Everytime the word Bhopal is mentioned, it takes one back to
the 3rd December 1984, when a Union Carbide Corporation pesticide plant in
Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate gas leading
to the worst industrial disaster ever. But when we drove into Bhopal a few
months back, nearly 28years after the tragic event, we found that people had
moved on and there were no obvious
signs of the tragedy. It was as lively as
any urban Indian city with manic traffic on narrow roads and crowds jostling at
the markets making their way to trade goods.
Bhopal, now the capital of Madhya Pradesh, according to
folkolore was founded by Raja Bhoja of the 
Paramara dynasty.
After checking into Hotel Ranjit, had a quick lunch and then
set out for the State Museum. This museum
devoted to archaeology, exhibits
antiquities like coins, sculptures and terracotta excavated from all the
significant sites of the region. Also on view are paintings and handicrafts
made by the tribal communities of
Madhya Pradesh. It sure is a place where one
can spend hours marveling at the amazing art of the artisans. The timings of
the Museum are 10.00am to 5.00pm and closed on Mondays and Government Holidays.
There is no entry fee too, presumably to encourage people to visit and learn.
It was evening by the time we finished with the museum and
so headed out to the lake for a cruise by sunset.
The cruise was magical.
We ended the day at Chatori galli – Bhopal’s khau galli
where we feasted on Kababs and tandooris
followed by sweet paans.
Bhopal has a very quaint city tour transport onto which we
hopped on the next day. Our first stop was the
Lakshmi Narayan Temple devoted
to Vishnu and his mythological consort Laxmi, called Birla Mandir. You
can get
some beautiful overviews of Bhopal from the lawns of the temple.
The next stop was the Tajul masjid – the 3rd
largest mosque in the world. After a photo session in the masjid we left for
the Tribal museum – an amazing place which has tribal art from all over Madhya
Pradesh and it
would take you a minimum of three hours to scan through the
museum.
In the evening we went to check out
the Moti masjid and
the
Jama Masjid which are close to the Chatori gully which beckoned us again for
some delicious biryani at Jameel’s and some delicious ‘Khajoor’ which is crisp
on the outside and soft within!
Next day we set out for the famous Bhimbetka caves that are
around 45kms from the city. Got a licenced
guide at the entrance to the
Bhimbetka complex who took us through all the important sites giving us a
lowdown on the historic importance of each. It is a World Heritage Site and a
number of analyses suggest that at least some of these shelters were inhabited
by hominids like homo erectus more than 100,000 years ago. Some of the Stone
Age rock paintings found among the Bhimbetka rock shelters are approximately
30,000 years old (Paleolithic Age).
The name Bhimbetka is said to be a derivative of Bhimbaithka, meaning "sitting place of
Bhima". Bhima is the hero-deity renowned for his immense strength, from
the epic Mahabharata. It was discovered by V.S.Wakankar in 1957.
It is a marvel that these paintings have not faded even
after thousands of years.The oldest paintings are considered to be 30,000 years
old, but some of the geometric figures date to as recently as the medieval
period.
A cursory visit here too takes around two to three hours.
On the way back to Bhopal we visited the Bhojeshwar temple
in Bhojpur. It is a temple dedicated to Lord
Shiva and houses a huge Linga that
is 5.5 m (18 ft) tall and 2.3 m (7.5 ft) in circumference.
Unfortunately this
temple was not completed due to King Bhoja being defeated and killed in a
battle by the combined strength of Chalukyas of Kalyani and Gujarat combined
with Lakshmi-Karna of the Kalachuri dynasty.
Thus ended our visit to historic Bhopal.
How to get there:
By Rail: Bhopal Railway Station is a major railhead
connecting all major cities in India.
By Air: Bhopal Airport, also known as Raja Bhoj Airport, is
15 km away from the heart of the city. It is well connected by domestic
airlines from all major cities of India.
By Road: Overnight deluxe buses from Delhi, Gwalior and
Jabalpur are available to Bhopal.