Forts

Udaipur Diaries – The City of Lakes

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We left our home at around 11.20 p.m. and our first stop was “Mardeshwar Temple” , Palikhanda, a place  located adjacent to high way itself. We decided to take blessings of “Lord Shiva” to start the journey. It was around 1.15 pm we left for our next planned stop “Shamlaji Temple”. We were at “Shamlaji” around 2.50 pm. After having darshan in the temple, we took a bit longer break here for some refreshment. I am avoiding writing historical details of this two temples as authentic information is easily available on web and there is no point writing it again. We left shamlaji at around 3.30 curiously waiting to reach our final destination.

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Bidar – Of Hasan Gangu, Mahmud Gawan and Barid Shahis

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The Madrasa is the best known example of Bahmani (Persian) Architecture and is one of its kinds in India. The building functioned like a residential University. It is a rectangular three storey structure that consisted of a mosque, lecture halls, professor quarters and student cubicles. The walls were covered with blue, green, golden and white glazed Persian tiles. In its heydays, the madrasa would have looked pretty spectacular with the sun glinting off the majolica work; the minars soaring into the sky reflecting the aspiration of the founder and the students. The architecture provided the perfect setting for intellectual brainstorming and discussions. The scene of harried professors and students scurrying between classes would be similar to being played out at Feroz Shah Tughlaq’s madrasa at Hauz Khas Village in Delhi – unless all inmates fled during Taimur’s plunder of Delhi.

Today, the madrasa is much in ruins. In 1656 Aurangzeb occupied the building (Bidar Sultanate was gone by 1619) and turned it into an army barrack. Aurangzeb believed in occupation and razing rather than building. Rooms in the south-east were used to store gun powder. Since Aurangzeb was not fond of smokers, somebody hid in the corner stealing a few puffs, when reportedly an explosion blew up along with the unwitting arsonist, portions of the south and east walls with the eastern entrance gate. Out of the supposedly two minars, only one 100 feet tall minar on the north east corner survives. The biggest surprise is that the two balconies of the minar project from the structure rather than being supported by brackets. The minar has vibrant colourful patchwork of zigzag motifs. Facing the central courtyard are the reading halls with open arched doorways rising to three storeys creating huge iwans, which in turn are surmounted with domes. The minar, iwans, domes and glazed tiles complete the Persian Architecture.

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Padarn Country Park: Wales

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The slate cutting factory with the old rusty machinery al around. Slates were used for roofing, fencing etc. and was big business then. The factory was eventually closed down in the 1969 and now serves as a National Slate Museum.

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Delhi -> Jodhpur ->Jaisalmer -> Bikaner Road Review

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A road trip starting from Delhi to Jodhpur, then over to Jaisalmer and a return back via Bikaner is an amazing experience. It is always advisable to start the journey at the break of dawn to avoid the rush hour. We started around 3:00 AM (did I say break of dawn?) and were in Jaipur by 7.00 AM. The Delhi-Jaipur Highway (NH-8) is under construction for expansion. Be prepared to face a lot of mud & deep craters on the roads. We still managed to go maintain a speed of 60-70 Kmph and sometimes accelerated to about 110 kmph. Good facilities for breakfast and refreshments along the highway provided by Rajasthan Tourism & other privately held outlets make the journey comfortable.

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Sariska: Nature with Adventure

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After driving 40 more minutes, we took a sharp left from main Delhi-Jaipur Highway to Viraat Nagar State highway. Viraat Nagar is famous for the Mahabharata times as this is the place where pandava’s completed 1 year of secret exile.  Our resort (Gulmohar Sariska Resort) was situated on connecting road just 2KMS before the main city. It was a big resort with some spacious rooms with a big garden area which is room facing and a swimming pool too which is not quite big but good for group of 5-10 people.

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Chittorgarh- The pride of Sisodia clan

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By the evening it is time for the light and sound show in the precincts of the fort. The starry evening sky with the stories told through light and sound across various towers and buildings in the fort make the entire history come alive. A must watch for any tourist. A fascinating experience that will take one to edge of their chairs and marvel at the fate of dauntless men, women and children, who lived and thrived here ages ago, thus ended our trip to mystical city of Chittorgarh.

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Trip to the magnificent city of lakes- Udaipur

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Rajasthan with its rich culture, grand palaces and forts has always been one of the most coveted regions aspired by Mughals and later by British. The story of Udaipur and Chittorgarh are no less. Udaipur was built by the valiant Sisodia king of the Rajputs, Maharana Udaisingh in 1553. It was the historic capital of the kingdom of Mewar. Udaipur succeeded Chittorgarh which was besieged and taken over by the Mughals. After 1818 it became a British princely state. Udaipur is popularly known as the “City of Lakes” with its numerous lakes major ones being the Fateh Sagar Lake, Pichola Lake, Swaroop Sagar Lake, Rang Sagar Lake and Doodh Talai Lake besides others. The city is flanked with ethereal gardens and mountain ranges.

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The Gol Gumbaz

A Deccan Odyssey

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On the final day we visited the Tunga Bhadra dam in Hospet which is a multi-purpose dam for irrigation and electricity generation. The dam which was completed in 1953 is a source of prosperity for farmers in Koppal and Raichur Districts.

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Chail – Nature’s true walk

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The resort was in middle of the Jungle area and surrounded by hills from 2 sides. Luckily our rooms are balcony one’s and it opens to the hills. What else anyone want a good resort with a hill facing balcony. We checked in to resort a little early and thanks to the manager who allowed us to check in before half an hour from scheduled time. We all were very tired after 11 hours long journey.

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The legendary Tarapith temple

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 In next 30 mins we were at Rampurhat station, for going to Tarapith one needs to take means of transport from here only. There are numerous mode of transport starting from e-rickshaws, Van-rickshaws, Autos and maruti omni.We hired an  Auto rickshaw for INR 300 and dumping our luggage we sat in bliss and waiting to reach our destination as soon as possible. The entire way towards Tarapith is now becoming commercialized day by day due to increasing number of devotees and mostly its now a weekend getaway as it serves both spiritual and fun peaceful sojourn for travelers.

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Sojourn in the Misty Lansdowne

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They joyously agreed on my Lansdowne suggestion and persuaded me to arrange for some good accommodation. I must thank our family friend Gen Mohan Bhandari, who graciously agreed to do the needful. . On instructions from my daughter from New York, I had given a bath to ‘Happy’ 0n 1 Oct- a day before our impending holiday.

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सुनो नंदी

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नवीं सदी में बने इस मंदिर में पहुंचने पर तुम्हे वहां विराजमान देखकर बच्चों को समझ आ गया कि भगवान शिव का मंदिर है. और ये भी कि नन्दीश्वरा का अर्थ है नंदी के ईश्वर। किन्तु एक बालिका को तुम्हारे कान में कुछ कहता देख अचरज़ हुआ. कौतूहल

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