An Impromptu Trip

Facing the scorching heat of my hometown, me and my brothers decided to plan a trip to Bhopal and Ujjain only (but it turned into Madhya Pradesh brahmad :P). Starting from home, we boarded a bus which was highly packed with commuters so, we planned to de-board that at the very next station and switch to other bus. While we were waiting for bus, I waved hand to a truck and it stopped, then what, we boarded that. Truck journey was quite slow but we had a different experience as it was filled with anecdotes of driver when he met different people across country. In 3 hours we came to Jhansi , had some refreshments and rushed to catch the train.

While peeping from the window in train, it felt like freedom(I don't know why), we moved from plain regions of UP to the hilly ranges of MP. Reached Bhopal at midnight. For next three days, we stayed in Bhopal and here are some photos of that-

Actually, we arrived late here and the boat river-view was closed so, came to the roadside to take a look in the dark XD.

Next day, finally we got in the boat and here we are, pedalling. 

Scenic view of Shyamla Hills from boat

Gusty winds, ripples of water and setting sun - fascinating combination

Me trying to pose(but couldn't :P) at Birla Mandir

I can strongly feel that the temperature of this area was extremely high almost 40-45 degree C despite of having huge forest cover. So, seeing the intensity of that we decided to plan a 2 day trip to Pachmari (I strongly feel that two days were very less but we were confined in our own time-limit) which was done after a lot of discussion, google search and advise from natives of Bhopal. Hence, we finally planned it.

Booked a night train, so as to save money on stay(that is how you go when you don’t have a salary i.e., budget-efficient trip). Reached Pipariya(from here you have to take bus or vehicle) at 0300hrs, still awake, went outside found a tavera which took us to Pachmari. Other passengers were fauji who were also heading to Pachmari after their holidays. We passed through Satpura tiger Reserve, albeit it was dark but we were still enjoying it and the cold breeze that was hitting us made us felt like that the season had suddenly changed from July's summer to January's cold winter. Reached Pachmari early in the morning, searched for hotel, after lot of negotiations we got a room in our budget. As we went into the room and kept our bags, I decided to roam around to know about the place, I searched many hotel, met different people asking them to share the vehicle with us and met a boy of Pachamari who gave a deeper insight about the area. After many acquaintances with various people no one was ready to share but by god’s grace that tavera came back with three other passengers who were ready to share. And then, we freshened-up ourselves, ate boiled eggs(which we brought from Bhopal so as to keep the energy level high), came down, hopped-in the vehicle and began our trip.

First in the list were guptmahadeo and badamahadeo-

This was guptmahadeo, where we arrived after a small trek from parking. It was a narrow fault in the mountain where lies the altar of mahadeo.

it was so narrow that only single person can pass at a time. Sand was sodden with water which was exuding from the wall(you can see in the photo, the gleaming walls)  

selfie with mahadeo.

This was badamahadeo, it was in another cave which was complete dark from inside. It had a kund in its start(bath was restricted due to covid) and mahadeo was on the other end.

Here he is, badamahadeo.

NOW SOME PICTURES OF NEARBY AREA-

Me, trying to pose in yogi style.

Seeing the structure around, I too decided to make one. My hands were shaking because of lack of sleep, still I tried.

Eureka! I made it.

a stream making its way through hills.

rejoicing in the seclusion

This was "handi-koh" where tribal people descends downhill to collect shilajeet and honey.

Me, sitting at the edge of precipice. Here, u can see just behind me the large hill which is having some white structure at the top, it was "choragad" another temple of lord Shiva which needs a trek of about 3 to 4 hours. We planned to go for it but seeing the paucity of time we dropped the plan because we won't be able to visit other places, but next time I will definitely trek it.

This was view from Rajendragiri, named after former president who came here long time bacm when his health had deteriorated. From here, there was large stretches of forest with splendid view of hill range.

from Rajendragiri

A beautiful view of garden from the top of Pandava caves. Pandava caves were unique in their own sense. Building such a structure during those times of agyatvas of pandavas has a great significance in hindu mythology. Unfortunately, we forgot to take photos of that.

This was a view from the way to Jatashankar, which was filled with lots of natural rock structures, as you can see in the pic the rock protruding from the right side of the hills resembles a lion.

This rock showing the face of lord Ganesh(as people believe)

This was something astonishing because this rock(looking like a crocodile) had 108 shivlings and a rock structure above it resembles sheshnag(shown in next image) which was all natural. It might be a little bit superstitious but I would appreciate the beliefs of the people and how they found all this.

