After a 6 month long hibernation, this is my first blog! the lazy soul that I am didn't feel like blogging any more. But, I am back now, as I have a reason and a very important topic to blog about :D
What have I been up to for last 6 months? nothing much I'd say. Not too many changes, leave alone change in work, neither my project that I work in, has changed in last 20 months :P. There were a lot of exciting moments though :D, not very surprisingly, they are all with the travel I've done. I went on a 10 day trip in August, covering the coastal line from east to west! We started from Chennai -> Madurai -> Courtallam -> KanyaKumari -> Tiruvananthapuram -> Cochin -> Bekal and finally Mangalore, it was one of those journeys I'd been waiting to make for a long time, it was an experience I'd cherish all my life :), then there was a 450km bike trip done in a single day, a trek to the magnificient Kumaraparvatha in the western ghats of Karnataka in November and finally a drive with friends to Pondicherry in December to wrap up the year 2009.
But, what I am about to blog here is about something that started and got going somewhere in between this period. I was in my hometown of Udupi when the whole conversation was centered about my Wedding! Yes.. WEDDING. I'd never given the topic of marriage a serious thought until then, although parents had been asking me about it for almost an year. Not that I've not wanted to marry, but I'd always felt until then that I wasn't ready for it. After all the brainstorming sessions from Parents, Family and friends, it really got me thinking and I felt, it was time that I found a woman to spend my life with and I thought it was going to be one hell of a task to find a person I'd like and want to spend rest of my life with and more importantly expect the same from that person plus an extra expectation that she'd bear me :).
I finally told my parents that I was ready for marriage and they could start searching for a suitable girl. So, it all started in the month of November. (To be cont'd)
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Happy friendship day
This one is dedicated to all those friends who’ve shared my joys and sorrows, shared theirs with me, made my life memorable in their own ways. I’ve parted ways with some friends, but a few dear ones have lasted so far and hope it lasts for life. Thanks for being there, here and everywhere with me, when I needed you guys the most and this is my way to let you know how special you guys are, you rock!
I’ve made friends with people all my life, most from very young age at school, college and a few at work. I guess it’s a formula or a rule, the older u grow, lesser friends you make, farther you go from the ones you are friends with already. But a few have lasted and stood the test of time and I’m sure will last for life.
As a kid growing up in Bangarpet, I’ve made many friends, given that I changed 3 schools till my 10th grade, gave me a chance to meet new people, know them and make friends with. Of all these, buddies from my high school were and will always be very special. We were just breaking out of the shackles of innocent childhood and beginning to learn the way of teenage, all those things we tried, succeeded, failed in made our bond stronger and better.
Then in ’99 I moved to Bengaluru, a new beginning in a totally alien world for a boy from a small town, I missed my pals from Bangarpet very dearly, but life had to move on. The friends I made here were very hard earned and are the most treasured, they’ve helped me learn n grow in life and contributed in their own ways and I owe to them a lot for they’ve been the greatest influence in what I am today.
In ’01, I went to Tumkur, to study Engg and each of the 4 years I spent there was a new twist in life, at the end of it was a graduate who’d successfully passed a lot more than exams and failed miserably in a few important stages of life, at last they all were lessons learnt, cherished, regretted and I happily take them in my stride.
After four years of college, it was time to enter professional life and this has been a great learning curve so far, both professionally and personally and I really thank the ones who’ve made this boring line of work very enjoyable most of the times and bearable at the worst.
All my dear friends, each and every one of you, I love you a lot, you all have been very special and I treasure all those memorable times that we’ve spent together. Wish you all a very happy friendship day!
I’ve made friends with people all my life, most from very young age at school, college and a few at work. I guess it’s a formula or a rule, the older u grow, lesser friends you make, farther you go from the ones you are friends with already. But a few have lasted and stood the test of time and I’m sure will last for life.
As a kid growing up in Bangarpet, I’ve made many friends, given that I changed 3 schools till my 10th grade, gave me a chance to meet new people, know them and make friends with. Of all these, buddies from my high school were and will always be very special. We were just breaking out of the shackles of innocent childhood and beginning to learn the way of teenage, all those things we tried, succeeded, failed in made our bond stronger and better.
