Post Card From Madhya Pradesh

 It seems like a distant dream, as I sit enclosed in my house during Pandemic, afraid to take public transport. I have been confined to my house since last 8 months, with short trips by car to my sister’s house during week-ends. I love travelling and have been to lot of places, I had plans to explore many more cities during this year, but I digress.

I am happy that I captured some memories on my blog. My MP trip, that I made in November 2019 has been memorable one and I have blogged in 16 parts. 

The tour was of 15 days,  we travelled a total of 2300kms by road plus 2 days of railway travel. Our tour started from Gwalior and ended at Indore, we covered Jhansi, Orchha, Khajuraho, Bhandavghar, Jabalpur, Pachmarhi, Bhojpur, Bhimbetkar, Sanchi, Bhopal, Ujjain , Omkeshwar, Maheshwar, Mundu, Indore.

Part 1.. The trip  

After a long night journey in the train-Punjab Mail, we reach Gwalior at 4pm. The tour operators come to receive us from the station and we are to stay at  Hotel Landmark. There is lot of excitement, we go to each others room to compare the comfort and we discover that some have good rooms and some are average. Our (I shared room with my friend) room is average. 

Part 2 Gwalior

The day was spent moving from Gwalior to Khajuraho. On our route, we stopped at Jhansi and Orchha. The bus was comfortable but the roads were bad. Most of the roads are being redeveloped, There is construction everywhere to built better roads, some of the cities of MP have plans to become smart cities. 

Part 3 Orchha 

We reached late evening at Khajuraho and checked into the hotel- Khajuraho Temple View. There was a beautiful view of lake outside the hotel and on the other side of the lake were the Khajuraho temples.

Part 4 Khajuraho 

After driving all day, we reached Bhandarvagarh late evening. I couldn’t see anything, but a narrow road and thick bushes on either side of the road. It seemed like a ghostly town with not a person in sight. The bus moved slowly  over uneven mud road till we reached the beautiful resort called Mogli Resort. We were to stay in the middle of the jungle. 

Part 5 Bhandarvagarh

We spend lot of time on road trip all over MP, but bus journey was not boring. I am reminded of the movie ‘Bombay to Goa’ wherein you meet all kinds of people. Some are dozing, some fast asleep, some noisy, some want to sing, some want to eat. 

Part 6 Jabalpur

Like every state in India have their own hill station, Madhya Pradesh has its hill station at Panchmarhi at 1067 meters, commonly known as Satpura ki Rani. It has also been recognised as UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Part7 Pachmarhi

On our way to Bhopal, we stopped by at a very interesting site called Bhimbetka.  Here you find large rock shelters that have paintings that date back to thousands of years depicting the life of the people through different eras.  This has been now declared as UNESCO world heritage site.

Part 8 Bhimbetka

On our route towards Bhopal, we stopped at Bhojpur during evening hours.  We were here to see the Shiva temple called Bhojeshwar temple. The bus had stopped at quite a distance, and we walked through narrow, broken roads, passing through thatched house where villagers still use dried cow dung as fuel for cooking. 

Part 9 Bhojpur

We reached Bhopal late evening and checked into a nice comfortable Raj Bhoj Hotel. Bhopal is the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, known as the city of natural and artificial lakes and is also one of the greenest cities in India.

Part 10..Bhopal

We drove 46kms away from Bhopal to reach Sanchi stupas that are one of the oldest stone structures in India and important monument of Indian architecture 

Part 11 Sanchi 

Any direction you look, all you see are temples. We visited many temples at Ujjain and all were unique in its own way. We were asked to stick to vegetarian diet, so that we could visit all the temples guilt free.

Part 12 Ujjain

I consider myself blessed that I have been able to visit the sacred island of Omkeshwar that is shaped like as symbol Ohm- the holiest symbol of Hinduism , it has one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines of India.

Part 13 Omkeshwar

For my women friends, Maheshwar was the most interesting place, you know why? Because women love shopping and they love temples. 

Part14 Maheshwar

MP is full of rich history and ancient architecture. Most of it has been reduced to ruins or is neglected.  There are beautiful palaces and nature is abundant, but hardly any tourist.  The roads are bad and infrastructure is also poor.

Part 15 Mandu

Indore - one of the cleanest city of India, is the last stop of my MP tour. The charm of the city lies in rich cultural heritage preserved over the years. 

Part 16 Indore

I used to blog during my trip, at the end of the day on FB but writing on this blog has taken some time, because of many distractions during this year. But I am glad to have completed the series successfully.

