Exploring Bhopal

Bhopal was my second trip in MP - second in the space of a month after Omkareshwar and Maheshwar. The motivation - none, except for the kicks of travelling and exploring a new place (probably the way Kerouac would put it).

The plan was to start from Mumbai after the Dussehra lunch, reach Bhopal by early Friday morning, explore the city through the day, then Saturday dedicated to surrounds - Sanchi, Vidisha, Bimbhetka - then Bhopal again on Sunday till noon and then return to Mumbai. I'll cover the surrounds in another post, and restrict this one to cover Bhopal through my eyes.

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An empty train - Paradise!!!

I arrived in Bhopal early on Friday morning, checked in with my host - Airbnb this time - and got out to explore. The local bus network in Bhopal is quite efficient by the way, and much much cheaper on the pocket compared to the exorbitant rates of the rickshaws. I took a bus to the New Market, and then a connecting one to Moti Masjid in Old Bhopal. That was my first stop for the day.

Old Bhopal, by the way, is inundated with mosques and for a newcomer it may seem like every other building is some kind of a mosque. The major mosques are the Moti Masjid and the Taj-ul-Masajid (note the extra a, more on that later). Moti Masjid is an imposing structure in all its right and looks over a busy junction. The structure is mostly stone, with a small bit of marble embellishments.

 

The minimal marble work in the masjid

 

A reflection of the corner spires in the masjid pool

After the Moti Masjid, I went through a series of buildings from the days of the Bhopal Sultanate - all of them well past their glory days. The first one was Shaukat Mahal, one of the early residencies of the royalty. This building is a mix of indo-islamic and burboun (french) architecture. The Bhopal royalty had a thread connecting it to the French Burboun royalty - more info on wikipedia. Now-a-days, the building is used as any normal residential building and is slowly crumbling away.

Next up was Moti Mahal. The scale of the outer structure betrays the utter ruins that one sees inside. This place till a while ago housed the Bhopal Post Office. Now, only ruins.Sadar Manzil, the erstwhile court of the Sultanate was converted to Bhopal Municipal Corporation office and was systematically deprived of its glory. The offices have now been shifted, but the damage has been done. Its gonna be a long restoration process, that is if someone is actually willing.

 

The Iqbal Maidan, the centre of Old Bhopal

Overlooked by the Moti Mahal (pink) and Shaukat Mahal (white)

Pic taken from Moti Masjid 

 

The old Peer Darwaza connecting the Moti Mahal and the Shaukat Mahal

 

There are many such old jeeps dotting the landscape near the Moti Masjid

 

The inner artwork in Sadar Manzil

 

Sadar Manzil artwork

 

Sadar Manzil lawn and entrance. 

Upper Lake in the background

I had a quick tea-n-samosa break at the world famous (in Bhopal) Raju Tea Stall. The place was itself in the middle of a face-lift, but the main attraction - the tea - was perfect! Then came the weirdest quest I've ever found me in - searching a restroom in the middle of a busy city. The suggestions of the locals were even weirder - use the wall, the corner of the garden next to a blood bank, and similar ideas. I finally found one in the campus of the sprawling Hamidia Hospital.

Relieved of my misery, I visited the Taj-ul-Masajid. The name literally translates to 'The Crown Of All Mosques' - masjid = mosque, masajid = mosques -and befitting its name it is also the world's third largest mosque. The sprawling building is a bit bland when it comes to artwork, but nevertheless it showcases the grand ambitions of the Bhopal Royalty.

 

The Taj-ul-Masajid - human for scale at right bottom 

 

The main 3 domes of the Taj

 

The more-or-less bland inners of the Taj

Next up, I'd planned the Gauhar Mahal but it was closed till 3pm. So a walk by the Upper Lake ensued, followed by a quick nap in Kamla Park. Another long walk took me to the Indian Coffee House in the New Market Area. An old establishment of the Coffee Board from Jabalpur, the place is famous among Bhopalites for its coffee and dosas. I had a sampler of both  as a light lunch. Worth a visit.

