Deep's Travelogue

Kolkata Kaleidoscope : St. Teresa's Church

2012-01-04T02:01:00.000-08:00

I first came to know of the existence of this church when I was invited to a wedding reception of one of my ex-colleagues. I was a bit surprised at first since he was a Hindu and it was a reception party and not the wedding itself but when I reached there I realized that the backyard of the church has been rented out for the wedding reception. The church building in itself looked interesting so I came back after a few days to visit the church along with Saibal, a friend of mine (who was also invited to that wedding reception party).

It is a catholic church, formally called St. Teresa of Avila Church, built in the late 19^th century and located on the AJC Bose Road near Moulali. There is very little information that I could gather on this particular church apart from the fact that it was founded between 1895-97 and was blessed by Monsignor Goethals. The church was renovated about a hundred years later and was blessed then by Mother Teresa. The church was named after St. Teresa of Anvil, the prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint and Carmelite nun of the 16^th century.

The beautiful red building of the church has an imposing structure and the interesting fact is that many of the instructions were written in Bengali indicating that it must be a popular parish amongst the Bengali speaking Anglo-Indian society. The church also contains a statue of Mother Teresa.

Kolkata Kaleidoscope : Metcalfe Hall

2012-01-02T22:10:00.000-08:00

During one of my walks in the Dalhousie area, the heart of the Kolkata's business centre, I came across the Metcalfe Hall at the juncture of Strand Road and Hare Street. It was built between 1840-44, was designed by the city magistrate C.K. Robinson and was named after Sir Charles Metcalfe, who officiated as the Governor General in 1835-36 during the interval of the departure of Lord Bentinck and arrival of Lord Auckland, in honour of his efforts towards a free press. The architectural showpiece is said to be inspired by the Tower of Winds in Athens. Thirty lofty Corinthian columns supporting the massive entablature gives it a classical Greek look.

The Imperial Library was inaugurated here by Lord Curzon in 1903 and later on it evolved to National Library and shifted to Belvedre.

On the eastern side is a huge portico with wide stairs leading to the hall. The building has been renovated recently by the Archaeological Survey of India and is being prepared to use it as a museum, supplementing the Indian Museum at Chowringhee. When I visited some terracotta tablets and brick samples were exhibited but renovation was still going on in the interiors.

Kolkata Kaleidoscope : Portuguese Church

2011-12-30T00:32:00.000-08:00

Since this is Christmas time, I decided to share with you the experience of my visit to one of the old churches of Kolkata. The Portuguese Church located at the Portuguese Church Street near Dalhousie Square was set up as early as 1747. The best way to reach the church is to walk a few paces northwards along Brabourne Road behind St. Ardrew's Church (which is just on the right side of Writers' Building).

However, I came across the place from an altogether different side. Actually, I along with my friend Saibal went to visit the Armenian Church but could not locate it although we spent quite some time roaming around the Armenian Street. No body seemed to have any knowledge of the church, though I was sure it was somewhere in the vicinity. One shopkeeper showed me a narrow street to follow and while he gave us direction I was confident with his conviction that the street would lead us to the church. But alas it was an altogether different church that we landed up at. Having said that we were not disappointed with this church, formally known as the Cathedral of the Holy Rosary but commonly referred to as the Portuguese Church.

When we entered the premises we found a good many car parked in the compound which was something odd given the abandoned status of most of the churches in Kolkata. We were thinking of whether it was any special day but given the fact that it was a Saturday, it would not have been possibly the day of the weekly mass. Soon however we realized that the church compound was being used as a parking space and even there were a couple of hawkers. A homeless person was sound asleep at the main door of the church building and the door was closed to our dismay.

Thankfully one of the doors on the side was ajar and we could sneak into the church. There was no one inside and we had a brief tour of the church of our own. The striking feature of the church is its colourfulness. Most of the other churches that I have visited before are painted in dull white but not this one. The chapel at the centre hosts a wooden statue of Virgin Mary and on either side of it, round stained glass windows adorned the walls. There were many more colourful wooden statues all over the church and wooden panels depicting the various stages of the passion of the Christ decorate the walls.

All in all it was a good experience. We were very much impressed with the church. Just hope it becomes more approachable to the public in general, not only the devout but also people who like to visit the place as a historical monument and pay a tribute to its elegance.

Killer Kinnaur - Chitkul

2011-11-07T00:18:00.000-08:00

On the 26^th of May, we left Kalpa at 8:30 in the morning and took the same road back up to Karcham. From there we turned left towards Sangla. There was a tunnel just beyond the small bridge that we were crossing and initially we were all excited to drive through the tunnel. However, when we reached there we saw that it was still under construction and we took the road around the tunnel. As usual, the road was in pretty bad shape. Actually from a distance I could not see any road at all. So when our driver was telling us that we were not going to take the tunnel, I was confused since I did not notice any road after the bridge except the tunnel way.

Our car stopped at a roadside temple for a couple of minutes which is probably considered auspicious by the local drivers. The priest came and offered us some prasada and prayed for our wellbeing and safety. We took our tea break in the market area of the town of Sangla. The town is quite a big one in the neighbourhood and most of the tourists stay at this place only and go for sightseeing elsewhere. However, on recommendation of some of my friends, I had booked our accommodation in Chitkul which is a small village with a few lodging options.

We filled ourselves with pakoras and sweets along with desi chai in a small but clean tea shop. Whatever we had eaten in the breakfast had already been digested and we anticipated having a late lunch at Chitkul as there was still some distance to cover. The view of the Baspa river and the mountain range was enchanting from Baspa. It lifted our spirits all the more thinking about what we would have in store at Chitkul.

The view on the road from Sangla to Chitkul was awesome. And although the road was narrow, it was in a relatively good condition. And there was hardly any traffic on the route. I was sitting in the front beside the driver and tried hard to capture the surroundings with my lenses. The view was changing at some times ranging from lush green trees on the mountains to dry and barren places with boulders and stones lying all around. The temperature was also a pleasant one. In fact I kept my windows down and caught a little cold. On the way we noticed some nature camps which provide tourist accommodation. Our hotel was however further up.

Initially, we had booked Hotel Shahenshah which is owned by the same person, Sandeep Karar, who runs the hotel Rakpa Regency at Kalpa. Since there was a large tourist group (whom we noticed at Kalpa itself), he requested us to stay at Panchali Resort, which is also owned by him. Panchali Resort is the last hotel at the end of the motorable road. However, what we heard over there is that the road would be extended a further 25 Kms. So, new hotels would crop up I guess closer to the mountain range. The hotel had an exquisite view of the mountains. Once we opened the windows of our room, there was nothing between the mountain and us. However, the cleanliness and service of the hotel was not good. Also, food options were limited and there was a huge delay between the time we ordered and we got our food. Perhaps they were also running short of staff.

After having lunch and a little rest, we went to the riverbed in the late evening. The clear blue water of the Baspa river surrounded by the mountains and the snow covered peaks at stone throwing distance formed a breathtaking view. In fact back at the hotel, people told us that the place was not far from the Tibet border, Chitkul being the last village. The river water was very cold and it had a good current too. The riverbed was studded with small pebbles and large stones and we rested for a while on those stones taking in the superlative beauty of the place. There was a school nearby. We envied the location but at the same time pitied for the students who have to come so far away every day.

When it was time to return, I proposed to take a different route which I noticed further up. Only Bappa agreed to accompany me in this adventurous detour. Now the only question was how to go up and be on that path. We started to follow the way what seemed to go up and meet our target path but after some time we were kind of lost and doubted whether it was the right way. After some time we met a local man with a cow. He assured us that we were on the right track and when we enquired whether the path was tough, he commented that even his cow could use that comfortably. Our confidence was restored and we continued our walk but the path was becoming all the more difficult with little waterfalls in between and it was tough to breathe as well. Anyway I have a breathing problem and the high altitude was taking its toll. I was feeling sorry for Bappa. Though he has healthier than me, but he was also feeling exhausted and he had only agreed to come with me so that I am not alone. We stopped for a while and contemplated whether we should go back. When we looked back we did not find any one of the team so they must have returned to the hotel already. Just then we noticed two young girls coming down. They were not locals but tourists. They were confused whether they could go down to the river following that route. We told them we have followed that route from the riverbed itself so they could continue walking down. And they assured us that we would find the way back to the hotel if we continue moving up. We were encouraged that if they could do it so could we and started walking upwards. But after some more time we were again confused as we could not find any way further. We stopped for a while to catch some air as we were breathing heavily by then. Ultimately we found our way back to the hotel amidst the cultivation land which was being prepared for step farming. On our way back we met some military personnel from Indo-Tibet Border Force, who were returning to their check posts at the Tibet border.

When we finally reached the hotel we found the other members of our group worried and anxious as a long time had passed and the fact that they could not contact us over our cell phones (there was no mobile tower) made them more tensed. They were a little bit comforted they were told by those two girls that they had met us some time before. We found Mukherjeekaku had returned to his room much earlier as he was not feeling well. Even Chhotomasi was having some breathing problems. I on my part did not disclose that I experienced some spasms myself and went to my room to take rest. During night I was running a mild temperature and Chhotomasi rebuked me for my bravado. I was disheartened and agonized by the fact that my body did not respond positively to the small trek and was worried about how would I go to places which involve fair bit of walking in hilly terrain.

The next day was the last of our sojourn in the Himalayas. We took our way back to Kalpa from where we boarded the return train, halting at Narkanda in between for the night. It was time to bid goodbye to the picturesque Kinnaur and return the routine chores of city life.

Killer Kinnaur - Kalpa

2011-11-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

We left for Kalpa on the 24^th of May after having an early lunch at Sarahan. The road looked dangerously appealing being curved out of the mountain walls, at times with hanging cliffs over head. The beautiful Baspa river was flowing beside the road on the other side but the water was still muddy. After some time however, the road condition deteriorated considerably and our bodies became stiff and pained absorbing the shocks. I have read before, in trip reports of some travel forums that the road between Wangtoo and Karcham was particularly bad. However, the road after Karcham did not provide us any relief either. In fact it was worse; the road was broken at many places due to landslides and too narrow for comfort.

Major construction was going on at Karcham where a major dam is located and probably the cement and the dust made the water of river Baspa muddy, since after Karcham the water was blue and clear. The road for Sangla took off on the right and we continued straight ahead towards Kalpa. At places, the road was so narrow to commute that long queues of cars resulted. A few times our car came so tantalizing close to the edge of the road that some of us cried aloud cautioning the driver. Although our driver had a rock steady hand, he too became tensed a couple of times and requested us not to panic. In fact, afterwards, he admitted that on those occasions he was a bit nervous as well.

When we reached Reckong Peo, the district head quarters of Kinnaur district, we knew we were not too far from our destination. After driving further up for some more time when we finally reached Kalpa, it was 5 o’clock in the evening. We had booked Hotel Rakpa Regency in advance and were delighted with the view it offered. A friend who had earlier stayed at the hotel mentioned that Room 406 has the best view and Runa and Abhishek had the good opportunity to occupy that room. However, I think the corner room that I stayed at had an even better view of Kinnaur Kailash. Surprisingly, the owner of the hotel, Sandeep Karar, is a Bengali from Howrah. Most of the staff, except the manager, was Bengali as well.

Kalpa is known for its golden apple orchards and beside our hotel itself there were a whole lot of apple trees but unfortunately it was not the time for apple harvesting.

After evening tea, I went for a leisurely stroll along the deserted road. Suddenly I heard a strange hymning sound followed by some drum beats. It was near the Hotel Kinnaur Villa. I was trying to figure out the origin of the sound and after some time realized that it is coming from a small hut up in the hills. It was quite far away and hidden behind the trees, so at first I could not locate it. Actually, it seemed some people were dancing to the mystic tune in some ethnic dress. Probably it was some sort of ceremony. I noticed some stone steps going upwards from the road and an idea crossed my mind that I might try to go nearer to the place to comprehend what it was all about. But the steepness of the steps was disturbing me and I found no one in the vicinity to ask how far the path leads up to. Meanwhile, it started drizzling and suddenly the temperature dropped considerably. I decided it would be wise to return to the hotel and not get wet since I am susceptive to cold. Back in the hotel, I found my folks were getting apprehensive about my delay and the fact that they could not reach me over my cell phone (there was no tower) made them tensed.

The next day, we woke up early but there was no spectacle of sunrise to speak about. It was cloudy to begin with and the sun abruptly came out from behind the mountain range. However, as the day progressed, the sun shone brightly and apart from Kinnaur Kailas, Parvati and Shivling peaks were clearly visible. The Kinnaur Kailash peak appeared so close that it seemed as if we could just reach out our hands and touch it. Chhotomasi mentioned that its shape is similar to Mt. Kailash near Manas Sarovar and hence the name. While we were zooming in our lenses to take closer snaps, we observed a black spot in the white snow that covered the mountain range and it changed position a few times. It seemed larger than to be possibly any bird and the hotel staff told us it was still not the time of the year when trekkers go around. So, it remained a mystery to us. Chhotomasi jokingly declared that it must be some Yeti then.

At breakfast we noticed a really large tourist group coming all the way from Bengal and there was pandemonium all around. The manager of the group was shouting all kinds of directives to his own staff who were running around doing all sorts of errands. After breakfast, we went to visit the nearby Rodhi village. From a local shop there we bought some walnuts at really cheap price. The view of the other peaks (which were out of sight from our hotel) from that place was also fascinating. So, we were dumbfounded when some tourists were complaining about the place arguing that there is nothing to see. Now, what else does one need; one can behold the majestic Himalayas all around and still people grumble!

A short cut path from the village led us to the monastery we noticed from the balcony back at our hotel. The actual village of Kalpa is probably located around here. We noticed many local small huts but surprisingly most of them were under lock and key. Not sure if that was because the people had gone to work or they had moved to some other place. The monastery was small and nice and comes with the traditional Buddhist prayer rollers.

In close proximity to the monastery, resides a Durga temple. It had some intricate woodwork and it was queer to see those wooden dragons decorating a Hindu temple. The temple was unfortunately closed and we could not see the deity. However, back at the hotel, I noticed a picture, which was some amateurish replica of an old and celebrated picture, illustrating the temple and the original painting was done more that hundred years ago.

The weather changed drastically in the afternoon and there was a heavy downpour restricting us to the interiors of our respective rooms. Even in the evening, when the rain stopped, it was still very cloudy and the wind was chilly. Since we could not go out for a walk, I spent some time in the terrace but soon it became so cold that I had to return to the warmth of my room. From the balcony, I could see a thick layer of cloud down below where the monastery was located and soon the cloud engulfed the entire hamlet.

The rest of the night was uneventful except for the drop in the temperature. I was literally shivering when we went to take dinner in the ground floor. The fact that I was not carrying any heavy woollens was upsetting as my jacket was not giving me much comfort. One of the Bengali staff who is from the Burdwan district told us that the hotel is entirely covered with snow in the winters and remains closed from the end of November until March, and when they come back in March they have to clean the thick layers of snow and how painstaking a job that is. Luckily the next morning the sun was shining bright and after having breakfast we started our journey to Chitkul.

Killer Kinnaur - Sarahan

2011-10-18T23:43:00.000-07:00

After the initial stopover at Shimla, our real tour started on 23^rd May as we got ready to drive to Sarahan. We had booked a tempo-traveller with 12 seats from Shimla for the rest of the journey back in Kolkata itself via Diamond Tours and Travels. However, the one that reported to us had its back seats facing sideways and the worn out tyres looked ominous for the dreadful roads which awaited us. After an animated argument, it was finally changed but only after intervention of the original tour operator. Since this furore continued for almost an hour, our journey also started late. The newer tempo-traveller was in excellent state and the driver was also a good one. The credit goes to Runa and Chhotomasi for doing all the hard talk and ensuring us a comfortable journey.

The road until Narkanda was in an appalling state but the view outside alleviated all discomforts. After Kufri we first noticed the snow capped mountain peaks. And there after the pine and fir trees were keeping us company. We had a meagre lunch at a roadside eatery after Narkanda and in the afternoon reached Rampur. The stretch of road between Narkanda and Rampur was first-rate.

Rampur (135 Km from Shimla on NH 22) was once the capital city of the princely state of Bushahr and is now one of the biggest commercial towns of Himachal Pradesh. We stopped for a while to visit the Padam Palace which was located amidst the hustle-bustle of a busy market area. Only Bappa, Abhishek, Chhotomasi and I ventured out to visit the palace and the rest preferred to wait in the car but we were not disappointed. The near century old palace was built by Padam Singh and the large edifice made of stone and wood with a sprawling lawn is a place worth visiting. The second floor of the two storied building has intricate woodwork with floral designs and the front door is beautifully designed with glass fittings. Unfortunately one cannot go inside the palace as it remains locked. Later we came to know that since the palace is still a private residence of Virbhadra Singh, the erstwhile King and presently a cabinet minister of the central government, entry is subject to permission only. And a normal tourist cannot obtain permission I guess since there was no office in the vicinity.

After Rampur, we had the Sutlej flowing by our side for the rest of the journey but we were puzzled that unlike rivers in the mountain, it was muddy. Probably it was due to the work going on for a hydel power project that was coming up. When we reached Sarahan finally, it was around six in the evening. After checking into the hotel, we made a brief visit to the Bhimakali Temple which just beside the hotel. However, I had to wait in the courtyard and could not enter the abode of the deity as I was carrying many leather items and camera and did not have a headgear. On the way back to the hotel I bought a Kullu cap and Chhotomasi bought some designer jackets as gift items.

The HPTDC hotel, Hotel Shrikhand, was located in an excellent position with exquisite view. At first we thought staying at the guest house inside the Bhimakali Temple itself. I had read in some fellow traveller’s trip report that they have the best view in Sarahan and comes at a cheap price as well. But it was already booked when we inquired by calling a Rampur number. While waiting in the courtyard I made a sneak peek into what seemed to be the temple guest house. The arrangements looked basic and our hotel did not seem to provide any less view of the mountain peaks, but I am not absolutely sure on that. Trehan Guest House was our next choice and we even booked rooms in that hotel. But then Runa’s friend who visited the place last year and stayed at Trehan’s gave us some very negative feedback of the place and hence we cancelled that booking and booked the tourism hotel. Luckily the tour operator forgot to charge us any cancellation cost.

The next day the alarm went off at five o’clock in the morning. Although we could not behold sun rise as such but the golden orange rays of the morning sun burning down the snow capped peaks and watching the mountain ranges changing their colour from mystery blue to milky white was mesmerising. Shrikhand and Kartikeya are the eminent peaks that are visible from here.

When the sun was out properly we visited the Bhimakali Temple again. This time round I was only carrying the camera which I deposited before entering the main temple building. The newly bought Kullu cap served as a perfect headgear. The goddess Bhimakali is consecrated at the top floor of the three storied building and one has to watch one’s head while moving up and down the narrow stair cases.

The temple is dedicated to the presiding mother goddess Bhimakali of the former princely state of Bushahr and the town of Sarahan which was earlier named as Shonitpur was the capital city of this former princely state before it was moved to Rampur. According to a legend the temple is associated with the Daksha-Yagna incident when the ear of Sati fell at this place and became a place of worship. It is accordingly considered as one of the 51 Hindu peeths.

The temple built with stone and wood manifests conspicuous woodwork with carved designs. That apart the mere location the temple itself amidst the mountains is fascinatingly magnificent and perhaps has no parallel.

After breakfast, we went to a view point and while others returned after some rampant photo sessions, I stayed back to take some snaps of the temple from this side. The temple looks all the more beautiful from here as the mountain ranges form the backdrop and one can have the full view of the temple. To have a better view, I took off the road and entered a private property which looked dilapidated and abandoned. Though there was a main gate locked down, one could easily sneak through by a side gate which was open. I was getting curious to explore more but then it was getting late and I was also worried that I might be charged of trespassing.

After an early lunch it was time to say good bye to Sarahan and start for Kalpa. The food was wonderful which adds to the terrific location of Hotel Shrikhand.

According to a legend, it was believed that the country of Kinnaur was the Kailash mentioned in Puranas, the abode of Shiva. In fact Lord Shiva disguised himself as Kirata for some time at this place. The town of Sarahan, once the capital city Shonitpur, is considered the gateway of Kinnaur and we were delighted to be on our way to behold the Kinnar Kailash.

Killer Kinnaur - The Trip Begins at Shimla

2011-09-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

People of the plains, during summer, incline to escape from the heat to the pleasant cool shadows of the hills. This year we thought of visiting the Himachal but decided to avoid the overtly touristy circuits and were looking for newer and relatively peaceful destinations. Taking into consideration the holidays and available vacations of all the people concerned, we zeroed in on the Kinnaur belt. This time round our group was also a large one comprising 10 persons and we had a tough time booking accommodation and transportation. Thanks to Runa and Chhotomasi for taking all the trouble.

In the evening of 20^th May, we boarded the Howrah-Kalka Mail and reached Kalka on 22^nd at 4:45 AM. In the rush of getting off hurriedly we left behind in the train the box of sweets we carried specially, from Kolkata, and we lamented for the misfortune time and again for the rest of the tour. I had handed over the box after boarding the train so I was trying to evade responsibilityJ. The fact that our seats changed after Delhi was also a reason for the misplacement. I would like to share a trick to fellow travellers from Kolkata at this juncture. There are very few tickets available on the Kalka Mail; only 10 AC2 seats to be precise. So one can book from Kolkata to Delhi and then Delhi to Kalka on the same train and the tickets from Delhi are available on the same day itself.

From Kalka, we had to arrange for transportation since we did not pre-book any car. Actually at first we thought of travelling in the narrow gauge toy train to Shimla but did not get any ticket. So, finally, we set off to Shimla in two cars, one Innova and one Indica. It cost us a total of Rs. 3300. On the way we had our breakfast with tea and aloo-parantha at a roadside dhaba.

When we reached Hotel Oceen in Shimla, we had to wait for a little while since our rooms were not yet prepared. However, the staff co-operated with us and ensured that our wait was not a long one. The room was not that great but we already knew that before and anyway we would only stay for one day and start for Kinnaur the following morning. After having breakfast and freshening up, we decided to have a tour of the city. Most of us had visited Shimla before barring Runa, Abhishek and Rishi. Again, we booked two cars to move around the city.

