Amidst The Chaos Lies A Beautiful City - Indore

"Ek Waqt tha koi humse baat kre,

Hum bechain rhete the.

Ek Waqt tha sab humse hi baat kre,

Hum Bechain rhete the.

Aaj wo daur hai ki hum khud se bhi baat kar sake,

Na waqt hai, na hosh hai,

Par hum bechain hain. "

Confession time!

Until this trip I had always considered traveling equals to beaches, hills, desserts, basically all that people often talk about. Talk on their social media handles, stories, in person.

I had heard a lot about Indore through the word of mouth via my mom . "There are a lot of Jains in Indore too." An irrelevant information she gave me - however, this is what basically I had heard of in bits and pieces. Additionally it was through Zakir Khan and his stand-up gigs, where he has been telling about Indore - being his hometown.

It was all of a sudden when a friend of mine out of nowhere proposed me the idea to visit Indore. My first reaction being obvious- "Why Indore?"

Below are the excerpts from the conversation:

"But Why Indore?"

"It's nice, beautiful, and a small peaceful place."

"Of course, as people might not take it as a 'traveler's destination', do we not have any other place?"

"No!"

"Tell me one reason for choosing Indore."

"I told you three!"

"Whatever."

The conversation abruptly changed to another but I simply could not register Indore, until I did some research on my end.

I picked up my tools and here begun my research. There were a list of articles, listicles, videos, blogs, and vlogs which were so beautifully presented out there. "How could I not know about this?", said I.

"We are going to Indore."

"What made you change your mind."

"As I asked you for one reason and you told me three, I agree."

Then there I was packing my bags for Indore. I wanted this trip to be a budget travel and therefore, made sheer efforts to make the best of it.

Traveling to Indore via Mumbai has a lot of options, yes, it includes both expensive and cheap. Expensive being the flights, and the cheap ones - via bus or trains. To my surprise AC Volvo buses would cost you not more than 1000 INR for a single journey and near about same was for AC III tier coach.

After a lot of researches on trains and buses - matching them with the dates and timings, with which was feasible to me. I opted for AC III tier coach for one journey and bus for my return trip. The total of both being 1750 INR.

For bookings of my hotel, this time ditching OYO, I came across FAB Hotels. I booked myself the FabHotel Rajnandani. It was a beautiful hotel, the room was really comfortable, it was completely as shown on the application. The best part was the services they provided. I was completely in awe with the hotel. Kudos to the people there! Also, my reason for not opting OYO was not because I do not trust it anymore, but because of the budget constrain I had put on myself. I got a better deal on FAB this time, which might be because it was my first booking on the application and the coupon codes that come along. I have always opted for OYO and would love to any day depending on my budget and better options availability (not that I am sponsored by anyone of them to speak this out.)

I just wanted to be clear on my part.

Coming back to my trip. I had things planned - making a visit to Gomatgiri, the waterfalls, and also to Ujjain! - Oh yes! How could I even forget about it.

Here is What and How it Happened!

Day1:

Since I was here for two complete days, apart from the tasty and lip-smacking food, my list had a couple of visits that were to be made. The first one being the Patalpani Waterfalls. The falls doesn't much fall in the vicinity of the main city, however, it was on my list on the top apart from the beautiful temples of course!

I was lucky enough to have visited the waterfalls in a lovely weather. Too much of summer heat would have completely failed my plans. The falls were far off, however, it was worth the wait, time, and energy I put into to walk on the path in order to catch the amazing view. After spending about half an hour or so, I took a turn to visit the second place on my list - Gomatgiri.

Gomatgiri is one on the hilly side, if I may call so. Gomatgiri is a peaceful and calm place just like any temple. The place was under renovation when I paid a visit to it. However, the most eye-catching part was the 21 ft statue of Gomateshwar, or Bahubali Bhagwan, son and also known as one of the disciple of first Thirthankar Rishabhnath.

After spending some peace time, my stomach needed some food. While I fetched for food, I was reminded with what one of the Auto-walas had told us about, which was the Lassi, and that it must be tasted when in Indore. Now, the speciality was that the person who makes it has a unique technique. While he mixes the lassi by pouring it from one glass to another, he does it from a nice height - that is the distance between the two glasses is a lot - which is definitely not normal. However, while he does so, there is not a single drop of lassi on the floor or the ground of the platform. Which sounded INSANE when heard but unbelievable when seen.

After serving my appetite, I went to the other side of market - The Sarrafa Bazar. It has a lot to shop from apart from the delicious food. The ornaments and jewelry at very low costs. I bought some knick knacks ad then went to my other destination - The Rajwada Palace.

The Rajwada Palace is a magnificent palace, just like any other palaces in India. The palace adorns a statue of Queen Ahilya Bai and has a beautiful garden, which the palace faces to on one side. The palace is one fo the oldest architecture present in the city and is one of the most visited tourist spot.

All this while I had thought of having my dinner at the famous Chappan Dukan. It is said that while this place was opened it had 56 shops serving lip-smacking and mouth watering food. It has all varieties of food in both Veg and Non-Veg - ranging from the Idlis to the Vadas to Biryanis and Chole Bhatures.

I could not have asked my day to end on a better note! What an amazing day full of travel and great food. This city unlikely my first notion, had given me a lifetime experience.

Day 2:

This day I wanted to also make my journey to Ujjain. Ujjain is around 60 kilometers from Indore, and I had thought of visiting the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga. Well, I am not a complete Shiva, however, it has happened so, that every-time but it has been a co-incidence of visiting the Jyotirlinga, if any nearby.

We booked a Zoom Car and decided to drive to the city of Ujjain. The journey was definitely beautiful - the most loved way to travel is via road - any day any time. Enjoy the company, the music, and the journey in all.

The parking was full, however, you have to be very careful with it, you may get some small shops near which you can park you vehicle. All you will need to do is to buy the "Prasad" from them. And you are safe with your vehicle (Of course take your precautions!)

The line for the Darshan will be really long, you need to be very patient for it. It took some 2 hours in order to just go from the starting point to the Darshan spot.

Since our phones and cameras were to be submitted therefore, could not take any pictures there.

Enjoy some nice food at the Dhabas nearby to complete your trip, just like I did, since it was really tiring.

On my way back, I did some walk around the Sarafa Bazaar once again and then indeed ended my day with the Chappan Dukaan!

Oh Man had never thought I could have enjoyed a trip to a place which isn't a Mountain, neither a hillside, or a beach! It was definitely a Pure Bliss.

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