[MX6]

Saar. I know the state of taxi and Auto there in Omkareshwar. Hence I asked you to drive from 12mati.

But then you didn't want to do that with old parents.

Anyway, sorry that your father had to take trouble with his legs. But I really am amazed by a person's grit and determination even at this age.

@All. Climbing down those steps and up again is no easy feat for elderly people. My mother came down with me before we left omkareshwar just to see Narmada river. She took over 1 hour to climb the steps back up. It's a real tough task for elderly with knee problems or heart problems.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

It was time for me to explore the Omkareshwar market.

I came to market, was wondering here and there.
Realized that the there was increase in crowd compared to afternoon.
some random pics.

food at a stall,


huge kadai cum tawa for serving hot milk with cream.



huge crowd at the entrance of the bridge


shop selling idols.



hawker posing for pic.


Temple lighting



Returned back to resort.
It was time for dinner.
suddenly i realized that i have to book a taxi for next day as we have to go to ujjain.
Inquired about same at the resort,
the roomboy at resort came to help.
He came with me to the bus adda[ bus stand] in search of taxi.
Three taxi i.e. alto, van both running on lpg and a scorpio were there.
Scorpio was already reserved for next day by someone,
i was not keen to reserve the vehicle running on lpg.
Only three vehicles were present at that time.
There was continuous inflow of crowd as celebration was there next day on the occasion of kartik punam[ full moon day of the month of kartik.
Shop owners and room boy assured me that i will get a taxi or luxury bus for Ujjain or Indore tomorrow definitely.
At that time, i was not aware that it is easy to say but hard to find the taxi.
Came back to resort, it was time to rest.

Day one ended.

Next post tomorrow at 11 am.

[MX6]

the taste of that milk still lingers Ap. good good. one also should beware of touts approaching promising quick darshan and parikramas etc. we were surrounded by many. I ignored all and had darshan of omkareshwar in 15 mins.

[nomadabhi]

AP Bhau, was waiting for this trip outcomes. Yes it is an immense feeling to travel along with parents and visiting such religious places.

That is why each of our family trip includes a visit to atleast one holy place.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Day 2

We were ready to leave toward ujjain at 7 am.
It was a very good morning, cool breeze, temple music and aarti made the environment more cheerful.
I went to the bus adda to bring the auto,
was surprised to see the scene at the place,
there were no auto, no buses, no taxi, nothing but stalls everywhere selling all sundry items.
Someone told me that the bus adda temporarily moved further 1 km to avoid traffic jam in the town as kartik punam celebration was going on that day.
Went to new bus stand/adda,
after looking at the chaos at that place, i was worried,
got hold of some autowallas to come to the resort but all refused,
police at that place simply refused to allow any vehicle further from that point toward city.
I was puzzled with what to do next,
saw one lal batti car [ car with red light on the top],
presumed that SP or DSP must be there in the car,
went ahead and requested the officer in car to allow a auto till Narmada Resort,
he nodded with a smile and wished me happy journey toward Dwarka.

Finally, we were at the bus adda for next journey toward Ujjan in a luxury bus,
but wait,
where is luxury bus?
what i saw, there were the overflowing buses with 30 seat capacity plying between towns and villages in rural area,

Asked one fellow about luxury buses and he simply pointed toward those 30 seater buses,
i got idea about the mess i am trapped in,
there were no empty taxis at all.

Made a quick plan,
got one auto and came to the town of Sanawat which is 15km away from om'war on Burhanpur-Indore highway.
From that place, it was easy to reach Indore in so called luxury bus.
came to Indore at 12 noon,
had lunch,
i must say that the rosy pic of Indore in my mind earlier was shattered after looking this dirty city,
again so called luxury bus to Ujjain,
reached Ujjain at 3 pm.

In short, i messed up the journey from Om'shwar to Ujjain in the assumption that i will get taxi or luxury bus.

I must admit that the road from Omkareshwar-sanawat-Indore is good, four laned Indore-Ujjain road is also best.

