A son's love for his mother....

I have this habit of planning quick road trips at every opportunity that I get and the 17th Sept weekend was one such opportunity. We took a day's leave on 18th Sep'15.
We left Kandivali Lokhandwala at 6:30 hrs and quickly headed towards the Nashik - Aurangabad route.
I had booked Oyo rooms for the 1st time at Aurangabad.
The plan, am sure is evident...just to clarify, we had decided to cover Ajanta & Ellora apart from Aurangabad.

So off we headed and made a quick stop just before Igatpuri to grab a quick breakfast that we were carrying and have a brew of Davidoff...the first time we were carrying a Thermos flask with hot water and coffee separately. Boy! Was it fun!

It being the end of Monsoon, the weather was foggy in these parts and light streaming through the clouds made it dreamy...

Off we headed, driving through the Nashik - Sinnar route to reach Aurangabad around 3:00 pm.
It was the day of Ganesh Chaturthi and the roads at Nashik were crowded...but after a little effort we managed to snake out stopping for a quick lunch just before Aurangabad.

We checked into the Hotel at Aurangabad into an Oyo room and after a little lazing around and a cup of coffee, decided to complete the places within Aurangabad.

We headed towards the most important monument at Aurangabad - Bibi ka Maqbara (Bibi's tomb). Although we knew it was a replica of the Taj Mahal, the similarity still amazed us. We reached around 5:30 in the evening and it was still day light.

We stared at the monument for a while and then walked towards it, clicking shots from different angles. One of my favourites is down below -

As we kept meandering around the monument, I kept looking at the people around me and their expressions. People talking about it being the "Poor man's Taj Mahal", some talking about it as a tribute by Aurangzeb to his wife trying to imitate Shah Jahan.

The actual fact is that it was built by Azam Shah - Aurangazeb's son in memory of his mother - Dilras Banu Begum.

It is said that Aurangzeb was an extremely austere king. He believed in using the people's money for the welfare of the state, rather than for his own personal desires or that of his kin.

His austerity led him to carry out many atrocities on the people and he abhorred the fact that his father spent lavishly on building monuments and epithets for personal pleasure.

Aurangzeb is also known to have earned his own bread and butter by writing miniatures of the Quran in calligraphic Arabic and making skull caps and selling them.

It is due to this austerity, that the Bibi ka Maqbara turned out to be a poor replica of The Taj as the budget sanctioned was only 7 lakhs during that period and they had to cut down the use of marble and use limestone instead on the minarets.

There was something very tranquil about this place and as dusk settled in, we decided to just sit it out for a while at this place. There was a slight drizzle and while we took shelter to protect our equipment, we kept looking at the monument to see it in the changing evening colours. It wasn't very fruitful, because coloured lighting from the entrance of the monument was not helpful in any way - neither was it lighting up the monument nor was it giving enough light to capture a good picture.

After a lot of trial and error, this was the best we could come up with.

A couple of images of the work visible on the monument- 

The view of the front of the monument

After spending about 3 hrs at this place, we headed back to the Hotel, eagerly awaiting the next day as we had planned The Ajanta caves.

Little did we know.....a new unimaginable adventure awaited us!

Aranmula - a lost tradition?

Mirror, mirror on the wall......and you shatter and fall!

Have you heard of a metal mirror?

 

Aranmula is a United Nations global heritage town in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. Its at a distance of about 115 kms from Thiruvananthapuram. While the town has to its claim to fame - the famous Aranmula Parthasarathy temple, Valla Sadhya, Uttaratadhi Jala Mela - my interest in the town was due its famous Aranmula Kannadi or Aranmula Mirror.

 

Unlike traditional mirrors, the Aranmula Kannadi is made of Tin - Bronze alloy.

 

The alloy is made into a ball (depending on the size of the mirror to be made) and is encased in a clay mould - indicated below.

The metal ball is placed at the blob on the top. The clay is fashioned below into a hollow mould (as per the diameter of the mirror).

Vikash explaining the making of the mirror

The clay is baked to high temparatures and because of the heat, the metal liquefies and falls into the hollow mould taking the shape of a round metal plate. The clay is then cooled and broken (using just enough pressure so as to not damage the metal) to bring out a metal round shape which is uniform all across (shown below) 

 

The metal is then polished and shined to make a reflective surface which acts like a mirror with one side being opaque. Unlike regular mirrors, these are supposed to eliminate secondary reflections and aberrations typical of back surface mirrors.

