11 Nov

In memories : Jaipur, the Pink City (Part 1)

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Jaipur is renowned for its colorful markets, gorgeous handlooms and wonderfully laid out gardens. The people are very cheerful and friendly. Don’t forget to try the famous Rajasthan delicacies including the thali. Rajasthani arts and handicrafts are things that you can’t afford to miss.

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Soul resurgence trip to Ajmer and Pushkar

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Anything even remotely related to Pushkar Lake has a halo of sacredness and divinity. Legend has it that a dip in its waters cleanses all the sins and is the surest way to achieve salvation from the cycles of life. Circled by some five hundred odd temples, the lake has 52 ghats, which connect the temples to the water.

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श्रावस्ती संस्मरण – भाग १ ( Memories of Sravasti -1)

श्रावस्ती संस्मरण – भाग १ ( Memories of Sravasti -1)

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श्रावस्ती से भगवान्‌ बुद्ध का गहरा रिशता   रहा है । यह तथ्य इसी से प्रकट होता है कि जीवन के उत्तरार्थ के २५ वर्षावास( चार्तुमास ) बुद्ध ने श्रावस्ती मे ही बिताये । बुद्ध वाणी संग्रह त्रिपिटक के अन्तर्गत ८७१ सूत्रों ( धर्म उपदेशॊ )  को भगवान्‌ बुद्ध ने श्रावस्ती प्रवास मे ही दिये थे , जिसमें ८४४ उपदेशों को जेतवन – अनाथपिंडक महाविहार में व २३ सूत्रों को  मिगार माता पूर्वाराम मे उपदेशित किया था । शेष ४ सूत्रों समीप के अन्य स्थानों मे दिये गये थे । भगवान बुद्ध के महान आध्यात्मिक  गौरव का केन्द्र बनी श्रावस्ती का सांस्कृतिक प्रवाह मे भयानक विध्वंसों के बाद वर्तमान मे भी यथावत है ।

इतिहास मे दृष्टि दौडायें तो कई रोचक तथ्य दिखते हैं । प्राचीन काल में यह कौशल देश की दूसरी राजधानी थी। भगवान राम के पुत्र लव ने इसे अपनी राजधानी बनाया था। श्रावस्ती बौद्ध व जैन दोनो का तीर्थ स्थान है।

माना गया है कि श्रावस्ति के स्थान पर आज आधुनिक सहेत महेत ग्राम है जो एक दूसरे से लगभग डेढ़ फर्लांग के अंतर पर स्थित हैं। यह बुद्धकालीन नगर था, जिसके भग्नावशेष उत्तर प्रदेश राज्य के, बहराइच एवं गोंडा जिले की सीमा पर, राप्ती नदी के दक्षिणी किनारे पर फैले हुए हैं।

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Mumbai sight-seeing – Juhu Beach and ISKCON Temple (Part 1)

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Juhu Beach is a gastronomic paradise of snacks like Bhelpuri, Chuski ice balls dipped in syrup, Pani Puri, Pao bhaji etc. On weekends people throng the beach and enjoy horse rides, dancing monkeys, acrobats, balloon sellers, toy sellers and many other types of beach amusement. You can even indulge in shopping by buying souvenirs made of sea shells and other trinkets.

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Memories of Mewar (III): Udaipur, City of Lakes and Palaces.

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After visiting the Kumbhalgarh Fort, Ranakpur, the Krishna Temples at Kankroli and Nathdwara, and the Sajjan Garh Palace, we were now on the last leg of our trip to Mewar, Rajasthan, and had two full days to take in the beauty of Udaipur, the City of Lakes and Palaces. This beautiful city is also sometimes referred to as the ‘Venice of the East’, ‘Most Romantic City of India’ and ‘The Kashmir of Rajasthan’.

Udaipur was the capital of the kingdom of Mewar, ruled by the Sisodia clan of Rajputs. The founder of Udaipur was Maharana Udai Singh II, father of Maharana Pratap. Udaipur was founded in 1559, when a hermit blessed the king and asked him to build has palace at a spot on the east ridge of the Pichola Lake. In 1568, the Mughal emperor Akbar captured Chittaurgarh, and Udai Singh moved the capital to the site of his new residence, which became the city of Udaipur. As the Mughal empire weakened over the years, the Sisodia Maharanas recaptured most of Mewar district. Udaipur remained the capital of the state, which became a princely state of British India in 1818.

After India’s independence in 1947, the Maharaja of Udaipur acceded to the Government of India, and Mewar was integrated into India’s Rajasthan state.

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Memories of Mewar (II): Kankroli, Nathdwara, and Sajjan Garh (Udaipur).

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The temple of Shrinathji at Nathdwara is among the most sacred places of worship for the followers of Lord Krishna. The idol is made of black stone and is said to have been brought here from Mathura in 1669 to protect it from the marauding Moguls under Aurangzeb’s rule.

The temple opens its doors to the public for worship seven times a day for just about half an hour each, and there is a huge crowd always waiting to rush in. Inevitably there is some pushing and jostling and you barely get a minute for darshan before you are pushed out to the exit, just like in a Mumbai local train. This makes the whole experience quite unpleasant, and the temple authorities should take the initiative to organise it in a better way. Some touts promise to get you in through the VIP channels, but they only serve as paid guides, and can do nothing when the push becomes a shove.

