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bharath's avatar
06:17 PM
10 August 2009
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(16) Comment(s)     (24) like it

Some more travel.

Posted By bharath

We left Indore in the morning to head to Bhopal and Sanchi. An end of one part of our journey as we raced toward another. We were determined to cut short travel times to a minimum. That was the plan anyway. Suffice to say that we didn’t reach our destination anywhere close to the intended time. Instead of driving with the single minded determination of a local tempo driver, we stopped, meandered along our route and rediscovering the road. I think it was the windmills that took us off course this time. Narrow broken tarmac and mud plastered huts announced the village nearby. Well! Broken tarmac before the village and no roads after. Large stones, open drains, some parts of the path raised for no reason and buffalos- in other words any typical village. We stopped, answered questions and did our very best at rural marketing… potential customers no doubt.
We followed our path back and followed the highway between Indore and Bhopal. Most of the highway is being widened but the sections that were done were great to drive on. The two wide lanes separated by rows of trees all along the way. We reached Bhopal and made our way to the Union Carbide Factory. Most of what we witnessed has been covered by Radhika and to say we were disheartened would be putting it mildly. I’m not sure but sometimes I think we have so much history in this country we get desensitized to a lot of those stories.

Sanchi was barely 60km from Bhopal and was a welcome relief. Completely unexpected and brilliant.

Sanchi, a Buddhist center with some of the finest examples of Buddhist art was built in 3rd century BC by Ashoka. Built at a time when Buddha was never represented directly, the episodes of Buddhas lives are carved and depicted through the Jataka Tales. I won’t go into lengthy descriptions and I hope the pictures will illustrate it better.

What did amaze me though was how the place was full of contradictions that are typical of India. As I sat and stared at the carvings, I could hear the train below blowing its whistle loud and clear, slicing the air and unsettling the place. Just as you got used to the peace and quiet you would hear the sound of another train announcing its arrival or departure.
 


That, of course, was not the main entertainment for the day. A large group having settled on the grass after exploring the place suddenly burst into screaming and heavy gesturing. In a matter of minutes there were children and adults all actively pointing and hopping down the slope. Getting there I found an elderly gentleman from the group waiting for the rest who had now found their way down to a shallow natural pool below. Seeing the camera in my hand he looked at me and said “peacock, peacock …go take photo.”
I looked on at the group still hysterically trying to locate the bird below and I looked back at the magnificence of the Sanchi Stupas behind me and sighed. If only our monuments generated this much of excitement. We do have too much of history. 

Posted by

Rajat

10 August 2009

Very nice pics and good coverage of Saanchi.

What came immediately to my mind was the contrast between the old Buddhist art and the modern one…
take a look here of some pics from Kushalnagar (a buddhist center in Coorg)

http://picasaweb.google.com/rajatmalhotra/Kushalnagar

Rajat

Posted by

Dilip D'Souza

11 August 2009

Did you find the sole (I think) erotic sculpture at Sanchi, as a preview of Khajuraho? (Or did you go to Khajuraho before Sanchi?)

I am very very disappointed that there is no picture of the peacock. A nice shot of him sitting on your Cedia, perhaps?

yours,
dilip.

Posted by

vamsee

11 August 2009

Bharath,
Beautiful post and I love the black and white pictures. 
Your last sentence “If only our monuments generated this much of excitement.” is so thought provoking.
I felt the exact same way when we visited Ajanta& Ellora. There were so many people who were just interested in being loud and silly. They would sit on the lap of Buddha or strike weird poses and take pictures while making fun of each other and creating ruckus.
I don’t know if we can keep these miscreants away by increasing the entry fee (was 10 Rs), but that does not seem fair! Sigh….we should teach kids to give more importance to subjects other than math and science.

Posted by

Maya Matthew

11 August 2009

Love the pics, so calm and serene one would never guess there was a large group of people fascinated by a peacock!!! but maybe that was a good thing because you got the stupa all to yourselves to appreciate.

Posted by

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

11 August 2009

Love the pictures! Stunning shots!

Posted by

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

11 August 2009

Nice picture and write up about Sanchi. Your style of writing is really nice. Looking forward to more blogs from you.

Cheers and enjoy your trip!

Posted by

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

11 August 2009

Lovely ! LOVELY!! ..... the B&W’s are Great…...First the Bhopal ones ..... now this!!!

Posted by

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

11 August 2009

Awesome Photography!!! like a sweet music to ears….these pics are soothing feeling to eyes…

Way to go!!!

Cheers!!

Posted by

Ram

11 August 2009

Very nice photos of the Sanchi Stoop. Your photography is good as ever.

Posted by

Zinaida

11 August 2009

Loving your posts!! Rooting for you guys all the way. Dont get pressurized by the number of posts. Your strength is the quality of your blogs and your amazing pictures, so keep doing your own thing! Loving every bit of it.

Cheeeeeeeerrrrrssssssss!!!

Posted by

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

11 August 2009

Hey !
Grt to see such strong visuals !!!
Loving ur posts !!:)
grt u did this in B/W ..looks amazin !:)
peace
gaurav

Posted by

Yogi

11 August 2009

Hey Radhika… who clicks these amazing pics… is it u or Bharath???

Posted by

Gaurav Deshmukh

11 August 2009

Hey Bharath!

I think the cities you chose to visit this time, are just brilliant! Whats even better is that you guys are having fun in chasing your stories. Have fun smile

Never mind the detours! smile

Posted by

Arvind Passey

12 August 2009

You write: “An end of one part of our journey as we raced toward another. “

It is the journey that is always more enticing than any end point. Obviously, the road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.

Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.

Posted by

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

12 August 2009

Excellent one…loved text and pictures. I remember stumbling upon Sanchi en route from somewhere to somewhere, around sunset, so peaceful, tranquil, and re-lived the memories
Pity enjoying the quiet isn’t an Indian trait!

Looks like you skipped MHOW and Mandu from indore, interesting places with a lot of history.

Posted by

Manu

14 August 2009

Thanks for sharing these pictures. It boggles the mind to think that this structure was built in the 3rd century BC… 2300 years ago!! Yes it is sad to see the lack of appreciation from people… but it comes from a lack of awareness and lack of education.
It is slowly changing but there is a long way to go. I hope that one day will come when we appreciate everything in our country. There are so many things in our own backyard undiscovered by us. You guys are getting to see more of the country on this trip than many Indians would see of India in their whole lives!


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