Shimla, at an altitude of 2205 metres, was the summer capital of British India and still has a colonial nostalgia. It has been a popular hill station for long and over the years the number of tourists visiting the city has only increased. Also, it is now the capital city of Himachal Pradesh; so there are many office buildings as well.

At first, we went to the Sankat Mochan Temple, dedicated to Lord Hanuman. There were some other temples as well in the complex dedicated to Rama, Shiva and Ganesha. The calm and peaceful surroundings must facilitate meditation of the devout. From the terrace at the back side of the temple, one can have a lovely view of the lush green hills. I remembered taking snaps at that place during my earlier visit, about 10 years before. The laddoos distributed as prasada were delicious and I went back again to have some more of it. Nearly 60 years ago, Baba Neeb Karori Ji Maharaj spent a few days at this beautiful place and his desire of a temple to be built at the place was materialized a few years later. The story and the pictures of the Baba reminded me of another temple near Ranikhet which I visited last year. It was also built by the devotees of the same Baba.

The next place to visit was the erstwhile Viceregal Lodge which has been now converted into Indian Institute of Advanced Study. The majestic heritage building was constructed in 1888 as the residence of Lord Dufferin, the then British Viceroy to India and had been a witness of many historical events and decisions that changed the geography and fate of the sub-continent. Located on the Observatory Hill, this sprawling Scottish baronial building was designed by an architect of the then public works department, Henry Irwin. The south facing entrance portico leads the visitors to the reception hall. Facing the main entrance is a grand fireplace which must have been renovated later on since it comprises the national emblem of India curved in wood and has a large photograph of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan on the top of it.

The gallery was decorated with an exquisite teak panelling and the guide told us that in case of any fire, the wax coat of the woodwork melts and water sprinkles by itself.

To the left, is located the erstwhile ball room and dining room, with gorgeous Belgian chandeliers, which has been now converted into a library containing more than one hundred thousand books. We were told that the dining room once boasted of an enormous dining table with a capacity to seat 70 guests at a time, but the table has been relocated to the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

Way back in 1888, this Lodge had electric light and the guide showed us the German switches which are still operational. Beside the reception hall, there was a closed room where the agreement on transfer of power and partition of India took place. It has been now converted into a conference room and since some conference was under way, we could not visit the room.

However, we did visit another room which was probably used as an antechamber where leaders used to wait before discussions and negotiations. A round table joined at the middle, perhaps metaphorically signifying the partition, adorns the room. The room also comprises some lovely portraits including those of Lady Elgin and Lady Minto and the ceiling is decorated with intricate wood carvings.

The Billiard Room, next to it has been converted into a photo gallery with a piano at one end and the huge presidential chair at the other. A 185 year old clock, made in Holland, is displayed in this room and it is still functional. It needs to be wound up once in a week and the peculiar thing about it is that it shows the moon position in the sky along with time and date.

It was astounding to know that a staff of 800, including 40 gardeners, were employed here at one time. The Lodge remained the summer retreat of the President of India after Independence until it was handed over to the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in 1965. It is said that Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the then President and a leading philosopher and writer himself, was instrumental to this effect.

Bappa had been saying from the beginning that he had visited the Viceregal Lodge during his previous vacation in Shimla. But it turned out that the place he was actually referring to was the place near Kufri where the Shimla agreement was signed between India and Pakistan in 1972. So, it was a pleasant surprise for him as well.

While we were waiting for our cars, after the guided tour of the Viceregal Lodge and after roaming around the lush green lawn and well maintained garden for a while, we sneaked into the Court Gallery which comprised an exhibition of photographs. It was just round the corner beside the erstwhile fire station which has now been converted into a cafe and souvenir shop. There was also a swimming pool located there. Beyond that was out of reach for the tourists.

When we reached the Mall, the first thing we visited was the Christ Church. It is reputed to be the first church of Shimla and the second oldest church in northern India. It was designed by Colonel J.T. Boileau who worked for PWD. The corner stone was laid in 1844 but it was consecrated only after 1857. The clock was donated by Colonel Dumbleton in 1860 and the porch was added in 1873. The simple but elegant yellow structure made of stone and brick in lime mortar can be seen from miles away and is a popular tourist destination in Shimla. The interior is quiet and peaceful and the stained glass windows, depicting the virtues of Faith, Charity, Hope, Fortitude, Patience and Humility, are attractive. However, when we were coming out we noticed some ruckus, resulting from someone’s pair of shoes being stolen, which was contradictory to the usual calm. I was astonished in the first place about the prerequisite of removing one’s pair of shoes before entering the church, as I do not think there is any such obligation in Christianity.

The walk along the Mall road accentuates the one-time colonial presence of the British in Shimla. Even the day to day office buildings such as the municipal office or the mayor’s office are reminiscent of the bygone era. People strolled around leisurely while some enjoyed a pony ride. Bappa treated all of us with ice cream and after a while in the middle of some confusion we got isolated in small groups and with mobile network not working for some, it was some time before we could all reunite.

The day being a Sunday, many of the shops were closed. However, we did shopping to our heart’s content in the remaining shops which were open. While some of us bought gift items, others procured woollen pullovers under the perception that they are cheaper in the hills.

In the middle of the whirlwind shopping, we made some time for lunch at a Punjabi restaurant which Bappa and Poulomi had visited during their earlier visit to Shimla.

After a sumptuous lunch and a tiresome shopping spell around the Mall, we started off towards the famous Shimla Kalibari with heavy legs and the steep road was making it tougher for us. The serene temple was built in 1845 and is dedicated to Goddess Kali who is also known as Shyamala. It is believed that the city of Shimla derived its name from the name of Goddess Shyamala. It was nice to see notices written in Bengali so far away in the hills and even the hawkers outside the temple understood Bengali. Perhaps Kali being a popular goddess in Bengal has its effect on the Bangaliwana of the temple. We were told that the temple was earlier located in the Jakhu hills but was shifted by the British to this place.

Evening was uneventful as we did not go out and took rest in the hotel punctuated at times with tea, pakoras and adda. The actual tour of the Kinnaur circuit would begin from the next day after the initial stopover in Shimla and we were all excited and were engrossed discussing the minute details and intricacies of the planning.

Tranquil Tripura

2011-09-08T11:31:00.000-07:00

Independence Day holiday gifted us a long weekend and my friends and I planned a short trip to unwind ourselves. At first we thought of north Bengal and Sikkim but later relocated our plans to Tripura anticipating rains would ruin our holiday in the hills. Air tickets and hotels were booked in accordance. However, as our day of journey commenced, Kolkata itself was engulfed by depression and heavy rainfall and the weather forecast for Agartala was not very soothing either. In fact when we reached the Kolkata airport on Saturday morning it was raining like cats and dogs outside and our Indigo flight was delayed by 15 minutes due to low visibility. But once we reached Agartala the weather was much better and a bright sunny day welcomed us to the small and beautiful state tucked away in the north east, the last bastion of the communists in India.

Tripura, a former princely state shares an international boundary with Bangladesh on its three sides and adjoins Assam and Mizoram on the east. Altogether 185 royal rulers had ruled Tripura and in 1949 it acceded to the union of India through a treaty. A brochure published by the state tourism mentions that the name Tripura has its origin from two Tripuri words namely Tui (meaning water) and Pra (meaning near). Another opinion is that the name originated from the name of its presiding deity Tripurasundari. We were astonished to know that the total population of the state is just over 35 lacs, much less than that of the city of Kolkata itself.

As we were walking out of the airport (one needs to walk down the distance between the runway and the airport building) we found a small kiosk of the tourism department which redirected us to the prepaid taxi booth. However, we learnt quickly that no taxi would be available on that day as there was some kind of strike and demonstration. We took an auto-rickshaw (one with doors unlike its counterparts in Bengal) to the hotel and on the way noticed a rally with the comrades carrying red flags and shouting Inquilab Zindabad and Cholchhe Naa- Cholbe Naa, a scene that has become rare in Kolkata after the overhauling of the left in the last assembly elections.

Hotel City Centre, the budget hotel that we booked from Kolkata via a travel agent was a big disappointment. The room was grimy, food was cold most of the times and not palatable and service was lacklustre. On top of it, it charged us handsomely for the extra person and levied 25% tax on the room rent (something that is put in place by the state government). Actually the auto driver had told us on the way that there were many other good budget hotels around and there was no need to book in advance. From the hotel itself we booked a car for sightseeing and the car cost was also exorbitant (a combination of a fixed component and per km rate).

After a while a red Indica arrived to pick us up and our first destination was the Sepahijala Wildlife Sanctuary, located at a distance of 28 kms from the capital city of Agartala and on the way to Udaipur, the ancient capital of Tripura. The first thing to take notice of is that the road was in excellent condition for majority of its length. Yes it was narrow, only 2 lane, but was not bumpy with all those potholes that we are so accustomed to in Kolkata. I inquired our driver about how efficiently the state government under Manik Sarkar operates and from his monosyllable replies I got the idea that the state lacks industrialization initiatives and has less job opportunities as a result of it but overall the government is doing a creditable job in terms of building infrastructure and social development.

With a total area of 18.53 sq km, Sepahijala came into existence in 1972 and was accredited to a sanctuary in 1987. When we reached the place there were not many visitors, only a handful of locals. Although it is named a sanctuary, but most of its habitats are kept in cages or even if they are kept in open spaces, they are surrounded by dry moat and high walls resulting in a zoo like ambience. The first species that we came across were vultures and then emu birds. After that we noticed the famous spectacled langur, pig-tailed macaque and capped langur. But they were so far away, separated by open dry moats, that I could not take any good snap. However, later on we found some spectacled langurs in close by cages and they happily posed for us to take pictures. Also present in the zoo, were lions, bears, cheetahs and clouded leopards amongst others. Most of them were having their after lunch nap. The last cage that we came across contained a couple of hoolock gibbons and they did some wonderful acrobatics in our honour. One amusing thing we noticed was that a common monkey which was roaming around freely outside continuously irritated the gibbons confined within the cage. So, to irritate, infuriate and aggravate someone who is already suffering, is not unique to human beings alone. In front of every cage, the name of the species was displayed in Bengali, English and a peculiar language which we later came to know as Kokborok. It is the local Tripura dialect and the script is almost similar to Bengali and yet we could hardly pronounce it.

Our next destination was Neer Mahal, the royal summer palace built in the middle of Rudrasagar Lake. From Bishramganj the road diverts. The road on the right takes off towards Neer Mahal while the road straight ahead goes to Udaipur. When we reached Neer Mahal, we first went to the Sagar Mahal Tourist Lodge to order our lunch and then headed towards the ghat from where the motor boats ferry. It is a fascinating view as the boat approaches the palace in the middle of the lake. Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya constructed the palace in 1930 perhaps inspired by the Lake Palace of Udaipur in Rajasthan and the palace was christened as Neer Mahal by none other than Rabindranath Tagore. The palace illustrates Mughal school of architecture with copious dome shaped minars and although the walls are now not that well maintained, it still depicts the past royal grandeur of Tripura. The strong breeze blowing through the royal bedroom justifies its choice as the summer palace of the Tripura royalty. Besides, there are hawa-mahals, dancing rooms and a garden as well. Light and sound shows are organized in the evening but we could not wait that long.

When we reached Udaipur, it was already evening and sunlight was getting dim. So we decided to visit the non-functional ancient temples first. Udaipur was the capital city of the princely state of Tripura before the monarchy shifted its capital to Old Agartala. It is known as the city of temples for its numerous ancient temples but most of them are now without any deity. The deities were also transferred to Agartala during the capital shift. The first temple we visited in Udaipur was the Gunavati group of temples. The temple in the north was built by Queen Gunavati, wife of Maharaja Govinda Manikya, in 1668. The other two of the triplet of temples do not bear any dated inscription but their architectural resemblance indicates them to be contemporaneous. The temple architecture characterizes a charchala roof surmounted by a stupa like structure. The temple complex is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India and it was locked down, so we could only look at it from outside the fence.

The next temple we visited was the Bhubaneswari Temple, by the bank of river Gomati, also constructed by Maharaja Govinda Manikya in the year 1660 and exhibiting similar architectural structure of a mandapa with charchala roof surmounted by a stupa like structure. The temple is immortalized in Rabindranath Tagore’s famous play, Bisarjan. This temple also is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India but the fence here was without any lock. Our driver, Pinku, took a snap of all three of us, Srimanta, Anirban and I, in front of the temple with dusk setting in, in the background. A few paces away from the ancient temple, a makeshift temple has been built up where goddess Durga is still worshipped. Pinku informed us that funds are being raised to construct a grand temple there.

On our way back from Bhubaneswari Temple, Pinku stopped for a while near a Shiva-Kali temple where lord Shiva and goddess Kali are worshipped in a relatively modern structure with two abandoned ancient temples in the backward.

The last destination of the day was the Tripurasundari Temple. The temple stands on a tortoise shaped hillock and earns special veneration as it is considered as one of the 51 peeths of Hindu religion. There are two idols installed in the temple; the larger one is that of the deity Tripurasundari and the smaller one is known as “Chhota Maa”. The temple designed in the model of typical rural Bengal hut with a square shaped sanctum was built by Maharaja Dhanya Manikya in 1501. The place was then known as Rangamati and was then the capital of Tripura. Legend goes that in a revelation in dream Maharaja Dhanya Manikya was ordered to bring the idol of Tripurasundari from Chattagram (now in Bangladesh) and install here. It is also believed that when the capital of Tripura was shifted to Agartala, most of the deities were also shifted but the idol of Tripurasundari could not be moved. We bought some pedas (sweets) from a nearby shop for offering puja (worship) and ascended the flight of steps to the temple. There were many devotees present even though it was late evening. After our visit to the temple, our driver Pinku took us to a large lake named Kalyan Sagar adjacent to the temple, dug by Maharaja Kalyan Manikya. There were a few tortoises and fishes aplenty swimming around. Pinku informed us that they are not caught and killed since the lake is considered as holy.

On our way back to Agartala, it was quite dark and we dropped Kasba Kalibari from our original itinerary. Pinku asked us about our plan for the next day and inquired whether we would need his service. However, our plan was to take the rail route to Unakoti and accordingly we had booked chair car tickets from Agartala to Kumarghat and planned to take a cab to Unakoti from Kumarghat railway station. Pinku did not comment but only smiled learning our desire to take the rail route and we comprehended the significance of his smile only on the next day.

The scheduled departure of the train was 6:45 AM and we checked out of the hotel dot at six o’clock. We were lucky to get an auto-rickshaw just outside the hotel but soon were bewildered when the auto driver told us that the train might have already departed from Agartala station and advised us to try the next station instead where it is scheduled to arrive at 6:15 AM. We fell in a dilemma half believing his conviction and being half sceptic about the absurdity of the possibility but ultimately we decided to go to Agartala station. When we reached the station, a train was already waiting in the platform full of passengers and it made us apprehensive since as per the railway website the first train to leave from Agartala was the 6:45 AM train. We looked around and did not find any chair car compartment at all. It enhanced our anxiety further. A group of ticket collectors were chatting in a corner and we approached them for guidance. A middle aged man amongst them checked our ticket and, to our dismay, told us that all trains from Agartala had been cancelled due to security reasons and a special train (the very train that was standing in the platform) had been sanctioned to run once in a day and that too was about to leave in a few minutes’ time. He advised us to cancel our ticket and book fresh tickets. Since ours was an e-ticket, we could have cancelled it online only; but a kind official scribbled on it that the train had been cancelled and also put a stamp on it. However, I did not get back any refund till date as I could not cancel it online within the stipulated time. Hence I had to pay for a journey on a train that had been cancelled by railway itself. Hope Indian Railway would rectify its procedure and refund automatically in future for similar circumstances.

We let the train go mainly due to my insistence as there were no more seats available and since I was not keeping well I did not entertain the idea of travelling in a passenger train standing for 3-4 hours. After coming out of the station we had our morning tea and called up Pinku, our driver on the previous day. He assured us that he would arrange a car for our trip and call us back. However, when we called him again after quite some time, he offered his apology for not being able to arrange any car. Next we called up the reception of Hotel City Centre and asked for their assistance in booking a car for our Unakoti trip and instructed them to send the car to the station itself to pick us up. While we were waiting in the deserted station, we watched all the auto-rickshaws leaving the station complex one by one. A lone person was keeping us company. We learnt that he was from Midnapore in Bengal and had been waiting for a train to Lumding for last couple of days. He also informed us that long distance buses are also not plying. We were getting worried as time was passing by and no car reported. We kept calling the hotel staff and they kept assuring us that the car would reach any time. In the meantime we took some pictures of the attractive milk white railway station building which is constructed as a replica of the palace in Agartala city. In fact the palace is in much worse state.

The car finally arrived and our much anxious wait ended. We cruised through NH 44 which stretches to as far as Shillong via Guwahati. The road though narrow was in excellent state and our elderly driver had a steady hand. After having lunch near Kumarghat, when I was beginning to doze off in the back seat, we observed, in front of us, a Maruti Van slip off the road and hit a tree. The lady driver and her fellow passenger in the front seat were thankfully alive but they were bleeding. They were attended to by a couple of lorry drivers who stopped at the spot but our driver continued without halting and only stopped at the police station a couple of kms further away to report the accident. As a police team was sent off for help, we went on with our journey to Unakoti.

Unakoti means one less than a crore. At about a distance of 178 kms from Agartala, the site is an archaeological wonder. It comprises colossal bas-relief rock carvings datable to 7^th – 9^th centuries. The bas-relief sculptures of Shiva depicting only faces can be considered as the largest in size of its kind in India. The faces represent tribal features both in decoration and anatomy. Three gigantic rock-cut figures of Ganesha with a spring flowing right on them is another important sculpture worth mentioning.

The legend goes that a group of gods and goddesses, a crore in number, were travelling to Varanasi lead by Lord Shiva and they took refuge at this place during night. The next morning, Shiva woke up and found others still sleeping. In his rage Shiva turned all deities into stone. Hence the name Unakoti, signifying one less than a crore stone figures. However, the figure one less than a crore is a massive exaggeration. And the story does not hold true due to the fact that there are figures of Shiva himself.

The stone stairs running around the site is full of moss at places and I slipped a couple of steps once. Thankfully I did not hurt myself apart from bruising my hand a little and for the rest of the time, I was extremely careful. The stair near the Ganesha figures was the worst of the lot. The entire place was quiet and peaceful barring a few tourists. A group of boys were enjoying a bath at the spring near the Ganesha figures. Moving up and down so many steps was taking its toll on us, and probably since I had a fall in between, my legs were feeling extremely weak. So I was relieved when we came back to the car and headed for the Unakoti Tourist Lodge in Kailashahar.

Like most tourism hotels run by government, the rooms at Unakoti Tourist Lodge were well maintained and the food was palatable. However, since I was suffering from acute acidity and indigestion I ordered a safe and plain diet. The hotel did not even charge us for the extra person. The lady manager of Manipuri origin chatted with us for a while and took offence when Srimanta imprudently asked her how come she speaks English so fluently. She informed us that she knows many languages including a little bit of Bengali and that she was a graduate and got the job through TCS i.e. Tripura Civil Services. We told her jokingly that TCS means an IT giant from our perspective.

The next day was Independence Day and the national flag was hoisted on the terrace of the hotel. Local children were invited to the celebration and greeted with chocolates. Though we were late for the occasion we got our share of the chocolates. On the previous evening, we noticed the border between India and Bangladesh a few yards away from the hotel. So before checking out we made a brief visit to the border. On this side was a road along the barbed wire and on the other side was cultivable land. A peasant was ploughing up his land with the help of a couple of bulls on the Bangladesh side. A football field shared its boundary with the border a few metres away. Our driver told us that many a times, the ball lands on the other side during play. So we knew that not only panchhi (bird), nadiyan (river) and pawan ke jhoke (wind) but football as well could not be bounded by any border (koi sarhaad na use roke).

On our way back from Kailashahar, we stopped by the Chaturdash Devata Temple (temple of fourteen gods) in Old Agartala, which is 6 km away from the present capital city of Agartala. According to history, Maharaja Krishna Manikya shifted his capital from Udaipur to Old Agartala in 1770 after being defeated by Shamsher Gaze. The images fourteen gods were transferred at the same time from two temples beside Tripureswar Bhairab Temple in Udaipur to this newly built temple. I am not sure if they are the same couple of abandoned temples that we noticed beside the temple dedicated to Shiva and Kali in Udaipur where we stopped for a while on the first day of our tour. In 1840, the capital was again shifted to present Agartala but the images of the fourteen gods were retained back. To our dismay the temple was completely closed. I have never heard that a temple remains closed due to Independence Day holiday. A lone police guard was patrolling the temple complex with a rifle. When our driver informed us that the gods remain hidden from the common public since the idols are very precious, we were more perplexed but the fact reduced our disappointment. He further told us that the only time the images are visible is on the occasion of a special worship know as Kharchi Puja. The worshipping includes a combination of Vedic and ethnic rituals performed by a group of priests known as Chantai and the chanting is in a language which is neither Sanskrit nor the Tripuri dialect Kokborok, but a secret mantra known only to the priests.

The ruins of an old royal palace were still there opposite the temple. Our driver let us know that no one lives there anymore and before renovation the place was full of deadly snakes.

When we reached the capital city of present Agartala, we passed by the Ujjayanta Palace. The Indo-Saracenic building with Mughal style gardens was built in 1901 by Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya. The palace has three domes, each 86 feet high. I was under the impression that the palace is now used as the assembly house of the state of Tripura, but our driver informed us that a new assembly house has been constructed recently. However, the palace was in shambles and was under renovation much in contrast to the imposing white structure seen in the brochures. The palace is accessible for the general public but was closed on that particular day due to Independence Day holiday.

We went for a stroll in the evening to have a feel of the city. An amusing observation we made was that there are no traffic lights on the roads and the traffic police still control with hand signals. There is a shopping mall known as City Centre at the heart of the city where we roamed around for a bit. We also visited a nearby handloom store to buy some gift items made of bamboo for which Tripura is famous. Then at 8 o’clock we went for dinner to a restaurant named Hata-Khunti, recommended by our driver, which serves strictly Bengali food. We were the only guests when we arrived, may be since it was so early by Indian standard, but throughout our meal also no other guest appeared. Srimanta apprised us the benefits of early dinner, probably making him acclimatized with the European lifestyle appropriate with his soon to be overseas stay. The food was good, at least the best we had during our stint at Tripura.