This was that shesnag(it was looking more real from naked eyes)

a stream making its way in the fault

standing to be squezzed by the boulder over my head :P

"begum palace", apparently in severely dilapidated condition, here queen of Pachmari used to live. I think administration has to take care of it and preserve these historical monuments. In the picture I am holding a carry-bag which is having a herb that blew my head off, it is "gudmar" which we bought from jatashankar, it numbs the senses of sweetness on your tongue for next 20 hours. We were dumbfounded when we tasted sugar and honey after eating this herb, sugar felt like we were chewing stones and honey tasted like oil. So, we bought it to try this experiment at home and when I did it with my parents I got scolding so, I had to tell them the antidote of it. Hence, I learned that to try such experiment on my younger brother who ate it gullibly and faced the consequences for rest of the day  XD.

So, we came back in the evening, within few minutes we dozed-off. Woke up by 7pm, went for dinner and roamed around post that. The night was beautiful as well as cold. We went to the Army Education Corps College but couldn't take photographs of it, also tried from someone  known to get an entry into the premises so as to understand the functioning of college but couldn't due to covid guidelines. So we came back and start to plan next day's trip, after a lot of discussion we decided to take bike because we have a train to catch in the evening. Went to a store, rented a pulsar for next day and went back to the room. Since, we were going by the bike and we won't be having any guide so, we decided to sketch a map of the area. We (turned into cartographer) drew the map with number on the destinations which will tell the sequence to visit these places. After lot of brain-storming, we came up with this

It is a bit hazy but it really helped us a lot.

As soon as we had prepared everything for next day's trip, kept everything aside and went to bed.

 

NEXT DAY

  Woke up a bit late but was able to take the bike on-time. As I rode that, there was some problem with the clutch but I thought it will work but it became a severe headache for me(tell you later). Everyone has a dream to ride a bike on hills and I was excited to do the same. Very firstly we went to Bison Lodge, did some breakfast and issued the pass to enter the forest which looked like this

Now without any further ado, bike was on road. 

The first site to visit was Apsara vihar/Silver fall.

It was quite a long distance and an additional 2-3 km trek. When we reached there, it was early morning so no visitor was there, also the entry into the waterfall was closed because of the depth of water, so we took another route and went to see it but still it was not clearly visible. Nonetheless, we found mangoes there, we sat there to have some energy and prepared ourselves to trek back.

the stream which was making the waterfall

after coming back from Silverfall, we diverted to another trek route which led us to Rajat Prapat. It was really a scenic view where we saw a waterfall, in which water from the height of more than 100m was falling down that too between the valley.

height was 350 feet

breath-taking view of the valley from rajat prapat 

Came back from Silver Fall, went back up to the hill with unbearable exhaustive body but continued our trek, the only thing that was keeping us on our trek was Eminem tracks on our JBL. In mid-way took some grams from a store so as to restore our energy level. Turned the bike towards our next destination - Bee Fall (shown in next images)

This too had a trek of about 1-2 km and additional 300 stairs. Completely exhausted by the time we reached the fall, our clothes were saturated with sweat and when I saw the people sitting beneath the waterfall I was unable to control myself. However, we forgot to bring our towel and clothes but I didn't cared about that all and went straight to the fall.

If you can see me in the middle, right at the plunge-pool, enjoying the blend of cacophony of the people around and the noise of falling water.

Me trying to make a space at the top.

no worries & no study load, only elation

I found the place at top, couldn't open my eyes because the falling water was not letting me. Also, which had proved why it is called as Bee Fall because falling water feels like sting of millions of bees.

ahhhaaaaa, propping my head against the rock and relaxing

clicking photograph with other people 

initiation of Bee Fall 

After almost an hour of fun, we started to trek back again to our bike. Met with people en route, interacted with them. Did the same upward trek which had almost numbed our legs therefore, we weren't feeling any pain and eminem chacha was still on. Again, the shirt was shoaked with sweat and when we reached to our bike, we opened our map and the next destination in the sequence was Ramya Kund which also had almost 3 km trek (said a guide) so, we dropped that from our list because we won't be visit other places and might miss our train. Hence, moved to next which was, Reecchgarh.

This was reechgarh (I don't know if it has any relation to reech i.e., bear). Here a mountain separated due to its own fault and joined back after some distance which led to the formation of a giant cave

In this photo, you can see it joined back after some distance

imagining, the years it took to form this structure.

