Madhya Pradesh – The Heart of India : Part 1

Hello dear readers !! Hope you are doing good and safe. After almost 2 years we have finally stepped out of our State - Karnataka. This time it is “The Heart of India - Madhya Pradesh” 😊 and we visited Ujjain, Indore, Maheshwar and Omkareshwar. The sacred state MP has 2 Jyotirlingas out of 12 : one at Ujjain (Mahakaleshwar) and another at Omkareshwar (Mamaleshwar-Omkareshwar).

Unlike my Vaishno Devi blog this one is going to be bit emotional as I would like to dedicate this to my father who passed away on 12th March 2021. I would try my best to ensure to give as much as details I can on all the places we visited and hope it helps you to plan your trip to these beautiful places soon. Har Har Mahadev and Happy reading .. 🙏🙏

(Hello Anna (we call our dad Anna)),

How are you?? It’s already been 8 months you left us Anna 😢. Time flies like anything and we are still stuck on March 12^th. Especially I am stuck at the moment when you had held my hand tightly. We remember you each & every second and feel you around in everything we do Anna. We are going to Ujjain for your 9^th month death anniversary. Hope with your blessings everything goes well and you will continue to rest in peace 😇.

As usual Amma has prepared our saviour food Ragi Hurittu & dry Gojjavalakki (My Viashno Devi blog readers would know about it). We are getting ready, but as you are aware, I had high fever & cough since last week. Had been to Dr Vidya aunty and under medication. Fever has gone but still have cough. I am praying I should be able to control it when I am inside the flight. After this pandemic I always wondered will they stop boarding if anyone sneeze or cough😜)

1^stNovember 2021

12.5 hours = 2 hours of Journey !!

Yes !! though Bengaluru to Indore journey is just 2 hours, it took 12+ hours for us. After Covid lockdown lift and regulation relaxation, travelling in flight is bit messed up. You might expect break journeys and changes in schedules at the last moment. Our journey to Indore was first scheduled via Chennai which got changed to - via Delhi at the last moment. Our flight was scheduled @10:10 PM to Delhi. Since it was raining in Bengaluru, keeping traffic in mind we left at 4:30 !! too early right? I know, but we didn’t want to take risk. It anyways took more than 2 hours for us to reach Airport. I guess after double dose vaccination, people started travelling again (like us 😁) and Airport was too much crowded. Later I heard, that day Bengaluru Airport had around 50K departures!! after finishing security check-in we still had 3 hours to our flight. we took some rest and had food. As usual airport food was expensive than our taxi bill !! Anyways, with no delay in flight timings, we reached Delhi on-time @1:30 mid night. Airport was beautifully lit up for Deepavali. We were feeling sleepy, but Delhi airport is sooo big that we had to walk for almost 1.5 kms (we landed at international terminal 3 and we had our connecting flight to Indore from terminal 2 !!) We got a chance to experience ‘Travelator’ for the first time. At the exit of Terminal 3, our terrible experience with airport food continued and we ate look-alike of Idli which was not at all good. We had no other option as my mamma’s yummy foods were packed and sent in check-in luggage. Do you also feel hungrier when you are not getting good food? I was going mad at mid night with some real food cravings. Finally, around 4:00 AM restaurant “Gujarati Svado” started operating and luckily the hot Pav Bhaji was good.

Happy Deepavali 😍

2^nd November 2021

Ujjain – A City full of Spiritual Vibes:

Our flight to Indore was on-time at 5:30. Amma and CK slept once we boarded. Somehow, I can’t sleep in flight especially when I get a window seat 😍. I peeped through the window; it was still dark. But the bright lovely moon accompanied half of my journey. In 15 minutes, sky started turning ombre with the combinations of bright Orange, Yellow and Blue which later turned into burning gold. Such a spectacular sight !! It was my first early morning flight, it’s so wondrous to watch sunrise from the sky. Amma & CK were still sleeping. I woke them up too, coz I did not want them to miss the mesmerizing view. Just before we landed at Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport by 7:20 AM, Sun woke up pandiculating and said Gooood Morningggg Indore !!

