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. 

MY FIRST VISIT TO LAVASA CITY.

LAVASA is a private  planned city being built near pune ie Mose  Valley of Western Ghats. The city has been controversial  for multiple reasons including procurement of land, harm to environment,loans acquired thru' political corruption. It is being developed  by HCC.  
  Staying at mumbai, many a time we thought to visit LAVASA  city...but considering the distance to reach the place , every time we had to drop the idea....finally ,  it happened .....we went there soon after Diwali. ...Monsoon  is the best time to visit the place though. Hotels are available but it's very very expensive, moreover very tough to get opportunity to book one as it's alway in full occupancy. 

We started off from our home in navi  mumbai bit early around 8am. .then took the Mumbai -pune express way to  pune  ,  thereafter we took the Sus -pashan  road towards lavasa  city. By the time we took onto our drive from pune towards lavasa , it was already 11.30am.  But this route is very deserted  but quite hilly  and a beautiful drive offcourse...... we never thought that lavasa is so long a distance from pune city too....Hardly any marking  on the way , made our drive bit confusion.

Finally , we reached the Mulshi  dam....we stopped for a while for few photo shots....before continuing with our journey, towards lavasa. Now came the entrance gate of Lavasa city ....need to pay some 100 rs  as entrance  fee....but what for , we could not make it.....anyways,  as we drove inside,  it's so so pretty and so well maintained. ......we now started loving our drive. That's the Dasave  lake ....Wow  , it looked so pretty from the top. Now we intended to go down to its edge. ....but at the same time we were feeling  so hungry. ....checked out few hotels but it was all waiting mentioned "...... so just after a drive across wanted to leave the place and thought to have food outside...... Stay there could have been a delight  but since no accommodation was available so we had to drop the idea for night stay..... so enjoyed some happy moments before we left thinking to have some food on the way but our bad luck ......hardly a small dhaba  on the way could get us any food except a cup of tea........we just had to hurry up before it gets dark as we had plans to visit Mulshi lake too ...... it was no doubt a good experience. ...had heard so much about the place in newspapers and finally we could make it..... Heard the place looks heavenly  during rainy seasons.... hope to make it then again.

DRASS- the pictureques land of J&K.

While staying at jammu , we got the opportunity to explore the extensive land of J&K and ladakh.... Though , each of the places i had been to across J&K ,has different angle of beauty attached to it in my mind but my most loved travel experience was our visit to Kargil & Drass via Zogilla pass.
Offcourse , Zogila Pass is always a travel enthusiasts dream journey but the extreme beauty is just as one ends their journey across Zogila. The landscape between end of Zogila pass & Drass , mostly known as PANDRASS , is just unexplainable & truely a Jannat.
 The name Drass , itself reminds us of the Kargil War...... the sacrifices of lives of our soldiers....the name Tiger hill ,Tololing peaks, ecos in our mind. I always longed to see this World's 2nd coldest place ie DRASS..... & so ,it came on a platter to me.... I knew the journey is definitely tough but its a memmory to be cherished ever.Zogila Pass drive thru' is beautifully canvased on my lens & whenever I watch those moments on my laptop , I just get shiver ......sometimes, i feel ,I will never again have the courage to traverse that journey again in my life.......I was totally exausted by the time we came to  the end of Zogila Pass..... But now began the extreme beauty of nature................Uff!!!!!just couldnot stop framing each & every angle of the region ,so called Pandrass.....................

What a beautiful landscape , Just mesmerised me .....................& then came Mushko Valley.... Just dont know , who created this unexplainable beauty............ Loved it truely . All my hard efforts to take on the Zogila Pass paid off . 

Mushko Valley.

Its was Drass now,.......................... The War Memmorial was just a treat to be there & may our homage to our brave soldiers who laid down their lives for Our India.

End of Zogila Pass.

White Peaks of TIGER HILL, Drass.

Kargil War memmorial  at Drass.

At my backdrop is the Tololing top at War Memmorial, Drass.

Kargil War Memmorial, Drass.

It was really a great feeling to be visiting the World's 2nd coldest place  -DRASS. My most memmoriable trip across J&K during our stay at Jammu ....
 Now its all memmories to cherish all my life as our jammu tenure ended & we headed back to our home Mumbai ................... So hence on it will be some other places across India to explore.

MY ADVENTUROUS DRIVE ACROSS THE ZOJILA PASS.

The name ZOJILA pass  itself brings severe and thrill  to every travel enthusiasts  mind. It's considered the steepest and the difficult and dangerous  amongst all mountain passes across the Himalayas. ...it was long wished for ,to drive across. Earlier, I had the opportunity to drive across kardungla, changla  passes in ladakh,  Sela pass in Arunachal pradesh , Banihal in jammu region and Rotang  pass in Himachal pradesh. ...but ZOJILA  had been alway a craze for me. Just had the opportunity  last month to travel upto kargil across ZOJILA  pass.....I didn't  wish to miss  this chance and reached Srinagar on 16th June 2015. We were to drive off to kargil on 19th June. ...but it was continous bandh  atmosphere across kashmir valley from 17th June onward. ...was very much worried for that...anyways,  we hired an inova  car  as it's not adviceable  to take zojila  pass in smaller vehicles....

We left Srinagar  very early ie 8am. ...We had prior info that the upward traffic  on zojila was allowed from 1pm...so we had to cross  Sonmarg and reach Baltal  by 1pm.Baltal is the place from which Zojila pass starts...lucky that we cross Sonmarg by 12pm and soon we were on high mountains. ...traffic  jam is very common on this way....We were hanged up at Baltal for almost  2 hrs approx . because of some landslide  little before Baltal. ....I came out of my car , and  what a view across....

At Baltal.
Oh ,  the traffic started moving...and we were on the move...now Zojila  though looked thrilling to drive but really every drivers nightmare. ....road hardly exists...snow melting had brought waters and mud all on the road...the road is so very narrow,  looking down  just brought shivers and as I kept filming my journey  on my lens , I was awstruck  by the treacherous  beauty of the Zojila. ...after a short time others in our vehicle were all started feeling drowzy  but I was not able to wink  my eyes even.....its so so beautiful. ...looked like I am travelling  in some other planet. ...just to the summit,  ie Zero point it's had been a very very difficult drive....above that those dusts and the difficult  twists and turns.....just crazy !!!!!!.....heart was beating very fast as it was really scary. ...
Many tourist who plans for halts at Sonmarg,  do plan for the Summit of Zojila  pass ie Zero point but often those tourist vehicles fool the passenger's and shows places close to Baltal and tells that it's Zero point...
By the time we reach Zero point it was around 3.30pm. ..we had a short stop over there ,  had tea and snacks in small temporary  shops there and watched other people taking on skiing,  snow sledging  and motor  biking on the snow....After the all refreshing  break we then headed for Pandras,  which is the end of the Zojila pass....after the Zero point , it's really picturesque. ....In my total journey  across ,to kargil ,  I loved  Pandras,  Mushkoh  valley,  Suru valley  and  Drass much more attractive. ....kargil town is just hyped by name of the kargil war , but I realised that the war took place in Drass area  in kargil district.......
I tried to canvas my journey  on my lens and the thrill is always to be experienced by one who takes on the drive.