Palitana : A place worth a visit !

As few days are left of my stay at Jamnagar, I decided to cover up most of the Gujarat. I visited Guhar Mota, the western most point of India last to last weekend. The previous weekend I had planned to cover Palitana, a Jain pilgrimage in Bhavnagar district. As I was affirmed with my plan, I sought for people who were interested in visiting the place. I got an easy "Yes" from Vivek, a colleague of mine, an enthusiast traveler and every ready to go for a trip , a passionate photographer and lot more ( got to know about his interests few weeks back, a person of my taste); no one else acceded to the plan . So we two only went for the trip. I booked up the bus tickets and packed up my bag.


We left township in the evening, hitchhiked up to Rajkot from where our bus for Palitana was scheduled. We reached Rajkot by 21:00 and our bus was scheduled at 00:40. We had our dinner and sat to watch Cricket on the projector put up at a restaurant. We met a guy, who belonged to our domicile, had a good chat with him and we left for bus station. We caught the bus and reached Palitana Taleti, the place where the steps to reach the temple complex starts. The complex having nearly 900 temples is located on the Shatrunajya Hill and one needs to climb roughly 4000 steps to reach there.  The Gulf of Cambay lies in the south of the hill which we could see as we reached the top. 

We started to climb by dawn, there was a complete silence and cold wind was rushing in, the ideal conditions to start with. As we ascended, my memories of the Girnar Hills started flashing up and thought if I was not going to encounter any wild animal again. We moved ahead slowly and steadily, photographing all around. The sun rose up while our ascend but almost hidden behind the clouds giving a scintillating view.

The sunrise !!

Way to the summit  !

We reached the top by 7:30, got fresh and took the bath. The temple complex was magnificent and beautiful and the weather there just made our visit a successful one. The temples were marble carved. The hill was surrounded by the clouds and it was lush green all around. We went to one of the temples only, rest we saw from outside and then visited Peer baba Dargah. 

The Temple Complex

Lush green mountains & Gulf of Cambay 

Samovsaran Mandir at the foothills

We spent nearly 3 hours on the top, discussing about life, trips we wished to make and random things. We started descending and a lot of Zehrappa (in our terms that means clicking photographs in random poses wearing goggles: P) was being spread by us throughout our way to the bottom of the hill. We reached the foothills by 11, visited the Samovsaran Temple and after that we had our snacks and caught the bus to Bhavnagar at 12:30 reaching there by 2 in the afternoon.


In Bhavnagar we first searched for a good restaurant to feast ourselves as we were pretty hungry by that time. We went to Jalsa lounge as per suggested by the Google, had our lunch there and asked the manager what was there to visit in Bhavnagar. After hearing about many places decided to go to Nishkalank Mahadev Temple, located on the sea shore. We reached the beach by a public conveyance. To reach the temple we need to walk through shallow waters, the bed was laden with black soil and it appeared like an inflatable bed spread all around. We moved towards the sea played with water doing random Zehrappa again. 

Through Vivek's lens at Nishkalank temple

Returning from there by 8 in the night, we went to the only mall in Bhavnagar. As were sleepy, we planned to watch a movie so as to have a comfortable sleep for 2 hours. After the movie, we caught the bus back to Jamnagar and reached by 8 in the morning.


The visit to Palitana turned out to be pretty awesome. Everyone who are in Gujarat should at least visit it once especially in the monsoon season. It is very rare to find such good destination in Gujarat, which is so scenic and eye soothing. It is worth going. For me, it was a life time memorable trip and moreover, I found a traveler like me whom I can always count in for any trip without giving a thought. Finally I can say, visting Palitana made me realize tha my heart lies in the mountains ! :D

Girnar Hill : A 10000 steps of fun , fear and adventure !!! :D

It had been quite a time I had not been to a trek and there are rare places in Gujarat where one can go out for a trek. One of such places is Girnar Hill in Junagadh district, it has approximately 10,000 steps to climb. Girnar is a collection of mountains with the highest peak at an altitude of 1100 m. The place attracted my attention and I found it a good place to go for a short trek over the weekend. Encouraged by my previous solo trip, this time too I decided to go alone. I read somewhere that one might climb up the stairs at night too which fascinated me. I inquired about the safety aspects and finalized the logistics which included climbing stairs at night, stay there by sunrise, come back before afternoon and seeing Junagadh thereafter. Accordingly, I booked my tickets and left for Junagadh with an excitement in my heart.

