Memories from Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh

If you think Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh is an unassuming city with nothing much to see except the Gwalior Fort, think again!

Big time Neemrana hotels (http://neemranahotels.com) fan, we decided to explore yet another of their properties for a short break from Delhi – the 17^thC Deo Bagh palace in Gwalior. We arrived in Gwalior at 3am in the morning thanks to Indian Railways and the hotel staff was more worried about our safe travel than our families. The Front Desk managed by Gaurav and Narain was in constant touch with us through our train journey and we were greeted by smiling faces who wanted to ensure that we get to our rooms soonest. The weather was kind and we were treated to two wonderful days of bright sun despite it being the last week of December. This Neemrana property boasts of heritage sites within the property including a Baradari (a building or pavilion with 12 doors designed to allow free flow of air) and temples. Rooms are palatial (as compared to many other Neemrana Fort properties) and all rooms open into a huge garden – which is wonderful to laze around and play.  

 

 

The Gwalior Fort is not as grand as those in Rajasthan and Agra, but its unique design and architecture leaves you wanting for more. The Fort is situated on top of a hill and since the road is narrow, uphill and downhill traffic is managed by people sitting at the two ends of the road connected through a telephone. It is advisable to take a guide if you want to know some interesting facts about the Fort and its history. The entry ticket to the Fort also gives entry to two other sites in proximity to the Fort: the Sas-Bahu ka mandir (or Sahastrabahu Temple) and Teli ka Mandir. Both are wonderful and should not be missed. The Light and Sound Show at the Fort in the evenings is a must watch too.  

 

 

 

The Jai Vilas Palace has been converted into a museum and is known for its unique architecture which is a mix of Italian, Tuscan and Corinithian. The Museum exhibits a collection of antiques belonging to the Scindia reign which were originally from Italy, France, and Versailles. Two Belgian chandeliers weighing several tonnes are said to be the largest pair in the world.  The dining room displays a model railway with a silver train that carried after-dinner brandy and cigars around the table in crystal coaches. The interesting fact is that the palace and the Belgian chandeliers are lighted up in the last week of December and are open to the public (check exact dates before planning a visit) – best time to go is in the evening to truly enjoy the beauty of the Palace in the lights. Take a Baggi ride as well and you are all set for your royal extravaganza. The tickets are easily available at the venue from 5pm, though entry is allowed only at 6 – unless you can argue with the guards that you are not going to stand out in the cold for one hour and find your way to a small cafeteria inside the premises J.

There is also a Sun temple built on the lines of the Konark Sun Temple – interesting but can be skipped if you are running short on time.

The details about the three things listed above are easily available on any search you will do on Gwalior. What is not available is information about two stunning heritage sites – Mitavli and Padhavli (or Padhawli). These are situated close to each other and approximately 45 minutes by road from Gwalior (unless your driver like ours had never been there and therefore decides to take a route through villages and sand stone mining sites!). These are 9^th and 10^th C temple ruins that are breathtakingly beautiful and a MUST VISIT. Thanks to our hotel for recommending this to us. These has been lying hidden/ forgotten since ages, so very less information is available about this place. The structure of the Indian Parliament house (Sansad Bhawan) has an uncanny resemblance to the Mitavli temple and looks like hugely inspired from the architecture of this temple. If you go to Gwalior but not visit these places, you would have missed something stunning.

The city does not boast of great local food, so better to be safe and stick to the hotel but if you end upto steeping out, the options are very limited (do not go anywhere but the Kwality Restaurant).  If you have a sweet tooth, indulge in Bahadura ke laddo and some local Gajjak.  Mrignayni, the state emporium is a good place to shop for textile and artifacts.

While I had been to Gwalior as a kid, I had no memories of it and the driving factor behind planning this trip was the Neemrana Deo Bagh Palace which I wanted to stay in and have a relaxing holiday. We actually realized that there is so much more to see around Gwalior that we need to come back! Let’s see when that happens. So, go to Gwalior, stay at Deo Bagh, visit the Fort, Jai Vilas Palace, Mitavli and Padhavli….and have a lovely holiday!

