An unofficial trip to Pushkar Camel Fair 2011

[Yogesh Sarkar]

People say great things start with a small beginning. This is how it was, when the question first came up of this year’s Pushkar Camel Fair and initially it was just me and Nitin (trance_nut), then RK Bharat, Rajiv Solanki (Rajivphoto) and Narender (Masterjee) joined in. Then I got the news from Masterjee that Sachin (Bull Bola) would be meeting us at Pushkar and Sandeep (Sandeep 9868) and his friend too showed interest in meeting us there. With a few days to go for the trip, Vicky (Vickychd) too decided to join in and on the eve of his trip, his friend, Luv too got the drift of the trip and hence decided to join us.

With only 3 rooms booked at the RTDC Sarovar and that too for the first night, there was a little bit of apprehension in the back of my mind, whether or not everything would go smoothly. With that thought lingering in my mind, I packed my luggage and at 1:15AM, I started off towards Janakpuri District Center, where Nitin was already waiting for me.

After a quick hello, it was time to head to Masterjee’s home, which we found pretty easily thanks in part to Google Maps and some last minute route direction by a helpful auto rickshaw driver. At Masterjee’s home we waited for Rajiv to arrive and thereafter, proceeded to load our luggage into Masterjee’s Maruti Swift and headed for Vicky’s home in Gurgaon.

Once at Vicky’s home, Nitin and I transferred our luggage onto Vicky’s Mercedes ML 350 CDI, in which we would be traveling to Pushkar. While Masterjee and Rajiv went to pick up RK Bharat, we waited at Vicky’s place for their call. After a round of tea, we got a call from RK Bharat that they were now heading out and would meet us at the next toll plaza, so we too decided to hit the National Highway-8 and were soon on our way to Pushkar, Rajasthan.

First pit stop of the day was made at around 5:30AM, to get a cup of tea and for the first time during the trip, I brought out my camera for a quick snap.



An hour later, it was time to stop again, to photograph the sunrise.



Vicky and his Mercedes ML 350



By the time we hit Jaipur bypass, Nitin and I were feeling sleepy and drifted off for a while, while Vicky had to deal with unusually high number of traffic and in particular trucks, intent on making our progress slower.

By the time we crossed Jaipur, it was almost 9AM and all of us were hungry. We decided to pull into a dhaba and it turned out to be the same Shree Shyam Hotel and Restaurant, where I had stopped during my 2008 ride to Pushkar!



Just as we were about to place our order, we saw a Royal Enfield Thunderbird pull in and it was none other than Sachin (Bull Bola), who was supposed to meet us at Pushkar!



We ordered parathas and as you can probably judge from the photograph of RK Bharat, they took a long time to arrive.



When they finally reached us, they looked decent enough.



But sadly only the aloo paratha was decent and somewhat tasty, paneer paratha was a bit disappointing.

After having our fill, it was time to hit the highway again, to be continued...

5th November 2011, arrival at Pushkar and RTDC Hotel Sarovar

5th November 2011, Pushkar Mela Ground

5th November 2011, bakar, dinner and sleep

6th November 2011, Pushkar Mela Jhanki (parade)

6th November 2011, Pushkar Mela Jhanki (parade), Vantage Point

6th November 2011, Stadium and Hotel hopping

6th September 2011, Street Candid

6th November 2011, last sunset at Pushkar

7th September 2011, Back to home

[indian07_blood]

I see some good pictures coming up! I was there at the start of the fair and it was just setting up at that time so couldn't get to see it in its true colors. Nonetheless waiting for the pictures from your side!

[hiambuj]

Thats a record of YS. Starting the log withing 24 hours of arrival.
Fantastic start. Fantastic group. Surely, its going to be fantastic through out !!

[Aman Pruthi]

Good Start YS

Waiting for more

[rahulsingh]

Lovely pics ys. RK is looking bit tiered ... or some thing is going on in his mind?

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Originally Posted by indian07_blood

I see some good pictures coming up! I was there at the start of the fair and it was just setting up at that time so couldn't get to see it in its true colors. Nonetheless waiting for the pictures from your side!

Thats too bad, though we too weren't at the height of the fair.

Originally Posted by hiambuj

Thats a record of YS. Starting the log withing 24 hours of arrival.
Fantastic start. Fantastic group. Surely, its going to be fantastic through out !!

Thanks Amit

Originally Posted by Aman Pruthi

Good Start YS

Waiting for more

Thanks Aman

Originally Posted by rahulsingh

Lovely pics ys. RK is looking bit tiered ... or some thing is going on in his mind?

Thanks Rahul, I don't think anyone of us had gotten any sleep before the trip and since all of us had been awake for more than 24hours at that time, I guess it was only natural.

[pushkark]

YS regarding the title 'An unofficial trip to Pushkar Camel Fair 2011', why this?? What was unofficial about the trip???

[hiambuj]

Originally Posted by pushkark

YS regarding the title 'An unofficial trip to Pushkar Camel Fair 2011', why this?? What was unofficial about the trip???

No formal announcement of meet or ride, inviting members to participate, was done. It just happened that quite a large number of fellow BCMTians shared their programs & thereon, tagged along.

[Yogesh Sarkar]

Exactly, on the first day, there were 10 of us at the hotel. Plus Rajiv met Bobby and I met Zeeshan Haider and next day Naren70 (Narender) and his wife.

[Bhupi]

Lovely Start Yogesh. I went to Ajmer on 5th and made a quick visit to Pushkar on 5th Evening. When were you there?