Did you see the Moon on top of the image 🌜

Good Morning Indore !!🌞

We came out by 7:30 collecting our luggage. Our cab arrived 15 mins late. Unlike south where we find more trees on both sides of the road, here roadside is less in green. But road to Ujjain is good and broad. We reached Ujjain in an hour which is about 55 KM from Indore. After reaching Ujjain, we checked 1-2 of hotels (Anna, when Karthik went to check hotels, we remembered how you used to accompany him for supervision and finalize the room after checking if it meets all our criteria 😐). He finalized a room in ‘HORI PALACE’. We wanted 1st floor room for convenience and had to wait for 20 mins as checkout was in process. By that time, they served us refreshing tea. Guess it’s prepared using buffalo milk; it tasted amazing. The best thing about HORI PALACE is, it’s just 4-5 mins walkable distance from Mahakaleshwar temple. It is clean and well maintained, the staff-hospitality is also too good. Even with all these perks, it won’t cost you much.

Jai Mahakaal:

We got fresh and by 10:30 left to visit temples. first, we visited “Bade Ganesh Ji” mandir which is near the entrance gate of Mahakaleshwar temple. The magnificent Ganesh ji of 18 feet hight and 10 feet wide built in the year 1875 would definitely catch your attention for his artistic sculpture. This temple also has panchamukhi Hanuman, Yashodha Maa feeding little Krishna and dwadasha (12) lingas.

 

After this, we went to Mahakaleshwar temple. The Jyotirling here is dakshinamurthi Swayambhu linga. You have to show double dose Covid vaccination certificate at the entrance, without which one will not be allowed inside. Temple is well planned with queue complex building to manage the pilgrim rush during peak days. Because of this, we need to walk a bit to get into the temple premises. The huge premises have 3-4 TV display units on queue system pathway which will have direct telecast of shringar/pooje happening inside the temple. The wall is artistically decorated with embossed clay paintings of all 12 jyotirlingas. All these will perfectly create the divine atmosphere for the devotees standing in queue 😊. The queue complex building exit will lead you to Mahakaal Mandir entrance in 1st floor. From there you can have a glimpse of his shringar and get down to ground floor to take his darshana (due to Covid guidelines, pilgrims are not allowed to touch or enter the main garbhagriha of Mahakaal). In many south temples, have seen security person pushing you by not even giving seconds to take darshana. But here at Ujjain, security staffs are very co-operative and will allow you to seek Mahakaal’s blessings peacefully.

The Queue complex 🎨

Embossed clay painting of Mahakaleshvar Mandir

Once you come out of Mahakaal shrine, there is a mandir for Omkareshwar on the first floor (which will be open for visitors round the year, whereas the Nagachandreshwara linga, situated on the third floor is open only on the day of Naga Pancahmi). The architecture and the pillars of Omkareshwar mandir are beautiful. You will also find many small mandirs inside the premises dedicated to Ganesha, Radha Krishna, Navagraha, Lakshmi Narasimha, Hanumaan and other forms of Eeshwara like – Swapneshwar Mahadev, Vruddhakaleshwar, Nagachandreshwar, Chandradityeshwar. Even the Navagraha’s and Saptashri’s here are in the form of linga. You would be allowed to do abhisheka to Shiv ji in these mandirs. Please do plan at least an hour to take blessing at all these shrines. Riddhi-Siddhi Ganesh Ji and Radha-Krishna shringar is so colourful to watch. Mainly, don’t miss Sakshi Gopal (in the form of Radha-Krishna-Revathi-Balarama). Seeking his blessings is the proof for your darshana of Mahakaleshwar 😊.

Riddhi-Siddhi Ganesh

Sakshi Gopala

By the time we were back to room around 1:00 PM, Anand uncle (pandit ji at Ujjain) had come to visit us. Thanks to my friend Vinod, who introduced us to Anand uncle in Ujjain who is a very polite and sweet person. He helped us in arranging all pooje items to perform our dad’s death anniversary which was next day on 3^rd November. He also helped us to well plan our city visit. As per his guidance, we went to “Apna Sweets” restaurant for lunch. It’s very famous in Ujjain and Indore (like our Mahalakshmi Sweets in Karnataka 😊). Apna sweets has been awarded with “National Award for Empowerment of Divyangjan (Specially-abled person) 2017” by the President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind. The food is tasty and hygiene. It is at a walkable distance from temple. (It actually became our lunch and dinner point for all the 3 days during our stay @ Ujjain). Our next plan was to visit Sandhya Aarathi of Mahakaal which happens exactly at 6:45 PM every day. As we couldn’t have proper sleep the previous night due to travelling, after lunch we came back to room and took a nap. Karthik went to temple again to collect next day’s Bhasmarthi tickets.

