the way. He agreed. I jumped on and together we went. On the way, we start chatting, while I was filming him. I asked him what does he do for work. He told me he transports timber logs that are used in building constructions. For each consignment, he said, he gets hundred bucks, and on an average he makes Rs. 15000/- a month. The man told me, he has three daughters and two sons, a wife and his parents at home and yet, how happy he is despite his meagre family income. It made me wonder that why can we all not be happy like him. I thought, how nice it would have if people could actually learn to be happy like him, despite their circumstances. More then half of our problems would have been solved automatically.

On reaching Transport Nagar, I thanked him, took his picture and said goodbye.


TO BE CONTINUED...