A celebrity I want to stalk....Udaipur Lake Palace

Our white Ambassador entered this quaint town. The itinerary read, Udaipur. "H, you are now in the land of royalty! The abode of the kings, queens and princes. Presenting you, Udaipur!” I remarked with a TV Host smile and voice modulation. "Oh good Lord, A! I must say, I'm looking forward to this one. Why, we could get lucky any moment and spot Your Highness with his royal entourage, crossing the street, from one palace to another!” whispered H with a perfect classy tone and ascent, reminiscent of an East India Company Officer on vacation. Swiftly climbing the stairs of our limestone bathed hotel , I was excited about this possible rendezvous with royalty. Actually, come to think of it, not royalty but celebrity. Both me and my friend H, came here with the built up-fed in-by the world notion that Udaipur was after all the numero uno luxury-cum-royal ambience seeking holiday destination of international and local celebrities alike. We knew the place was beautiful, but the excitement was more to catch a glimpse of hot shot celebrity. Possibly because we had seen our share of palaces in Jaipur and Jaisalmer. We didn’t expect anything different in Udaipur. Our hotel room, inspite of being a two star accommodation, was spacious and had palace like features. Pillars in the room, a royal bed etc etc. You already felt royalty opening her arms and embracing you! I called for some breakfast. “Can you get me boiled eggs and toast? And you Your Highness King H? What would you prefer?” “Ah! Some fried eggs and toast please.” And so there we awaited the royal cook to render his magic and get us some fantabulous breakfast. We wanted to cover the whole of Udaipur that day as we had to move on to the next destination of our road trip early next morning. Barring the hilarious incident that occurred later with the waiter bringing H fried rice instead of fried eggs and the subsequent volley of abuses and flowery profanities hurdled by H, everything went on smooth. Which meant we were ready to explore! Nice cobbled streets, old houses of sand, colorful locals with their magnificent pagdis and lahenga cholis. Well, our less travelled minds, took these as similar locational traits of all of Rajasthan’s tourist towns. By three noon, after consuming a roadside paratha lunch, which by the way, was absolutely sumptuous, we proceeded towards the main attraction in town….the famous Lake Palace of Udaipur. “Another palace! I’m looking forward to the ferry ride on the lake; I’ve had enough of palaces.” “Oh H man! What if you notice a famous Hollywood celebrity standing in the palace balcony? Look at the positive side man. My strong intuition says, we are going to get lucky this evening!” By the time we reached and paid up the kind of-expensive ride fare and boarded, it was nearing five. The ferry started its trip with a smooth swirl from the stand. The homebound sun was glaring right on our faces, with the fort on our right. I walked up and requested the captain to maneuver a U-turn so that the sun can be evaded. The ferry now was taking a U turn and thankfully we evaded the sun. I was sitting and chatting up with H, ridiculing his sense of humor, when a shade of gold caught my eye. I glanced towards the palace at the bank of the lake (Lake Pichola), which all this while, was totally non-existent to us. And my heart skipped a beat!

The rays of the setting sun had painted the City Palace golden. The beautiful pillars and columns with intricate archways and the numerous windows and balconies, ornaments of this imposing series of structures, took a totally different, or a divine form. There was a certain soothing melody or harmony the palace reminded off. With its brilliance casting a reflection on the turquoise waters of the lake, the view was surreal. I’m a lousy and lazy photographer, but I could feel the most strong craving or desire to capture this view for my memories sake. The Jagniwas lake palace (in the middle of the lake) off course, simply put, is a work of art. Not because it has anything spellbindingly special about its architecture. But what is special is how this palace completely compliments its surroundings, creating an experience you can only dream off. Surrounding hills, blue clad Lake Pichola and the white stone and marble Jagniwas Lake palace create a magical or mystical portrait, specially enchanting during dawns and dusks with nature splashing its colours of gold and auburn. And the City Palace at the banks with its imposing presence and breathtaking grandiose, makes the lake ride on Udaipur’s Lake Pichola a spectacular journey through a kaleidoscope of culture, art, beauty and mystique. An experience not to be missed.

“A! Im staying back another day here. This “lake ride” is the real celebrity and I am a celebrity stalker till tomorrow!” whispered H, in a voice shaken with excitement and wonder.
I readily agreed for another plunge in wonderland.