Enjoying the sunrise at Bedaghat Marble Rocks.

Bedaghat marble falls /rocks is a prominent tourist destination of madhya pradesh. It's approx 35 kms from Jabalpur city. The Marble Rocks is an area along Narmada river.The river has carved the soft marble Rocks , creating a beautiful  gorge of about 3kms in length.Cable car rides takes visitors across the gorge ; row boats are available for guided tours of the river downstream of the falls......
A BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE AT BEDAGHAT :
We were travelling all the way from Amarkantak  to Jabalpur,which is approximately  260km stretch....had the plan to witness the sunset at bedaghat marble falls but we had to drop the plan as ,by the time we entered Jabalpur Cant  area , it was around 5.40pm.....so instead we checked into a hotel at Jabalpur city itself ...There's lot of budget hotels in &around bus stand area of Jabalpur city.....
Our plan was to go off to sleep early as we had to checkout by 5am Orelse can witness  the first rays of sun glowing up the Marble Rocks and making a beautiful  frame....I always had the idea in mind to capture those beautiful  moments in my lens ....
       so tick tick tick. ...the clock  rang 5am. .. it's again time get ready and start for Bedaghat marble falls. ...very excited , I was in heart....still very dark outside and cold as we hit the road....it's no more highway drive instead by lanes narrow village road....i told our driver Sanjay to hurry up ....we shouldn't be late to see the sunrise...laughingly,  he looked at me and said "madam,  this is the first time , in all my days as a driver , I am seeing a lady , who wants to see the sunrise  at Bedaghat  at this hour..." ha ha ha .....no issues,  I am bit crazy , I said to myself...... ah! See that ....I shouted out as our vehicle was parked at the site....the Sun  , looking like a golden round plate. ...glowing  up the sky...it's just 6.45am. ....Just lovely to watch.....now we had to walk another 1 kms stretch upto the falls .

The above pictures with speak for itself ....it was an awesome experience. ..not much crowd at that hour ...I kept enjoying the beautiful of the nature with my DSLR  camera and also my video camera to frame it for lifetime. .....still feeling so happy at heart , as I remembered those moments today as I put my experience in words......IT'S JUST AWESOME....after an hour or so at the falls and when we r off with all our selfie moments framed , it was time to move out ....some vendors started putting up their marble artifact stalls......I was quite keen to collect a few ......need to bargain a lot , my driver told me .....the Marble beeds  neck piece attracted me and I just got it for 30 rs....good bargain....few steps ahead , saw a man carving out statues from small marble slabs, that they might have collected out of the lying rocks all around......quite interesting ,  I stopped for a while and stated video graphing the workmanship. ..it's not that easy work as it looks to be.....now wanted to get few of them......it's really beautiful and at such damme  cheap price...100 rs each, paid for it all ......before we left the site my husband  wanted to get himself framed in pose like Gabber  Singh of "Sholay "fame , on the rocks.......ha ha ha .....it's  really funny moment to frame him .......

Now it was time to have some breakfast....before we left for PANCHMARHI. ....

AMARKANTAK - THE KING OF PILGRIMAGES (TIRTHRAJ ).

One can simply relate the name AMARKANTAK  , as the birthplace of river Narmada and Sone river....various mythological  stories run with the name of these 2 rivers.The place is an unique natural heritage area and is the meeting point of Vindhya and Satpura ranges with the maikal hills being the fulcrum. The small town of Amarkantak is surrounded by a rich varieties  of  medicinal plants and lush  green Shal forest  belt which is part of Achanakmar -Amarkantak  Biosphere Reserve.
    Besides the Narmada kund and Sonmuda,  it's home of the ancient temples of Kalachuri period  and the Sriyantra  temple.

My visit : Long I heard stories about Amarkantak and Barfani  sadhu  from my late father in law. ...so , this time,when I and my husband  planned for Madhya Pradesh  trip,I thought to include Amarkantak to our itenary. ..it was more a curiosity, to see the place and corelate with all those stories I heard from my father in law.
 We were to drive from Kahna national park  to Amarkantak, which is more than 275kms drive or so....our driver asked  us that immediately after we should start as early as possible.  We left Gawa Kahna resort, were we stayed ,by 12pm. ....and then onto a long long drive...via Mandla.  By the time we reach our MPTDC  resort  at Amarkantak, it was almost 7/7.30pm. ...very chilling outside...but it's a very beautiful resort with lovely  tents  stay,provided with all sorts of amenities, besides standard rooms too available.  We  were too exausted by then and just wanted to go off to sleep after dinner...No nonveg  meals are available in this town....So simple sabji, dal and roti for dinner and we were off to sleep. Tomorrow morning is our 18th Anniversary and to celebrate in this holy town was a great feeling  I had in my heart as I went off to sleep.
  Woke up early to see the sunrise and enjoy the chill in the air....it's just too beautiful  property,it's thought in mind...i took walk up and down the resort ,while enlisting what all to see  around the town. Soon it got cloudy  and my mood and excitement was off ..i kept praying ,so that it clears up soon.