Sandhya Aarathi (Evening Aarathi)– Experiencing Mahadev’s Powerful Vibe:  

After getting up we ordered flavourful hot tea. Few minutes later the hotel boy came and with a smile handed over our tea telling – “Madam aapki chai”. Such a cute teenage boy !! We were already blown away with the goodness of MP people and this boy’s smile was icing on the cake. The hospitality of hotel staff made us feel at home.

We got ready and went to temple at 6:15. The main prangana of ground floor also facilitated with steps like amphitheatre. Devotees are allowed to sit and have darshana during Sandhyaarathi and Bhasmarathi’s (Would suggest, be early to the queue and sit in front line).

Mahakaal was looking spectacular with Bhaang (cannabis) Shringar (Yes!! You read it right. Here at Ujjain, Shiv Ji would be decorated with Bhaang paste) on which they arrange dry fruits, cardamom, haldi-kumkum, moustache to give facial image. Final beautification with the ornaments, flower garlands add more power to Shivji’s look. Simply Amazing, as if Shiv ji is looking at us and giving smile!! Sandhya Aarthi started exactly at 6:45 which led to the sudden flow of energy in devotees inside the prangana. The divine sound of shanka & bells indicating the begin of Aarti, Shivji’s bhavya shringar, rhythmic beat of the big drum during aarti and the way pandit ji offers aarti in sync with all these musical sounds - are just beyond words. What a powerful vibe it is!!  Getting goosebumps even while writing about this. One will forget everything in such energetic atmosphere and start clapping in sync with the drumbeat. (I started crying missing you Anna. Do you remember the previous night of your demise, when we had been to Shrikantheshwara temple on the occasion of Shivraathri – you were enjoying the bhajan in the same way clapping in sync with the music, how you were patting on my shoulder with joy. I felt you are standing behind me during Aarthi and patting me the same way. Tears flood from my heart. Miss you a lot Anna 😢). For those 15-20 mins of duration, I was lost in my own world.

  

Jai Mahakaal 🙏

While coming out after aarati - at the exit, Mahakaal’s photo with Ardha Naareeshwara Shringar caught my attention. I felt that is the most beautiful and effort consuming shringar on Mahakaal. Noticing this photo on the wall of temple is very special memory for me – the reason you will get to know while reading. Later we took blessings from Sakshi Gopal & Omkareshwar. On the occasion of Deepavali week, temple shrine was illuminated with colourful lights. We sat in the premises for few minutes relishing the colours and reminiscing the aarti experience.

     

Maa Harsiddhi Temple:

Maa Harsiddhi temple (kuladevi of Raja Vikramaditya) is about 350 metres away from Mahakaleshwar temple. It is one of the Shakti peetha where Maa Sati’s elbow fell.

Shakti Peetha: Various legends explain how the Shakti Peetha came into existence. The most popular is based on the story of the death of Goddess Sati. Out of grief and sorrow, Shiva carried Sati's body, reminiscing about their moments as a couple, and roamed around the universe with it. Vishnu had cut her body into 51 body parts, using his Sudarshana Chakra, which fell on Earth to become sacred sites where all the people can pay homage to the Goddess. (curtesy: Wikipedia)

  

Fortunately, Sandhyaarathi was happening there too 😊. (However, we missed the event of lighting the 2 huge deepa sthambam which is of total 1111 lamps which takes 60 ltr oil to light all lamps for 10 minutes. These 2 deepa Jyothi stambh inside the temple premises will be lit during evening aarthi.) Needless to say - the Bells, the Chants, Cymbals, Tambourine sounds created sacred atmosphere equally like Mahakaal mandir. Beautiful Annapurna Maa is painted in dark vermilion colour. On that day, she was attractively decorated with dry fruits.

Maa Harsiddhi 🙏

From Harsiddhi temple we took auto, had dinner and came back to room around 8:30. As next day we had to go to Bhasmaarathi we wanted to sleep early. But since it was Deepavali week, due to firecrackers sound we could not. By that time, I started feeling feverish again and cough got increased.  I had to skip next day Bhasmaarathi to take rest and recover. 😔

3^rd November 2021

Bhasmaarathi:

Amma and Karthik got up by 1:30 AM mid night and got ready to go to Bhasmaarathi. Good thing is - the hotel staff were awake and available 24*7. We could get hot coffee even at that time.

