Excursions are meant for building up leadership qualities, expanding knowledge, learning things outside the classroom and to escape the monotonous pace of life. Study hall makes sure that its students have fun and make the most of these excursions and despite being a board class, XII, were taken for a trip to Jaipur, on the 15th of July 2015.

The trip started with a hiccup, the train was an hour and a half late but that couldn’t kill our spirit. We reached Jaipur on the 15th of July at 2 in the afternoon. After lunch at 4:30 p.m we were on our way to the renowned Bapu Bazaar. There we were awestruck by the vibrant Rajasthani handicrafts .There was a wide variety of Leheria dupatta,bandhanicoth, traditional jhumkas and lac bangles.

The next day we started early as we had a 3-4 hours journey to Ajmer ahead of us. After reaching Ajmer we took an auto ride to the holy Ajmer Sharif. There we were told that prayers are heard and answered. Though the gates of the dargah were closed for the afternoon, yet we were lucky that the gates opened after sometime and we all went inside the dargah to offer our prayers. We were awestruck by the beautifully decorated walls and the ceiling purely on Islamic style. After the visit to the Dargah we bounced back on our bus seats for a ride to Pushkar.

Pushkar is a small town but very important as it has the only Brahma temple in the world. Here we went up to offer our prayers and went around the huge temple complex. The small shops around the temple had exciting things to be carried back home as curios.

The next day all of us had an early breakfast and headed for the world famous Hawa Mahal. All of us marveled over the intelligently built structure that was as cool as Shimla without fans. The next destination on our agenda was the magnificent City Palace. The architecture of the palace was exquisite and the history rich! At the palace we saw the weapons and amours used by the kings during war. We also saw the royal court, furniture and carpets of the kingdom, clothes of the kings and queens and an art gallery which was full of life like paintings. We also saw a traditional puppet show in the premises of the palace. The last place on our itinerary was the Amber Fort. The fort is built on the Aravalli hills and has a room called Deewan-e- aam where the king addressed the common man and one called the Deewan-e-khas where the special officials were addressed. There was a mirror room where a candle was lit and the light was reflected in the thousand pieces of mirror carved beautifully on the walls and ceiling. This would give the illusion of a starry night. After sight-seeing we went back to the hotel,had lunch, packed our bags and left for the station.

We reached Lucknow the next morning and that was the end of our exciting trip to Jaipur .
The excursion has taught us to take responsibility of not only ourselves but of others . It was actually very difficult to keep up with time as we were tired. Nights were spent talking with the friends into the morning. We learnt to take care of each other and help each other. We had lots of fun during the trip. It was an amazing experience to spend a few days with our friends and we made the best use of the time in hand. Our friendship has also deepened. It gave us a chance to learn about the rich culture and history of Jaipur and made us realise that India is truly incredible. The trip was also a much needed break that all of us were looking forward to.

Shrishti Sinha and Vasundhara Rawat, XII D

Picture Credit : Aryan Chopra