Two to Tango in a place called 'Indiaah'

Sunderbans - the fascinating home to the Royal Bengal Tigers

2011-09-07T19:51:00.007+05:30

Pronounced as Shundor-bon – in bangla Shundor means beautiful and Bon means Jungle or Forest – so it means Beautiful Jungle, the mangroves of Sunderbans delta is true to its name. Always intrigued by the mystery of the jungles of Sunderbans which is home to the ferocious Royal Bengal Tigers, I had always wanted to visit the place. The tigers here are said to be man-eaters by birth – reasons vary with different theories. So I was really excited when we (me and my husband) decided to plan for this destination.
We were not sure of how the place would be, but we were more than cent-percent sure that this is going to be one exciting and memorable trip and we weren’t disappointed. Another excitement added was the modes of travel – we were travelling by Air (flight from Delhi to Kolkata), by road from airport to Gosaba and then a boat to the Sajnekhali - the island where we had booked our stay. The return was the same way and then a train to New Jalpaiguri for another destination – so practically covering every possible mode.
Though we had started our day very early, around 3 a.m. for the early morning flight, but I wasn’t sleepy during the 3 hrs bumpy taxi ride through the narrow village roads to Gosaba for the sheer thought of going to a place, that we being jungle lovers, have been dreaming of. Finally we started with the boat ride to reach the destination. The mechanized boats, as they are called, are motor operated boats that run on diesel. These are also mode of transport for the people living in the villages strewn around the islands – a very crude Venice experience I must say. We were enjoying the ride as we were the only ones and the excitement of being in such a surreal place was hitting us truly. However, after a while the smell of the diesel started hitting us rather badly!!!
I got talking to the men running the boat seeking on how and what arrangements for travelling around and gained much information required. The first thought when we saw the steps going up the gate of the island where we were to stay, was WOW – this is another world in itself. We forgot that we had not eaten anything since morning and asked the boatman to wait for us while we unload our luggage to take us for a small tour around the islands. To top our excitement while going towards the lodge, we found a huge monitor lizard sun basking near a small water body. We happily clicked and it happily posed. The stay – Sajnekhali Forest Lodge provided basic wooden rooms as in forests with a small canteen. I played my role of speaking to the people in Bengali, had a quick grab of fish-rice and then got ready for our boat ride. We were hopeful of getting some shots of the birds and the sunset, and if lucky then the tiger too! This was one amazing ride that we had with beautiful kingfishers sitting on the hanging branches of the mangroves, the sun setting against the water was just brilliant but the narrow creeks were little scary. There were net barrier across all these small marshy islands around 8-9 ft high – primarily to keep the tigers restricted of jumping off and swimming across to the nearest inhabited islands.
Next day, the whole day was planned for cruising along the river. We booked a boat, hired a guide (mandatory) and the two young men to sail. First thing you need to do is go to the next island, buy raw material for food including vegetables, salt, oil, rice and dal and kerosene oil – hand over the stuff to the boatman. And you are all set to go. We decided to sail through the narrow creeks where the chances of spotting birds and tigers are high. All excited we perched on to the red plastic chairs, keeping a close vigil on the islands passing by to spot every moving thing. My idea of going to a tiger reserve is not only to see the tigers but to soak in the environment and see the other flora and fauna of the area, so I am never disappointed – if I get to see a tiger that’s a bonus anyways. So we started clicking around, the families crossing the river on boats, people selling objects and transporting material across the river, and the beautiful kingfishers, egrets, Eurasian curlews, sandpipers etc. sitting on the trees and on the marshy shores. The deltas are not just home to tigers but the crocodiles as well – and as again they say, the crocs here too are man-eaters. Theories suggest the salty water is one of the reasons (human blood is salty too) or because of their co-existence with humans on the same land so they take humans as any other prey. We saw a few of crocs basking in the sun and they were huge, clean and smart  of all the crocs we have seen. The moment you try to go a little closer to the shore for getting a better shot, they would slip away into the water and disappear in seconds. They looked ferocious but shy. After a while, I thought of trying my hands in sailing the boat as it seemed easy and the boy was too happy to hand it over – it just had a driving wheel to navigate – rest I could not find any breaks  and the motor was somewhere behind the boat – all I need to care for was that I sail it slowly and in the middle of the river, avoid leaves that get stuck in the motor wheels and that’s about it – I was happy, the boy was happy to take a break! So I was the sailor for next hour. The phones were not working, the breeze was cool and the ride was smooth and No traffic at all!!! And then we landed on an island with a watchtower – it was nice to click to some of the crabs – there’s a variety of crabs including red fiddler, hermit crab and mudskippers. They look tiny and cute. Back to river, we had our lunch – it was simple feast of rice, daal and vegetable, all cooked on the boat on a kerosene stove by the boatman. While returning we sailed through the narrow creeks and that was scary especially against the setting sun backdrop. We saw pumarks indicating the tiger was nearby – the excitement rose high but we were little scared at the back of our mind because of the documentaries that suggest that they could swim and attack the boats. We couldn’t spot any tiger but saw beautiful birds and animals like kingfishers, eurasian curlew, crocodiles, deers etc. By the end of the day we were tired but astonished by the ecosystem that survives here – harmony between nature and human where co-existence is the key to survival. We returned to the mainland following the same trail and amazed that the island and steps that we could see while coming were all under water now for the high tide. A journey here is a lifetime experience and to be cherished forever. I must go there again for sure and this time I dread to walk in the jungle, if that’s allowed!!!