Then in ’99 I moved to Bengaluru, a new beginning in a totally alien world for a boy from a small town, I missed my pals from Bangarpet very dearly, but life had to move on. The friends I made here were very hard earned and are the most treasured, they’ve helped me learn n grow in life and contributed in their own ways and I owe to them a lot for they’ve been the greatest influence in what I am today.
In ’01, I went to Tumkur, to study Engg and each of the 4 years I spent there was a new twist in life, at the end of it was a graduate who’d successfully passed a lot more than exams and failed miserably in a few important stages of life, at last they all were lessons learnt, cherished, regretted and I happily take them in my stride.
After four years of college, it was time to enter professional life and this has been a great learning curve so far, both professionally and personally and I really thank the ones who’ve made this boring line of work very enjoyable most of the times and bearable at the worst.
All my dear friends, each and every one of you, I love you a lot, you all have been very special and I treasure all those memorable times that we’ve spent together. Wish you all a very happy friendship day!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Clueless
Is it only me or are there more like me? I feel life’s come to a standstill. Not now, but it’s been so, for some time now. Life’s become like a saas-bahu soap (not in the literal sense) that just keeps crossing milestones in terms of episodes with time but would never move an inch in its content (alright, now all u saas bahu soap viewers’ association members or their supporters, IFF any, please don’t gang up on me, I’m not in a mood to prove my point).
If I just walk back in time by a couple of years, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing much I’d miss, for there’s nothing that made an iota of change/impact in my life. May be I’d loose an inch on my waist n gain some hair on my head, I can’t think of anything else that would make any difference. If I start thinking and try listing down something useful and satisfying work that I’ve done during this time, I’m sure it’d not cross 10, why’s it so? Is this how it’s going to be or rather I’m letting it be?
When somebody comes up with those brilliant questions like, what I’d be doing 20 years from now, I just can’t answer it, leave 20 years, I don’t have plans for what I’d be doing even 2 years from now. I feel I’m not in control of it, it’s like a plane flying on auto-pilot, good as long as it stays in air, you never know when it’s going to crash. So, am I preparing for this crash and getting myself crash ready? Definitely not. Do I have any contingency plans on how to bring things on track, nope... none!
I definitely need some enlightment, somebody please point me to the nearest peepal tree.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The curious case of egg seller
It was a holiday, I was sitting with Nikhil, playing in front of my house. We've been bestest of friends from age of 3 and were each other's best company through out our childhood. So, we were THE partners in crime. Now, going back to the day this incident happened, as we were playing, we heard the screeching voice which is so typical of a regular hawker, but what he had on his cart was not the fruits/vegetables/toys we regularly saw, but lots and lots of eggs. We'd never seen a egg seller on our street before, both of us coming from conservative backgrounds, had never seen so many eggs before n up so close.
All we knew was, its a taboo to eat eggs, but we both had some evil thoughts already, we wanted to go see, hold an egg in our hands, find out how can somebody eat something that looks so weird(at least i thought it looked weird :P).
The next moment, we went to him, picked up an egg each in both our hands, examining the egg we asked him for the price pretending to be genuine buyers, and he was too happy as he'd sold no eggs in the street and he wouldn't sell any as ours was one of the last houses there. Such a weird shape it had, the outer shell was hard to my surprise, had a thousand questions in my head and before I'd clear all that, in no time, my mother came out of the house, she saw us holding the eggs in our hands and hell broke loose, NIkhil's mother was there too.
That's it, we both were scared to death, I thought we would be thrown out of the house for this dastardly act. We dropped the eggs, splash the shell broke into pieces and the yolk was on the road.. dirty thing, never knew there was a liquid under the hard shell, couldn't help wondering how could some one eat/drink that. We ran off from there, to escape the wrath of our mothers and were back at home after a stroll in the neighborhood. what followed was the lecture advising us not to ever touch the egg again :), the egg seller was the target of their wrath, he was paid 25 paisa for each egg we broke, 4 in total and warned off never to come to our street again.
