mytravels

happiness

2010-10-28T02:57:00.000-07:00

once i saw the carefree smile on this kids face it was there in my mind the whole day. been lucky to be able to capture it with my lens.

:Village Hodka, Kutch.

eureka eureka

2010-09-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

that's the exact feeling one gets after drinking the first sip of "cona coffee with cream" at the United Coffee House.

thanks to my friend ankur suman, i'm sure he knew that i will find this concoction amusing enough when he first took me to this restaurant in connaught place with an old world charm. anybody who wants to walk back a couple of decades to experience delhi, just walk in to the United Coffee House. the chandelier, the upholstery, the decor everything is well preserved from the last generation.

now about "cona coffee with cream" well it seems like it had been prepared by a scientist and not a chef. the waiter walked to my table with a "volumetric flask" fixed on a "ring stand", and in the volumetric flask is a dark coloured potion made out of these magic beans after being roasted and ground. he gently pours the potion into the a white cup which had already been placed on the table. and now one needs to be careful the potion starts acting on your senses, it's smell may already start intoxicating you. there maybe sudden urge to pick the cup and bring it towards your lips. but the waiter is in complete control, he does not let you touch it. instead he picks one of the polished silverware and starts pouring rich cream into the cup. while he is engrossed in the act of pouring the cream his eyes are in contact with your to get the hint when you want him to stop. after this you are left all by yourself to indulge in the moment, but just before leaving he slides the sugar cubes towards you. also you may find another silverware with hot milk in it (which in my suggestion should be avoided, the name says "cream" so stick to it do not dilute the magic).

now it's turn for you to pick the cup an enjoy a creamy but robust cup of coffee. soon the cup will be empty but the effect remains on you for a while.

chandni chowk to china

2010-06-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

flight attendant "sir what would you like to have for dinner"
I "what are the choices"
flight attendant "veg food or normal food"

i knew that i was heading in the right direction. for the next few days i will survive only on normal food.

next six hours will take me far enough from the kebbabs of karim's to the land unknown. to a language unknown. only thing that made me feel safe was that the food will be normal, nothing will be vegetarian about it. be it the donkey meat or the solid blood of duck. it was amazing what all came on my plate and ended up in my tummy, i would have been happy enough to write down the names and ingredients of all of them. just that the language was a bit to alien for me to know what exactly was there on my plate.

the first day was a bit of an issue. to eat with chopsticks was a pain for me, anyways i let go of the embarrassment and put my fingers to optimum use on the table.

next day onwards i made sure of carrying a fork all the time with me. that proved to be my most important weapon during the trip to beijing. to get the dumplings out of the soup or picking the meat out of the wok all those wars where won by the help of the mighty fork.

along with the food a bit of delicate chinese tea was always welcoming. and the way they prepare and serve tea is almost like a ritual. the love and respect for the process is outstanding. little cups as in really little cups would be filled with tea, little enough to be poured with a sip of transparent, mild fragrant tea. tea would be served time and again. whether it's tea at a posh restaurant or sitting with the cab drivers and sharing tea with them, all the time it would be refreshing and elating.

the other interesting liquid coming on the table would be baijiu it's simply 38% alcohol made by fermenting rice. the first neat gulp tastes like drinking liquefied fire by the next gulp your mind and body gets acclimatised to it. the beauty of baijiu is not just about how it tastes but also about the beautiful ceramic bottles in which they come to the table. these bottle will generally be earthy in colour with the names in chinese calligraphy, it would be foolish to leave behind the empty bottles. they would make excellent souvenirs from china. well i managed to carry back two such bottle in my bag.

overall rating would be 10/10 for people who are passionate about food without bothering to know what it is. it's pointless to waste time in cracking the ancient chinese codes to know the name of the bird or animal or the egg on your platter. rather just eat and enjoy the moment. eat as much as you can as you are running out of time, soon there is flight to catch back to chandni chowk.

four days of normal food and i am back to my real life.

back to gurgaon.

sitting on my book shelf are the empty ceramic bottles remind me of the drizzling, the small restaurant overlooking the great wall, the beef curry, the over boiled rice, the pork fry, the over eating, the joy...
...all this is now fills up those ceramic bottle. the alcohol is no more in the bottle but the spirit of chinese food will remain there tightly locked in those little bottles.

the reddish cubes in the front are solid duck blood ready to be heated in spiced oil and eaten.

no clue what they are but the taste was really good and price was really cheap, all this in a road side shop in a hutong.

tea with the bunch of drivers and workers.

never knew of so many varieties of eggs that too being sold as food product (lack of knowledge).

the trip - part II- aurangabad ke bad

2009-10-01T12:42:00.000-07:00

actually i don't even remember when exactly we reached the western ghats i guess it was sometime after mhow. we saw a sign board which said. "GHAT ROAD STARTS" looked weird but ya the terrain around us changed. we where going uphill at places hills where being cut from the centre to make way for the NH-211. that's the road we where following after dhule. it looked a bit sad to see such beautiful hills being turned to dust by a huge system made of man and machine working hours at stretch to make way for the 4-lane highway. i'm sure after a year when we drive past the same road we would have forgotten all about the hills and will be appreciating the beauty of human engineering. such hippocrates we our. the next big town on our way would be sholapur. the day was well spent as the drive was wonderful and i was happy to have a car with high ground clearance. roads where mostly under construction and really bad at places, good testing ground for the car. though the driver i.e. me did not get too see much of the landscape while dealing with such roads whatever he could see the place was beautiful. while crossing the villages one could see groups of kids as well as grown up having tied ropes to thick branches of tree made a makeshift arrangement for a swing not once or twice but for kilometres one could have seen such a thing. probably it was some kind of a celebration for the newly arrived monsoon who knows what and why but it looked so beautiful to see people swinging and feeling merry. by now one can see the shift in clothing and colour of the skin from where we started our journey. the skin colour was much deeper and richer now. clothes where deeper and livelier in colour. our aim was to be at sholapur by sunset which we managed well, we took a short break next to a large lake on one end of the city. sat next to it for a while and decided to proceed to bijapur which was around another 100kms. the drive was smooth by now. and we reached bijapur by 7:30 pm. the total count for the day was around 565kms. the city took us up a bit by surprise, wide roads, big markets, nice restaurants and what not. we had enough options to stay almost checked into hotel pearl a brand new hotel with clean rooms good restaurant. at the last moment we decided to venture out a bit more before checking in. got back in to our car and started looking out for the karnataka tourism guest house, have heard they are generally good and have a charm of there own, they may not have the best of the facilities but surely have a strong character of their own. we drove all the way to the cities main market, i was looking for a shop to buy some socks and chappals which we found, did some shopping and once again started looking out for the tourist guest house. with not much difficulty we found Hotel Mayur Adil Shahi (named after the adil shahi rulers of bijapur.), a bit of an old structure with some renovations/additions for sure. big rooms. big attached toilets. attached balconies. and lawn. what else was required we immediately wanted to check in as the place was cheap and good. we where asked to come after a while as there was some wiring problem in the room and the guy where to lazy to fix it. we thought in the meanwhile we will look for a place to eat, though we had no hopes of getting something interesting. on our way as we where asking people about eateries on gentleman very authoratively suggested a place called hotel ambika maratha that too to have biriyani out there. it took us a while to find out hotel ambika maratha opposite bukhari masjid. once we found the place we knew that we had made a mistake. it was a dingy basement to a much cheaper hotel. just nothing was proper over there including the gentry. we did have a choice to try some other place but decided to rather be adventurous and dine there. and thats one decision i am thankful to myself that i took against all odds. soon the biriyani was served and what a biriyani it was. we where speechless till the last grain of rice and last bit of mutton was left on our table. one of the most amazing biriyani i ever had. note down the address "hotel ambika maratha opposite bukhari masjid" a must place to visit if you are in bijapur and even if you are not in bijapur. drove back to Hotel Mayur Adil Shahi to be lucky enough to get a room, the balcony was small but proved to be a good place to sit and chat up a bit. i am already over excited thinking about tomorrow morning, first thing tomorrow we gonna visit gol gumbaz. visiting this place had been a dream for a long time. soon the night past by and we where standing outside the gate of gol gumbaz amidst morning walkers.

i guess residents from near by locality take ful advantage of the lovely lawns of around gol gumbaz. we past by the small administrative buidling which i think also houses a museum (though the small building was not that small just that it got dwarft by the colossal gol gumbaz).

i stood there for a while trying to believe in what i could see. coming from delhi a city full of historic monuments and countless tombs, never had i seen a tomb such in size. gol gumbaz in pictures does not look much grander than humayun's tomb, luckily they are never pictures next to each other. a structure as large as humayun's tomb can be easily be hidden behind gol gumbaz, such it the size of the structure. the building is squarish in shape with a massive dome on top whereas outside on all four sides are octagonal minarets. step inside to see the worlds second largest dome which does not have any pillars to support.

one may get a sprain in his neck while stretching it to admire the whole thing. in one corner is a small board saying "way to the echo gallery" do take it seriously and start your journey towards the echo gallery by entering that small door. the door leads you to some stairs and the stairs lead on to more stairs and the process repeats itself almost till you drop dead. in between some flights of stairs will be a small bench to sit and catch you breath. as i said do take this sign seriously as the stair end into a space (sort of a balcony in the periphery of the dome). the smallest of a sound can be heard at the other end. and each fraction of sound bounces back ten times as clear as the original one, in simpler words every sound echoes back ten times. step out of the balcony into the outer periphery of the dome under the open blue sky stand next to the top of the octagonal minarets which look like small monuments by itself.

take a walk on the terrace and we could spot the jama masjid rising like a jewel in the busy cityscape at a distance from here,

one should take out time to pay a visit to the mosque though we couldn't as we had plans of hitting hampi the very same day. traced back our way out, had our breakfast of poha and chai at the canteen within the gol gumbaz compound.

