Sunday, 26 February 2017

Day trip to Mandu: A photoblog

Indore- Mandu- Maheshwar- Indore

Mandu- the gem of medieval Central India, is situated approx. 100 km away from the city of Indore. While in Indore, me and my friend decided to make a day trip to Mandu and then to Maheshwar which is another 39 km away from Mandu.

We hired ourselves a car and left from Indore pretty much early in the morning so that we dont get stuck in traffic and also so that we cover all the important places in the town before it gets dark.

First place of interest on the way is a viewpoint which offers beautiful view of Mandu valley and Kakra Khoh waterfalls. Although Mandu is more famous for the architecture and monumental part of it, visit to this viewpoint definitely helped us make a fresh start to our day!

Mandu Valley
Kakra Khoh Waterfall, Mandu
Our next stop was the Ashmadha Fossil Museum. Apparently,the Narmada river valley around Mandu was home to various species of Dinosaurs millions of years ago. A large scale excavation was carried out in this valley which exposed a lot of buried secrets of the large number of colonies of these beasts. A small but extremely ill-managed museum showcases information on the species of Dinosaurs which made Mandu their home ages ago. A lot of Marine, plant & animal fossils are displayed in the museum- some of which have already been stolen from the museum due to lack of maintenance and security.

Fossils of billions of years old trees at Ashmadha fossil park, Mandu
Ashmadha Fossil Park, Mandu
From the fossil park, it took us another 10/ 15 minutes to enter the proper Mandu town. While on the way one will see a lot of overgrown vegetation and ruins of various structures and broken tombs popping out from the jungles.
As we entered the town, we were charged a fee to take our vehicle inside Mandu town and thats where a lot of guides started approaching us to help us tour around the town. We hired one for about Rs. 450 and got him to sit in the car to start the tour.

First place where we took a halt was the 'Echo point'. This place in Mandu is very unique as it creates echo- our guide gave us a demonstration of the same by shouting loudly and we heard his voice bounce back to us a few times. Rightly so, the kings built a small structure called 'dai ka mahal' (palace of the wet nurse) at the Echo point so that the dai could be called for if and when there was urgency to attend to the royal newborns. Dai ka mahal is a simple domed structure with Dai's room on the first floor and place for parking buggies on the ground floor stilt.

Dai ka mahal, Mandu
Next we moved to Rani Roopmati's pavilion situated at the highest point in Mandu. A huge serpentine ramp took us to the base of this small pavilion.
 Rani Roopmati was a shepherdess who loved singing. BazBahadur- the last independent king of Malwa happened to listen to her singing one fine day while out on hunting, and fell in love with both, her singing as well as her eternal beauty. The king instantly proposed to her and requested her to come back to Mandu to be with him. Roopmati agreed to go with the king at one condition that she should get the Darshan of her beloved river goddess Narmada every morning and her water for drinking. That is how king BazBahadur constructed a pavilion for Rani Roopmati at the highest point so she could easily see the Narmada river flowing almost 30km from here and a water reservoir called Rewa Kund- was built to house the water of Narmada river to be supplied to the pavilion.

Baz Bahadur's palace as seen from Roopmati's pavilion, Mandu
Roopmati's pavilion, Mandu
Ramp to the Roopmati's pavilion, Mandu
Roopmati's pavilion, Mandu
Roopmati's pavilion interior view, Mandu
 We came down from the ramp and halted at king BazBahadur's palace- which mostly lies in ruins today. Although broken from outside, one can have a walk in the colonnade inside the palace. The palace mainly consists of a large court in the center and royal rooms built around it. This palace also consists of a garden which has a unique water supply system and is still seen here. Just outside the palace is the large Rewa Kund that supplied water to the royal palaces.

