Hindustan ka Dil Dekho! – Bhopal and beyond

The Madhya Pradesh tourism website is by far one of the best I have come across, with it’s interactive bioscope it definitely does bring out the inner child in you, and for me the standard 8 nerd came out who wanted to visit all the historic sites she had read about in her history text books!

To test waters, we picked out a weekend to travel to Bhopal and explore the neighbouring areas. I’ll be honest, I did have very stereotypical notions of Bhopal, and I shamefacedly admit I have the same about most Tier 2 and 3 cities and they all get shattered when I actually land there! We landed quite late into the night and were greeted by wide roads sans potholes! Going from Mumbai that is nothing short of an alien sight where one does not have to jostle for every inch of space on the road or just just cave into the road! Our hostel (StayInn) was pretty much centrally located and had an absolutely adorable decor of resplendent yellow wherever you look! Their rooms are not numbered, rather named after emotions (we had Hope and Love if I remember correctly!) and have some of the sweetest albeit slow hosts!

Sanchi

The first stop for the weekend was chosen to be Sanchi. About an hour’s drive north of Bhopal it is probably one of the most famous historical sites in India. Since we were 4 of us it made economical sense to hire an Ola cab for 8 hours. We left quite early in the morning and the roads were just as wide, uncluttered and pothole free (!!) and you even cross the Tropic of Cancer on the way! We reached much before the tourist crowd started trickling in, which in itself was n’t much as compared to other places in India.

One can’t blame Ashoka or rather his wife for zeroing on her birthplace to build the great Buddhist site. Early in the morning, with no other soul in sight, the magnificent stupa perched on the hill, post monsoon lushness all around, soft chugging of trains in the background and even a restless person like me could sit down and meditate for a while!

The stupa which is supposed to the largest stone structure in India dates back to the 3rd century BC but it was only several centuries later in early 1900s that they were restored to the current condition. The stupa which was built over the relics of Buddha, has four gateways or toranas which were supposedly added during the Shunga period and the stupas have several inscriptions in the ancient Brahmi script.

Right at the entrance of the stupa complex is also a museum which is quite well furbished albeit sleepy but has wonderful pictures of the stupa complex before and after the restoration efforts.

Islamnagar

We moved on to the neighbouring district of Vidisha to grab a not-so-quick but absolutely lip smacking lunch! There is also a pillar (Khamb Baba if I remember correctly) there where apparently exorcisms take place on full moon nights! After whatever little inspection we could manage we drove down to Islamnagar which was once the capital of the princely state of Bhopal. Though the fortified village is nothing as compared to the grandeur of the forts of say Rajasthan, but there is quaint charm in its anonymity as it exists covered in post monsoon foliage. Major part of the fort and the palace was in ruins and the only inhabitants were a massive family of langurs, completely impervious to the presence of the couples out to spend some “private time”. By far one of the most charming places I have ever visited!

Bhimbhetka

The ancient rock shelters at Bhimbhetka were another site that the standard 8 nerd in me was dying to visit! Next again we left reasonably early in the morning and drove to the site which is another 45 – 60 min drive south of Bhopal.

And the site apart from the mesmerizing and intriguing paintings gives major lessons in perspective and humility! I mean to stand in front of a rock adorned with the imprint of a child’s hand from close to 100,000 years ago! Or to see a bird being drawn the exact same way as it is drawn by a child today, even thousands of years later, the rudimentary way in which the human mind works is still unchanged! It is one of my absolute favourite places simply because of how thought invoking it is!

Bhojpur

On our way back to Bhopal we stopped at a 10th century Shiva temple. It is an active temple, though the structure with its 21 feet shivalinga is still in an incomplete state which makes it a rather impressive site with the rocky outcrop as backdrop and the Betwa river flowing by.

Back in Bhopal we saw the Taj-ul-Masjid and spent a lot of time sipping beer by the Big Lake. For our first time in the state Madhya Pradesh has been absolutely charming, mind boggling, intriguing and cannot wait to come back!

Pushkar : Of Camels, Moustaches and Kachoris

Pushkar has been on my bucket list ever since I probably first discovered the joys of traveling! And that urge to visit has only been stoked over the years helped by the fact that it is probably one of the most well photographed and documented places in India; and rightfully so, with arid desert setting, the flaming bright colours and outfits, the men in pristine white herding their cattle and camels or sitting by the road side chaiwallah stroking their royal moustaches. So this year was finally when I could visit the eponymous camel fair and revel in it’s glory and colours and re-engage in my usual lessons in patriarchy.

It helps that my parents are in Delhi so travel to most of North India becomes easier with a base city. We took the Ajmer Shatabdi early on the last Saturday of the Pushkar Fair to reach Ajmer by around noon time. A shared auto and 30 minute bus ride later we reached (along with hordes of other travelers and pilgrims) to Pushkar. Smartly and thankfully we had booked a place to stay already so accommodation was n’t a hassle considering the last few days of the fair are the most crowded with pilgrims. We stayed at the Milkman Guest House (also recommended by the Lonely Planet) and it was sure as hell worth the high ratings! Once you do manage to find the place (after a few confusing and contradictory signs on the road and figuring out which narrow alley to enter) you’re greeted by some of the most friendly and hospitable hosts (and their tiny- sometimes – bawling children)! After a quick round of welcome tea and knowledge sharing my sister and I ventured out to the fair.

To be honest in all my travels across India I had never traveled to a region during an important festival or a fair so I was n’t really sure what to expect or how much of the photographs I had seen would translate into real life. But I must confess Pushkar during the camel fair was every bit of an overload to all my senses as I had imagined!

The resplendently decorated camels and their owners beaming with pride, women in the colourful ghaghra -cholis and intricate silver jewellery, men in their white dhoti – kurtas paired with huge bandhni turbans and canes by their sides, some extremely handsome horses vying for top glory, pyaaz ke kachori and kachoras which were bigger than thaalis, the baba’s by the ghats and the calm in watching the sun set as the evening aarti progresses, the chants while climbing up the hill to Savitri Devi temple, the over powering neon ferris wheels, the rope walkers, the traders with their wares and us jostling through a deluge of human kind. it was an overload of sights, smells and emotions.

Well most of the times I am in awe of our culture and diversity and the lack of knowledge and experience when I travel around our country and this time was no different in that sense, however this time since it was right at the back of Trump becoming the next POTUS and grappling with the after effects of demonetization I probably saw things and people around me in a different light.

Seeing patriarchy glaring at my face as the women under veils made rotis and the “man” of the house sat around, belched and scratched his balls intermittently while counting money. Or old men herding the women of the house around like cattle. Tourists, pilgrims and small businessmen were stranded with their last few notes of legal tender and pretty much going on every day on goodwill and faith. While I would n’t dispense an opinion here, but there is always one thing to be kept in mind that is one of the basic principles of a sound public policy is that it should n’t impartially benefit or disadvantage a certain section of society. And more often that not we the privileged few actually don’t take into account the staggeringly high proportion of our population which gets inadvertently impacted by policies but have no idea how and why, have no way of redresssal and definitely have no means to answer surveys on apps or retweet their messages.

Empathy trumps opinion.