We are roadies-Part II (Nagpur-Nandura-Ajanta Caves-Nagpur): Covid19 killed many, but did not tear apart the social fabric of Indians

 

23 February 2022

Covid19 pandemic affected everyone. Many lost their lives due to it and more so due to lack of medical facilities. But it did not tear apart the social fabric of most that the Indian society has woven around itself. So, after the second wave of this disease during March-April 2021, we accepted an invitation to attend the marriages and receptions of daughters of our three friends in Delhi during May to December 2021 despite reservations of our daughter for our safety. We hosted our relatives in our home in June-July and Nove-December 2021. We also visited Mumbai to see our daughter and her family for a week in October 2021. Then, we (I and my wife) went to visit many tourist and religious places on our route through Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat by road to Mumbai in the last week of December 2021. In January 2022, Covid19 finally caught me up in Mumbai despite my best efforts to keep it away with preventive measures and with two doses of vaccine earlier in April 2021. Fortunately, mild fever and cough were all symptoms that I suffered from. I recovered after seven days of home isolation and with medication as per physicians’ advice. I was afraid of continuing our travel down south or eastward, as the Omicron variant of Covid19 raged on in January 2022 in Maharashtra and other regions in the country. Fortunately, my wife did not show any symptoms as she was with me to care for. We returned home soon. Knowing fully well that I had recently been a Covid19 patient, we still received invites from our relatives to visit their homes and stay with them. My cousin from Jalna said that people were no longer worried about Covid19, and life was returning to normal. Yes, we cannot live in fear of Covid19. We Indians have learned to live with this viral infection. So, when our friend Vikas Zade suggested a road trip from Delhi to Nagpur in February 2022, we readily accepted it. Further, my home town being about 300 plus km away westward of Nagpur, the road trip with personal car became an attractive proposal. My cousin Dr Dileep Gujar and his family joined us for the major part from Nagpur onwards, and we added some religious and tourist spots on the way in a route, Nagpur-Mahurgad-Katepurna-Shegaon-Nandura-Ajanta Caves-Jalgaon-Nandura-Nagpur and back making it a full circle in the Vidarbha region, over a distance of about 1500 km (excluding Delhi to Nagpur journey).

 https://goo.gl/maps/1xL2zcQFVBu4hHji8

Here is a brief account.

11.02.22 Friday

            We left Delhi at 6 am and reached near Agra on the Yamuna expressway within 2 hr covering distance of 200 km. We had a breakfast of potato and paneer parathas for breakfast, just outskirt of Agra. At this point, a clutch of our SUV failed to operate. Fortunately, we got a help within 15 min, repaired the vehicle within two hr and left for Bhopal via Dholpur, Morena, Gwalior, Shivpuri, Guna and Biora on the NH 46. Not much of ravines of bandits could be seen near Morena. Terrain on this road was plain with fields of wheat, maize, sorghum, mustard and occasionally cotton fields. Roads were bad, shame in the name of calling them the national highways. Later, as we approached Bhopal, roads were fine. We had a lunch on the way at about 1.30 pm. Later, we reached Bhopal at 9.30 pm covering the distance of about 750 km.

            We stayed at ICAR-IISS Guest house. We had a dinner at nearby restaurant. The Guest house room was nice. There were few mosquitoes. But we slept well. We had morning tea and coffee at the guest house. Wheat fields were in the grain filling stage at IISS farms and gave a lovely greenery look.

12.02.22 Saturday

            We left ICAR-IISS Bhopal at about 8.30 am (Photo 1), had breakfast at about 9 am and left at 9.30 am for Nagpur. We travelled along Hoshangabad, Itarsi, Betul, Pandhurna, Katol and Savner on NH 46 and 47 before reaching Nagpur. It was all pleasant on this highway with fields of wheat, cotton and lots of forests. As we neared Nagpur, we saw lots of Nagpur mandarin and other fruits. Vegetables were grown in patches. Magnificent view of thermal power station at Koradi greeted us. We reached Nagpur at about 3.30 pm after covering a distance of about 500 km. We had tea and then visited Shri Satyanarayan Nuval Gurukul Vyasanmukti Kendra (NGO) at Dabha managed by Vikas (Photo 2) and then left for stay at Dileep’s home.