Inside baz Bahadur's palace, Mandu
Rewa Kund, Mandu
Bazbahadur's palace, Mandu
Next we visited a very interesting temple- the Neelkanth temple dedicated to lord Shiva. One look at the temple and its architecture will shock you- as the temple is built in red sandstone in Islamic architecture and with persian inscriptions from Quran on the structure. However, the story goes like- here existed a Shiva temple originally which was demolished by one of the generals of Moghul King- Akbar and he created a palace there. However Shiva made his way back to the structure over the years and the structure again started to be known as a place of worship for the lord. (Another version of the story says that this temple was built intentionally by Moghul general Shahbag Khan for Akbar's Hindu wife- Jodha.)

Jahaz Mahal, Mandu
From Neelkanth temple, we moved to the Mandu fort which consists of various famous buildings like Jahaz mahal, Hindola mahal etc.
As we entered the fort, the imposing structure of Jahaz mahal on the left side leaves you awestruck. Shaped like an anchored ship, Jahaz mahal was built during the reign of Sultan Ghiasudin Khilji in later 15th century. This massive structure was mainly built as harem to accommodate various queens, female servants, dancers and courtesans as the sultan was famous for being a pleasure seeker.
110m long and about 15 m wide, this Ground + one storey is built on the banks of Munja talao making it appear like a large ship. Other than the many rooms located in the mahal, what makes its architecture interesting are the various waterbodies and jacuzzis. The drainage system of the palace is a must see, the way used bathing water was purified in spiral water channels and was then used for gardening purpose probably makes this palace, one of the first 'green buildings' in India.

Hindola Mahal, Mandu
Not too faraway from Jahaz mahal, within the fort complex is the Hindola mahal i.e. swinging palace. Probably called so due to its sloping walls, this structure was mainly used for recreation by the queens. Hindola mahal is said to be one of the few buildings in ancient India without a structural foundation.

Hindola mahal interior view, Mandu
Champa Baoli, Mandu
Further ahead is a stepped well known as Champa Baoli which suppied water to the royal baths known as Hamam. Champa baoli other than storing water, also has a lot of underground chambers which acted as the store house for weapons and to hide from the enemy- as told by our seemingly knowledgeable guide.

Around the well are a few Hamam structures for taking bath and steam. In the walls of hamam, one can see channels for hot water laid and also perforations on the dome to throw away the steam from the structure.

Hamam
View of Jahaz mahal from across the Munja talao, Mandu
Jahaz mahal, Mandu
Jahaz mahal, Mandu
Jahaz mahal, Mandu
A small reservoir in front of the Jahaz mahal, Mandu
Channels for purifying used water, Jahaz mahal, Mandu
Mandu's important monuments are clubbed in 3 different groups- 1. Royal Enclave- which consists of Rani Roopmati pavilion, BazBahadur's palace & Rewa Kund, 2. Mandu Fort- consisting of Jahaz mahal, Hindola mahal, Champa baoli, hamam's, ruined Jalmahal and various underground chambers in the fort. 3. Village group of Monuments- including the Jama masjid, Hoshang shah's tomb & Ashrafi mahal.

Done with the first two groups, we headed to the Jama masjid. Arguably the most majestic building of Mandu- the Jama masjid was built in 15th century by Hoshang Shah Ghori. The domed hall at the entrance of the mosque itself leaves one awestruck at the massive proportion of space enclosed by a single dome. Then comes the massive courtyard around which the mosque colonnade is built. The main chamber of mosque has a central large dome and many small cupolas allover the mosque. Sloping walls/ buttresses seem to be the dominant architectural feature of this mosque just like the Hindola Mahal. The interior of the masjid also has a pulpit (mimbar) which is normally absent in the Indian mosques.

Jama Masjid, Mandu
Jama Masjid, Mandu
Jama Masjid, Mandu
Jama Masjid, Mandu
Jama Masjid, Mandu
Hoshang Shah's tomb, Mandu
Just adjacent to the Jama mosque is Hoshang Shah's tomb. Built by the king himself, it is a very pretty marble structure sitting within a colonnade made of pillars of demolished Hindu/ Jain temples. The mausoleum consists of graves of Hoshang Shah and his family members.

Colonnade around Hoshang Shah's tomb, Mandu
Just across the street from that of Jama masjid's entrance is the Ashrafi mahal mostly used as madarsa and is now in ruins.

