Forts

Red Fort

A day in the historic Red Fort – Shahjahanabad, the Seventh city of Delhi

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Recently, I went to visit Red Fort and come back home with so many thoughtful memories. It was not my first visit but this trip was an amazing experience.
The Red Fort of Delhi has witnessed so many rulers and an important link between the past and the present. It had witnessed the downfall of Mughal dynasty, as well as pains and sufferings throughout our freedom struggle. It has also witnessed the day when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, unfurled the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15th of August, 1947.

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Mehrauli – The Second City of Delhi

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Mehrauli quickly became a hotspot for construction which continued for centuries and today perhaps boasts of more monuments than any other part of Delhi. The building of Mehrauli started just a kilometre away from Fateh Burj where Ghori and Aibak entered Qila Rai Pithora after defeating Prithviraj.

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Photography : Practical Tips and Tricks

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This is true of every ghumakkar. If Vishal Rathore, DL, Amitava, Ritesh, Manu, Abhee, Jat Devta, SS, Praveen Wadhwa, Nirdesh, Vipin, Mala, Devasmitha and Sushant (or any of the rest of authors here) were wandering together in a city or village with our cameras on our shoulders, each of us would aim at different objects and would shoot from different angles and for different reasons. It hardly matters whether we own a DSLR or a mobile phone as far as selection of our subjects is concerned. Well, here are a few things which I have learnt in photography in all these years. May be you would find them interesting and useful.

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रहस्यमयी नगरी – मांडू

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अल्टीमेटली हम उस भीमकाय भवन के निकट जा पहुंचे जो दूर से एक छोटा सा बुर्ज महसूस हो रहा था। वहां लिखा था – रानी रूपमती का महल ! वहां हमने थोड़ी देर तक इमली वाले ठेले पर इमली के रेट को लेकर बहस की। ये मांडू की विशेष इमली थी जिसके बारे में मुकेश ने बताया कि ये सिर्फ यहां मांडू की जलवायु का ही प्रताप है कि यहां ये इमली उगती है। मैं अपने जन्म से लेकर आज तक इमली के नाम पर अपने परचून वाले की दुकान पर जो इमली देखता आया हूं, वह तो छोटे – छोटे बीज होते हैं जिनके ऊपर कोकाकोला रंग की खटास चिपकी हुई होती है और बीज आपस में एक दूसरे से पेप्सी कलर के धागों से जुड़े रहते हैं। वह ये तो इमली के फल थे जिनके भीतर बीज होने अपेक्षित थे। बाहर से इस फल पर इतने सुन्दर रोयें थे कि बस, क्या बताऊं = एकदम सॉफ्ट एंड सिल्की ! दूर से देखो तो आपको लगेगा कि शायद बेल बिक रही है, पर पास जाकर देखें तो पता चलता है कि इमली के फल की शक्ल-सूरत बेल के फल से कुछ भिन्न है और साथ में रोयें भी हैं! जब रेट को लेकर सौदा नहीं पटा तो हम टिकट लेकर रानी रूपमती के महल या मंडप की ओर बढ़ चले जो नर्मदा नदी से 305 मीटर की ऊंचाई पर एक पहाड़ी पर स्थित है। यह मुझे किसी भी एंगिल से महल या मंडप अनुभव नहीं हुआ। अब जैसा कि पढ़ने को मिला है, ये मूलतः सेना के उपयोग में आने वाली एक मचान हुआ करती थी जिसमें मध्य में एक बड़ा परन्तु नीची छत वाला हॉल व उसके दोनों ओर दो कमरे थे। पर बाद में उसमें विस्तार करके ऊपर बुर्ज व दो गुंबद बनाये गये। ये बुर्ज वास्तव में आकर्षक प्रतीत होती है। ये सब काम सिर्फ इसलिये कराने पड़े थे चूंकि रानी रूपमती को नर्मदा नदी के दर्शन किये बिना खाना नहीं खाना होता था, अतः वह यहां से ३०५ मीटर नीचे घाटी में एक चांदी की लकीर सी नज़र आने वाली नर्मदा की धारा को देख कर संतोष कर लिया करती थीं और एतदर्थ नित्य प्रति यहां आया करती थीं। इसी कारण बाज़ बहादुर ने इसमें कुछ परिवर्तन कराकर इसे इस योग्य कर दिया कि जब रूपमती यहां आयें तो वह रानी से कुछ अच्छे – अच्छे गानों की फरमाइश कर सकें और चैन से सुन सकें। जैसा कि आज कल के लड़के – लड़कियां मंदिर में जाते हैं तो भगवान के दर्शनों के अलावा एक दूसरे के भी दर्शन की अभिलाषा लेकर जाते हैं, ऐसे ही रानी रूपमती और बाज बहादुर भी यहां आकर प्रणय – प्रसंगों को परवान चढ़ाते थे। खैर जी, हमें क्या!

