Traveling is good
जिस जगह से हम उतर रहे थे वहाँ बादल काफ़ी कम थे लेकिन नीचे की ओर गरुडचट्टी बादलों के कारण बिल्कुल दिखाई नहीं दे रही थी यानि की हम बादलों से भी उपर चल रहे थे। मुझे हिन्दी फ़िल्म का वो गाना याद आ गया ‘आज मैं उपर, आसमान नीचे…’ । थोड़ी ही देर बाद हम बादलों का सीना चीरते हुए गरुडचट्टी पहुँच गये और काफ़ी देर तक बादलों में चलने के बाद तेजी से नीचे की ओर उतरते गये। थोड़ा और नीचे उतरने के बाद फिर से मौसम साफ़ हो गया।
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आज अपना पहला यात्रा अनुभव आप लोगे से साझा करने जा रहा हूँ हिंदी लिखे हुए वैसे भी अरसा हो गया! इस ब्लॉग को…
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Once you cross the MP border and enter Maharashtra, the real pain begins. The border was a stretch of non existent roads with craters all over it. To add more to misery, there was a RTO checkpost which was checking the trucks and had created a huge Jam at this place.
After crossing the border, roads were bad, though there was tar on top but sudden potholes do surprise you and take a hit on your suspension.
After around 30 Kms from there, 4 lane road started which took me straight to Nagpur byepass. Paid my toll @ Mansar, and drove down the Nagpur byepass. I had initial plan of taking a stoppage at Nagpur and then start afresh from there, but never found any boards inviting me inside Nagpur, and I reached the next toll gate which was outside Nagpur. Now I had covered more than 250 Kms and wanted to have some rest but there were no dhabas or motels available.
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ऋषिकेश से लेकर रुद्रप्रयाग तक के रास्ते में पहाडो पर काफ़ी कम हरियाली है और ये काफ़ी रेतीले लगते हैं लेकिन रुद्रप्रयाग से केदारनाथ की तरफ़ मुडते ही दृश्य एकदम बदल जाता है। चारों तरफ़ हरियाली ही हरियाली है ,घाटियॉ बहुत खुबसुरत हैं। हम इन खुबसुरत वादियों का आनंद लेते हुए अगस्त्यमुनि से होते हुए गुप्तकाशी पहुँच गये ।वहाँ गाड़ी रुकवा कर चाय पी और आस पास के सुन्दर नजारों को निहारने लगे। गुप्तकाशी से घाटी के दूसरी तरफ़ ऊखीमठ साफ़ दिखाई देता है।
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Before entering the main gate, get off at Mathura Road and enter the lake area. You can take the kids out boating. But you have more serious things to do. You walk towards the looming Talaaqi Gate. This gate like the others is also capped with chattris and protected with bastions. Walk along the ramparts on the right with the rim of the lake on your right. Once the moat probably ran around the fort but now is limited to the western flank. Just make some noise walking so that you do not startle love birds cooing in the bushes.
Shergarh is a sprawling compound bound by walls on all sides. There are three gates: The Western Gate for entering is called Bada Darwaza flanked with mighty bastions, Northern Gate is called the Talaaqi Darwaza or the Forbidden Gate and the Southern Gate is called Humayun Gate. Humayun Gate is the signature symbol of Purana Qila with the two ubiquitous pavilions on top. At the foot is an amphitheatre where the Light and Sound show about Seven Cities of Delhi is played out in the evenings.
This place is located nearly 1364 Meter above the sea level . The Kempty Falls, surrounded by high mountain ranges and located at a high altitude of 4500 feet, is a good place for picnic or for spending a couple of hours listening to the music of water in the midst of the Greenery which cover the surroundings This waterfall attracts many tourists particularly from plain areas. Located at a distance of 15 KM from Mussoorie town , it can be visited by conducted tour or by taking a shared taxi near Gandhi chowk taxi stand. We opted for shared taxi.