The next morning, we had nothing to do before we take our return flight. So we thought of visiting the Agartala Museum which was not far away from our hotel. Since there was still some time left for the museum to open, we decided to eat something first as we did not have our breakfast. We made another peculiar observation that there are not many fast food centres or small eateries where one can make a quick bite. Even in moderate shops carrying a long list of food items very few are actually available. We had the same experience a couple of hours later when we went for lunch. Even at noon, many restaurants were not functional and again at the place where we finally had our lunch, we were the only guests. May be the people of Agartala do not eat out much.

The city museum was a small one comprising some artefacts and sculptures from ancient times, not necessarily from Tripura. The top floor of the two storied building displayed some paintings of the royal rulers of Tripura. The attires of the later Maharajas had a tint of colonial reflection. The paintings of Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya and Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya were most conspicuous amongst them.

Before I end my trip report, I would like to mention a couple of experiences. First, the small 48-seater propeller Air India plane was a unique experience; never had the opportunity to board one before. It was reminiscent of the retro movies. And lastly, the way in which the Tripura government has promoted (feeling sorry for using the word but cannot ignore the fact that newer generations have mostly become unfamiliar to his work) Rabindranath Tagore is utterly commendable. There are numerous billboards carrying his pictures and his quotes throughout the state. Feeling pity for the chief minister of Bengal for being labelled overdramatic (yes, I am guilty of criticising at times as well) for naming a few projects and places after the Vishwa-Kabi. Tagore had doubted whether his work will have relevance after hundred years but hope he will have the same significance in our lives for many more years to come.

Passage through Panchalingeshwar

2011-05-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

In the month of April, there were a couple of back to back long weekends and we decided to benefit from the opportunity and treat ourselves with a weekend trip. The gang was supposed to be the same as our previous endeavour in Maharashtra, but Santu dropped out after some dilly-dallying. The substitute we worked out for him also backed out at a later stage and ultimately the team comprised the troika of Srimanta, Anirban and I. Initially, we planned to stay one night each at Panchalingeshwar and Chandipur, but were told at the OTDC office at Lenin Sarani that we need to book at least two nights at any place which in effect meant that we had to stay at one place only and we chose Panchalingeshwar over Chandipur, which is more popular between the two by the way.

On the morning of Poila Baisakh (15th April), the first day of the Bengali new year, we started our journey by boarding the Falaknuma Express which leaves Howrah at 7:25 AM. Dhauli Express which leaves at 6 o’clock would have been a better choice in terms of saving some more time but then none of us are early risers and that option was struck off as impracticable. We reached Balasore at around 11 o’clock and hired an auto-rickshaw to take us to the OTDC Panthanivas at Panchalingeshwar. After some bargaining, we struck a deal at 300 rupees but it still seemed a bit over priced.

After an hour or so, we were at the door steps of the Panthanivas, which is located at a distance of 35 Kms from the railway station. The road was good for most part of the journey, sparing a few bumpy stretches near the culverts. The last mile was off the highway and was an ill-maintained narrow stretch. The place turned out to be more remote than we had imagined and barring a shop-cum-eatery just opposite the OTDC hotel, we found no other sign of civilization in the vicinity.

After we checked in, we soon headed to the restaurant for lunch, as we planned to go out in the afternoon to explore the place. Contrary to our expectation, the hotel was bustling with tourists and probably all of them were Bengalis. Many of the groups had come in their own vehicle, by road, and the parking was full with all kinds of cars. The lunch was okay and we decided to take rest for a while before going out. Slowly, the sky grew dark with clouds and just when we were to leave, it started showering. Over time, the intensity of the rain increased with thunderous lightning. After some more time the hails started pouring in and the lush green lawn in front of the reception area was covered with a white sheet of hails. I had never in my life witnessed such a hail storm from so much proximity and the kids were ecstatic and started collecting the hail balls drenching themselves in the process, much to the annoyance of their parents.

Finally when the rain stopped after more than an hour, we stepped out and headed for the temple. A few minutes’ walk later (around a kilometre and a half) we reached the temple. Some temporary shops were put up on the way, probably dealing in Puja offerings for the devotees, but most of them were closed at the time we visited. The reason might be the heavy showers which had just stopped or simply because it was an odd time for temple visit. One has to take more than a couple of hundred steps to reach the temple of Lord Shiva. Actually, there is not much of a temple to comment on as the five Shiva lingas are enshrined within a rock and a stream flows on the top of it. So one has to feel the pancha-linga rather than see them. A man helped us by showing where to keep our feet and where to put our hands to reach out and feel the five lingas. From him we came to know that only in the heat of the summers, when the stream dries up, one can actually see the pancha-linga. After much hardship and after drenching much of our clothing in the water of the stream, which was flowing with greater vigour after the shower, we could feel two or three of the lingas and restrained from overstretching ourselves.

An amusing spectacle that we noticed on the way was a video shooting taking place just where the steps to the temple started. Not sure whether it was for a small budget Oriya film or for television, but the cast was not inspiring at all. One of the male leads, who was giving shot puffing away a cigarette in style and then romancing a girl, was so average looking that Srimanta insisted that he should give it a chance by volunteering himself in place of him.

After the temple visit we thought of visiting a nearby lake which I had read about in one of the travel sites. The staff at the hotel reception had told us that we would need to walk for a couple of kilometres to reach the lake and gave us a rough direction but we were kind of lost after a while and after inquiring some of the locals, the path that they showed looked ominously narrow to take us anywhere. In the process, we came across The Roopark Village Resort, which is the other alternative to stay at Panchalingeshwar. It comprises some mud huts which bring an earthly impact and the resort is located in the middle of a tribal village. However, we were wondering, whether any car can go that far or the tourists need to walk for some time (with their luggage) to reach the resort. The caretaker of the resort showed us the way to the lake but since it was already evening we could not have come back before dark. Hence we shelved the plan to visit the lake on that day and returned to our hotel.

There was nothing much to do back in the hotel after having a cup of tea with lovely pakoras, apart from idle gossips. One can sit back in the garden chairs in the lawn and enjoy the surroundings. The OTDC Panthanivas is located at a wonderful spot just beneath the Nilgiri hills and there are some weird shaped rocks and their jagged protuberance adds to the beauty of the place. I had lost signal in my cell phone as soon as we reached Panchalingeshwar and only in the night, the towers came back and along with it came back the routine of work life as I had to make a few important calls pertaining to my office work.

Next day we planned to visit Chandipur. A local agent in the hotel tried to convince us to go to a jungle trip instead, with him in the Kuldiha forests but we stuck to our original plan. Additionally, we decided to pay a visit to the Jagannath Temple and Palace in Nilgiri. Since the town of Nilgiri is within 10 Kms from Panchalingeshwar, we did not book any car and decided to avail ourselves of local conveyance. The reception clerk informed us that we would get trekkers (shared jeeps) from the main road but he seemed a bit skeptical about the idea. After a sumptuous breakfast with puri-bhaji we strolled to the main road (about a kilometre and half away from the hotel) and in no time a trekker arrived. However, it was already full and we were contemplating waiting for the next one and overhearing our conversation, a local shop owner advised us not to let go that one as the trekkers were few and infrequent. But the question was how we would fit in, in an already crowded jeep. The answer was simple; we had the entire top to suit ourselves. This was a one of its kind experience for me. I had never sat on the top of a moving vehicle and although the iron frame of the carrier acted as a support it was still unnerving. Thankfully, the trekker was moving in a slow pace and Anirban (he could see the front and I was facing the back) was alerting me when we reached the bumpy stretches or the turns. After some time a policeman stopped the trekker and had a chat with the driver and noted down some thing in his pocket notebook. Not sure what transpired in their conversation but we were asked to come down and travel the remaining part by hanging on to the iron bars at the back of the jeep and balancing ourselves on the iron frame that acted as the foot step.

When we reached Nilgiri, the temple was still closed and hence we decided to visit the palace first. In a travel blog I had read about the Nilgiri Palace but no one near the temple complex (including the police constables) could tell where it was located. There was an old building in dilapidated state just beside the temple which seemed to belong to some erstwhile feudal kings and it actually turned out to be the Niligiri palace. We did not consider the Nilgiri kings and the palace to be much awe inspiring but neither did we expect it to be in ramshackle. And sadly, there is no attempt of any conservation. The palace was built in 1898 by Raja Shyam C.M. Harichandan. Part of the palace building which is in relatively better condition is being used as a school.

After exploring the palace, we came back to visit the temple which had opened by then. Although it is not a large temple, it must be a popular one is what the impression we got from the crowd presence. There were huge idols of Jagannath, Subhadra and Balaram inside the garva-griha and mural paintings decorating the walls of the temple. In fact I found another temple nearby which also bear rich ornamentation of beautiful paintings. The paintings may not be strictly professional but possess adequate artistic qualities. And then there were the even smaller roadside temples or the village temples and most of them were adorned with either paintings or figures of animals such as lions.

The town of Nilgiri is probably one of the bigger towns in the district as we found a Hospital, offices of bureaucrats and even Lok Adalat. From the marketplace we booked a car for the rest of the day and drove down to Chandipur which is located about 40Kms further away from Nilgiri. It cost us Rs. 650.

We reached Chandipur at around 2 o’clock and had our lunch at the OTDC Panthanivas in Chandipur. The Pomfret fish served at the lunch was huge but the preparation and the fish itself did not taste that good. The hotel is situated at an exquisite location just beside the sea shore. It is said that during high tide the sea comes right at the doorstep of the hotel. But right then the sea had retreated a few kilometres. This is the curious characteristic of Chandipur Sea. Since I was in shorts and slippers it was easier for me to walk along the shore and into the sea as the water level was only ankle high. Others had to pull up their trousers to avoid being wet. There were conches of different sizes lying around and all kinds of sea shells on the way and we looked with childish excitement if we could find any pearl. We even came across some star fishes which were trying to hide in the sand as we approached them. After the long walk we finally came to the place where we could see the actual sea. From the distance the muddy and dirty sea waves actually looked like a sand bank. And there was a fence of a kind with bamboo sticks, so we did not proceed any further and started to return towards the shore. After resting for a while on the cement benches on the bank and enjoying coconut water it was time to go back to our hotel at Panchalingeshwar.

In the morning of the last day of our trip, we decided to have another go at the lake that we could not locate on the first day. We should have started real early but got delayed and set out after nine. The lake is known as Khumkote and it used to be the place where the Nilgiri kings used to hunt. This time we were sure of the way up to a point and then found out the rest part by asking the locals. In the process we passed by a good many tribal huts and it was interesting to find someone listen to a Bengali song in radio sung by the nightingale Sandhya Mukherjee. Unlike the earlier day, when we were being continuously followed by stray dogs, we did not see any one of them that day. Perhaps on the other day, they were hoping that there was food in the bag that we were carrying. After two days of rain, the sun was shining brightly and we started to sweat heavily. The head gears supplied from Srimanta’s collection of hats were of some help and when we found a tube well on the way, we drenched our handkerchiefs and put the wet handkerchiefs around our necks. It was a very long walk and it did not seem to come to any end. I think we walked for at least three and a half kilometres before we finally reached the lake, and what a disappointment it was. It was a small water body with a structure of a watch tower and perhaps a temple engulfed in the water. There was no great view. It’s a different matter that after so much exhaustion our expectation level was much higher. In short, it was not that impressive and not worth the trouble. If someone attempts to go, one should start in the early morning so that the sun is not so hot and the journey does not become so much tiring.

After taking some rest in the cool shade of a bamboo tree with a mild breeze caressing our worn out bodies, we turned back as the time to check out of the hotel was approaching. When we reached our hotel, our T-shirts were completely drenched in our sweat and the thought of lying down on the bed for a while away from sun under the fan kept driving us.

It was time to return to Balasore and take the Falaknuma Express back to Kolkata. The small weekend trip was not perhaps overwhelming but it provided us a fulfilling break from the stress and strain of everyday life of the week days.

Aura of Ajanta

2011-04-04T03:34:00.000-07:00

Ajanta was the last leg of our cave tour of Maharashtra. Due to our not so great experience with the bus ride from Ellora on the previous day coupled with the fact that the Ajanta caves are located far away, near to 100 kms from Aurangabad, we opted for a car drop to Ajanta, or rather the MTDC resort at Fardapur which is 1 km further up from the Ajanta caves. There is another MTDC hotel at Ajanta T Junction which is closer to the caves, but we did not get any accommodation there when we booked. After breakfast, we left Aurangabad in an Indica with the driver for our journey, Mazhar Khan (9960505623) and the drop to Ajanta cost us 1200 rupees. After checking in to the hotel we immediately went to visit the caves with an understanding that we would have to skip lunch that day, again, now three days in a row, after Daulatabad and Ellora.

The Ajanta caves, inscribed as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1983, were excavated in a horse shoe shaped bend of a rock overlooking a narrow stream named Waghora. In 1819, a British officer, John Smith, accidentally discovered the caves.

The group of 30 caves is renowned for its murals and these exemplary paintings are the best specimens of Tempera technique of Indian art. After chiseling out the rock surface, layers of clay mixed with sand, earth and other organic materials were applied and coated with lime wash. Over this surface bold outlines were drawn and colours and shades ranging from red and yellow ochre, terra verte, to lime, kaolin, gypsum and lapis lazuli were applied. The chief binding material used was glue. The main theme of these paintings is the depiction of the Jataka stories. Though there are some beautifully carved sculptural panels as well in some of the caves, the main attraction of the Ajanta caves is its paintings and it’s a pity that many of them are in a dire state and in some of the early caves nothing substantial has survived. We found restoration work undergoing in some of the caves but from the conversations of some of the fellow tourists, who had visited the caves earlier, it seemed that the conditions of the paintings has deteriorated much in the last twenty - thirty years. I sincerely hope that the generations to come would not be deprived to get the opportunity to marvel at this amazing art work.

Out of the 30 Buddhist caves of Ajanta, only caves 1-26 can be visited and there is no proper access for caves 27-30. Out of these caves 9, 10, 19 and 26 are Chaitya-Grihas (prayer halls) and the rest are Viharas (monasteries). In date and style, the Ajanta caves can be divided into two broad groups. 6 caves belong to the earliest phase of Buddhism i.e. Hinayana sect which dates back to the pre-Christian era. This includes caves 9 & 10 (Chaitya-Grihas) and caves 8, 12, 13 & 15A (Viharas). Cave 10 is the oldest amongst them dating back to 2nd century B.C. The newer caves of the Mahayana sect were excavated primarily during the period of the Vakatakas around 6th century A.D. Caves 1, 2, 16 and 17 displays the best coloured wall paintings of the Vakataka period. One solitary Rashtrakuta inscription is found in cave 26 indicating its use in the 8th century A.D.

Cave 1, the first cave, built on the eastern end of the horse-shoe shaped scarp, is one of the finest Mahayana monasteries of Ajanta, handsomely ornamented with profuse paintings and comprises an open courtyard, verandah, hall sanctum with antechamber and cells. The world famous painting of Bodhisattva Padmapani is located in this cave. Bodhisattva Bajrapani is another well-known and important painting of this cave.

At the left side in the verandah, there is a famous sculptural panel depicting Prince Siddhartha’s journey which changed his course of life. The sanctum at the rear end has a sculpture of Buddha in preaching posture symbolizing his first sermon at Sarnath. Below, at the centre of the pedestal, there is a wheel flanked by two deer. The wheel represents Dharma-Chakra and the two deer symbolizes the deer park at Sarnath where Buddha preached his first sermon to five disciples.

Cave 2 is also lavishly painted although many of the paintings have been eroded away and it is difficult to understand the stories behind the paintings from whatever has survived. The cave has a panel depicting the birth scene of Siddhartha. The ceilings are beautifully painted with geometrical and floral depictions.

Most of the caves at Ajanta are devoid of bright light and also flash photography is prohibited inside the caves for better preservation of the paintings. As such it becomes very difficult to take snaps of and sometimes even behold the paintings in the dimly lit caves. I remember a funny incident when I was concentrating for a long time on taking a photograph of a painting, which was still intact, in high resolution night mode without flash and another gentleman beside me, without paying heed to the instructions put up by the authorities and also reiterated by the guards, happily used flash. And the guard immediately ran towards us and started rebuking me and by that time the other man silently moved away. At first I was taken aback but then I confronted him in such a harsh voice (probably because he startled me just when I was going to press the shutter) for picking on the wrong man that he was surprised in turn and apologized.

The barricades formed to restrain the visitors from touching the wall paintings, at places, further hinders taking good look at them and even the sculptures especially when there are pillars in between.

Cave 6 is the only double storied monastery at Ajanta and is famous for the combination of painting and sculpture. The painted inscription on the wall of the upper hall mentions that it was a gift by a monk named Taranakirttana.

The sanctum with profusely carved figures and lit up with a yellowish tinge was creating a havoc on the surroundings and we spent quite some time there, sitting on the floor, so that we could be left alone for a while. Santu was in his usual humorous self and remained seated in a mock meditation posture.

Cave 9 is one of the earliest Chaitya-Griha of Ajanta belonging to the Hinayana sect of Buddhism and datable to 1st century B.C. The usual nave, apse and pillars of Buddhist prayer halls are present in this cave. The globular Stupa at the centre of the apse on a high cylindrical base is plain and devoid of any image of Buddha unlike the Mahayana prayer halls. Most of the paintings have been eroded away in this cave but some of the pillars still are adorned with images of Buddha and floral decorations. Cave 10 is another Chaitya-Griha belonging to the Hinayana sect and is the oldest cave at Ajanta datable to 2nd century B.C. On the basis of inscriptions, the cave was excavated by the gifts made by Vasisthiputra Katahadi, Kanahaka of Bahada and a monk named Dharmadeva. The Stupa is the largest at Ajanta and is plain and hemispherical in shape. The importance of the cave lies in the fact that it contains the earliest specimens of Indian paintings.

Cave 16 is the largest and finest monastery at Ajanta. An inscription on the walls of the verandah mentions that it was a gift by Varahadeva, a minister of Vakataka King Harisena. Two large elephants are carved out at the entrance of this cave welcoming the visitors. It contains some of the masterpieces of paintings like the Dying Pricess, Miracle of Sravasti and Sujata offering Kheer to Buddha. There are also some ingenious paintings of Jataka stories. The ceiling ornamented with floral and geometric designs creates an impression of a fluttering shamiyana. Cave 17 is another magnificent Mahayana monastery consisting of famous paintings of Apsara, Flying Indra, Make-up Scene and Jataka stories. On the doorframe is a panel with seven Mortal Buddhas along with Maitreya. A Brahmi inscription on the wall of the courtyard records the excavation of this cave by a feudatory prince under Vakataka King Harisena.

Cave 19, a small Mahayana Chaitya-Griha is considered one of the most perfect and proportionate specimens of rock-cut caves of Ajanta. This cave was also a gift from a feudatory prince under Vakataka King Harisena. The façade with its intricate ornamentation stands out as one of the finest. The interior walls are also exquisitely decorated. The chapel contains a panel depicting Nagraja with his consort and the Stupa and pillars are intricately carved with figures of Buddha.

The last cave that we visited was cave 26. This magnificent Mahayana Chaitya-Griha is an immortal work of art and sculpture. It was a gift of various devotees like Buddhabhadra, Bhadanta Gunakara and Bhikshu Sanghamitra and dates back to 6th century A.D. The façade has an imposing Chaitya window, but due to restoration work it was almost covered when we visited. A spacious forecourt, pillared verandah with two side porches and an apsidal hall comprises the Chaitya. The Stupa at the centre of the apse is beautifully decorated with figures of Buddha and other motifs. The pillars and the walls sustain much of the intricate sculptural panels. The lighting inside the cave is also smartly done imparting an awe-inspiring character to the surroundings which easily captivates the visitors. Unlike many if the other caves, one can look at the sculptural panels from close proximity.

On the left side of the hall there is an immensely important and famous sculptural panel of Mahaparivirvana of Buddha. It comprises a colossal figure of reclining Buddha on the verge of his nirvana with a calm face expressing true bliss and satisfaction. Below the disciples are mourning and above the celestial beings are ecstatic to receive him in heaven.

Unlike Ellora we had to enter most of the caves at Ajanta without our shoes and when I came out of the last cave I could not find my pair. Although there was a similar looking pair of Woodland shoes at the place where I kept mine, but they were smaller by a good couple of numbers. Thankfully an elderly man who was the rightful owner of that pair arrived soon and it appeared that he had mistakenly taken mine instead of his own.

After visiting the caves we took a stroll towards the stream and there was also a way with a flight of steps which lead to the view point from where John Smith discovered the entrance of one of the caves. There were quite a few hawkers trying to sell show pieces around that region. When we came back to the main entrance via a small bridge, we took a tour of the bustling small market which sells all kinds of gift items and show pieces. A restaurant run by MTDC was also located there but to our dismay nothing to eat was available. As the sun was slowly setting into the horizon, for the first time in our entire Maharashtra tour, we felt a few shivers of cold. As we were returning to our Fardapur resort, the feeling sunk in that our eventful and enjoyable trip has come to an end. We would be traveling to Bhusaval in the morning of the next day and boarding the Gitanjali Express taking us back to Kolkata.

Enchanting Ellora

2011-03-17T00:42:00.000-07:00

The World Heritage Site of Ellora caves are located at about 30 Kms from the city of Aurangabad. The 34 caves belonging to three religious faiths – Buddhist, Hindu and Jain, excavated out of the Charanandri hills represent the epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture.

We knew from our previous day’s excursion to Daulatabad that the buses plying to Kannad from the city Aurangabad would stop at the Ellora caves and likewise we went to the central bus stand in the morning after we had our breakfast. However, there were far too many people at the bus stand on that day, probably because it was in the morning and it became extremely difficult to board a Kannad bound bus. Although the buses were frequent, but no sooner than any one of them came, people from all directions were rushing in towards the gate and even ensuring seats by throwing luggage through the windows. On one occasion we even witnessed people letting small children into the bus through the windows. So even though I was amongst the first few persons who could board one of the buses after struggling at the gate, I found all the seats were already taken. Santu was able to capture two seats in one of the other buses but we had to persuade him to come down and wait for the next bus. Some touts approached us when we started looking for alternate transportation, but all the auto rickshaws and taxis around the bus stand were offering a packaged tour of Aurangabad, Daulatabad and Ellora which did not suit us since we were only looking for a drop at Ellora. Fortunately, two buses on the same route to Kannad came within a very short span of time and we were able to board the second one and got comfortable seats. However, when the bus ultimately started its journey it was packed to full house and the persons who were standing (including some middle aged ladies) argued that the two-seaters that we had got ourselves can be shared by three. Luckily the journey was not long and we reached our destination in just a little more than an hour.

