Madhya Pradesh – The Heart of India : Part 2

Hello dear readers !! As promised in my previous blog, I am back again with “Madhya Pradesh – The Heart of India : Part 2” 😊. First of all, I am overwhelmed with the lovely messages, comments, reviews received from you all - for Part 1 blog. Thank you so much for spending your precious time to sail through it. I want to dedicate this blog to all of you who encourage me to convert my travel experiences to words 😊.

If you have missed reading “Madhya Pradesh – The Heart of India : Part 1”, here is the link for you->Travel Diaries: Madhya Pradesh – The Heart of India : Part 1 (mytravlediaries.blogspot.com)

5^th November 2021

Indore – Such a Beauty:

It was around 7:00 AM when we had to leave behind this wonderful city – Ujjain, to reach one more destination which has been awarded as the cleanest city of India. What a place !! Being Mysureans (which was also awarded as cleanest city in 2015 & 2016 and still listed in top 5), Indore looked almost like Mysuru to us. Good roads, greeneries, humble people - a city, full of cleanliness and calmness 😊.

Khajrana Ganesha:

Before heading for breakfast, we visited Khajrana Ganesha Mandir in Ganeshpuri colony. This temple was built by maharani Ahilya Bai Holkar in 1735. It is also called as Bada Ganapati as it’s big. Our driver told, Indorians prefer to get their new vehicle pooje done here and take Vinayaka’s blessings before they start using their vehicle for the first time (like Bengalurians prefer to visit “Dodda Ganapathi” temple in Bengaluru for new vehicle pooje). It was time for morning Aarti and many localites had gathered inside the temple. By looking at us, they understood we are tourists and allowed us to take Ganesh ji’s aarti glimpse (Do I need to mention again about the generosity of MP people 😊).

 

Mahalakshmi Mandir (inside Khajrana Ganesha) in the shape of Kalash

Chappan Dukaan – It’s all about food !! :

It was a chilled day with mild sun-shine. Around 9:00 AM we went to Chappan Dukaan - a must visit, very old street food hub in Indore, where you will find 56 small shops of variety foods 😊. I guess we dropped-in bit early, many shops were yet to open. We had world’s best Poha first, it was tooo yummm. How can we miss the hot Jalebis which were getting prepared right in front of us !!  Shop keeper suggested us to try the famous khopra pattice (Pattice stuffed with dry coconut), it was yumm too. Tried Kachoris, Samosas in another shop and had Poha again 😋. Finally had Kullad Chai, it was heaven.

Chappan Street loves Modi Ji, so am I 💗

  

We went back to cab, driver asked us - “Shikhanji try kiya?”. We were like what’s that, never heard about it!! He said – “koi nahi madam ji, vaapas jaate time phir se Chappan aayenge”. That sounded a good idea as we had missed many shops 😜.

Annapoorna Temple :

Before exiting from Indore, we also visited beautiful Annapoorna temple which was built in 1959. The grand entrance is embellished with four life-size statues of elephants. In prangana, it has beautiful idols of kaali maa, Saraswathi, Durge, Lakshmi etc. Outside premises also has a 14 feet high idol of Lord Shiva. There is also a big hall for meditation which has mandir for Ramji, Hanumaan and Radha Krishna. Entire top wall is beautifully painted with Vishwaroopa darshana. Overall, a colourful temple with peaceful ambiance.

 

Maheshwar:

During our pre-travel planning, when I came to know that Maheshwar is on the way to Omkareshwar, I was delighted. The reason – Akshay Kumar’s movie Padman. When I watched it, I literally wondered with the construction of a fort on the banks of a river !! It was my dream to visit that place. From Google chacha I learnt, it’s Narmada Ghat in Maheshwar which is also called as Mahishmathi (no no, not the Bhahubali movie’s Mahishmathi 😛). And now, I was just 2 hours (95 kms) away from my dream to come true.

Roads to Maheshwar will pass through villages full of greenery with sugarcane and mustard farms alongside. We reached around 12:45. You must park your vehicle in front of fort entrance and walk for about 15 minutes. As the town is also famous for Maheshwari sarees (since 18th century), you will find many saree shops on your route to Narmada ghat.  

Maheshwar Fort Entrance

According to legends, rani Ahilya Bai outsourced talented handloom weavers from Surat and Malwa to design special 9-yard sarees to be gifted to royal guests and relatives. The delicate Maheshwari fabric is a combination of cotton and silk threads woven with zari, which makes its texture very soft. It is assumed that the very first saree was designed by Ahilya Bai. (Courtesy : M.P. Tourism).

Rani Ahilya Bai Holker

We had fresh sugarcane juice before entering the fort. You would definitely need some extra energy to roam around the fort. What a massive evidence on Indian architectural insight during 16^th century itself - which gives spectacular view of river Narmada. Fort has temples like Ahilyeshwara, Kashi Vishwanatha and Rajarajeshwar dedicated to lord Shiva. You would need minimum 2 hours if you are interested in architecture and want to go through all the beautiful carvings on fort wall. We got down to River Narmada took her blessings and left early as we had plans to reach Omkareshwar before evening. But if you have some extra time, you can enjoy the boat ride too.

 

While coming back to parking, we visited a small house where a lady was weaving saree. Being non shopping year due to our father’s demise, we had no mood to shop. But, as a token of respect to the history and remembrance of our visit to this wonderful town, we did purchase a saree.

