The beautiful city-Bhopal

One phone call by a childhood buddy and a traveller in me packed his bag for the next destination. This trip was more of a reunion of us, me and my three friends. We decided to have a tour to the beautiful city of lake- Bhopal.

Bhopal, a capital city of Madhya Pradesh, is near to my home town.
It is one of the greenest cities of India. The two beautiful lakes, upper lake and the lower lake add beauty to the city.

We all decided to meet at Banasthali and took train to Guna (my hometown)from there.

Call it the charm of visiting hometown or another trip that too with my childhood friends whatever it was, there was some thing that was giving me that extra dose of happiness. And to top it all that awesome weather, the rain and the crisp and cool fresh air seem all magical. The eight hours journey from Bansthali to Guna was full of fun and soon we reached our first stop over,Guna.

Home town is all about pampering by mom and all sort of delicacies prepared to spoil you all over. Believe me, my mom makes the world’s best Daal-Baafle (a Rajasthani dish), it is accompanied by garlic chutney,bharta and kadhi. After having a soulful food we all started chalking down plan and most of the time then was spent on music,packing and chit chatting.

Our journey to Bhopal started at 11am from Guna and it took only 6 hours for us to reach our final destination.

As we planned to stay at one of our friend’s place so there was no hassle of looking and finding the cheap and best hotel there.

The best part of staying with friends is the midnight fun. Staring at the starry sky, talking about our passion, the long lost love and the future goals, there is always some rawness in these midnight chats.

That night flew with the wink of an eye.

We started our day by having Poha (a dish prepared by crushed rice flakes) and were out to visit the museums and other buildings of the city.

Manav Sangrahalay, the museum where the whole Indian culture is depicted, right from the ancient time clocks to the kolhu for oil production to the variety of houses found across India. It was a wonderful place to learn about Indian cultures and lifestyle.

Bharat Bhawan, the art gallery of Bhopal, also the theatre. The innovative paintings and artistic creations were displayed there.

There are several other museums in the city. I wish I had time to visit all. I wanted to visit Remeber Bhopal Museum built in the memory of the people who lost their lives in the most terrifying industrial disaster, the Bhopal gas disaster. It exhibits the artifacts and records of the affected communities.

 Mahavir tekri, the top most point of Bhopal. A beautiful temple of Lord Mahavir. It is situated at the top of the hill known as Lal ghati and from there the whole city can be seen. The beautiful lakes, greenery all around, and the cool breeze, everything makes this place beautiful.

We packed our day by stopping over to the famous eatery joint Sagar Gaire. Their famous Veg Cheese sandwiches and White Sauce Pasta was a food to die for. I still remember the taste and my mouth is watering as I write this. The aroma of tea at the famous chai 34 gave us all the much needed energy and as we sip our tea we chalked down the plan for the next day.

We started next day little late and after having breakfast started our journey by bike to reach Keira Dam, other corner of the city. We spent the day there itself, a sun kissed evening spent with friends, what else I could ask for.

After watching sunset, we started from there and reached our next stop Shahpura Lake gardens. Watching the calm water of the lake amidst the greenery was the sight that I always looked for when ever I am travelling.

I feel some connection with the water, swaying trees, cool breeze.

We spent the next day in the old city of Bhopal. This is the place which has rich heritage and it still preserves the old culture and traditions.

The Taj-ul-masjid is one of the Asia’s largest mosque. The white domes, the minarets and the huge courtyard make this mosque a manificient one.

Beside the Taj-ul-masjid, is located the beautiful  Taj Mahal of Bhopal built by Sultan Shah Jahan, the begum of Bhopal.

Other famous buildings includes, Sadar Manzil and Shaukat Mahal.

Van vIhar National Park, situated at the banks of upper lake is another tourist attraction. It is home to lions, leopards and Tigers. None of us was interested in the safari so we skipped going there.

Bhadbhada dam is built to control the water outflow from the lakes to the river Kaliasote. It has 11 gates and they are opened only when city receives heavy rainfall.

After returning from the most beautiful place of the city of lakes we packed our bag to return back to work.

We bid good-bye to the city and to each other with a promise to meet soon on one such trip.