Wild and Historical Bundelkhand – Ajaigarh Fort, The forbidden Kingdom

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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.

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Battlefields of Delhi

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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.

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Wild and Historical Bundelkhand – Panna Tiger Reserve & Khajuraho at Night

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Waiting was a waste so we reached at the other site where a tigress with her cubs was reportedly roaming on the other bank of Ken. The river snakes inside the entire forest adding mystical beauty on one side and the Vindhya Range of hills on the other side, enhancing the charm naturally. A team of National Geographic was camping with sophisticated equipment of photography. Waiting patiently in silence & clicking at times mysteriously, I understand they were filming the tigress and the cubs. I tried to aim my 50x imitating their style on the same direction but could find nothing but rocks and bushes till infinity. In 10 mins I was restless and gave-up. Those guys were still on job and may remain there for months, as informed. Not our cup of tea. We may enjoy watching, if anything they will produce in their channel some day at the leisure of our cosy living rooms or bedrooms.
Down thereafter, we stopped at the banks of Ken River where one can enjoy boating in the wild with occasional sighting of Gharials. Boating in the serene landscape was experimental but the weather didn’t support & soon it was dark & started raining heavily.

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Shri Amarnath Yatra – travel to the holy cave

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He was a teenager boy, who lost his father recently. He with his elder brother helped their mother to run the family consisting of other brothers and sisters. In the absence of industrial activity or any regular job, people like them depend heavily on tourism, particularly Amarnath yatra. Starting from Sonmarg, the entire area used to go under heavy snowfall from November upto end of March. So they are left with no option but to make their livelihood during balance months of the year.

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Majestic Ladakh : Fotu La to Lamayuru, Alchi and Likir Monastery

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Long ago when I saw a photo of ‘Moonland’ I was very much impressed and keen to see the place. But where it is? Though “Moonland’ does not have any Indian postal code or a milestone but it locates none other than in the mystical land of Ladakh, a village called Lamayuru! The moonlike landscape of ‘Lamayuru’ is popularly referred to and called by the traveler as ‘Moonland’!

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Hindustan Ka Dil Dekho (M.P. Trip) – Part 1

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After having good time watching all above, we moved to the left side of the premises, to see if there was anything left. And there found a small handicraft shop, a tiny farm where white pigeons, rabbits and ducks are being kept and an astonishing view point, from where we could see whole of Sanchi’s wheat fields. It was completely mesmerizing.

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Holy Muktinath And Beautiful Mustang- Part 2

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I came back to hotel and joined my friends for our journey to Muktinath. Today we would pass through the village Kagbeni to reach Muktinath. Jomsom and Kagbeni is the main gateway of Muktinath. We drove only a few minutes and reached the riverbed of Kali Gandaki. Around that place Mr. Bachchan’s film “Khuda Ghawa’ was shot and our driver was more interested in showing us the shooting spots. But we were more excited to the adventurous drive over the riverbed. I peeped outside the window and saw wheels of our vehicle were rolling inside the river water. We crossed the river Kali Gandaki and started ascending through the rocky mountain road.

The climate and landscape all around looked like a rain shadow region of Himalaya, very similar to those of Ladakh region. It’s Mustang! A lost kingdom in Himalayas! We stopped and looked around. Far on the foothills of Mt. Dhaulagiri the view of tiny town Jomsom was awesome.

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Kashmir – The crown of India

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Sindhu was flowing just behind the hotel. So the sound of the full flowing river was continuously available. We saw the setting sun in its full glory. Entire surrounding was magnificent with absolute calmness, except chirping of birds and roar of the

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Battlefields of Kurukshetra

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At Jyotisar, I was standing at the very centre of the battle, which had taken place centuries ago. The atmosphere was peaceful, serene and totally religious with no sign of remorseness connected with the battle. It was certain that the war cries of the famous battle of Kurukshetra have given way to the mass religious sentiments in as much as people had forgotten that it was ultimately a battle field.

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The Sunderbans : A long cherished dream : Part 3

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The first question I asked, whether any tiger tried to embark into our launch. Our crew members confirmed that no untoward incident happened in the night. So the tension, which was running in the background of my mind, had gone. We moved to the gate of Bonnie Camp, which was near to the place where we anchored our vessel last night.

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Holy Muktinath And Beautiful Mustang

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It is not a star category hotel but undoubtedly the best of the lot. Hotel owner endeavoured to preserve the past glory by hanging photographs of Mr Bachchan with him and some film shots of ‘Khuda Gawah’ on the walls. Staying in this hotel was comfortable; it had 24 hours hot water facility and free wifi. The foods were nice but they cost too high.

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