My trip to Delhi was supposed to be simple. Leave Bombay on the 2nd of Oct, reach Delhi on the 3rd, take the train back on the 4th, and get back home on the 5th. What actually happened was a slight deviation from this plan!
On the 4th, I realized that I was going to have to stay in Delhi one extra day ... and that was the end of "the plan". After canceling the original return ticket, I found that there were no seats available to return on the 5th. That was interesting news, because then it brought about the possibility of a "detour" (According to the Oxford University press dictionary - /deetoor/ • noun a divergence from a direct or intended route. • verb take a detour. — ORIGIN French, ‘change of direction’). Detours are something my friends and I specialized in during our days in Bangalore ... and I'm still doing my bit to perfect the art :) Because Delhi -> Varanasi -> Calcutta -> Bombay would cause both time and budget overruns, I chose Delhi -> Indore -> Bombay. Varun booked my ticket, and on the evening of 5th October, I was on the Indore intercity express leaving Delhi.
Not much of note happened on the journey, apart from some inspired moments when I wrote my first poem, and some awesome Pohay served at the BabanBhai B Savli stall on platform 2 of the Nagda junction Railway Station. By the afternoon of 6th, I was having beer with Benny in Indore, thinking about where we could go for a couple of days. We had already picked up a copy of "The Madhya Pradesh State Road Atlas" (useless waste of paper), and after an entire day and night of deliberation ( accompanied by chicken curry at Neeta Aunty's - Benny's mom - place in Ujjain), we decided to go to Pachmarhi.
Like most other hill stations in the country, Pachmarhi was "discovered" by the British in 1857, who built a cantonment here and used it as a sanatorium for British troops in the Central Provinces of India. It is 52 kms from the nearest railhead (Pipariya, on the Jabalpur - Itarsi line), ~220 kms from the nearest airport (Bhopal, capital of MP). Pachmarhi is so named because of five caves (pach marhi) carved into a small hillock here. Legend has it that the Pandavas in their period of exile, spent some time in these caves. Although the caves have now been established to be of much later Buddhist origin, the legend and name have stuck.
Getting to Pachmarhi was not easy because of the time we left Ujjain. We had to take a local bus to Dewas (35 kms), another from Dewas to Bhopal (150 kms), and finally, a night train from Bhopal to Pipariya. At 02:30 in the morning, we were in the waiting room in Pipariya station; me sleeping blissfully on the floor, and Benny sitting around hoping that a mattress would materialize out of nowhere; I don't think he found his mattress that night! At first light, we were in the front seat of an overcrowded Tata Sumo making the final 52 kms to our destination. Pachmarhi is near 3500 ft above sea level, and the early morning ride up gave us no chance to complain about the cramped seating. The morning chill, slivers of sunlight through the trees, lily covered lakes, winding roads, all contributed to our saturated senses as we pulled into the town. I was feeling so good, I even forgot the twenty rupees the driver owed me!
Pachmarhi abounds in cheap hotels, and when the first place offered a room for Rs.200 a day, I did not think twice before taking it. In retrospect, that was a rip off - The hotel was an absolute dump! Anyway, an hour later, we were off to get breakfast and start our day of exploration. Maruti Gypsys seem to be the norm here, but I was very much in the green mood, so I forced Benny into doing the day on bicycles. Unfortunately for us, it was too early for the bicycle shops to open, so we decided to take the Pandava caves on foot (This based on a local's estimate of 1.5 kms. This is a phenomenon I've never really understood ... any distance to a local is always 5 mins or under 2 kms, never more!).
The distance turned out be at least twice the initial estimate, but we weren't really complaining when we got to the site. The caves themselves are not much to see, some of them even locked in with metal grates in the typical Indian preservation method. Sadly, people in our country have still not learnt to appreciate history without leaving their traces in it! We spent some time there looking out over the panorama and enjoying the feeling of clean morning air. It's always a heady feeling when you can see out that far out into the distance!
Back in the town, we went out and found ourselves bicycles. Benny found a mountain bike, while I picked up a "doodh-wala's cycle" from one of the cycle shops. These roadsters - though out of style in urban settings - are really comfortable for the springiness in the seat and the very comfortable gear ratio, and still rule the rural markets in India.
A full stomach later, we were cycling to Bee falls. I am told it's so called because if you stand under the waterfall and look up at the water cascading onto you, it looks like a swarm of bees. I could not even keep my bloody eyes open, so I presume the madman who named the falls in that manner would now be blind! It was a good ride, metaled road for the first 2 kms, then downhill jeep track for the next 4. Half way down the jeep track, at the entrance check post, we abandoned the cycles. Good decision that, because we'd only have to drag the cycles back up the rest of that slope! Being a Monday, the holiday crowds were absent and we had a great time at the falls. We even got a couple of photos clicked by the local lensman, and by 04:30 p.m. we were back in the hotel room.
After watching India beat Pakistan in the day's match, we stepped out to see whether we could arrange tickets to get back home. Fortunately for us, there was a bus later in the evening straight to Ujjain. So after a bhurji pav dinner near the bus stop, we boarded the bus. While Benny carried on home to Ujjain, I got off at Pipariya to take the 1094 Mahanagari Express to Bombay.