We were looking for a guide at the entrance of the cave complex after buying tickets for ourselves. I had heard that there were not many guides available and one can only book the guide whose turn it is. Finally one guide arrived and told that the guide charge was Rs 700. But he had some conditions. He would only show us around 4 caves which we thought far too low. Though we knew that it might not be possible to visit all the caves, especially with the guide but we decided to at least cover the important ones and the number 4 seemed a lot less. Additionally, he informed that since he was booked for a large party of tourists which was scheduled to show up in a couple of hours, he could be with us only for an hour and a half. We took a call and decided to go solo without a guide. The choice proved to be proper afterwards since we spend more time than the guide allotted us for the entire tour, in the Kailash temple itself. An informative guide book purchased at much a lesser price served us well in our endeavour.

The first cave we visited was located just in front of the entrance beyond a lush green lawn. It was named cave 16 better known as the Kailash temple, the largest and most renowned of the caves of Ellora. This giant chariot shaped temple was carved out of one single rock and has no parallel in the whole world. It is an astounding fact that the artisan of that time only had chisel and hammer to carve out this outstanding piece of art. The creation of the temple which has a dominant Dravidian architectural style is credited to have started under Dantidurga (735 – 757) and major work was done during the reign of Krishna I (757 – 773), both belonging to the Rashtrakuta dynasty. It is believed to take more than 200 tears to complete the temple and required removal of 2 lac tons of rock.

A large and beautiful panel of Gajalaxmi seated on a lotus and surrounded by four elephants, symbolizing the prosperity of the Rashtrakutas, greeted us as we entered the temple.

As we started our tour of the temple from the left side, we went passed the panel of three river goddesses Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati, symbolizing purity, devotion and knowledge respectively, and were taken to a wall adorned with minute carvings depicting stories of the Mahabharata.

Next we found a row of elephants and lions (resembling somewhat like the British symbol) but most of them were unfortunately worn out.

In the courtyard, on either side of the main temple, there are two elegantly carved lofty victory pillars or “Dhvajastambhas” (17 metres high) reflecting the supremacy and power of the Rashtrakutas and two giant elephants (with missing trunks) facing the pillars.

Next we strolled for a few minutes along the elevated corridors circumambulating the main temple and decorated with innumerous panels of delicately carved out structures. There was another set of panels even further up in the multistoried temple complex that we explored next. We also visited the panel depicting Ravana shaking Mount Kailash before we entered the main temple.

Finally we were in front of the main temple, cut out of a monolithic rock isolated from the surrounding rock, excavated from top to bottom and designed to resemble Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva. The temple had been plastered and painted after its completion and although most of it is now worn out, the remaining white plaster especially at the top imparts increasing similarity to the snow capped Mount Kailash.

A flight of steps took us to the Nandi Mandap which is common to any Shiva temple.

After crossing a pillared hall and an antechamber we finally reached the sanctum of Shiva shrine. The parapet walls, plinth and ceilings of the sanctum, antechamber and hall are covered with intricate structures from the Hindu mythology.

We could have spent a further long time at this fascinating cave itself but we realized that we have already spent close to two hours exploring the Kailash temple and it was time to move on.

After coming out of cave 16, took the road in the left. The next important cave on that side was cave 21 also known as the Rameshwar temple. Here the Nandi bull is installed on high pedestal in front of the cave.

Two gracefully carved panels, one of Ganga and one of Yamuna are at two corners and the cave also has a panel depicting the episode of Ravana Shaking Mount Kailash. Most probably in this cave only we noticed a strange panel comprising a skeleton like structure.

Another important cave and the last of the Hindu caves is cave 29, also known as Dhumar-Lena or Sita-ki-Kahani after a beautifully cut figure of river goddess Yamuna mistakenly named as Sita. One of the imposing and finest of the Hindu caves, cave 29 stands out due to its sheer massiveness and giant sculptures with intricate details.

The main hall is divided in to a central nave and two aisles and can be entered through three porticos on three sides. Each entrance has a pair of seated lions on the steps.

Amongst the famous sculptures of this cave are undoubtedly the Marriage Ceremony of Shiva and Parvati and Ravana Shaking Mount Kailash.

There is a gorgeous waterfall on river Yelganga by the side of this cave and a flight of steps with a corridor running around it.

Caves 30-34 belong to the Jain faith and are located almost one and a half km apart from cave 29, the last of the Hindu caves. We had to speed up our pace since we were running late and the winding road was tiring us. On one occasion we even took a short cut to save some time and energy. The fact that we only had a few packs of biscuits as lunch and were running low on drinking water was not inspiring at all.

Cave 30 is known as Chhota Kailash but the excavation could not be completed. Cave 31 is also incomplete. So, the first of the Jain caves that we visited was Cave 32, also known as Indra-Sabha. This two storied cave temple dedicated to the Digambar sect of Jainism dates back to 10th-11th century and is so named because the Matanga (god of wealth) figure was mistakenly identified as Indra. There is a lofty pillar and a giant elephant at the entrance, which according to me resembled similar structures of the Kailash temple; so at first we mistook this cave to be the Chhota Kailash.

Cave 33, known as Jagannath-Sabha dates back to the same period as the earlier cave and is also dedicated to the Digambar sect of Jainism. The upper floor of the cave was skillfully carved with sculptures of Jain deities.

After completing visiting the last of the Jain caves, cave 34, we decided to proceed to the other end and start visiting the remaining caves starting from cave 1. We had to cover close to 2 Km to get to the other end, that too in brisk pace since the day was coming to the end. Thankfully, once we reached the main entrance near the Kailash temple we could rejuvenate ourselves with cold drinks from the hawkers plying around there.

The Buddhist caves are the oldest amongst the Ellora group of caves and many of them are simple monasteries without extravagant carvings. However, no one can ignore their architectural proficiency and engineering skill. For example in cave 5, the largest of the monasteries, the spacious hall has no columns supporting the ceiling and long benches are carved out of the floor for studying and dining purpose or caves 11 (Do Taal) and 12 (Teen Taal) resembling modern multistoried apartments. It is difficult to fathom the farsightedness of the architects of 8th century to come up with this kind of structural design. Interestingly although both the caves 11 and 12 are three storied, the ground floor of cave 11 was unknown for some period and hence the name Do Taal was popularized.

Cave 10 or the Vishwakarma cave is the only Chaitya-Griha (prayer hall) and the most renowned amongst the Buddhist caves and features the usual nave, apse and octagonal pillars of Buddhist caves that we were acquainted with in Nasik. The unique thing about the cave was the echo it was generating for even faint sounds.

Another important Buddhist cave is cave 6 which serves as a junction and the entrances of caves 5 to 1 and cave 9 are through this cave.

A group of monks from some South East Asian country were present in one of the other caves and while some of them were offering their prayers, others were looking around the awe inspiring artwork and were busy clicking snaps of the caves.

After completing our tour of the Buddhist caves we visited the remaining Hindu caves. Cave 14, also known as Ravaan-ki-Khai again depicts the sculpture of Ravana Shaking Mount Kailash, which is a popular theme at the Ellora caves. Cave 15, also known as Dashavatara cave, is also another important Hindu cave which is a double storied structure depicting various incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

After an exhilarating and demanding day’s tour we were looking forward to some good food and sound sleep. However, we were not that lucky as the previous day when we got hold of an empty shared auto from Daulatabad and had to opt for the crowded bus to Aurangabad. An elderly lady of foreign origin lost her shoes in one of the caves and was wandering around bare footed in search of a shop where she could buy herself a new pair of footwear. We caught a glimpse of Hotel Kailash, which is located just beside the cave complex and where unfortunately we could not stay as all the rooms were booked. It is here, where Feluda and Co. stayed in the Ray thriller Kailashe Kelenkari.

The bus ride back to Aurangabad was a pathetic experience. It was only I who got a seat for the entire journey, thanks to my friends. Still I was feeling claustrophobic with so many people in the bus and the fact that all the windows were closed, perhaps because the wind was a bit chilly in the evening. A gang of local boys were passing all kinds of weird comments mainly on the foreign tourists and one of the foulmouthed was even teasing a lady with the sleazy chartbuster “Sheela ki Jawani”. Santu was engaged in a brief altercation with the group and I was hoping back in the last seat to reach Aurangabad soon, so that we could escape this cacophony. Perhaps Aamir Khan should more often do the awareness campaign – “Aathiti Devo Bhava”.

Daunting Daulatabad

2011-02-25T00:02:00.000-08:00

Dalutabad was a day trip from Aurangabad. We went to the central bus stand to take a bus to the Daulatabad Fort which is merely about 14 Kms away from the town of Aurangabad. We inquired some people and the information we got that none of the buses ply to Daulatabad. When were feeling a bit clueless, one of the bus conductors advised us to get into a bus headed for Kannad. Daulatabad would be on the way and we would have to explicitly tell the conductor of the bus to alert us when the bus reaches Daulatabad. We had to struggle a bit to get into the bus and while the others were busy acquiring seats, Santu stayed at the gate to talk to the bus conductor. After around three quarters of an hour, we reached Daulatabad. On the way, the bus stopped for a while at Khuldabad, where the tomb of Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb is situated.

The giant and imposing fort built on a 200 metre high canonical hill was founded by the Yadavas in the 12th century and the place was originally known as Devagiri (The hill of Gods). After various attacks, the fort was annexed by Alauddin Khilji and in 1328, Muhammad bin Tughluq, the then Sultan of Delhi, shifted his capital here and renamed the place as Daulatabad (The Abode of Wealth). The Daulatabad Fort has a long history after that and it changed hands in quick succession. It was controlled by the Bahamani rulers for a while before it was captured by the Nizam Shahis of Ahmednagar who made Daulatabad their capital. Mughal Emperor Akbar captured the fort in 16th century but it was surrendered again to Ahmed Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar and remained with them until 1607 when after the fall of the Nizam Shahi dynasty, the fort passed into the hands of Malik Amber but his successors were overthrown by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in 1633. After the death of Emperor Aurangazeb, the Nizam of Hyderabad too control over Daulatabad in 1724.

Just after the entrance, near the Aam Khas gate, quite a number of cannons of different makes and sizes, made of both iron and bronze were displayed. A notice put up by the Archeological Survey of India mentioned that apart from the indigenous ones, a couple of cannons cast in Amsterdam were also found here.

The Daulatabad Fort comprising a rare combination of a land fort and a hill fort has a complex defense system. It has two moats, one dry around the fort and another wet around the citadel. The fort also boasts of three walls of fortification. The first, Amberkot, surrounding the old town was planned for the common people. Mahakot, the second line of defense, with four lines of enclosure walls and innumerous bastions and ramparts, served as the residential area of the higher class of the society. The gates were strategically built so that they were not opposite each other and hence the practice of breaking doors open by elephants would not work here. Kalakot, the third line of defense with double line of fortification, zigzag gateways and strategic positions of gun-turrets, was the royal residential area with a huge palace complex.

After walking a few minutes we came across a 110 feet high victory tower known as the Chand Minar. The pillar was constructed to commemorate the victory over Gujrat by Alauddin Bahamani in 1435. It served both as a watch tower and a place of call for prayer. Sadly, people are not allowed to climb the pillar any more.

Just after the Chand Minar was a large open courtyard with a temple dedicated to Bharat Mata.

Further up the way is located a double storied building called Chini Mahal. Once it was laid with blue and yellow enamelled tiles but now it is in a dilapidated state. The palace was used as a royal prison and it was here that Abdul Hasan Tanashah, the last and powerful ruler of Golkonda was imprisoned till his death by Emperor Aurangazeb.

We were moving more or less effortlessly up to this point but after some more time I was experiencing a little breathlessness and the legs seemed to be suddenly heavier. We came across a small bridge over the wet moat, which had become green with moss. It was disheartening to see the plastic waste thrown rampant into the water. We also noticed a cave like structure where a medieval saint Swami Janardhana Swami attained Samadhi.

On our way we passed through a dim lit passage infested with bats and emitting a strangely bad odour. There was yet another passage known as Andheri (Dark Passage) which was pitch dark and one could only step in with the help of a guide carrying a “mashal” (a crude kerosene-lighted torch). The labyrinthine passage couple with darkness was set as a trap for the enemy intruders and was virtually impassable.

After some more time I was breathing more heavily and decided to take rest for a while after every few steps. A group of local school children were merrily running around and I felt ashamed panting with exhaustion. The citadel at the top of the hill was visible from there and that helped me not to give up my pursuit. But none the less I was having serious thoughts about my fitness level. Hunger and dearth of drinking water was adding to the woes.

Finally, we reached the palace at the top and had the few packs of biscuits we were carrying. The drinking water had also finished by that time. The gentle breeze blowing at such a height was soothing our weary bodies and we rested there for a while. A group of squirrels were wandering around us in search of some food. It was surprising to see how close they came in contact with the human beings, since in the city or the campus of my alma mater college, where there were many squirrels, they always run away in fear whenever they see any human approaching. Perhaps, so far up in the hills they are still innocent and ignorant about the evil intensions of humans.

When I thought I had at last climbed to the top of the fort, we found that there was a flight of steps going further up. And when we reached that terrace above we found another narrow stairway going still further up. It seemed there was no end of going upwards in the massive fort. Given that we had come that far, we decided to go the last mile as well though our bodies were totally worn out by then. The steps were so narrow that only one person could use it at a time. Finally we were at the topmost point of the fort. It was probably the last strategic rampart adorned with huge cannon. We remained seated there for a while enjoying the magnificent view of the town from there until our hunger got better of us and we started climbing down (which was much easier) hoping to feast on a good meal when we reach the town.

Amiable Aurangabad

2011-02-21T01:11:00.000-08:00

Aurangabad was the second destination in our Maharashtra cave tour and the gateway for Ajanta and Ellora. We boarded the Tapovan Express from Nasik Road station around ten o’clock in the morning and reached Aurangabad just after one in the afternoon. There was a huge crowd at the station and we had to literally elbow our way out. We took an auto and proceeded to our hotel. The magnitude of tourists justified why there had been a paucity of hotels. The tourism hotels were already booked when we tried back in Kolkata. On the internet, a few private hotels were available but at exorbitant prices. On my persistence Santu had booked two rooms at the Gymkhana Club hotel at Rs. 2400 per room per night for the first night only. He was confident that we will find an alternative accommodation on the spot for the next two days, but I was a bit jittery.

In the end, it turned out to be a good decision that we did not book the Gymkhana Club for all the three days that we were scheduled to stay in Aurangabad. When we entered the hotel (located on the way to the airport), it looked awesome from the exterior. But when we checked in, our assessment was completely shattered. The were all kind of things in the corridors, there were dirt and loose ends of hairs everywhere inside the rooms, the couches and chairs were stained, there was no soap in the bathroom and I was even not sure if the toilet had been cleaned and disinfected before we checked in. I called up the room service to complain and their excuse was that the entire floor was booked the previous day for a wedding and hence the mess up. A couple of men arrived, a short while later, to clean up the rooms yet again but it did not improve the room condition by a great extent. We had breakfast in Nasik in the morning and did not have much to eat afterwards, so we were almost starving. It was distressing to know that lunch would not be served at that hour. All that we could have was some snacks and tea; that too was not very tasteful.

At four o’clock we left the hotel, took an auto and headed towards the Bibi Ka Maqbara. Aurangabad flourished under Malik Ambar, the Prime Minister of Murtaza Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar, who made it his capital in 1610. Before that it was a small place named Khadki. Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb made it the Deccan capital in 1653. Our auto driver was an eccentric one who kept making wisecracks on the city and its people. He was entertaining us with his terrible singing and we felt as if we were in a karaoke show. He was wandering around in all directions and it even appeared to us that he was taking a lengthy route than required (though he did not charge much). Santu was giving him some competition with his equally bad singing. The dreadful part was that he was passing all kinds of comments to the female pedestrians and motor cyclists and was coming up with impromptu Bollywood songs on them. We feared that he might end up being beaten up for eve teasing and we were contemplating how we should escape in that case. Thankfully we reached our destination without any untoward incident. I can not help but mention the amusing photos he had put up inside his auto. In one of them he was standing smartly in between the two superstars Shahrukh Khan (in a stylish suit) and Salman Khan (in his signature topless avatar). The photograph was superimposed of course. The second one was more hilarious. It showed him in the middle blessing two other images of him on the two sides. It was proof enough of how much weird and crazy a man he was.

Bibi Ka Maqbara is the beautiful mausoleum believed to be constructed by Emperor Aurangzeb’s son, Prince Azam Shah, in memory of his mother Rabia-ul Durrani alias Dilras Banu Begum between 1651 and 1661. The mausoleum, designed and constructed by Ata-Ulla, an architect and Hanspat Rai, an engineer, is built at the centre of a high platform with four minarets at the corners and resembles the Taj Mahal of Agra. But unlike Taj Mahal, only the dome and lower body are made of pure marble and though there is some intricate ornamentation, it is no match for the majestic Taj Mahal in terms of artistic splendour. The pavement, pool and kiosk leading to the mausoleum also remind one of the Taj Mahal. The Mughal Garden was not preserved well and the mausoleum was undergoing some maintenance work and the rear side and the dome were enveloped with iron bars. The grave inside was simple, with a flight of stairs going down from the base platform to the grave (the entrance being guarded by a locked iron gate), and some people were throwing money inside.

We spent some more time in backyard watching the sun go down behind the walls of the complex before we bid good bye to the Taj of Deccan.

Now we were left with the big task of searching down a hotel accommodation for the next two days of our stay at Aurangabad. We took an auto from outside the Bibi Ka Maqbara and told the driver to show us some decent hotels in the heart of the city. We were prepared for enduring a tough time but the experience turned out to be more excruciating than we perceived. The first couple of hotels had rooms available but neither the rooms were good nor the room rents were acceptable. In another hotel, the reception clerk showed us a room which was already occupied by some people (who were not present at that time) and their things were scattered all over the place. We rejected that hotel primarily because of security concerns. After visiting a couple of more hotels we found one which was quite nice. It was located near the Anjali Talkies and there was a fine temple of Khadakeshwar (dedicated to Lord Shiva) in the vicinity (that we visited on a later day). Actually Santu inquired some local people in the streets and someone recommended this hotel. The manager of the hotel told us that he would confirm availability of rooms over phone in an hour. Perhaps he was trying to evade paying the auto driver money for bringing customers. However, he did not call up that day and when he finally called on the next day it was too late.

By this time the tout was showing to come out of our auto driver and he was desperate to book some hotel or other for us and he even admitted that he would end up making some extra money that way. The issue was that he was inclined to take us only to the hotels of his choice where probably he would make more money. And even in some circumstances when we asked him to wait outside, he would end up accompanying us into the hotel. I remember one hotel where there was a notice board in the reception area proclaiming that they do not indulge in bargaining like other hotels because they are confident that their services are much more superior to others. Later when we checked the rooms they were so poor that we could only laugh at their boasting of providing unparallel amenities. Shortly we paid off the auto driver who had started to nag and started on a wayward mission on foot. We came across some good hotels but there were no rooms available. Santu was primarily entrusted with the task of finding a decent hotel since it was he who was of the idea that we could book any hotel on the spot very easily. He and Srimanta knocked on all the hotels that we came across on our way while Anirban and I simply followed suit and even we lost them after some time. But no agreeable hotel, not even the star rated ones had any room available. By then our hunt for hotels had completed nearly three hours and it was taking its toll on us. We were physically exhausted apart from being terribly frustrated. Finally we booked two rooms at Hotel Venkateshwara at Rs 1200 per room per night. It was not very good to be honest but we were tired of searching any more and did not believe that we could get hold of any better room even if we continued our search. We had a pathetic dinner in a nearby restaurant and returned to the Gymkhana Club for a good night’s sleep after an arduous exercise which was no less than an exploration.

After breakfast we came back again to the hotel, checked into our rooms and started for the Aurangabad caves. Aurangabad has its own group of Buddhist caves which were curved out of the hills in the 6th and 7th century A.D. They are situated further away from Bibi Ka Maqbara but we could not visit them the previous day due to lack of time. The road leading to the caves bifurcates at a place with 5 caves on the left and the rest on the right side. The two groups of caves are almost half a km apart. We first visited caves numbered 1 to 5 which are located on the left side.

Although nothing much was mentioned in the tourism website about these caves, we were much impressed with their spectacular artwork. Our cave experience was getting better place by place and we were very excited about what Ajanta and Ellora would have in store for us. We were the only tourists who visited the caves at that hour so it was very peaceful. Even our auto driver bought his own ticket and accompanied us to the caves. Later he confessed that though he had lived in Aurangabad for some years he had not visited the caves up till then. One of the caves (probably Cave 3) is a Chaitya Griha (prayer hall) with the usual apse surrounded by the octagonal pillars.

In the second group, Cave 7 is the most elaborate and famous. In fact it is the only cave about which some information was put up by the Archeological Survey of India. The monastery has a pillared verandah and cells circumambulating the square sanctum in the centre. The immaculate sculptural panels include images of Avalokiteshvara and Padmapani and some dancing deities.

In one of the other caves (probably Cave 6) it was interesting to notice a Ganesh idol beside a Buddha figure.

We came out of the caves and spent a few moments capturing the barren beauty that surrounded the hills. On the other hand the hills themselves were not devoid of vegetation and we even noticed some cows roaming on the steep slopes of the hills and eating grass. It astonished us how they walked up to that height and how they were balancing themselves. A few more tourists were turning up and it was time for us to move on. The breakfast we had had a couple of hours earlier had been digested by then and we planned to have lunch first and then set out for Daulatabad.

Numinous Nasik

2011-01-17T21:47:00.000-08:00

Christmas always provides a good time for vacation, since there is less work pressure, at least till I have clients based in the US (I sincerely hope to have the same opportunity next year also :-)). Srimanta and I went to a lovely trip of Gwalior, Orchha and Varanasi during the same time, the previous year and decided to visit the caves of Ajanta and Ellora this time round. To spend a few more days out, we expanded our itinerary and included Nasik as the starting place of our tour. I must admit, Savi and Madhu’s travel blog, 10yearitch.com, provided some wonderful inputs for this tour and following their posts, I became interested about Nasik which is otherwise not a very happening tourist spot.

