Battlefields of Delhi – Part II

By

The Government of and an-independent India, on its 25th Independence day in 1972, had changed the name of the Mutiny Memorial into “अजीतगढ़” to commemorate the sacrifice of all the native forces that had fought the war of the Independence and dedicated the same to the country.

Read More

Majestic Ladakh :: Hall of Fame and The Last Post

By

As we entered inside the museum we were briefed by an Army Personnel. This two storey museum is maintained by the Indian Army and divided into various sections for displays. A section of the ground floor portrays the facts, culture and history of Ladakh. It has a souvenir shop where you can get t-shitrs, coffee mugs, caps, pashnima shawls etc. Enthusiast may shoot photos in Ladakhi attire in the photo shop and take the print for a nominal charge. Finding no interest in it, we went to another section of the same ground floor. The walls here are occupied by the pictures of Kargil War 1999. It transported us to decades back. The displays on the walls gave us a vivid portrayal of how Indian Army fought the war.

Read More

रंगीला पंजाब – परिवार सहित अमृतसर यात्रा

By

तभी ट्रैन चलने की घोषणा हुई और जल्दी ही ट्रैन रेंगने लगी।  वाइफ और बेटा खिड़की से बाहर देखते रहे और मैं आँखें बंद कर दिन भर की प्लानिंग करने लगा।  कुछ देर में शताब्दी की सेवाएं शुरू हुई.  पानी की बोतल, अखबार और फिर चाय, इन सबके  सोचा की थोड़ा सो लेंगे।  पर तभी टीटी जी आ पहुंचे।  उनको टिकट देखा कर निबटे तो देखा कि बेटा सो गया था।  हमने भी आधा घंटा नींद ली की तभी ब्रेकफास्ट आ गया।  पंजाब  की यात्रा हो तो छोले कुल्चे से बेहतर कुछ नहीं इसलिए हमने भी वही खाया।  हिलती हुई ट्रैन में चाय का कप भी हिल रहा था और बेटा इसे देख देख हंस रहा था।  ब्रेकफास्ट कर के सोचा कि कुछ और सोया जाये पर ऐसा हुआ नहीं. ट्रैन अम्बाला पहुंची और छोटे साहब के प्रश्न फिर शुरू हुए।  यहाँ से ट्रैन चलने के बाद मेरी कमेंटरी भी शुरू हुई. क्यूंकि बाकी दोनों का पहला ट्रिप था, इसलिए मैंने अपना ज्ञान भर भर के बंट. राजपुरा से पंजाब शुरू होने के बाद तो ये ज्ञान और बढ़ा. NH 1  साथ दौड़ती ट्रैन, दोनों और गेंहूँ से भरे हुई खेत और बादलों की लुकाछिपी, सचमुच बहुत ही अच्छा सफर था. कुछ देर में ट्रैन लुधिअना पहुंची। यहाँ भूख लगने लगी थी तो हमने अपने साथ लए हुई स्नैक्स की तरफ ध्यान दिया. लुधिअना से चलने के बाद सतलुज नदी का चौड़ा पाट आया. वाइफ हैरान थीं की इस नदी का पानी इतना सफ़ेद कैसे है जबकि यमुना तो बिलकुल अलग है।  इसके बाद फगवाड़ा और फिर जलांधर आया. जालंधर पर ट्रैन काफी खाली हो गए थी।  क्यूंकि अब बेटा फिर ऊँघने लगा था तो उसे एक ३ वाली खाली  सीट पर लिटा दिया और वह जल्दी सो भी गया।  हम दोनों भी १  झपकी लेने लगे. ब्यास पहुँचने से पहले ब्यास नदी के दर्शन हुए. खेतों में हरियाली बढ़ चुकी थी. अपने तय समय से २० मिनट लेट, ट्रैन अमृतसर पहुंची. स्टेशन पर टूरिस्ट्स और ख़ास तौर पर स्कूल ग्रुप्स की बहुत भीड़ थी।  हमने टैक्सी बुक की हुई थी जो हमें वाघा बॉर्डर घुमा कर वापस होटल छोड़ने वाली थी।

Read More

Majestic Ladakh : Shey Palace and Stok Palace in Leh

By

The upper floors of the palace house museum and monastery. While in the palace, you may come across with members of royal family. I did! It was for informing that photography inside the museum is not allowed! The rooms of the palace open to the visitors are the king’s room, queen’s room, palace gompa and a room that displays a Ladakhi Kitchen. Among all, the best I found was the royal Ladakhi Kitchen. It is the traditional kitchen of royal family which displays utensils, ceramics, clay pots and clay stoves with chimney. Dining area inside the kitchen is beautifully decorated with low height tables. It’s a no photography zone! A staff of the palace was with the visitors to discourage photography inside. But there are some parts of the palace where you can take photographs.