            Photo 1: With Nalini and Vikas at the roadside restaurant on way to Bhopal

 

                            Photo 2. De-addiction Centre (NGO) at Dabha, Nagpur                        

 13.02.22 Sunday

            We visited homes of our relatives, participated in a function at Rameson’s Hotel and Resorts on Katol Road in the afternoon and then visited other relatives in the evening and called the day at Dileep’s residence.

14.02.22 Monday

            We left at 7.30 am for Paramdham Ashram established in 1934 by late Acharya Vinoba Bhave, associate of Mahatma Gandhi who is known for his Bhoodan (donate land for distribution amongst poor) movement. A shrine is built up in the middle of river in front of this Ashram. Ashram was closed due to Covid19 pandemic. However, the Mahatma Gandhi’s ashram at Sevagram near Wardha established in 1936 was open. All the huts viz., Bapu Kuti, Maganlal Kuti, Visitor's Kuti, Miraben's Kuti and others were built with mud plastering of thatched walls and are being maintained in its original forms till date (Photo 3). We then left Sevagram for Yavatmal, had lunch at 1.30 pm at Forest Departments’ guest house and then, we visited Mahurgad (supposedly three and half Shakti peeth empowering three Goddesses of Hindus) at 3.30 pm. We first visited Renuka mata temple, later Anusaya mata and then Dattatreya temples located on different hills in close vicinity. Renuka mata is the only goddess who is depicted with her head bust, unlike other goddesses like Durga, Vaishno devi, Kali, Amba. Legend is of her being decapitated by her son, Parshuram on the orders of his father, Muni Jamdagani as she was late in bringing water for his yagna (fire offering to the God). Later, Parshuram repented over his crime and asked for his mother. There are various legends or stories associated with these temples (Photo 4-5). These temples are well maintained, with cemented steps while last one had a motorable road right up to the top of hill.

            We left Mahur at about 5.30 pm and reached our guest house at 7.30 pm. We had dinner at 8.30 pm and then slept.

                                

Photo 3: Mahatma Gandhi Ashram at Sevagram (Wardha)

Photo 4: At Renuka Mata temple, with Mahur fort in the background

Photo 5: In front of Renuka Mata Mandir

 

15.02.22 Tuesday

            We left a guest house at 8.30 am for going to Katepurna. On the way, an hour later, we visited Ner where my mausi’s son’s daughter, lovingly called Sonba lives with her family (Photo 6). It was pleasure to see her home, meet her relatives and surprisingly meet her sister who lives in Jalgaon. Both ladies were kids when I lived during 1969-73 at Nagpur with my mausi’s family. We left Ner at about 10.30 am and then arrived at Guru Mandir at Karanja (Lad). Karanja is the birthplace of Shri Nrusinha (Narasimha) Saraswati (1379-1459) who is considered as second avatar of Lord Dattatreya in the present times, after Sripada Srivallabha as per Guru Charithra. We left Karanja (Lad) at about 11.30 am and reached Katepurna Sanctuary (Mahan dam). The Dam is 100 ft in height, 6600 ft in width and gross water holding capacity of 3.5 billion sq ft. The dam is basically for catering irrigation and water needs of Akola and surrounding area. We had a sumptuous lunch here at a canteen of the Sanctuary at 1.30 pm, then went around for boating. The reservoir & forests in its catchment area form the Katepurna Wildlife Sanctuary. The forests here are dry deciduous type, with varied species of wild plants and animals. Even migratory birds visit the reservoirs in winter months. The luxuriant growth of forests here speaks about the zealous efforts of the forest officers led by my cousin Dr Dileep who was Dy Conservator of Forests here in 2001-2006 (Photo 7-8).  We left the sanctuary at 4.30 pm and reached Shegaon at 7 pm, had our rooms at the Bhakt Niwas (guest house) and then offered obeisance at Sant (Saint) Gajanan maharaj Samadhi at Shegaon. Gajanan Maharaj (1878-1910) lived in Shegaon. He is greatly revered as Hindu guru, saint and mystic in the Central India, especially in Maharashtra. We had a pleasant experience of paying respects followed by dinner-prasad of roti, aloo subji, spicy hot aloo subji, dal and rice-masala and plain. We loved eating, offered donation and left the temple for our guesthouse which was nearby. Most of complex related to darshan and meal hall is managed by the volunteers who followed strictly Covid19 prevention guidelines for all. The temple maintains high discipline, cleanliness and smooth administration. Other distinguishing features are non-interference of pujaries, discontinuation of floral or prasad offering and absence of haggling by intermediaries.

