Back-to-back is a phrase, considered best suited to people
in their early twenties. They may still be in college or fresh out of college,
full of energy and zeal, on the verge of doing everything which pops up in
one’s mind and most importantly every friend of the group will still be
bachelor hence no excuses of ‘Let me ask’ or ‘Bhai batata hoon’. But I guess as with everything else from average
human lifespan to average marrying age, this back-to-back-phrase-using-age is
also growing and has bitten to people in their early thirties also.
Few days back we saw 6 movies back to back in a
weekend. All day we were eating and
seeing movie while other one was on download. So when it comes to travelling
back to back, the only thing, I have sensed till now, I don’t get bored easily
of, you know I was feeling like being in early twenties again (though when I
actually was, I never did anything which can remotely be termed as crazy). 2nd
thing, it was new year and what a better way to start a new year other than travelling.
3rd thing, 1st Jan (Friday) being leave, it was a long
weekend also.
So even before the dust from last trip was off our cloths
and even before the photos were exchanged, by Wednesday the coming weekend was
booked with the same group of friends.
If last time it was sand, beaches, fort, sunset and all,
this time it was going to be a visit to the world heritage site (Ajanta Ellora
caves in Aurangabad ) which will end with a religious note (Shirdi and
Shanisignapur).
Lesson learnt from last
trip to Ratnagiri was, book your
hotel beforehand else be ready to waste your time, energy, money and end up
sharing the room. My husband seemed to be taken it very seriously and booked
room in Aurangabad for day 1 even without telling me (and I cannot be more
thank full to him as the deal we got gave me another reason to travel without
taking worry of hotel bills). Also this time we were determined to leave as
early as possible to avoid the day time city chaos and also to make most of our
day 1.
Our day 1 itinerary looked like: reach Aurangabad by 10:00
AM, check in hotel, lunch, Bibi ka Maqbara and Ellora caves. Ellora caves being
the major attraction, half of the day was set aside for it. Bibi ka maqbara was
2nd option depending upon the time.
We left home by 5:10 AM, already 40 mins late. Pune to
Aurangabad goes from the same area where our friends reside, so picked them up
from there only. However at 5:45 AM in the morning, the major landmark of that
area, Amanora mall, was all extinguished and it took us a while to search for
it before we figured out we were standing right in front of it . Finally we
started from there at around 6:15 AM. From there, Aurangabad was around 225 KM.
Other benefit of leaving early is you get to see how sky turned from light blue to orange and then the beautiful sun rise from behind a tree or a hill.
 |
| Beautiful |
 |
| I just love roads :) |
|
Breakfast break was taken at around 8:00 AM with tea and
homemade poha.
 |
| Breakfast Hotel :) |
In next 20 mins we
were done and started again and stopped only after reaching Aurangabad at sharp
10:00 AM. Since we were on time and check-in time of hotel was 12:00 PM, we
directly went for Bibi ka Maqbara.
 |
| View from outside |
Bibi ka maqbara is a clear-cut replica of Taj-mahal in Agra
and is built by Ajamshah, son of Aurangzeb, in the memory of his mother Dilras Banu Begum. It is supposed to be built between 1651 and 1661 C.E (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/).
It too resembles
the same structure as any other tomb like monuments in India with 4 pillars
sort of structure in every direction, beautiful exquisite work in every wall
and roof, a
jali like structure in 3
directions other than entrance, a prayer hall apart from main building and
garden surrounding the main architecture from every direction. Like Taj-mahal,
it too has a pathway, with space for water and fountains in between, though it
was nowhere to be seen, from main entrance up to the main building.
 |
| Work at the entrance |
 |
| Another example of beautiful karigari |
 |
| View of main building from entrance |
 |
| Doesn't one get confused it with the Taj in this pic :) |
 |
| More closer look |
 |
| Another example |
 |
| Stairs to the upper part |
 |
| Prayer Hall |
 |
| Aurangabad caves. Visible from Bibi ka maqbara |
 |
| Surrounding garden |
 |
From main building to entrance
|
 |
| Dargah of Dilras Banu Begum |
 |
| Interior |
 |
| Jali work from inside |
After spending good 1.5 hours there, we returned and started
for the hotel. Though this time hotel was booked, but it took us some 20-30
mins to search it. Enquired with 2-3 people and at one point we were only be maximum 200
meters from hotel, when we did the mistake of asking one auto rickshaw
driver and he misguide us to other direction. After taking a big round and
asking with other people, we reached hotel and from there we can see that
intersection and that auto still standing there. :)
Happy Ghumakkadi :)
No comments:
Post a Comment