 

The finished mirror is then set in traditionally designed frames and depending on the size of the mirror is either hand held / mounted on a pedestal or on a stand.

 

Conch shaped frames to hold the finished mirror

 

 The mother - son duo of Arundathy and Vikash - traditional family involved in the making of the Aranmula Kannadi.

 

 



Place of work and tools of the trade -

 

The area where clay is moulded (its not as simple as it seems)

The clay baking furnace

 



This family is one of the few, traditional makers of the Aranmula Kannadi left, trying to continue an ancient art.

 

 

 

Aranmula Kannadi - unlike regular mirrors are slightly on the expensive side.

 

A finished product of the size indicated above costs between INR2500 to INR3000. It takes about 3-4 days to make 1 mirror of the size indicated above.

 

Personally I think they are reasonably priced for the effort and quality that goes into the making of the mirror.

 

Keralites traditionally use this mirror during festivals and on auspicious occasions. Its part of a Keralite bride's wedding trousseau. 

 

Beware - There are imitations that are available off the shelf at the same price - do not get fooled!

Note - The Aranmula Kannadi is GI patent tagged and so cannot be produced anywhere else other than its place of origin - Aranmula.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 







Kuch din toh guzaro Gujarat mein....

We left Mumbai at 05:00 hrs on 23rd Oct'2014 not knowing where to go. As we were nearing the WEH, we decided to head North towards Ahmedabad.

 

We stopped for a quick break fast at one of the many road side joints on the high way after Surat and moved on towards Ahmedabad. 

The Vadodara - Ahmedabad Expressway (Mahatma Gandhi Expressway or National Expressway 1) was a brilliant drive.

A 6 lane expressway, driving was a sheer pleasure. Resisting temptation to drive beyond 100 / 120 kmph, we reached Ahmedabad around 12:30 pm.

Have you ever been surrounded by white cars ranging from Ambassadors to Jaguars with BMW's and Merc's zipping past you at break neck speeds on either sides of the road?

This is how we were greeted - a stark contrast in our jet black Duster, in the Prime Minister's home land - Gujarat.

We were hungry and wanted to eat authentic Gujarati food. We called up a friend who guided us to a place called "Ame Gujarati" on Judges Bungalow Road. We had a sickly (!) sweet, sumptuous Gujarati thali (they were thoughtful enough to not serve me any dairy related stuff) and then we decided to check in to the 1st good hotel we could find.

On Judges Bungalow road, we enquired at Hotel Suba Star and fortunately the rates were discounted due to Diwali, so we stayed the night at Ahmedabad.

That evening we explored the Sabarmati river front at Ahmedabad. Well designed, neatly planned for families to spend their evenings - the best part being no food stalls so almost no littering.

Sabarmati Ashram across the other side

Differently lit

Bridge over the Sabarmati

Lights in the dark

The next morning (24th Oct'2014) we decided to head out towards Patan to see "Rani ki Vav".

Did you know that the "Tropic of Cancer" passes through the route from Ahmedabad to Mehsana near Kadi. I could not stop to click a picture at the exact point due to high speed, highway driving:(

I had heard about "Rani ki Vav" earlier and of course Mr.Bachchan is quite popular on the radio. His promotion of the state of Gujarat piqued our interest and we headed out towards this ancient heritage site.

It was an extremely hot morning for late Oct. Despite the heat, we were in for a complete stupefied surprise when we reached the place. Nothing had prepared us for the grand scale of the "Vav".

"Vav" means "well" in Gujarati and we were well (ahem!) Wowed!!

The step well of Patan built by Rani Udayamati (wife of Solanki dynasty king - Raja Bhimdeva - I) was an architectural magnificence. What is seen above looks diminutive but the enormity of the well is to be experienced.

The actual well is towards the far side of the image (with the longer wall).

Few images below

The intricate carvings on the walls of the well, the sheer depth of the entire well, the columned structure as we descend into the well.....I can't talk enough about the beauty of this place.

Reminds me of an Aztec monument

Can you imagine a well to be so beautiful, so magnifique!!