the sun was just warm enough to be enjoyed. soon we will be heading towards hampi.

the trip

2009-08-18T06:54:00.000-07:00

part-1 (dilli to aurangabad)

no clue where the thought got inspired from, but finally i hit the road on the 24th of july with the idea and intention of driving down to kerala in my car. the odometer said something like 19,752kms. start point was gurgaon at around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. my rough calculations said the entry point in kerala would be somewhat 2,500kms away. so no hurry, wanted to see things while i move down south. decided to follow the nh-8 for just a short while and then switch over to some not so smooth but much more scenic roads. stopped after crossing jaipur to have our lunch it was already past 4 o'clock. next we planned to stop at ajmer to meet keshav's family for a cup of tea. keshav was accompanying me for the next few days actually almost the entire first half of the journey then he would fly back from ernakulam on the 4th of august. after are tea break at ajmer, it's always a delight to meet his family, saw their new house, got a sneak preview to the under-construction work for uncle's forthcoming exhibition at jehangir art gallery, bombay.

from their we took the NH-79 to chittorgarh. we reached chittorgarh at around half past ten that night. took refuge in a modest lodge called Hotel Bhagwati.

they had decent terrace where we sat to slowly sip a small peg of teacher's scotch, before we finished our first round it started drizzling and we had to cut short our drinking plans. early morning we drove in and out of the fort, spending around an hour or so.

that was no good thing to do. it's massive fort one needs to pay it some respect by spending atleast a day over there. we followed NH-79 leading us towards madhya pradesh from rajasthan. on our way we crossed ratlam (which reminds me of kareena kapoor in jab we met) we took the mhow bye pass and took on NH-3. so far the roads where narrow and not so smooth. suddenly we reach a 4-lane highway it was a brand new road and traffic was negligible. the landscape was lush green, green not like the dark rich green but light pleasant leaf green. we didn't know what to do stop and enjoy the landscape or keep driving at the top speed to enjoy the recently inaugrated highway. next 100kms was blissfull. by now the sun had set. as we drove through sendhwa and shirpur i guess we where on the edge of madhya pradesh and entering maharashtra. by night we reached a place called dhule around 200kms short of aurangabad. found out a place called swagat logde for the night and dined at a nearby dhaba whcih served us beer along with the dal-roti (had to pay a bit of a premium for the service though), the dal was really good so where the roti's. time to hit the sack having a long days journey ahead. ellora caves was next target. after a while where crossing a place called chalisgaon acting very intelligent we took the bye-pass to aurangabad, this was the biggest disaster of our trip soon we realised the road was no road just a collection of big potholes, and big meant really big. a stretch of around 10kms took around and hour or more i think couple of times i drove on the 3rd gear rest was all 1st or 2nd gear drive i'm sure you can imagine what the place was like. once we where out we took a break for a cup of over sweet tea and some snacks. actually we tried a bit of all the snacks available in the shop.

gaining back our lost energy we headed towards ellora caves by now we figured out that ajanta and ellora caves are not neighbouring each other rather at a distance of more than a 100kms. just before ellora was a small temple and baoli called the ahilyabai holkar tank. it came like pleasant surprise out of nowhere. small but pretty place to take some pictures. soon we where at ellora, parked our car and took a guided auto rickshaw trip which would give us a glimpse of some of the caves though not all of them. the first cave we visited had a beautiful water fall next to it and the cave no. 29 known as sita-ki-nahani

it was a hindu temple with extremely impressive carvings inside, built in the 8th century. the sculptures where huge touching almost the ceiling of the caves at places nice soft light was falling from some very high openings on the roof of the cave. along with the light was trickling down drops of water which would echo in the caves as every drop would touch the ground. on the right side was a passage leading to a path leading us to the next set of cave crossing the waterfall. our next visit was cave no. 32 a jain temple built around 10th century.

the temple is a double storeyed structure and the star attraction seems to be a large monolith elephant. next to it is a large monolith pillar. after spending some more time inside we realised that what is the biggest attraction of this complex where some painted panels fit enough to be picture poscards for maharashtra tourism. even the pillars where very intricately carved. we skipped a lot of the caves coming our way and headed straight to the cave no. 16 it was unbeleivably big people around where looking tiny and thats not all the entire temple is carved out of a single mountain, it is not made in bits and pieces. how could dare imagine something so wild. apparently it took around 200 years to finish the task, looking at the temple 200 years seem less a time taken. whats most important is that it is there for real. no picture can capture the magic, still i tried to shoot some pictures. the temple dates somewhere around 6th to 7th century, locally known as kailasha. not getting into details browse through the pictures it may give some understanding of the place.

back in the car we start driving towards aurangabad suddenly i notice a board giving directions for aurangzeb's tomb did i misread something. not really it soon struck me that the mughal ruler spent his last few years in the deccan so logically his tomb should be around, took a quick u-turn and reach the place which was just a couple of kilometres of the track. a modest looking structure reflecting aurangzeb's modest lifestyle. there is a mazaar and next to it a dargah. everything around is simple and minimalistic unlike tombs of his ancestors who believed in grandeur some of which can be seen in delhi the seat of mughal power.

soon we drive into karnataka and are impressed by their style of road direction boards on the highway. they exactly know how to promote tourism through the road signs and surely make life easier for the travellers unlike maharashtra who can't think beyond bombay or the so called mumbai. in karnataka the road signs had small graphics depicting temples, mosques, wild life etc along with the name of places. it was nice to see how organised they are and the place i.e. the landscape was beautiful it was green all around the plains merging into hills as we go up the western ghats.

soon i'll be on the road.

2009-07-20T07:05:00.001-07:00

the feeling is sinking in. i'm reallising what i'm about to do.
Cruising the road had always been so easy. Something is pulling me
back home this time...

--
sudip bhattacharya (9810680705)

ghost rider

2009-04-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

saturday morning I decided to go. woke up a friend at 6 o'clock. He reached my home by 9 o'clock by 9:15 we were on the road. Took the highway i.e. NH8 till daruhera from there took a left for alwar crossed alwar. after alwar we stopped at a dhaba for our brunch of rotis, daal, and gatte ki sabzi. the daal and the gatte ki subzi both where heavy on spice and chilli thats the way it is in rajasthan, you always need spices to make your mouth water in the dry region like this. after the brunch we were standing at turning point and as always in life we had two choices the easy and shorter one and the not so easy and longer one. like heroes we chose the longer one which seemed to be more exciting as it was a drive through sariska. as we drove we met some nilgais, cheetals (spotted deers) and sambhars. not to forget loads of peacocks, peahens, langoors and other breeds of monkeys. as luck was on our side we could get some close look at the deers.

soon we where out of sariska after a nice jungli drive. another 40kms or so to bhangarh. where you can see ancient row houses with wide roads. Just that no one lives there unlike gurgaon.

the legend says bhangarh is spooky, there is a long story attached to the same but i'm not too sure. couldn't see one. none the less if ghosts exist this would be a perfect place for them to stay.

no humans to disturb their after life stay. the place is almost like a resort for the spooky types. got a nice old mossy kund like a luxuruies hamam for the spooky ones. surely the spooky ones don't get allergic or skin disease. loads of langoors for them to keep entertain, they don't need cineplexes i think. no clue what they eat probably nothing. nice rows of houses for a pleasurable stay.

though the houses don't have roofs, but who cares. we may but they prefer roofless houses i guess. The road with the roofless row houses leads to a temple and the palace. Infact there are two temples in the complex. One can walk all the way to the top of the palace.

We decided to turn back midway, i wasn't carrying my asthalin and didn't want to take chances with my breathing problems as i was already huffing and puffing by merely half the climb. the palace was deserted like everything else. as we could not see the inhabitants with our naked eyes. it takes special power to see them. the mandir was a nice find, some locals where having a lunch party.

people where sitting in rows and having subzi-pooris being cooked just outside the temple. i think this is the right purpose the temple to be a community centre.

right outside this temple was the kund with the mossy water.

probably people think it to be some sacred water as they where taking dip into it. behind the temple where the big kewda trees for some reason their was a sign outside the complex warning people against tinkering around with the trees. they are really big but i'm not too sure how old they are.

maybe a few centuries old. or maybe the ghost hang on to the branches of the trees in the night. soon we where out of bhangarh and on our way to ajaibgarg or ajabgarh. as the name suggests even this place had a garh (fort). we drove through the ghost town of ajaibgarh. Leaving the fort of ajaibgarh on our left.

took some pictures of the town which had houses on both the sides of the road but all of them were locked from outside, and mostly seemed to be out of use for a longtime how long i'm not to sure about. from

there the road took us to pratapgarh. a short tea break and photosesion at pratapgarh

and back to NH-8 near shahpura. just before hitting the highway we stopped at a dhaba to have allo parathas. And back home by 10 o'clock for dinner.
just hoping i hadn't been carrying one of the ghost in car... who knows whats in store.

few steps inside the earth

2008-12-30T23:08:00.000-08:00

this place had been hanging somewhere in the top 5 positions of my travel wish list. been planning to go there for almost a year, that is since i saw the 15kb picture of the numerous steps of chandra baoli. the steps looked so graphic surely not like a piece of architecture but rather a drawing from escher's sketch book. the internet could not be of much help in throwing much light about the place or even it's location. all it said was Abhaneri is situated on the jaipur-agra highway around 60kms from jaipur. the confusion was that none of the maps i refered to had this name written on them. probably it's too small a place to be mentioned. anyways for me it made absolute sense to venture out on the jaipur-agra road and try finding this place. even people in jaipur were of no help. the name abhaneri sounded greek to them.