 

 

Neemrana Fort-Palace, February 2011

Neemrana properties never fail to impress us, however short the trip may be. After weeks of travel for work, we decided to take a weekend break at one of the most known destinations of the NCR – The Neemrana Fort-Palace. A two hour drive from Gurgaon is pleasant and is expected to become even better in some time with the lane up-gradation currently in progress. A short stop at one of the road side dhaaba is a must for those who enjoy the traditional Indian breakfast of stuffed paranthaas!! For me, this is one the incentives to travel by roadJ

The final approach to the Fort is through narrow lanes with houses and shops on both sides and one does not expect such a magnificent structure at the end. The Fort was in ruins when it was taken over the Neemrana Hotels for redevelopment and restoration- so do not miss the photographs put at various places in the Fort of its condition some 25 years ago. The Spa and the pool (particularly the one at upper level) are worth spending time in, and the food is awesome! While lots of people go there for a day trip, the highlight for us was to spend a night there. The Fort looks beautiful in the evening when it is all lighted up – a sight so beautiful that I wanted to spend the night under the open sky looking at it and imagining what it would have been when the royals lived there – it would have been so vivacious and grandiose.

The evening was also very beautiful, with tea served at the terrace with the sunset for company.
The staff as in all Neemrana properties is extremely nice and courteous. Since we wanted a peaceful break, we did not go in for zipping and saved it for the next time (hopefully very soon)!!!!!!!

Glasshouse on the Ganges…..–where Ganges is clean - the way it should be everywhere

A weekend break – away from the city – a must for those who love nature. We took the Dehradun Shatabdi from Delhi and got off at Haridwar, from where Glasshouse is a 2 hour drive. We reached the property by lunch time- though the drive was tough- specially some patches as the road had been completely destroyed by rains and landslides.

We stayed at a lovely place called the Glasshouse on the Ganges (A Neemrana property). The place came highly recommended from friends who went there about 2 years back. The property lives upto its name- its made mainly of glass and is situated bang on the Ganges. Most of the rooms have a view of the river and the mountains and is something completely different from the places I have been to so far. But the property can definitely do something to its maintenance levels …..the carromboard in the common room is in shambles. However, we spent all our time on the river beach – so it was ok!!

The river beach of the property is small but perfect (good things come in small packages after all!). it is so much better than a sea beach as the water is not salty. The weather was perfect and thank god it did not rain while we were there – so we could maximize the time we spent on the beach.

We also went to the Rishikesh town and had lunch at the famous restaurant – “Chotiwala”. It was nothing exceptional as it has kind of lost its old charm over the years and even the menu now includes pastas and pizzas (catering to the huge tourist inflow from the west). I remember going there as a child and really enjoying the traditional Indian food minus the shahi paneer and dal makhni .

But , overall, a lovely trip – we plan to skip Rishikesh next time and just spend all our time at the Glasshouse…just when we are ready for our next “complete break to unwind”!

Ramgarh, Uttarakhand……………the beauty of doing nothing!!!

After debating between beach and hills…the hills won and we finally decided to go on a short holiday to this place called Ramgarh in Uttarakhand. Easily accessible by road and train (we took the overnight Ranikhet Express to Kathgodam, from where it is only a 2 hour drive).

We got exactly what we wanted – a quiet, serene and peaceful destination, where at times, we could hear our own breath. We stayed at the Neemrana Ramgarh Bunglows – a ‘non-hotel’ hotel. The cottages are beautifully located and each cottage has its own charm. We stayed at the Cliff House and the view from there is truly exquisite. The jam and juice factory run by Neemrana Hotels at their property itself is worth a visit – you can taste the stuff before you buy it and in any case if happen to be staying there or have breakfast there, the jams and juices will be served to you! The staff is very nice and hospitable; however, the property can do with better maintenance especially of the flower beds it has.