Note: Bhasmaarathi would cost 100 Rs per person and you need to collect ticket at temple counter the previous day itself before 5:00 PM. Better to book online (between 8 AM to 9 PM) well in advance before your travel at: “dic.mp.nic.in/ujjain/mahakal/default.aspx” and get the ticket collected at temple counter (again, the previous day itself before 5:00 PM, else you will not be allowed to attend Bhasmaarthi next day). This will save your time during your travel.

While booking online, you need to update each visitor’s details as per the Aadhar Card along with Aadhar number and photo. Do not forget to carry Aadhar card and booking printout (with QR code) to show at the ticket counter. Ticket with Aadhar number will be validated next day too when you visit Bhasmaarathi. Hence, always carry your Aadhar card.

I woke up at 7:00 AM and got fresh. I was feeling alright as fever had reduced but was still feeling weak. Amma & CK came back at 7:30 AM. They missed me for Bhasmaarathi and narrated me their experience. Since our stay at Ujjain was comfortable and we had lot more places to cover, we decided to extend our stay to 3 days.  (Thankfully, CK had already booked for 2 days Bhasmaarathi 😊. His travel planning is always perfect).

  

At 10:30 we went to Anand Uncle’s home where he had arranged for our dad’s Shraadh. Rituals went well and we were very much satisfied that we could perform this at a holy place, at the holy river Shipra.

Places to visit Around Ujjain:

Note: We always prefer booking local rikshaw/auto for city visit as they in turn become our tourist guide too, the best way to get to know the eminence of the place. At Ujajin, you can get auto to visit around 10+ places for Rs 300. Better connect with your hotel staff, they will have internal business deal and the drivers will not miss any place if you go through them. Since we had one more day stay, we decided not to rush in covering all the places in one day.

Gadkalika Temple:

We booked an auto and first visited Gadkalika temple which is devoted to Maa Kaali. It is about 5 Km from Ujjain. This is one of the 51 shaktipeeth where Maa Sati’s upper lip fell. I guess – In MP, dark vermilion colour is used as the prominent colour to decorate the Deity. The colour looked so pretty on the big smiling face of Kaali maa😊. It is also said that Gadkalika wrote beejakshara on the tongue of Kalidasa (4^th-5^th Century) and made him a classical Sanskrit author who was illiterate before the incident. (Few great drama’s written by him are – Abhijnana Shakuntalam, Kumarasambhavam, Meghaduta etc. In 1983, Kannada film was released named “Kavirathna Kalidasa” based on his life along with the narration of his poetic drama Abhijnana Shakuntala acted by Dr. Raj Kumar).

Kaalbhairav Mandir:

Next, we went to Kaal Bhairav Mandir which is 2.3 Km away from Gadh Kaalika, believed as the guardian of the city. Interestingly this is the only temple where devotees will offer alcohol to deity 😃. Pandit Ji at temple explained, due to Covid regulations they are not allowing. Otherwise, they offer liquor near Kalbhairav Ji’s mouth and he does drink all, no one know where it goes. Anyways being non-alcoholic, we did not take chadava basket as we had no idea what to do if they return it back to us as Bhairav ji ka prasad. 🙆😅

 

Mangalnaath Mandir:

From there, next destination was around 7 Km away. Mangalnaath temple is said to be the birthplace of Mangala Graha (Planet Mars). Temple is located in peaceful and spacious area, known to be the famous place to perform puja to get rid of mangal dosh. When we visited, renovation was going on, but the temple is open for devotees. The main attraction of this place is 51 feet colourful bird house which gives shelter to thousands of birds. They feed 25 kgs grain to birds every day.

 

Chaubees Kambh:

On the way back to hotel, we wanted to visit Dwarakadhish Gopal Mandir. But since it is inside the market and due to deepavali shopping crowd we had to drop it. We took darshan of the oldest temple in Ujjain with 24 pillars dedicated to choti mata and badi mata (Goddesses Mahalaya and Mahamaya). It was constructed in the times of Raja Vikramadithya during 9^th-10^th century. It was the main entrance gate to Mahakaal Mandir road. But later got closed due to city expansion.

Sandhyarathi Day 2:

We came back to room, got fresh. It was time again for day 2 sandhyaarathi. Temple was gearing up to welcome after-depaavali crowd. Barricades were put on even outside the temple (almost from Harsiddhi temple to Mahakaal Mandir) to maintain queue system.

We got inside prangana and waited for aarthi to begin. On the auspicious day of Dhanteras, priests offered Sparkle Aarti to Mahakaal. entire garbhagriha was brightened up and created heavenly atmosphere with sparkles.