 

The Gauhar Mahal

 

The Upper Lake

 

My lunch at the Indian Coffee House

A Rs100 rickshaw ride from here took me to the museum area near the Shyamala Hills area. There are three museums here, the State Museum, the Tribal Museum and the Musum of Man. I did the three in the same order. These places are simply amazing - especially the tribal museum. I made a mistake of not opting to take the pics; make sure you don't.

 

The gate of the Tribal Museum

 

A deepmaal at the Museum of Man

I was halfway through the Museum of Man, when is was closing time - 5:30pm. I hitchhiked on a milk-man's moped and then took a bus to the New Market to just while my time away there. A bit of riding around the town was followed by dinner at the 'Winds and Waves' restaurant by the Upper Lake.

Another post-dinner exploration of the Old Bhopal followed, this time with my host for company. The Upper Lake looks gorgeous by night, and so does the Tal-ul-Masajid with its lighted towers. Most of the corners of the old city are dotted with people indulging in their pass times - chess, cards and the likes. We were also lucky to witness a procession related to Muharram next day (not the actual Muharram procession). We returned by midnight.

The next day was spent in Sanchi and Vidisha, so didnt see anything in Bhopal. Again on my last day, time crunch dictated that I could only see the Van Vihar park. The place is like a zoo with larger cages - but not a sanctuary. The best way to see the park is to cycle through it - cycles can be rented at the gate.

 

Ride of the day

 

This hyena seemed to derive some pleasure just going round and round in circles

 

The bear at Van Vihar

 

Tiger ... Van Vihar has 17 in all

 

The lake by the Van Vihar cafeteria

I ended my spree in Bhopal with a quick shopping round at the New Market. Then on to the railway station for my train back to Mumbai.

© Kapil Pilankar

Along The Narmada At Maheshwar & Mandleshwar

The distance from Omkareshwar to Maheshwar is 81kms. Covering this distance in the MP state transport bus, with its numerous halts takes a time equivalent of watching a standard length Hindi movie - the Amitabh Bacchan and Vinod Khanna starer Parvarish as in my case.

Arrving at Maheshwar at about 1:30pm, my first task was too find a place to eat. The only thing I'd eaten in Omkareshwar the day before was the spicy khichadi helped down with loads of curd. I was in better health today, and so I decided to have a better meal, but was quite apprehensive for the quality. Right next to the Maheshwar bus stop is the Gurukripa Bhojanalay. The sight of a Sikh sitting behind the counter was one of the most reassuring things I've ever seen in my life!!!

The next thing after the delicious thali at Gurukripa was to find a place to crash. There were a few places around the bus stand, but I decided to venture near the fort and the Ghats for a better location. I found one to my liking and budget just outside the fort. Maheshwar, being a seat of erstwhile royalty, has quite a few top-end places as well. There's loads of choice.

I set out to explore the place - mostly the fort and the ghats - after a nap at around 5pm, still taking swigs of the ORS. I'd simply say, I love the place. The ghats at Maheshwar are majestic and coupled with the facade of the fort and palace, present a magnificent view. I just casually strolled about the place, taking in the views and noting the splendid pre-modern Hindu architecture.

 

The cenotaphs by the ghats

 

The Raj-Rajeshwar Temple

 

Temple complex of Maheshwar

 

Temple complex  

 

The statue of Ahilyabai Holkar, Maheshwar is greatly indebted to her

 

Temple complex views

 

Guardians

It was then, as I stepped out to the ghats when I saw the most splendid post-sunset light play I've ever seen in my life.

 

The colours of Maheshwar twilight

Dinner followed at Gurukripa again - I was in love with that place. I slept early. I took a round of the ghats again early morning, and followed it up with a breakfast at the Mediterranean themed Labboos Cafe inside the fort. It looked like a good place to chill. These guys also offer accommodation in restored guard rooms of the fort. Should be fun to try some day.