Evelyn's Own at Panchmarhi

2009-07-06T13:26:00.035+05:30

There are quite a few places in India which were once the cantonment during the British raj and are now left with the colonial buildings against the quiet hilly backdrops – walking past through them just gives you a tingling feeling of old charm of the English Era. You know Britisher's have enjoyed and explored (and exploited) India most and the best way! Think of all the beautiful places and check out the history - and you'd find they were ventured by Britishers long long ago we don't even visit them now!

One such beautiful place is Panchmarhi - the highest and only hill station in MP. Yeah, it's a cantonment with colonial buildings strewn around - some belong to military and some owned by private people but I guess mostly these are retired defence personnel. We decided on this place again in Monsoon season when the Satpura hills turn green - by the way, Satpura jungles are evergreen! Mythologically, the place got it's name from the Pandava brothers of the great epic Mahabharta. It is said that they were hiding here during their vanavas.

We reached Bhopal early morning by Bhopal Express and took a bus to Panchmarhi from MP Tourism hotel at around 7 a.m. in the morning. It took 3 hrs to reach Panchamarhi. The drive through the ghat, forest and hills was very nice and quite soothing to the dead and tired souls. Here again, MP tourism hotels are good and over-booked but we try to look for heritage places to stay! Though these hotels too are heritage but we settled for another 125 yr old building called 'Evelyn's Own' - owned by a retired Col from Army who sold his house in Delhi to settle there amongst the quiet hills of Panchmarhi. He and his wife run the place and have converted a part of the house into a hotel but they do not allow everybody into the place as they call it a home and not hotel. So they always like to know who is checking in and if not suitable they have a record of asking people leave their compound as well :) so only serious travellers are allowed here! The place was quite nice located at one corner and bordering the Satpura forest - the whole Panchamarhi is situated within the periphery of Satpura forest! The food was simple and home cooked - yes, it's the same food that they cooked for themselves was served to us!

We made a special friend there, a black dog, let's call it B&W (black n white)! He was there on day 1, when we arrived there in the hotel and picked special fondness of us! We checked in and after freshening up, we decided to take a walk around the place and B&W decided us to guide through to the places. He walked along with us to all the places and made sure we returned to hotel safely :)!

So, it had rained so was a bit humid but not deterring us to take a walk in the afternoon when the Sun was not so bright! The walk through the quiet and lazy lanes where even the telephone booths are run by Army people made us feel like a 50 yr old couple out for a walk post-retirement! The place itself is very small and you can just walk around to see the Pandava caves - Buddhist Stupas with brick-cave! And the Bison lodge - oldest house in Panchmarhi - a museum with the flora-fauna of the place listed. Since it's a forest area there were trees and trees and trees around. And this is the place where you get the gorgeous Jamuns and Mangoes - you can have so much to your soul's desires without shelling out the big bucks!
The next morning, we fixed up for a Jeep ride to the famous Satpura tiger reserve! And as again, we were the only ones to take that ride in the Jungle. We reached there early in the morning and found the gates were closed and watchman was missing. The driver tried to create a mystery around it when he called up his wife to check about his whereabouts! He told us he had not returned since last night and now he's worried if he is alright because of the tigers and leopards! While we were waiting we collected some mangoes and yes, we saw the amazing, colorful and huge Indian giant squirrel! This one was living on the tree at the gate and it was a sight to see it jumping off the road to collect fruits and then running up the tree! We tried clicking but aha - who says it's easy to make a squirrel sit quietly to give a pose - specially this one! Anyways, after waiting for almost an hour, the guard showed up!

Though there were not many animals that we saw in the jungle but the views were just amazing! See the backdrop against the hills, the green trees that looked just so beautiful! Nope we couldn't see any tiger but just like any other jungle trip, the drive was exhilarating! Nothing beats the morning drive in a jungle - all the better if you are alone (without any other vehicle I mean). As in most of the jungles, there are people living inside and using the resources often stealing the resources. We went to the middle 'Nimghan' where the chaukidar served us with tea and we saw some tribals collecting Mangoes. Then we saw the Cave paintings in the jungle - the proof that there were humans thousands of years ago living in the deep forests and living in harmony with the nature. Currently, it is under the protected sites of the govt but as the guide told us most of it is in ruins for the inquistive hands of visitors who would scratch these to check if these are genuine! We returned and after breakfast, we decided to start with our tour to the places around.

Our guide for the next couple of days, Bahadur, was trained tribal who would take us to the jungles, the water falls, temples and some of the places that not many tourists would flock - the cave paintings in the middle of the jungle. How could a cantonment be without a church!!! Well, well, there we were in front of the Christ church that was closed but we could peek into the church through the windows! Panchmarhi is situated amidst the rocky, sandstone hills and gorges making it a perfect place for waterfalls - there are many the famous being Bee fall, Rajat fall, Duchess fall etc and the pools thereby! Walking to these falls itself is a journey and could be tiring for their locations! You can take a dip in the pool, bathe in the falls - it's all done and fun! There were some that were visible to the eyes but only the dare-devils could access it for it would take hours to walk down the hills to reach the bottom of the falls!

Panchmarhi is also famous in MP for religious beliefs. There are many old temples and places around - the Mahadev and chota mahadev caves, Jata Shankar where the maze of loose stones looks like the locks of Shiva hence the name, and similar ones!

The Priyadarshini or Forsyth point is worth mentioning, as this is the point from where Capt. Forsyth had discovered Panchmarhi in 1857. The view of the valley from this point is breath taking. Britishers then developed this place as their cantonment and resort to beat the heat of MP. Handi Khoh or Andha Kho (As it is called by locals) is a 300 ft deep ravine which has steep sides and you can't see the end so is the name! Another story that one of the british capt had committed suicide for his failed love! The Reechgarh - aptly named caves where as they say the Reech (Bear) would take shelter in rains. These were dark and dingy and natural.