It was time for sight seeing and it started poring heavily....Can't help....as nature cannot be controlled. ...just had to hold patience. By the time we reached the gates of the beautiful  KALACHURI  GROUP OF TEMPLES, the rains s stopped....we were so so happy. It's under archilogical survey of India. ..so no pujo is performed here but very well maintained.  It was great capturing different angles of the temple site.

Now it was time for our narmada temple /kund visit....no cameras allowed inside though photography is not prohibited. ....We went inside the temple complex , which is just adjustened  to Kalachuri group of temple site....The Narmada kund /temple complex is well maintained. ...it's very beautiful indeed. Remembered ,long time back we went to see Talacavery, which is the birthplace of  Cavery river in karnataka  state......After our darshan here ,we planned to see the SriYantra  temple and Sonmuda  (kund of Sone river),before we head for Jabalpur. .....The monkeys are a real nuisance in this region as now a days even they snatch away people's mobile phones...so need to be very careful as one go around the town....nothing much to do in this tiny place except enjoy the beautiful weather and free fresh oxygen......hardly any pollution.....The Shal jungle is seen all around.....few waterfalls to enjoy before one leaves the town.....No doubt , the Narmada kund was too good for a visit....Sone Kund looked bit neglected but surely roads are good and it's just 3kms away from Narmada temple. Went up to see the Jain  Temple, which is still under construction. ...overall , worth visiting.

As we drove away from Amarkantak town and completed our check at state checkpoint. .we had to drive thru those so called TREE CAVES...it's very beautiful and naturally formed....last night when we drove in thru it , I had it in my mind to video graph  the stretch as we drove thru....loved it ....and there after almost 250 kms drive upto jabalpur was too good and beautiful. ...lovely smooth drive across....roads are adorned on both sides by tall eucalyptus tree.....it's a pleasure drive thru.....loved  it all.

T he Route :KAHNA -MUKKI-BAIHAR-LAMTA-CHIRAIDONGRI-MANDLA-CHABI-DINDORI-GARHSARAI-AMARKANAK. 
TOTAL -----300 kms stretch.

MY FIRST EVER VISIT TO ISCON HEADQUARTERS AT MAYAPUR.

Mayapur in nadiya district of West Bengal is the headquarters of ISCON (INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS ). It is around 130km +kms from North  kolkata. 
Introduction :
Mayapur is located on the bank of ganges at the point of its confluence  with Jalangi near Navadwip. Mayapur is considered a holy place by the followers of Hinduism and Vaishnavism.it is the birth place of Chaitanya  Mahaprabhu, who is regarded as the special incarnation of Lord krishna.
MY VISIT:
Though I belong from kolkata, but never before did I get the opportunity to visit mayapur, though head a lot about the place.Finally , it's in Jan 2016 that I planned to take my parents for a visit and get HIS blessings.Started from home by road with lots of expectation in heart to convey my thanks to krishna ji  for the news of my husband 's promotion in job....We took the kalyani express highway , upto kalyani and then head towards Shantipur and phuliya , which is famous for Tant silk saree( cotton)....onto Krishna nagar,  which is famous for chana (panned fried) sweets and Dhakai  paratha. ... (must try while visiting this place)....then headed for Mayapur.The present WB govt has been taking lots of effort  to get 4 lanes highway for people to reach such extreme  border areas of Bengal...Really impressed  by the process of work...may be when the work will be over , it will hardly be that tough to reach the place.....
Once in mayapur ,  Chaitanya Mahaprabhu 's temple comes first....Besides devotion and prayers , I collected small mud toys of krishna nagar from the stalls as I could not make it to Ghurni, where this toys are made by hands.
And finally  ,  here I was at ISCON headquarters. ..it's just too huge and beautiful, that's my first impression. ....After we parked our vehicle, we walked across its campus. Beautiful garden...very neat and we'll maintained.  Then came our darshan at the main mandir. Then came the sight of the beautiful  larger than life size Sri Sri  RadhaMadhava idol surrounded by their ashtaa sakhis or  gopis ie friends....it's still just a feeling of divine, as I stood in my prayers...so much purity and peace....felt lucky to be have his Darshan....beautiful decoration  of the idol will definitely steal any human soul....
Temple of God  Nrismha  in the centre

dd cap

It was just a memorable moment that will alway remain in my heart......Hope HIS BLESSINGS be alway with me.... next we went to see the ISCON founder Srila Prabhupada temple were his idol in bronze .....it's dome too is very beautiful. ...

Goshala, which houses more than 200 cows and bulls , is also an attraction for devotees.....The temple serves meals to all its devotees as prasadam. ...

Over all it was a great experience. ..I collected nice spiritual books on krishna,  agarbati, dry prasad to carry home, photo frames of krishna. ...hope to make it there again sometime. 

HARE KRISHNA....

Myself in tant silk saree from Santipur.