I reached Junagadh at 8:30 in the night, it was a 3 hour journey from Jamnagar (140 Km). After reaching there, I had my dinner, bought a torch and left for Damodar Kund, a place 5 Km. away from railway station where steps of Girnar start. Before going up, I inquired again about the safety aspects and everyone said it was quite safe. I started to climb at 11 in the night. I was the only one who was going up that day, so I was a little frightened but went ahead slowly.  It was a dead silence all around and the cold wind was rushing in through the trees. Moving lonely on those stairs at night was haunting me and various questions started coming up my mind , "Was it a good decision to come?" but at the same time I came across with a thought without risk there is no fun and excitement. That thought motivated me and I started moving up with a decent pace. After 1000 steps, I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw a group of three people (nearly my age) were also going up. They called me by the term "Girnari" and asked me if I intoxicated. I refused and then we all four started moving up.

After we completed approximately 500 steps, they stopped and started to smoke off weed. I too stopped there and again several questions flew through my mind, “Were they good people?”," Was it safe to travel with them?" and many more. I accompanied them for another 500 steps. After that, they started lagging behind and my mind filled with the questions suggested me to move ahead of the group. So I maintained my pace and continued climbing which brought me far away from the group. I was relaxed then and moved ahead with a decent pace. After completing nearly 4000 steps, I found there were number of Jain temples located around, all closed and faintly visible. Next, came the Amba Mataji temple at around 5000 steps. The wind was getting chiller. I moved ahead after taking some rest.

It was 1:15 in the night, my eyes started burning and needed some sleep so I stopped at a nearby shade and packed up myself with the clothes, sat on stone and tried to sleep. But I was not getting any sleep, I decided to move further. As soon as I stepped out of the shade, I saw a greenish black leopard just crossed me. It was hardly 50 cm away from me. I nearly missed my heartbeat and was literally frightened. I silently stepped inside and sat on the stone. Many questions started bombarding in my mind, “Had it not seen me?", "Had it not smell me?”, "Would it come back to attack?”," What would I do?” I was saying to myself “What a reckless fool I was to come alone and left the group." I tried convincing myself that it did not attack human beings but it was not working. I was just praying that the group would come before the animal. They arrived after an hour and I told them the entire scene. It was the toughest one hour of my life that I had ever passed. Every minute seemed to be like an hour at that point. Now again we four started climbing and they warned me if I dared to leave the group. I was frightened and acceded them.

Next at around 7500 steps probably (I had lost the count by that time), Guru Gorakhnath Temple was situated. It was the highest peak among the all peaks. We reported about the animal to a local sage and moved forward. It was a steep descent then followed by a sharp ascent to reach the next peak. The descent was quite easily covered. After a short break where those three smoked off the weed again. We resumed our journey to cover up the last 500 steps leading to the Guru Dattareya Temple. We reached there at 3:30, sat there for half an hour and began to descend.

As it was quite cold and there was no shelter as well, I decided not to stay till sunrise, I came back with them. We had a breakfast at a shop near Amba Mataji Temple. We came across with lot of people who started in the dawn. We were quite fast while descending and it felt like never ending steps. But finally we reached the bottom, it was 7 in the morning, the sun had just risen, I bade farewell to the people and hired an auto to the railway station (I find it the best place to rest if you do not want to hire a room). I got freshened, got some sleep and left to roam in Junagadh City.

I visited the famous monuments, fort and caves around the city. First I went to Mahabat Maqbara, a marvelous masterpiece of Islamic architecture built by sixth and seventh Nawab Mahabat Khanjhi II (details as per legend put up there). But the monument had been abounded and the government hardly paid any attention for its maintenance. It was awful to see that such a monument had been degraded this way. Next to it was Jama Masjid, I view it from outside and clicked some snaps.