At Ujjain,
deposited the luggage at railway station cloak room,
started to explore the temples in a auto,
first stop Gadkalika temple which is little outside of city,
small and beautiful temple,



then visited Sitaram temple, Gita temple, Siddhi temple,[ beautiful temple with huge twin deepmaala],Ganesh temple,
and finally Mahakaleshwar temple.



At Mahakal temple, it was relaxed darshan as there was no crowd at all,
it was surprising for me as it was kartik punam day and in that part of country, it is celebrated in big way at temples.

Mom and dad in front of Mahakal temple.


It was 7 pm,
roamed in the nearby market and what i found was---

----bhang ghata and


---chilim selling freely at Ujjain.[btw, both items are favrite of the god, Jai Bholenath].



Had quick dinner at nearby Gujarthi/marwadi restaurent,


It was time to move back to train station for onward journey toward Somnath in Gujrat.

At 11pm sharp, Jabalpur-Somnath express started toward Gujrat,
heard little dialogue in the train,

''kem chho,''
''maja me chho'',
'' jiman huyo?''
'' ha, kadi, khichadi, khaman, fafada khayo''.

[ '' how are you?''
''i am fine''
'' had your food?'
'' yes, i had kadi, khichadi, khaman and fafda'']

End of day two.

next post- 3pm today.

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

... Apart from chhakada in Gujrat, another three wheeler in MP is also famous.
Recognize it from following pic. ...

This is my son's favourite mode of transport. Unfortunately, they have become almost extinct in Indore.

Ashish, a great travelogue unfolding. Waiting to read and see more.

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

...
From that place, it was easy to reach Indore in so called luxury bus.
came to Indore at 12 noon,
had lunch,
i must say that the rosy pic of Indore in my mind earlier was shattered after looking this dirty city,
...

Most of Indore City is dug up for road widening. Wait for another two years and it should be cleaner. However, the soil around Indore becomes so sticky during the rains that they get carried to all places by people and vehicles. And in summer, they become dry and such a fine powder, that everything gets coated with that.

I am sure it gives you a sense of untold happiness and at the same time untold gratitude to be able to take your parents around.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

This is my son's favourite mode of transport. Unfortunately, they have become almost extinct in Indore.

Earlier, that model of three wheeler was manufactured by then Bajaj tempo,
i think it is discontinued now,
i do not remember the name of that model but we used to call it Dukkar-The PIG.

[nomadabhi]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

Earlier, that model of three wheeler was manufactured by then Bajaj tempo,
i think it is discontinued now,
i do not remember the name of that model but we used to call it Dukkar-The PIG.

In north, specially around Bhopal, it is well know as "Bhatt-Suarr". Have travelled alot in them during the span when I was enjoying my childhood.

You can feel as if it is taking off with every gear shift. And overloading had been a major issue of accident.
Bhopal had it alot which were then gradually replaced by "Mini Buses"

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Day 3,

Good morning Gujrat,

kem chho, maja me chho,

train stopped at Baroda station at @6:30 am,
half the train emptied,

train moved,

Anand, Nadiad, kheda, Ahmadabad station passed,

train turned toward Sourashtra at Virmgam station [ correct me],

scene changed from urban Gujrat to rural Gujrat,

i can see the development going on everywhere,

roads, channels are built up,

thirsty Sourashtra got the water from sardar sarovar dam and scene changed from this all plane land-----




----to this,





lone pole, can imagine the future of govt run telecom company,



i see the different types of birds,
came to know why Gujrat is known as birds paradise,




cows and cattles in Gujrat triggered white revolution in India,


wagons carrying food for hungry people,



and carrying fuel for our hungry cars,



train station of Surendranagar, the famous city for groundnut,


captured the sanyasi and sanyasini on the platform,



lot of questions came in mind,
who are they?
why are they sitting there?
where are they going?
another temple destination?
are they husband and wife?
why they became sanyasi?
had their children not stopped them to become sanyasi?
what do they eat?
where do they get money?
do they beg?



Train moved and life moved on.


Got curious to know what is moving on the rail pushed by that man?