The story became a legend in both of our families and retold to many as a funny incident, often highlighting the part of we getting scared, breaking the egg and running away from the scene and every one of them found it funny for some reason I still cant figure out!
PS: This incident happened when we were 5 years old and for some reason, I've never been able to forget it.
All we knew was, its a taboo to eat eggs, but we both had some evil thoughts already, we wanted to go see, hold an egg in our hands, find out how can somebody eat something that looks so weird(at least i thought it looked weird :P).
The next moment, we went to him, picked up an egg each in both our hands, examining the egg we asked him for the price pretending to be genuine buyers, and he was too happy as he'd sold no eggs in the street and he wouldn't sell any as ours was one of the last houses there. Such a weird shape it had, the outer shell was hard to my surprise, had a thousand questions in my head and before I'd clear all that, in no time, my mother came out of the house, she saw us holding the eggs in our hands and hell broke loose, NIkhil's mother was there too.
That's it, we both were scared to death, I thought we would be thrown out of the house for this dastardly act. We dropped the eggs, splash the shell broke into pieces and the yolk was on the road.. dirty thing, never knew there was a liquid under the hard shell, couldn't help wondering how could some one eat/drink that. We ran off from there, to escape the wrath of our mothers and were back at home after a stroll in the neighborhood. what followed was the lecture advising us not to ever touch the egg again :), the egg seller was the target of their wrath, he was paid 25 paisa for each egg we broke, 4 in total and warned off never to come to our street again.
The story became a legend in both of our families and retold to many as a funny incident, often highlighting the part of we getting scared, breaking the egg and running away from the scene and every one of them found it funny for some reason I still cant figure out!
PS: This incident happened when we were 5 years old and for some reason, I've never been able to forget it.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
things credit card cant buy
This incident happened on my trip to Aurangabad, over 2 years ago.
A visit to Ellora caves and the nearby places was the itinerary for the day, I'd hired an auto rickshaw for this trip. On the way back from Ellora, I went to the Daulatabad fort as planned, Daulatabad was also called as Devagiri which once was the Capital of the Mughal Empire during the reign of Mohammed Bin Tughlaq.
There's a watch tower at the base of the fort, a replica of Qutub Minar, a hike up the hill for an hour will take you to the highest watch point of the fort/town. This point offers a breathtaking view of the surroundings for miles!. Most of the construction is in ruins and what's left of the walls are etched with names of a lot of modern day salim-anarkalis n romeo-juliets' :(. The stunning feature here were two huge canons on top of this hill with a bird's eye view, to deter off the enemy attacks, which i was told could fire to the range of 5-6 miles.
There was a young kid, selling drinking water on the hill top, from a pot which he carries up every morning! phew..,he'd quit school as his family had no money and selling water is his bit to contribute to his family's earnings. First tell the story, then force you to buy water n ask you to decide the price you pay for the water you drank, isn't it a catch 22 situation? :(, that's what i was in, and to worsen my situation, a 10 rs bill was all I had in my pocket, half a dozen credit cards i had were of no use at this place.
The disgust at not being able to help this kid anyway is beyond words, I gave him that 10 Rs note I had and also a pen of mine, that made me feel a li'l better, hope it made the kid happy too. As the ad for master card rightly said, there are things, money can't buy.
(Completed a draft that I'd left unfinished since Nov'07 :P)
A visit to Ellora caves and the nearby places was the itinerary for the day, I'd hired an auto rickshaw for this trip. On the way back from Ellora, I went to the Daulatabad fort as planned, Daulatabad was also called as Devagiri which once was the Capital of the Mughal Empire during the reign of Mohammed Bin Tughlaq.
There's a watch tower at the base of the fort, a replica of Qutub Minar, a hike up the hill for an hour will take you to the highest watch point of the fort/town. This point offers a breathtaking view of the surroundings for miles!. Most of the construction is in ruins and what's left of the walls are etched with names of a lot of modern day salim-anarkalis n romeo-juliets' :(. The stunning feature here were two huge canons on top of this hill with a bird's eye view, to deter off the enemy attacks, which i was told could fire to the range of 5-6 miles.