It’s a perfect place for people who want to completely unwind and forget the hustle bustle of city life…..time stops in Ramgarh! There is nothing to do except walk, eat, sleep, read, look at the mountains and enjoy the cool breeze. The weather was perfect and we were lucky that it did not rain while we were there – though I think that it would have become even more beautiful if it did.

One of best things about Ramgarh is that there are hardly any monkeys where the cottages are - which means that you can enjoy your meals out in the open…and you can leave your things anywhere in the property without the fear of not being able to find them again!

Any description of Ramgarh would be incomplete without the mention of the ‘Cedar Lodge’. It is located much above the Neemrana Bunglows and offers a great view of the valley and the mountains – and we were told it is the best after snowfall d you can see all the snow capped mountains from there. The food is lovely …and so are the dogs (Tiger and Rocky)!

On our way back, we went to Naukuchiya Taal and got our boat ‘driver’ to stop at the Lake Resort for tea.

It not being peak season and weekdays, we avoided the Delhi crowd completely and we were almost the only ones wherever we went.

A beautiful holiday, a short holiday…. A PERFECT HOLIDAY!

Bandhavgarh National Park

An overdose of travel to several European and American cities in 2007, made us think of going on a different kind of a holiday than the usual. The search for that perfect holiday finally led us to deciding upon going to a Tiger Reserve. We finally selected Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh as the destination – for several reasons: one - the density of the tiger population at Bandhavgarh is one of the highest known in India, and two – it required the least travel by road and is well connected by the rail network.

Bandhavgarh National Park consists of a core area of 105 sq km and a buffer area of approximately 400 sq km of topography varies between steep ridges, undulating, forest and open meadows. Bandhavgarh National Park is known for the Royal Bengal Tigers. Bandhavgarh National Park was the former hunting preserve of the Maharaja of Rewa and at present is a famous natural hub for White Tigers. The terrain is broken, with rocky hill ranges, running roughly east west, interspersed with grassy swamps and forested valleys.

We took the safaris on all the days – both morning and evening (it was strange to get up at 5 am on a holiday – but lot of fun- especially with the packed breakfast and tea that our hotel used to pack for us). We did manage to see the TIGERS and also some other animals - elephants, deers, wild boars, sambars, jackals and several exotic birds. It was a different experience- waiting in the jeeps trying to listen to alarm calls of animals like monkeys and barking deer and then a wild goose chase across the jungle looking for the TIGER!!! The most beautiful sight of all was a four year old baby elephant trying to play with his 80 year old grandmother -ignoring his mother completely. But, his mother was keeping an eye on him and the moment he started playing with us – she made such noises that he ran away (dum daba ke!!!).

A must not miss on the trip to Bandhavgarh is the Bandhavgarh Fort. As this path is frequented by tigers, it is full of very clear tiger pug marks. The view, from the Fort, of the surrounding area of Bandhavgarh National Park is breathtakingly beautiful (and will probably compensate for not being able to see the tiger during the safari). There is an old temple where a pujari still lives and there are the ruins of the royal treasury, a school and the palace of the royal family.

Jaipur.....The Pink City

Jaipur – The Pink City

“Jaipur, the pink city was founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, a Kachwaha Rajput, who ruled from 1699-1744. Initially his capital was Amber (city), which lies at a distance of 11 km from Jaipur. He felt the need of shifting his capital city with the increase in population and growing scarcity of water. Jaipur is the first planned city of India”. Source: Wikipedia

Another short and sweet trip to a beautiful city close to Delhi helped us polish our bargaining skills after long time (since there are hardly any markets left in Delhi where shokeepers indugle in it!)!! Jaipur is alovely and colorful city- but extremely chaotic in terms of the traffic and parking space. The City palace was nice – organised in different sections – on textile, armory, art gallery etc.