Coming to the most beautiful part of the leg, Dhoopgarh – the highest point of not only Panchmarhi but of entire MP. This is also the sunset point for the tourists. The magnificent view of the surrounding hills, valleys, river and the sunset is just out of the world. The drive to this place has some amazing view points! The Dhoopgarh has a sarkari lodge where you could stay with prior booking but I guess – it would be difficult to get the bookings for obvious reasons. Also, must tell is that the point is inhabited by the slithering reptiles – snakes. I wanted to take a round on my own when the guide warned me not to walk on the grass for the snakes – as he said so and as I looked down before placing my foot on the leaves that were strewn around – I saw a small one slithering out of the leaves – the guide ran towards me and said ‘Oh it’s a bachccha tree snake’ while I captured it in my shutter bug happily. Alright, the final few moments spent here was watching the Sun set against the hills and the amazing views of our lifetime that are etched in our mind for ever!

We returned with some of the wonderful memories of yet another place. BTW before I close, I must tell you about the deal that we proposed to Col. Rao! We liked the place so much and inspired by him for leaving the fancies of the city and settling for such a quiet place that we wanted to buy a place here! Unfortunately, most of the places were sold, the left-outs were beyond reach and banned by the govt for sale. So we offered Col. Rao to sell the room where we were staying to us and He smiled!

Sham-E-Sarhad - Ek shaam sarhad par!

2009-06-23T15:24:00.026+05:30

Sham-E-Sarhad (Evening at the border) – the aptly named resort – a rural resort again! We spent our New Year eve (2008) here – thousands of kms away from Delhi – in a resort that perhaps none of the people around us would know about (now they do :-)) – this is the far west of India in the salt deserts of Rann of Kuchchh, Gujarat!
Not sure of where to go on the New Year chutti, we planned for this place in a jiffy and decided the best and shortest way of reaching this place by 30 Dec (2007) – so there were multiple modes to take on this journey – an afternoon flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad, an overnight (6 hrs) bus - the ones which has sleepers on top of seats like the bunker beds; first time for me :-) - from Ahmedabad to Bhuj (yeah the place got its fame for the worst ever earthquake of the country) and an early morning (5.30 am) taxi to reach the destination – village ‘Hodka’! All the delhi people, remember the ladies selling mirror-word items on the pavements of C.P. – this is the region where these are done!

The village was chosen by UNDP under the rural development through tourism. The core is self-sustenance by running a place for livelihood and promoting the local culture and craft. Ok, so the identified village was ‘groomed’ to run a resort (in their own style) so the owners of the resort are the villagers. The resort suddenly appears after taking one of the narrow, dusty by-lanes off the main road – situated in the middle of barren, dry and no-man land. The rural resort has the amenities of any of the other resorts that you might come across in the other destinations but in a rural surrounding and architecture. There are swiss tents and the mud-rooms called ‘Bhungas’ – the round shaped huts that the kuchchi people live in. They are shaped like this for the climatic conditions here that’s very dry, hot and mind you dusty – when I say dusty – it means very-very dusty! The ambience was just perfect and upto our expectation though we stayed in the swiss tents – they said ‘bhungas’ were occupied!

The people of this place are like the ones as seen in the movie ‘Sarfarosh’ – yeah the long beard, kohl eyed men in pathani salwars! Feels like a different region altogether but they are very warm and hospitable. We reached there early morning at 6-6.30 am and the tent was not done so we had to wait till people check out! It was cold morning – very cold – as the sun rose the warmness in the air could be felt – we had our cuppa tea and then Surender as usual started clicking around! By the time the tent was done, we were dead tired with the travel but we had captured much information from the staff about the places around!
The tent was spacious – actually there were two tents – the second one was the bathroom! The food – ‘kuchchhi food’ – was pure vegetarian and cooked by the locals – had the local flavours – we often over-ate!

This is a nomadic land with the scattered villages, long runs of salty deserts, wet lands and of course, the place where the tropic of cancer passes by! And not the least the famous Kala Dungar where the wild jackals come for food when they hear the bells of the temple ringing – yeah saw it live and not on TV! So after taking some rest and meal, we were ready for day 1 trip and that was a trip around the resort to see some man-made wells and the nearby marsh area and the hodka village. The vehicle - :-) an open ‘chakhra’ – it’s a motor operated rickshaw that is heavily used in the area – much like the ‘jugads’ here! The guide an old man (my favorite) – ‘Paanki kaka’ and the local lad who would run the vehicle! They told us not to take the same but we didn’t pay attention to the warnings and were ready to dare the ‘dust’! After 10 mins of drive we realized why they were saying so – the drive through the dusty barren lands had tons of dust that landed up on us and inside our lungs – even the nostrils had turned white and we felt breathing in fine dust! But then as we are – we really enjoyed it and were ready to take on more!

Ok, so there we were standing on the dried salty lands where the only vegetation were small shrubs that could survive the salty land! But the view was amazing! From there were again driven back to the village to meet the locals – here in such a remote area where you’d hardly find educated people, I found the most enterprising and daring women! And above all, the most beautiful ravishing beauties! They have learnt English and Hindi in their own style, almost all of them have displayed photos with foreigners (they call them friends or sisters – I too made on ‘Birma Ben’) and then showcase their work – you can buy them! When a girl is born here, she prepares her own dowry which consists heavily of the embroidered dresses, bed sheets and other things – she would stitch those for years and store these in trunks till they reach 17-18 yrs of age (officially they say so) and then take them along – very beautiful and vibrant pieces I must say! Though mind you the prices are not cheap if you wish to buy – they are used to the dollar spending clients! They were really amused to see me stiching and asked me from where did I learn the same – oh how they think we are just good for nothings :-)! Another popular art here are pottery, lacquer work and leather work!
We were back at our resort by the evening for the wonderful dinner! The local artisans had come to play the local songs along side the bon fire. The night was so quiet that it was scary to go to the loo which was another tent as you could hear the hyenas and foxes howling throughout the night (though the staff said they were far away but their noise didn’t seem so distant)!