Mahabat Maqbara

Jama Masjid

Next, I visited Darbar Hall Museum, it was divided into two sections displaying antiques of the Nawabs and their extravagant life style. In the first section the furniture was arranged in the same style as it was used to be back in time. There was a variety of chandeliers and fancy lights from those times installed. The other section displayed portraits and pictures of the royal family members and various weapons that were used in that time like guns, swords, javelins, shields, bullets. After that I went to Uparkot fort. As I was pretty tired by that time, I did not collect much of the information but one thing was there that attracted my attention. The people used water driven cannons, the turbines attached to it got driven by water coming from nearby water source which somehow created pressure inside the cannon and thereby firing the projectile. Next I went to Buddhist caves, the caves were carved in three tiers downwards from the surface (for more details, please see the snap of the legend below, I am too lazy to describe those :P)

Lake inside the fort

Water Cannon

About the caves

Returning from there, I again went back to railway station and as it was pretty much time left for my train back to Jamnagar. I decided to go Somnath, bought a railway ticket and caught my train to Somnath. I reached there at 6 in the evening. I went to the famous Somnath temple, took darshan of Lord Shiva, watched the light and sound show describing the history of the temple and sat there enjoying the cold winds coming from the sea. I had my dinner thereafter, returned station and caught my train back to the Jamnagar. I was badly tired so did not care to buy a ticket and boarded in the train. As my ticket was reserved from Junagadh, TTE put up a fine for not having a ticket from Somnath to Junagadh. Finally, I returned back to Jamnagar.

Well, it was mixed experience this time. My decision to travel solo was turning out to be a life threatening one, I was happy I came back unhurt. I got a lesson that unprecedented things may happen, so be cautious in taking up decisions but yes without risks there is no fun :). Rest, the trip was a great joy, I re-discovered my lost endurance. I would suggest people going Girnar, go in a group of at least two or if you are going alone start by dawn. This is one of the trip I cannot forget my whole life and do not wish to share it with my parents :P :)

A Solo Trip to white sand desert : "Rann of Kutch" !!!!I

A thought was always there deep in my mind to travel alone somewhere, so I was looking for an opportunity for the same. Having heard of 'Rannutsav'(an annually organized festival in Kutch displaying its exotica and colorfulness) and Makarsakranti coming up (providing me one extra holiday other than a week off, otherwise it is difficult to get a public holiday in Reliance :P), I found it to be a good opportunity to visit the 'mahotsav' and roam around alone exploring up myself. As I get finalized with my idea, I got the tickets booked for Bhuj, packed up bag, arranged a camera and left. Thus starting my first solo trip. I did not had any idea what it would turn up into, I was only excited I was travelling alone to a new place! :D

    I reached Bhuj at around 4 in the morning (I did not expect that bus would drop me so early), I went straight away to Railway Station following the path provided by GPS. It took me around half an hour to reach there; I bought a platform ticket (probably the first time) to enter the railway platform. I found that there was a dead silence on the platform, I somehow located the waiting room and got myself freshened up.

I searched for the places to visit in Bhuj and Kutch and decided to see places in Bhuj till evening and then leave for Rann of Katch to spend a night in the desert to watch out the glowing sand in presence of moon and to see the mahotsav on the coming day. Being this in mind, I left the station and went to famous Swami Narayan Mandir (2 km. from station), but the things never go as planned out. I got to know that everything opens after 9 and it was only 7 till then I decided to go to Dheeraj, a colleague in Reliance; came to knew that he had already visited to the place and was in Bhuj. As I went to him, he and his fellows told me the whole scenario about the mahotsav (which was basically meant for people who had book a tent in the village over there and there was no other option to stay and one has to return by night), I was a bit disappointed.