The tour planning was not without any worry or initial hiccups. Firstly, there was a question mark on Srimanta’s availability as he was outside the country. However, he confirmed that he will return home a week before Christmas. Santu and Anirban became the other members of the tour gang and there were issues with them as well like whether Santu would be joining us from Mumbai and Anirban who was serving his notice period would be granted the leave. Thankfully, all of us could ultimately make the trip and the trip became more interesting and enjoyable this time with more people.

However, due to the indecision about who would be really going and who may miss out due to unavoidable circumstances, we could not book any hotel until about a week before the trip and at that time we felt the heat as we found a real scarcity of hotel rooms (at least the MTDC ones which we initially planned to book). Santu suggested looking for hotels on the spot, but I was apprehensive due to the fact that it was peak tourist season in Maharashtra. The Diamond Tours & Travels whose office we visited for booking MTDC hotels could not even book any private hotel for us in Nasik. Luckily I got a good deal on cleartrip.com and booked Hotel Rama Heritage and it turned out to be the best hotel in our entire trip.

We boarded the HWH CSTM Express in the afternoon of Friday, the 24th of December and we spent most of the journey playing cards. Anirban was carrying a deck of cards and just like hostel days we were so much engrossed playing 29 that we stopped in between long hours of play only for taking meals and toilet breaks. The train was right on time. We reached Nasik Road station in the evening of the following day and took an auto to Hotel Rama Heritage. It was a really good value for money experience. I booked two rooms at Rs. 1500 per room per night and even got near 30% money back from cleartrip.com later on. Just after we checked in, the hotel staff brought us some complimentary Christmas pastries and it set the tone of our pleasant stay at the hotel for the next couple of days.

The next morning, after the complimentary breakfast at the hotel, we took an auto to the Pandavleni caves. The auto left us at the foot of the Trivashmi hills, about 8 Kms from the city of Nasik and we climbed some steep steps to reach the caves. There were in total 24 caves dating back to 1st century B.C. and 2nd century A.D. The tourism website mentioned that the caves were home to Jain saints like Tirthankara Vrishabdeo, Veer Manibhadraji and Ambikadevi, but we found many Buddhist sculptures as well and one of them seemed to be the Mahanirvana of Buddha. A notice board put up by the Archeological Survey of India which maintains the place mentioned about inscriptions in the caves belonging to the period of Satavahanas and Kshatrapas but most of them except for a few caves had been eroded away.

Cave 13, an important cave in this group is the earliest of the caves and is a Chaitya Griha (prayer hall). All others are Viharas (monasteries). Caves numbered 3,8,10 and 23 are the other important caves. We had anticipated that we would be mesmerized by the caves of Ajanta and Ellora in this trip, but we thoroughly enjoyed these caves as well and it marked a good start of the tour. They reminded me of the Elephanta and Karla caves that I visited during my brief stint in Mumbai in 2006. The Chaitya Griha comprised the usual nave, apse and octagonal pillars and wood-like carvings over the doorway. Many of the sculptures were in good condition but undoubtedly many more had been looted away or vandalized with the passage of time.

Now as we were walking along the caves we stopped from time to time taking pictures of the sculptures as well as ourselves and with four cameras you can well imagine the time we spent on the photo session. And then people were taking snaps with and without sunglasses (I was the only one who had no choice but to stick to my pair of spectacles) and Santu was busy showing off his newly gym-acquired biceps and Srimanta kept bringing out his collection of caps (throughout the tour). In the midst of all this Santu suddenly realized that he had lost his camera bag somewhere in the caves and that brought the sleuths out of us. We checked the photos in each of our cameras and were certain that he left the bag at a stone carving of one of the caves while some one else was taking his photo and forgot to take it back. Now the question was which cave was it. After consulting some more photos which were taken just after that photo we could finally identify the cave and revisited it. The bag was lying peacefully at the very place that we anticipated along with our tickets and we made Santu promise to treat us to celebrate the discovery of the lost bag. The fact that Santu actually treated us later on (though he at first tried to play it down) and that the bill was far more than the cost of the bag would help us remember the incident for a long time :-)

After visiting the last of the caves, we rested for a while and watched the beautiful tableland across the hill that housed the caves, before we went down and visited the stupa styled Buddha Vihar located just at the bottom of the hills. It was a bit confusing to figure out the entrance of the Vihar. It has quite a massive dome in the centre and contains a huge golden statue of Buddha in the middle of a large meditation hall. The fascinating thing about the hall was that it created echo of the slightest of sounds, even of tapping of fingers. A photographer (who might be someone associated with the Buddha Vihar) was requesting people to maintain peace and not to make noise. However, quite a few people seemed to amuse themselves by the reverberations of the little sounds they were making and some of them were even coughing deliberately. At first I was wondering who would be paying that guy to take pictures at this kind of a place but to my amusement I found many groups (some of them being quite big to be an entire neighbourhood) assembling together to take group photos. After spending some time there, we moved on to the Dadasaheb Phalke memorial, which was located right next to the Buddha Vihar.

Dhundiraj Govind Phalke better known as Dadsaheb Phalke is known as the pioneer of Indian cinema. His debut film Raja Harishchandra (1913) is India’s first full length feature film. In his career span of 19 years he made 95 movies and 26 short films, mainly based on mythological stories of India. Today his name is associated with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, instituted in 1969, the birth centenary year of Dadasaheb Phalke by the Government of India for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema, and is considered the highest award one can achieve in Indian cinema.

The memorial hall displays posters of Indian cinema right from the time of Raja Harishchandra to the most recent ones, like Lagaan, Swades and even Koi… Mil gaya.

Actually we had a tough time to locate the memorial hall. We first inquired about it from the local security men and they told us that it was closed as it was a Sunday. But when they pointed out the hall and suggested that we could still peek through the window panes, we found out that it was some other exhibition hall displaying archeological artifacts. Then when we mentioned that we were actually looking for the hall that consists of cinema posters, they realized the mix up and showed us the right hall. All the time it was extremely difficult to converse with them since they were speaking mainly in Marathi with a little bit of Hindi in between.

One can circumambulate the hall and see the posters in a chronological order starting from the earliest films and slowly moving on to the later ones. We could recognize the films and the artists only when we came to the period of Raj Kapoors and Dilip Kumars and Dev Anands. The posters of the major films of that era that I remember comprises Kabuliwala, Saheb Biwi aur Ghulam, Hum Dono, Naya Daur, Do Bigha Zameen, Bandini, Shree 420, Mother India and many more. Then were the posters of late 60s and 70s like Dev Anand’s Guide, Amitabh Bachchan’s Deewar and Kabhi Kabhie, Rajesh Khanna’s Aradhana and Anand and Sanveev Kumar’s Koshish. There was a section for the parallel cinema movement as well with posters of films like Paar and Ardh Satya. On the other end, posters from the movies of nineties and the new millennium were displayed. Though there were many standout films of recent times, still I would say that the selection of newer movies could have been a little bit more careful since there were a few forgettable movies finding their way in the hall.

At the centre of the hall, a section was dedicated to the three blockbusters of three generations considered to be the milestones of Indian cinema, namely Mughal-E-Azam, Sholay and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

After we completed our tour of the Dadasaheb Phalke memorial, we had our lunch in a nearby hotel. The bearer who served us turned out to be a Bengali and it was nice to order in our native tongue in a place far away from our home. Our next destination was the pilgrimage spot at the heart of the old city of Nasik and we asked him for directions. He advised us to take a local bus to Panchvati. So we came back to the main road, had a paan each from a nearby paan shop and waited for the bus which arrived shortly. The surprising thing I noticed was that the bus conductors in Maharashtra gives out custom printed tickets from a small portable printing machine they carry which are not like the bundle of pre-printed tickets that we are accustomed to with bus conductors in Kolkata.

Panchvati is a significant holy place in Nasik and the legend goes that Lord Rama stayed there for some time with his wife Sita and brother Laxman during their 14 year exile. After reaching the place and inquiring with a few locals we realized that the whole area in general and not any specific spot is known as Panchvati.

We decided to visit the Ramkund first, where it is believed that Rama and Sita used to bathe. A holy tank was built at the place in 1696 by Chitrarao Khatakar and even today innumerous pilgrims gather there to take a holy dip. We even noticed some people to drink the holy water though it did not seem to be hygienic as the tank water was not very clean with people bathing all over and offerings of the devout scattered every where. Hindus, even today, immerse the ashes of a dead person in the holy tank so that the dead person attains moksha or liberation. The ashes of eminent personalities like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi have been immersed here.

I took a walk around the tank and through the middle of the vegetable market that is situated just beside the tank. There were countless small temples along the ghats and a few larger ones in the vicinity. A group of elderly men in typical Marathi attire were chatting around one of the temples. Beside another, a few middle aged women were singing bhajans. I stopped there for a few minutes to listen to them. Though I could not follow most of the words, the music was very appealing and created an impact together with the surroundings. Some women were washing clothes in another part of the tank and the already washed ones were spread out for drying on the steps of the ghats. And some young men were flying kites which is fast becoming a rare sport in the cities. I think I had spent more time than I anticipated wandering about the ghats and my friends began to call me up and asked to return to the place where I left them.

From the Ramkund, we took a narrow road to the Kalaram Temple which was built in 1794 by Gopikabai Peshwa. The word Kalaram literally means black Rama. The idol of Lord Rama was built with black stone from the mines of Ramsej hills and hence the name. Unfortunately photography was not allowed inside the temple. En route, we visited another temple called the Goreram Temple. Here the idol of Lord Rama is made of white stone which alludes to the name which literally means fair or white complexioned Rama.

Next in our itinerary was the Tapovan. The name suggests a place for meditation. We skipped the Sita Gumpha, a cave like structure from where it is believed Ravana kidnapped Sita. It was not easy to get any conveyance to the Tapovan from the Kalaram temple complex. The autos were charging an exorbitant amount not appropriate for the meagre distance and we decided to walk. It would not have been possible to walk the entire distance but luckily we got an auto after walking only for a few minutes at a much cheaper rate. The place comprises lush greeneries with the Godavari flowing by its side and offers a tranquil spot to the religious minded people, but like all the holy places it too has opened up to shops selling all kinds of merchandise associated with religion. At the top a very trendy statue of the trio of Rama, Sita and Laxman has been built and it was forming a pleasant silhouette against the setting sun.

The next day we went to visit the Trimbakeshwar Temple which is more than 30 Kms away from the town of Nasik. We took a bus for the journey and the ride was peaceful. Trimbakeshwar is one of the 12 jyotirlingas dedicated to Lord Shiva. Legend has it that Gautam rishi performed a rigorous ritual here and being pleased with his devotion Lord Shiva brought down to earth the sacred rivers of Ganga, Gautami and Godavari. Right behind the temple, rises the Brahmagiri hills and one can trek up to the source of river Godavari.

There was a long zigzag queue with iron pillars in between at the entrance of the temple. Srimanta and Santu decided against standing in the queue, so only Anirban and I went ahead after depositing our cameras and mobile phones with the others. It was only after about two hours we could enter the temple complex. The ordeal of standing in the long queue turned out to be more painful than we had anticipated and the bright sun and bare feet were making it worse. But the bigger discomfort was the fellow devotees many of whom were rampantly breaking lines or making the place more dirty throwing off residues of foods. We were relieved when we could ultimately enter the premises but were equally disappointed when we noticed that the queue continued right till the main temple structure. Suddenly there was a rush of urgency as someone cried out that the temple doors would be closed soon and it actually happened a few minutes later. There was an announcement that the temple had been closed for Tantrik Shivarchan. We inquired a few people in the queue about how long the ritual would take and there were diverse answers; someone mentioned it could actually go on for hours. Many of the devotees had taken seats on the ground and started chanting devotional songs. Thankfully there was a shade at that place but by then we had suffered enough agony and wanted to go out. To add to our woes there was an exceedingly irritating man right behind us in the queue and his conversations with Anirban was fast snowballing into a verbal spat. But even if we wished to break away from the queue, it was extremely difficult to do so. At the end we could come out of the queue by jumping more than a couple of iron bars. At first the others considered our acrobatics as part of the plan to move ahead in the queue (the man I just talked about passed the most lewd comments) but when they realized that we were actually trying to break free, they became quiet. So now we came in close proximity to the hundreds of years old temple structure and we regretted that we were not carrying any camera. We admired the work on the outer walls of the temple and looked for a way out of the complex. But wait, we were again outwitted since there was no way out and the entire compound was surrounded with iron barricades. Finally, we approached a police constable and pleaded to him that we were not feeling well and do not wish to wait till the temple doors were opened again. He moved one of the barricades and we squeak in and left the temple complex much to our relief.

From the outside of the temple complex we took and auto to the Coin Museum, which is located about 10 Kms from Trimbakeshwar, near the Anjeri hills and on the way to Nasik. I had read in the tourism website that the Indian Institute of Numismatic Studies was established here in 1980. However, we found that it is not being run by any Government body but a private trust under the chairmanship of K.G. Maheshwari. I was always interested in coins and have a numismatic collection myself, so I made it a point to visit the museum especially as it is only one of its kind in Asia. The museum has a well documented record of Indian numismatics (with articles and photographs) staring from the prehistoric times to different ruling dynasties of various parts of India, coins from the times of Delhi Sultanate and British India and even post-independence coins. It was a little disappointing to see more replicas than real coins but then most of the collection was formed by private donation (majority coming from Mr. Maheshwari himself). Mr. Maheshwari is also an accomplished photographer and has donated many photos taken by him which comprises an entire section. We were granted permission for taking a few snaps for ourselves but ended up taking innumerous.

The auto driver who drove us to the museum had advised to take a bus from there back to Nasik. He mentioned that though most of the buses were non-stop, they would stop if we indicate to stop them by waving our hands. We were waiting at the nearest bus stop and observed that buses plying on the opposite route were actually stopping when someone waved his or her hands. That bolstered our confidence. But to our bewilderment, none of the buses on the way to Nasik stopped even though we were waving our hands vigorously. There was no option of auto or taxi as well, as we were stranded in the middle of a highway. Suddenly Santu waved his hand to stop a small truck and it actually stopped and the driver asked us to hop in. We were astonished at first but later on we understood that it is a common alternative form of transportation (as some more men boarded and alighted in between) and the truck driver was not doing us any great favour but actually charged us for the journey. It was a bit awkward in the beginning but after a while we started enjoying the experience and we would remember the near 20 Km unusual ride for a long time to come.

We came back to Nasik in the afternoon and after having lunch from a restaurant near the bus stand, we started for the Sula Winery. A number of winery has grown up around Nasik giving it the name of the wine capital of India. Sula is the oldest of the lot and the most renowned. We were looking for an auto to take us to the winery and after tough bargaining (mostly done by Santu who was our leader for monetary negotiations) we settled to pay Rs. 400 for taking us to the winery, waiting for a couple of hours and bringing us back to the city. The winery located in the outskirts of Nasik (about 20 Kms away from the city), comprises a vineyard and wine factory started by Rajeev Samant back in 1996. First harvesting was carried out in 1999 and the first wine hit the market in 2000. We booked a tour of the winery at Rs. 150 per head and the tour started at 4:30 PM sharp. Such a tour takes place every hour starting from 11:30 AM and the last tour of the day starts at 5:30 PM. Our guide Akshay gave us a brief introduction of the winery and started the tour from the vineyard that stretched out in front of the office building. They have large acres of vineyard at a distant place as well. We noticed rose plants in front of the vineyard and found out that their purpose is to detect any disease that may affect the grape plants, since rose plants are more susceptible to such diseases. The wine grapes are smaller and sourer than table grapes and there are separate vineyards for red and white wines. The crushing machines are also separate for the two varieties of grapes. Akshay enlightened us that in red wine the skin of the grapes are also used and hence the colour. Next he showed us the cellar where huge steel drums are used for fermentation. Maturation of wines is done by storing them in French oak barrels but Akshay revealed that the wines produced by Sula are mainly “young wines” matured at most for a couple of years unlike the aged wines of abroad. The tour ended in the testing room from where we could observe the bottling facility behind large glass windows. As a part of the tour we were invited to taste 5 of Sula’s popular wines (a very small quantity although) of varieties sparkling, white, rose and red. Later on we spent some time in the balcony adjoining the tasting room on the first floor looking over the vineyard and the sun setting behind the adjoining hills created a wonderful impact. One can buy a few bottles of wines from the winery itself as gift items. There is a restaurant as well attached to the winery and I had read many good things about it, but we could not wait for dinner and returned to our hotel in the evening.

The satisfying stay at Nasik had come to an end and the next day we were scheduled to start for Aurangabad. We enjoyed the beginning of the tour more than we expected and hoped that we would come to see more delightful places in the days to come.

Hearty Himachal : Dharamshala & Dalhousie

2011-01-05T00:28:00.000-08:00

Himachal Pradesh was the last leg of our tour during the Puja vacation. We had a few choices to pick from as our destination after Amritsar. While I had a liking for Dharamshala, Runa was keener on Dalhousie. At the end, we included both in our itinerary. Though it became more hectic, with one day to spend at each of the places and involved long journeys everyday, it was worth to explore or at least touch upon as many more places as we could in the short trip.

From Amritsar, we started early for Dharamshala. We thought the more than hundred kilometre stretch till Pathankot would be an easy ride as it is a national highway, but the road was full with potholes and we experienced a bumpy ride throughout. To add to our woes, the weather was playing foul and there had been constant drizzle and sometimes outpouring rain as our companion of the journey. The car was moving more slowly due to the rains and the temperature dropped substantially due to the chilly wind.

After we reached Pathankot, there was less than a hundred more kilometres to traverse. As we were moving up towards Dharamshala, the weather was becoming colder. Soon we reached Lower Dharamshala and found all the shops and offices closed. It turned out to be some holiday due to Balmiki Jayanti. The Kangra Art Museum located in the heart of the town, Kotwali Bazaar, was also closed. We also went past some kind of war memorial just before we entered the town, but did not bother to stop by. As we drove towards McLeodganj, our driver showed us the Dal Lake but there was no water at all and he explained to us that some kind of construction work was going on in the lake. I must also mention here that somewhere I read about an Anglican church called church of St. John in the wilderness, built in the mid nineteenth century and comprising a memorial of British Viceroy Lord Elgin, being located between Forsytheganj and McLeodganj. During our journey I noticed a graveyard and a little walk into the woods must have taken us to the church. But ignorance of our driver on there being any church coupled with the bad weather restrained me from pursuing. We had our hotel booked at Naddi, which is further up than McLeodganj and our driver advised to stop by the Dalai Lama Temple en route. Though it was late afternoon by then and we were starving, we decided to comply as it seemed difficult to get down in the evening in such weather.

We drove past a couple of monasteries but our driver told us that he was taking us to the main monastery, Tsuglagkhang, also known as Dalai Lama’s Temple. Ever since McLeodganj became the official residence of His Holiness Dalai Lama, a large Tibetan community has made this place their home and the place is often referred to as Little Lhasa. His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising in Tibet against communist China and was offered refuge by the Government of India in Dharamshala and later on he set up there the Government of Tibet in exile. It was not any special day, so we did not have any chance to get a glimpse of Dalai Lama. I think, the fact that in some of his interviews he had hinted of him being the last Dalai Lama (though that has not been his consistent view), and the possible shift in diplomatic relationship between India and China raises some uncertainty on the future importance of the place, though it may well continue to be a centre for Buddhist culture and tourism.

When we got off near the Tsuglagkhang temple complex, it was still drizzling and it was very cold. The first thing that caught my attention was a signboard pledging the release of Gendhun Choekyi. On May 14th 1995, HH Dalai Lama recognized him, then a 6 year old kid, as the 11th Panchen Lama and on 17th May, he along with his family was taken in by the Chinese government as political prisoners and till today no one knows their whereabouts. The place was nearly deserted and we were not sure which way to proceed. A Tibetan woman who was selling momos showed us the way and soon we reached a memorial pillar made of black stone commemorating the Tibetan martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the Tibetan cause. We took a narrow lane from there to reach the temple complex. I believe there must be some other entrance since that lane was too narrow to be fit for entering a temple complex of such significance and visited by a multitude of devotees.

To our utter disappointment we found the complex almost empty barring a couple of monks, meditating in front of a wooden structure lit up with innumerous candles, and most of the temples were also closed. So all we could do was to peek inside the temples and catch some glimpses through the glass windows. After a few minutes a monk arrived and let us enter one of the temples, named, probably, the Kalachakra Temple. There was a fearsome image of Kalachakra embracing Visvamata. There was probably also an image of Avolokitesvara. I must confess that I do not have any knowledge of Buddhism but what baffles me is that apart from some of the images, like probably Shakyamuni, I have witnessed some really intimidating images in some of the Buddhist monasteries that I could not quite correlate with the peaceful and tolerant picture that comes to mind when one thinks about the Buddhist religion. Please forgive me for my ignorance if I have just said something stupid. I pledge to do some research the next time I plan to visit a monastery.

Before going to our hotel, we made another brief halt; this time at the Bhagsu Nag Temple which is a Hindu Shiva Temple. This place was also deserted at the time we visited and we had to remove our shoes to enter the temple and walk on the wet (from rain) marble floor barefooted. That sent us shivers through our spines. There is nothing much to describe about the temple, but it is indeed a well-known one. The temple is patronized by the Gurkha Rifles and the temple holds special significance amongst the Gurkha community. A picturesque waterfall is located at a couple of kilometres' walk from the temple. But due to the bad weather, we went only as far from where we could have a look at the waterfall from a distance.

By the time we finally reached our hotel, we were literally starving and the first thing we did was order a sumptuous lunch. The hotel had an exquisite location with the snow capped Dhauladhar range rising just from behind the hotel. The hotel personnel informed us that snow was not very common at that time of the year and the peaks had been covered with snow only for the last couple of days. So it must have been our good luck.