Note: In one of the Facebook pages related to temple - I came to know that, Mahakaal gives darshan in 1825 forms throughout 365 days. Sometimes he gets decorated with hemp, sometimes with sandalwood & dry fruits, and sometimes with fruits and flowers. All this decoration happens during 5 types of aarti daily – Bhasmaarathi, Dadyodak aarthi, Bhogaarathi, Sandhyaarathi & Shayanaarathi. So no matter for how many days you are going to stay at Ujjain, do not miss any of the opportunity to attend the aarti’s.

After aarthi, we went for shopping. We thought of getting some chadava for next day bhasmaarathi. We purchased dhoti for Shiv ji and some sweets for him.

4^th November 2021

Bhasmaarathi 2^nd Day:

I was completely recovered by next day and got up first at 1:00 AM mid night. We got ready for Bhasmaarathi and reached temple by 2:00 AM. At the entrance they verified our aarti tickets and aadhaar card.

Note: No cameras and plastic bags are allowed inside the temple, please ensure you are not carrying any.

Though you would be allowed inside prangana at 4:00 AM, people start gathering in queue from 1:30 AM itself. Before we reached, there were many people in queue already. After 5-10 minutes sitting in queue, I started feeling sleepy. I looked around and saw, many were snoozing 😴. We did not want to sleep inside temple premises so somehow avoided .

I noticed a charming senior citizen couple sitting next to me who were discussing on their trip plan written in their dairy. I just wanted some diversion to control my sleep and peeked into their diary.  By looking at their attire (cream sary with border and vibhooti on forehead) I thought they are from Kerala. I started the conversation in English and told them how nicely they have made a note of each place, date & time of visit, which places are yet to cover and all. It was almost like a mini blog 😊. They smiled at me and said – though they are from Kerala, they live in Bengaluru since 40 years and proud kannadigas. They were very happy to come across Kannadigas outside Karnataka. That’s it !! It initiated a wonderful conversation between us which went on for 2 long hours from where they stay to, what all places they visited and about their Army son. It was a proud moment for me as well to meet Kannadigas outside Karnataka and more importantly - meeting parents of an Indian Army officer 🙏.  

Exactly at 4:00 AM, they opened the gate and we were allowed to sit inside the main prangana. Prior to bhasmaarathi, priests started decorating shivji with Haldi-kumkum, dry fruits and ornaments. Speakers were on and we could hear the chants along with taking glimpse of sringar on TV display. By the time decoration was completed, two more priest collected the chadava’s from devotees in big bags.

They covered Shivji’s sringar in white cloth and started sprinkling the Bhasma on shivji chanting aghora mantra. The entire garbhgriha was encased with bhasma. after bhasmaarathi - the sweets, the dhotis, flower garlands, Bilva patre (Indian Bael leaves) – each and every single item given by the devotees got its place in main decoration and made shiv ji look even more radiant. The entire process of 3 hours duration is a serene experience and takes you to hypnotic mode. After aarthi, once again we did register our attendance at Sakshi Gopal and came back to hotel at 7:20 AM 😊.

Before/after bhasmarathi and sringar post aarthi:

  

Bhasmaarathi: Out of 12 jotirlinga’s, Only at Mahaakaal mandir Shiv ji gets decorated with Bhasm. Here at Ujjain, earlier aghoris used to bring previous day’s last cremated body’s ashes from rudra bhoomi (burial-ground) and offered it on Shivji chanting Aghora Mantra. But now the practice has changed and they use cow dung to prepare bhasm.

(Below one is my favorite Bhasmarathi sringar photo, received by Anand uncle - very strict, yet a very handsome Mahakaal😍)

Chintaman Ganesh:

After breakfast we started for 2^nd day city tour. On the way to Chitamani Ganesh temple, auto driver showed us the land area where Sadhu’s will stay during Ujjain Kumbh mela. He also explained us about the history of Chintanam Ganesh Mandir.