Rani Ahilya Bail Holker (1725 - 1795) : Was the hereditary noble queen of the Maratha Empire, in early-modern India. She established Maheshwar (in Madhya Pradesh) as the seat of Holkar Dynasty.

After the demise of her husband Khande Rao Holkar her father-in-law Malhar Rao Holkar stopper Ahilya Bai from choosing Sati and urged her to undertake the affairs of Holkar dynasty. She defended the Malwa state against intruders and personally led armies into battle, with Tukoji Rao Holkar as her military commander.

Ahilya Bai was a great pioneer and builder of Hindu temples who constructed hundreds of temples and Dharmashalas throughout India. She is specially renowned for refurbishing & re-consecrating some of the most sacred sites of Hindu pilgrimage that had been desecrated & demolished in the previous century by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. (Courtesy : Wikipedia).

(Courtesy : roadtotruehistory)

Omkareshwar Day 1:

We reached Omkareshwar by 4:15 PM. Driver took us to Gurukripa inn. Room was clean and simple, not many amenities. Even it did not have geyser facility, but morning they provide hot water in buckets. The main advantage is, it’s very nearby to Omkareshwar Mandir Marg (The bridge to temple). View from the window was amazing. We could take the glimpse of temple, river Narmada and the colourful bridge from window itself. Though it was snacks time, we badly needed proper lunch. You will find many small restaurants/dhabas around. But we did not feel it clean, so we headed back to highway and had lunch in a decent restaurant 4-5 kms away from our hotel.

Mamaleshwar

Our driver did help us in getting a pandit ji at Omkareshwar. By 6:30 he met us near the bridge and suggested us to finish evening darshana before he could take us for night darshana. It was getting dark and bridge-temple both were turned on with colourful lights. While at Ujjain, bhaang is the main element used for Mahakaal shringar, here at Omkareshwar - flowers are predominantly used. Every time the flower decoration is unique and innovative 😊. 

Flower Decoration at Omkareshwar

Omkareshwar 🙏

It was not crowded much, we finished our darshana at both Omkareshwar-Mamaleshwar by 7:30 PM. Outside temple, there were some dance performances going on and learnt that nearby villagers, localites offer their tribute to Omkareshwar for fulfilling their wishes. We stood and enjoyed the folk dance. Later we went up and sat in open space gazing into Narmada and colourful bridge. It was so serene to enjoy the breeze in absolute silence.

 

Shayanaarathi:

Around 8:30 PM our pandit ji came and told us to be in queue for darshana post shayana aarathi. We got into a conversation with a mid-age man in the queue. He explained us the mystery about shayanaarathi - There will be 2 set of pagade game (the Indian Ludo), pawns arranged during shayanaarathi. After aarathi, the garbhagriha doors would remain closed. Every morning when pandit ji opens the door, they perceive the unusual movements in arranged pawns. It is believed that - Shiv-Parvathi visit all jyotirlinga’s every day and come to Omkareshwar to rest and before they sleep, they play Pagade 😊. Hence at Omkareshwar, shayanaarathi is Gupt aarathi (not allowed for anyone except the main pandit ji’s who perform aarathi). Only post aarthi they allow us to take this shringar darshana for about half an hour before closing the garbhagriha.

Pagade Game arranged for Shiv-Parvathi 😍

Reference picture of before and after Pawn movements, Courtesy : Google

Omkareshwar Parikrama :

Circular path around Omkar hill is the parikrama path and it’s of approximately 7KM. Some choose to walk around the hill and some choose the river path by taking a boat ride. But as far as the feedbacks I have gone through, it is not advisable for aged people to take the parikrama on slope down, uphill road.

Omkareshwar Nandi 🙏

6^th November 2021

Back to Namma Bengaluru:

Next day morning we woke up at 6:00, got ready and went to temple around 7:00 AM. Pandit ji helped us to take darshana at main temple, post which he took us to prangana outside the temple where he also had arranged for shiv ji’s abhisheka. All went well; we took blessings from Omkareshwar, had breakfast and checked out around 9:30.  

Day 2 Shringar 😇

We reached Indore city by 12:00 PM. I asked our driver, “aap ne humme Shikhanji nahi pilaaya 😊”. We had no time to visit back Chappan Dukaan. So, he took us to Sneh Sweets which is just 15 mins away from Indore airport and got a glass full of chilled Shahi Shikhanji with a spoon to enjoy the thick, creamy blend of milk, sugar and saffron mixed with roasted dry fruits. It did look like Mango shake or maybe like rabdi in texture, but what a taste, it is just straight from the heaven. Dialogue from Mahesh Babu movie did hit my mind – Never before, ever after 😄 !!!!

Shahi Shikhanji 😋

A few steps away there was one more shop Mausa Jalebi – which is famous for hot Jalebi’s and Poha !! I know, I know, we are eating it again. But what else could be a better way to say bye bye to this sweetest city than to venerate its speciality – the food !!

By the time I finished this blog (in fact before starting itself 😊), we had taken holy bath at Prayagraj and got blessing from baba Kashi Vishwanath too. It was a wonderful 4 days stay at Varanasi.

There is nothing much I can write about the Varanasi trip, as we performed our dad’s 1^st year death anniversary there. And hence it is a very personal and emotional trip for us. But cannot miss mentioning about a wonderful moment where we got an opportunity to take a very close glimpse of our honourable Prime Minister "Narendra Modi ji" at Varanasi 😍.

Hoping to write to you all once again with one more celestial destination. Until then, stay wonderful as always 👋👋 !!