On the 4th, I realized that I was going to have to stay in Delhi one extra day ... and that was the end of "the plan". After canceling the original return ticket, I found that there were no seats available to return on the 5th. That was interesting news, because then it brought about the possibility of a "detour" (According to the Oxford University press dictionary - /deetoor/ • noun a divergence from a direct or intended route. • verb take a detour. — ORIGIN French, ‘change of direction’). Detours are something my friends and I specialized in during our days in Bangalore ... and I'm still doing my bit to perfect the art :) Because Delhi -> Varanasi -> Calcutta -> Bombay would cause both time and budget overruns, I chose Delhi -> Indore -> Bombay. Varun booked my ticket, and on the evening of 5th October, I was on the Indore intercity express leaving Delhi.
Not much of note happened on the journey, apart from some inspired moments when I wrote my first poem, and some awesome Pohay served at the BabanBhai B Savli stall on platform 2 of the Nagda junction Railway Station. By the afternoon of 6th, I was having beer with Benny in Indore, thinking about where we could go for a couple of days. We had already picked up a copy of "The Madhya Pradesh State Road Atlas" (useless waste of paper), and after an entire day and night of deliberation ( accompanied by chicken curry at Neeta Aunty's - Benny's mom - place in Ujjain), we decided to go to Pachmarhi.
Like most other hill stations in the country, Pachmarhi was "discovered" by the British in 1857, who built a cantonment here and used it as a sanatorium for British troops in the Central Provinces of India. It is 52 kms from the nearest railhead (Pipariya, on the Jabalpur - Itarsi line), ~220 kms from the nearest airport (Bhopal, capital of MP). Pachmarhi is so named because of five caves (pach marhi) carved into a small hillock here. Legend has it that the Pandavas in their period of exile, spent some time in these caves. Although the caves have now been established to be of much later Buddhist origin, the legend and name have stuck.
Getting to Pachmarhi was not easy because of the time we left Ujjain. We had to take a local bus to Dewas (35 kms), another from Dewas to Bhopal (150 kms), and finally, a night train from Bhopal to Pipariya. At 02:30 in the morning, we were in the waiting room in Pipariya station; me sleeping blissfully on the floor, and Benny sitting around hoping that a mattress would materialize out of nowhere; I don't think he found his mattress that night! At first light, we were in the front seat of an overcrowded Tata Sumo making the final 52 kms to our destination. Pachmarhi is near 3500 ft above sea level, and the early morning ride up gave us no chance to complain about the cramped seating. The morning chill, slivers of sunlight through the trees, lily covered lakes, winding roads, all contributed to our saturated senses as we pulled into the town. I was feeling so good, I even forgot the twenty rupees the driver owed me!
Pachmarhi abounds in cheap hotels, and when the first place offered a room for Rs.200 a day, I did not think twice before taking it. In retrospect, that was a rip off - The hotel was an absolute dump! Anyway, an hour later, we were off to get breakfast and start our day of exploration. Maruti Gypsys seem to be the norm here, but I was very much in the green mood, so I forced Benny into doing the day on bicycles. Unfortunately for us, it was too early for the bicycle shops to open, so we decided to take the Pandava caves on foot (This based on a local's estimate of 1.5 kms. This is a phenomenon I've never really understood ... any distance to a local is always 5 mins or under 2 kms, never more!).
The distance turned out be at least twice the initial estimate, but we weren't really complaining when we got to the site. The caves themselves are not much to see, some of them even locked in with metal grates in the typical Indian preservation method. Sadly, people in our country have still not learnt to appreciate history without leaving their traces in it! We spent some time there looking out over the panorama and enjoying the feeling of clean morning air. It's always a heady feeling when you can see out that far out into the distance!
Back in the town, we went out and found ourselves bicycles. Benny found a mountain bike, while I picked up a "doodh-wala's cycle" from one of the cycle shops. These roadsters - though out of style in urban settings - are really comfortable for the springiness in the seat and the very comfortable gear ratio, and still rule the rural markets in India.
A full stomach later, we were cycling to Bee falls. I am told it's so called because if you stand under the waterfall and look up at the water cascading onto you, it looks like a swarm of bees. I could not even keep my bloody eyes open, so I presume the madman who named the falls in that manner would now be blind! It was a good ride, metaled road for the first 2 kms, then downhill jeep track for the next 4. Half way down the jeep track, at the entrance check post, we abandoned the cycles. Good decision that, because we'd only have to drag the cycles back up the rest of that slope! Being a Monday, the holiday crowds were absent and we had a great time at the falls. We even got a couple of photos clicked by the local lensman, and by 04:30 p.m. we were back in the hotel room.
After watching India beat Pakistan in the day's match, we stepped out to see whether we could arrange tickets to get back home. Fortunately for us, there was a bus later in the evening straight to Ujjain. So after a bhurji pav dinner near the bus stop, we boarded the bus. While Benny carried on home to Ujjain, I got off at Pipariya to take the 1094 Mahanagari Express to Bombay.
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