In and Around Navy Pier In Chicago

Back home in India, we don’t go out in the afternoons because it’s sunny, and too warm to go out. We would rather sit in AC rooms than roam on the streets, but here, in America, summer is a blessing in disguise. Enjoyed only for three months in a year, its an happy occasion  something to enjoy with friends and relatives, There is cheerfulness everywhere, the roads are filled with people dressed in vibrant, warm colors, cotton shirts, short pants, and comfortable foot ware. Everybody is in holiday mood.

Navy Pier is the place where we see people spend the whole day involved in  various activities. Originally designed for shipping and recreational purpose, now there are various entertainments and exposition facilities.

Cousin said that there is air and water show along the lakefront from Fullerton to Oak Street, with North Avenue Beach serving as show center.  It would feature a wide variety of military and civilian aerial demonstration teams with pilots performing their stunts in the skies above Chicago. It sounded exciting. But there was too traffic jam everywhere, and that was a let down. I got a brief glimpse from my car window, but getting off at sea front seemed impossible.

By the time we reached Navy Pier, the show was over. We got off on the main road and walked towards the main building. Many people preferred to walk, but for those who was looking for extra fun, there was cycling and fun rides around the park.

The Terminal Building, so named because it was once a streetcar terminal dominated the sea front. Inside this building, there was children’s museum, shopping arcade, multiplex and food court.

We climbed up the stairs to see Crystal Garden, It was a large restaurant with palm trees and waterfalls, but it was closed on that day to the public as it was being prepared for late evening private dinner. 

Behind the terminal building was the huge Ferris wheel rising up to 150 feet. This Ferris wheel can carry the maximum of 240people.  This wheel is a recreation of the very first Ferris Wheel which was erected in Chicago in 1893.

I love sitting by the shore and enjoying the view, the weather was perfect. Most of our time was spent sitting on the bench, chatting and watching the boats ply up and down with eager tourists standing in long queues.

For me, just staring at the waters and the open skies with concrete skyline was a bliss.

Visit to Baha’i Temple at Illinois Was a Pleasant Experience

Baha’i temple was mentioned at home several times since I had touched the city of Illinois. Back home I have visited a lotus shaped Baha’i temple in Delhi, but still, I was curious to see this one mainly for its architecture.

We drove on a clear day to Linden Ave, Wilmette, to see the famous Baha’i temple.

It’s a beautiful structure in white with artistic carvings on the walls and on pillars, surrounded on all side by landscape and water fountains, it overlooks the lake. Completed in 1953 and designed by French Canadian architect Louis Bourgeois, it is one of the seven Baha’i temples in the world. The Baha’i place of worship is the cross between a mosque and the temple.

Baha’is believe nine, the last number in decimal system, symbolizes perfection and completions, hence many elements of the building occur in groups of nine. There are nine entrances to the auditorium, nine interior alcoves; nine dome sections to the auditorium, nine fountains in the garden area. Bahia followers believe that God revealed himself through Messengers (Christ, Krishna, Buddha, Muhammad and other Gods)

On closer inspection of the pillar, one could see symbols of many religions like cross (of Christians), Star of David, symbols used by Hindus and Buddhists in the form of swastika. On the top of the pillar is a nine-pointed star, symbolizing the Baha’i. Various writings of Bahaullah, the founder of the religion, are inscribed above the building entrances.

Since I did not want to climb the step to go up, I took the back entrance and went up inside the building by lift. People meditated in silence in the large dome shaped hall, all engrossed in their own faith.

Inside the building there were artwork and large wall hangings of religious inscriptions. A plaster model of Baha’is temple designed by Bourgeois occupied one segment of the corridor.  

In the dark corner was the Cornerstone, that Abdu’i-Baha had dedicated to the Baha’I temple.

It was a beautiful experience walking around this temple. I went back again after sunset, the building glowed at night against the dark skies.

Since i used the back entrance and taken the lift to go upstairs, I had not seen the gardens and fountains that looked so beautiful during my last visit. I went there back again to climb the stairs and have a closer look from below the stairs.This time I clicked more pictures from different angles, the front view, the gardens and the waterfall. It was beautiful..

Rangoli Design At Puducherry

On my first day to Puducherry, I passed by the Beach Road and was surprised to see the whole road filled with Rangoli designs. There were more than 200 rangoli designs on the road. I was informed that the Rangoli competition was held during early hours of the morning whereby 200 people had participated in this event. I thought I would walk, later during the day and look closely at each design but by evening they had all disappeared. People had walked all over them.

Rangoli (also known as kolam) is the folk art, normally the geometrical designs made on the floor with colored sand, turmeric, sindoor (vermillion), rice powder and sometimes flowers too. It is normally done at the entrance of the house. It is considered very auspicious and believed to bring good luck and repel the evil from entering the house. It also has a soothing effect on the nerves and when made at the entrance of the house, it creates positive vibrations.

Some of the designs that I was able to capture from my moving car….