Next day, we decided to explore the wetlands of Chhari Dhand – a small wet land which sees migratory bird and some of the rare bird sightings can be done here! I was excited because this is where you could see the flamingoes – oh how long had I been wanting to see those beautiful birds – though I still would want to see them dancing as they say!

But as they, Rann of Kuchchh (like other deserts) is a place where you shouldn’t explore on your own unless you know the routes – why ? – we knew when we went there with Paandi kaka! The interesting person – 58 yrs, wrinkled old man who has seen the Rann for last 58 yrs and knows the place very well – couldn’t speak hindi properly but had such charming kohl eyes that looked mysterious! He was 6+ ft tall and thin and was always ready to pose for the photos! It was under his guidance that we had taken the trip to wet lands. There were no roads but mud tracks that were pointing to multiple directions and the driver would look at kaka and wait for him to point his fingers to the direction that we need to go! Though it was December but the car had AC and even inside the closed car we could breath in the fine dust that the wheels were throwing! On the way, we saw ‘families of wolves’ – so easy to spot for the scanty vegetation and guess what, we saw nomads – the ones we read about in school text books. There were men with herds of camel – hundreds in number moving across the desert – perhaps to the destinations not-known or known but certainly less travelled!
Alright, finally the banni wetlands – though we couldn’t see many birds but we could see some egrets, herons and ducks but no flamingoes L! We spent some time there in the quietness of the place and on the watchtower – nature can do amazing things – a wetland in the desert! The other places of interest that we saw were some of the villages like Dhordo that were adopted under PM schemes of rural development and ladies would welcome you in their houses, showcase their products and quietly put these back if you do not buy – mind you the prices are just the same as quoted for tourists! Of all the things, the best were to see the Bhungas with mirror work on the walls done by the ladies of the house.

The trip to Kala Dungar and India bridge are never to be forgotten. The sepoys on the India bridge - The last Civilian point of India-Pakistan Border - were so happy to see us as this is the last post allowed from where the border of Pakistan starts so nobody is allowed and all you could see are the vast lands of desert – the salt desert – where if you get lost it would be days that somebody would find you. And the sepoys, specially in summers, spent 2-3 months without seeing a single human soul other than their fellows guarding the bridge! After saying hi-hello to them, we went to Kala Dungar (Black Hill in local language). This is a small hillock overlooking the Rann and you can see lights from Pakistani homes on the border. You could go there in the evening to see the sun set in the Rann and visit the Dattatreya temple and above all a miracle of nature’s law being defied. Here in the temple, for years the pujari feeds the wild jackals – it was amazing to see the jackals appear at a designated place when the Arti began with the bells ringing – they come, eat and go back into the wild. Well, people are allowed to see this from a distant place – they don’t want to take any risk but it was amazing. They were looking at the temples as if listening to the sound of the bells. A truly amazing and ‘wild’ experience.

Well, finally on our way to Bhuj and Than Monastery – I got my first glimpse to the Flamingoes – so many of them with their peachish-pink bodies and red beaks they looked elegant – least to say! I simply awed the birds – there were so many in those small poodles of water. Than Monastery can be skipped as it was a temple though located at a quiet place amongnst the hills.

Moving on to Bhuj – unlike our perception – this place rocks – has some of the wealthy marwaris living and making money here. This has one of the best palaces that we saw – remember the ball dance from the film ‘Lagaan’ – this was shot here in the Bhuj Palalce hall – the magnificent palace got shattered during the earthquake and the Raja moved out to some other place and opened this for public visit – best way to recur the maintenance cost :-))
Some of the best chandeliers and artifacts can be seen here and in the museum. Rajasthani rajas knew how to live in splendor! Then to the Marwari food – though the kuchchhi thaali at the resort was the best – but nonetheless the Marwari food was no less – wonderful and cheap!
Star gazing!
The resort stay was ultimate and quiet and before I forget I must mention what did we do on the new year eve – it was a perfect quiet new year eve with the resort people organizing a star watching show with an amateur club of astronomy. They had come with telescopes and tried to explain and show us the wonderful stars and satellites. You won’t get such clear sky in Delhi even on the best of the days! We saw, we discussed, we had food (and no drink :-) Gujarat remember!) and off to sleep just like a normal day. Perfecto!
What a place and what an experience. The return was just the same – a taxi to Bhuj, a bus to Ahmedabad, overnight stay in Ahmedabad and then early morning flight off to Delhi and back to the grind the same day in office! Go guys – a place must visit but only for those who can dare the dust – as I say!

Romancing the Monsoon in Mandu!

