Orchha, Madhya Pradesh- a Photo Story

My first trip was decided through Facebook. These days Facebook is playing a pivotal role in our lives. One of my junior from college has a travel bug and has great photography skills. Looking at her updates on Facebook tempted me to message her. I told her I would like to accompany her on her next trip. From then onwards, I managed to break the monotony of routine life to enjoy the experience of exploring new places, food and knowing people of India. However first trips have their own charm especially when you learn about something that you have been longing for. In my case it was photography. I would like to present the photo-journey of the beautiful time I had exploring Orchha…

Orchha , Madhya Pradesh 
(26^th Feb,2014 – 1^st Mar,2014)

Our came in existence at the end of February, 2014. When I got to know we were packing our bags for Orchha, I was clueless how it looks and what this place was all about. Since I had never heard its name earlier, it created more excitement in me to explore this new piece of land.

History of Orchha

Orchha is a small town in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. This town was established by Maharaja Rudra Pratap Singh in 1501 which lies on the Betwa River in Tikamgarh District. The word ‘Orchha’ means  ‘Hidden’ in Bundelkhandi language and was named so because it was covered completely by forests before being found.

Primary attractions in Orchha are Jahangir Mahal, Laxmi Narayana Temple, Bundela Chhatris (cenotaphs), Rai Praveen Mahal , Chaturbhuj Temple & Raja Mahal.

Photo Story of Orchha:

Jahangir Mahal

Jahangir Mahal is one of the most finest and vivid examples of classical Mughal Architecture.

Entrance of great Jahangir Mahal

Jahangir Mahal

Open Court of Jahangir Mahal

Betwa River Banks:

Spend maximum time here

1.   Bundela Chhatris - (cenotaphs) designed in the memory of late rulers and noblemen. There are fourteen 'Chhatris' or memorials to the rulers of Orchha, grouped along the Kanchana Ghat of the river Betwa.

View from Betwa River

Closer View

Chaturbhuj Temple:

 

1.      Laxmi Narayan Temple

Interesting Paintings Inside Lakshmi Narayan Temple:

Raja Ram Temple:

Top view of Raja Ram Temple

Other Details:

Duration of my visit-   26^th Feb – 1^st Mar

Weather conditions during my stay-  Slightly chilly during early mornings and nights (Sweat-shirts are advisable)  

Mode of travel from Delhi -  Train

Hours of Journey -   6 hours journey

Stayed at -  Friend’s house

Restaurants I liked there-  Milan Resturant, Betwa Tarang Restuarnt, Bamboo Hut

Author:

Manisha Raj is a professional software engineer in Delhi and an amateur photographer who loves to travel and explore new places and cuisines whenever she gets a chance. She fondly calls herself “Artist Manisha” due to her love for sketching and shares her  dream to hold an exhibition of her artistic works sometime in her life. She loves festivals and hence her second favorite month in the year is October (after February i.e. her birth-month); a month in which festivals and celebrations start in India and continue till New Year. 
She decided to pen down her travel experiences and this was her first post as a guest blogger on Elixired.
Manisha's Twitter 

The lonely note in your wallet

Ever wonder why? 
People at the top are mostly desolate. Ever wonder the notes of ten and hundred always seem to find company in your wallet, the coins seldom fail to find others of their kind to be with. However, a thousand rupee note sits alone waiting for someone to meet, until it finally breaks down. What is wrong with it? Is it an arrogant snob or just some poor bloke who couldn't find someone compatible to be with? Even the most commonly encountered statistical distributions- Normal Distribution, chi square, t, F, Binomial, Poisson show that the loneliness at the extremes is a rule rather than exception.

If you're the lonely one,

You are not the only one.
Though its not a ubiquitous state,
You may soon find another lonely mate!

If you are alone, know that you are rare but your kind will find you soon. Meanwhile enjoy this song!

Today's post is a guest post by Sugat Chaturvedi. Find him on his blog titled "Elysian Fields"

Image: Google

GREEN DELHI- A Photo Story

PART I

IT DOES NOT END

The story is an old one; it plays repeatedly on self-loop, only thing that changes is the people and the environments that are affected. Despite numerous laws around the protection of trees, the rampage never ceases. The cause is as old as ages, and there is zero will to implement these laws by the law enforcers.

It all started last year when MCD was constructing cemented roads in our society in Pitampura, Delhi. These people forgetting their duties and feeling omnipotent with their machines of destruction started destroying everything that came in the way, setting a model, an example before the other phases of construction. Despite our repeated pleas and reminders of the laws governing tree felling, MCD upon insistence of one of our neighbours –Prem Lal Khanna and his family felled numerous trees, and when we said we would file complaint, they hid the trees, and then quickly towed them away:

Step 1: When you are MCD, you savagely destroy anything in your way

(Contract in the hands of some Mr. Khan)

 Step2:  Hide in the park until tow truck comes

Step 3: Load it up, hide under dry branches and tow away

We made repeated calls to forest department, to the chief conservation officer, two representatives from this department came and said that at least the trees in front of our house would be protected, and we were pacified with this assurance and forest department itself took no action against these people.

PART II

IT DOES END

A year passed, our neighbours forever unsettled, were waiting for any excuse to fell the trees in front of our own house, their youngest son even declared that “I’m not my father’s son if I don’t get this tree cut off”.  Few weeks before today, some branches of one of our tree, started drying up, these were towards the side of this neighbour’s house, so anyone can guess what might have happened. Under pretext of some renovations, one day in the quite of a hot and humid afternoon, these people cut down two of  the trees that forest department so assuredly vouched for only a year before and created a shameless scene, embellished with all the name calling and vulgar obscenities as is the character of such people. 

 Fell in a moment what took years to grow

 On lodging complaint, the police has forwarded the case to horticulture department as this case is their prerogative. Quoting chief conservation officer, forest department Mr. A. K. Shukla, “Since the trees were not on your property, I can do nothing about it”. We had high hopes in these guardians of trees, reading glorified reports in the newspapers, but today, I’m disappointed, slowly turning impassive regarding any good change, I agree with forest officer, we really can do nothing about it. Delhi is definitely going green and greener.

  

 About Author:

Rochana Chaturvedi is a Professor of Computer Science in Delhi University since past three years. In her free time, she enjoys arts, nature, traveling and reading amongst many other. Besides being a good singer, she enjoys writing poetry though seldom publishes them on her blog. However, she can be caught blogging sometimes at http://rochanachaturvedi.blogspot.in.