There was a young kid, selling drinking water on the hill top, from a pot which he carries up every morning! phew..,he'd quit school as his family had no money and selling water is his bit to contribute to his family's earnings. First tell the story, then force you to buy water n ask you to decide the price you pay for the water you drank, isn't it a catch 22 situation? :(, that's what i was in, and to worsen my situation, a 10 rs bill was all I had in my pocket, half a dozen credit cards i had were of no use at this place.
The disgust at not being able to help this kid anyway is beyond words, I gave him that 10 Rs note I had and also a pen of mine, that made me feel a li'l better, hope it made the kid happy too. As the ad for master card rightly said, there are things, money can't buy.
(Completed a draft that I'd left unfinished since Nov'07 :P)
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Ellora caves
Ellora caves are 28kms from Aurangabad, its declared as world heritage centre along with Ajanta caves by UNESCO. Thanks to the Government for the commendable effort and the funds granted by UNESCO, these monuments are well protected, unusually clean and neat although a lot of damage has been done as in case of many other Architectural wonders in this country.
There are 34 caves altogether, products of Buddhism, Brahmanism and Jainism containing elaborate carvings of gods, goddesses and remarkable memorials of the three great faiths of Hinduism they represent. Each system has its individual style of architecture and Ellora presents us with these varied styles side by side. The sculptural work also reveals the contrast. The excavations on a sloping hill-side are spread over an area of about 2 kms, north to south. Caves 1 to 12, making the southern series are Buddisht. 13 to 19 belong to brahminism and the last five caves are of the Jainism style.
These caves have been excavated over a span of 6 centuries, the Buddhist caves being earliest (500-700 A.D.) The main entrance leading into the parking area faces cave 16, in the Brahmanical series and I started from here and proceeded towards the southern side.
Cave 16 is celebrated as the Kailasa, Shiva’s mountain abode, is by far best of all Ellora excavations. This famous monument displays one of the finest rock cut architecture of its time. Built between 8th and early 9th century, it is regarded as greatest monolithic structure. The entire architecture is in fact, a gigantic sculptural piece. It features life size elephants, a victory pillar and the galleries on either side offers renderings of shiva legends, most of them with goddess Parvati to the north and variations of lord Vishnu to the south. There are also a shrine of Nandi, a pillar on each side of it which are among the best works of art in Kailasa and the central shine containing great Linga among others.
Cave 15 is reached after a long climb of stairs. Double storyed, it has a courtyard with several small shrines and chambers. In the upper hall the vestibules on two walls contains reliefs carved with great delicacy. The shrine holds a lingam and facing it is the Nandi , an inevitable feature of all Shiva shrines.
Cave 14 serves as introduction to the Brahmanical order as there is nothing noticeable in Cave 13. It displays Goddess Durga, Lord Vishnu on the left panel, the shrine houses Goddess Lakshmi and on the left panel is Lord Shiva and Parvati.
Buddhist Excavations:
The Buddhist excavations are classified into Viharas and Chaityas, Viharas mostly containing cells for residing people and Chaityas being halls dedicated for teaching, prayers which houses a Buddha image as a main feature.
Cave 1, is possibly the earliest excavation at Ellora. It is a plain Vihara with 8 cells.
Cave 2, looks like a Chaitya hall. A lion-throne holds the huge Buddha image, a symbol of royal state and galleries have figures of Buddha seated on Lotus in the traditional posture of a preacher. There are several Bodhisatvas.
Cave 3, has a chapel. The Buddha here is seated on a lotus supported by snakes displaying the snake heads.
Cave 5, is the largest in series, a Vihara, There a twenty four pillars holding the roof, and there is a chapel with a Buddha image inside.
Cave 6 displays several interesting sculptures including Buddhist folklore, Goddess Saraswati.
Cave 10 is a Chaitya hall, the façade richly decorated, carved roof and figures in the base relief above the pillars are fine creations. A staircase leads to a large pillared court and a gallery.
Caves 11 and 12, are by far the most important in this group. They are large three storey structures. Cave 12 is bigger of the two and most impressive. There is a huge Buddha figure in the shrine here.