                                

Photo 6: With Sonba and her family, old temple seen in the background where her mother was married

Photo 7: Katepurna Sanctuary with water reservoir in the background

Photo 8: Temple at Katepurna reservoir

16.02.22 Wednesday

            We left Shegaon at about 8.15 am and reached Shri Sant (Saint) Gomaji Maharaj complex (about 250-year old) at Nagzari (Photo 9). Sant Gomaji Maharaj was a family guru of the wealthy Patil family at Nagzari. Like others, he too followed tradition of samadhi leaving his mortal body. We paid respects to late Sant, stay for an hour and then reached Khamgaon. At Khamgaon, we could not visit our old school, New Era High School, but visited GS College of Science, Arts and Commerce on the way to Nandura, where my cousin Dileep recalled memories of his college days. We spent more than an hr there, meeting Principal of the College and visiting the Department of Zoology. This college was established in 1947. I was pleasantly surprised to know that it had agriculture subject too, which was later dropped as farm universities were created. Later, we left GS College at noon, and reached my sister’s place nearby and then, our home town, Nandura at about 1.15 pm (Photo 10). As we had been to the Mahurgad, the revered temple (our family deity kul-daiwat); we had a traditional pooja with Aarati (prayer) of puran poli (chickpea flour based sweet roti) for blessings of the Goddess Amba mata at our ancestral home followed by lunch.                            

                                     Photo 9a: In front of Bhakt Niwas in Shegaon

                                        Photo 9b: In front of Sant Gomaji Maharaj temple at Nagzari.

                        

Photo 10: Our ancestral home at Nandura 

             We visited our 84-year old relative at about 4 pm and spent about an hr and then back.  He had fallen off in the bathroom, fractured his ankle and was recovering. At this time, my cousin and his family left for Shegaon and then to Nagpur via Achalpur where they wanted to see their ailing relative. This area is known for growing betel vines, mostly by farmers belonging to Bari community.

17.02.22 Thursday

            We visited our farm at the junction of highway and Malkapur road which is acquired by NHAI leaving us in lurch for compensation and triangular five gunta. Later, I visited the 7-acre farm of my relative on the way to Jalgaon (Jamod) about 20 km away from Nandura. We prayed to the God for blessing us with plenty of water in the recently dug well. This stretch of area is prosperous due to hardworking innovative farmers growing crops. Later, we had lunch at Rajesh’s home and then rest in the afternoon.

18.02.22 Friday

            We left Nandura at 7 am for Ajanta Caves via Motala, Dhamangaon badhe, Fattepur, Tondapur and Wadali. The state road was bad, as a result, we had puncture in the left front tyre of car.  On the way, we met farmer who had planted sunflower. This area is known for growing maize, wheat, chickpea also. We reached Ajanta Caves at 11 am and spent 3 hr climbing steps, walking, visiting and photographing the beautiful carvings and paintings (Photo 11-13). Ajanta Caves are reportedly second century B.C. and were used until 480 C.E. These are believed to be built during Hindu Sathavahana dynasty (230 B.C. and 200 C.E.) and later during Gupta dynasty. These are UNESCO World Heritage Sites mostly of Buddhism, with sparklings of Jainism and Hinduism. There are about 30 rock carved caves, with cut outs, sculptures mostly devoted to life and times of Gautam Buddha and Buddhism. Gautam Buddha is believed to have lived during 6^th and 4^th century B.C. and imparted religious edits to his followers after attaining enlightenment at the young age. He propounded four truths viz., sufferings, their origin, cessation and path that each human goes through before attaining enlightenment. Meditation, monastic lifestyle, giving up of desire, moral values and Ahimsa (non-violence) form a prime foundation of Buddhism. Most important of all caves are 1, 2, 16, 17 and 29. We left Ajanta Caves at 3.40 pm and reached Jalgaon in the evening where our relatives live.