Taking us through the various important monuments and the interesting stories woven around them, we thanked our guide and paid him extra as a token of gratitude.
We then moved to have quick lunch in one of the restaurants closeby and moved to Maheshwar- the capital of Maratha Queen Ahilyabai Holkar!...

Thursday, 2 February 2017

Bhopal- City Tour


After 3 days of road trip from Indore to Mandu then to Maheshwar then to Omkareshwar and then back to Indore, our next destination was Bhopal- the state capital.
Me and my friends took a Bhopal bound bus from Indore around 4:30 pm and reached Bhopal after about 3 hours around 7:30/8. By the time we entered Bhopal, it was getting dark but that couldn’t hide the beauty of the city. Massive lakes, clean and wide roads, dedicated BRTS corridors, large green patches at every nook and corner make the city look extraordinarily beautiful- especially to the eyes of a Mumbaikar like me who is used to seeing dirty congested roads with potholes, stinking lanes and slums on a daily basis.
From the bus stand, we took an auto to take us to TT Nagar area where we had pre booked our hotel. Contrary to the experience we had had in Indore, this hotel was indeed clean and nice though not luxurious. Settling down in the hotel, I searched for some good restaurants around on Zomato app. The results showed up a good option called Lazeez Kareem very close by; with almost positive reviews. Living upto all those positive reviews, the food turned out to be pretty yummy and comparatively cheap.


City tour buses by the respective state tourism departments have always been my favourite way to explore any city and hey it’s cheap as well! It takes you all around the city, shows you all the interesting places on the go and of course you can come back and separately visit these places later sometime where you feel you would have liked to spend more time! And that’s exactly what we did in Bhopal!
We sat in a MP tourism bus (shaped like a mini train!) starting from Hotel Palash residency. This bus was slower than the slowest of the buses and hence perfect to observe this bustling weekday morning of Bhopal.
Our first destination for the day was Birla temple- This temple just like most Birla temples in the country is sitting in a nice landscaped area. Temple being at a height, one can see a distant view of city’s lakes and the buildings around- more prominently spotted are spires of the temples and minarets of the mosques- both in abundance in Bhopal!

Birla Mandir
Moving ahead, we passed a few important government buildings including the new secretariat building of the state designed by renowned Architect Charles Correa.
Next we were taken to Gandhi Bhawan, housing a small museum on the life of Gandhi which has a collection of photographs, letters related to the leader. More than the museum what grabbed my attention more was the massive 25ish feet tall cactus growing just outside the bhawan!

Madhya Pradesh New Assembly builing
Further ahead, driving along the lakes, we came to the old city of Bhopal home to two of Bhopal’s most famous mosques- Moti Masjid and Taj ul Masjid. Since the bus was just going to take us around without having a halt here, we decided to come back here later to visit the mosque separately.

Old city- Bhopal
Now passing through the very beautiful VIP road, with beautiful wall murals on one side and the vast lake on the other, we were headed to the ‘Boat Club’ at the Upper Lake. On the road we also crossed the large statue of Bhopal’s founder standing in the lake- as if very protectively guarding his city- statue of the great Raja Bhoj.


As soon as we reached Boat Club, we knew we were gonna come back here again next day! This place was totally my type- speed boat, mini cruise, music and lots of food! We had a quick speed boating session and grabbed a few momos within the time allocated to this place by the guide and moved to our next stop- Indira Gandhi Manav Sangrahalaya a.k.a. Museum of Man.

Boat Club
Boat Club
The entire complex of the museum is sooo hugee that one needs to have atleast a bike to see the entire museum complex properly. Took us more than 10 minutes by bus from the main entrance till the exhibition gallery. Along the road, life size models of huts and houses of various communities of India are erected in the natural environment- right from a Himalayan house, huts of the Nagas to the scene of the chariot pulled by the tribals in famous Bastar Dusshera festival in Chhattisgarh.