Brahmanical excavations:
Cave 17 has huge pillars and interior Garbh Gruh houses Lingam, images of Lord Vishnu, Brahma, Ganesh and Mahishasura Mardhini
Cave 18 and 19 contains Shiva ling in the Garbh Gruh.
Cave 20 houses images similar to ones in cave 17.
Cave 21 has an attractive façade, In front of it, there’s a Nandi on a raised platform, closeby are the figures of the river Goddess Yamuna and Ganga. Inside the chamber, Parvati’s marriage to lord Shiva is set in a panel fitting almost the entire wall.
Cave 25 is huge, its interior contains the image of Sun god on a rath with seven horses.
Cave 27 contains images of Vishnu, Balram, Krishna and also Varaha awatara and Mahishasura Mardhini.
Cave 29 is a massive structure, there’s an image of lord shiva with eight arms and another image of Shiva dancing. There’s a waterfall between cave 29 and cave 28, and a narrow path to cross.
Jain excavations:
These caves are about a kilometer away to the north. The most important ones among them are caves 32 and 34.
Cave 32 is known as Indra Sabha, the entrance has an elephant and a column, the shrine here has a decorative ceiling carved into symbolic lotus, this has figure of Lord Mahavira, founder of this faith. The upper story of this cave represents the finest worksmanship, also the pillars and walls in this cave carry ornamental work of great delicacy. Cave 34 can be reached from Indra Sabha by a passage. It has a separated entrance also, with a finely carved arch. The jain images have a peculiar heaviness and these caves have very decorative pillars.
This ends the tour of Ellora caves, it took me about 5 hours and at the end of it, i feel its not yet over there's a feeling of things left unfinished. You dont get to witness such fine work every day after all. it not only lets you witness the history, one becomes a part of it and so was I, after coming back here and thinking of getting back to my routine of office work and other things, i cant help wondering if i lived in an entire different dimension of time and space during the last two days. Wish it was true and i could continue...
There are 34 caves altogether, products of Buddhism, Brahmanism and Jainism containing elaborate carvings of gods, goddesses and remarkable memorials of the three great faiths of Hinduism they represent. Each system has its individual style of architecture and Ellora presents us with these varied styles side by side. The sculptural work also reveals the contrast. The excavations on a sloping hill-side are spread over an area of about 2 kms, north to south. Caves 1 to 12, making the southern series are Buddisht. 13 to 19 belong to brahminism and the last five caves are of the Jainism style.
These caves have been excavated over a span of 6 centuries, the Buddhist caves being earliest (500-700 A.D.) The main entrance leading into the parking area faces cave 16, in the Brahmanical series and I started from here and proceeded towards the southern side.
Cave 16 is celebrated as the Kailasa, Shiva’s mountain abode, is by far best of all Ellora excavations. This famous monument displays one of the finest rock cut architecture of its time. Built between 8th and early 9th century, it is regarded as greatest monolithic structure. The entire architecture is in fact, a gigantic sculptural piece. It features life size elephants, a victory pillar and the galleries on either side offers renderings of shiva legends, most of them with goddess Parvati to the north and variations of lord Vishnu to the south. There are also a shrine of Nandi, a pillar on each side of it which are among the best works of art in Kailasa and the central shine containing great Linga among others.
Cave 15 is reached after a long climb of stairs. Double storyed, it has a courtyard with several small shrines and chambers. In the upper hall the vestibules on two walls contains reliefs carved with great delicacy. The shrine holds a lingam and facing it is the Nandi , an inevitable feature of all Shiva shrines.
Cave 14 serves as introduction to the Brahmanical order as there is nothing noticeable in Cave 13. It displays Goddess Durga, Lord Vishnu on the left panel, the shrine houses Goddess Lakshmi and on the left panel is Lord Shiva and Parvati.
Buddhist Excavations:
The Buddhist excavations are classified into Viharas and Chaityas, Viharas mostly containing cells for residing people and Chaityas being halls dedicated for teaching, prayers which houses a Buddha image as a main feature.
Cave 1, is possibly the earliest excavation at Ellora. It is a plain Vihara with 8 cells.
Cave 2, looks like a Chaitya hall. A lion-throne holds the huge Buddha image, a symbol of royal state and galleries have figures of Buddha seated on Lotus in the traditional posture of a preacher. There are several Bodhisatvas.
