long time due

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

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.


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The Bards of Bundelkhand

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

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

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

another day is gone,
leaving behind memories...

one day i will