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We were really not sure what 6000 ft actually means, so after every 10-15 minutes we used to think Mussorie has come. But we were still not at Mussorie. Then at one particular point we saw a board Mussorie welcomes you and after sometime we reached at a place where there was number of taxi and it was the last point i.e. Mussorie. Weather was now little cold. We had covered our son with sweater and shawl and got down from taxi. We asked for the route to our hotel and a taxi person guided us to a staircase and then to the road. We paid charges to Taxi and was carrying our luggage.
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मुबारक मंडी पैलेस
मुबारक मंडी महल की वास्तुकला में राजस्थानी , मुग़ल और यूरोपीयन शैली का समन्वय देखा जा सकता है। इस महल का इतिहास लगभग 150 वर्ष पुराना है। यह महल डोगरा राजाओं का शाही आवास था। इस स्थान पर हम लोग समय अभाव के कारण जा नहीं पाए थे. यह फोटो मैंने दूर से बागे बाहू से लिया था.
बाहू के किले में माता के दर्शन करने के बाद, वंहा से निकल कर यंहा से नीचे की और बने मछली घर और बागे बाहू गार्डन की और आ जाते हैं. मछलीघर एक शानदार एक्वेरियम बना हुआ हैं. जो की जमीन के नीचे हैं. इसका प्रवेश द्वार एक बड़ी मछली के रूप में बना हुआ हैं. यंहा पर दुनिया में पाई जाने वाली विभिन्न प्रकार की मछलियों को प्रदर्शित किया गया हैं. यंहा पर भी फोटो खींचना निषेध हैं.
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The shortest route from my hometown in Tamil Nadu, Tiruppur to Madikeri (Coorg’s largest town) passes through Mysore and is around 315 kms. But going by this route meant a difficult climb on the Dhimbam Hills from Bannari Checkpost in Tamilnadu right upto the TN-Karnataka border just past Hasanur (An almost vertical climb with 27 continuous hairpin bends in just 16 kms). This was a strict no-no because my wife has a chronic allergy to hill travel and vomits incessantly during hill rides, of which I have had many unpleasant experiences, especially during one trip to Munnar on a packed Innova and during another ride on the Palani-Kodaikanal route last summer. Inexplicably she never has any problems when riding up hills on a bike and that is the reason for my many bike trips to nearby Ooty (Thanks for small mercies). So, I had to choose a relatively less adventurous route and picked the Bangalore-Mysore-Madikeri route as my best option. Although this doubled my travel distance (Tirupur to Bangalore to Madikeri is 575 kms by road) there was no other choice.
Travelling to Coorg from Bangalore, though has its own attractions. The stretch between Bangalore and Mysore is dotted with many tourist hotspots. The ride is almost a tracing back of river Cauvery from the plains to its birthplace in Coorg district. Srirangapatna an island situated in the midst of Cauvery river, is renowned for its famous Ranganathasamy Temple and the historical sites connected with the reign of the brave Tipu Sultan and his encounters with the British. Further on the route, a mere 6 kms after Srirangapatna is the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, the largest of its kind in Karnataka. Here guided Boat tours are available throughout the day to watch the birds. Along with the birds, the riders on the boat can also enjoy the thrilling sight of huge crocodiles, sun-bathing on the rocks, precariously close to the boat’s edge.