I searched for the options to stay there at night but being very expensive, I convinced myself to return by the same night. Next, I enquired about the public transport to go there and came to know that the only bus which go there left at 9 and there was no public vehicle later on. I then contacted travel agent about the prices of a private vehicle and being the price too high I decided to go there the next day. Fortunately, when I was moving out I found a family, which was already in the same situation; they asked me if I wished to travel with them and with a thought I said yes. Well who does not want to save money? I joined them and left for White desert, its 90 Km from Bhuj.

                          The driver first took us to Kalo Dungar Hill (highest point in Kutch). The panoramic view of desert mixing with sea there was a virtual delight and one could faintly see indo-pak border from there.



Where desert and sea meet!!!



Highest Point in Kutch



After Kalo Dungar, we went to Rann of Kutch ,there I saw from

outside the tent village named Dhordo under which premises the 'Rannutsav' was being organised  but unfortunately I could not

enter as it required tent pre-bookings ( which I think is beyond the

reach of the middle men because of the prices ). Skipping the

mahotsav, we moved to nearby "The White Rann of Kutch (located in Thar Desert). There I could see the widespread never ending sea of white sand (actually the sand is not white, it’s just a misconception! It looks white because of a thick layer of salt crystals spread all over the sand).



The never ending desert!





Through my lens !!!!



  



Sun Set !



As I maneuvered ahead I could see the sand went on growing whiter and whiter but could not reach the place where desert and sea meet. Tired, I sat there till moon was up in the sky watching the beautiful transition between sun dropping down and moon coming up. The temperature started dropping and chill waves started blowing and it was pretty cold in night there. As it was almost full moon, the sand was glowing milky white in its light and I could feel like if there was a sea of milk next to me. It was an ideal place to go with your girlfriend. One could spend whole night there but I had to come back, so with this scene captured in my eyes I went back to Bhuj.

The glowing sand

On reaching Bhuj, I bade farewell to the family and had my dinner. As this was supposed to be an adventure trip I decided not to rent a room and went to railway station to spend the night over there. I bought a platform ticket (person at counter asked me why I was buying a P/F ticket if there was no train scheduled then) and went straight to waiting room and slept. Woke up next day and planned to go Mandvi, a place 60 km. south to Bhuj. 

 Arriving there, I went to Vijay Villas Palace; the palace where “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" was shot and the palace where the legend Mr. Amitabh Bachchan said " Kutch nhi dekha to kuch nhi dekha " in an promotional advertisement for Gujarat Tourism. The palace is built in Rajput style. There is a main central dome and small domes in sides along with bastions at the corners. There was a spiral stair case leading to a balcony from where I saw that the palace was surrounded with lush green forest and mountain. It was amazing to watch. Returning from there I went to Mandvi beach. As it was the occasion of "Makar Sakranti", a lot of families had flooded in with kites. People were flying up kites competing with each other, enjoying and watching this, I got a little taste of Gujarati culture. People celebrate the festivals very lavishly over here. A lot of designer kites were too flying in the sky. 



The Vijay Villas Palace





Stairway to heaven !!



Mandvi Beach





Designer Kites !

Returning back by the afternoon, I decided to visit the famous Aaina Mahal and Prag Mahal, located north to Hamirsar Lake in Bhuj. It was a state holiday that day and all monuments were closed, so I could only see them from outside. I captured some of the snaps and could not get into the details and history related to those. Since my bus back to Jamnagar was scheduled at 21:00 and I had pretty much time left, I decided to sit near the Hamirsar Lake. Siting besides the lake was so soothing and the marvelous act by a small kid on the rope just added charm to the moment. His performance was jaw dropping. The time just passed by and it was the time for the bus. I went to the stop, caught my bus and returned.



Prag Mahal





The wonder boy!

Hamirsar Lake



It was my first experience to travel alone somewhere and it was awesome!!! :). For the persons who wish/plan to go solo, I would suggest you may it try once. It's an amazing experience. You get an opportunity to explore yourself and a lot of time to give to yourself. The best part of travelling alone is that you have to convince yourself only. I now look forward for an opportunity to go solo on a trip. Roaming alone in the wild white desert, visiting marvelous palace, enjoying the Gujarati culture make me say "Kutch nhi dekha to kuch nhi dekha”!!! :) :D