I had planned on going to Baroda alone after my jury because I desperately wanted to go see the Lakshmi Vilas Palace and because I wanted to go on a solo trip. I've never been on one and I've always wanted to know what it feels like. However, that didn't work out and I was sure that Vadodara was not going to happen.
But then, we made an impromptu plan to go to Vadodara, just the night before. We booked tickets for our 8 am train at 6 am. Jayashre, Sammy, and Pratika missed the train and we learned a valuable lesson that the Indian railway is never late. They then took a bus. The train ride was fun, we met an extremely arrogant couple who were giving us weird looks since the time we boarded the train. They were sitting on our seats and when we asked them if they could switch, the guy simply said "Phir toh ulte direction mein face karna padega". I was like wtf! I tried returning their weird looks, I just hope I was successful. After getting down at Vadodara station, we were goofing around and clicking weird pictures. One RPF constable had to literally yell at us to make us leave.
Our Vadodara trip was very unplanned. I don't like unplanned trips. Usually, I plan even the minutest detail, from where to eat to how much the auto will cost. When we reached Vadodara, we were clueless as to what to do next. We hadn't had any breakfast and were starving. We knew we had to go to Lakshmi Vilas Palace, but where we'll get breakfast was a mystery. We asked the auto drivers to take us to someplace nearby where we'll get breakfast. They took us to a stall that serves Sev Usal. There were only men around and we didn't feel very comfortable. Also, none of us wanted Sev Usal (not that we knew what it was, we figured it was something like Misal Pav and we didn't want Misal Pav).
We walked around looking for a place to eat and we came across a sweet and farsan shop, but they didn't have anything other than sweets. The uncle there: Suresh Bhai told us that if we walk a little we'll find a kachori stall. As we were about to start walking, he said he'll send the guy working at his store to get us kachoris. We told him that it was fine and we'll go on our own, but he was insistent. The guy got us kachoris and Suresh Bhai prepared them for us. Nanditha was crying by the time she finished eating. It was too spicy for her. We bought jalebi from Suresh Bhai's shop. And when we got ready to leave, he wouldn't take money for both the kachoris and the jalebis . Initially, he asked us to pay only for the jalebis, but apparently, they only cost ₹20 and he was hesitant to take 20 bucks from us. We insisted but to no avail. He told us we're like his children and how he could take money from his children. He even gave us his contact number and asked us to call him if we needed anything while we were in Vadodara. I won't be exaggerating when I say Suresh Bhai is the sweetest human being I have ever met. After the kachoris, we had an omelet from a stall nearby. I've never really been fond of omelets, but these were super tasty. I loved them.
Vadodara is an interesting place. I knew it was/is influenced by Marathi culture to an extent. But, I was extremely shocked to find fish vendors extremely close to the Lakshmi Vilas Palace. I’ve been living in Ahmedabad for almost 2 years and I’ve never come across fish or meat markets. There are Gujarati friends of mine who’ve never seen/ even heard of fish markets in their entire lives.
Lukshmi Vilas Palace is a stunning piece of architecture and it’s unlike any other palace I’ve been to. The architecture is heavily influenced by Europe. It is four times the size of Buckingham Palace. Audio guides are complimentary with the Rs.250 entry tickets and are available in Hindi, English, Gujarati, and Marathi (again I was surprised) languages. I was under the impression that these audio guides would be boring, but they were very interesting and informative. If all audio guides are like this, I’ll definitely prefer an audio guide to an actual guide. Photography is prohibited inside the palace.
I have always loved collecting/ buying souvenirs. There’s a palace shop inside the premises. I wanted to get fridge magnets or pin badges. They didn’t have any pin badges and fridge magnets were extremely expensive. They cost around Rs.450. Honestly, I would have bought one if Pratika wasn’t with me. Pratika I’m really grateful to you for stopping me from mindlessly spending money. They had keychains and I’d really liked one, but that was expensive again. I ended up buying a postcard for 40 bucks, which if you see is expensive in comparison to an average postcard but then I knew I won’t leave without buying something.
The lawns of the palace are a golf course and entry is prohibited. But we did manage to sneak in and chill for almost an hour on the golf course till the guards chased us away. Everything about the palace is just so pretty. I hardly have any pictures of the palace, we were too busy having fun, so you’ll have to just believe me when I say it’s stunning or maybe just google it.
Next, we took an auto to BounceUp, Taksh Galaxy Mall. We were skeptical about paying ₹580, (₹480: the entry fee and ₹100 for socks with some sort of a grip that supposedly prevents injury) but we don’t regret it. The trampoline park was so much fun. How I wish we lived in Vadodara just for the trampoline park. I think we almost spent an extra 15 minutes at BounceUp and we were almost kicked out. But it was so much fun.
We had lunch at the food court of the mall itself. Lunch was a chaotic affair. Everyone except Kasturi, Nanditha, and I got subs and by the time our food arrived everyone had finished eating. And the Manchurian rice I ordered was a disaster. It was probably the spiciest food I’ve ever had and by the time I finished half of it, I was crying. I’m not the one to waste food but I just couldn’t eat anymore. And oh, the highlight of the day! We saw an extremely good-looking guy on the poster of Zudio. We tried our best to find out who he was but to no avail. Even Google doesn’t know him. If anybody does, please let us know.
We didn’t do a lot of things in Vadodara, it was just us goofing around. But it was fun, probably one of the best days I’ve had during the entire semester with the best possible people. I’m so glad my solo trip plan didn’t work out. I’m sure I’d have seen more of Vadodara but wouldn’t have had half as much fun.