Cave 3, has a chapel. The Buddha here is seated on a lotus supported by snakes displaying the snake heads.
Cave 5, is the largest in series, a Vihara, There a twenty four pillars holding the roof, and there is a chapel with a Buddha image inside.
Cave 6 displays several interesting sculptures including Buddhist folklore, Goddess Saraswati.
Cave 10 is a Chaitya hall, the façade richly decorated, carved roof and figures in the base relief above the pillars are fine creations. A staircase leads to a large pillared court and a gallery.
Caves 11 and 12, are by far the most important in this group. They are large three storey structures. Cave 12 is bigger of the two and most impressive. There is a huge Buddha figure in the shrine here.
Brahmanical excavations:
Cave 17 has huge pillars and interior Garbh Gruh houses Lingam, images of Lord Vishnu, Brahma, Ganesh and Mahishasura Mardhini
Cave 18 and 19 contains Shiva ling in the Garbh Gruh.
Cave 20 houses images similar to ones in cave 17.
Cave 21 has an attractive façade, In front of it, there’s a Nandi on a raised platform, closeby are the figures of the river Goddess Yamuna and Ganga. Inside the chamber, Parvati’s marriage to lord Shiva is set in a panel fitting almost the entire wall.
Cave 25 is huge, its interior contains the image of Sun god on a rath with seven horses.
Cave 27 contains images of Vishnu, Balram, Krishna and also Varaha awatara and Mahishasura Mardhini.
Cave 29 is a massive structure, there’s an image of lord shiva with eight arms and another image of Shiva dancing. There’s a waterfall between cave 29 and cave 28, and a narrow path to cross.
Jain excavations:
These caves are about a kilometer away to the north. The most important ones among them are caves 32 and 34.
Cave 32 is known as Indra Sabha, the entrance has an elephant and a column, the shrine here has a decorative ceiling carved into symbolic lotus, this has figure of Lord Mahavira, founder of this faith. The upper story of this cave represents the finest worksmanship, also the pillars and walls in this cave carry ornamental work of great delicacy. Cave 34 can be reached from Indra Sabha by a passage. It has a separated entrance also, with a finely carved arch. The jain images have a peculiar heaviness and these caves have very decorative pillars.
This ends the tour of Ellora caves, it took me about 5 hours and at the end of it, i feel its not yet over there's a feeling of things left unfinished. You dont get to witness such fine work every day after all. it not only lets you witness the history, one becomes a part of it and so was I, after coming back here and thinking of getting back to my routine of office work and other things, i cant help wondering if i lived in an entire different dimension of time and space during the last two days. Wish it was true and i could continue...
Lost in time - The start
Another weekend passes by. In most parts of this vast and beautiful country, one could see skies lit up with beautiful fireworks and houses decorated and the front doors lined up with lamps lit up, for this is the way Deepavali/Diwali is celebrated here. It’s the biggest celebration in the country as the occasion also marks the New Year in few parts. But for me it would have been nothing but for just another weekend as staying away from home, there were no celebrations around.
I was in no way going to let it happen, so I decided to do what I love the most, Travel. I was contemplating the idea of travelling to a hill station or a beach as that’s the ideal holiday for most people around me. When I realized that I was to have no company, I was free to make my own plans and that’s how the idea of travelling to Aurangabad first occurred to me. It’s only 400 kms from the city of Mumbai and can be reached easily by rail or bus.
On Thursday night I started off from vashi and by the time the bus started to move it was almost midnight. On the move when the rush of air splashed on my face I suddenly realized how much I missed travelling and it was my first overnight journey in over 6 months! The plan was to reach Aurangabad and then travel to Ellora and Ajanta and a few other places around I read about on net and most notably ‘Bibi ka Maqbara’ a replica of Taj Mahal built by the Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb in memory of his wife Rabia-ud-Durrani among them, over the next 2 or 3 days.
In no time I was asleep only to wake up in the middle of the night a couple of times due to cold, again a first in 2 months because all I can categorize the weather in Mumbai is from Very hot/sultry-warm-not so warm.
