Written by Kailash Biswa
Udaipur is the city of lakes, but I also like to call it the city of happiness. So much has happened since we last met, I hope you guys are very excited for the long-awaited update. So, what have we been up to? We have done a lot; our journey continues from Udaipur. We stayed with a community that’s very unique, the name of the community is Shikshantar. They welcomed us with open arms, and we stayed in a place called Suraj which is one of the campuses in Shikshantar. We learned so much from that place when it comes to the environment, agriculture, and so on. We visited a lot of places like a farm varsity. It is a program in Shikshantar where you learn about organic farming. It is within a small village from the campus we were staying at. It was a one-hour ride. I never thought we would see that side of Udaipur, we saw a lot of valleys, and a lot of rocks.
The drive there was very bumpy when we arrived. We got a tour of that campus, and it was great. Because later that night they invited some local singers, and we were dancing and singing until 1 AM. We played a lot of games, and the trip was really fun. The next day we headed back to Suraj, and we explored the city of Udaipur, seeing the different architectures was very amazing and of course the lakes were mesmerizing as well. Then we started preparing for Holi; the festival of Colors. We were so lucky we got to celebrate it a few days earlier at the main campus of Shikshantar. At the main campus they have a café night open to the community. Everyone is welcome so that night we met all sorts of people from different backgrounds and different countries as we were singing and dancing.
Later, we helped out to make the food for everyone and it was overall a very memorable night. The day of Holi was amazing because the day before we had to help make the colors and we learned how to make colors for Holi which is very fun. And it was like a Warzone there; everybody was after one another as we celebrated. In Holi, you have to put colors on people’s faces and have to run to avoid people or you’ll get color in your face. After Holi, our journey went to Jaipur as we had a seven-hour train ride from Udaipur to Jaipur. Our train left at 6 AM, so we had to leave Suraj at 5 AM and it was very sad to say goodbye to everyone, but the week of student directed travel had begun where the students were in charge. So, we all decided on going to the Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world. It is in Agra and is a four-hour train ride from Jaipur. The trip to the Taj Mahal was very fun. We had to wake up very early to go to Agra at 4 AM in the morning so we could board our train at 5 AM. Thankfully, we all made it on time, and we took off to Agra. We went to Subway for lunch and after Subway we eventually went to the Taj Mahal. Seeing it in person was crazy; it was humongous and very crowded. There were people from all over the world seeing this famous landmark.
After spending a few hours at the Taj Mahal, we went to get dinner and later on, went to see a horror movie. When the movie ended, we went to the train station to head back to Jaipur which was another four-hour ride. That day was very exhausting. The next day was the leopard Safari Day. We went to a leopard sanctuary and it was very fun, we learned a lot about leopards and we saw around four of them on our safari journey. It was one of the best life experiences I’ve had in Jaipur. We also went and explored a lot of forts in Jaipur because Jaipur is known as the city of forts. Jaipur is a city of rich history and culture.
Finishing up in Jaipur, we headed back to Udaipur as student directed travel was not over yet, but we needed to be back for our flight to Nepal. We spent two days in Udaipur for our student directed travel. We stayed at a hotel by the lakes in the old city and it was our last destination in India. We all had to obviously celebrate it, so we all went to a restaurant that was very pretty and next to the lake with a very nice view. The whole group all dressed up and enjoyed themselves, and the next day it was our flight to Nepal. A lot of us were very sad yet very excited because we didn’t want to leave India but were also excited to go to Nepal. Our layover flight was from Udaipur to Delhi, which was only a fifty-minute plane ride, but we got some food at the Delhi airport and we boarded our next flight to Nepal which wasn’t very long either.
We reached Nepal around 8 PM and I was very excited because it’s my motherland, and I was excited for a new journey to begin in Nepal. We are now staying in an ashram and there is a school here with a lot of kids who stay here. The environment here is very nice and the food is also very good. We are all excited to be here in Nepal and can’t wait for the next adventures. Though we’re all missing our families and can’t wait to see them again. This is from each and every one of us, but we all love you all and miss you all, and we are all doing great as we’re all creating new memories.