Exhibits in Museum of man
Exhibits in Museum of man
Exhibits in Museum of man
Exhibits in Museum of man
Exhibits in Museum of man
First section in the museum is dedicated to the prehistoric man and his various inventions. Moving further inside is the gallery for various Tribal communities and Nomadic groups of India. Each section consists of statues of the tribals in traditional attires and scaled models of their dwellings along with the brief information on each. Next is the section for wall art of various communities- from the Madhubani of Bihar to the wall art in Gompas of the Tibetan Buddhists in ladakh. Then is gallery of masks, toys, metal crafts, jewellery and on and on..! Whoa what a museum it is- truly of international standard! This one totally changes one’s common perception that museums are boring and can be skipped! NO Don’t skip this one at any cost!

Tribal Museum
Tribal Museum
Our next destination was another museum- Rashtriya janjatiya Sangrahalaya i.e. Tribal museum. We reluctantly entered this museum thinking we have seen the best a museum can be just now at Museum of man and nothing can even come close to it. I have to admit, the first look of this museum and we were shocked. Larger than life exhibits welcomed us in the main lobby. The way this museum is designed very informally is what appeals more about this particular museum. It lets you experience the exhibits, walk in the middle of it, explore it, feel it, sometimes lets you touch it unlike how museum normally are which have a clear divide between the exhibits and the viewers- the main reason why people hate going to museums. From large exhibits to terracotta toys, from life sized tribal hut models to mandap of a tribal marriage, this indoor museum has EVERYTHING! A massive and intricate model of kangan (bangle) gifted by in-laws to their daughter in law in central Indian tribal communities; is especially eye catching. Although the museum covers various tribal communities throughout India, it concentrates more on the tribal communities of Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh- for reasons obvious.

Tribal Museum
Tribal Museum
Tribal Museum
Just next to the tribal museum is the state museum of Madhya Pradesh. Third museum in a row and we were still not complaining! A quick tour through various galleries of this massive museum, and we came back to our bus. The guide of the tour announced that our half day city tour is now over and the bus would drop the passengers at Boat club if interested or take us straight to where we started- Hotel Palash residency, We decided to get off and walk to- Bharat Bhavan.

Bharat Bhavan
Bharat Bhavan is a large centre for arts on the banks of upper lake- again designed by the Indian legendary architect- Charles Correa. Especially the space around the open amphitheater facing Upper Lake feels so amazing, one can only imagine the feeling the audience would get to watch a live performance there on a starry night!

VanVihar National Park
VanVihar National Park
From Bharat Bhavan we walked along the upper lake to reach VanVihar National Park. Although we can take our vehicle inside or hire an auto to take us around in the national park, we instead chose to hire cycles from the ticket counter. Though the cycles here are ancient and more like the ones used by milkmen to deliver milk, that’s still the best way to roam around the national park. A road goes all along the national park with animal enclosures on one side and the upper lake on the other side. A total of 7km cycle ride one way till the other end of the national park takes one along the enclosures of various animals such as tigers, bears, deers, turtles, snake park and finally the birds’ area.
Coming back, we exited from the park, it was already 6:30 in the evening. We decided to have some drinks at Winds and Waves- a famous drinking place at the lake view road opposite the boat club.
Few drinks down we went to the place I had high on my wish list on my visit to Bhopal- the Bhopal express- the moving train coach restaurant. Earlier called ‘Shaan-E-Bhopal’, this restaurant is set up within a train coach which is parked in Hotel Lake View Ashok’s compound. A mock platform is also created outside the coach that serves as the outdoor Non-AC seating of the restaurant. The experience of dining here was pretty amazing. The seating arrangement, the background music of a moving train, the LCD panels fixed in place of windows (which have outside scenery running as if you are sitting in a moving train) give a near authentic and enjoyable feeling of dining in train. What adds to the experience is that the coach often moves and gives slight jerks- ofcourse while standing in one place.

Bhopal Express restaurant
Bhopal Express restaurant
While returning back to the hotel, we booked ourselves a rental car for next day’s trip to Bhimbetka and Sanchi- the world heritage sites in Bhopal’s proximity…