2009-06-10T11:51:00.044+05:30

Described as a romantic paradise in monsoon by the mughal emperor Jahangir - situated in the Vidhya ranges is - Mandu! Once a mughal state, this was once the largest fortified city of the world! Surrounded by lush green (at least in monsoon) deep khos - deep valleys - this is situated on the uneven plateau of MP. Those who thought MP as a boring destination - think again - this place has so much to offer - the princely states, the lush green forests, the high water falls, and the worst of all roads :)Mandu is around 90 kms from Indore - a state road connects the same - it is absolutely plains - but mind you, in rains it took more than 3 hrs by taxi to reach the place simply because of the big pot-holes - not even a single meter of road was spared - the return was on the bus - thank god as they have high ground clearance and the tyres are little more balanced for the comforts (against the jerks)! Don't ask me how did we reach here as it is a story in itself where we got in the dead middle of night with sleepy eyes at Ratlam and then took a connecting train to Indore. We hired a taxi with this old man as the cabby who had a 'takiya kalam' – ‘kya sa'ab kya?’! He ensured we do not doze off with his 'kya saab kya'!Well, some 20 kms before Mandu - it's actually Mandwa - is a beautiful heritage hotel called Jhira Bag palace - my boss had recommended this - and in monsoons this palace - converted into a hotel and painted white like the modern places - offered us a great deal - and we got the best room which had a bathroom and balcony with a view of the greens.
View from the room - leading to the highway!
The huge room with huge bathroom and huge balcony with just us in the Hotel (as again!) was a delight for stay though the most recommended stay in Mandu is MP Tourism hotels by the lake often fully booked in the monsoons!We would walk about 500 meters through the mud-road (connecting the highway to the hotel) to catch a local bus to reach Mandu fort! Just at the entrance of Mandu is Khakra Kho - as deep as 300 ft - this comes alive with the lush green valleys with the forts in the backdrop and the gorgeous waterfalls turning the place into a picnic spot for the locals!You have to spend time here to appreciate and enjoy the beauty and just sniff the romance that is just about to begin! The best way as they say to explore the place are bicycles but there are autos/vans/taxis available!
Mind you, please carry all your umbrellas, windcheaters or raincoats and watch your steps, as the place turns slippery for the algae on the floor (and the roofs :-)!
Once you enter the fortified city you realize why was Jahangir in love with this place - as some has recommended this as the honeymoon place in monsoon! Though buzzing with the autos, hotels at every corner - the place has become a little crowded but it is still a hidden jewel compared to the hills of the north. The old charm of the place has a warmness that calls for you.
The charm of the place is its geographical location backed up by the forts and ruins that are epitomes of love! The Rani Roopmati pavilion and Baz-bahadur mahal - epitome of unsaid love story of the mughal prince and the Hindu dancer - there are local ballads around it still sung by the locals.
- View from Rani Roopmati pavilion and Baz Bahadur Palace!
In the month of July you can feel the mist flowing through the pavilion that is located on a hillock. A view from the same is worth dying for - surrounded by lush green plains with small poodles of water and the mist in the air, the clouds above, the breeze - overlooking the Baz-bahadur palace and the distant trail of Narmada river!

Hoshang Shah tomb!
Then there is the Hoshang Shah tomb - the only Marble structure surrounded by the sandstone structures - it is said that this architecture is the inspiration for Taj mahal - it is rightly said as this is older than Taj mahal but has a striking similarity with the Taj!
Jama Masjid!
The Jama masjid looked serene with the algae trodden domes.The best thing about the place is rain-harvesting - the rulers of this place had made hundreds of water bodies to store the rainwater that could sustain the city within and gives it the cooling and soothing effect all the time.
Jahaz Mahal
Hindola Mahal
The most famous building in Mandu is the Jahaz Mahal (though my personal favorite would be Rani Roopmati pavilion for its location)! It was named so by Jahangir when he was invited here as he felt as if on a ship with water (pools) on all the sides. This has influences of Afghani, Hindu and Jain architecture. As it is said, it was a harem for Ghiyas-ud-udin which was home to 15,000 maidens :)))) he even had female security staff ;-))) and you say females can't protect! Then there is Hindola mahal - named for its architecture that is designed like a swing/jhoola with slanting walls! There is Champa baoli - the source for the saunas and jacuzzis of that time - must say that was some luxury for the mughal ruler to be surrounded by his maidens in the hamams! The view from the backside lake to the Jahaz mahal is amazing with the underground well and hamams that would keep the rooms cool in summers and hot in winters (with hot water)!
Then there is the Ashrafi Mahal (don't know why it is named like this), which was later, the madarsa for the students but now just in ruins. Historically, the rulers of this place were Malwa and then Mughals but surprisingly, it has numerous Jain temples to its kitty of buildings.

There are other interesting structures like Hathi Mahal, Dai ka mahal, Darya Khan's tomb - all of them located by the water bodies and all of these standing tall for hundreds of years with some legend behind and growing old silently over the years. The echo point where you could hear your voice return back to you so shout your heart out!
Though the places are situated at little distance, you can hire a bike or cycle and must spend at least 4 days to cover these places at your pace! In all, this is a destination that you must visit in rains to remember the monsoon of lifetime!

Tea with 'Makkhi-Choos' - errrrr... 'Makkhi-juice'!

