Day 49 and 50 – Sanchi & Bhopal
Day 49 – Saturday, 14th Dec 2013
Day 50 – Sunday, 15th Dec 2013
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
We have reached our halfway milestone in today’s post and what an incredible journey it has been so far. We have dreamt this travel together and are living it. To 50 more days and many more in the future.
It’s Saturday morning 8 am, we are all seated at the dining table having some breakfast. Atul uncle mentions that there is a annual Mela [Fair} going on at Sanchi Stupa and there will be hoardes of tourists. It’s also good because there are special exhibits by locals and Sri Lankan people. Sri Lanke is primarily a Buddhist country and for those people, Sanchi Stupa is a religious destination and many come by to visit it.
It’s 10 am and we leave for Sanchi. It’s 10 kms from Vidisha but there are scores of police and barricades all along the way. An official stops each car and notes down it’s car plate and telephone number. Wow! talk about strict inspection.
We park 500 meters from Sanchi Stupa and walk towards the main entrance. The monument is on a hill and there is a nicely laid pathway and stairs to the top.
Sanchi Stupa
We hire a guide and he takes us through the entire monument. There are 4 main doors – Stupas to this monument (North, South, East, West) entrance and an inverted bowl shaped tomb. The story has it that when Buddha’s disciples asked him what monument would he like erected, Buddha didn’t give any answer but turned his food bowl upside down and kept it in front of the disciple. Hence, the inverted bowl shaped tomb.
Stupa
Us in front of Sanchi Stupa
We also visit the temple, archaeological museum and exhibit area. We really enjoyed revisiting history and learning about the times of Emperor Ashoka and the Gupta dynasty. It’s 2 pm, we head back home and have some lunch. We have the rest of the afternoon free. Khyati and I unpack and pack some of our stuff and parents visit a Kutchi family nearby who happened to be our distant relatives.
It’s Sunday and we bid goodbye to Vidisha today. Our parents have an afternoon train from Vidisha for Mumbai and we have an evening train from Bhopal to Allahabad. In a way, it worked out best that we left Bhopal for the last day. The plan was for Futkul – Atul uncle’s driver to give us a tour of Bhopal and drop us at the station in the evening.
Vidisha to Bhopal
We leave Vidisha around 11:30 am and reach Bhopal in an hour. Enroute, we get to see the imaginary Tropic of Cancer line. I always knew it passed through India but it’s the first time, I saw a signboard for it. We were glad we crossed it.
Tropic of Cancer
As Futkul drives us through the lanes of Bhopal, we are reminded of towns like Udaipur. Bhopal is also known as the city of lakes. Our first stop is the Manav Sangrahalay. It’s a nomadic collection of artifacts, houses, history all clubbed into one place. There was a designated area for each state and a replica was created for that place. We spend 3 hours here and really enjoy this place. If you are visiting Bhopal, this place should definitely be on your must visit list.
Manav Sangrahalay
Us in Rajasthan enclave
K at Madhya Pradesh enclave
Khyati refers to me as so tall but am still so small
It’s 3 pm and we head to the lake. There is quite a rush and we find out that the “All India 13th Police water games” are being held at Bhopal lake. We see people representing different states and we cheer for Maharashtra and Gujarat. Jai Maharashtra! Jai Gujarat! The stars from those teams look around and give us a thumbs up… Yea!
at the lake
It’s 5 pm and Futkul drives us back to the railway station. Enroute, we see Bhopal’s famous markets and have some light dinner at a local restaurant.
It’s 6:30 pm and we are waiting on Platform 3 for our train – Tulsi Express to Allahabad. We have completed our one week stay in Central India. Thanks to Atul Uncle, Rashmi Aunty, Nanima and Bhavya, we had the most memorable stay.
family pic
Now we head East. Stay tuned for our upcoming posts. We explore Allahabad and Triveni Sangam in our next post.
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Best wishes,
Paras