I was supposed to be attending
an interview call at Anand, Gujarat, India but I just can't ignore my
wanderlust proclivity and go to a place and come back without relishing the
local fervor. Fortuitously, the interview was scheduled on Tuesday which meant
that I could utilize the weekend before the interview. I flew to Ahmedabad
early Saturday morning and reached Gandhinagar at my uncle's place. After some
chitchatting, we left the coziness of the dwelling in the afternoon to see the
astounding architectural planning of the capital city of Gujarat. The town has vertical
and horizontal parallel roads intersecting each other and the areas in between
them houses the necessities of a city. Such a fabulous planning makes exploring
the city a laymen's job.
In the evening we went to the
immensely famous Akshardham temple aka the Swami Narayan Temple spread into 23
acres. The temple garnered negative publicity after an armed terrorist attack
in 2002. Since then, the security has been buffed up considerably. The temple
precincts preserve a museum depicting the models of the belongings of the
founder of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, Lord Swaminarayan including his nails
and hair pieces. The museum is small but well-kept as there is no dearth of funding
in the Swaminarayan Sampradaya. Having seen the temple and the museum below its
base, we walked towards the Water and Laser show which was going to be a
dazzling and a mind-boggling event.
We had bought the tickets
earlier to avoid the last minute rush. We bought ice-creams and reached half an
hour earlier for the first laser show of the night which started at 7 p.m. The
show is conducted in the open-air amphitheater which amplifies the whole
experience. The show illustrates that mythological instance from Katha Upanishad
where Nachiketa is donated by his father, Vajashrava, to the lord of Death,
Yama. This is when the 7-year old kid learnt the cardinals of life and death
from Yama himself. The 45 minutes water and laser show was purely magical. Dazzling
and extremely precise water, laser and fire patterns, wonderful narration, fierce
sound elements and the riveting moral story, would never allow losing your
attention for any transitory moment. Having had the famous vegetarian Khichdi
after the show from the food court in the temple premises, we left for the day,
only to go to Mt. Abu the next day.
The next morning, we were off
to Mt. Abu, a popular and the only hill station in the Aravalli Ranges in
Rajasthan. It took us 4 hours from Gandhinagar to reach there by car. We
started off with the highest point in Rajasthan, Guru Shikhar, located at an
altitude of 1722 meters. It houses the temple of God Dattatreya, an incarnation
of Lord Vishnu. You can witness the vastness of the Aravalli range from the summit.
We had satiating lemon water made from the Meyer lemons particular to warm
climates, I took some amazing pictures and after some customary shopping and snacks,
we descended from the peak and left for the mesmerizing circa nine centuries
old Dilwara temples.
The use of marble in the
construction of the 5 temples in the Dilwara premises is quite opulent and
eye-catching. There are temples of five Jain tirthankars viz. Adinath,
Neminatha, Rishabhdev, Parshvanath and Mahavira. The intricate carvings and
subtle architecture of the temples will leave you short of breath. These
temples not only speak of the rich art of historic India but also indicate the amount
of wealth the kings would have possessed that time.
The last halt in Abu was at
Nakki Lake which, as raconteurs tell, was dug out of nails. A gentle breeze
blowing across the lake was veritably soothing. We had a scrumptious meal at a
lakeside restaurant, took some snaps for memory’s sake and left the place along
the very famous Shopping Mall road. Placid green water, paddle boats sailing in
the lake, hot-air balloon giving the junkies a small lift, architectural
finesse of the Dilwara and the cold climate of Abu makes it one of most coveted
travelling destinations in India asking people around the world to enjoy the
chill in a predominantly desert area, Rajasthan. A wonderful evening in Abu
came to an end as we left for our abode in Gandhinagar with impressions of Abu
engraved in our hearts.