It was my great experience to visit these royal palaces in Ladakh. By PALACE what comes primarily to our mind is a grand royal residence which is made in timeless elegance. But the palaces of Ladakh are not of such kind, yet they stand high to show their presence in the glorious past of a kingdom that lost in time!

Read More

Ghumakkar Gadgets – Stay Charged via a ‘Power Bank’

By

A portable power bank is a charger that can hold a lot of power and then can be used to energise your electronic devices. You can charge them before you leave from your home and then carry it in your bag. The best thing about a power bank is that it works on an interface (Mini USB) which is a standard for almost every device. So you do not need to carry an additional or extra battery-pack of each of your devices. These can be easily shared, are small enough to carry and are great savious, when you are least expecting it.

Read More

Delhi to Bengaluru

By

The road from Nagpur to Hyderabad is a love hate relationship the moment you start loving the road it turns horrid, we started early, a strategy that has helped us get out cities in time and got on the NH 7.

Read More

Majestic Ladakh : Royal Palaces in Leh

By

Like every other travelers in Ladakh, we too spent our second day in Leh. It is advisable to spend a day or two in Leh for acclimatization before going to any places of higher altitude like Khardung La or Pangong Lake. Leh has many great places to offer to its visitors including stunning landscape views, palaces, monasteries, stupas, war memorials and river Indus at Sindhu Ghat. We decided to visit the palaces and gompas on our second day in Leh and first to visit by us was the Leh Palace and Namgyal Tsemo Gompa.

Leh Palace of Namgyal Dynasty

The erstwhile royal residence of Leh locates around 2 Km from the main market place. Though the Palace locates on a hill top overlooking the Leh town it can be reached by car. As we reached the Palace we saw wandering young monks on bike!

Read More

Wild and Historical Bundelkhand – Raneh Fall & Khajuraho

By

The Khajuraho Group of Temples are reportedly constructed during 10th& 11th century by the Chandelas and dedicated to the Hindus & Jains. Most of the temples are constructed by hard sedimentary rocks and erected in an advanced geometrical technology avoiding cementing mortars. A few are constructed by granites too. This was perhaps to enhance the longevity and religious faiths. The architecture is “Nagara-Style” and rock cut sculptures are similar to wooden carvings during the earlier ages. The intricately expressive figures and designs are profusely available in all the structures. It is believed that there was originally 85 temples constructed around 25 km out of which only 25 survived within 6 km now. They are divided in three zones viz. Western Group, Eastern Group & Southern Group. A brief of these exquisite temples are compiled herewith for reader’s delight.

Read More

Wild and Historical Bundelkhand – Ajaigarh Fort, The forbidden Kingdom

By

The landscape around the lake is astounding but heartening simultaneously. Hundreds of very well sculpted rocks, some of which still in better shapes were lying scattered at the lake side and around. A huge round sculpted “Amalaka” (the stone disk/rim fitted atop a temple) is an eye catcher, depicting pathetic demise of its glorious past. The invaluable chiselled rocks and the sculpted remains of a temple were once an integral part of an exotic masterpiece, perhaps as good as the marvels in Khajuraho. Can it be restored now! Sadly, no or not to its original shape.
Descending through the broken stepsand balancing cautiously we reached at an open balcony. An alley of beautiful rock carvings and finely chiselled rock figures of different deities and symbolic, made the sweating effort worth.

Our next hunt was the hidden gems in the jungle at Ajaigarh. Our prime reason to visit the fort was to see those exclusive Khajuraho style Jain Temples in the forest. After some rest&normalising the respiration, we again started our stroll & soon reached a fenced arena. Our guide gestured to say, here is the Jain Temples. Where! In the woods we could havea glimpse of the structures only on reaching close enough.

Read More

Battlefields of Delhi

By

The Bhairav temple had that the mighty pandavas had gone to their heavenly abode after renouncing the kingdom for which they had fought a battle. It has also seen the gradual deprecation within the kingdom that continued upto the reign of Janmejay. The question about the ultimate fate of descendants of Yudhisthira always remains unanswered to me.

Read More