finally on a nice clear winter sunday morning i started on the agra road from jaipur, after around 30 odd kilometres some old gentleman in a filling station did confirm the existence of the place called abhaneri. the first ray of hope i could see. yes i am on the right track. the road was empty and wide. driving at the 5th gear was an easy game. the sun was rising and created hues of purple and mauve's all over, and a thin layer of fog could be seen on the adjoining mustard fields. after driving for around 80kms from the outskirts of jaipur i reached a place called sikandra crossed the toll booth over there and took the left turn from the chowk around 4.5kms ahead reached the pilot chowk and turned right. a narrow village road leads to abhaneri. as i reached the place the sun was showing it's first orangish glow. and it looked splendid as it created a halo around the spire of harshat mata temple.

undoubtedly the temple was much interesting than what it looked on the net. those 10kb pixelated pictures don't justice to the place. actually no picture can do justice to such beautiful places. well here am i witnessing the beauty of this village temple.

a short walk of just a couple of minutes takes you to a small fortress kind of thing, actually it's the outer wall of the chandra baoli, walk in through the stone gateway take a left or a right and there you are. who can imagine that out of the blue in this almost unknown village one could see such a baoli.

it's old, the water is mossy, the walls are greyish but it's so beautiful. the sun rays are yet to enter the depth of the baoli. it was not as big as i expected but surely more magnificent than my imagination.

i started walking down the steps and after a while it was like walking down a maze. not that you will get lost or anything still the structure gives the feeling of an illusion. archaeological survey of india has a decent collection of sculptures around the baoli inside the compound. but once there you would like to see nothing else but admire the architecture of the baoli. the steps are narrow one needs to be careful. once you are half way down the stairs it's like standing inside a deep pit, as if walking down towards the core of earth. i guess absence of sunlight was also making it look a bit mysterious. lucky enough there is a fence and beyond a point you can't go down the steps so no need to be scared of falling in the baolis mossy water in a cold winter morning. the place is neat and clean barring some pigeon shit around the walls.

it's nice to sit there for a while and keep admiring the baoli, when you are actually so few metres deep inside the earth and can see the ground level much above where you stand. yet again my camera can't do justice of showing the beauty of the place, but surely they should be able to inspire a person to make the trip. on one side of the baoli there are arches and below them in the niches are sculptures of mahishasur mardini and ganesh not clearly visible as they are at a distance on the other side of the water and inaccessible. my zoom lense worked as a binocular and gave me a closer look at the sculpture.

mahishasur mardini

ganesh

once done with admiring the baoli one should just walk around have a look at the carved pillars, arches, the little temple and the ASI conserved sculptures.

once you are over with all this take a short walk through the village,

have a cup of tea by the road side and move on...
...leaving behind a thousand years old baoli. a baoli which would have been the centre of technology, the centre of society, the centre art. a baoli which would have been the provider of water and centre of life.

reflections

2008-12-26T05:16:00.000-08:00

things which are beautiful remain beautiful, even after some distortion and they make other things look interesting by their aura. yesterday i tried looking at some insignificant objects under the glory of jama masjid. and as i said jama masjid made everything else look interesting and beautiful. took a walk from the chandni chowk metro station to jawahar hotel. and on my way i kept collecting pictures of various objects with reflection of the mosque on them. even a small puddle in chawri bazaar jumped into life with the reflection of the spire of the masjid.

the junk of a spare part dealer started making artistic sense once i saw the reflection in a horn hanging there. the upturned mirror got lit by the magic of the mosque.

once in that area almost every where you can see the aura of that mosque, it's deeple embedded in every nook and corner of shahjahanabad. just that one needs to have the will and intention to see it.

surely for the past few centuries the mosque must have been enlightening people by reflecting in their day to day lives.

firozshah kotla

2008-10-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

surely a fifty years back it would have been a splendid place for a picnic. things have changed since then, so has the concept of a picnic. what else could have one asked for than a vast open area, with some old monuments scattered here and there. a jami masjid to pray for the peace of mind and soul. and if things go too hot you find nice shade of trees in the well maintained lawns. kids can run around while the grown ups can play badminton. enough space for playing hide and seek. no scarcity of water as there is a nice baoli in the complex. though some say it's haunted but who knows. one can admire the ashokan pillar for it's size and sheen. how did that guy dare make such structutres so many hundred years back. the pillars haven't yet lost it's shine or is it a dull version which amazes us. but as i said picnics are no more in vogue. people prefer spending the sundays in a mall or watching a movie. things have changed. all you can find now in these monuments are couples who can't find solace anywhere else. they are desperate to be with each other and if luck strikes would like to go a step beyond a casual embrace. thats what you see over here. no more picnics. no more appreciation. no more of the kids playing. only hollow walls providing space for a few couples to embrace each other. i still hope to see a family picnic maybe sometime in yet another visit.

heart of darkness

2008-10-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

i don't claim to have seen every other monument in town, yet i have seen a quite a few of them. did i know this sunday morning what was in store for me. never knew that the day was meant to discover yet another monument. something about which i have often read but have been before. was lazy enough to try and look beyond the bushes on the road connecting andheria mod to mahipalpur.
thanks to friend of mine who is a great reference point when it comes to history. i guess she knows it all or else just through a question and surely she will dig through the book for the relevant answer. and today she decided to show me around a monument i had never visited. and thats where the she got the idea to go south of mehrauli towards sultan ghari a bit off the main road leading to mahipalpur lies the beautiful complex of sultan ghari masjid.

It was built in 1231 by Iltutmish over the remains of his eldest son and heir-apparent, prince Nasiru'd-Din Mahmud. it's a walled enclosure giving a faint resemblance to a small fortress. one can see the hindu influence or maybe the pillars picked from some earlier hindu establishment. as we enter in the middle is an octagonal raised platform and somewhere in it's heart a few steps below is the actual grave chamber under the ground.

one can walk down the steps just need to be careful about the low entrance. once inside it takes a while to acclimatise to the darkness inside. the only source of light is a bit of light filtered from the little door and the small lamps lit around the grave, a few candles melting it's way off. but the moment your eyes get used to the darkness, the inside is so beautiful.

i think darkness always attracts me and exactly this is what happened. after a while i realised that i hadn't seen the ground level of the structure. took the steps back to light. probably this was one of the few structures of it's time to have use of marble in it's construction. to emphasise on certain parts of the monument marble had been used and intricate work can be seen on them rest remains of red sandstone.

one can see an octagonal structure with a false dome inside. the carvings where very basic in the dome but resembled hindu architecture.

the place is peaceful non-touristy, no non-sense. even the bird baths were empty and no birds to found nearby or did i scare them away. whatever it maybe, we thought of taking a walk around the mosque, had to wade through thick outgrowth of bushes all around to reach the ruins which where probably some residential settlements.

my friend knew about an extremely interesting short stone pillar over there somewhere among the bushes, it took us a few minutes to hunt for it but it was worth a picture, this had inscriptions which looked really out of place. did look like the grand dad of hindi. who knows what it was, maybe prakrit script.

there is so much more to the place than we see, hope one day i'll come to know the secrets. high time for me to put my pen down. maybe one day i'll write a sequel as and when i unfold the mysteries of the pillar and understand more about the darkness of the heart of the masjid.

the fort of gold

2008-08-14T00:05:00.000-07:00

had been looking forward to this journey for years. a couple of times the plan had been made between me and a friend of mine who ditched at the last moment. its been around 4-5years since. this time i had given myself a date to begin the trip.

sambit intends to join in, even if he ditches this time i'm not going to wait for anyone. i have to go to Jaisalmer.

its the first of august and here we begin. 2 o'clock in the afternoon we are running late by a couple of hours. but now we are on the road. and in next 15 minutes we will be on the highway to ajmer via jaipur. the NH-8 is looking beautiful as its raining heavily. the wipers are on still visibility is low. at 4:30 a solar eclipse is about to begin. we are in a dilemma whether we should be driving around that time or not. i know of people damaging their vision in attemt to see the eclipse with naked eyes. i dont wanna take that risk. just after crossing daruhera sambit spots a wounded dog in the middle of the road. at any moment it could be smashed by a car or truck. we stop our car and sambit picks the dog and put him on the grassy bank of the road. sambit is back in the car got all drenched in the rain. we continue the drive toward jaipur. we have to drive a bit slow because of the rain. we took the first halt for a glass (not cup) of tea after crossing kishangarh it's already a bit more than 300kms since we started. along with the tea we buy a plate of kachori with chole, kachori was really good and much different from it cousins in delhi or mathura in the chole salt was missing. without losing much time we get back on the road. we have already. the eclipse is over by now and we didn't stop driving because of it(it was so cludy and rainy we didn't have to see the eclipse). by 8 o'clock we are in ajmer. heading towards mayo school to meet my friends parents who are resident art teachers in mayo. we spend a good 2 hours over there and off to the dargah. as we walf toward the dargah through the buzzing market selling all sorts of things we are hounded by beggars anyways we make our way through all that and finally reach the dargah. people warned us not take the camera inside as the security is a bit tight. anyways i sneak in with my little digital camera.

this is my fourth visit to ajmer sharif and as always i wonder what a powers does the place hold to be able to draw travelers for centuries, how did thousands of people from all over the world use to come to the dargah when there were no roads and no means of transportation. but we can also see people walking down to the dargah from hundreds of kilometers. no doubt this place has it's own power. there are stories that akbar the great mughal ruler walked all the way from agra to the dargah. we spent some time listening to the qawali.

now we are on our way to pushkar to spend the night. at the last moment we i had to cancel my plans of attending a marriage in ajmer for some unforeseen reasons. pushkar we reached in next half an hour and checked into the RTDC hotel. we took a short walk to The Birds Eye cafe. a cozy little terrace cafe overlooking the pushkar lake. i ordered a tomato and mushroom pizza (pushkar is strictly vegetarian). food was good and very filling. we were lucky to reach there before the last orders were being taken. sitting there i could click a few pictures of the small little town. back to the hotel and off to bed. early morning we are leaving for jaisalmer, yet to decide which route to follow will do that once we will be on the road.