I checked out early in a bid to cover the ghats of Mandleshwar on my way back to Khandwa for my train to Mumbai; actually, Dhamnod is a mere 13km away from Maheshwar with brilliant bus connectivity with Mumbai via the Mumbai-Agra Highway is a better port of entry-exit. Anyway, the ghats of Mandleshwar resemble more of a promenade, though some work is in progress to make it more attractive. I reached the ghats by noon, and the cool breeze blowing there meant that I absolutely had to sit down and soak it all in. I had company of a band of dhol boys who were chattering in a frenzy - mostly fun.

 

The steps and temples of Mandleshwar, with the dhol boys

 
My return journey to Khandwa via Barwaha was spent again in the drivers cabin where I got some conversation flowing and was treated to complementary tea and some friendly advice.

 

My bus ride ...

It was about 4pm by the time I arrived at Khandwa and had almost an hour at my disposal. So I decided to visit the second most visited place in Khandwa after the railway station - Kishore Kumar's birthplace. This now dilapidated structure - Ganguly House, Gowri Kunj - was once privy to the innocence and joy of Kishore Da's childhood. I met the caretaker there - an old man of seventy - who recounted the old days when Kishore Da would frequent the place. I gave him a small tip and returned to the railway station to while my time off till the train arrived.

 

I should've taken a selfie here ... this looks like a mugshot of the poor guy

 

Ganguly House - Gowri Kunj

My first trip to MP was about to come to an end. I'd seen quite a bit, I'd learnt quite a bit - more about myself, than anything else. I'd be back soon, there's a lot to know in MP.

© Kapil Pilankar

A Recovery In Omkareshwar

Post moved to One Of The Road - One Of The Road is a proper travel blog maintained by me. Thanks :)

Mask's Meghalayan Adventure 2012 - Eastwards of East

Day 2: Sunday - 9th December, 2012
Shillong-Thadlaskein-Nartiang-Shillong

The plan for the day was to start off early and check out Thadlaskein and Nartiang in the eastern third of Meghalaya and then top it up with a little archery in Shillong. It is rare for such trips, but we all were up and ready by 0730hrs for the breakfast. By 0830hrs we crammed ourselves in the hosts Eeco - a grand total of nine in a care made for six - and set out for Thadlaskein. Mr. Dean was to accompany us as a driver cum guide for the trip.

The Hill Top Chateau - and somebody else in the pic

Handmade wall-clock at the Hill Top Chateau

Mr. Dean in the Hill Top Chateau living room

Most articles here are hand-made

Shillong in daytime from the Hill Top Chateau

All set to go! 

L-R Front: Nandit, Deepak, Mayank (on a stool)

L-R Back: Praful, Arun, Pradeep, Ajay

It seemed to take us forever to get out of Shillong on those narrow winding roads. The route from Shillong to Thadlaskein goes on further to connect to other North-Eastern states and sees quite a bit of heavy traffic owing to the mines in the Jaintia Hills. Good for us, the road condition was good for most part.

We reached Thadlaskein Lake by 1000hrs. I must say that we were a bit disappointed by it. The lake has a legend that it was dug by the local tribe warriors using their bow-heads. The effort that the task must have taken is truly of mammoth proportions, but, speaking from a tourists point of view it can be avoided. Today being a Sunday, activities at the lake were closed, but the lake gates were open. We had a little snack break at the dhaba opposite to the lake and a bit of fun at the jetty on the lake with a round of skipping-stones. We decided to proceed to Nartiang without further ado.

Thadlaskein Lake

Fun(?) at Thadlaskein Lake

L-R: Me, Praful, Ajay, Pradeep, Arun, Deepak, Nandit

The road to Nartiang is off from the main road and the quality is pretty poor. The road however goes through a lot of orange plantations, with delicious, ripe oranges ready to be plucked. We proceeded first to the Durga Temple. This again wasn't up to our expectations. The temple is pretty old and reportedly built by people who had traveled out from Maharashtra in the early 16th century. The temple had a history of human sacrifice rituals which were later replaced by animal sacrifice under the British rule. We spent a little time speaking to the caretaker and then left for the monoliths.