Last destination to visit in our list was Mt. Dhupgarh, highest peak of Satpura Ranges. As soon as we came back from reechgarh, turned our bike (with bad clutch plate) to Dupgarh. It was my greatest mistake when I considered that rented pulsar as a cafe racer. Here is how the story does, as we started to go up-hill the bike started to make noise like it had some issue with the chain socket. As the slope started to increase, pulsar started to make more noise and ultimately it was unable to go up. We were having a distance of about 2km more to cover and we were standing in the mid-way. Meanwhile, two stranger were  also heading to Dhupgarh, they stopped and asked our problem. They were also on bike, one of them took the bike and checked its problem, he rode it for some distance and realised the problem with the clutch. After trying a lot he said bro going back will be useless (which I agreed) so, take the bike in first gear and continue the journey (which, again, I agreed). I took the handle and my brother was on pillion seat, took the bike in first gear, those two people were behind us, bike started to make noise and I took the acclerator as tight as possible so as to reach the top. It was really sounding like drum beat and we were completely filled with anger but the stubborness to see the top made us do the unimaginable. By the time we reached the top, bike was giving foul smell, also excess accleration had consumed extra fuel which we had to save while heading back. Finally, we came to what we wanted to see.

a pic from the height of 1352m (top of Dhupgarh)

Since, this place is known for sunset but we were not able to see that due to lack of time.

Indeed, it was really splendid where all hills were having height lower to this one. Also, it was my third highest point in India to visit after Gurushikar(Aravali Ranges) and Dodabetta(Nilgiris) which was another reason for my stubborness.

Here, ends the Pachmari darashan and we started to go downhill. Those two people were really helpful, even they escorted us while going back. This is the beauty of trip which gives us chance to meet so down-to-earth people and changes our mentality that world is filled with people full of ego and spite.

In mid-way we met another family who was also facing some problem with their rented bike, they were unable to go to top so, we along with those two people escorted them back. Finally we had nice interaction and we went separate ways. Dhupgarh was totally a different experience and I will never forget those two people who helped us, also the bike which didn't gave up till the last moment. Best things that I liked about Pachmari is that the people around here speaks Bundelkhandi which gave a sense of connection to me with those people. I had always underestimated Pachmari, as a hill-station, but it had completely turned my thinking. Totally worth visiting place, go for it!

LESSON LEARNED :-DON'T RENT A BIKE, IT WILL MAKE YOUR JOURNEY PATHETIC. ALL THE BIKES HAVE SOME PROBLEM SO, BRING YOUR OWN IF YOU WANT TO RIDE A BIKE. LITERALLY, DON'T RENT. DON'T LET ANYTHING RUIN YOUR TRIP. THINGS WORKED FOR ME BUT IT MAY TURN COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FOR YOU.

We came back to bike store, returned the bike, told him the issue and went to hotel. Took our meals, caught the bus to Pipariya and bid adieu to Pachmari. There were many places which we were unable to visit but next time I am going to visit them all because Pachmari is no longer terra incognita for me.

Reached Pipariya on time and got the train, reached Bhopal in 2 hours, around midnight and went to room so as to take the enough sleep for next day travel.

Woke up at 5, freshened up and went to bus station so as to catch the bus to Ujjain. Bus journey was beautiful experience. As we reached Ujjain, we planned our visit for temple. Here are some photos -

Har Har Mahadeo.

Temple view from outside

In the evening, we visited n number of temples of Ujjain that too all were centuries old. Really amazed by the management of these temples and I realized why it was a huge trade center in our history. By the night we stopped at a restaurant to have our dinner - dal bafla- famous dish of Malwa. It was such a heavy meal that we were not hungry till the morning.

Next day, we checked out from the hotel early in the morning so as to visit Kalbharav, which we did without any chaos. After that, headed to some place where we can spend rest of the day.

Here we sat for long because the train for next destination was in the evening. We enjoyed in the fields in front of us and Kshipra river at our back. After sitting here for long, we decide to go to Kshipra bank (Ram Ghat) and as we moved from this place, our stomach was asking for food and we met a Gujarati family who was doing a langar so, we had the food which was delicious and started to head towards Ram Ghat.

This was Ram Ghat, we sat here for the rest of the day. Gave peanuts to monkeys so as to kill the time. I was sitting near the bank and was unable to control myself to take a dip in the river, I took the elder brother with me and enjoyed for a while in water. We laid there for the rest of the day and by 4 pm left the bank so as to catch the train on-time.

Reached the next destination (Ratlam) in 2 hours and went to brother's home, where we had grand welome.

Me and brother with my nephews

I literally loved the weather of Ratlam, seeing that we decide to go some nearby place and found one dam - Dholawad dam. We planned to go to Dholawad with poha and kachodi in mid-way as our breakfast for next day.

Doors to the dam were closed due to covid restrictions, we reached at some height to take the clear view. Undoubtedly, you can see the weather, it will make you fall in love with it.

I felt the tagline of Royal Enfield - "jab bullet chale to duniya rate de"

finally the trip has come to an end, we all will be going back home to the same monotonous life.

This trip will always be remembered for its exuberance which I had from starting till the end, for the uncertainites of plan, for the lessons it taught and for the stupendous scenery. I felt, when a person goes to a trip(budget efficent one) then he comes in contact with various new things. On subconscious level, it teaches those things which you won't come across at your place. Moreover, it fulfills your rooting to visit some picturesque place and gather some memories from there.