View from the other side (the well side)

The walls leading down the steps had (as per my understanding) images of the Dashavatara. A few shown below -

Varaha Avatar

Vaamana Avatar

Balarama Avatar

Parashurama Avatar

Matsya Avatar

Kalki Avatar

We lazed around a bit in the well laid lawns surrounding the heritage structure before heading out for lunch and towards another destination - The Sun Temple at Modhera.

After a simple meal of dal-roti, we moved on to one of the lesser known Sun Temples' in India - at Modhera.

I had not heard of this place until Mr.Bachchan extolled its beauty. All of us had heard about Konark, Somnath etc but did you know that there are close to 12 Sun temples (the one at Multan does not exist any longer)?

India being a land of Pagan worshippers it is but logical to have temples dedicated to the Sun God or Surya Bhagwan. On the lines of the architectural magnificence that the Solanki dynasty wanted to create, Modhera was the place chosen by the Solanki King to dedicate a temple to the Sun God.

This temple was created around the time that Mahmud of Ghazni was plundering the temples of Somnath. Much later Allauddin Khilji did try to destroy this temple but was successfully defeated by the Solanki kings. That's a little bit of historical trivia.

Another magnificent structure beautifully created. The temple is divided into the "Surya kund" - the body of water at the front of the temple (to cleanse oneself before entering the temple); the "Sabha Mandap" at the front. The main Sanctum Sanctorum (Guda Mandap) is behind the Sabha Mandap.

The Surya Kund has steps in a geometric pattern and has 4 small temples dedicated to Lord Ganesh, Lord Natraj, Lord Vishnu and Goddess Sitlamatha

The Sabha Mandap

Inside the Sabha Mandap, the ornately carved ceiling and visually enchanting miniature work make the place quite beautiful.

The Guda Mandap (shot from behind) is built differently from the Sabha Mandap but has carvings similar to that of the earlier one.

Delicate work like these elephants (perfect in shape and size) adorn the walls of the temple.

There are 2 such stand alone pillars - not sure representing what or why they are here.

Could be part of some building either destroyed or maybe not completed.

A complete view of the temple (had to shoot it from behind due to the sun's position at that point of time)

After another expedition in the hot sun, we decided to head back....this time undecided to go to Ahmedabad or Vadodara. Next morning is another trip.

25th Oct'2014 - 08:00 am - TJ suggested we go to Lothal and move on to Mumbai from there.

So off we drove in the direction of Lothal. 

For the uninitiated, Lothal is one of the excavated sites of the ancient Indus valley civilisation. All of us have heard about Mohenjadaro and Harappa, but it is unfortunate that Lothal is not mentioned in the same breath.

At that point of time, it was one of the port cities connecting Harappa through the Sabarmati river (no longer an active course of the river). Interestingly, Lothal's dock is supposed to be the world's earliest docks! Wow! Can it get more ancient than this?

The first sight of the ancient city

 Considered to be the ware house

The bathroom - toilet structure

An ancient well

The Lower Town

The ancient city of Lothal used fire baked bricks; it was abundant in semi precious stone and was also popular for bead making (there was bead factory). They had a well laid out drainage system with nullahs.

Having finished this historical visit, it was time for us to make our way back to Mumbai. Relying on google maps, we decided to take the shortest possible route (which did not include a lot of the NE-1) but meandering through state highways, we left Lothal at 11:00 hrs and reached Mumbai at 21:00 hrs.

Interesting observations - 

1) Too many white cars on the road - Is it because they're less expensive?

2) No rules followed during the 3 days we were travelling - esp in Ahmedabad

3) Speed crazy public - driving at break neck speeds

4) Accessibility for the disabled at these sites (impressive)

5) Roads are wonderful even to the smallest place like Lothal

6) Signages indicating the different directions; the places we were visiting - made life quite easy. We did not once stop to ask directions except on the way back from Lothal to Mumbai (closer to Vadodara). Of course google maps did help!

7) People have not seen a woman with short hair driving a 4 wheeler. They have to double check to make sure Voila! It's a woman!!

To sum up on our 3 day adventure - while we knew we were going to do a road trip, we did not know where and I am glad we decided to do this - get away from the madding crowd;  see and experience the beauty that India has to offer and tick off a few more places / states on my travel itinerary.

Thank you TJ for being as crazed as I am - probably even more!