It was about half past six in the morning, when I woke up to see that the bus was cruising in the outskirts of Aurangabad and after a few minutes I got off the bus at ‘Baba petrol pump’ , an auto rickshaw driver dropped me off at Pushpak lodge near the city railway station. After a shower and watching tv for a while, I started off from my lodge towards the MTDC information centre nearby.
MTDC offers day trips to both Ajanta and Ellora, but the Ellora being nearby was clubbed with half a dozen other places and hence leaving only a couple of hours to be spent at Ellora. So, I decided to do the Ellora trip by myself and booked a seat for myself for the Ajanta Tour the next day.
After having a good breakfast I started my day’s trip. My plan was to visit Ellora and then Daulatabad fort and visit other places if there was any time left. One can opt to take the pubic transportation or hire an auto rickshaw to take you around to the places of your choice. I chose to travel around by auto rickshaw. Ellora was the first place I was supposed to visit.
After about 40 mins ride, we reached Ghrashneshwar Temple just about 500 metres from Ellora, This temple is very famous because the Jyotirlinga here is said be self oriented and according to records, the temple was built in 7th century, the courtyard leads to the main temple with beautiful carvings depicting various mythological stories (please don’t ask me tell you the story now J). The temple has a Shivling infront of which is the marble image of Goddess Parvati. This is the 12th Jyotirlinga of Shiva. (and I have no clue where are the other 11 ;) ). I did visit this temple as my driver insisted that I should start my trip with this. Well, it’s worth a visit. After this we set off towards the cave temples of Ellora.
I was in no way going to let it happen, so I decided to do what I love the most, Travel. I was contemplating the idea of travelling to a hill station or a beach as that’s the ideal holiday for most people around me. When I realized that I was to have no company, I was free to make my own plans and that’s how the idea of travelling to Aurangabad first occurred to me. It’s only 400 kms from the city of Mumbai and can be reached easily by rail or bus.
On Thursday night I started off from vashi and by the time the bus started to move it was almost midnight. On the move when the rush of air splashed on my face I suddenly realized how much I missed travelling and it was my first overnight journey in over 6 months! The plan was to reach Aurangabad and then travel to Ellora and Ajanta and a few other places around I read about on net and most notably ‘Bibi ka Maqbara’ a replica of Taj Mahal built by the Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb in memory of his wife Rabia-ud-Durrani among them, over the next 2 or 3 days.
In no time I was asleep only to wake up in the middle of the night a couple of times due to cold, again a first in 2 months because all I can categorize the weather in Mumbai is from Very hot/sultry-warm-not so warm.
It was about half past six in the morning, when I woke up to see that the bus was cruising in the outskirts of Aurangabad and after a few minutes I got off the bus at ‘Baba petrol pump’ , an auto rickshaw driver dropped me off at Pushpak lodge near the city railway station. After a shower and watching tv for a while, I started off from my lodge towards the MTDC information centre nearby.
MTDC offers day trips to both Ajanta and Ellora, but the Ellora being nearby was clubbed with half a dozen other places and hence leaving only a couple of hours to be spent at Ellora. So, I decided to do the Ellora trip by myself and booked a seat for myself for the Ajanta Tour the next day.
After having a good breakfast I started my day’s trip. My plan was to visit Ellora and then Daulatabad fort and visit other places if there was any time left. One can opt to take the pubic transportation or hire an auto rickshaw to take you around to the places of your choice. I chose to travel around by auto rickshaw. Ellora was the first place I was supposed to visit.
After about 40 mins ride, we reached Ghrashneshwar Temple just about 500 metres from Ellora, This temple is very famous because the Jyotirlinga here is said be self oriented and according to records, the temple was built in 7th century, the courtyard leads to the main temple with beautiful carvings depicting various mythological stories (please don’t ask me tell you the story now J). The temple has a Shivling infront of which is the marble image of Goddess Parvati. This is the 12th Jyotirlinga of Shiva. (and I have no clue where are the other 11 ;) ). I did visit this temple as my driver insisted that I should start my trip with this. Well, it’s worth a visit. After this we set off towards the cave temples of Ellora.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