it's still dark very dark and rainy. nobody has yet got up in the hotel. we had made the payments last night or else could have easily sneaked out. we browse through the EICHER Road Map and decide on driving towards Jodhpur. the roads are fabulous and the rain is never ending. the topography has changed a lot since we left Gurgaon. by the time we reach Jodhpur the Aravali's can't be seen anymore. we never enter the town rather take the bypass leading to Jaisalmer. soon we realise that we can go all the way to barmer and yet make it to Jaisalmer by the evening. so let's have lunch at Barmer. and if possible we can go to Munna Bao which is a border town. lunch was great at Barmer some Brahman Bhojanalaya it was. served pure vegetarian rajasthani food. we had tamatar ki subzi, gatte ki subzi and lahsan ki chutney with an assortment of roti's. the food was amazing and very local. the roti's were dripping with ghee.

back on the road, Barmer left far behind us. te road ahead is straight, empty and rainy. summing it up it's beautiful. as we cut through the rain and the road we come across a car stuck in the middle of the road with a flat tyre. we try to help them out get wet ourself and unable to find our own jack to lift the car. well after around 45 minutes of struggle another cab guy help them out. also tells us that our jack is fixed below the co-drivers seat. thanks to the cab driver, we continue with our journey. the landscape is awesome no obstructions at all only barren land and the road. not much have changed over the last couple of hundred kilometres, surely a lot have changed since we began our trip. suddenly we can see some three limbed giants doing kart-wheel at a distance behind a higher ground. have heard about aliens but never trusted their existence, what could these be. as we near we can see the windmills standing on very tall white poles. the windmills where spread over an area of around 25-30 kms. they where an awesome site on the light brownish barren land. a bit before 4 o'clock we could spot the fort standing on a a hill top, no to ways about it being called the sonar-kila or the golden fort it actually is golden yellow in colour. its big and its beautiful and its golden standing on a dark background given by the gloomy clouds.

we can't wait to be near it. in next thirty minutes we are standing right in-front of the fort. a fort surrounded by a small city around it. a fort with yet another city inside it. a fort getting drenched in rain. a bright yellow fort. so impressive a fort. after years of wait i am standing outside The Jaisalmer Fort. who knows where i will be tomorrow but today i am outside the Jaisalmer Fort and thats what matters the most at this point of time. i can't stop admiring it's beauty.

how could it withstand the hot desert winds for almost a thousand years. how could it bear the harsh climate to give comfort to the thousands of people staying inside for almost a thousand years. it looks like a fairy tale. cut away from reality. a fort standing in the middle of the desert all alone for centuries.

A short walk.

2008-05-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

So often I travel or else keep dreaming about traveling. Nothing excites me more than to discover new places at times revisit places. Old Delhi my favourite tourist destination places over there I walk so often. There is a constant urge to walk through the lanes next to jama masjid. Every other month I feel like driving down to pushkar. Almost every year I make a couple of trips to Mathura. Travel, travel and more travel that’s all I dream of. But strangely enough few short distances I could never travel for such a long time. It took me around fifteen years to step back those couple of hundred kilometers and revisit my school. The school from where I completed my studies in 1993. Like a loser I left the school building after seeing my marks of my board exams. And that was the day I decided to walk out and walk away. Life had been colourfull ever since. The good came with bad here and there, hiding here and showing up there. Most of it had been good. And I had been trying to go as far as possible from my school days. In attempt to do so I had been able to do so up to some extent. Often I meet old school friends share emails at times a bottle of beer, but I make sure that I never step back to our old school.
That little distance I was scared to travel for years and eventually I forgot about making a visit. I used to cross the street look at the building smile at myself but never enter the gate. Years had past since the colour of the building changed. The colour of the uniform had changed. Students have changed. So had our principal. Still it’s the same old school. The man selling ice-cream outside have changed, now he has grey hair.
What else, what else have changed. Who knows. How will I know if I never enter the building. What is there that I am avoiding who knows. After years of hide ‘n’ seek I gathered the courage last week to walk through those gates. walked all around, met some of my old teachers. Some remembered my face, though they had mostly forgotten. The rest remembered my name. some of them had grown thinner, some had added on weight. But the corridors were the same, the rooms the same, the benches were the same. The the botany lab assistant was the same, the gate-keeper was the same. The play ground was the same. The smile and warmth my teachers showed was the same, as if it were yesterday. Then what had changed.
I had changed. I no more was scared of those teachers, I had no more fear of the play-ground. The stuff written on the black boards were no more of a confusion.
Yes only I had changed. And nothing else.

long time due

2008-03-01T03:14:00.000-08:00

as the title suggest- its been a long time overdue trip to jama-masjid area to grab a bite of the famous dilli ki nihari. not that i've been to jama-masjid area for the first time. the problem is nihari is supposed to be had in the early morning as a breakfast. some how everytime i land up early in chandni chowk by default i had been going to parathewali gali. and in the evenings when i go to jawahar or karim's its past the time to get nihari.

last night i took a pledge to get up at 6:00 in the morning and reach jama masjid by 7:30. good that i kept my promise to myself got down my car near jama-masjid and took a few steps to reach jawahar.

soon a plate of hot nihari was served to me in the cold winter morning. ordered two tandoori roti's along with it. it took them a while to get the roti's as they had to get it from a nearby restaurant since there was still some time to have their tandoor ready.

till my roti's would be served i thought i better take my mind off the plate full of nihari. or else nothing would have been left by the time the roti's arrived.

the people in the restaurant where friendly one sitting behind the cash counter and the other one on a higher pedestal behind big handi's of nihari etc...
on asking these guys told me that they start cooking the nihari a night before and it gets cooked over a slow fire for the whole night. so that it can be ready by breakfast. it is also said that the whole concept of having nihari in the morning was that one doesn't need to be worried about his second meal as its good enough to last the whole day. and people involved with manual work gets enough nutrients to help them last a day.

in a place like jawahar its said that the original recipes had been well kept and strictly followed till date. the shop dates back to 1911 probably a bit older than karim's.

the roti's are there and i must dig in to the slurpy syrupy gravvy with chunks of meat resembling some group of islands in google earth. overnight cooking makes the gravvy a bit thick and syrupy as a lot of the meat and marrow gets mixed into broth giving it the texture. even the chunks of lamb meat become really really tender with the overnight cooking, and all juicy till the core. with every bite i looked forward to the next one. i was very tempted to go for a second serving but didn't risk, as i'm not too sure of my digestive system. it was one of the most interesting breakfast i ever had. though its a bit too much to be had as an every day breakfast but surely once in a while its a great indulgence.

all the way to khajuraho

2008-02-27T09:36:00.000-08:00

6 o’clock, Friday the 22nd of December 2007.
i and sambit started driving towards NH-2. It took us a few hours to reach agra and leave it far behind in a jiffy as we headed for gwalior. near dholpur we got stuck as an entire little village had gathered on the highway to performing the namaaz as it was the Eid-ul-Zuha. spend almost an hour relaxing in the sun. as it was a bit warmer than delhi and much pleasant. kept driving down the NH-3 as we moved towards gwalior which must be around 130kms from agra, and the roads were excellent and hardly any traffic. no constructions on the sides of the road, no traffic signals, no jams just the road to be cruised on. The farms we were passing were mostly of mustard. as we neared gwalior the terrain started changing it was no more flat as near agra but small hills started appearing. we could see a small railway track by the side of the road. yet to see a smaller track, must have been the personal railways of the king of gwalior at some point of time. we had no plans of entering the gwalior city, preferred to take the by-pass instead. jhansi must be another 90kms drive, roads were narrowing down, so was the traffic becoming sparse. It was more than an hour past noon, hunger pangs had started interfering with the pleasure of driving. We knew about an MP Tourism’s tourist motel in datiya. stopped there almost for an hour had an excellent lunch of dal-roti, along with our lunch we constantly kept admiring the datiya fort next to a moat.

as time was running past we gave a short visit to the pitambari mandir in datiya, grabbed some laddu from the shop outside the mandir and back on the road to orchha via jhansi.

From a distance one could see orchha approaching as the spires of the temple are way too tall for anything else to hide them. never seen a place like this, straight out of some book which I must have read as a child. As sambit states “the temples of orchha are straight out of the amarchitra katha”.

reached orchha at around 3 o’clock, looked around for a hotel and checked-in in the Betwa Retreat run by the MP tourism people. we got a decent tent for around 1000 rupees/night inclusive of breakfast. It had attached loo and a/c fitted (that was a bit too much to my mind). We dumped our bags and took a short walk towards the tikamgarh forest across the river betwa next to our lodge.

The water level was extremely low and we could very well see the river bed at places. on crossing the bridge one can see a mirror reflection of the cenotaphs near the river. luckily the water level was low and very static, betwa served as a perfect mirror for the beautiful cenotaphs to flaunt themselves. we were in awe of the sight. It seemed to have taken us back a couple of centuries a the least. People were mostly wearing dhoti and kurta’s, cycle still being their main mode of transport. Well surely my father had lived that kind of a childhood. But for me it was something out of 50’s movie. As we walked back the naked bridge (it didn’t have any kind of railings or anything) we could see the setting sun giving an orange glow to the medieval architecture. We paid a short visit to the Ram Raja Mandir, walked around the mandir complex full of life, the locals worship Rama as their King and not just a mythical God. Had a hot glass of milk in the nearby market. It seemed to be a nice mix of a small village market and a tourist attraction. One can easily find out shops selling Korean, Lebanese, Chinese and Italian food. In the same complex you can get the halwai i.e. the original Indian sweetshop selling some of the best peddas and laddus, the peddas in orchha are far better than the over hyped mathura ka pedda.