2009-06-10T10:48:00.007+05:30

Ever heard of a village called 'Isagarh' - it is in MP under district Guna (near Gwalior). If you have ever been to the remote villages rather small towns with narrow and dusty (very dusty) roads with small tea and bhajiya shops on the cross-roads - the state run buses just fly by or halt right there settling more dust on the sugar-soaked sweets kept at the road side stalls and the bhajiyas! People still unscathy of those which are considered as unhygienic by us, buying and eating ignoring the jeeps, indicas, scooters and the buses passing by!
Right there on chauraha of Isagarh is the bus stop and perhaps, the only place where you can find the so called good restaurants - at least our driver and guide to Isagarh thought so and they took us to one such place - though at the first glance we realized where we are but didn't show it for reasons a) simply we understand that the place was not meant for a heavy-duty decorated restaurants where even buying a samosa is expensive for the people b) didn't know where to go c) we were hungry d) this was the best - period!
Ok without looking at the surrounding much we sat down on a metal table - all the four legs were disbalanced - with metal bench and called the boy - he in his own style started rhyming the list of the food available - with paneer in everything! We settled for some vegetable, tarka daal and chappatis! The Kitchen was right there - we saw the tadka in our plate of daal and heating the vegetable - and the hot rotis from the tandoor. Well, witout commenting on the food let me move on to the story behind the title.
After finishing off with the food (with whatever I could), I decided to wait outside while they settle the bills - the next shop was a tea and sweet shop. After much thoughts and rather intrigued by the people who were having tea there, I decided to go for a cup of tea (just for the sake of it) - checked with all but surprisingly nobody agreed. I told the man behind the stove to make one for me without sugar (zero sugar). The man smiled and dipped his mug in a huge patila full of milk and added it to his tea making pan and it started boiling - just then I asked him that why didn't he add water - he grinned (showing his gutka infested teeth) and said 'ghar se hi milakar laate hain' - and just then I happened to notice his milk pan. There were numerous black particles floating and one of them was rather big - it was a 'fly' - a 'makkhi' - rather a dead makkhi. I said 'isko dhak kar kyun nahi rakhte aur yeh dekho makkhi' - he grinned again flashing his set of yellowish red teeth and plucked the makkhi out of the milk (like you pluck the flowers) and said 'lo nikal diya' - mind you, the tea was boiling - actually I was rather amused. I was in a dillemma - But I decided to go for the tea assuming - boiling kills it all!!! After all, there would have been so many people who would have already had the tea from the same milk! He can't throw the milk and I should not go back - thinking of all those and the fact that I wanted to try a 'makkhi-choos' rather 'makkhi-juice' chai to check out my immunity system - with all the juices of the dead makkhi that would have been dissolved in the milk (+water) used since morning! So I had it (though I was little skeptical) but I took it all without thinkin much and yeah I survived - at least I am still here after 6 months of having the tea!
And remember, I had asked him 'no sugar' - it was the sweetest of all the tea(s) I have had. I asked him why did he put sugar (he didn't as I was the witness to the entire process) - he grinned again and said 'patti mein hogi' ;-)))) - he was boiling the same tea leaves since morning in a literally sugar syrup (sugar + milk as people of this part has so much sugar in their tea that perhaps we can have in 5 cups) that even the tea leaves made the tea sweet - sweeter than the sweets I must say!

An appeal from a village called 'Pranpur' and a place called 'Chanderi'

2009-05-24T13:05:00.041+05:30

The weaver's village!

Amraee resort in Pranpur!
The last sun-set of 2008!

Well, this new year (2009) we thought of going to a place that is far from the maddening crowd of non-sense business where even smallest of towns come alive (yeah we have seen that as well) dancing till mid-night after a few pegs of sharaab to some punjabi gaane-shaane (without even understanding a line of it). After much thinking we froze down to this place from a Govt. run initiative under UNDP where they are promoting rural tourism. They setup the system, adopt a village, train the villagers and then hand it over to them to run it! Self-sustainence is the key if we really need our villages to grow! Some places even have a home-stay with the villagers - and a best way to peek into their lives and be thankful of what you have (at least)! And ABOVE ALL spend a couple of days at peace to yourself in the lap of rural earth - without the noise of cities, with no mobiles ringing! We have been to such place earlier as well that I'll cover later. Well, the village this time is called 'Pranpur' in the heart of Chanderi (Madhya Pradesh) about 500 km from Delhi -nearest railway station being Lalitpur (UP). We had read about this somewhere so did some research on stay, places to see around and to reach there. We booked a taxi from Lalitpur. When we reached there, realized we took a wise decision - nothing but a small town! Alright, so the taxi waala a dark-thin man in the typical shirt-pant and pointed shoes with gutka in his mouth was waiting with a hand-written paper read it as placard please - next to his TATA Indica - Sunita Chakraborty from Delhi! He spelt it all correct btw!

Well, the journey started - about 45 mins - roads were good and we entered the resort - Amraee - meaning Mango Orchards - right on the state highway! Yes, the location was little disappointing - as we thought - but the ambience was lovely with just us in the place (We later realized it was inaugurated on 28 Dec and we reached there on 31 Dec, so were the first guests!) Our first love was the room called Atari - a low height room with a terrace - which had a thatched roof, open window for air-flow - in all, a typical village room without any fancy at all and a shared bathroom. Well, we realized it was cold and not sure if we'd be able to sleep we opted for another room which had nice Chanderi fabric curtains that we decided later to order for home! This was closed but the bathroom was still outside :) But the next few days spent here were going to be worth spending every thought of planning this trip!

The land of weavers, the green fields, ever thought of walking through the green fields in the morning, having a nice 'home made poha' in the morning breakfast and a lunch and dinner of bundelkhandi thali where even the 'gujiya' is served fresh out of the karahi, the rooms wihout ACs and rightly named as 'Atari' for it was on the roof top with a chappar to give the effect and without any window to give the way to the breeze from the Mango trees - the rightly named 'Amraee' - the rural resort located in a village called 'Pranpur' - a village of weavers - who weave in day in day out the beautiful Chanderi dress material - light, exotic and gorgeous specially for the lovers of sarees - but get just a few hundrd rupees a month! Yes I bought worth 10k, of course, a few for my friends and families - a few just for the sake of the hardship gone into making it! The village resort - Amraee - is a government initiative to promote the craft through tourism and also providing self-sustainment to the village. The resort is purely run by the people hired from the village(s) and trained - even the cook is a local lad who would make sumptuous meals as requested. Vegetables are grown there - you can help them - choose your choice of vegetables - though there isn't much variety (no non-veg food is server neither is alcohol permitted inside the premises). The people running were nice and were very hopeful that they might get some recognition for the efforts thereby helping the village to grow!
Alright, so coming back to 'tourism' - well, the village is actually a part of Chanderi - the famous bundelkhand dynasty! Places of inteterst are the Chanderi fort, Jama masjid, the hundreds of year of old bawris (quazi ki bawri), the remotely situated battisi bawri (32 steps all corners) -