After a very late lunch, I ventured out to have a closer look at the mountain range. The rain had stopped by then and the weather looked much better. However, the others were too much tired and I had to go out alone. I took a narrow trail that went down from the hotel and walked gently for about half an hour with no one in sight but only the majestic mountains accompanying me. I had to stop at last as the road ended abruptly into some private property guarded by locked iron gates. I was wondering how wonderful it would have been if we could have stayed at the beautiful bungalow that stood on the other side of the iron gates. With no other way around, I had to return back. By this time the sun had started setting in, bestowing an orange-ish tinge to the snow capped mountain range.

I came back to the hotel after having a lovely cup of tea at a small tea stall just in front of the hotel. The slow setting of the sun was a treat to watch from there and when I was back at the hotel, the mountain range was engulfed with a blue-ish cover of night.

My room had a good view of the mountain range but it was still better viewed from a common balcony which was located just beside my room. After dinner I locked my room and went to that balcony (which usually remained closed due to the strong chilly wind) to see the elegant effect of moonlight on snow (it was close to a full moon day) and while I was unmindful, someone closed the door of the balcony and locked it from the other side. Thankfully, I was carrying my mobile phone with me so that I could call up Runa and Abhishek to come to my rescue; otherwise I would have frozen in the cold.

I woke up early in the morning but there was no sunrise point as such there and when the sun came out finally, or was rather visible from the place, it was well into the morning. However, I could observe, with joy, the change in colour of the mountain range, as time went past, from sleepy blue to foggy white and then shimmering in the bright sunlight. As the sun was slowly coming up, its rays first lit up the peaks and gradually the whole range was incandescent with dazzling white snow. We took the same trail that I had pursued the earlier day, but this time only for a few yards until we reached a view point, took some quick snaps and then checked out of the hotel, bidding goodbye to the lovely little place called Dharamshala.

The next place on our Himachal itinerary was Dalhousie, but we thought of visiting the Kangra Fort before that. We researched the place from the list of places of interest near Dharamshala and it seemed to be a good option and feasible too since it was only 20 kilometres away. However, our driver grumbled at the prospect since it would be a little detour for him. Now this is the problem that I have faced a few times now. Even when one has a private vehicle booked for the entire trip, the drivers are reluctant to deviate even a little from the itinerary that is proposed at the beginning. What’s the point in having then a private vehicle at all? Thanks to the efforts and negotiating skills of Runa (and a call to the tour operator in Amritsar who booked the car for us) the driver at last gave in to our wish and sped off towards the Kangra Fort. I remember him showing us the picturesque cricket stadium of Dharamshala from a distance but quite not recollect if it was on that day or the previous one.

The fort was built by the Katoch dynasty rulers and its origin can be traced back to the ancient Trigarta kingdom. A bulletin outside the fort informed us that the fort was taken in by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1009 and was captured by Muhammad Bin Tughluq in 1337 and again in 1351 by his successor Firoz Shah Tughlug but it was not until 1662 that it was permanently triumphed over, when after a fourteen month’s siege, it was conquered by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. Following the Mughal decline, Raja Sansar Chand II was successful to recover the ancient fortress of his ancestors in 1786. But after he came into conflict, first with the neighbouring hill chiefs, then with the Gurkhas and lastly with Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab, he was compelled to surrender the fort. The fort remained with the Sikhs till 1846 when it was made over to the British along with the surrounding hills.

We walked along the passage that started from the initial arched gateway and after passing through some other gates and some flights of steps, we finally reached the top of the fort. From my experience at some of the other forts around India, I would say it is not that gigantic as some of the others and less tiring but in the Himalayas, it is probably the largest and certainly one of the oldest in India. Along the way, I noticed some defaced images of what seemed like Hindu goddesses that may have been vandalized during the Muslim period or it may have been ruined in the course of time as well (I heard the place suffered some serious earthquakes) and at the top there was a wall still engraved with beautiful sculpture and design. Alongside there was a temple where prayers were being offered. Surprisingly, it was a Jain Temple of Sri Adinathji. I wonder whether the Kangra rulers belonged to the Jain sect.

Before leaving, we visited the ASI maintained museum that is located within the fort complex and which houses figures of deities dating back to the 9th century, coins, paintings and even stone tools from the Paleolithic age.

We reached Dalhousie in the late afternoon and checked into our hotel near the Gandhi Chowk which hosts a statue of Mahatma Gandhi. After a very late lunch (on the second consecutive day) we went out to have a look around the town. This time round, Runa accompanied me but Abhishek and Rishi stayed back exhausted from the day’s toil. Our driver first took us to Panchpula, which was supposed to be some kind of spring or waterfall and a picturesque spot as had been described in the tourism website. However, it did not seem to attract any appeal at all, may be due to lack of water. What attracted us more was a Kashmir handloom store and the invitations from its salesmen to have a look at their “Chingu” blanket. It is a special kind of blanket made of Pashmina wool. At the very onset the salesman declared that they do not actually sell Chingu blanket but rather lease them for five years and at the end of five years their men would collect them from our homes and would refund us seventy percent of the cost of blanket. Not only that, they would also offer us five more free gifts along with the blanket at no extra cost. The funny way in which the salesman kept repeating “not only these, we will offer you yet another gift” and showed us the gift (ranging from blankets made of rabbit wool to shawls and bed-covers) reminded me of the hawkers who sell ten combs for rupees ten or five pens for rupees five in the local trains and show them to the passengers one by one. The salesman explained to us that these “Chingu” blankets are actually made up of coarse Pashmina wool and only after some use they would be fit for weaving the famous Pashmina shawls. That is why they would be collecting them back at the end of five years. The reason for this is that the earlier method of collecting Pashmina wool by killing the animals is banned and now only coarse wool is available which is cut off from the animals. We left the shop buying not the “Chingu” blankets but some shawls as gift items.

Next, we went to the Subhash Chowk where a statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose is located. Netaji had spent some time in Dalhousie back in 1937 recuperating from ill health and during his sojourn drinking water from a nearby natural spring helped him recover. It is now known as Subhash Baoli. The disappointment at Panchpula along with some not so good review of the Subhash Baoli in some tourist websites restrained us from going over to there. Instead, we went to visit St. Francis’ Church. It is a century old, catholic church which bears the old British style of architecture. But, frankly, there is nothing much to mention. That is why we did not bother to visit St. John’s Church which has a similar architecture and is located near the Gandhi Chowk.

Our driver had taken a break of thirty minutes after taking us to the Subhash Chowk, but we did not take as much time to visit the church. We spent the remaining time helping ourselves with some lovely momos and hot coffee from a nearby cafe. It felt nice to have something hot in the cold weather.

After an uneventful evening and night, we checked out of the hotel in the morning and headed towards Khajjiar.

Khajjiar is about 22 kilometres away from Dalhousie. En route we stopped at a view point to take some snaps of the beautiful valley and the snow capped mountain range. There was one road spiraling off towards the wild life sanctuary at Kalatop. Our driver mentioned that the road to Khajjiar usually remains closed in the winter due to heavy snow.

We reached Khajjiar just after noon and decided to have lunch first. This was the first time in three days that we were having lunch at proper time. The Chinese food at the nearby restaurant was mediocre but one could try to enjoy them forgetting the Chinese names and rather treating them as Indian dishes with a few uncommon spices and sauces.

Khajjiar is a mesmerizing glade with a circumference of about 5 kilometres surrounded by thick deodar forest and has a small water body in the centre. Perhaps at some point of time boating was done but the pool was not in a good shape then and the water oozed out into the nearby grassland had resulted in a marshy surrounding. Though the place attracted an abundance of tourists, it was big enough to allow one to be just with oneself and find one’s peace, especially at the farthest corners where there were very few hawkers to bother. There were a large number of hawkers infesting the frontal part of the glade ranging from people selling food items to photographers and even men offering horse rides. The unusual part was that every horse had a name imprinted on its neck or back and the names varied from Shan to Badal to John to Sikander etc. etc. Runa posed for one of the photographers in ethnic Himachal attire and even Abhishek joined her for a couple of snaps sporting a round Himachal cap. While they were waiting for the photographs to be delivered, I went for a leisurely stroll across the ground. It was in fact much bigger than I had anticipated at first and by the time I completed my circumambulatory, it was very tiring. A few groups were playing cricket in the middle, so I had to keep a cautious eye so that I did not get hit by the odd ball. The other amusing thing I noticed was these large air-tight plastic spheres which comprised small inner spheres in the centre through which people could somehow snuggle in and remain there in suspended position such that they were able to breathe free in the void of the inner sphere, and then they were rolled on and on. I was wondering how much they were enjoying their roller-coaster ride.

We left in the late afternoon bidding goodbye to the charming glade of Khajjiar where supposedly the summer camp scenes of the Bollywood blockbuster “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai” was shot and our next destination was the town of Chamba. I had read in some travel posts about a gigantic Shiva statue in the vicinity and since I had inquired about it from our driver earlier, he made sure to halt there on the way. Some Jagadamba temple was being constructed at that place, but the main attraction was the 81 feet high statue of Lord Shiva which looked like it might be made of copper. The massive statue in front of the snow capped mountain range had a fantastic effect.

Chamba is a former princely state and dates back to 6th century. The 24 kilometres’ distance from Khajjiar was covered in less than an hour’s time. Once in the town of Chamba, we first visited the Bhuri Singh Museum named after Raja Bhuri Singh of Chamba who ruled during the early twentieth century. The museum was inaugurated in 1908 with J. Ph. Vogel as the founding curator. The museum exhibits murals, painted doorways, wood and stone carvings, paintings, photographs and portraits, war-drums, masks and scriptures among many other items. Some of the artifacts are from the Rang Mahal and the State Kothi of Bharmour. There is also specimen of the famous Chamba Rumaal. I also noticed a sliver “hawda” and large cannons. There were stone tablets with inscriptions in Sharda, Bhoti and Takri scripts and paintings from the Basohli, Kangra and Guler school of painting styles.

Not far from the museum is located the Laxminarayan Temple Complex, the oldest temple in Chamba. Actually at first we could not really make out the way in the middle of the market and entered a narrow by-lane following the direction of a little girl. But then somehow we found our way and reached the entrance of the temple complex. The complex housing six "sikhara" style main temples dedicated to either Shiva or Vishnu and several smaller shrines was founded in the 10th century by Sahil Verman. The main idol of Lord Vishnu is made of a rare marble and has a radiant appearance. Wooden “chhatris” and tiles adorn the top parts of the shrines, perhaps to ward off the snow. It was a great photo opportunity to capture all the six "sikharas" in a single photo frame, but the obscure location of the temple coupled with the unhelpful light and shade of the evening (and also perhaps my limited acumen as a photographer) restricted me from taking one.

We spent some time in the market afterwards enjoying tea and sweets and when we returned to our car finally, we found our driver very worried. It appeared that he had called Runa’s mobile phone a few times but she had left it in the car itself and blissfully forgotten about it. The cause of his worry was that we were getting late for our journey to Pathankot from where we were to catch a train and we found out that we had miscalculated the distance of Pathankot from there. Thankfully, we reached the Chakki Bank railway station (located outside the town of Pathankot) well before the scheduled time, though we had to travel a fair bit after sundown. The tour had come to the end. We would be taking the overnight Jammu Rajdhani to New Delhi and a flight back to Kolkata. We would be going back to the usual, mundane, regular, boring life and what was more agonizing was that I would have to resume office the next day itself. I hoped that I would be able carry the image of the beautiful tranquil Beas flowing between mountains, viewed from the last tea break on our journey, for a long time even after I come back home.

P.S. – The Jammu Rajdhani was my worst Rajdhani experience but the new airport in the capital was awe awakening and as good as any of the airports I have seen abroad.

Pride of Punjab : Amritsar

2010-11-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

After coming back from a long tour of Kumaon in the summers, I was not thinking of any other trip during the Pujas as I also had in the hindsight the tour with my friends during the Christmas week. However, just over a month after we came back from Kumaon, Runa and Abhishek summoned me to plan something after the Puja holidays. We did a frantic search for finalizing the places to visit taking help from the different state tourism websites and Bhraman Sangi, but had to discard most of the choices due to time constraint. At last we zeroed in on Amritsar and planned to go to Himachal from there on our return way. Accordingly we booked tickets for the Kolkata - Amritsar Super Express.

This was the first time I boarded any train from the Kolkata station (located near Belgachhia) and though the train looked decent enough, it ran late by a few hours from the very start. As a result, we reached Amritsar late in the evening as opposed to early evening, which was the original schedule of the train and had to abandon the plan to visit the Golden Temple that evening.

We had booked our hotel in Amritsar in advance, so we were spared the agony of searching for accommodation that late in the evening after a long journey. However, we had not booked any car for the tour as the travel agent in Kolkata, who had booked our hotels for the tour, was charging on a higher side for the conveyance. Our plan was to book a car on the spot and luckily we could do that from the hotel itself and that too at a much reasonable rate after a bit of bargaining.

After an uneventful night of profound sleep punctuated at times by the clamourous sounds coming from the kitchen of the hotel which was located not far from my room, we went to visit the Golden Temple, the first thing in the morning. The temple was situated not far from our hotel and within a few minutes, our car reached the temple complex. On the way, we came across a large gate structure known as the Gandhi Gate and a statue in front of it, which I believe is of the revolutionary Udham Singh who had assassinated Michael O'Dwyer.

The temple complex has a rectangular pathway surrounding the beautiful pool called Amrit Sarovar at the centre with large entrance gates on four sides. The name of the town is derived from the name of the pool or the holy tank and at the centre of the pool the main temple structure stands on a square platform and is connected by a long causeway.

The actual name of the temple is Hari Mandir Saheb, which is more popularly known as the Golden Temple. The boundary of the pool and the foundation of the construction of the temple were laid in late 16th century by the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev. The guru’s followers settled down in the neighbourhood and a small town called Ramdaspur was founded which was later renamed as Amritsar. I read somewhere about the association of the place with the epic Ramayana and the legend goes that Lord Rama’s twin sons were taught at this place. I had even come across another story, which says that Emperor Akbar granted the land for the construction of the temple and the Muslim Pir Mian Mir of Lahore laid the foundation stone. However, I did not find many supporting records elsewhere. It is also said that the town flourished during the rule of the first Sikh Maharaja, Ranjit Singh. The temple was destroyed by Afghan invaders in mid 18th century and rebuilt with the offerings collected by the Khalsa. Sardar Jassa Singh re-laid the foundation of the temple in 1764.

After we kept our shoes at the free seva and entered the temple complex we roamed around the marble walkway encircling the temple and taking snaps. We moved past the “langarkhana” where one can take one’s meal buying appropriate tickets beforehand. The first thing one would notice here is the excessive cleanliness unlike most other temples and the service, be it at the place where we kept our shoes or where drinking water was offered to the thirsty devotees or the langarkhana where people were washing dishes in preparation for the large meal. I believe there is a culture there of social/religious service as many of the people providing service to the devotees did not seem to be employees of the Siromoni Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee. I think I had even seen Navjyot Singh Sidhu (ex-cricketer and currently Member of Parliament from Amritsar) in some television programme to polish the shoes of devotees in front of the temple as part of his yearly service offering. In fact it was written somewhere that the Guru Arjan Dev cured the ailment of Wazir Shah, the then Governor of Lahore by making him perform “karsewa” through Baba Budha Ji. There is actually a tree in the complex beneath which Baba Budha Ji is believed to camp to perform the service of digging up the holy tank. His original name was Bura but Guru Nanak named him Budha (the old one) because he was young in age yet old in wisdom. Baba Budha Ji was appointed the first Granthi (the holy Granth reciter) and he performed all Guruship installation ceremonies from Guru Angad to Guru Hargobind.

Just before entering the main temple complex, one walks through a narrow marble channel with water running through it cleansing the devotee’s feet and perhaps soul before one enters the sanctum sanctorum. Unlike most of the temples here one needs to descend as the holy shrine is built a few steps below the level of the adjacent area.

The causeway on the western side of the pool, which leads to the temple, is bordered with a marble balustrade and decorated with lamps on slightly taller marble columns and there is an archway with a huge chandelier. The other incredible thing was that there were fans scattered on the entire stretch of the causeway to make the devotees, queued up, comfortable in the heat.

Soon we reached the Hari Mandir. The lower part of the exquisitely beautiful temple is made of white marble and the upper part covered with plates of gilded copper giving it a golden look. Unfortunately photography was not allowed inside the temple and hence I could not capture the astounding splendor of the interiors. The guards in blue robes were actually politely requesting not to take pictures inside the temple, but their physique and spears ensured that nobody defy the rule. In the interior, on the ground floor is placed Guru Granth Sahib (holy book of the Sikhs) under a gorgeous canopy studded with jewels. The first floor is a small pavilion known as Shish Mahal is ornamented with mirrors of different shapes and sizes and has an open square at the centre of the floor where from one can view the ground floor. Above is another smaller square pavilion decorated with magnificent murals mostly depicting floral designs. The golden domes of varying sizes located at what appeared to be the terrace of the temple along with golden kiosks at the corners have a wonderful effect.

As we were moving out of the temple, I noticed that one person was periodically sweeping away the money offered to the Granth Sahib by the devotees with a broom in to a collection box. It seemed a comical but effective measure.

At the other end of the causeway was situated the Akal Takht, or the eternal throne of the Granth Sahib. It represents the primary seat for Sikh religious authority and political assembly. It may issue decrees clarifying Sikh doctrine and may summon and order penance on persons charged with violating religious discipline. There are four other “takhts” located at various places but the Akal Takht enjoys a special veneration. It is here where the Granth Sahib is kept during the night. Traditionally Sikh warriors seek blessings here before they go to war. It is also here that the followers of Bhindranwale took refuge during Operation Bluestar.

A group of Sikh men were performing “bhajans” and one of them was reciting some religious sermons in front of the Akal Takht on top of a gorgeously crafted marble floor.

After coming out of the Golden temple, we visited the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial which is only a few yards away.

At this very place hundreds of innocent, unarmed and defenseless Indians were massacred on 13th April, 1919 as the British Raj police open fired at the orders of Brigadier General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer. A number of things built up the prelude of the massacre including the revolutionary attacks on the British Raj and protests against the Rowlatt Act amongst others. On the ill-fated day (which was also the festival day of “Baisakhi”), thousands gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh which was then the property of the family of Sardar Himmat Singh, who worked in the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. An hour after the meeting started, General Dyer marched in with his force and deployed his rifle men near the entrance and without warning or ordering the crowd to disperse, open fired. The firing continued for 20 minutes and 1650 round of ammunition were fired. The official account states 379 were killed and 1200 wounded, however the casualty number quoted by Indian National Congress was much higher. A commission of inquiry known as the Hunter Commission was set up later by Edwin Montagu, Secretary of State for India, but General Dyer was not awarded any penal action for his role and was merely relieved of his command. A nationwide protest broke out which was exemplified by Rabindranath Tagore’s renunciation of his British Knighthood. On 13th March, 1940, Udham Singh, an Indian revolutionary who witnessed the massacre with his own eyes shot and killed Sir Michael O’Dwyer (at Caxton Hall in London) who was the British Lieutenant Governor of Punjab at the time of the massacre and who had approved Dyer’s action and was believed to be one of the conspirators behind the massacre.

The Jallianwala Bagh was later acquired by the nation and a memorial was built which was inaugurated by Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 13th April, 1961.

The Amar Jyoti or the eternal flame was built to commemorate those who lost their lives in the massacre.

A small pyramid like structure is built to indicate the place from where people were fired at.

Even the bullet marks on the walls are preserved and there is a martyr’s well where people jumped off. Some of the surrounding buildings also are probably of the same bygone time.

The place also maintains a visitor’s facilitation centre where various news clippings of the time and some pictures of the dead and wounded victims of the massacre are kept to remind the public at large the magnitude and the cruelty of the brutal massacre. It was appalling to see at the pictures of the indiscriminate public whipping of the Indians and people on their hands and knees to cross the length of a street as a result of the crawling order, which was posted even after the massacre under the auspices of the martial law that was imposed on Amritsar and adjoining areas by O’Dwyer and granted by Viceroy, Lord Chelmsford.

After lunch, we headed towards the Wagah Border which is only 28 kilometres away from Amritsar. At the Wagah border, the security forces of India and Pakistan, namely the Border Scurity Force and the Pakistan Rangers respectively, follow the “lowering of flags” ceremony, every evening. On the way to Wagah, we passed by the colossal Khalsa College, the Guru Nanak Dev University and suddenly after crossing an army cantonment area, a signboard indicated that we are only 23 kilometres away from Lahore. We reached the border a good couple of hours before the event as our driver warned us of the huge crowd presence. There were separate queues for men and women and even separate sitting arrangements for the two. The women’s part of the stadium was nearer to the gates of the border and it was very difficult to see the proceedings from the men's gallery. To add to it was the unorganized conduct of the visitors and everyone was standing up now and then even though the army personnel were repeatedly requesting them to be seated. Quite surprisingly the Pakistani lot seemed to be much more ordered from this side of the border. The reason may be that they were less in number and easier to control. However, I must say that the security men of our side did not put up a true effort to discipline the visitors at our end and as a result there was cacophony and absolute chaos. Rishi was feeling a bit claustrophobic and we were somewhat ruing our decision to come here. But then of course Wagah had always been on our itinerary of Amrisar.

To cheer up our spirit I tried to look at the funnier side of the events rather than being skeptic. The security men were playing patriotic songs starting from Lata Mangeshkar’s “Ae mere watan ke logon” to the contemporary “Chak De” and even the Oscar winning “Jai Ho”. Manoj Kumar could have lived only on the royalty of the songs from his films going by their popularity and the number of times they were played at the Wagah, such as the melodious Mahendra Kapoor number “Mere desh ki dharti” from the film Upkar. Not sure how the “Koi kahe” track from the film Dil Chahta Hai found its way through all those patriotic numbers. The songs were cheered by the public in a huge way with people including the senior citizens shaking their legs with the tunes and throwing open their arms at the end of each stanza.

Children and even their mothers were running to and fro with the national flag and after some time the open space in front of the gallery took almost the shape of a dance floor for them.

A BSF man in a white shirt was orchestrating the events and in between the songs he was urging the public to shout slogans like “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, “Hindustan Zindabad” and “Bande Mataram”. There were similar slogans heard from the other side of the border as well and the man in the white shirt was asking us to shout our slogans in a higher pitch than the Pakistanis.

After all this adrenaline rushing song and dance and shouting, the real event started just before sunset. The soldiers on either side paraded towards their respective border gates and eventually the gates were opened and the flags were lowered and then folded and then the soldiers shook hands and retreated and the gates were again closed.