The monolith park at Nartiang, Mr. Dean said, used to be a former market. The size of the monolith corresponds to the wealth of its owner. The monolith park brought out the kid within all of us a we hurried for a photo-op at some of the larger erections. The scale of some of the monoliths is truly huge and one can imagine the effort taken to place it there. After spending a good part of an hour there we decided to head back to Shillong.

Monoliths at Nartiang

L-R: Mayank, Deepak, Pradeep, me, Ajay, Praful, Arun

Praful vs. the monolith!

On the way back we decided to stop for oranges at a small cluster of roadside stalls. The oranges were too expensive, but we helped ourselves to a few yams, sweet-potatoes and acorns. The platter was delicious. We paid for it and headed back to Shillong. Most of us dosed off during the return ride.

On the way back, we got a call from Kyrmen (henceforth mentioned as Men i.e. his nickname) from the Meghalaya Adventure Tours. He wanted to get our measurements for the caving gear. We decided to meet him after lunch.

We had planned to take our lunch at the City Hut Dhaba near PB as recommended by Mr. Dean. The place was quite beautiful with a stunning decor. It turned out that it was full and would take us atleast 45mins to get a table. We then decided to look for other options. Mr. Dean had returned home by then for his lunch. He had a stomach issue and was not permitted to eat away. So, we were on our own in Shillong for some time.

The nearest open restaurant we found was the Assembly. We decided to eat there. It was already 1430hrs by then and the archery was to begin at 1530hrs. We had our lunch and left the place. The Assembly is one of the 'strictly nor recommended' places in Shillong, a fact which most of us were unaware at that moment.

We met Men outside the Assembly. He was to be our companion and guide for the next four days at Cherrapunji. We decided on a pickup time of 0830hrs for the next day's departure to Cherrapunji and gave the required details for the gear. We also wanted to cover a few other spots along the way, to which Men did not mind.

After our meeting with Men, we moved on to the archery grounds. Mr. Dean had arrived to pick us up. On reaching the grounds we were told that there is no archery on Sunday. By the way, forgot to mention that Shillong really shuts down on a Sunday. Meghalaya has 80% Christian community and they really stick to their Sundays. The markets were going to be closed for the next two days as well on account of a protest against self-immolation in Tibet. Due to this a few shops in PB remained open today.

We then decided to move to the nearby Ward's Lake for a stroll as we had nothing else to do. The place is beautiful with walking/jogging tracks, boating area, well maintained lawns and restrooms. It is a good place to just take a stroll in.

Wards Lake

L-R: Deepak, Praful, me

We moved from the lake to the PB area for some mindless wondering through the markets. The first place we saw was the Delhi Mishtaan Bhandaar. We had heard about the place and decided to check it out. There was a fresh round of jalebis being made and we ordered some. Hot jalebis on a cool evening are just awesome! We took two packets as fuel for our stroll. We did not find anything interesting, but it was fun nonetheless.

We all returned to the Hill Top Chateau by 1930hrs. The non-vegetarians had ordered a bit of pork for dinner. We wanted to try some home-made stuff before trying it someplace else. Ms. Aishwarya's cooking was very good. We packed our luggage for the next day's ride to Cherrapunji before dozing off.

Originally posted in Indiamike

All photos by Mayank Sharma.

- Kapil Pilankar

Mask's Meghalayan Adventure 2012 - The Trip Begins!

Day 1: Saturday - 8th December, 2012
Mumbai-Guwahati-Shillong

Typically, for a week long adventure trip my packing begins a week earlier. This, however, doesn't mean that it ends early. Several rounds of packing and unpacking go in are done before a final, settled look appears on the luggage. Friday night was spent rolling around in the bed impatiently waiting for the 0330hrs alarm to go off.

Our flight to Guwahati (via Kolkata and Agartala) was at 0815hrs from the Santacruz domestic airport. Mayank picked me from my home at 0500hrs. We reached the airport by 0600hrs. Ajay and Pradeep joined us there and we completed the check-in formalities. Praful and Deepak had already left on an earlier flight from Mumbai. Arun and Nandit were the luckiest with a later flight from Kolkata. We all were to meet at the Guwahati airport by 1400hrs. The flight was mostly without incident. However, Ajay's in-flight breakfast, Mayank's bongbandhu-prem at Kolkata and Vodafone Bangladesh's network in Agartala compensated for the lack of entertainment.