shahjadi ka rouza (epitome of a love story of a princess and sepoy), the jama masjid, the shiv mandir sorrounded by water - parameshwar taal, the Badal Mahal Gate,

the khooni darwarza, the Mahavir temple - amazingly located and carved out of the sandstone hills, the koshak mahal initially planned for seven floors and has architecture similar to Mandu, the bundelkhand museum - better than so many of better cities of the country, AND the ruins of ISAGARH temples - all those lovers of Kharjuraho - you got to visit this unknown and forgotten remnants lying in a village that none of us would have heard of perhaps - the temples here are older than khajuraho but built in the same 'shaily' (architectural style) - in fact see the photo

doesn't it look like the khajuraho temples in first view.
Believe me there was nobody except the caretaker who hardly knew anything about the temple - a luxury if you visit the touristy places - not much document is available on Isagarh!

Oh how could I forget the unforgettable evening at the crocodile point which was distant but worth visiting for the rock paitings and the silent river flowing - it was scary as there was nobody but us with the guide - the vehicle had broken down due to the terrains but we still moved ahead by foot for alleast 1 km leaving the car with the driver to figure out how would he be fixing it (he did it - was the champion!) - walking past the barren lands, the sarson ke khet and the rocky terrains - telling the difficult story of people staying there (though we didn't sight a single soul) - but the sun-set was amazing - wish could have camped there - but the guide warned us to leave the place as early before the dark - perhaps he was scared!
The last on our itenary was the famous temples of Deogarh -

this is around 40 kms from lalitpur station - a feast for the ones who love the old ruins starting from 3rd century A.D - the famous jain temple ruins - hundreds of statues of lord mahavira and other tirthankars in the middle of a forest (now a National park) by the side of Betwa river. The most spectacular view of Betwa can be seen here where it looks peaceful yet gets ferocious swallowing the villages around during rains!

The hidden carved sculptures - be careful if you really want to see this - you'll have climb down the rock stairs to see these (I didn't go there)!

The hydel pump station which supplies water to the city and the 8 km man-made canal! Worth mentioning is the 1000 yr old but one of the most precious, beautiful, well-preserved and amazingly carved dashavatar!

Lastly, the amazing but simple people of the resort who were naive in their approach of services to run it as a resort yet warm in their hospitality - the manager was nice, the guide was an ambitious young lad trying to take money out of you, the cook was a local lad making just the ghar ka khana, Pragya the local girl who was working with the NGO to help the weavers sell their product - they all had hopes in their eyes and questions for us - will you visit again - do you think people would come here - it must be visited not for the luxury or a oh-so pampering vacation, - but for the people, for the dying art, for the thousand year old heritage (more for the rock paintings) and for the hope of a village that must survive - if anyone of you could visit the place I would believe my travel and writing the story has been worthwhile - it's an appeal to all travellers who would want to spend some time far from the freaking city life, away from the gizmos - under the shades of mango trees, walking through the farms, talking to the villagers, taking a visit to the long-lost history and giving them a hope - after all, this is all that they have in their difficult lives. There are MP Tourism hotels as well but my take will be the Amraee resort but do not expect it to be the fanciful place. Please do visit and am sure you won't be disappointed!

God's own country via God's own route...

2009-05-09T00:00:00.003+05:30

Cochin - Munnar -Thekkaddi - Allepey - Trivandrum - Kovalam - Kanyakumari

Well, the next destination was Cochin - we took an overnight train from Goa - we had planned the trip in such a way that we travel the nights and see the place during the day - we were travelling like people who eat for they don't know when is the next they would get food. Ok, Cochin or Ernaculum was hot and humid so much, so that Surender will all of his 95KG stature was always drenched with his own sweat all the time. We checked in a hotel - we had got the list and planned for our stay before hand - and then went for a boat ride into the sea. And for dinner, Surender had already started missing 'Roti' so after we realized we cannot have 'prawn fried in Coconut oil' and Surender cannot have everything in coconut gravy - we decided to check out the 'Taj cochin' and how upfront did Surender ask the 'Guard' at the gate - 'bhai roti milegi' - once he confirmed they serve 'roti' - we had our dinner with some live orchestra playing in the background - naah wasn't a piano or saxophone player - but 4 men sitting in traditional dhotis playing the violin, mrudangam and dholak - yeah yeah it was fun after all we had rotis! Little did we realize (we saw the pictures later) that Taj Cochin is located at one of the most beautiful locations - overlooking the sea~~~ Next day we took a trip to Jew Island, the old Church and the famous Chinese Fishing nets. The next day we took a taxi to Munnar. The drive is one of the most memorable one - and Surender slept throughout. Well, Munnar at that time wasn't very popular so there weren't many people around, we had an amazing time. A small hill station with Tea estates - cool, breezy and GREEN!!! Here we checked in a hotel next to a 'nullah' with a view of the tea gardens. In Munnar, you could travel in taxi or Auto - we decided to take the later one - reason, we met this interesting guy - the auto rickshaw driver who promised to take us to the places where the taxis don't go. He said 9 a.m (or was it 8 am) next morning! We were ready after a good south indian breakfast and waited for him - he was 15 mins late - but he arrived in his khaki uniform, with three lines of chandan on his forehead, his hair all oiled and well combed and the thin moushtaches... he first said sorry for being late and then discussed the travel itenaries for the next 2 days - with a promise of taking us to places where good and local south indian thali are available. Then started the conversation - he asked me if we were from Delhi - I looked at him curious to know what made him guess so - he pointed to the red chuda - saying Delhi wala pehenta hai... he was quite interesting with his bragging of the adventures he had - how he told about the story of a couple - where the man would kiss a wife when his auto lost control - woh usko chummaah diya - and how he saved his wife. Then he clicked our photos making us pose for him - the typical Tamil filmy shtyle - 'mein bahut honeymoon couple ghumaya'. And then I asked him 'what is your name' - he smiled and I said what happened - he said why do people ask my name and then laugh - I said I won't - after much coaxing I managed to convince him that I won't - and he told me and I started laughing - his name was 'Prithvi Raj Singh Chauhan' -
....... To be continued...

