Weekend Escape :Bhuleshwar

That day I was reading about Pune and got a very interesting explanation of it. It says, Pune is a place where every hilltop needs to have something on it. Be it a fortress, a temple, a view point and if not anything atleast a TV antennae. I know this is completely out of context but just want it to be on my blog so here it is. Well coming back in context, after a long break I was on roads again this weekend.

To start with, I will confess that some weeks back, I didn’t even know of this place. Thanks to a friend of mine and facebook, the secret broke to me. After doing some google over Bhuleshwar, I found it a very interesting place to dump me this weekend.

Going out of box, a Saturday afternoon start (I usually like an early morning start), a 50KM ride on Solapur Rd. and then a right turn on country roads. You can see the temple from a distance as good as 2 KM. This temple is temple by no means.

The first site of the temple that catches you is an Islamic Architecture styled Tomb and you will forced to reconfirm if you are on the right way or not from a local. This Temple has been razed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in an attempt to mutilate Hindu art and restructured it with a mosque styled tomb. This suddenly took me back to my memories of Babri Masjid. You can find more symbol of destruction once inside the temple.

 In the meantime, as you close the place you will find it walls to be that of a fortress, again confused. Well actually, before being a temple this place was a fortress to pheshwas, east gate to Pune.

Finally when you are in the temple, you will be all taken by the iconic Dravidian styled rock curved sculpture.  The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Bhuleshwar in Marathi means “Lord to Seduction”, and you will agree to it by looking to these sculptures.

Though most of them have to destroyed or disfigured, it will take a very little of your imaginative power to appreciate the art, had that been untouched. One of the very unique and interesting sculpture was of Lord Ganesha in feminine posture. This for sure will be one of its types in the world. I spend good 30 min over here to decide if it was a mistake form artist or he meant something.

The place is very rarely visited, peaceful and scenic in its own. Even if a temple visit doesn’t excites you much, you can drop here to see the sunset. Open landscapes all around the hillock will surely put your thoughts churning and you will return back home satisfied.   

It’s already dark here and time to leave. Sign off!! J

The Rat Race Syndrome

While I was sailing across the net (worthless to say, worthlessly), came across this very interesting image. And here are the thoughts that yelled out in me until I was forced to be pulled out of this.

When the flight lands, we get up from our seats and head for the exit. So what if the exit door is still closed. At least when it opens, we won’t have to wait behind a zillion people before we get to alight. When in a traffic, if on a bike, we always have to zig-zag our way to the front. When standing in queue, be it in the airport, mall, temple, some stores or in the bus depot we have to jump the queue.

In a temple, we also have a VIP entrance. For those impatient to stand in the serpentine queue and await their turn, you simply have to pay extra to get access to God’s attention a lot quicker than those guys standing in the queue. When in a Movie theatre, we wouldn’t mind buying tickets in black, if we know we might end up not watching the movie. In the station we have to be the first to board the train. How else will we get vacant seats to sit on? While on a short distance trip, I took a train back to Lucknow. Inspite of having booked my tickets in advance and got my seat numbers too, I found a family of four occupying my seat. I only got to sit after they had alighted. By the time we were approaching Lucknow, I was not the only ones sitting. I was sharing the seat with some five odd people.

What right do you have to sit comfortably on that seat when there are 5 other people standing? It is not a request. It is their right.

Its starts right from the beginning in the schools, I think. The teacher writes a sum to be solved on the board. “Whoever finishes solving the problem, put up your hand.” You have to be the first one to solve the problem, correctly. The one, who solves the problem and is luckily the first one, not only gets all the praises but becomes the envy of the class too. What pride in that :D So much of joy to watch your fellow classmates look at you with envy.

“If you come first in the class, I promise you a laptop.” And your child’s eyes grow wide with excitement. He indeed tops the class.

I often wonder, if there is no other way of living our lives. But probably, there is a reason why we are the way we are. It’s all about the survival of the fittest. We are after all, a population of 1.21 billion. Can you imagine? How else do you survive? The day you stop competing, that is the same day you stop surviving… Little little things we do like jumping the queue, sends cues to our unconscious or probably conscious brain that ‘Yes, we are still in the race…STILL COMPETING…STILL SURVIVING…’

AYODHYA DRASHAN (PART IV)

Hanuman Garhi

Hanuman Garhi is located in a fort situated at the western gate of Ram Kot as a place of watchman. Hanuman ji, (a brave devotee to Lord Ram) is considered (on the basis of mythological faith), the Kotwal (watchman) of Ayodhya city.

King Vikramaditya constructed this temple of Hanuman ji. After a period Nawab Mansoor Ali constructed a fort around the temple through Tikait Rai which is now famous as Hanuman Garhi. In this temple, golden idol of Shri Hanuman ji in the lap of his mother Anjani is established.

For the management of Hanuman Garhi, there are four arrays of saints named as Haridwari Patti, Basantia Patti, Ujjainia Patti and Sagaria Patti. They have their own Chief as well as a principal Chief who is known as Gaddinashin.

At present, Mahant Shri Ramesh Das is Gaddinashin. In this temple, anniversary of Shri Hanuman ji is celebrated with great enthusiasm.

Valmiki Bhawan

Valmiki Bhawan is constructed in the form of Baba Maniramdas Chhawani in Vasudeo Ghat area. In this temple, the complete sanskrit-verses of Valmiki Ramayan, an epic in Sanskrit language is inscribed on white marble and portraits relating to Ram Katha are painted on the walls.

Idols of Maharshi Valmiki along with his pupils Lav and Kush, the twin sons of Lord Ram are established here. A large number of books in Sanskrit language are collected in a library established in this temple.

In this building, International Shri Sita Ram Nam Bank is established in which devotee people deposit Shri Sita Ram Nam writing on a copy provided for that purpose in different languages. This temple is under supervision of Mahant Nritya Goplal Das Ji at present.

Ratna Sinhasan

Ratna Sinhasan Mandir is located near Kanak Bhawan. It is said that Lord Ram was coronated at this very place. An idol of Lord Ram and his wife Sita, made of black stone is worth seeing here.

Lord Ram and Sita along with Laxman, Bharat, Shatrughna are seated here on a throne decorated with gems in the shadow of Kalp vriksha. In its vicinity, idols of Jambvant, Vibhishan, Guru Vashishtha, Vishwamitra, Sugriv and Angad are established. At present, this place is famous as Rajgaddi.

Hanuman Bagh

It is said that Shri Ram Padarath Das, the main disciple of Shri Ram Vallabh Sharan Ji Vyas had planned to construct a Hanuman Temple for which the idol was brought from Jaipur and temporarily placed at a garden (Bagh).

Thereafter, when the attempt was made to shift the idol to its final place, it did not budge. As a result, the temple was constructed at that very place where it was initially and temporarily placed and is now known as temple of Hanuman Bagh.

Divya Sheesh Mahal

This Temple is located about 500 yards from Hanuman Garhi crossing. The Inner decoration of the temple is made by Cut Glass. Here the Icons of Lord Ram, Laxman and Sita are installed.