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An awesome trip to Ahmadabad

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A very peaceful On a quiet stretch of the Sabarmati river is the Gandhi Ashram set up in 1917. During the lifetime of Mahatma Gandhi it was known as Satyagraha Ashram and was the center of India’s freedom movement. It was from here, in 1930, that the Mahatma began his famous “Dandi March” to the sea to protest against the Salt Tax imposed by the British. ‘Hridaya Kunj’, the simple cottage where he lived, is preserved as a National Monument.

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Memories of Mewar (I): Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur.

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The fort is built on a hill at a height of 1100 metres and requires a considerable effort to climb to the top. But once you are in the palace at the top of the fort, also known as ‘Badal Mahal’, you are rewarded with awesome views of the forested Aravalli hills, with the Mewar region on the eastern side and Marwar region on the west. The forests surrounding the fort comprise the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary which is home to leopard, sloth bear, monkeys, wolf, jackal, sambar, peacock, jungle fowl and a host of other birds and animal species.
[caption id="attachment_94003" align="aligncenter" width="640"]Badal Mahal. Badal Mahal.[/caption]

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A visit to Kalakund near Indore, the birth-place of legendary Indian sweet

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Then came the most awaited phase of the trip. The Patalpani – Kalakund ghat section. One could feel the extreme beauty of it complimented by the railways. The tunnels, viaducts and being surrounded by lush green mountain ranges mesmerised the passengers. I would recommend this place to creative minds. Such views have the potential to fill their minds up with optimistic thoughts and also to photographers. This rail route was laid about 150 years ago by the British rulers. Soon admiring these charming scenes we enter the Kalakund railway station.The locomotive honks make the ‘Kalakand’ vendors become active. Kalakand is a famous sweet dish with Kalakund as its origin, it is a fine treat for all the sweet tooths. On the right side, behind the railway station building river choral flows and on the left side, on a hill we have a building for scout guide, locally known as ‘Mahal’. After spending a few hours there, exploring Kalakund we returned home. But that tranquillity had took over my heart. I have fallen in love with that place. Human needs peace from the hectic life and the minds too need peace and such places serve the purpose.

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Sonamarg, Golden Meadow of Kashmir

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We enjoyed the morning amidst the splendour around the hotel and decided to see the view points in the afternoon. Here, all the viewpoints come on the way to its main attraction ‘Thajiwas Glacier’. To reach the glacier, one may go either by riding pony from Sonamarg town or by a cab which drops near the spot “Ram Teri Ganga Maile”. A nice motorable road is available upto this spot and thereafter one has to hire pony or walk down to the base of Thajiwas Glacier. Walking from there is much preferable to riding pony because it is only a short distance to cover and walking is mainly through the plain roads.

Like most tourists places, pony rides as well as the cab rates are overpriced here and one has no other option but to accept an unreasonable price after much bargaining. How tough it was to agree with a price of Rs.2100/- for a ride of 6kms, to and fro! But did we have any option?

We started the journey and soon saw the beautiful Sonamarg Club, a popular staying option for the bollywood stars when they are here for shooting. Surrounded by the giant conifers and beautiful mountains it locates on a hillock by the side of the road to Thajwas Glacier.

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Rambha and Barkul – The flavours of Chilka

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A few were really very nice. Having spent our time at Kalijai we hopped back into the boat and returned to panthanivas. After lunch we took a Tata Iris van and moved on to take a llok at some local places of interest. First we went to Nirmaljhar temple 11 kms away. Inside the small gate there is a small pond in the centre, a small temple on the left and the main temple on the right. A stream flowing from the Easter Ghats has been directed here into a small kund, The sweet sound of flowing water was the only one that could be heard. There was no other living being inside. At the rear, there are small deities of ‘Dashabatara’. Though the temple has immense significance we hardly saw any signs of maintenance. We moved on to Narayani Mata temple 10 kms away. This temple is situated atop Valerry hill. After ascending the loopy road our car came to an abrupt halt. There were several cars and busses ahead of us caught in a fierce jam. Each was having its free run with restless crowd of people don’t know from where created a ruckus. The lone traffic police stood helplessly. After failed attempts by our driver to make a way through, he asked us to make the rest of the journey on foot and parked the car. We started walking past the vehicles and crowd and made our way up the steep road.

I could not understand what we so many people doing here. The area was surrounded by jungle with ‘saal’ and other trees. As we climbed further up the road we saw groups of people cooking food on giant pots. That’s it! These local people are having a picnic, and what a place to choose – a jungle. Never before I had seen so many people (thousands) picnicking in a forest. After walking further we came into a clearing with several steps. There were few shops selling puja items. Manu devotees were buying these for offering to the goddess. After climbing one more flight of stairs we reached the temple sitting amidst the forest with trees and boulders hanging over it. There were lots of monkeys prancing around and I had to be very careful with my cameras. My son was however very amused. The temple complex had a small ‘kund’ and one side there were a few fallen tree trunks (courtesy phailin).

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