Fun at Goa...

2009-05-08T23:22:00.002+05:30

Well, not sure of where to go for our honeymoon - we never wanted to be the manali or shimla at the first place - we kept looking for options 8 years back. How the man had asked his girl (then) - I think I like travelling - do you like to travel? - The girl had said - oh yeah very much!!! Never did he realize that the wife (later) doesn't only like but is ready to pack the bag - any day! Oh, how much he regrets for asking this question for he could never rest from there on... it has always been packing n unpacking.

Anyways, the wife had heard about Goa and Kerela - supposedly beautiful - but not many people had visited as traveller (not 8 yrs back - at least Kerela) - Ah, the love for the wife and he decided for a long trip (1st March to 17th March 2001) from Goa to KanyaKumari via Kerela :-) He had told the wife, all for you but you fall sick a single day and we are back - that is another story that the husband wasted one precious day when we could have covered some place because he fell sick - oh how I regret of not leaving him there and coming back :-0

The modes were train, plane and taxi or as available. We started in Mumbai Rajdhani and took a 40 min flight from Mumbai to Goa and both were awe-struck the moment they landed there... In Goa, Fun is in the air - I have been there repeatedly but the feeling is always the same - total fun and chill out ... Anyways we landed up in the VVIP suits of a Sarkari guest house (thanks to the pa-in-law) which was nice and located at a place far from the popular beaches but at a quiet stretch - near Bambolim beach to be precise (btw the Bambolim resort was under construction then). We chose local transport as our mode of commuting here - two wheelers are quite popular but Surender wasn't very keen as he didn't want to go too adventurous on the first trip two-gether. So we landed up there with a nice caretaker who could cook on request - nice and mild home cooked food. We decided to discover on own own, took details from the cook and waited at the deserted bus stop for a bus to Dona Paula and Majorda beach. The first day and after a nice meal of Masala prawn and rice we decided to do some water scooter ride at Dona Paula - I wasn't really scared but Surender was after a couple of beer and he shouted as you do in schools - Hey Sunita, don't be scared (he was as he had taken the ride first) buck up hold on tight and don't be scared - he was shouting and waving and more scared than me... I found it kinda funny - what could just a couple of beer do :))) Oh yes, and how could I forget the 'Bihari' (apologies) lad whom we had asked to click a photo and he said 'Shure' and then he said 'ready' and 'yees, laugh pleeje' and along with pushing the shutter-bug button he too bent his knees and you know what could have happened to the photo... so everytime we click a photo - we say 'laugh pleeje' or something else that I'd cover in Darjeeling trip... Alright, the next 4 days were full of fun when we travelled in the local buses to reach different beaches, temples, churches and museum which houses Asia's longest sculpted Mira bai statue laid on floor. The only draw back, the buses stop plying from 8 pm onwards so if you are stuck and lucky to get an auto then you are at their mercy so they could charge any amount. But as I said in Goa 'Fun is in the air' - you turn insane when you are there... running, eating, drinking on the beaches... the sea always call you - for me, don't ask me to come out of water - who really cares for the tan. After 4 days of fun it was time to move on so we decided to take a tour guide to some places that we couldn't cover and the driver - an AIR employee - who would just mark his attendance and then drive a taxi - took us around and then dropped us at the Margao Railway station for a train to Cochin... our next destination...

Uncover the journey...

2009-05-08T10:03:00.001+05:30

I have been thinking of doing 'this' - blogging - for some time now but have always been procrastinating it thinking 'it' - blogging - a waste of time and perhaps too kiddish to get into (people, I accept I am old). However, friends have often been asking me to start doing the same - to create a post or a travelogue - to put my travel notes - and to be honest, of late, my craving to do so had increased - for we are living in such a beautiful country, why not let them know - so here I am, finally, to begin uncover the journey so far in a place called 'Indiaah' - the land much under-estimated by the urban, metropolitan, young Indian clan. And more so, to curb my hunger to express and share my memories and experiences from the places that I have visited within our country! So the journey begins...

It would mostly be with 2 people - Sunita and Surender - who have been travelling two-gether (well almost all of them) since 2001 and have still seen not so many places but whatever 'covered' are all within the lovely and vibrant apna desh - and have left every visit with a promise of returning back and a new list of places around the place just seen - blame it on the land that's so vast that it would take more than a life time to even just skim through. The journey would cover the touristy and not so touristy places from Leh to Kanyakumari and from Darjeeling to Rann of Kuchch - yes, these places included :-) (you'll find lot of smilies ":-)" in there as I love this expression the most)

The first two-gether travel was way back in Mar 2001 just after they had taken their vows :-) The post would begin from there only - from the days when we had the traditional cameras and we were, oh not so net savvy! (neither are we now) - so no documented supplements are available but I would try to dig down my brain cells to bring out the details and the story behind... keep reading but mind you - the journey would be long for I don't really believe in short-cuts ;-)... so please don't shy to get dropped off if you get bored in between...