Its was around 8 in the evening by now, we thought of returning to the mandir and have a look at the arti. All we could see was a crowd gathered in the mandir courtyard and shouting-God knows what! Hope God does know what they were shouting. There was no point wasting in the temple. We pushed of to take another walk and back to our hotel. Time to start a drinking session and intellectualise about the state of Indian villages and small towns. As expected the conversation drifted towards the plight of value system in todays society. By now we were a couple of drinks down and wondering what these bunch of villagers doing on our hotel terrace sitting on the ground in one corner all equipped with harmonium, ektara and another couple of basic musical instruments. In a while we realized they were here to perform some folksongs for the hotel guest in the open air restaurant. We got the privilege to be their sole audience for a while, and get a closer look at their music and dance. We came to know that they are the “bards of bundelkhand” and that’s the way history had been kept alive, a word of mouth phenomenon from guru to shishya. It was an interesting evening as they sung in the local dialect, one of the guys kept translating things into hindi from time to time. Atleast gave us enough dope to talk about.

Nothing to do the town had gone to sleep longtime back I guess. High time we retire too.

As planned we go out for an early morning walk in the Tikamgarh Forest Reserve area. It looks as if the forest is in a perpetual autumn state. No water from the last 3 years or so had lest the entire forest dry.

After a while we decided to walk back to our hotel for a the complimentary breakfast. After the breakfast we walk up to the laxmi mandir. That’s the highest structure to be seen around, and an undoubted beauty. Inside we met the keeper or maybe the cleaner, whosoever he was, was a great help as he showed us around the temple and took us up the spires showing us some awesome views of the town. this temple must be one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen from outside as well from inside. Not much too see inside but lot to remember.

A short walk takes us through the market and to the palace. The palace is in two parts, one is the “Jehangir Mahal”. Built by Raja Bir Singh Ju Deo in the 17th century in honour of the visit of Emperor Jehangir to Orchha. The other part was built earlier by Madhukar Shah and known as the “Raj Mahal”.
The view from the terrace of Jehangir Mahal is stunning, a 360 degree view of the town can be seen. Surely that’s the way the king used to keep a watch on his state. The Laxmi Temple can be seen from the terrace. And one cant miss out the single axis on which the two structures had been constructed i.e a line runs through the exact centre of the Jehangir Mahal and the Laxni Temple. Well that’s not all to be seen in the mahal, in the lower floors there are some beautiful paintings on the walls (Indian frescoes). The rooms are generally kept closed to preserve the frescoes (but the guards are nice and helpful). We were bound to go back to the hotel and check-out as we planned to leave for Khajuraho in a while. Time was short so we could not spend much time in the Raj Mahal, just had a general look around the palace, a part of which had been converted into a hotel.

Back to the hotel. A quick shower. Packing up our bags. Paying the hotel bills. Tipping the bell boy. All this in a jiffy. And a start our journey to Khajuraho. No, its not so easy to leave the town without paying our homage to Munna Acharya, we halt at Munna Acharya’s shop to have our early lunch as we have a long drive ahead of us. Plump old Munna Acharya is happy playing with his grandson as his subordinates keep filling the doona’s (bowls made of leaves of sal tree, extremely eco-friendly). We have loads of poori’s, aalo sabzi and raita. The treat is bottomless quantity of food just for 10 bucks. Are they kidding, how can they survive is it a social service. Hat’s off to Munna Acharya, we head towards Khajuraho with a happy tummy.

A nice drive, a narrow road almost no traffic at all, a few bottles of water, a hot winter, dry forests and the narrow road takes us to Khajuraho. Before entering the small town one is hit by road signs pointing towards a list of five-star hotels, an airport. No doubt that you are entering a tourist hot-spot. We cross all the big hotels and start looking for a cheaper accommodation. At around 2:30 we checkin at Hotel Payal managed by M.P. Tourism. Nice clean rooms for a decent price, but available only for a night. Dumped our bags and took a short walk to the temple complex. It was a pleasure to know that the main temple complex also known as the Western Temple Complex is so close to our hotel, later we figured out everything was so close to each other in the town. Basically the town is built around temple complexes. I think its over hyped about the erotic art, but talk about art and architecture it’s a marvel. It’s not a piece of art but an inspiration in itself. Few of the good old healthy temples are more than a thousand years old, its hard to believe but true. Who knows why the Chandela Rajputs picked up this site and built more than 80 great temples over a span of around century. But they did and thousand year later here am I admiring them.

what amused me the most was not just the execution of such temples but how did someone dare to conceptualise such a vision. It looks to be a dream which can’t be fulfilled, but someone did dare to dream it and fulfill it.

we spent the next few hours wandering in the western complex, till we got tired of walking. Took a break in a nearby restaurant had an extra late lunch. And back to our hotel. Come evening and we were ready for our second innings, another short walk to the western temple complex, and soon we will be sitting and enjoying the light and sound show narrating the history on bundela rajputs leading to the stoty of the temples. The lawns of the western complex were booming with the voice of amitabh bachchan as he narrated the story of the bundelas. The marriage of the lights and sound system seemed perfect as one could see the light traveling through the bushes in sync with the galloping of the horses. Almost an hour of commentary gave us a fair enough idea of why? What? How? Of khajuraho temples. A short walk around the town lead us to a local fair, where we found a sardar serving makke ki roti with sarsoon ka saag. No clue why we took fancy of having Punjabi food in MP, none the less the preparation was authentic. We left the fair. On our way back to the hotel we passed through some tourist offices, where we came to know about a nearby crocodile sanctuary. Well that’s where we should be tomorrow morning. Picked up a bottle of whisky and finished it along with our dinner at the hotel…

got up at 6:30 had to wait till 7:30 to get our complimentary breakfast of aloo-puri in the restaurant of our hotel. An hours drive through some villages to the ken ghariyal sanctuary. The forest was as dry as it could be so was the waterfall, just a little bit of water was trickling here and there. A bit disheartened were we, but things changed we got a good guide to show us around the sanctuary where deers and nilgaiys crossed our path several times. We were lucky to spot a ghariyal basking in the sun. well that was not the end our guide showed us something most unexpected. And surely that’s something we would have missed if the waterfall would have been overflowing. The rocky formation of the waterfall housed an extinct crater which must have erupted long long ago. The rocks around the crater where of five different varieties (it’s been a while and I have forgotten the names) and looked amazing under the blazing sun. leaving behind Ken Ghariyal Sanctuary we headed back to Khajuraho. Had to be there by lunch and shift out of the hotel. We were there on time. checked out of Payal Hotel, from there we moved to some stupid hotel which offered us the worlds worst service. We did not have much choice as most of the places were booked. And this was a cheap place to stay. The good part was that we where spending most of the time on the roads. Once again we dumped our stuff and back to the road using our guide books (we bought the previous day), we started our walk from the museum run by ASI, the museum was right across the road opposite the western complex and housed some sculptures which would have been a part of some of the temples in the past. Once again we walked back to the western complex spend a couple of hours, tried to hit on some pretty woman (managed to spend sometime walking around with her, and that’s all we could manage). Escaped the overfriendly American photographer. Time to have our lunch. A beer followed by some spicy and greasy Indian food.

Time is running out as its our last day in Khajuraho. Drove around the town looking at other temple complexes. The last one we visited was a solitary temple standing against a beautiful mauve sky. Its looked more like a painting. The silhouette of the temple stood brilliantly against the sky. There couldn’t have been a better way to end our visit to the temples. The scene was such I may never forget. Absolutely unreal it was, I guess I won’t be able to see something such again in my life. Drove back to the market near the western complex. Parked our car outside the hotel and walked around for a while. Trying to see and encapture as much as we can in the last few moment of the trip. Standing below an old banyan tree we could hear nothing but the chirping of hundreds of parrots, we couldn’t hear each other as the chirping of the birds coming back home was so loud. For almost fifteen minutes we stood there the sun had gone down by now the birds could not be seen, but the sound still as sharp as it was. A cup of tea at a nearby stall. A short walk here and there. A bit of window shopping. The rented bicycles being towed back on a trailer fitted to a scooter by the owner of the bicyle shop. Lots of things which we had never seen and may not see again. A small pizzeria on the terrace with a wood oven pizza. WOW! Such a thing would have been such a talked about restaurant in delhi social circuit. In khajuraho its just another eatery. Soon these little things ended up the beautiful day to start a new one. Early next morning before day-break we were on the highway. Breakfast in Orchha at Munna Acharya’s shop. Packed some peda’s and laddos for our long drive home.

boomp3.com

The Bards of Bundelkhand

2007-12-29T11:54:00.000-08:00

The stories of the victorious Rajput generals can still be heard in Orchha. Just that the folklores have been pushed to one of the corners of an open air terrace restaurant. It takes you some while to understand what a group of villagers are doing in your restaurant terrace. And it takes you a lot more time to understand their importance in history.

After ordering an Old Monk with warm water Me & Sambit decided to sit in the open to finish our drinks. We were the only people in the terrace that evening and lucky enough to get the sole attention of our entertainers.

That was
Sarju – the teacher, Sarju a man who is still trying to pass on the tradition of singing to the next generation. The skills and stories which had trickled down generations (or simply guru-shishya parampara).
Moolchand – the follower, Moolchand a man in his 50’s or maybe 60’s who is still trying to learn as much as possible from Sarju.

Moolchand knows the fact that the bardic tradition in Bundelkhand is on its verge of extinction. Still his defenses are strong and he’s trying to inherit every bit of the stories and tunes from his teacher. Sitting in a corner of a restaurant Moolchand tries hard to sing and impress his audience. The audience who’s clueless about the tradition, isn’t bothered about much beyond his glass of beer or whisky. The only thing that interests the audience is the cross-dresser sitting in the middle of the singers. And once in a while he gets up and does a little dance number for amusement. Atleast that keeps the audience intrigued in the show.