Courtesy : Google

  

After Dhasharatha’s demise, Lord Rama was worried on what will happen to Dasharatha’s soul. Rishi Agasthya seeing lord Rama’s concern, suggested to pray Ganaesh to clear all his worries and also suggested to perform Aparkarma (Shraaddha). Rama was again worried as there was no water available to perform the shraadha. So, Lakshmana with his arrow created a water pond which now flows as river Shipra. Hence the place is famous with 3 Ganesh moorthi’s in one temple:

Chintaman Ganesh – Who will clear all worries

Icchaman Ganesh – Who will fulfill all wishes

Siddhi Vinayak – Who will give success

Jantar Mantar:

Courtesy – Wikipedia : Along with  Jaipur, Mathura, New Delhi, and Varanasi the observatory was also constructed in Ujjain too by Maharaja Jai Singh II between 1724 and 1737 with the aim of measuring local time, altitude (of the place) and also to measure declination of the Sun, stars and planets and to determine eclipses. Motion, speed and properties of stars and planets were also recorded using several special instruments. Though we did not understand much, we all were stunned by the knowledge on astrology, astronomy our ancients had.

Sandeepani Ashram:

Auto driver had kept it at the end knowing this place would take minimum an hour. Very calm and quite place which will tell you more about the schooling and childhood days of little lord Krishna – the Gurukul where Krishna along with his brother Balaraama and friend Sudhama learnt all vidya’s from Guru Sandeepani.

It has a dedicated shrine for Rishi Sandeepani with Krishna, Balarama, Sudhama (sitting and writing).

 

The premises has Gomathi Khund – Stepped water pond. It is believed that Shree Krishna summoned all the holy waters from various rivers so that his elderly Guru Saandipani Rishi would not have to travel much for taking dip in these holy rivers. Hence the Kalyani is considered auspicious.

Inside the Ashram, there is 6000 years old shivalinga called Sarveshwar Mahadev, that was worshipped by Guru Sandipani and his disciples. Legend is, Shiv ji used to visit ashram along with Nandi to meet Krishna. Nandi waited for Krishna to notice and talk to him but Krishna never noticed. So here, you will find Nandi in standing form in front of Shiv ji unlike we see it in sitting position in other Shivji temples.

  

During his education in this gurukul, Krishna learnt 14 Vidya's and 64 arts like singing, dancing, use of weapons, making tools, furniture, jewellery, learning veda’s etc. all the vidya’s and arts are catalogued on wall in the form of colourful paintings. By looking into these paintings felt nostalgic as well as wondered even we learnt few skills but did not give much importance to it as a kala – like making flower garlands, playing with dice, practicing language difficult to be understood by others (like we used to add ‘Pa’ before every letter in a word while talking), splashing the water with stone (throwing a stone into river water which goes jumping 2-3 steps) 😊.

 

Ram Janaki-Janardhan Mandir:

Next we visited this 17^th century temple which has shrine for both Ram and Janardhan (Krishna). The murthis are of 10^th-11^th century. There is a pond in front of Janardhan Mandir. It is believed that this is the only place which is visited by lord Vishnu during his both avataars and Krishna used to play in the pond with his friends during the breaks of his gurukul classes. In this temple of lord Rama - the left legs of Rama, Lakshmana and Seetha is not straight in standing position but crossed and facing left indicating their journey to Vanavaas.

 

Sandhyarathi Day 3:

Our 3rd day Sandhyaarathi was very special as it was Deepavali Night !! Temple was filled with festive vibes with the colourful lights and cheerful devotees. While entering the queue complex, on TV we saw - that day it was Ardha Nareeshwar Srinigar - the most beautiful Srinigar photo which had caught my attention on day 1. We could not believe our eyes !! We just ran inside the temple, didn’t want to waste a single second. Mahakaal was looking delightful, half side as Shiv ji with Bhaang and the other half as Parvathi with Chandan !! On the occasion of festival, temple authority and priests families were present near garbhgrih for aarti and there were so many colourful sweets kept around Nandi as decoration. Drumbeat, the special Sparkle aarti everything added more energy. We just stood there and felt the inexplicable power of Shiva-Shakti. What else we could have asked for before bidding adios to this supernal city !!

 

Next day early morning we left Ujjain. A series of wonderful places Indore-Maheshwar-Omkareshwar were waiting for us.

Somehow it took many days to finish this blog, for the reason I was occupied in work and also unknowingly I always worry about the length of my blogs. My friends-family tried convincing me that detailing really keeps them sail through reading as if they visited these places and helps them for their travel plan. Finally, my aunt Shobha suggested - I can also plan to publish it in 2 parts. Thanks to her for this brilliant idea. This helped me to regain the interest and sit back to finish part 1. All credits to her !!😘

We really had some wonderful experiences with the other cities of MP which I did not want to cut down giving length reason. I cannot wait to share it with you all as a separate blog : "Madhya Pradesh – The Heart of India : Part 2" . 

See you sooooon 👍!!!!