Jantar Mantar was a place we were hoping not to spend too much time – but we ended up enjoying it quite lot! We actually could tell the time in jaipur using the sun clock. It was great to see how advance was astronomy at that time.

Being in Jaipur on a weekend- that too on a valentine Day weekend…ooof……we went for dinner to Chokhi Dhani (http://www.chokhidhani.com) – an ethnic village resort near Jaipur. It was full of people - there was actually queue to enter!!! But a very place and great experience!!

Shopping was a wonderful experience – wat was interetsing that if you are lookingf or something specifc(which we were!!), every shopkeeper will say he has it and would want you to come in and settle and then show you something else…..and then in the end tell you that he does not really have the exact thing – but there is lot more that he can show!

The most exciting part (apart from shopping of course!) was the elephant ride to the Amer Fort - while it was not avery long ride- our elephant (Bobby) took his own sweet time and almost 15 other elephants crossed us by the time we reached the top. Midway, he startedmaking all kinds of noises and we were told that this is bacause he saw his "special friend" coming down and he could recognise her anywhere!

What was disturbing was how our heritage is being misued by govt for making money - most of you woudl have read about the wall collapse at the Amer Fort recently- duirng the shooting of a movie – “Veer”. Well, we saw the abondoned set made in the fort and remains of the wall that fell - its really sad to see how these people get permissions to tamper with historical sites. On top of it, once the wall collapsed, the High Court issues suo moto notice and the shootingw as stopped immediately – but the makers shifted the shooting to the City Palace – in the private portion of the palace.

All and all a wonderful trip!!!

A memorable trip to Amritsar!!!

Amritsar: The Lake of the Holy Nectar

Amritsar is home to the Harmandir Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, the spiritual and cultural center of the Sikh religion. Amritsar is considered important and holy by hindus as well, as according to the greatest epic of Hinduism, this was a place where Sita, the wife of Lord Rama, gave birth to twins Lava and Kusha. The birth took place in the ashram of Valmiki rishi. Beside this Durgaina temple is also a very famous hindu temple. Amritsar is also known for the incidents of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in 1919 under British Rule.

A short stint in UK with base in London has made me an expert on how to plan weekend trips and try and make maximum of the time one gets to see, absorb, shop and……(let others) EAT!!! I have been to Amritsar twice before the most recent visit – and on both these occasions I could only see the Golden temple, Jallianwala Bagh and Wagah Border – but only two of these in one trip,….….However, this time in the same time – we managed to cover all these three these places and one temple and SHOPPING and EATING at the most known restaurants of Amritsar!!! So all those who want to pack a lot in a weekend trip – now you know who to take travel advice from!!!:-)

The experience of watching the sunrise at the Golden Temple is not be missed – it’s so serene and beautiful that it makes you forget everything else. Though, the “weekend traffic” is something that can be avoided if you can take a mid-week break. The Jallianwala Bagh makes me wonder why we are not interested in taking care of our history and heritage – on one hand we boast of having a rich culture and history…...and on the other hand we let places like this be just another “park” – it’s very disappointing. Our politicians and administrative officers are perpetually on “foreign trips” to see and understand how things happen and work there- but somehow nothing gets implemented in our country.

The evening programme at Wagah Border looks like a Bollywood movie being shot – you have to see it to believe it! People on both sides of the border take their places much before the flag ceremony starts – there is loud patriotic music being played at both sides and slogans being shouted…the soldiers exuberating ‘josh’ on both sides – its fun and a must watch one time.

Shopping is great in Amritsar: amazing papads and lovely phulkari work on cloth!! Not be missed is the lovely amritsari food that we savored at all the recommended places – breakfast of poori cholle with lassi at Kanha Seets (Lawrence Road); lunch at Bharavan Da Dhaba – awesome vegetarian food at both places!

All in all – it was a great trip – 2 days spent in the company of a lovely people (including my dear husband :-)), great food, lovely places to see and shopppppiiiiinggggg!!!