I still remember those days of my childhood in jodhpur, when I
used to roam around the blue city on the cycle when I and
my friends could play everyday at a new park for almost a
year and still have some of them unvisited. I cannot forget my
very old but still huge and comfortable bungalow where my
grandparents still live. I miss the big lawn where I used to play infitiny number of games with my friends.
I miss the delicious traditional food of our state which my mom would make with her
own magical hands. Being honest, no other food can taste
better than that and it would have been the best meal if she
feeds me with her own hands.
I still remember the architecture structure of our city. The small
houses all painted blue which was like a tradition. Although we
used to stay in the outskirts of the city we all loved the
Tripolia Bazaar, the main area from where jodhpur grew larger.
We used to visit it almost every Sunday. Those extremely
narrow streets where its impossible to take a car. We used to
just roam around the market and rarely by something; only if I
cried for a toy or bat. The continues push of the crowd and
getting our way out to where we could breath was disgustingly
enjoying as the sweaty people would smell really bad and the
people would randomly push us and act as if they didn’t do
anything but the best about this was that I did the same if I got
irritated. And this was the fun of roaming in the market. The
various noises coming up from different places like some
people would be ordering food in the restaurant, we could hear
people bargaining for ten minutes until the shopkeeper agrees,
sometimes a child like me crying for toys etc.
I miss that visit mainly because of the delicious smell coming
from the different restaurants and the tasty mirchibada, the
the signature dish of Jodhpur and of course the sweets.
I still remember that beautiful scenery from the Mehrangarh
Fort, a historical monument where kings used to live and from
where the whole city could be seen. A sight from there could
mesmerize anyone; even if you visit there for the tenth time.
The natural beauty, although not much of greenery and most of
the sandy areas, still it was beautiful and this is what the
worst part is that these all things “WERE” and not “ARE”.
When I visited jodhpur after almost 10 years, it has changed
drastically. Although its good that Jodhpur has developed but it
has developed more than it should have been because this
development has more disadvantages than advantages. The
parks have disappeared because people or I would rather say
children no more like to come out and play with their friends.
They do play with their friends but neither outdoor sports nor
indoor sports, they just like to play with them in the video
games.
Those huge and comfortable bungalows are completely
replaced by those small, congested flats. Honestly, it almost took
me months to adjust in those flats when I shifted to Mumbai
after living for almost 25 years in jodhpur. I don’t know why but I
just hated this. Jodhpur lost its essence and its culture. The
blue city was no bluer as all those houses vanished away.
We could barely see even a bungalow. The Tripolia Bazaar,
which was now known as the city for the sake of giving a modern a
name, has completely changed. There was still a market but it
was totally different from the earlier one. People’s
sophistication has just changed everything. The roads had
become broad. No crowd on Sundays. It was just like the usual
market running in the city. Those restaurants which used to
serve those traditional and signature food of Jodhpur were
replaced by the multi-cuisine restaurants. The sweet shops
were replaced by the bakery shops.
I wish everything turns back to how it was earlier. Now I
realized that I made a huge mistake by leaving my home town
and shifted to some other place. This visit made me realise that
those were the best days of my life, unlike my thoughts which
were to shifting outside is necessary for a better lifestyle and I
will not have good living standards here. But I was totally
wrong. I wish I could go back in time to cherish those moments
again and never leave this city.
-Darsh Jain