(Bhopal, Indore and Gwalior)
Let me start by acknowledging the support of my wife who not just agreed for me to go on this adventure, but also actively participated in all the preparations. I owe this one and all my other adventures to her.
I seem to have waited forever for this trip to begin. My thoughts swinged many times between the pros and cons, but finally, as with most decisions of my life, the heart won over the mind. Once the decision was made, the preparation for the trip started. Considering I was taking leave without salary to make this happen, the budget constraints played a key part in deciding to buy only the essentials for the trip and not the nice-to-haves. Finally, I started rolling on June 21, 2019. I didn’t have the courage to face kids when I am leaving. Therefore, made a late start when they had gone to school. This is probably the only sad part of this story! Rest is all adventure that I am very much looking forward to!
As I started late, my intention was to halt at Nashik. The first night was at a Toll Plaza just ahead of Nashik. I had couple of hours before hitting the bed. To kill time, I first watched a movie on the phone and then helped a truck driver fix the tarpaulin covering the goods his truck was carrying (he was finding it difficult to do it himself and I suddenly had plenty of time in life). While the bed inside the SUV was comfortable and the fan kept things cool, but it is always a struggle to sleep inside a vehicle parked at a strange place.
The next day started early and I reached Indore late afternoon. The main purpose of making a stop at Indore was to taste the famous Indori food. However, as I had reached early, I decided to go to Pataalpani waterfalls which was some 20 odd KMs away from Indore. The visit turned out to be nothing more than a time killer as the waterfall had no water. The night was reserved for Sarafa Bazaar street food walk. I was there sharp at 9 pm which is the starting time of the food market. The place has an amazing vibe, people come there to have a good time with their families and friends. It is a small bye-lane which is a Jewelers’ market during the day and completely transforms into a foodie’s paradise by night. I savoured on dahi bhalla, coconut crush and butte ka kees and I would rate them in the order in which I’ve mentioned them here. After stuffing myself with the delicacies, the next task was to find a decent place to park the car and sleep. I slept much better this night!
Next day, I woke up at 5:30 am and left for Bhopal. The sole purpose of going to Bhopal was to meet a good friend. Bhopal made a very good first impression on me. The city is clean and has lot of green cover. The Upper Lake, which is the identity of Bhopal, is huge. However, I read in local newspaper that the lake has receded significantly in the past few years. Besides the lake, Bhopal and the areas around have few other attractions. I first visited the Bhojpur temple, some 25 Kms away from Bhopal. This temple was quite interesting! While it has world’s largest Shiva Lingham, but because the Lingham developed a crack due to a rock that fell from temple’s ceiling, it is not worshiped.
Next to visit was world famous Bhimketka Caves which are around 40 Kms from Bhopal. These caves are UNESCO world heritage site and they date back to 100,000 years. Some of the rock shelters and the paintings are from the pre-historic era. It exhibits the earliest traces of human life on the Indian subcontinent. There are fifteen rock shelters that can be visited and it took me around couple of hours to see all of them.
Next day I decided to visit Van Vihar National Park and then National Museum of Humankind. There was a charge of INR 400 to take the car inside the national park (6 Kms round trip). The guard suggested to rent a bicycle (INR 10 per hour). Considering the tight budget for this trip, the decision was easy. In spite of the summer heat, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of cycling through the national park.
The Museum of Mankind is just next to the national park. It is spread over 200 acres and has several open air exhibitions besides the indoor museum. You can easily spend half a day in this museum. While I am not really fond of museums, but this one was quite interesting and I enjoyed the visit.
Bhopal turned out to be a nice detour – all thanks to the hospitality of my friend and the sites that I visited. My earlier plan was to go to Agra from Bhopal, but I decided to break the journey at Gwalior and see the Gwalior fort which the mughal emperor Babar referred as “the pearl amongst fortresses in India”. I reached Gwalior in the evening and found a nice spot to park the car and sleep. However, I could hardly sleep this night due to summer heat which I had underestimated.
The fort opens at sunrise and I was there at 6 am. The fort has couple of palaces inside – the Man Mandir Palace and Gujari Palace. Besides the palaces, it also has stunning temples and a Gurudwara. The rock walls leading to the fort are engraved in Jain sculptures. The stopover at Gwalior proved to be a right decision!
Stay tuned for next week developments. Coming up, Agra and thereafter my Himalayan adventure starts…
sushil.is.out.of.office 