After the Wagah visit we were all so exhausted that we headed straight to the hotel. However, later on in the evening Runa and I made a short visit to the Golden Temple to catch a glimpse of it under the effects of light, while Abhishek and Rishi stayed back at the hotel. It was a spectacular sight to behold the temple actually gleaming with golden radiance in contrast to the dark night surroundings and I would have missed an extravagant experience had I not made the visit.

Our stay at Amritsar had come to an end and we were readying ourselves for our Himachal visit which would start the next day.

Kolkata Kaleidoscope : Durga Puja

2010-10-26T02:54:00.000-07:00

Bengal had been waiting for the Durga Puja, its most cherished festival, for some time. Though the weather conditions have changed much over the years resulting in changes in the characteristics of “Sharat” (autumn) from what we have read in the books and we do not really see much “kaash” flowers in the city, but somehow one can sense a change in the air when the Pujas are approaching and suddenly before anyone realizes, Mahalaya is there, knocking on the doors.

Durga Puja is the most celebrated festival of Bengal that takes place for five days in autumn. The mythology is that when the demon Mahishasura let loose a reign of terror and the gods were unable to overpower him, they prayed in unison and the energy emanated from their prayers created goddess Durga, who had supreme powers and who was entrusted with the task of defeating the demon army of Mahishasura. This has been portrayed in details in the Markendya Purana. The other myth (or should I say history) is that originally Durga Puja was performed in spring but Rama worshipped Durga in autumn before engaging in a war with Ravana (this is known as “Akaal Bodhon”) and from then the Pujas are carried out in autumn.

The artisans portray the Mahishasuramardini image of Durga in the idols they make where the goddess (sitting on a lion and with ten weapons in her ten hands) is seen to subjugate the demon Mahishasura who has come out of the trunk of a decapitated buffalo.

The goddess, who is revered as a mother and referred to as Ma Durga, is also seen with her children (Laxmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartik) by her side. According to some other purana, she is perceived as Uma, the wife of Lord Shiva. In Bengal, this representation of her is more popular over her warrior aspect and the five days of Durga Puja are believed to be the time when Ma Durga, along with her children, makes a visit to her paternal home every year.

Initially, Durga Puja was carried out in the homes of the wealthy and the affluent. But later on twelve “brahmins“ or noble men got together and performed a (“barowari”) Puja for the masses (“sarbojanin”) and the money was collected in the form of subscription. This has become the trend over the years.

Shashti was the only working day for me during the Pujas. Saptami and Ashtami were holidays and Navami and Dashami fell on weekends. Even on Shahsti, the mood at the office was far from doing serious work. People were contemplating to leave early either to pursue their own Puja plans or to avoid the mad Puja traffic. I had a lunch invitation myself at Santanu’s place near the airport and left office accordingly. The only worry was how to reach home in the evening. The Metro was one option, but then for the last few days I had been reading all sorts of news regarding the malfunctions of the Metro due to the Puja rush and may be compounded by the inauguration of so many new stations without investing in new rail rakes. Thankfully, Saibal gave me a lift in his car up to Rashbehari crossing and surprisingly it did not take us much long time like the previous evening. May be that was because, we took the Park Circus connector and not the Kasba one from the EM Bypass.

In between Rashbehari crossing and my home some distinguished Pujas take place. But anticipating they would be much crowded, I took the Pratapaditya Road where some not so famous but decent enough Pujas are located. The first one on the way was the Trikon Park which built a lovely “pandal” in the shape of a temple with marble floors and art work.

As I was walking further down, I noticed a sign on the walls of an old worn out building declaring it as a dangerous one and cautioning the people not to touch it. These kinds of notices are usually put up by the Corporation so at first I did not heed much attention to it. But after a while it looked strange, as I did not remember any such building being there and I came back to the place. Then only I realized that it was actually a Puja “pandal” that had been designed like an old “zamindar” house (the Babubagan concept from the previous year) with the interiors decorated with old world furnitures and gramophones, oil paintings and heads of stuffed hunted down animals which once adorned the supposedly declining “zamindari”. This Puja called the Chatuskon Park was a discovery this year and actually I saw long queues at its gates on the following days.

Pratapaditya Road Trikon Park

Pratapaditya Road Chatushkon Park - Sharad Sammilani

After visiting these two Pujas, I gathered some courage to try and see the more renowned ones. First on list was Mudiyali Club. It usually follows traditional theme and this time round it was not anything different. The idols of the deities or “pratima” as we say is “ekchala” i.e. with a semi-elliptical backdrop behind the images. The “pandal” or the makeshift building resembled a grand golden temple. After Mudiyali, it was the turn of Shibmandir, which is known for its innovative themes. This time the theme was something like Mother Nature, I guess. The interiors were like a forest and the “pandal” itself was like the trunk of a tree. Unfortunately, I could not take any good snap as it was much crowded. When one exits from the rear end of Shibmandir, one can make a quick visit to Sebak Sangha. This Puja is located where the road past the Menoka Cinema meets the Lake Avenue. Since my school was nearby, I have seen this Puja for many years. The “pratima” made by Mohanbasi Rudrapal is its main attraction.

Sebak Sangha

Very near to my home, a nice and small Puja takes place at someone’s residence in the Charu Avenue. After resting for a while on the couches there I went to see the Nabapally Sangha Puja before returning home. This was a renowned Puja not many years ago and won some prizes as well when I was young, but has slowly faded into oblivion probably due to lack of patronage.

Charu Avenue - Barir Puja

Nabapalli Sangha

On Saptami Ma and I ventured to see Pujas from North Calcutta in our new car. We took the Central Avenue and hoped to see the Md. Ali Park Puja. As far I could remember, the last time I saw that particular Puja was more than fifteen years back. However, it proved to be difficult to park nearby and in our quest of finding a suitable parking space, we turned left into MG Road and ultimately reached Rabindra Sarani. We let go Md. Ali Park and made our first stop at Rabindra Kanan, a Puja that takes place in a park off the Rabindra Sarani.

Rabindra Kanan

Continuing on Rabindra Sarani, we made our next stop near Ahiritola. Since we parked at some distance, we first had a look into the BK Pal Park Puja before proceeding to Ahiritola. The concept over there was of an underwater world with fishes and corals inside the “pandal” and the outside was like boats ferrying on the surface of the water.

Ahiritola Sarbajanin

Next on cards was Kumartuli. I had come to Kumartuli a week earlier to see the idols in making. Now was the time to see the finished product. The theme there was “kaal-chakra” with different sections comprising images of Rama and Krishna etc. The idol of Durga was unique with a Vasuki like snake behind her and many images resembling mime artists playing the part of Mahishasura.

Kumartuli Park

I had to stop by Chhotomasi’s home to hand her over some papers related to her Mumbai trip and before going to her house we visited the Bagbazar Sarbajanin Puja. This was again a traditional Puja with Durga in “daker-saaj”. The imposing chandelier was another attraction.

Bagbazar Sarbajanin

The stay at Chhotomasi’s place was a brief one as she was getting ready for the flight to catch. She advised to make a stop by Hatibagan on our way back. Here, Durga did not have any weapon and the demon Mahishasura was asking for mercy with his hands folded instead of being engaged in a war with Durga.

Hatibagan

Since we planned to take the Bypass route on our way back home, we decided to make a visit to Telengabagan. It is one of the most sought after Pujas nowadays. The idol of Durga had clay like finish and standed on a large Shivalinga. The images of her children were carved out near her feet and one had to make a round trip to see them all. The “pandal” was also built such that there was no wall around the deity and one could do a “pradakkhin” around it.

Telengabagan

The journey home was uneventful except for the fact that we could not locate our car and driver for quite some time after we came out of Telengabagan. I reached home in the late afternoon, had a very late lunch and I took a quick nap before going out again in the evening with Subhadip who had come down to Kolkata from Lucknow to celebrate Pujas before his trimester exams.

Initially we planned to meet near Deshapriya Park, but the cab I took could not go that far since there was a no entry sign on Lake Road and I was coming from the Southern Avenue end. I got down there and went to visit Samajsebi Sangha and asked Subhadip to meet me there. The “pandal” was decorated with dolls made from clothes. A few snaps later, I went to the other Puja which is located nearby – Ballygunge Cultural. The “dhakis” (drummers) were doing a special session when I reached there. In the mean time Subhadip reached Samaj Sebi and I had to go back there and again come to see Ballygunge Cultural. We heard that Vidya Balan inaugurated the Puja this time. Soon after, we crossed Rashbehari Avenue and went on to visit the Tridhara Sammilani Puja. This is the same order in which I visited these Pujas for the last couple of years and usually Tridhara Sammilani gives tough competition to the other two though they are more famous. However, this time I did not understand their concept. It was like this bluish grid backdrop that reminds one of laser shows and there were three large idols which hardly looked like images of Durga. The funny part is that when someone inquired about the theme of the Puja, one of the organizers gave him a booklet to read to understand the theme. This is one of the examples of the over indulgence of Puja themes in recent times when more often than not, no one understands what the theme is.

Samajsebi Sangha

Ballygunge Cultural

Tridhara Sammilani

We took the exit towards Hazra Road from Tridhara Sammilani to proceed towards our next destination, Maddox Square. Similar to previous year we took a wrong turn and took Manoharpukur Road to end up near the Hazra crossing end and again changed direction towards Sarat Bose Road. In between we stopped by Hazra Balak Sangha, Hazra 22 Pally and many other less known Pujas, the name I do not remember any more. Maddox Square “pratima” was again a traditional “ekchala” like the earlier years. The attraction of the Puja is its ambience and the quality of the crowd. Usually people select this Puja as the meeting place for friends. The large ground helps a lot to this cause. But for the past few years it had been raining during the Pujas and this time also I noticed patches of water and mud here and there. However, that did not restrict the youngsters from sitting down on newspapers on the very ground. Even there were newspapers available for sale for sitting purpose. It seemed that nowadays people meet here for “adda” more due to the fact that it is fashionable rather than to enjoy the charm it once provided. As a result all and sundry meet up here since everyone wants to be cool, and as a result the sophistication of the place is lost in the process.

Maddox Square

From Maddox Square we took a cab to Sadananda Road to make an attempt to see the Badamtala Ashar Sangha Puja. This Puja again has gained a lot eminence is the last few years. I think the last time I could see this particular Puja was back when I was in school. Lately it is so crowded that I usually prefer to avoid. Fortunately for us, this time round, the crowd was not so much. The cabbie who took us there had no knowledge of the roads and I had to guide him throughout. At least I am not the only person who can not remember most of the roads. The most fascinating part of Ashar Sangha was that they have painted and decorated the surrounding buildings as well as the nearby trees and even lamp posts with colourful festoons. It took a while before we realized that those are real buildings with people living in.

Just beside Ashar Sangha, there is another well-known Puja called 66 Pally. This year they had used innumerous paper lamps and colourful umbrellas hanging upside down with lights inside that resulted in a striking effect. The other atypical thing about this Puja was that Mahishasura was on the right side of Durga and the Lion on the left side. Usually it is the other way round.

Badamtala Ashaar Sangha

66 Pally

On my return way, I again visited or rather accompanied Subhadip to Mudiyali and Shibmandir. Any attempt to take any photo was again futile, more because of the overzealous crowd management of the volunteers at those places rather than the actual crowd rush.

On Ashtami I go and offer “anjali” or prayers at the Balaram Bose Ghat Puja near Ma’s ancestral home. This claims to be the oldest “barowari” Puja in Kolkata and this was its 101st year. Starting from its centenary year, it has started to build a big gate at the front and other adornments on the walls. Earlier, it used to be a simple and placid affair.

After the “anjali” and a quick visit to the Avaya Mandir, which is adjacent to the Puja and houses a permanent idol of Durga, we dashed off to visit a few other renowned Pujas of Bhowanipore. Of course we did not forget to buy the customary “khasta kachuris” from “goopi’s”, a small confectionary shop on Balaram Bose Ghat Road. The Pujas we payed a visit to, were Harish Park, 68 Pally, Bakulbagan, Golmath and Abasar, in that order. On our way Ma and Boromasi showed me the ancestral house of Uttam Kumar on Girish Mukherjee Road. Thirty years after his death, he still remains the only superstar from Bengal. May be Prasenjit will catch up to him some day. Bakulbagan usually portrays obscure images of Durga, but this year it broke all earlier records. According to the billboards, the theme and idol had been conceptualized by Mamata Banerjee. May be she is trying to beat the chief minister on the cultural front as well.

Bhowanipore Adi Sanatani Dharmatsahini Sabha (Balaram Bose Ghat)

Avaya Mandir

Harish Park

68 Pally

Bakulbagan

Golmath

Abasar

From Bhowanipore we went to Ballygunge to pay a visit to Pishimani’s house. Pishemoshai was not keeping well for the last few days. On our way home we stopped by Adi Ballygunge and 21 Pally. I think the last time Ma took me to Adi Ballygunge was when I was a little boy. There were ethnic paintings on the walls of the “pandal” depicting scenes from the stories of Durga.

Adi Ballygunge

21 Pally

On Nabami, we decided to visit the remaining prominent Pujas in South Calcutta. We started off with Sanghasree near Kalighat. This was a famous Puja in the bygone days but lost its charm over the years probably because of lack of funds. This year however, the Puja was gorgeous. Different manifestations of Durga were depicted.

Sanghasree

From there we went on to see the Deshapriya Park Puja. We entered from the Priya Cinema end which is generally reserved for VIPs and members but no one objected since it was during daytime.

Deshapriya Park

Next on list was the Singhee Park Puja. It had built its “pandal” as a replica of the Golden Temple of Amritsar. It was exciting as I was scheduled to visit the real temple during my vacation after the Pujas.

Singhee Park

Just opposite to Singhee Park is the illustrious Ekdalia Evergreen Puja which receives the patronage of trade union leader Subrata Mukherjee. By the way, he is again back in the Trinamool Congress from Congress. Not sure how many times he switched sides. The chandelier at Ekdalia is one of its great attractions apart from the electrical lighting. Since it was during the day, we could not enjoy the light works but the chandelier did not disappoint us.

Ekdalia Evergreen

Driving through Gariahat Road, we left our car near Babubagan. There was a huge traffic jam near Babubagan right in the afternoon and a queue as well at its gates. I think Durga and the others were depicted as tribal people. The “pandal” however was made of circuit boards and computer key boards etc. So I am not very sure about the correlation of the two.

Babubagan

Ma and I wandered around for some time before we could locate the Selimpur Pally Puja. It used intermingled pieces of woods as the “pandal”. If I remember correctly it was according to some sort of art work names “sajhi”. I was wondering how they would protect the “pratima” during the rains.

Selimpur Pally

We crossed Gariahat Road and went to see the Jodhpur Park Puja. The “pandal” was built with colourful blocks similar to what kids play with.

Jodhpur Park

Since we would board the car again from Prince Anwar Shah Road, we made a brief stop at the Taltala EDF Ground Puja which is named as Pallimangal Samiti. The theme was the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. Imitations of his paintings adorned the walls of the “pandal”. There was a statue of him at the front and the “pandal” itself was a replica of one his houses at Shantiniketan (Shyamali – if I remember correctly).

Pallimangal Samiti (Taltala EDF)

It proved to be too much walking for Ma from Babubagan to EDF, as her knees gave away to the arthritic pain. Thankfully she got enough rest at Runa’s house which was our next destination. The housing society that Runa stays at started its own Durga Puja from this year and even won some prizes and recognitions. Here also the theme was Rabindranath or specifically his “Sahaj Path”. We had our lunch there and accompanied Runa and Rishi to the Mudiyali and Shibmandir Pujas. This was the third time I visited these couple of Pujas and finally I could take some snaps.

Runa's Housing Soceity

Mudiyali Club

Shibmandir

At last I visited the Puja which takes place in the “para” or neighbourhood just beside our house.

Shanti Pally

Bijoya Dashami was the last day of the five days of Durga Puja. I had no plans for that day and spent the entire day at home and helped myself with sweets ignoring all the fears of weight I was putting up in the process. The mood around was pensive and that of melancholy since it is believed that Ma Durga returns to her husband’s home from her paternal home on this day. This day also marks the beginning of the wait for next year’s Durga Puja. Hope it will be as joyous and blissful as this year’s was.

Kolkata Kaleidoscope : Kumartuli

2010-10-07T03:07:00.000-07:00

Durga Puja is round the corner and this time I took the initiative to visit Kumartuli (for the first time), the home and workshop of the famous clay model makers of Kolkata. The name of the place has its origin (quite evidently) from “kumar” (pronounced as “kumor” in Bengali), which means potters. These potters can be traced back to Krishnanagar, the haven of clay modeling in Bengal. Some potters from Krishnanagar shifted base to Gobindapore, around three hundred years back, in search of a livelihood and later on moved to Sutanooti. The city of Kolkata (earlier known as Calcutta) was formed with the three villages of Gobindapore, Sutanooti and Kalikuta in the late seventeenth century.

For those who don’t know what Durga Puja is, they should not be allowed to live :-). On a serious note, it is the most renowned and celebrated festival of Bengal that takes place for five days in autumn. The mythology is that when the demon Mahishasura let loose a reign of terror and the gods were unable to overpower him, they prayed in unison and the energy emanated from their prayers created goddess Durga, who had supreme powers and who was entrusted with the task of defeating the demon army of Mahishasura.

The artisans portray the Mahishasuramardini image of Durga in the idols they make where the goddess (sitting on a lion and with ten weapons in her ten hands) is seen to subjugate the demon Mahishasura who has come out of the trunk of a decapitated buffalo.
The goddess who is revered as a mother and referred to as Ma Durga, is also seen with her children (Laxmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartik) by her side. According to some other purana, she is perceived as Uma, the wife of Lord Shiva. In Bengal, this representation of her is more popular over her warrior aspect and the five days of Durga Puja are believed to be the time when Ma Durga, along with her children, makes a visit to her paternal home every year. So, even if Uma was the daughter of the Himalayas, she has made the plains of Bengal her own home and all of us Bengalees, her children. This is unique to Bengal, as far I know, since the goddess, though may be depicted differently in many puranas, is not worshipped in this form in any other part of the country.

The crafsmen at Kumartuli use straw and jute strands to form a shape of the deities on a skeleton of bamboo sticks and wooden planks and on a wooden pedestal, and then they cover it with a thick layer of clay. The delicate modeling of the figures is curved out of the clay by expert artisans. Modeling the face is the most difficult part and is left for the more skilled ones. The surface of the figures is smoothed with a wet piece of cloth and when they dry up they are whitewashed with a chalk solution before applying the base colour. On the last stage, after the colouring is over, a layer of varnish is applied to have the glossy look. More often the figures are decorated with gorgeous dresses and dazzling ornaments.

Idols are almost ready at Ramesh Chandra Pal’s studio. See those white tags, they carry the names of the Puja committees that ordered them. Ma Durga is waiting for her wigs to arrive.

The lion is closing in on the demon Mahishasura. The Khans would have been proud of such a body :-)

The artisan is working at another studio. Much more work to do. The Pujas are only a week away.

Work has just started in some other studio. Way to go.

Not sure if these deities would find a home or not. They are still in nascent state.

This Mahishasura is all cracked up.

A series of Ganesha (the elephant headed god, eldest son of Durga).

Shutters are down on goddess Laxmi (goddess of wealth). But I thought India is coming out of recession :-)

Gates are closed on Durga too, but this time to keep off enthusiasts like us.

An unused stranded Viswakarma in front of electric meter boxes. Viswakarma puja was in September.

Don’t spread rumours! Kumartuli is very much at Kumartuli. The craftsmen are not moving out to any other place.

If you still have any doubts, just see at the long list of artisans working here.

Even the walls here are covered with beautiful graffiti of goddess Kali.

Wooden planks and bamboo sticks separate the good from the evil.

The labourers are enjoying a sleep before they embark on the duty of carrying the gigantic idols to the respective puja pandals.

At last a finished goddess. Just give her the weapons and she will be ready for the fight against the evil.

Kolkata Kaleidoscope : Jain Temples

2010-10-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

Although I have been living in Kolkata for all my life, there are very few places that I have actually been to in Kolkata. One may say that a feeling of complacency sets in of the kind “Oh! They are just so near, I can visit any day” and ultimately they still somehow remain unvisited. Our new car provided the freedom to roam around the city freely without any anxiety of transportation. It also presented Ma the opportunity to go places, which she seldom can out of her normal routine of work and home. So we decided to make our first outing on Gandhi Jayanti, which was a holiday for both of us.

The next thing to do was to select a place. After much deliberation we zeroed in on the Pareshnath Jain Temple. I went through some websites to get a list of places to see in Kolkata and this was a consistent one in most of those websites. The pictures looked promising as well. But the problem was to locate the temple. And here was the confusion. In some website, I read that it is in Belgachhia but the Google maps showed it on Badri Das Temple Street which is very near to where my aunt lives. Since I have no confidence on the road map or the whereabouts of north Kolkata, we relied on my aunt and to our comfort she said that she knows both the places. So we first picked her up from her home and went on to visit the temple in Belgachhia. My other aunt also accompanied us.

Just after the R.G. Kar Hospital and near the Belgachhia metro station, a large temple complex stood (beside a flyover – we actually had to go down the flyover and take a u-turn). This is indeed called the Pareshnath Temple. There is a corporation signboard indicating the same. There is a red temple with a reservoir in front and a tower like structure on one side that hosts statuettes of different Jain Tirthankaras.

There is a statue of Pareshnath inside made of white marble with some other small figurines at its foot.

There were some pictures from Jain stories on the walls of the main hall of the temple and some glasswork on the ceiling.

The place was quite well maintained but due to the scorching heat we could not walk around for long bare footed on the heated up marble floors.

We came back to my aunt’s place and after a delicious lunch, we set out for Badri Das Temple Street. This is near Hatibagan and just off Raja Dinendra Street. There are four Jain temples in close proximity, which matched the description on the Internet.

The most popular amongst them is the Shitalnathji Temple, which was built in 1867. It is a grand complex. The place is extremely neat and clean for a temple with marble statues and glass works aplenty in the garden. There is also a reservoir at one side and a statue of the founder of the temple, Rai Budree Das Bahadoor Mookim just in front of the temple.

The temple structure has exquisite glasswork throughout the body and the ceiling and even the railings and the pillars.

