Prudent Holidays in India

I went with a surgical team to a hospital outside of Bangalore, India, in August ’11. Beforehand, two of us decided we also wanted to see Jaipur and Agra and then fly from Delhi back to the US, so I went on the Internet and ended up contacting Prudent Holidays (Suite 115, Ansals Majestic Tower, G-Block, Vikaspuri, New Delhi, 110018, India; phone +91 011 41586840, fax +91 11 41586740) to work out a plan.

For two nights’ lodging (with breakfasts), 2½ days of guided touring and a driver throughout, we paid a total of $400. Once confirmed, I made a bank transfer to Prudent Holidays for 50% of the cost, as they did not take credit cards. We paid the balance in cash at the end of the tour.

A month in advance, online, I had no problem booking a flight from Bangalore to Jaipur on SpiceJet (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India; phone 1800 180 3333) for INR4,390 (near $89). I was quite happy with the airline but not with their food.

Prudent Holidays offered us middle-of-the-road hotels, but for Jaipur a friend had told me about Hotel Arya Niwas (behind Amber Towers, Sansar Chandra Rd., Jaipur 302001, India; phone +91 [141] 4073450 — INR1,600-2,200, depending on season), saying it was locally owned and friendly (but probably not for people who like 5-star hotels). Although it wasn’t on Prudent Holidays’ hotel list, they accommodated my request.

While the Arya Niwas had a lesser rating than the hotel we stayed at in Agra, Hotel Taj Resorts (which wasn’t bad; it just had a chain-line atmosphere), we enjoyed it much more.

Off the main road, the Arya Niwas was old-fashioned and had lots of atmosphere. There was a grassy lawn with chairs to relax in. My room had comfortable beds and a nice shower. The hotel staff was nice, and the food (vegetarian) was tasty. You could eat on the patio or in the dining room.

We flew from Bangalore to Jaipur, where our wonderful driver, Kishan Singh, picked us up. We felt safe with him.

We liked our guide there, Brak K. Pareek. Among sites we visited that afternoon was the City Palace, fantastic with its combination of architectural styles.

The place I liked most was the Diwan-i Khas, the open-air, marble, private audience hall of the maharajas. Its beautiful pinkish-orange arches are so elegant.

Riding the elephant from the base of the Amber Palace to the courtyard was fun, even if we were in a line with many other elephants and visitors and our elephant had a cell phone attached to his ear! The palace, itself, was beautiful.

Kishan drove us to Agra, and in the morning we met our guide Nadeem Uddin, who also was good. He took us to get our tickets to the Taj Mahal and we went in a battery-run cart to the grounds. The gardens and river were the perfect backdrop for the breathtakingly beautiful Taj. After an Agra Fort stop, we drove to Delhi.

Our international flights were on Emirates, which was great. A drawback of traveling to the West Coast from India, however, was the airport departure times, which from some cities was 4:45 a.m. In Bangalore, we went to the airport with our group and were stuck there all night waiting for our 6 a.m. flight. The chairs were not comfortable.

For our flight from Delhi to San Francisco, we wised up and stayed at a nearby hotel until it was time to check in. Having rest really made a difference.

More than any specific place, what I found the most intriguing about India were the city and country scenes of life — the people, cows, horses, donkeys, goats and pigs just strolling along as well as women in saris gracefully carrying pots or huge bags on their heads. We’d see three or four people per motorcycle, and sometimes the women had babies in their arms as they rode.

The whole vibrant life of the country is what stays with me.

MARILYN SANTIAGO
Port Angeles, WA