Photo 10a: With young farmer growing sunflower, maize and other crops on way to Ajanta Caves

                                     

Photo 11: Ajanta Caves in the C-shaped rocks

Photo 12a: Stupa carving at Ajanta Caves

Photo 12b: Painting of Buddha

Photo 12c: Paintings at Ajanta Caves supposedly 2000 year old

Photo 13: Buddha in meditation at Ajanta Caves

                 

19.02.22 Saturday

            We left Jalgaon at 7.40 am, reached Muktai temple (Photo 14) at Muktainagar (earlier called Edlabad) at about 9 am and then after an hour, left for Sutala, a suburb of Khamgaon. Sant Muktai was sister of famed Sants, Nivruttinath, Dnyaneshwar and Sopan during the 13^th century. She wrote 41 abhangs (devotional songs) and reported that Sant should accept criticism of people. It showed her great humility. We reached Sutala at 12.15 pm and had lunch with my sister. Later, we reached PKV guest house at about 1.30 pm in Akola, and stayed there. It was pleasure to see our friends there. We met Vikas again to exchange vehicles. He left for Jalgaon at about 3.30 pm.

                            

     Photo 14: At Muktainagar 

20.02.22 Sunday

            When we were about to leave Akola at about 8.15 am, I found that back left tyre is without air. I changed it with the help of students around. Later, we started for Nagpur. On the way at about 9.15, we had breakfast of poha (pressed puff rice) at roadside restaurant and later, we got our tyre checked for any puncture. We had a rough drive due to bad conditions of road until Badnera. From there, NH 53 road was very fine until we reached Nagpur. On the way, there was Ambazari Ordinance factory. We had lunch of dal and roti at the roadside restaurant. We reached Nagpur at about 3.00 pm and visited our relatives and well-wisher, before calling day off.

21.02.22 Monday

            We left Nagpur at 4.15 pm by Air and reached sweet home at 8.00 pm.

In brief, we saw during our drive scattered thatched houses without basic facilities, ordinary dhabas or restaurants along, villagers using cowdung slurry to sprinkle over ground in front of houses, gowries or theples of animal dung and crop residues for fuel, and women taking their cattles to pastures, and two wheelers and blaring of horns. Towns and cities were crowded, with shops catering to all daily needs and of traffic, ceremonies like marriages, religious processions and above all unruly traffic. It seemed that all have come to live along the highways. Most roads appeared to be poorly maintained, without signage and in the state of repairs and expansion. Driving through, climbing and walking daily was tough, with my legs showing stiffness at knees. But, knees did not pain, as used to be case before knee cap replacement surgery a year ago. We met our relatives and friends whom we had not seen for years, and were equally eager to see us, with Covid19 concerns less talked about, and facial masks least practiced. We travelled a distance of 1,250 km from Delhi to Nagpur, and another 1,500 km from Nagpur and back as described above. We flew back from Nagpur to Delhi. We spent about Rs 14,000/- on petrol, about 2000/- on tolls, Rs 10,000/- on the other expenses for nine- day trip in the rural areas of Vidarbha region of state of Maharashtra, meeting our relatives, friends, strangers in a relatively relaxed and thrown-to-winds-Covid19-norms lovely spring season.

 

PS: Grateful acknowledgement of Dr Dileep Gujar and his family for great hospitality and company, and Vikas Zade and his family for all logistic support, confidence and fine hospitality during whole road trip.