We went for a stroll around the city of lakes and were struck by some melodious tunes of Rajasthani music. We thought just to enjoy it while waking by. Suddenly we saw some lights at the end of the lake and we were mesmerized by what we saw.

It was a Rajasthani cultural dance event happening at the famous Gangaur Ghat of Udaipur. Music and surreal view along lake side of udaipur made a velvety evening for us.

A thumri was performed by some of the artist as a part of a cultural event. Being curious we enjoyed the evening like royals enjoying an ancient dialect performed in the form of dance.

 

Thumri is a common genre of semi-classical Indian music.The text is romantic or devotional in nature, and usually revolves around a girl's love for Krishna. The lyrics are usually in Uttar Pradesh dialects of Hindi called Awadhi and Brij Bhasha. Thumri is characterized by its sensuality, and by a greater flexibility with the raga.

 

 

The paradise on earth and a jewel of India Leh had some amazing places as well as people.We traveled to Leh on a bike ride meeting some unique people on the way. Especially the people of Leh are quite, always smiling and calm.

I am always curious about the people living at the places I travel. I interact with them to learn about their lifestyles and their dreams. When I talked to the people of Leh-Ladakh I inquired them about what do they do in winter, when there are no tourists and temperature is way below freezing temperature, they said I quote, ' We stay together and embrace our families for warmth and pray to god to end this brutality and shower thy love on them.' I was stunned hearing this as they said it calmly as if they love winter.

The same question I asked to the young monks I met in a market. They replied that winter is the only time of the year when true human nature is revealed and they are tested. So they consider it is the time of year when god is closer to you. They said that they learn techniques to keep them warm. When I asked what are the techniques, they say that pray to god like you are about to meet him and you will feel the warmth of the Lord inside you.

I saw an old man sitting alone in the market and revolving the Tibetan chime, I tried to speak to him but he seem to have been in deep meditation that he didn't reply or even cared to look at me. So I asked a shop keeper about him. The shop keeper said that he comes at this very spot every morning and sits there for an hour doing meditation and leaves without speaking to anyone. When further persuading the shop keeper he told me that something happened at that spot long back which the old man considered a sign from Buddha and he started praying at that very spot every day. It seemed like a fairytale so I just listened to the shopkeeper carefully , I though do not believe in such stories but the way the shopkeeper told me was like he was not fooling anyone.

So this is the post about the cool and lovely people of Leh. I wish I could go every year and especially once in winter to feel the love of the people of Ladakh.