Day 44 – Vidisha, MP
Day 44 – Monday, 9th Dec 2013
It’s Monday morning 7 am, our train has pulled into Lalitpur station. A tea seller gets into our AC compartment and sings loud chants of “Chai, Chai”. Some people eagerly place an order while some other grumble for waking them up. Our train is on time and we should reach Vidisha by 9 am. I call up my father to check on their train status. Yes! My parents are joining us on our travels in Vidisha for a week, how exciting. We were looking forward to seeing them soon.
It’s 9:30 am and our train reaches Vidisha. Bhavya is there to receive us and takes us home. We freshen up and wait for our parents to arrive, their train was delayed by an hour.
It’s 12:30 pm and we are all having lunch together. Atul Uncle suggests that we visit Udaygiri caves. It’s an archaeological site from the 4th and 5th century of the Gupta dynasty. Currently, it’s under the supervision of Archaeological society of India. The drive is a mere 10 km but the roads are in poor condition. I have hardly seen roads in inner cities cemented. It would be nice if the local government took some steps.
At Udaygiri caves, We hire a guide who explains us the historic resemblance of some of the statues in the caves.
Ganesh statue
There are 14 different caves and we can hike to each one of them. With our guide, we visit 4 different caves. There were nice views of the nearby farms and Vidisha town from the top.
caves site
us!
Most cities and towns in the world were built around rivers and Vidisha is no different. It’s on the banks of Betwa river. The reason I say this is because on our way back, we encountered a journalist who was filming a documentary on rivers and happened to bump into us by chance. Atul Uncle was interviewed by them and it was fun for us to see and learn some history about Vidisha and the river.
documentary on rivers – interview
In the evening, we visit a few Jain temples in Vidisha. Some of these temples are over 600 years old with intricate carvings.
Jain temple
In the evening, Khyati and I were lucky to attend one of their friend’s wedding functions. It was a music and dance night and we enjoyed the festivities and food.
performances
Hope you enjoyed our first day in Vidisha as much as we did. Please let us know by leaving a comment.
Tomorrow, we leave for Panchmarhi National Park. Stay tuned.
Best wishes,
Paras