Moolchand had been keeping the fort by singing one song after the other. The audience who had been exposed to Bollywood songs and can’t find a meaning to this evening. But surely he’s happy that he can go home and boost about the traditional songs and music he had appreciated in Bundelkhand.

Alla and Udal the Rajput generals had been alive over the last few centuries in the songs of the Bards of Bundelkhand.
The Bards may have been minimised to the bar of a small hotel, or an evening gathering at local politicians lawn, but the Bards bring in fire to the stories of Alla and Udal by dancing and singing in this December night. When Sarju sings in Bundelkhandi Moolchand does a quick translation in Hindi telling us about the valour of Alla and Udal.

Soon the cross-dressed dancer leaves the stage maybe there’s some more important things to do. Some more dances to perform. Who cares.

Some more uninterested audience enter the theatre. Moolchand at this age showing his agility by performing what he must have learnt as boy from Sarju. Sarju is still singing what he had learnt maybe half a century ago from his guru. When one of the audience gets up to ask more about there trade, there is a joy of success in theIR camp. And with this Moolchand does his last number as Sarju sings at the top of his voice. And Bundelkhand rocks to the sound of victory.

Sarju and Moolchand are no less brave in defending the dying tradition of Allakhand and along with it the Bards of Bundelkhand than the Generals themselves.

One day when you visit Bundelkhand make sure you give them another chance of victory and come back home with the stories of Alla and Udal.

-the audience

Anandpur Sahib

2007-12-03T23:47:00.000-08:00

Seldom do I remember waking up in such peace as I did today. Specially when traveling I’m in a hyperactive mode. While traveling I always wake up with an ever hungry restlessness to see more of the place I traveling to. Somehow things went wrong this time. Woke up early in the morning, and was sure a morning can’t be anymore relaxing. That’s the way every morning begins in Anandpur Sahib.

The entire town is submerged in the soft and peaceful verses of gurbaani. The sounds are so relaxing and yet so powerful that I prefer staying back in the bed and keep listening to it as long I can. After an hour or so the sun broke the silence of the sound as the fog lifted, so did the dream like effect.

A small town in Punjab. Not on the mountains yet not on the plains. On the foothills of the shivalik range lies the second most holiest place for the Sikhs “Anandpur Sahib”.

Not often do we see places so welcoming as this. The entire town is as welcoming as the gurudwaras they house. The place reflects nothing but brotherhood and friendliness. Though the history of the place has enough bloodshed and wars.

Over three hundred years ago the teachings of the sikh gurus and the tortures of the mughals gave birth to the KHALSA. The warrior saints took the initiative to fight against the mughals empire. In today’s situation it may be hard to understand how the saints took such a drastic step to fight the wars. Not just fight, but they were one of the strongest force against the mughals. At the same time they strongly followed the philosophy of brotherhood, community welfare and equality (which makes them stand so strong till date).

As the religion can be seen having a soft core and a hard outer shell, so does the gurudwaras of Anandpur Sahib like no other gurudwaras (atleast as much as I have seen). Over here the gurudwaras are inside forts. The place of worship is strong enough a defence for its people in the times of battle.

The moment you see the fort-gurudwaras you’ll understand the reason why the saints had to lead the army.

Well those are the realities of the past. Times have changed so have Punjab, not one of the most progressive states.

Anandpur Sahib is back to a state peace and harmony. The way the gurus would have wanted it to be in the first place.

A small town, which gives a clean white image when seen from a hilltop. White and clean like the marble floors of the gurudwaras.

Every gurudwara over here has its own history. Regardless of the size of the gurudwara its history is none the less important. Few of them I visited where Anandgarh Sahib, Fatehgarh Sahib, Kesgarh Sahib, Shishganj Sahib.

It’s a great feeling to sit in the courtyard of one of these gurudwara’s in the early winter mornings with a handful of hot prashad.

A guest in Anandpur will never go hungry as there is huge hall near Kesgarh Sahib which keeps serving “langar” whole day long. Mostly it’s a vegetarian town, still you can manage to get non-veg at the dhaba’s near the bus-stop. I tried some good mutton curry at the Pahalwan Dhaaba near the chowk across the bridge. Parathas, lassis, mithais are to be found in abundance.

Did some souvenir shopping on the street near Kesgarh Sahib. Here one can find all sorts of knives, small khukri’s to large swords, simple India traditional knives to modern Rambo knives. You name and you get it in this small market. Lots of CD’s and books related to Sikhism can be bought from these shops. Pendants, bracelets and other knickknacks are also available here.

Staying in Anandpur is not a problem Gurudwaras provide comfortable lodging. Or else there are some decent yet cheap hotel options. For just five hundred rupees I found a good place called the "Kisan Haveli", the room was large attached with a large loo, fixed with a geyser and 24hrs water supply, room service was okay, good veg food and a beautiful view of the city from the attached balcony.

Mine was a real short stay as I had no plans as where to go when I left home a day before. All I wanted was to drive and spend a weekend somewhere. But surely next time I want to wakeup without restlessness in my mind, there is Anandpur Sahib for me.

honeymoon lodge

2007-12-03T02:34:00.001-08:00

often we keep looking for a place away from the hustle and bustle of the city to enjoy our honeymoon. well its been the same through centuries. the only difference is the place which would have been away from the city in the yesteryears is actually one of the most bustling place of today.
yesterday i came a across one such place, we can call it a honeymooners paradise. in the middle of wilderness, a lodge at a walking distance from a boat house. from the river jamuna the honeymooners would have cruised in a boat uptill the boathouse from there taken a short walk past Quli Khan's tomb and reached the Gateway Guest House. built during the lodi's and renovated as a guest house by Charles Metcalf during his stay in Delhi residency.

even today one can see the fireplace in the living room to keep the guests warm in a cold winter night (must have been really romantic). a terrace with a beautiful view of the Qutab Minar. a large room inside probably the bedroom. on the backyard a large hamam/ bath, a bath as big as a swimming pool. one can walk down it's steps even today just that it lies dry nowadays. what else could one have dreamt of as a better way to spend the honeymoon.

hard to believe it's at a distance of a few minutes walk from the mehrauli-gurgaon road inside the mehrauli archaeological park.

if you are that side of the town must visit "Gateway Guest House" the luxury of the past, surely it will inspire to go for second honeymoon.

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yesterday

2007-11-29T22:28:00.000-08:00

another day is gone,
leaving behind memories...

one day i will

2007-11-26T00:46:00.000-08:00

brahman basti

2007-11-20T01:08:00.000-08:00

on my way to chandigarh from anandpur sahib i came a cross a road sign, which reminded me of all those "harijan basti" signboards scattered over - all big and small towns in our country.

just the difference is finally someone realised brahmins are just a part of the society like everyone else and not the society itself.
a delightful change.

a travel blog

2007-10-18T09:22:00.001-07:00

some people travel, others aspire to do so, yet others who document their travels to inspire the world. one such effort in being done by vibhanshu & ankita. just came across their blog

postindia.blogspot.com

cafe boom boom the fifth.

2007-10-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

hard to believe and equally hard to forget once you been there. couldn't have believed to see a cafe with such a name. somewhere hanging inbetween dharamshala and mcleodgunj is this pretty little cafe.

sitting on the irregularly placed cushions in balcony you actually feel as if you're hanging in mid-air. the fluffy low lying clouds outside the cafe perfectly compliments the colourfull curtains inside to create a dreamlike setting. actually the randomness of the furniture is what gives character to the place. though the randomness by no means is just by chance, someone have thought it through to give the desired look.

the heavy wooden furniture, the music, some old sepia pictures and posters are all so beautiful till she walks in. her presence overshadows all the other colours of the cafe. who knows what an australian lady is doing in dharamshala, someone who have mastered dramatic skills along with her culinary skills. she is such a brilliant combination of skills. and that’s exactly what the café reflects. great food and dramatic ambience.

business boom in gurgaon

2007-10-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

finally we found it.

been searching for a place to sit under the open sky and have keema-parathas with a lump of amul butter.

and finally here we are near the NH-8, next to the genpact building, sitting among a centre crowd. having our first keema-parathas in gurgaon.

no more complains about gurgaon for the next few days.

MUMBAIYA

2007-09-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

bombay as a city is known for being stylish, "MUMBAIYA" - thats the word which gives us an imagery of style. whether it is the language or the movies or the way people dress up in the streets. where style doesn't mean obscenity.

yes. this mumbaiya flavour is all about style.

yesterday i spend a few hours roaming around the streets of bombay. trying out street-food, gossiping with the street vendors and enjoying the humid weather.

there is something stylish about everything in the city whether it is a brand new black mercedes or the tiger prints inside a yellow top fiat. the sense of style is so strong even in the typography on the back of the cabs. the moment you enter the airport the architecture, the interiors, the signage’s reek of style.

it is probably wrong to say that the style quotient travels top-down the social structure. in bombay there is no dilution about style even in the bottom of the social structure.

well i'm getting carried away with the cities S.Q.

what attracted me the most was when i was walking down the streets near the fort area. and looking at the goods being sold. everything seems to be so chic.

as was kept walking. my friend who was walking with me stopped to show me something. and for a delhi person who is awestruck by the bombay. even the minutest of the things become a memory to carry back home.

she was standing and admiring a fruit-sellers passion as he was decorating freshly cut fruits on the display. i won't say such things doesn't exist in delhi, but surely it doesn't make much of a difference to the bigger picture.

whereas in bombay all these little things contribute to greater cause.

the making of "MUMBAIYA" style.

though i didn't taste the fruits. but the man was happy to see me taking pictures of his stall. as he was so confident of his S.Q.

i salute him and many such style icons for making the of the word "MUMBAIYA".