The inside is more extravagant with a huge chandelier in the centre and some delicate chandeliers made out of coloured glass around it. The work on the inner ceiling of the central dome is grand but somewhat worn out. The forehead of the deity of Shitalnathji is studded with diamonds. The most tragic part is that photography is not allowed inside the temple building. However, one may take pictures from within the outer complex.

Just beside the Shitalnathji Temple stands another temple dedicated to Lord Chandra Prabhujidev. This has a simpler structure but is also more than a hundred years old.
A flight of steps ascends to the temple with two lion statues guarding at either side.

Opposite to the Shitalnathji Temple, exists the Dadaji Temple. Not sure to whom this temple is dedicated to. Did not see any statue for worshipping in the Taj Mahal like temple structure. Some religious songs were being played out in the temple and there was a sizable gathering of devotees. This temple also has a reservoir at the rear and some ducks were swimming around.

The last of the four temples is the Mahavira temple. This one is quite new with no fancy craftwork and dedicated to Lord Mahavira, the last of the Tirthankaras.

Still wondering why Google shows results describing this place on Badri Das Temple Street while searching for “Pareshnath Jain Temple”. So, is the main temple dedicated to Lord Shitalnath who I think was the tenth Tirthankar or Lord Pareshnath who was the 23rd Tirthankar? Signing off with the confusion still looming large in my head, whether this one also is known as the Pareshnath Jain Temple.

Tales from the other Taals

2010-08-30T05:34:00.000-07:00

Finally, we were on the last day of our trip. We had o catch the Ranikhet Express from Kathgodam in the evening and we checked out of Mukteshwar in the morning after breakfast. So, there were a few more hours at our disposal and as planned earlier, we decided to hop by some of the places we did not visit during our stay at Nainital, in the beginning of the trip.

The first place on the list was Bhimtal. This lake was larger than that of Nainital and the water seemed to be more clean and green. In fact, people who tend to have a quiet vacation may opt to stay one or two nights at this place instead of or in addition to Nainital.

There’s an interesting piece of history or rather mythology bound to the place. The story goes that during the “Agyatvas” of the Pandavas, Bhima went to fetch water on Draupadi’s behest and on not finding any water nearby, struck the ground with his “gada” and that was the source of the lake. It is also believed that Bhima built a temple near the lake. Though we noticed a temple a few metres away from the lake, we were not that inclined to go down and visit and instead roamed around the lake for a while. A small island in the middle of the lake added to the charm of the lake.

Due to the scorching sun, we could not wander for much longer at the place and decided to take our lunch in a restaurant near by. After lunch we headed for another lake.

But on the way, we made a brief stop at the Hanuman Garhi temple. It is a famous temple, according to our driver Puran, dedicated to Lord Hanuman. We could see a large statuette of Hanuman from the outside and did not bother to enter the interiors of the temple. Now this place is supposedly very near to Nainital and it offers a good sunset view. Alas, sunset was not even close. And Puran did not mention the place or that it is a sunset point, during our stay at Nainital. But then again it had been his characteristic for the entire trip. So there was no point in getting irritated all over again on the last day.

Naukuchiatal was the last place we stopped by before we finally headed for the railway station at Kathgodam. The lake has nine vertices, though it was difficult to clearly identify the nine corners from the banks. We noticed quite a few large ducks near the lake – the ones we call “Rajhans”.

Since we were seeing too many places in too less time, we were not able to absorb the beauty of each place separately as we should have. Rather, it was like being at each of the places just for the sake of it. So finally we said it quits and decided to set off for Kathgodam and actually reached the station with much time to spare.

I would like to close the trip report of Kumaon mentioning one little observation. Many a times during our journeys, I noticed fine looking ambulances plying on the road. They are state run with some number (probably 108) displayed in large font all over. Puran explained that if anyone calls that number for medical help, the ambulance reaches his/her home, within acceptable time, to take the ailing to the nearby hospital. And mind you that the hospitals are also located at the large towns only, so they have attending doctors with the ambulances for urgent requirement. And this medical service is free provided by the government. It was hard to believe in our country and I could not even imagine such a service in my state. And according to Puran this service actually works and works well. In fact this is one of the facilities he mentioned that the state of Uttarakhand introduced for its people after the split from Uttar Pradesh. But then I thought, is this kind of service feasible in the part of the world where I come from. Puran actually confirmed my reservation putting forward the observation that people seldom fall seriously ill or ill at all in these parts and when they do (with age I presume) they do for good, with little possibility of recovery. That’s why the free ambulance service works so well because it’s not used that much as it could have been in any urban establishment. That’s the beauty of the mountains. I hope that the mountains can keep alive their healing beauty and do not get crippled with the muck of the urban encroachments. Then, we, the children of the claustrophobic city life would have no where to run to, for refuge.

Meandering in Mukteshwar

2010-08-27T23:36:00.000-07:00

Mukteshwar was the last leg of our Kumaon tour. We reached the place in the afternoon. Situated at a height of 2286 metres above sea level, Mukteshwar is a quiet little hill station. The tourism brochure mentioned that one can do this and that, visit this place or that in Mukteshwar or simply sit back and relax. I think there is no better way to put it right across. More than sightseeing, the town is more suitable for escaping from the fast urban life and let oneself unwind.

Our KMVN hotel was located at the very end of the town. In fact no sooner we entered the town of Mukteshwar, we reached the hotel and the road did not proceed any further. So the town was a small one. Again we got only vegetarian food at the hotel restaurant. And we got to know that the ration actually comes from a town which is located before Mukteshwar. If I remember correctly, the name of the other town is Matelia.

Lunch was late and after an hour’s rest, I thought of taking a walk and look around the place. Abhishek was not feeling well, so the others decided to stay back. An aimless walk with no one by side has its own charm in a way. The first thing I noticed was the variation in plantation. Till then, pine was predominant in the places we visited in our Kumaon trip. But here in Mukteshwar, I noticed more cedar trees. There was a good view point just in front of the hotel but due to cloud cover the mountain ranges were not much visible. After spending some time there, I was wondering which way to pursue.

The striking thing about the topography of Mukteshwar is the sharp jagged protuberance of the rocks and there is a place where this characteristic is predominant providing the place an impression of overhanging cliffs. The place is locally known as Chauli-ki-Jali. There was an arrow indicating Chauli-ki-Jali towards the left of the hotel and I started walking that way. But after a few steps only, I was at my wit’s end as there was no road to pursue. Then I realized that there was a narrow uneven road that went up by the side of a hotel. There was a notice mentioning that the road is for public and not for hotel use only. Confirmed, I went up the road, if one can actually call it a road. It was rather a lopsided narrow stretch cut from the mountains and soon I was lost to myself with no trace of humanity in vicinity. After some time I was thinking seriously whether I should pursue the road any further since it was becoming more uneven. Suddenly at a turn, there was a group of people. They were probably sitting there waiting for the sunset. But there was still some time left for the sunset. I decided not to proceed any further. Neither did I stay there and wait, but returned back.

Soon, I again reached our hotel and since there was still sunlight, I continued my walk; this time in the opposite direction. After a few minutes, I reached the footsteps of the Mukteshwar Dham, the Lord Shiva temple from which the town gets its name. A couple of hundred steps’ climb took me to the temple. It was calm and tranquil with only a lone saint doing his own silent “yagna”, quietly. He did not pay any attention to me. So I moved over to the rear side of the temple from where one can have a top view of the Chauli-ki-Jali.

I came down to the road beneath the temple in a different route and found that there was another way to the Chauli-ki-Jali from that place. That road seemed much more even and safe but I did not pursue continuing walking to the Chauli-ki-Jali then as it was approaching sunset. Instead, I thought of walking down the main road for some more time. Soon, I reached the small market with only a handful of shops and that too most of them were already closed. No wonder that the hotel brings its ration from the next town. There was a branch of SBI in a bungalow shaped small building and two men, probably employees of the bank, were playing carom outside the bank. Then there was a small post office as well. That too was closed. And there was an IVRI campus just at the staring point of the town. Within the next few minutes, I reached the starting point of the town. My guess is that if one walks along the main road from there, one will reach the KMVN rest house in less than fifteen minutes and that is probably the farthest one can go. So, one can well imagine how small a place the town of Mukteshwar is. Of course there are small hilly roads branching out off the main road that perhaps take one to the other parts where the locals live or some other places where hotels and offices are located or may be even rest houses built by outsiders to take refuge at some particular time of the year, far from the madding crowd. I took one such path that went downwards from the starting point of the town and walked for some time. There was a small church which seemed nearby, but one can never be sure with the winding hilly roads. So even after ten minutes or so, it still remained at the same distance. I gave up and returned and walked up the main road back to the hotel.

The next morning, after breakfast, I went to the temple again. This time, with Runa and Rishi. Abhishek was still not feeling well and stayed back at the hotel. After the temple visit, we went straight to the Chauli-ki-Jali. I have already mentioned before, how the odd protuberance of the overhanging rocks characterizes the place. But reading about it in the tourist pamphlet and beholding it in person are two different thing altogether. The other amazing thing was that one could view the entire valley beneath, from that place. The braves can do rock climbing at the spot with the professional gear of course. The fools can use their own hands and crawl up the slanted rocks. We were neither of the two, so we went as far as out guts permitted, posed for a few snaps to cherish afterwards and enjoyed the beauty of the place to our hearts’ content. We could have stayed there a little longer, but Rishi got thirsty and insisted to return to the hotel.

Back in the hotel we packed our luggage and checked out. We had a train to catch in the evening from Kathgodam. Our vacation in Kumaon was coming towards the end. We were hoping to sneak in a few more places on our way to Kathgodam. But the though that we have already spent our last night in Kumaon was making me gloomy. The images of miseries and worries of work life were coming back to me.

Beatific Binsar

2010-07-29T04:02:00.000-07:00

On our way to Binsar, for the first time in my life I experienced forest fire. Many of the trees were charred and some were still burning. There was smoke everywhere and as we drove through sometimes it was even suffocating. Puran however told us that it is quite a common thing in those parts.

By the time we reached Binsar, it was evening and after paying entry fee at the forest check post we entered the sanctuary. We had booked the KMVN rest house which is located well inside the Binsar sanctuary. Actually I heard somewhere that Binsar refers to the sanctuary only and there is no town as such by the name. The road up to the hotel was winding to a large degree and to drive the few kilometres from the check post to the hotel almost took us an hour or so. The road was narrow as well and thankfully there was no car coming from the other side.

I had heard many good things about Binsar and the place lived up to my expectations if not exceeded them. But the weird part is our driver Puran was talking negative about the place from the very start. Even Joshi, another driver whom we befriended in Kausani spoke in a discouraging tone about Binsar. I am not sure about the reason of their apathy for this stunningly grand place. May be it is due to the fact that the drive to Binsar is very hard or perhaps the remoteness of the place makes them go nuts, but if one is a nature lover, this very remoteness and unruffled tranquility would attract one to the hilt.

I lost my mobile network just after I entered the hotel lobby and it remained illusive for the rest of our stay. Only Runa’s mobile network (like its mascot, the faithful dog) worked but that too from a particular spot inside the room.

The hotel had a terrace with a terrific view of the mountain ranges. And right after checking into the hotel we came over to the terrace to have a glimpse of the Himalayas. It was the time of twilight and there was a half moon up in the sky while it was still not dark and the sun did not set yet. That was a peculiar sight. Though it was cloudy, some of the peaks were visible and soon the sun set.

For the first time in Kumaon, I felt the chill at Binsar which stands at 2400 metres above the sea level and probably is the highest altitude tourist place in Kumaon. Since I was not carrying any heavy woolens, I took refuge in one of my cousin’s shawls. As night crept in, we returned to our room and after some more time lighted the candles. Yes, there is no electricity at Binsar, or so we knew. But the hotel staff informed us that there would be electric light available for a couple of hours. The source was solar power; we saw quite a number of photovoltaic mirrors or absorbers in the vicinity of the hotel. We went for dinner early. Non-vegetarian food is not allowed inside the sanctuary, except eggs. The food was literally bland but then again one should not expect anything better at such a remote place. Soon after we returned to our room after dinner, the electric light went off and we had to rely on the candle light again. And it started raining also. The atmosphere was perfect for horror story telling.

Sunrise was at five twenty the next day and we went to the terrace again for taking a view. I was virtually shivering in my light jacket and again borrowed Runa’s shawl. Within a few minutes, the sun came up gloriously and we engaged ourselves in taking quick snaps. After it rained in the previous night, the sky was quite clear. The peaks clearly visible were Trishul, Mrigathuni, Nanda Ghunti and Nanda Devi. One of the inmates of the hotel was sharing his experiences of Himalayas with the others. He was a regular trekker and had just returned from a trek near Munsiyari. He showed us some photographs as well and they were breathtakingly beautiful.

After breakfast, we started taking a walk to Zero Point, the highest altitude place within the sanctuary. It was a 2 km walk amidst the forest and at first we thought of returning from the mid way. But soon we were fascinated by the walk itself and the surroundings and decided to continue. We feared to lose the way in between but somehow managed to reach the observatory at the end. On our way, we came across many rhododendron trees, trees with thick layers of moss and heard the chirpings of many unknown birds, but could not quite locate them. Binsar, as a matter of fact is home to many species of birds. The feeling to be alone in the midst of the forest with no one by our sides was quite unique and we were totally enjoying the experience.

Once at the observatory at the Zero Point, we were totally exhausted and ruing the fact that we did not carry any water with us. But the close look at the mountain ranges made us forget all our bodily discomforts and rejuvenated us with new energy.

The walk back to the hotel was much easier due the downward slope of the road and soon we were in front of our hotel. Our car was waiting for us to take us to Mukteshwar, our next destination. We bid good bye to Binsar with the promise to return in near future and spend at least a couple of days to totally absorb the leisurely grandeur of the unperturbed nature.

Bumper Bonuses – Baijnath and Bageshwar

2010-07-15T02:25:00.000-07:00

On the day of leaving Kausani, Puran did not report in time in the morning. The previous evening, he went to his native home which was nearby. We finished our breakfast, packed our bags and were walking up and down restlessly in front of the reception area of the hotel as it was getting late. There was an accident in an adjacent eatery where a gas cylinder caught fire and people were moving away in fear that it would burst anytime. We spent some time watching the incident from the hotel backyard and then again returned back to the hotel lobby and started looking at the pictures of Uttarakhand Tourism put up in the lobby. But still there was no sign of Puran. In the mean time the receptionist asked us about our next destination. When we told him that we were headed for Binsar, he suggested us to stop by Baijnath. There were some fascinating pictures of the Baijnath Temples that were hanging in the hotel lobby. We checked the map also and Baijnath was only 18 kilometres from Kausani and on the route to Binsar. But Puran did not mention anything about visiting Baijnath. When he finally turned up, we inquired about Baijnath and he said that we would not travel via Bageshwar (Baijnath is in on that route) and would take a different route. But we had already decided to visit Baijnath and also Bageshwar. We did not know till then what was in store for us. After some initial hanky-panky Puran finally revealed that Bageshwar was not in his itinerary. Now that was a rude shock for us. We had booked a car for the entire journey via KMVN and since the accommodations were also in the KMVN rest houses, the personnel at the KMVN Kolkata office had drawn up a ballpark itinerary. But that doesn’t mean that we may not deviate from that itinerary. Then what’s the use of booking a private car. My brother in law gave a good verbal spanking to both Puran and his travel agent boss at Nainital and then we started for Baijnath. I was thinking whether we had missed many more places earlier by relying on Puran. From this experience, I would suggest others not to book cars via KMVN. They charge more, have some weird conditions and you may end up traveling in an itinerary set by others.

On our way to Baijnath (18 kilometres away from Kausani and 1126 metres above sea level), sensing our displeasure, Puran tried to woo us back by suggesting that the travel agent was the one to blame for the confusion and he was but only a poor driver following the word of his superior. We did not pay much heed to his monologue and rather waited in anticipation for the Baijnath Temples.

On the banks of the Gomti river in the Garur valley, stands the temple complex of Baijnath. The temples are constructed in stone and though they do not display any great craftsmanship in terms of sculptures, their architecture is glorious and with so many of them lying side by side, the attraction of the complex magnifies manifold. The temples looked quite old and later on we found out that they date back to 12th century or even earlier. It might be the case that the carvings and figurines on the outer walls of the temples had eroded with the passage of time.

There were idols of Shiva, Ganesha, Parvati, Chandika, Kuber, Surya and Brahma in the various temples. Some of the temples seemed to be non-operational. But the main temple still houses a gorgeous idol of Parvati chiseled in black stone. The place is of immense mythological importance since it is believed that Lord Shiva and Parvati were married here at the confluence of Gomti and Garur Ganga. From the historical point of view, the temples were constructed by the Katyuri rules of ancient Kartikeyapura.

It took us more than an hour more to reach Bageshwar which is located at 25 metres away from Baijnath. The name of the place is probably derived from the famous Bagnath Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and located at the confluence of Gomti and Saryu rivers. The legend is that Lord Shiva roamed around the place in the form of tiger and hence the people worshipped Lord Shiva as tiger in the ancient times. Now, however, there is no such idol. The temple in its current state was built by the Chand rulers more than 400 years back. In fact the interiors of the temple were so dim lit that we could hardly see the idol behind the garlands of flowers.

The town of Bageshwar is a popular pilgrimage but then the temple was almost deserted and there was only another family who visited when we were present there and they engaged themselves in performing some rituals.

At the rear of the temple there was a nice place where one could sit idly and look upon the confluence of the Gomti and Saryu rivers. We relaxed for a bit there but could not afford to spend much longer as it was well past noon and Binsar was still far away and also we did not have anything for lunch.

We bought some fruits and gorged on some sweets from a nearby shop. The unique sweet that we came across is called “bal-mithai” with a chocolate base and we came to know that this sweet is a specialty of Kumaon. Since we were running really late, we dropped the idea of a full course lunch and sped off towards Binsar.

Kudos to Kausani

2010-07-15T02:24:00.000-07:00

We had spent three nights in Kumaon but did not have the opportunity to behold the snow capped mountain ranges till we reached Kausani (at 1890 metres above sea level). The distance from Ranikhet was about 70 kilometres and when we checked in to the hotel in Kausani it was past noon. The KMVN rest house in Kausani was situated at an exquisite location. After we moved up the winding road, the KMVN rest house was where the road ended.

Good news was awaiting us at Kausani. The sky was more on the clearer side and the snow clad mountain ranges were visible, at last. From the hotel, a wide range of peaks are visible in general but back then we were able to see only two peaks out of them. They were Trishul and Nanda Ghunti respectively. The others were partially covered by cloud.

After we checked in and had our lunch, we made ourselves comfortable on the deck chairs that were put up in front of every room. We had no plan to go out for the rest of the day and spent the entire afternoon and evening just relaxing and observing the many moods of the mountains. Sometimes the cloud covers were moving away and parts of some other peak were peeping through the clouds and then again the peaks which were very much visible till then were engulfed by new cloud cover.

As the sun was setting in the evening the reflection of the sun light brought about a golden orange tinge to the mountain peaks and they looked majestic.

As it became dark after sunset, there was nothing to do. We grouped together and did some planning for where we could go for the next trip. But then again this trip itself was only half way through. There was a television box in my room which came to life after much trying but then it went off again after some time. A chill wind was blowing outside, so I was confined within my room alone and the light was not bright enough to read any book either. So I just went to bed after dinner and hoped to be asleep soon.

In the evening earlier, a wasp (bolta in Bengali) entered my sister’s room and it was not getting out even after our meek attempts to throw it out. We were not going too near though for the fear that its bite may sting badly. A hotel bearer was passing by our rooms and I tried to call him to help us out but could not make him understand the problem properly due to my poor Hindi speaking skills. It reminded me of the joke “Hum bangla mein bolta ko bolta bolta, tum hindi mein bolta ko kya bolta?” Finally Runa could catch the insect with a glass just like Feluda captured a scorpion in the Ray flick “Sonar Kella”. Salute to her for her bravery!

Although I am a late riser by habit, I woke up real early the next day before sunrise. It was such two days in a row now. But unlike Ranikhet, Kausani did not disappoint us. In fact the sky was clearer than the previous day and some more peaks were visible as well. Apart from Trishul and Nanda Ghunti, Maiktoli and the Mrigathuni ranges were very clear. Parts of Nanda Devi and Nanda Kot were also visible. Someone pointed at another peak and said it was Chaukhamba, but I doubted it very much.

The hotel was divided into several different buildings. For example, one of them housed the reception and the dining room. Adjacent to it were the deluxe rooms which we stayed at. The road continued still further up a bit and after a bend, the cottages were located. After morning tea, I took my camera and started going up the road till it ended abruptly. The vision of the mountain ranges was grander from that place. I took some quick snaps and more importantly captured the beauty of the royal Himalayas with my inner eye. It was a different sensation altogether, to just stand alone and absorb the splendor of nature into oneself. Some stray monkeys were roaming around freely and looking inquiringly at my camera. I did not consider it safe to spend any more time there alone, pocketed the camera and returned to the hotel.

After breakfast, there was some drama that I would mention in my next post. After that we checked out of the hotel and took a tour of the few tourist spots that are there in Kausani apart from the stunning view of the Himalayas. First we stopped by Anasakti Ashram which is popularly known as Gandhi Ashram. Mahatma Gandhi stayed at the ashram for some days. There was a prayer hall with many photographs of Gandhi from different phases of his life. We were told that Bhajans are performed in the prayer hall every evening. One can also stay at the ashram with the condition that one must attend the Bhajan session everyday. The ashram has a good view of the mountain ranges but then they were not much visible.

After some time, we moved on from the ashram. Puran took us to a tea garden next, the only tea garden in entire Uttarakhand. It was named Girias Uttaranchal Tea. There was a factory as well adjacent to it where we were shown how tea is processed. We also took some sip of their tea. The tea was without milk and sugar. The factory staff advised us that that way we would get the actual flavour of the tea. But that is not how I like my tea and all I felt was some mild hot water with some flavour going down my throat and it cost us fifty bucks per cup. We came to know that most of the tea produced there is exported to countries like Germany and Japan. I prayed for their prosperity and hoped to be content with the kind of tea I like and drink.

Without wasting any more time there we continued our journey to Binsar. But before that we had a nice little surprise. To know that, read my next post.