1. Celebrate India – Teej with Yatra.com
Having lived in a metropolitan city all my life, I’ve had very limited opportunities to experience
the true Indian culture with all its complex rituals and ceremonies. I grew up watching movies
like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and Hum Saath Saath Hain, which display the Indian culture
magnificently through the celebration of festivals like Karva Chauth and Teej. Thankfully, Jaipur
is one of those few metropolitan cities where Teej is still celebrated with all the pomp and show
of years gone by. Since I am not the one who misses opportunities, I grabbed on to an invitation
from one of my Rajput friends. After my 12th board exams I conveniently chose to visit him
during Teej.
Teej is a celebration of the arrival of
monsoon rains. It generally falls in the
Month of August or early September.
This festival commemorates the union of
GoddessParvati and Lord Shiva, so on this
day, women also pray for their husband’s
well being. The name of the festival is
derived from a small red insect named
‘Teej’ that comes out of the soil during
rains. And the best feature of the festival
is that it’s a three-day gig. And with the
trademark Rajput hospitality at your service, three days just don’t seem enough.
I wanted to get to Jaipur as early as possible in the morning. The bus takes approximately 5-6
hours to reach Jaipur from Delhi. My friend’s Haveli was huge and made according to traditional
Rajput architecture. The Havelihoused several families under it (I do not think I have ever seen
a bigger joint family till date) and so the introductions took a while. I was dead tired because of
travelling, so I was shown to my room where I slept right through the afternoon. During early
evening, my friend and his cousins took me out for a city tour in their open jeep, which was
quite splendid. The entire city is filled up with brilliant architecture (from Hawa Mahal to Jantar
Mantar, from Jal Mahal to Jaipur Quila) and every monument is unique in itself, so much that it
is impossible to see each of them even in 2 weeks. But I got a chance to visit a couple of the
buildings mentioned above. We left early because they had planned to take me to a
traditional Rajasthani restaurant named Chokhi Dhanifor dinner. It took a while to get there
because it is on the outskirts of the city but if ever you find yourself in Jaipur, believe me, the
experience is worth the time.

2. We returned around midnight. I woke up early, as my friend told me that elders would get
upset if we were late for pooja. When I entered the pooja ghar I was awestruck by the beauty
of the decorations (I must tell you that Rajasthan has an amazing handicraft industry, so don’t
forget to pack a few souvenirs when you visit). After the pooja, the traditional ghevar sweet
was distributed as prasadam to everyone as it is the traditional sweet of the festival.
After the pooja I spent the entire day in the Haveli interacting with the family members, some
quite modern, some very traditional and some plain intimidating (the elder ones with long
bushy moustaches :P). There is a tradition of putting up swings on trees and verandas for the
women of the house. I could see them in friendly banter amongst themselves for their chance
because there weren’t as many swings for all of
them.
As the evening drew near, the aroma from the open
kitchen in the courtyard started to fill the air and it
was time was the evening feast. Following dinner,
all the daughters and daughter-in-laws were
presented with gifts from the elders. After that
there was lot of traditional singing and dancing,
which went on till mid night.
Well over the next couple of days there was plenty
of feasting, lots of poojas, trips around the city in
the open jeep. As expected, time flew in a jiffy. I could have stayed longer, but getting stuck in
one place is not my thing. So I packed my bags, thanked the entire family for their over-the-top
generosity and headed home on the same route under a similar sky.
Long live the Rajput sons and may their bahu-betis always celebrate Teej.
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