Mr. Narayan

2007-09-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

today i met Mr.Narayan somewhere around the fort area in bombay.

he is a master smoked toasted sandwiches maker.

the only problem is he's not being able to concentrate on his skill as the मुन्सीपालटी कि गाड़ी (municipal corporation) drops by anytime and forces him shut shop.

well he's passionate enough to fight against the odds as he's been doing for last 20 years.

standing on the road under the scorching sun, the humid weather. always dedicated to his cause Mr. Narayan is treating the people of bombay to his spicy multi layered smoked sandwiches. layers of cucumber-tomatoes-butter (मस्का ) - chutney - potatoes goes inbetween slices of breads before he puts it into the ancient toaster with his own hands to be smoked on charcoal. once it is golden brown in colour he delicately puts the sandwich on a piece of freshly torn newspaper. cuts the sandwich into six unequal pieces and tops it with ketchup and sev (सेव). once he is satisfied with his creation, he will present it to his ever hungry customers with a proud smile.

SHOOTOUT AT JAMA MASJID

2007-09-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

did anybody hear the news!

it had been in the news that on the 28th of september 2007, a bearded man lead a group of men into jama masjid area. and did an open shootout. it is said the group had around ten people of different age group.

though the exact damages are yet unknown. but reliable sources have informed that al-jawahar hotel lost out on a major chunk of mutton curries and roties. even some significant portions of kebabs and keema had been missing from there.

local authorities are not ready to make any public statement on the matter as they themselves can't believe how could this gang trespass SLR's from right under their nose.

investigation is still going on. people say even a 5-6 years old boy was being trained by a tall man. the boy and his trainer along with a about to be bald man were last seen at the shahi tukda seller.

will keep on updating you on the case...

myths turned into reality.

2007-09-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

in the fourteenth century, one would have found them in the sultans court. loved and respected by the sultan and his courtiers.
i had read about them in the books, but always thought them to be ficticious charaters like the fiery dragons and the hobbits.
somewhere in a book last year i read that "keema samosas" are yet not extinct they are just endangered, you can spot them around the jama masjid (chandni chowk) at times in the evening.

in my past few visits i hadn't been so lucky to find one, asked a few people with no satisfactory answers.

finally today as i stepped out of jama masjid right outside the gate i could hear some shouting " कीमा समोसा पांच रूपए के दो " i could not beleive my years but as i followed the voice i had to believe my eyes.

yes! it is true sumptous samoosas stuffed with keema and dhaniya chutney are available outside jama masjid.

as i had my first bite of those samoosas only i know how myths turned into reality.

shisha cafe

2007-06-11T03:05:00.000-07:00

Shisha Cafe in Pune pay for the food, the ambience comes for free. They serve some good irani food.

on my way

2007-06-11T02:30:00.000-07:00

Soon.
Pune will be left far behind.

BENARAS (end of November 2007)

2007-04-08T22:26:00.000-07:00

BENARAS (24th November)
a day well spent

For some odd reason I woke up early. No clue what time it was. Opened the window of my 10’X5’ room on Pandey Ghat of Benaras

Still lying in the bed I could I could enjoy the breeze coming past the Ganga. Feeling worn out by my earlier days long walk I decide to lay still and enjoy the breeze. Soon an orangish line appears in the dark grey sky. That was the way I saw my first day in Benaras coming my way. It took a while for the sun to keep rising till it became a nice white round in the clear blue sky.

High time to get up. I pick my bag and start walking towards Dashasmedha Ghat. On my way get a splendid view of the ghat as the sun lits them up. All sorts of pictures can be seen on the ghats in the morning. Kids diving from the higher structure of the ghat into the Ganga. Or a barber shaving the head of a pilgrim. Men and women talking the holy dip. It’s hard to mention all that I saw.

Dashasmedha Ghat is as usual buzzing with activities. The touts, the boatmen, the phoolwalas, the tempowalas, the fakir, the panda, all of them waiting for their prey – the tourists, pilgrims and above all the foreigners(those who pay in dollars and pounds).

I keep moving through the crowd (surprising them all by my hindi, as my camera, my French beard and ear stud puts me in the category who pay by dollars).
As I reach Vishwanath Gate, I look here and there to spot a vegetarian restaurant. The best option being poori-subzi I place an order and get surprised to see some complimentary jaleebi’s with the four pooris and aloo-kaddu ki subzi. During the course of my breakfast I’m entertained by a Bengali family trying to stuff their fat 10 year old son with load of food and sweets.

By now I’m decided to make a day trip to Sarnath. So I start chatting with the locals sitting by the road reading newspaper to get fair enough an idea about the cheapest and best way to reach Sarnath.
Spending 10 rupees on a cycle rickshaw ride to Varanasi Cantt. Station. From there share an auto rickshaw ride for another 15 rupees through a bumpy and smoky half hour journey to Sarnath.

Without being told you’ll know once you’ve arrived at Sarnath, no one can miss those massive ancient stupas.

There I met a guide who fooled me by showing the Bodhi tree (not the real one but a grafting of the same), the Japanese Buddhist temple, the Chinese temple and the Sri Lankan temple, whatever he told me as a guide could have been read on the placards outside these temples. The loss of 20 rupees didn’t pinch me much.

Once through with my guided tour, I started walking towards the ASI excavated site, on my way I munch some chana-jor garam (gram chips). In ten minutes I buy a five rupee ticket and enter the excavation site.

Splendid is the word to describe this place. Spread over acres of land must have been this monastery of the Mauryan period. I could see where the monks must have stayed where they would have prayed and so on. Most of it only basic structure can be seen i.e. the walls etc. (rest all gone into dust), except for the Dhamekh Stupa which still stands high above the ground. Not to be missed is the beautiful floral carvings and the niches on this robust solid brick cylindrical structure. Around an hour can be spent here exploring the excavation site watching the once so glorious monastery probably the birth place of Buddhism.

Ten minutes walk took me to another big stupa, weirdly once the raja of Benaras built an octagonal structure on top of the stupa to welcome (rather please) emperor Humayun. The combination is sheer mismatch.

I was a bit unlucky as the ASI museum full of relics from the excavation site including the four-lion capital remains closed on Fridays.

Time to head back for Benaras. 15 rupees auto rickshaw ride till Gadolia Chowk and a ten minutes walk to Dashaswmedha Ghat.

A hot cup of tea at the ghat. Then a twenty minutes walk to Monalisa Café (Bengali Tola) lemon tea, chocolate pancakes and tuna sandwich for a late lunch. Walked back to Yogini Lodge, a hot water bath and a nap till around 5:30 in the evening. Got up to spend a while on the terrace and have a view of the almost the entire city.
Another walking spree through the ghats from Pandey Ghat to Kedarghat and then the by lanes . the lanes here are a bit wider and cleaner than those near Pandey Ghat.

Four rupees I shelled out for kullad (terracotta cup) full of steaming hot creamy milk.

A walk through the by lanes till the main road near Harishchandra Ghat. From there a five rupee cycle-rickshaw ride to Assi Ghat. A boring aarti by the river.
Assi Ghat is probably the cleanest of lot. I tried checking out t
E lodges over here. Soon I figure out that a twelve years old boy working for this logde is having a romantic inclination for me (probably it was just to earn some money). But time for me to run back take the first rickshaw and back to Pandey Ghat. A short walk to Apsara Restaurant (Bengali Tola). By now I’m through with a lemon-ginger tea and a chicken stew.

Time to go back to Yogini Lodge.

BENARAS (25th November)
a day made of pictures.

Today I got up at 6.30 in the morning almost an hour later than I intended. The deep blue sky was already replaced by a lighter shade of grey and an orange sun.
As I reached the ghat in another five minutes or so, was surprised to see the river full of boats, and the boats full of tourist. It seemed as if people are swarming a neighbourhood park for a morning walk.
Is that a spiritual calling of the river or just over hype of guide books. Whatever it may be was none of my concerns. My mission was to see the life of the locals on the ghat to see how they bond and depend upon the river.
So I started my trek towards the southern end of the ghats. On my way I met the kids selling flowers and reciting phrases in English without knowing what it means. During the walk I met atleast fifteen kids using the same phrases to sell the flowers (buy them put the flowers in water for mother, your father, your brother and so on…).
Made a small halt in the journey for a cup of tea. This was such a perfect cup of tea with perfect flavour of elaichi (cardamom). Along with the tea I got time to chit-chat with the local boys having tea and toasts. Paying three rupees was like paying nothing for such good tea. From here I walked till Kedarghat, took the flight of stairs reached the by lanes to be explored in the day light. The smell of fresh cow dung filled in the air. And clouds of dust created by the jamadaar (sweeper) filled the sight. All this is a part of the journey to attain nirvana in the city of Varanasi. All this was worth crossing when I saw those bright green doors on the red brick wall. Yes, the city is full of pictures. Probably that’s what spiritualism means to me.

There is no overpromise in saying that the city is spiritually advanced, truly it has something to give to everybody. It gives peace to everyone, for some in form of picture, for some in form of music yet others get peace by chanting the mantras or taking the holy dip.

As I walked through all these pictures I looped back towards the ghats. This one called the Harishchandra Ghat know as the funeral ghat. Already a few pyres are set on fire. Hindus call themselves lucky to be cremated by the Ganga and that too in Benaras. I walked up to Assi Ghat and back.

On my return I saw some dhobis (washer men) washing the clothes in Ganga. It was a pretty sight to see the colourfull clothes fluttering by the breeze as they hung on the railings by the bank.