Thaan station came and gone,
saw lot of pottery factories along the track,


train entered in Vankaner station,
earlier, i thought that Vankaner is small town but it is big, quite big,


will someone from Gujrat confirm what is that structure at the hillock in Vankaner,


beautiful temple,


Rajkot came and gone,
quite big city with lot of industrial activity including that jugad chakada,


Junagad came,
i was eager to get glimpse of this truly Gujrati city, the essense of Gujrat,

rain started,
time was 4pm,
anyone ineterested in this sick unit? contact me with 1 cr in cash.



keshod came and gone,
is this the town from where Keshubhai Patel got elected?[ please correct me]

5pm,
eneterd in Veraval,
another essense of Gujrat,

5:45pm,
i was outside of Somnath station and within 2 min, i reserved a cab for Dwarka where we will move next day.

Somnath,
the seashore temple of first Jyotirlinga,
aha,
cool breeze.

''autoooo,
Lilawati guest house please-----''.

Sorry for poor pic quality as all pics in this post are captured through moving train.
next post at tomorrow 11am.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by nomadabhi

Yes it is an immense feeling to travel along with parents and visiting such religious places.

Originally Posted by pjbiju

I am sure it gives you a sense of untold happiness and at the same time untold gratitude to be able to take your parents around.

I am happy that i am able to take my parents to the places where they could not go earlier.

[MX6]

You didn't go to Sandipani Ashram? Did you get my SMS about Sandipani ashram? Or did it not reach you?

And Where did you stay in Veraval? I stayed in Veraval for over 6 months. I loved that place. Almost every saturday I used to push off to Somnath.

Did you also check out Prabhas Patan there?

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by MX6

1]You didn't go to Sandipani Ashram? Did you get my SMS about Sandipani ashram? Or did it not reach you?

2]And Where did you stay in Veraval?

3]Did you also check out Prabhas Patan there?

1] I may received the sms about Sandipani ashram but may be i simply forgot it.
where is Sandipani ashram?

2] I stayed in Somnath itself , at Lilawati guest house.
More about that in my next post.

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

5:45pm,
i was outside of Somnath station

''autoooo,
Lilawati guest house please-----''.

3] Yeah, we went to Prabhas Patan, the Bhalka tirth.

[MX6]

Oh oh. You missed Sandipani ashram in Ujjain. What saar? It's where Krishna and Sudhama went to school.

Anyway you atleast went to the place where krishna was killed.

I'm waiting to see Veraval through your lens. Would love to see how the place has changed in 11 years since I was there.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Reached to Lilawati guest house which is owned and operated by Somnath Trust.
surprisingly, it is big and beautiful, well maintained with all facilities.



I had pre booked the four bed ac room with adv payment, so no problem with check in.
The room was big, quite big, almost 700 sq ft with all facilities.

After quick freshen up, it was time to go to the temple of Somnath.
Rain started again,
though temple is at five min walking distance, called the auto,
first visited the temple of Somnath built by Ahilyabai Holkar,
small and beautiful temple,
had darshan,


moved to the adjacent main temple,





no rush at all,
had darshan,
came back to guest house and had dinner at the inhouse canteen.

I was looking forward for tomorrow's journey toward Dwarka,
it was going to be big day in terms of sightseeing,
was eager to see the places such as--
bhalka tirth from where krishna started his last journey,
the native town of Dhirubhai Ambani,
the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi,
the darbar of Lord Krishna.

end of day 3.

next post, today sometime in the evening

[ASHISHPALLOD]

[ I could not post yesterday evening, sorry for the same].

Day 4,

Went to somnath temple at @ 7:30 am to take the darshan again,

performed small puja at Aihilyabai holker somnath temple,

had breakfast at the guest house,

time to check out and explore the other temples in Somnath/Prabhas patan/veraval and move to Dwarka,
taxi was already at the door,

started at 9:30 am,

first stop,
Triveni Sangam,







second stop,
Gita mandir,





Third stop,
kartikswami temple [ the pic here is not of the temple mentioned],



fourth stop,
Bhalka tirth, the place where Shrikrishna got injury in his leg,






Some pics of Chagada,






i found Veraval as good or bad as any Indian town turned city,


fishing boats


tower at Veraval



bharo petrol, chalo London


finally, moved out of Veraval toward Dwarka.



Next post, today before 5pm.