Everyone met at the Guwahati Airport at the scheduled time. Praful had caught up with a former colleague at Guwahati who gave us a few pointers for our trip. We checked around for the cabs to Shillong and finalised a Winger at the Meghalaya Tourism office. The ticket for the journey till Shillong (Police Bazaar - Town Centre) was Rs350 per seat which worked out to be Rs2800 for the entire vehicle. They also offered to drop us to our hotel for free (a further 3-4 km ride). We booked it straight away.

The vehicle was comfortable with ample space for the luggage. We took a break for lunch after Jalukbari at a place called Shankar Dhaba. There was an item on the menu called 'Motor Masala' which we were keen to try out. On enquiring it just turned out to be 'Mutter Masala'. Our group was split with 4 guys being vegetarians and 4 being non-vegetarians. We ordered accordingly. The food at the dhaba, though not bad, was nothing to write home about. We were introduced to the bigger lime that was to be a common feature of our future meals during the trip.

We left the place by 1600hrs which gave us a mere hour of sunlight with sunset at 1700hrs, a fact that us Mumbaikars found a bit difficult to come to terms with initially. Most of the journey was completed in darkness. We took a tea break at Nongpoh. The road from Guwahati to Shillong can be rated as bad with some stretches being at best average. Our driver was a bit of a mad-hatter variety and scared us with a few close calls.

The road bettered after we crossed the Barapani Lake to again shrink after entering the Shillong city. This was something I wasn't prepared for. I had spent a few months going through the maps and had completely over-estimated the roads and under-estimated the local topography. The narrow, winding hill roads of Shillong were fun to check-out.

After reaching the Police Bazaar (hereafter mentioned as PB) area, the driver took us to the SSBT parking bay and demanded a further Rs 300 to drop us to our hotel. We flatly refused to do so and explained in simplest terms the deal we had at the airport. He consulted with a few other drivers before agreeing to take us there for a small chai-paani tip. We agreed to this.

After leaving the PB area we made our way to our hotel. Actually it was a guest house; the Hill Top Chateau. This is a brilliant property located ahead of Laban in the Lumparing area. The road leading to the place is isolated with forested areas on both sides. It was almost 2000hrs by the time we were on the road and obviously pitch dark except for the cab's headlights. Our driver, in a fit of devilish humour, switched off the headlights for a couple of seconds, scaring us out of our wits.

We reached the Hill Top Chateau in five more minutes. Our hosts, Ms. Aishwarya and Mr. Dean, were ready at the entrance to greet us. We were spellbound after looking at the place we got. The property had three rooms: red, green and blue. The red room has an attached dining room. All the rooms were almost equals in size and decor, with a closet, TV and geyser in each of the rooms. The hosts stayed on the floor above the rooms. We were allowed to access the gallery of the house by our hosts. The way to the gallery went through their living room which was spectacularly done. The Hill Top Chateau, true to its name, is located at some elevation above the rest of Shillong city which makes for a spectacular view any time of the day. We spent some time at the gallery before eventually realising that we were better off inside the house rather than out in the cold.

Shillong City as seen from the Hill Top Chateau

The group at the Hill Top Chateau with 'some' Shillong in the background

L-R: Mayank, me, Deepak, Praful, Ajay, Nandit, Arun, Pradeep

Our dinner and breakfast arrangements were done by the hosts themselves. We had yet to finalise the transport for the next day site-seeing. Our hosts checked with the cabbies they knew, but eventually we decided to use their Eeco, provided we all could fit in. We finalised the route before dinner: Shillong to Thadlaskein (Lake) and return via Nartiang (Durga Temple and Monoliths), lunch on the way followed by checking out the archery at Shillong and some shopping. We accepted a price of Rs3000 for the trip and something extra if we get time to cover more spots.

After dinner at 2100hrs, which is quite late by Shillong time, we went off to sleep to put an end to our first day of the trip.

