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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Monsoon road trip with a zing of History

Standing beside a 'kachi kabr' a tomb where the earth is still wet, as is prescribed in the Quran, you feel what was it that makes someone renounce all the wealth and leave behind a non-descript grave for generations to come and wonder! For a man preceded by an opulent lineage, who ruled for almost five decades and had wealth and power beyond the wildest imagination, this would have been difficult I assume or may be the most easiest because he had no ego. His last wish , to be buried at the feet of his guru, the last of the Chisti clan and so he lies in peace at the foot of his guru.

When I first heard about the Tomb, rather the Kabr, I was astonished, coz I never thought about it, as it was not too often mentioned. And when I finally saw it here at a non-descript corner of the world, absolutely bare, I was very intrigued. Taj Mahal was built at a cost of 3Cr rupees and all the other tombs and mausoleums built by loving husbands and wives that exude opulence is a stark contrast to this one; this was built with a mere 14 rupees;

It is said Aurangazeb was a gifted calligrapher, he made copies if the Quran and sold anonymously, he also knitted prayer caps and all that was used for his grave was the revenue he made from the sale of the caps; the 350 rupees from the sale of the Quran was distributes among the poor; some of the surviving copies of his hand written Quran are supposed to be in Mecca, Madina, HAzrat Nizamuddin Aulia's tomb in Delhi and in a few museums. One of the unique thing about this place is that it also has a piece of cloth, believed to be of the Paigamber Mohammed himself. This is displayed once every year.

Aurangzeb in our text books is a fanatic, ruthless, treacherous and intolerant ruler. But what really drove him to this extreme is what intrigues me; either he was an extremist and he followed the holy book to the T or it was his penance, but whatever it is, it has left quite an impression about the man on my mind.

That was the zing of History and as a diehard history junkie, thought will start my post with what I was influenced the most. Now for the road trip, I have now come to believe that there is always a special season for a special place and luckily most of these are off season for tourist and therefore the best trips in terms of deals and also the places being relatively chaos free.

Monsoons in India are not a favorite travel time for most Indian travelers, coz th
e schools open and people fear getting stuck due to rains. As for foreigners, I guess they go by the belief that Nov-Jan is the best time to travel.

I have also concluded that irrespective of the enormous risks of the monsoon, the western parts of the country, specially the Konkan coast and places in Maharashtra-Andhra-Karnataka-Kerala are a delight both in terms of perfect temperature and green-scenery; its so much green everywhere that the eyes start aching after some time. 

The road trip we took was approximately 400+kms and we did it from Pune; You can also fly into Aurangabad or travel in from Nasik or Mumbai; But the road between Pune-Aurangabad I thought was very scenic, better laid and four lane; Its about 235 Kms and takes a good 4 hrs, but no one is complaining as the views keep you quite engaged. And if you are a wretched soul from the northern part of the country, I bet for once you would want to renounce everything and not want to come back!

In Aurngabad city, there is the Bibi Ka Makbara, referred as the mini Taj Mahal; Built by Aurangazeb's son in memory of his mother; It’s also the city of gates, 13 of the original 54 have survived the test of time and you will see them everywhere. Apart from a whole lot of
'urban activities' you should try the famous pan @ the Tara Paan Shop. Some legends survive only on the legacy, while some create legacy in every act and this one is of the second type. We had 3-4 pans each and were still wanting more; an absolute delight.

A little ahead is the Daulatabad fort (this is where the initial portion of the Allah Jane song from Teri Meri Kahani was shot) with the dark passage and some real heavy duty cannons on display; You can check out the old coins ( i am assuming all duplicates); the hawkers sell them all over this region and you can drive home a hard bargain.  
Further up there is a quaint village called Khultabad, where Aurangazeb lies at the feet of his mentor.

About 15 kms ahead are the famous Ellora caves and further on are the Ajanta caves; Honestly, after the initial enthusiasm, I was quite bored; the irritating and noisy tourists and the stink of the caves really got on to me by the time I was past the 2nd set of caves.


So if you are a history junkie and a road person or a road person who likes to explore history, it’s a must do circuit. 

You can find more info in the link below




2 comments:

  1. Aurangzeb definitely was on a penance trip when he got here! after what he did to his Father :(

    The Pan shop sounds really exciting and a must try for sure!

    It has been a childhood dream to visit the Ajanta & Ellora caves....let's see when I can make that trip....my wife stayed in Aurangabad for quite some time and keeps sharing her stories!

    And you rightly said the Konkan belt has to be enjoyed during the Monsoons...it's mesmerizing then!

    Keep travelling and penning...

    Cheers to Life,
    Che

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On Aurangzeb, there is a lot of credibility about his consistency, he imprisoned his father coz Shahjahan was plundering the public wealth; As for killing his brothers, all of them (Hyumayun, Jahangir & Shahjehan) had done it; Infact Jehangir had almost killed his elder soon soon after he got the throne; SO i am doing more research on Aurangazeb...will write abt him soon!

      Tried some haleem and biryani @ the Jamamasjid(no ambience like the delhi one; its just a small lane) but the taste was good, there is a Sagar hotel, which should be a good to try.

      Delete

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