old tiger's Blog

so..after Chittor..back to Jaipur by train..few hours ride..
good to see Ruby back..it was december..her holidays coming up..
we decided we'll go by train to Assam..her home state..
so..in Jaipur..i went out again by bycycle..stayed 2 weeks..
before we both went to train by New Delhi..and a long haul trip..
to Guwahati..capital of Assam..that train ride..was my longest ever..
3 days on a train..in a compartiment with *jawans*=Indian soldiers..
ahah..yes..Indian army folks..got bit of a superiority feeling sometimes..
the train trip went via Kanpur..Patna..Barauni=a station well known..
for the serving of fish..then towards Jalpaiguri-Siliguri(West Bengal)
the traject towards Guwahati was troublesome..a delay was there..
around Bongaigaong..some strike??don't remember??
finally reached Guwahati..we stayed at relatives from Ruby..
it was a stunning experience..to feel the sincerity of the Assamese..
they are great people..kind..warmhearted..what struck me in Assam.
was first the nature...aww...Assamese nature..unspoiled..
secondly..one does NOT see beggars in Assam..
we were gonna go by bus towards Shillong..
capital of Meghalaya state..
that's by bus..no railway connections..Shillong is a hill station..
will tell you peeps about that visit..it was amazing..
Tiger

so..was gonna enter Rajasthan state again..
from Bhopal a train trip via Ujain-Ratlam...
the *qila*was bit of a distance from the railway station..
but.I felt like walking it..reached there huffing an puffing..
last stretch is rather uphill..this place got historical history..
clash between Rajputs-Moghuls here in the 1500's?
it's said that upon defeat lots of Rajputi women committed sati
http://chittorgarh.nic.in/history2.html
means like a suicide act..in India in earlier days..a widow..
would commit *sati*and jump on the cremation fire..
when her husband was cremated..this cruel practice was abolished
by the British..but still..upon recently in Rajasthan cases of sati
have been reported..now this *qila*looks rather impressiv..
it's a huge place really..it took me a while..to visit..
there are a few nice victory towers to be seen..
the whole fort is surrounded by walls..and about 7 entry gates..
in my opinion...this fort was quite a place to visit..
pity it was so scorching hot on top of that hillside...
I took a cycle ricksjah back to the railway station of Chittorgarh..
had some basic food in some food stall around the station..
some sabzee like phool gobee(cauliflower)with aloo(potatoes)
was gonna take a train to Jaipur..an 8 hour trip..
I was gonna see Ruby back tomorrow..
it was december 1975..stayed 2 weeks in Jaipur again..
and then went together with Ruby to Assam..
to visit her family..it was a 3 day train trip to upper Assam..
it's situated in Northeastern India..on the Burma-Chinese border..
if you ask me..long haul...and quite an experience for me..
Tiger

Jalgaon towards Bhopal via Khandwa by train..
I recall Bhopal as a hot,dusty and dirty town..
lots of slums around the railway station..
the old city harbours many Masjids=mosques..
Bhopal was mainly a Muslim town..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal
there are some lakes around town..if I remember well??
Bhopal made sad history in 1984 when thousands of folks..
died in the Union carbide factory disaster...poisonous gas..
for the rest..I don't recall much of Bhopal..
I took a night train out of Bhopal direction Ujain-Ratlam..
my aim was to visit the *qila*(fort)of Chittorgarh..
and that would bring me back into Rajasthan..
soon..I was gonna be back in Jaipur..with Ruby..
this trip..was coming to an end..but..it was worthwhile..
Tiger

I don't recall clearly how I got from Ellora to Jalgaon..
but from Jalgaon..I took a bus to Ajanta village..
about bit over 58kms busride..takes few hours though..
decided to go back to Jalgaon..it's on the Bombay-Bhopal line..
Ajanta got around 30 caves to visit,I believe??
they are all Buddhist in origin..I visited only 10 maybe??
in the end..they all look a bit the same..
it's cool and dark in some caves...and I saw some good fresco's..
it's surprising..how well these rock fresco's are preserved..
some real nice scenes are depicted in these fresco's..
in Ajanta itself...and also in Fardapur..locals try to sell amethyst
stones to any tourists...very persistent touts sometimes..
after the visit to Ajanta..which maybe took 2 hours..
i took a bus back to Jalgaon railways..was gonnna move on..
towards Bhopal town..tell you later about that..
I'll see for a link on Ajanta..
Tiger

Bus trip towards Ellora..they stopped all over..
reached Ellora..and booked a night in some guesthouse..
so..I set off towards these famous Ellora caves..
it was damn hot..Ellora is just a village in a lovely setting..
there are 34 caves in total..of Buddhist,Hindu or Jain origins..
I did not visit all of them..they told me that cave 16 was the best..
it's a Hindu based cave...called Kailashanatha..well..I was walking
in between these huge structures in awe..I could not believe my eyes..
how could human hands build this??I couldn't grasp it..
about all the Hindu deities were in there..Shiva,Vishnu,Saraswati etc..
the carving is done very intricate...and detailed..
I saw some huge stone elephants..Nandi..the bull..
some local Indian told me they build this temple carving from the top
towards the bottom..I did not grasp that..it's over 30meters high..
all these caves stretch over an area of around 2kms..
it was cool..and dark in some caves...but outside..it was scorching
hot..I found the Hindu caves very interesting..lots of mythology..
the Buddhist and Jain based caves..well..they were O.K.to me..
but not like cave 16 for example..really very stunning..
if you peeps ever go to Maharastra..please include Ellora..
the guesthouse I stayed in..was very simple..nothing special...
food was just some rice/dhal stuff..I got very tired from that cave
wandering..next day..I was gonna travell towards Ajanta caves..
not an easy connection to get there..bus..train..
I'll try to get you peeps a link on Ellora caves...
http://images.google.be/images?q=Ellora+caves+pictures&hl=nl&um=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title
crazy Tiger