Originally posted in Indiamike
All photos by Mayank Sharma.

- Kapil Pilankar

Mask's Meghalayan Adventure 2012 - An Introduction

It had almost been an year since our Ladakh Trip (June 2011) and the itch for a longer trip was too much to bear. Numerous options kept popping up - Kerala, Sikkim and Rishikesh to name a few. Browsing online led me to an obscure term called the Living Root Bridge. The pictures were simply astonishing! These 'bridges' were unique to the eastern state of Meghalaya. A little browsing through the Meghalaya forum at Indiamike (special thanks to IMer Karikor Kharkongor) popped up some more interesting facts about the state. I shared the idea and the pics with Mayank and he too loved it. We decide to look up a bit more - work around a possible itinerary, what sort of activities could be done, contact the concerned people and get the finer details.

By the first week of August 2012, we had the event brochure ready for launch! The event was first made public during our rafting event to an overwhelmingly mild response. Well, Meghalaya is not the first place that comes to mind when you think of any sort of adventure tourism in India. By the way, if anyone from Meghalaya Tourism ever reads this - Guys, you have some awesome stuff at hand which is not being done too much of justice!

The trip was to begin on 8th December (Saturday, early morning)and end on 16th December (Sunday, late night). In the end, we were a team of eight guys all set to say Khublai to Meghalaya - five joining from Mumbai (Mayank, Praful, Deepak, Pradeep and me) two from Kolkata (Arun, Nandit) and one from Pune (Ajay)

A few excerpts from our Meghalaya Adventure Trip brochure:

Meghalaya! … Are you sure?
Absolutely! Meghalaya is one of India’s offbeat adventure hot-spots; although virtually unknown.
Meghalaya literally means ‘abode of the clouds’. The state, flanked by eastern Himalayas in the north and the Bangladesh plains in the south, is primarily a hilly region adequately punctuated by numerous rivers and waterfalls. The state receives very high rainfall, with Cherrapunji and Mawsynram being tagged as the wettest places on the earth. The state capital Shillong is affectionately called the ‘Scotland of the East’ due to the lush green rolling hills that surround it. The village of Mawlynnong near the Bangladesh border has been declared as the cleanest village in Asia.

OK! … But what do 'WE' do?
The land of Meghalaya is composed of limestone which coupled with the excess water-flow have resulted in numerous caves formed due to erosion. These caves offer their own unique adventure activity – caving. Exploring the depth of these caves while wading through waist deep water, crawling through narrow spaces and being hoisted around mini ladders provides an unmatched adrenaline rush, truly making an offbeat adventure.
The water-bodies around these hills calm down after the monsoons and offer a variety of water-sports. Snorkeling, canoeing, cliff-diving, river canyoning and angling are fun ways to get wet and stay wet. Rock climbing and rappelling on the riverbanks are fun too.
Did you know that the people of Meghalaya never built bridges? They grew them! These ‘Living Root Bridges’ are accessible through small treks and are a treat for the offbeat tourists and offer a unique insight to the Meghalayan culture.

Whoa! … So what’s the plan?
The trip starts at Guwahati (Assam). We then move onto Shillong on the same day. Shillong and the surroundings offer us a cultural insight on Meghalaya. Our journey then takes us to Cherrapunji where the treasures and surprises await us. The penultimate leg of our journey will take us to Dawki via Mawlynnong for a quick dip in the water and a glimpse of neighboring Bangladesh. We return to Guwahati via Shillong to end what would beyond doubt be the most remarkable experience you ever had … Get … Set … Go!!!

A brochure is incomplete without some photos. (All were collected from internet sources - none of us had visited these places at this time)

Barapani Lake at the outskirts of Shillong

Monoliths at Nartiang

Nohkalikai Falls

Krem Mawmluh

Krem Ri Blai

A Living Root Bridge

Mawlynnong Village

Canyoning at Dawki

Allright! The brochure's taken care of. Will share day-wise adventures in the forthcoming posts ... stay tuned!

-Kapil Pilankar