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इन्दौर पहुंच गये हम!

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खाना खाने के बाद मैने तो लंबी तान ली और ये तीनों महिलाएं न जाने क्या – क्या गपशप करती रहीं। राजा की मंडी (आगरा) स्टेशन आया तो अपने घुमक्कड़ भाई रितेश गुप्ता की याद आई। उनसे सच्ची-मुच्ची वाली मुलाकात तो आज तक नहीं हो पाई पर फेसबुक पर गप-शप अक्सर ही होती रहती है। मैने उनको इस ट्रेन से जाने के बारे में सूचना नहीं दी हुई थी पर फिर भी न जाने किस आशा में, प्लेटफार्म पर उतरा, कुछ पल चहल-कदमी की और फिर वापिस ट्रेन में आ बैठा। बाहर अंधेरा होने लगा था और खिड़की से कुछ दिखाई नहीं दे रहा था, अतः सामने वालों पर ही ध्यान केन्द्रित किया। सोचा, बच्चों को कुछ ज्ञान की बातें बताई जायें। घुमक्कड़ का ज़िक्र शुरु कर दिया और बताया कि अगर उन्होंने वह वेबसाइट नहीं देखी तो समझो ज़िन्दगी में कुछ नहीं देखा। वहीं बैठे – बैठे रितेश, मनु, जाट देवता, डी.एल. अमितव, नन्दन, मुकेश-कविता भालसे, प्रवीण वाधवा आदि-आदि सब का परिचय दे डाला। रेलवे को भी कोसा कि लैपटॉप नहीं चल पा रहा है, वरना उनको घुमक्कड़ साइट भी दिखा डालता।

रात हुई, खाना खाया, कुछ देर किताब पढ़ी, फिर सामान को ठीक से लॉक करके और कैमरे वाले बैग को अपनी छाती से लगा कर सो गया। ग्वालियर में उतर कर अंधेरे में अपने मोबाइल से एक-दो फोटो खींचने का भी प्रयत्न किया पर कुछ बात कुछ बनी नहीं। सुबह पांच बजे आंख खुली और ट्रेन लगभग 7 बजे इन्दौर स्टेशन पर आ पहुंची।

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Shergarh – Sixth City of Delhi

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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.

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Cochin – Sightseeing by cruise and Cherai Beach

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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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Firozabad – Fifth City of Delhi

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Nothing beats the romance and magic of visiting a monument in Delhi on a wintry Sunday afternoon. The light December breeze has cleared the smog. The air seems almost crisp. Kotla Firoz Shah is an oasis in the middle of the city. It is hard to imagine that exactly 614 years ago on an equally beautiful December day this fortress was being plundered. Soak in the atmosphere sprawled on the green grass under the flitting sun. You can see Delhi’s first skyscraper Vikas Minar in the south, the IG Stadium in the east, floodlights of Firoz Shah Kotla Stadium just yards away, and for company you have crows, mynahs, eagles, dogs and even cats. Chat up the security guard for nuggets of information.

