The Heart of India!

7.30 pm we've to board ‘Avantika Express’ at Borivali station. We left pretty late for Borivali that day. Had to order a cab on the last minute and the driver messed it up. “The train leaves at 7pm. You have to make it to Borivali before 7!”, my father shouted at him. Well as we were pretty late, my parents had already lost it. Pin drop silence during our cab drive till Borivali station, and we totally made it at 7.17pm.

Well when the train arrived, it was 8.30pm IST. It was definitely a great start for the trip hahaha! We had our usual dinner in the trains. I love railways more than any other mode of transport. Like seriously, you sit with everyone, you can talk loudly, laugh and walk around anytime. At least that’s what my sister and I do. As you know, I talk to strangers a lot of times; we met this young man who was providing us food and bed sheets.

Mr. Manish Dwivedi.

Mr. Manish Dwivedi was a very amazing man; well my father is an extrovert person. You could lock him in a room full of strangers and one hour later, you’ll see all of them talking to each other like they've known each other for a long time. We got down at ‘Lakshmibai Nagar’ which is near Ujjain and my father as usual got down and started talking to him. He was so good, we even took his number, Avanti and I clicked his pictures and we had a nice chat. Exactly at 10.00am IST, we reached Indore city.  So a lot of people have been asking me that how different is Indore from other cities. Let me tell you, Indore is just like any other normal city in India. Indore is also called ‘mini-Mumbai’. Oh yes, we stayed in a good hotel, and trust me in one thing, when you look at Indore traffic, you definitely will remember the traffic in Andheri and Dadar. Climate wise, Indore is a good place to discover. Do visit this place in winters only. I am putting up some captures of mine below. Have a look at some of the places we visited during our trip:

1.) Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga Temple (Near Mamleshwar) Ujjain:

Trust me, you get those feels of Varanasi and Benaras ghats when you go down here. My personal experience with this temple was horrible, standing in the line for an hour, where people are glued to each other to see the deity. And no, I am never visiting it again. Go for a ferry ride down there, the local boatman takes you near the end point of Narmada and Kaveri rivers, where they join each other. The water flow is high. I waved at the local children who were standing at the banks of the river, and well we had a cute laugh over it! 

        

                                                                     

2.) Mandavgarh Palace, near Ujjain:

Portrait shots outside the watch tower of Rani Roopmati.

a.) The swing shower as well as the 'Diwan-e-Khas'. The swings of course have vanished, many of the artifacts still remain hidden from the common audience inorder to avoid disputes.

The story revolves around mid 16^th century; during the reign of Akbar. The cordial tie between Hindus and the Muslims is often credited to Emperor Akbar. However the seed of this long lasting tie was not sown in Agra, but in a not so far away province in the present day Madhya Pradesh called Mandu. This initiation finds a unique place in our history because the roots of this beautiful union was not greed, lust or want unlike witnessed in Mughal chronicles but out of something very pure termed as “love”. Yes, it was not an alliance, treaty or a pact but a romantic love affair between Sultan Baz Bahadur and a Hindu singer Roopmati who later became his queen and Rani Roopmati.

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b.) The watch-tower for Rani Roopmati to have a view of Narmada river.

Being the Sultan of Marwa, he, if wanted could have forced her for her submission. He however, asked her hand in marriage and requested Roopmati to accompany him to his capital. Roopmati could not say “no” to his majesty, but laid her own condition that, in return he would have to construct a palace for her which would be within the sight of River Narmada. Her wish was the Sultan’s command and thus was constructed the famous Rewa Kund reservoir of Mandu, only to fulfill Roopmati’s fancy. Till today, it is one of the most hot-spot areas in Madhya Pradesh. People around the globe come here to witness the beautiful setting which the lover built in for his love.

  

Water tank.

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3.) Outside the ‘Kaal Bhairava temple’, Ujjain:

Of course, we couldn't shoot much in the temple, this deity is said to drink alcohol. So his deities offer him bottles of alcohol as an offering when they enter the temple. Of course, we cannot believe this fact. A river is present outside the temple, also to fill in the scene, one can find many local monkeys wandering for food. We have taken shots in our videos, for our channel. You can check the scenes in those video clips.

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3.)Saraafa Market, Indore:

of course foodies will find themselves in a good surrounding in the market of Sarafa. Similar to Bombay’s Khao galli. Jalebi, Garadu, and many more food items are found here. The rickshaws here are of green and yellow colour, look so fascinating and also the people here are friendly.

Jalebi.

Garadu.

Writer’s note:

I roamed around Indore, Ujjain, Omkareshwar Temple, Mandavgarh. The places which are mentioned above come nearby these cities. Before you visit any place, you have certain image in your mind about that place, like the way I had about Madhya Pradesh. But wow! I’d like to visit this magnificent land again to discover the palaces and mosques and to discover the secret passages. Also I forgot to mention, in the Jahaz Mehal, 6 floors were found by the archaeological survey of India and each floor has 35 rooms, which are going to be open to public by this year, which was told to us by our guide. If you want to see Mandavgarh properly, keep 2-3 days for roaming Mandavgarh as the place is huge. There are many palaces and tombs inside; also there are some good restaurants available inside Mandu. Omkareshwar temple was not that good experience, but the ferry ride was just amazing. Visit Sarafa market during night time, leave your place by 10.30 pm and then start roaming around and eating food. I’ll recommend Garadu and Jalebi. I am still craving for those two! So for foodies, visit Sarafa market for sure. Sarafa Market is in Indore. Winter season is the perfect time to visit Madhya Pradesh, I thoroughly enjoyed all the places during my visit. So let me know when you are visiting any of these places. I’ll love to hear from you.

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