Apart from those regular rituals it was fun to see two men throwing strings in the water to catch fishes (no clue how it works no fishing rod or anything). Yet another pair of men cracking shells to take out the animal inside for food.

That’s how the morning starts in the ghats of Benaras. Not that the entire day is much different. Just before leaving the ghats and heading for my lodge I caught a quick bite of spicy papri-matar. Oops! I forgot to mention the middle-aged Bengali trying to prove to the world (i.e. his friends and family) how good a swimmer he is. I never expected to see him back on the shore once he went someway in the water, heroically he made his way back and stood next to his proud wife.

Soon I’m back in the lodge waiting for the maalishwaala. Now I won’t get into the details as this guy turned out to be yet another Bengali and a professional murtikar (sculptor). He knew too many things in the typical Bengali-English of the raj period. Hats off to him as he had learnt it all without completing his basic schooling. Putting in a nutshell the massage was just okay. After that a quick cold shower to get rid of all the oil on my body. Soon after a short walk and an auto-rickshaw trip. I’m standing outside the BHU (Banaras Hindu University) main Gate at Lanka. A ten minute walk up to the Bharat Kala Bhawan museum. An hour and a half spent inside. They house an excellent collection of art and artifacts. One can see Nicholas Roerich, Alice Boner… and lot many unknown artist of various Indian art styles.

A beautiful collection of coins which goes back to the Kushan or Mauryan period. Coins in bronze, gold, silver, terracotta etc.

Modern Indian government coins of hundred rupees value, another with the face of M. K. Gandhi and superman inscribed on it.

A section full of things related to varanasi. Here some 18th century illustrations tells you how beautiful and lavish the city was at its days of glory. Lot more to be seen there sculptures, books etc…

Now I walk to Maitrey Jalpaan Griha (the university canteen) and gulp two aloo chops and a cup of tea spending three rupees in total. Another combination of walk and auto-rickshaw ride to Gadolia Chowk.

Now a walk up the ghats towards north. On my way I cross Manikarnika Ghat this is the main burning ghat of benaras and what a sight it was to see boats loaded with wood to be used for cremation. This again is kind of a tourist attraction, hyped by guides and boatmen. Whats so great about to see dead people being burned. This ghat also has association with Vishnu as there’s a myth that he meditated here for a thousand years.

The moment I crossed the ghat I saw the most awaited sight. Here is mandir half buried in the silt and water. One can just see the top canopy popping out of water. For a long time I had seen this temple in music videos and movies, but today I believe in it.

Again I cross another few ghats and take the by-lanes and back to Dashaswmedha Ghat, walk back to the lodge picked my sweat-shirt and back to Monalisa café. Just finished my a chicken pizza like no other chicken pizza I ever had - thick, cheesy amazing value for money (forty rupees for the pizza). Just the spices and sauces are different from what we have in Delhi.

Now I’m waiting for a glass full of lemon tea. Hey, it’s there on the table. That’s all for the day.

BENARAS (26th November)
banaras ki subah

Somehow I woke up before the time I had assigned the clock to buzz. Kept waiting, for some odd reasons the alarm never went off. At 4:35 I finally left the bed and off to Pandey Ghat. The moment I stepped out I was taken aback by a weird sound as if some kind of voodoo. In the next few seconds I realised that a bunch of Bengalis were going to the river in the middle of the night to perform rituals a day before marriage in the family. The group consisted of around ten people from ten to fifty years in age.
I realised they were equally amused to see me at that ungodly hour as they kept on making fun of me in Bengali without knowing that I am of their kin. I walked towards Dashaswmedha Ghat where I had my first cup of tea. By now there was already some activities by the ghat. In another thirty minutes I booked a boat up to Manikarnika Ghat. The deep blue cast all over was beautiful. Here and there dashes of saffron could be seen against the rich deep blue.
As we rowed past the ghats we could see people coming in from the dark gullies and gathering on the ghats. The pandas preparing to get dressed in saffron’s already taken a bath in cold ganga water.
The boats being prepared as bunches of tourists have appeared to see the famous “sunrise on the ganges” – the so called “banaras ki subah”.

No doubt it was a sight worth a watch. As the soft deep blue sky opens up to give way to the orange sun. Its beautiful to be in the river and watch the river and it’s ghats.
I stood at the Mankarnika Ghat for a while admiring the half sunken Karvat Vishnu Mandir, as the locals call it. The strong dark silhouette of the temple with the rising sun in the background and the sky in shades of peach, pink and blues.

After spending a while I decided to take a boat trip back to Dashaswmedha Ghat. This was the best view since I had come to Benaras. Not that what I saw was something new, but seeing it all from the river in the early morning light.

After paying the boatman I had my breakfast of aloo-puri with complimentary jaleebis.
Now time is to look for a new lodge, somewhere nearer to the Dashaswmedha Ghat. After checking out a couple of places I checked-in at Jai Shiva Lodge for 120/- per day. Go back to Yogini Lodge settle the bills, pack-up and back to Jai Shiva Lodge for a hot water bath.
A table and a chair is placed in the balcony outside my room which almost opens up on the ghat. There’s nothing to stop the view. Till the water gets heated I enjoy another cup of tea sitting at the balcony, watching a group of South Indian Brahmins in their saffrons taking a boat ride. Another group of people taking their morning bath. After a refreshing bath once again I start walking towards Panchganga Ghat that lie beyond Manikarnika Ghat. Right next to the ghat is an old mosque built by Auragzeb. Now under ASI protection. As I entered I saw the maulvi chatting with a pandit in the masjid courtyard. A scene not so popular anymore. A brilliant structure was the mosque. Made of red sandstone. Apparently the mosque had two minarets 85 feet high, which got broken during the partition (1947). After the pandit left I had with the maulvi. He told me about his friend the pandit who seems to be associated with a nearby temple and keeps coming to the mosque for clean water to drink and use the loo as it was surely the cleanest of what I had seen in the last few days. Before leaving the pandit said “walle hukum ad salaam”, it was overwhelming. The maulvi showed an old picture of the mosque (with the minarets intact) shot from the other side of the river. No other structure in the city was as gallant as this.

Time to go back to the ghats. I walked all the way to Rajghat the lie on the northern extreme next to the iron bridge. The last few ghats were full of bathing buffaloes. It was a sight to watch buffaloes and men bathing together. I spent a long time sitting on the ghat and watch all the scene around. Kids flying kites on the sandy bank, women taking bath, a couple of fishermen, dhoobi’s washing clothes. The beauty was all over here it was more of day to day chores and less of religious activities and no tourists at all except me. Met a man selling some weird yellow looking stuff on further query he said its idly-sambhar, it was too yellow and syrupy to be sambhar but the kids were really happy to have it.

I started walking back but somewhere a lonely radio kept on the ghat by a washerman made me stop for another hour and listen to old hindi movie songs. In totality it was enriching to see how people enjoy Sunday morning on the riverside as if life starts and ends here.

Finally a walk back to Manikarnika Ghat in search of the Astronomical Observatory built by Sawai Raja Jai Singh. The ASI board can be seen from the ghat. One of the entrances with a big sarkari taala (government sealed lock) can be seen after walking a bit in the bylanes, but to find the functional entrance is not so easy as it lie on the Dashaswamedha Ghat at the back of some subzi mandi. But I reached, spent some half an hour admiring the place. The sun dial over here was right on time.
Back to the lodge, sit in the balcony read a book, go of to sleep, wake up at 4:30 PM. Feeling really really hungry. I go to Ganga Fuji Restaurant, order a garlic-cheese sandwich not bad to taste but not so filling. Another order I place a mixture of rice-beans-scrambled eggs-boneless chiken, they call it chicken biryani. It did not taste bad either but surely filling. A short walk to through Vishwanath Gali a small laddu on the way.
With the tummy so full I decide to take another walk and on the way had a Badam & Malai Thandai at Gadolia Chowk. After that I spent some more time on the ghat reading a book below the street lamp.
Now sitting under a CFL lamp in the balcony outside my room in the lodge.

BENARAS (26th November)
last but not the least

woke up early around 4:30 in the morning. Wanted to see the ghat from my balcony on my last day in Benaras. As I was about to leave my bed I could hear some noises. Thought of sitting on the bed and just cherish the sounds of the pictures I had seen in the last few days of being here.
Yes this was like hearing the sounds and imagining what must be going on outside the room. As the room is right on the ghat I could hear the sounds of the dog barking, the birds chirping. Could hear the monkeys quarrelling, Soon the soundscape changes as more human voices add on to it. The chaiwala selling chai. The kachoriwala selling kachoris. Group of men and women climbing down the stairs to the ghat. People chanting some mantras. Boatmen trying to negotiate with the tourists. Pandits giving gyaan to the people. Could hear the goat and so on. The sounds kept on changing along with colours of the sky and the river. Sitting in the dark room I kept absorbing all the sounds that kept coming towards me, almost for a couple of hours. So much to do in so little time. Half a day to go and I will be on my train to Delhi and my regular life.
Spend another hour or so on the balcony read a bit and had a nice cup of tea. Walk to ghat for my breakfast as usual. Bit of shopping to be done. Found a shop selling and making biris of all sizes, picked up a pack of extra large biris for a smoker friend of mine (later found out the smaller the better goes for biris). Anyways next time will keep it in mind. Bought a shirt said to be some kind of Japanese wear, looked more like a gujrati menswear extremely cheap it was 150/- or sometining. Got some sweets packed for home, the sweet shops make excellent cham-chams in benaras. All this was in and around Bengali Tola. Back to Dashaswamedha Ghat sat on the ghat enjoying the sun for a while. Lunch at a vegetarian dhaba. Back to the lodge a short nap. Packing up to leave for delhi.

benaras

2007-03-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

kerala

2007-03-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

picturesbysudip

2007-03-10T05:12:00.000-08:00

picturesbysudip