Find yourself, find the world

by Jayraj Pandya (India)

A leap into the unknown India

This story is about a journey. A journey that helped me understand the meaning of my name- Jayraj, which meant someone who has won over his own self. A journey that brought me to a city, serendipitously, bearing the same meaning as my name; Jaipur. Much before I actually visited the city, whenever destiny decided to roll the dice in life, Jaipur was the backdrop. In September 2013, as a 21-year-old, I was about to move out of my hometown for initiating my professional career. Fresh out of a break-up, all that was going on in my mind was what my new destination had in store without the the faintest idea that romance was just about to re-enter my life. In conservative societies like the one I come from, witnessing a women making the first move is rare. But here I was, in a movie theatre with a song in the background (Sham Gulabi- a rosy/pink evening), being asked by a girl to kiss her. Any guesses for the location of the song? Yes, it was Jaipur- the ‘Pink City’ of India. Though our story got confined to a caption- ‘too good to be true’, Jaipur now became synonymous for love, spontaneity and exuberance in my life. My first two visits to the city, in 2016 and 2017, were for attending India’s premier literature festival which the city hosts in January. During this period, Jaipur is at its resplendent best, a semblance of modernity and old-world charm. I traversed across Jaipur’s palaces, its forts, its world famous Jantar Mantar (a scientific observatory built by the creator of this city in the 18th century). I wished to relish all of these with someone, just like it was shown in that song, who was equally passionate about the history and architecture of Jaipur. A few months later, a fresh breeze of prospective companionship entered my life. A conservationist who had earlier worked in Jaipur, out of everywhere else in the world met me at my home on a dinner. Our second date was fixed in our beloved city of Jaipur. From being introduced to the city’s most iconic rooftop cafe, Tapri to visiting the famous temples in the city to tasting some of its most sumptuous offerings like cold coffee and pyaaz kachori (an Indian snack), a few more strands of Jaipur entered my life. But it took innumerable twists and turns, truckloads of tears and the distance of 7000 miles for me to realise the value of her love and reciprocate the same. For the next one and a half years, all that I did was to find a reason to visit Jaipur and try and relive those memories. Walking through the same alleys in Central Jaipur’s C-Scheme area, visiting a point at the top of the city to see the sunset, I visualised nearly everything that I wished I could have done/ can do with her. But alas, some journeys are not meant to be undertaken together. With every jaunt in Jaipur, my love for the city, its people, its food, its culture, its architecture accentuated. While trying really hard to love someone, I finally started loving myself by loving the city of Jaipur. But life happened yet again, when I was least expecting it. On what was supposed be my last trip to Jaipur before I left India, I lost a bet against a friend, someone I genuinely loved to talk to regarding everything and anything under the sky. I was now compelled to show her Jaipur, my way. Here I was, two years since I met someone who I thought was going to be the love of my life, doing the exact same things in Jaipur that I visualised in last 24 months. We eat, we prayed, and we loved. And the best part about it was- that she loved every bit of it. A few months later, I confessed my feelings to her on Jaipur’s Foundation Day and her day ended with a smile I wish to behold forever. It took me six years & innumerable journeys to my favourite city, now a UNESCO World Heritage city, to finally find someone to cherish for life. Thank you, Jaipur. 😊