Roadies

Naah! This post isn't about the bitching that happens on MTV Roadies; rather is about an unlikely Sunday when I [along with three of my friends] decided to hit the road and bike all the way to Ujjain - a city famous for Temples [particularly the Mahakal Temple].

At 6:30am, Abhishek picked me up from my place and we caught up with Pankaj & his brother Montu, in front of our office. After a bit of photo-shoot we revved up the engines, and set out for a day long trip. Even though the summers started a lot earlier this year, we didn't realize how cold it is in the morning. After driving for about half an hour on the much famed MR-10, I could feel the numbness in my hands. My arms would not bend, and it took some effort to switch gears!!


But braving the chill, we reached Ujjain city in about an hour around 8:00pm; and without a doubt, our first destination was Mahakal Temple - the famous Lord Shiva Temple. This place draws huge crowds every Monday [considered to be Lord Shiva's worship day], and particularly on Mahashivraatri festival. Mahakaal or Mahakaleshwar as the locals call it, is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga manifestations of Lord Shiva. The main sactum or the Garbha Griha is located underground, and this is where the Holy Jyotirlinga is situated. A silver snake encircles the Linga, which is flanked by idols of Lord Ganesha on one side and of Goddess Parvati & Kartikeya on the other.

Unlike last time, when people were allowed to go to the sanctum directly, this time we had to pass through serpentine queues that were in place to manage the rush. Took us about half an hour to reach to the sanctum, and less than 5 mins to be pushed out - that is the kind of rush always there.

There is a temple complex right above the underground sanctum. The special thing though is that, from one of the granite stairs of this temple, one can see the Holy Linga beneath - no one could never establish how it is possible! After paying a visit to the numerous temples in the the Mahakal premise, and clicking some pics, we came out to have a ditto Malwa style breakfast of poha-jalebi. It was only after we stuffed ourselves to the core, that we decided to go further. Our next stop was: Chintaman Ganesh.

About 8kms from the Mahakal Temple is the very famous temple of Lord Ganesha - the Chintaman Ganesh Temple. The temple dates back to 11th-12th century, and yet has not lost if glory. The sanctum has the swayambhu [self-manifested] idol of Lord Ganesha, and has the idols of Riddhi & Siddhi [Lord's two wives] on either side. The temple is artistically decorated with flowers and fruits, and is thronged by large number of devotees. We stayed there for quite some time, clicked pics and even tried our hand on the coconut cracking machine there :)


From the Chintaman Ganesh Temple, we drove further ahead to the Kaal Bhairon Temple. Bhairon is known to be the fierce idolization of Lord Shiva, and belongs to the heretic sect - one dealing with tantra-mantra [black magic]. Liquor is the staple offering here, and there are number of shops outside the temple selling all kinds of liquor. The idol in the temple accepts the offering, as in, it even drinks liquor - something again lot of people are suspicious about. The Temple courtyard had a pretty huge multistory lamp, which served as a nice background for our pictures!!


Close to the Kaal Bhairon Temple is another tourist attraction - Bharthari Caves. However, here we were least bothered to know the history of the place, thanks to the scorching sun, so directly went into the caves. But that was not before we burnt our feet on the fiery hot floor that leads to the caves. There are 2 caves here, and each houses a ShivLing. Constant recitation of tantra-mantra goes on in these caves, and it gives the entire place a mystical feel. However, due to the poor ventilation inside these caves, one soon starts to feel giddy. Once we were out of the caves, we had some lime water to beat the heat, but to no use. The temperatures were rising and so was our hunger. But we still had a couple of places to cover before we could feast. So from the caves we set out to see the famous Sandipani Ashram.


The ashram is believed to be the place where Lord Krishna and his friend Sudama received their education, and is one of the oldest places in Ujjain. The atmosphere inside the ashram is just like that of any temple in Mathura or Vrindavan - group of ladies singing and dancing, completely lost in Lord Krishna's devotion. The ashram's water source in the yester years was Gomti Kund, which now for all practical purposes has completely dried, but is still a great place for clicking pictures.


By now we were literally starving, and had absolutely no energy left to fight the heat. But then it's not always that you come out for a bike ride to Ujjain, so we did decide to cover this one last place: Observatory (Vaidhshala), before calling it a day. How reluctant we were when we entered the place - resigned looks, weary shoulders - but nonetheless happy that we finally get to see the famed Sun Dial. Another day, and we would have studied every structure there - Sun Dial, Shanku Yantra, Bhitti Yantra, Dignash Yantra & Samrat yantra - but not today. Just took a stroll in the observatory, clicked some snaps...and off we were to satisfy our appetite.


Hotel Sambhava on Indore road was just the perfect place for us to lay back and enjoy our meal. Butter chicken, Cashew Curry, Veg Jal Frazy, Butter Milk, Naan, Rotis...we ate like mad, and luckily the food was good too...or we were just too hungry?

But now the big deal - getting back to indore! After stuffing ourselves so much, we could only think of our beds....how can someone drive 50kms to get back home? Can we not just stay here :(( ? Wish we could!! Took us about a hour and a half to get back to Impetus office where we finally bid adieu. THE END to an amazing trip!

But picture abhi baaki hai mere dost....his wasn't our last bike trip for sure. Many more to go...so keep watching!!!