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शाम करीब ७ बजे हम लोग औंकारेश्वर पहुंच गये। औंकारेश्वर में ठहरने के लिये हमेशा हमारी पहली प्राथमिकता होती है श्री गजानन महाराज संस्थान यात्री निवास, तो हमने सीधी राह पकड़ी संस्थान की और कुछ ही देर में हम संस्थान के सामने खड़े थे।
स्वागत कक्ष पर कुछ जरूरी औपचारीकतायें पुर्ण करने के बाद हमें हमारे कमरे की चाबी मिल गई। हमारा कमरा यात्री निवास नंबर ४ में था. अब चुंकी बहुत जोरों की भुख लगी थी अत:निर्णय लिया गया की सबसे पहले भोजन किया जाये। यहां यह बता देना सही रहेगा की श्री गजानन महाराज संस्थान के हर यात्री निवास में किफ़ायती दर पर भोजन की व्यवस्था होती है, चुंकी हम पहले भी श्री गजानन संस्थान (शेगांव) में रह चुके थे तथा भोजन भी कर चुके थे और वहां हमें भोजन बहुत पसंद आया था अत: हमने आज भी भोजन यहीं भोजनालय में करने का निश्चय किया और चल पड़े भोजनालय की ओर।
खाना सचमुच बड़ा स्वादिष्ट था, ३० रु. में थाली जिसमें दो सब्जी, रोटी, दाल, चावल तथा एक मिष्ठान्न के रुप में हलुवा……शुद्ध सात्वीक भोजन और हमें क्या चाहिये था? सो भरपेट करने के बाद हम लोग अपने रुम में आकर थोड़ी देर के लिये लेट गये। अब हमें ओंकारेश्वर मंदिर में शयन आरती में शामिल होना था जो की रात नौ बजे शुरु होती है. इस समय साढे आठ बज रहे थे और यही समय था शयन आरती के लिये निकलने का, अत: हम लोग मन्दीर जाने के लिये तैयार होने लगे.
चुंकि वातावरण में बहुत ठंडक थी अत: बच्चे तो इस समय बाहर निकलने में आनाकानी कर रहे थे लेकिन उन्हें हमने चलने के लिये मना ही लिया और अन्तत: हम लोग उनी कपड़े वगैरह पहनकर अपने रुम से बाहर निकल गये। बाहर सचमुच बहुत ठंड थी और हमें तो नर्मदा नदी पर बने झुला पूल से होकर ओंकारेश्वर मन्दीर की ओर जाना था जहां और ज्यादा ठंड लगने की संभावना थी।
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As weather was hot, this ride was giving us good relief from heat. For first 15-20 minutes it was just like a normal cruise experience similar to Mumbai Gateway of India cruise ride or cruise ride at Rameswaram. But we were happy as kids were enjoying this ride with lots of space to sit as well as to run inside the boat and to see sparkling water.On our way we got to see many boats like country type, Russian yacht etc.
Although, it was a pleasant journey but I didn’t find it worth or it’s not value for money. Boat sailor but surely took us at the midst of sea and we saw numbers of Dolphin fish. Watching Kochi Harbour, Bolgatty island resort and Dolphin were good experience. Chinese Fishing net is an icon for Kochi but I didn’t find anything interesting watching that. The total time we spent here was 02 hours and we found it tiring. We came back to Marine Drive. Marine drive is a nice hangout place with many eatery joints.We had some light lunch and icecreams and came back to our friends place at 1730 hrs.
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painting section: Second floor of this magnificent museum consisted of some rare books on display and a series of Raagmala paintings on display.These paintings are based upon different Ragas and Raginis of Indian classical music system. Different types of Raagmala series have been painted in different parts. Pahari style, Deccan style, Rajputana style. Each Raga is personified by a specific color, mood , time of its singing is mentioned on the painting and a story is told about a Nayak and a Nayika. I had read about tese paintings but was seeing these for the first time. I also had the privilege to see the paintings based upon stories from Hitopdesha and Panchtantra. Just beautiful. Another surprise for me was the the presence of classic book JANGNAMA by Shah Muhammad(original).
Overall we spent about 2 hours in the museum and were tired. The big walls of this museum are adorned by the life like portraits of erstwhile kings of Jaipur state. Now was the time to have some snacks for the evening and visit the famous zoo of Jaipur, if not so big then not too small also. Dear Pavani’s desire was to have a look at the lion and the tiger which was duly fulfilled here.
THE ZOO: The desire was of Pavani was duly fulfilled as the first cage in the zoo was that of Leopard and next to it lay the cage of Tiger (wish double fulfilled).
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