“Aur Fateh Sagar kitna bhara?”, “Fateh Sagar ki chader Chali?” This is how we start our conversation during Monsoon season. It really doesn’t matter that for several years, we are living close to Niagra Falls and have been visitors to the largest fall in the world, but still Fatehsagar overflow is such a fascination in our life, that every monsoon, we eagerly await for its overflow and pictures.

I have been living in USA for 17 years but a bond or connection with my own Udaipur can’t be explained in words. When we first came to US, we connected with few people who were Udaipurite and the group has kept on growing with every new comer, with the only common thread being Udaipur.

I have visited many places around the world, but everywhere I got reminded of my own Udaipur. At Venice, the canals and bridges were reminding me of Chandpole Pulia and Gangaur Ghat; at Switzerland, I was thinking of Sajjan Garh; at Quebec City (Canada), when we were walking at old city among Café and shops, I was thinking of Jagdish Chauk and City palace area. There are many more beautiful places and experiences in Udaipur that you can’t find anywhere in the world viz. hiking and a view from Neemach Mata, Ubeshwar or a view from Baagor ki Haweli and Machla magra. Udaipur is so beautiful, only if it can be as clean as all the other places are.

My kids find me a complete different person, when I am in Udaipur. I like to explore each and everything around the city, be it wada pao, dabeli, Kulhad coffee or corn at Fateh sagar paal, Thaali at Natraj, Dosa at Purohit Café or Pani Puri at Chotu bhai. Even I encourage my kids to have an experience of what we had in our childhood and be thankful for what they have now.

To my amazement they loved the ride in toy train at Gulab bagh, puppet show at Lok Kala Mandal, camel ride at Pichola, boat ride at Sukhadia Circle. Most fascinating ride however for them was auto rikshaw. They would even fight or take turn to sit with auto rikshaw driver, which reminded some of my friends of their school ride, though I never experienced that. I used to walk via Dhanmandi road to RMV school. My heart is filled with gratitude when I talk about RMV and to my kids amazement each and every teacher still recognized me when I took them to visit my school. Yeah, I visit my school on every trip to Udaipur.

It’s not just that we re-live memory when we are in Udaipur, but every occasion and delicacy are remembered and celebrated seven seas away from Udaipur. In parties, Udaipurites still prefer pani puri, mirchi pakoda, malpua rabri and daal bati anytime over pizza or burger. Everytime we see each other there is a talk about new progress in Udaipur, be it outfit, new tourist spot, new café and restaurant, public awareness on cleanliness or problem with UIT Pulia. We adore and support the social cause and charity as of our own.

No matter whatever citizenship we get, Udaipurite will always be our first identity. You can say “one can take an Udaipurite out of Udaipur but can possibly not take Udaipur out of an Udaipurite.”

About the Author: Shamim Mazahir Hussain, a CA by profession, was born and brought up in the by-lanes of Udaipur. She is now a US citizen.