Apparently, this is the only place in Delhi supposed to be the abode of Djinns or spirits. Believers come and light up diyas and incense sticks. Some people even leave written requests. The steady stream of believers assures that wishes are being granted by the Djinns. Thursday is the day when most people come with their petitions and leave offerings. It is believed that the Djinns love Delhi so much that they cannot bear to see it deserted. The day beliefs die, city dies and you die.

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A trip to Mewar – Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur

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The drive looked like very good till I encountered a steep slope drrive as in hills. Though I had driven the car a few times in hilly area but God knows what happened I just lost the confidence here when I saw that it was down and down and down. Oh God what to do now. I was trembling with fear and had put my car on to first gear . My wife and Bhakti just motivated me to carry on slowwly and remember our sojourn in the hills. I saw  Mahindra scorpio coming uphill. I just stopped him and asked him about how long it would continue like this. It was about 5 kms like this, according to him. and the situation became hilarious when he also asked how it would be like this uphill .

hahahahhaha……….. Any way the ordeal became less and plain road was there .  We were passing through  the forest area now and after a few minutes we entered the temple complex. So serene was the atmosphere there and about 30-35 vehicles parked inside the complex. Main reason that I found for heavy rush was that people from Jaina community revered the place and comee there just as they have Dilwara temples at Mount Abu. So a mixed crowd of foreigners and Indians there. And there stood the vast sprawling temple structure in white marble, so clean and so serene and so pious.

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Come walk on me

Walking The Royal Mile

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Each floor had a different theme of illusions. I liked the floor with 3D illusions the best. There were a lot of interactive illusions as well. And the best part? They encouraged you to touch everything! The Mirror Maze was also fun. My mom kept walking into the mirrors, and I finally had to go in and help her get out.

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The Spell of Bundi, Rajasthan : Reaching Bundi

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Hence, our first stop was at at ‘Salim Paper’ at Sanganer. From what we had learnt, this would be a cottage industry like place where one could see paper making and block printing. So we reached after going circles in the village, and ultimately realising that the place was right at the beginning. If you tell them that you are from ‘Arya Niwas’, they take you through a guided tour of ‘Paper Making’. This was our first visit to a ‘Paper Making’ factory and it was an extremely educative experience. The place was large, expansive and had sections where different jobs took place. The lady took us through the entire process with a lot of patience. The first step is to make the pulp by mashing waste cloth-cuttings that they procure from all the factories around. So essentially the raw material was waste organics being recycled and that was heartening to know. The cloth is shredded to very tiny pieces that are kept submerged in water for a few days. After that the whole cloth-water solution is rolled over and over again to form a thick pulp. This pulp is then further rolled to form a smoother paste. Color and condiments like rose/marigold petals, leaves are added now. Then the paste is spread on metal sheets and left to dry in the sun. Each sheet individually! Hence the paper is born. The dried paper sheet is taken off the metal based and pressed through machines. And thereafter, different actions are taken to make use of this paper. So we saw techniques of cutting, printing, pasting and finishing.

To give the viewers an experience to take home, and of course as a model for this tour fee, they also have a small shop/display counter. The only way we could have reciprocated the gesture was to buy some stuff so we bought quite a lot. Most of that was exciting and relatable as we were purchasing exactly what we saw being made right then. All of it was for European and American markets and were indeed of supreme quality. So we made a good collection of fancy paper bags, craft kits, various kinds of papers etc. that my daughter is waiting to rob off her mother for her school projects.

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A Trip to Mewar – Udaipur Sightseeing

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JAGDISH TEMPLE: The temple was an historical one in grey stone.  Lord Krishna, we bow to you. Had a  PRIKRAMA  around the main garbha griha. clicked some photographs for yaadein and came downstairs. We had planned to walk through this market to our car parked on the other side of the palace. The bazaar was known as Bhatiyani chohatta. It was full of shops selling handicraft items, Rajasthani clothes and souvenirs. It seemed paradise to Bhakti and Savita, my wife. So t one shop after hard bargaining a dress for Pavani was bought. And at one corner shops some souvenirs were bought to gift to dear and near ones. After that we reached at the parking place. and there it was our trusted maruti. Our next stop was fatehsagar lake and shilpagram.

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