Pit stop in Pune

Howdy Folks? Glad to see so many of you reading the blog. Let me continue from where I left off.

So, as was required, I woke up at 3am, wore a dhoti and went to see "Chitabhasma aarati" for Lord Mahakaleswar in Ujjain. I was so irritated with the temple folks for having that aarati at 3am but when I went there, it was quite some sight to see. Till 6am, only folks with dhotis are allowed inside. So, the dhoti was worth wearing too. Anyways, coming to the aarati, First they elaborately wash the huge sivalingam with water,milk,honey,curd etc. Then, they decorate it with turmeric paste, flowers and carve a face with silver eyes and lips stuck to the lingam. Then comes the most curious part. An aghori from local graveyard brings the chitabhasmam (ashes from funeral pyre) which will be spread all over the sivalingam. Then again the huge percussion exercise with breathtaking tempo. Wow, that was quite some sight. Apparently, Ujjain has historically been attracting practitioners of aghori and other tantric practices. So, this is the only place where such exercise is done. I was a bit curious and asked what if there are no deadbodies on a given day. Local folks took pride in mentioning that bhasmam was always available etc..??? I had nothing to say. It was a bit gory.

In Ujjain temple is completely managed by govt. police authorities. Boy, they do such a great job. Kudos. I took pains to ask if there was a feedback box as I wanted to appreciate but unfortunately the guy I asked was not sure. From there, we headed to Omkareswar which is on Narmada river. It was a really really hot day and unfortunately even grandpa had to walk/hike those 2-3kms in hot sun. There was nothing extraordinary about Omkareshwar temple. It was jyotirlinga#7 for me. Omkareswar is located on an island which is shaped in OM. Narmada and another river (sorry, I forgot the river) surrounded it. Since past 1 year, a new dam became operational and all the water is now preserved. So, you can literally see layers of rocks and stale water infront of the temple which makes the experience even more unpleasant. (I will upload the pics once I go home). The guide and locals I spoke to are extremely unhappy about the dam (dam is visible from temple) as it had pretty much dented their livelihood. I was discussing how many people were dislodged from the catchment areas. (Only 4 villages). I was trying to convince them that a DAM is good in long term for the greater good of the district folks. There were some arguments and they did nt seem convinced. Sad thing is, there were 2 historic cave monuments (satmatrika temples, kajal rani caves). Now they are happily submerged in the water. If AP could relocate bouddhik remains in nagarjuna sagar 40 years ago, I could nt see why such thing was not thought about. More details later.

In my earlier blog, I said people in Ujjain were nice. They really were. Except for my hotel manager. He was trying to swindle money out of me which was doubly confirmed by the car driver. On the way back to Ujjain from Omkareswar, humne aisa shadyantr rachaaya, when he will know the details, he wil come hunting for me in hyderabad lol....I had a heated argument with hotel manager infront of the whole staff with threats of calling police etc., Finally he had budged and I stuck there for one more day. Ujjain is famous for its namkeen (not my interest really :) ), mehendi and hing (asafoetida). The shopkeepers who realized we were travellers, were sooooo nice to us. (One surprising thing about hing is, it is not made in India. folks from Kazhakstan, afghanistan etc., bring it to ujjain during their winter migration, a practice which dates from 300AD. Well, if you know my dad, I had no choice but to buy that hing. (God save my clothes). Do you know that a good quality hing (called blue diamond) costs 4800per kg?? second quality called kazhakstan costs 3200/-? hmm I should start investing in Hing and such commodities..lol.

Now, lets come to the history of Ujjain which was our agenda on the third day. As you all know, Ujjain was the capital of Vikramaditya (from the vikram-bhetal stories). There are so many historic spots in the city for ex: caves where bhartrahari did his tapass, gadkalika temple(goddess who blessed kalidas), siddhavat (the famous tree from which vikram picked betaal in his stories)..I was mighty excited in anticipation of watching these. Sadly, due to many fights among Hindu rulers and Mughals, These spots got dismantled and rebuilt over so many times that there is nothing ancient about these. yuck.. Someway to preserve history. It was interesting to see these historic spots and disheartening to see them in modern structures. (atleast the Idols I assume are old enough).

Now lets take a detour to Kashi's story :). Those who know Kashi, know his association with Bhetaal. Guess what, on his 21st birthday, Kashi was right under the same tree that Bhetaal used to hand on and taking the blessings lol. Do you call this a mere coincidence, daiva leela or bhetaala leela..We had a great time. Unfortunately my camera batteries died on me and I could nt take any pics of bhetaal tree. I will upload the video sometime. Jokes apart, the bhetaal tree stands on the banks of shipra (another sad environmental disaster :-( ). It is called siddhavat. Apparently Aurangazeb chopped it off to roots and put iron sheets to prevent it from growing. But, it still stands tall. (So does the local folklore goes).

Then we bid a bye to Ujjain. AC3T was totally booked :-((. It was a horribly hot day and we had a rough journey to Pune via Baroda (what an industrial development :-? ), godhra. At Pune, the plan was simple. We had to visit Bhimasankar jyotirling in western ghats. It was more like a patel shot trip. The only reason was to tick another item off the list. Surprisingly, it is located in beautiful locales and it would have been great if we came before fall. Now, we are boarding the train back to Shirdi on the way Ellora. From there I will be heading to Hyderabad. So, next update will be from home. Pune seems to be a rapidly developing city. I have no comments to offer as I barely saw anything here. Wanted visit agakhan palace etc..but, this was not in our itinerary. May be some other time.

Can't believe this trip is already about to end. It all seems so quick. I want to document a lot of tips/things for future travellers once I reach home. So, do watch out for the column. I hope these things did not deter you from travelling to north India :)

OK, I gotta sign off. apologies for another first draft posting. bear with typos and the blah.. And Sri..tumhaari nazar lagi aur humhe do din se theek ka khana nahi milaa. youuuuuuuuuuu...j/k.

ciao,
bye.