Salaam Baroda…

I had been to Baroda approximately a year back… and this year.. we all  decided to go there to enjoy Makar Sankranti (Kite Festival). For the ones who doesn’t know.. Makar Sankranti is celebrated in a big way all over Gujarat, infact in many places it’s been celebrated on 14th and 15th January both…

So, here is my diary of a short visit to Baroda.. (13th to 15th Jan)

We reached Baroda on 13th… we had no mood to have food at home… we went to a restaurant called Express to have Gujarati thali…. and for the dinner, we went to some Kathiyawadi Dhaba (can’t recollect the name) located on the outskirts of Baroda.. dirt cheap food but amazingly tasty..

After that, we had my favorite, chocolate pan (Paras Pan – don’t miss it if you happen to visit Baroda)

Around 11.30 in the night.. we went to old Baroda (city), to check out the market area.. markets are open whole night on 13th for kite selling… it was an amazing experience there..  no place to walk.. no one was ready to leave, everyone was busy buying different types of kites, manja (threads) and even glares.. it was a fun experience…

So finally on 14th.. we all go to the building terrace with around 50+ kites.. but sadly.. there was not enough wind for the kite flying… but still we did not lose hope… we saw other people also, trying.. everyone was enjoying.. playing loud music on the terrace… we waited there for couple of hours but luck wasn’t with us…

We returned back in the evening.. around 4.30 PM… and this was the best phase… perfect weather for kite flying… good enough wind.. pleasant climate… without wasting much of time… we started flying the kites… the scenario was amazing… almost every terrace was full of people.. the sky was full of kites.. I have never seen anything like this ever.. it was too good.. we continued till the dark.. (around 7 PM I guess…)

And.. then.. the Diwali started.. everyone started bursting crackers.. pure fun.. the whole day, sky was full of kites.. and in the night.. crackers took place.. there were few people flying paper kandeels too..

We were still not satisfied and over excited.. all of us, decided to meet up next day in the morning too…

The next day… (i.e. yesterday), the fun continued.. it was still the same scenario.. no one was in the mood to work… everyone was set on their building’s terrace with music systems.. infact, this morning was much more crowded than 14th January… Megha and my sister tried their hands on the kites…. to be frank, they were much better than me.. haha

So.. around 1 PM.. we left the terrace as we had to catch our train at 4.. we had food and left around 3.30 PM… we didn’t want to go so soon but work commitments.. can’t say no to work..

So… finally, I am here in front of this laptop… thinking what more to type…. haha…

But this is going to be one of the memorable trips… we all have decided to visit Baroda every year to celebrate Makar Sankranti…

Okay… so let me end this post with some pics… (I have uploaded all the pics on my flickr account but most of them are limited to my contacts)

The kite shop in the market (around 11.30 PM)

The market scene at around 1 AM

The Kites..

The Kites..

The blue sky..

Flying Kandeel

Chikki (Indian Sweet)

Fire crackers

More pics on my Flickr account