A tourist's guide to Aurangabad.

For the last couple of years, i've been trying to make family vacations a yearly affair. Two years ago, we went for an extremely chilled-out and relaxing holiday to Kodaikanal. Last year, i missed taking my parents anywhere for various reasons. This year, though, i had to take them somewhere to make up for sitting at home last year.

I decided on Goa or Kerala and then told them of my plans. Immediately, both Mom and Dad protested saying that they didn't want to see either. "So what then?", i asked and they both racked their brains and came up with "Let's go to Aurangabad!" It was my turn to protest - Why Aurangabad? What's there to see, i asked. They came up with several places, so i gracefully gave in and started planning the vacation.

But, because i belong to the Wiki generation, i HAD to go and look up Aurangabad. And what i saw fascinated me, getting me really enthusiastic about the holiday. Normally, i hate planning trips but this time, given that there was nobody else to do it, i went ahead and planned the whole thing. (Well, the resort we stayed at planned our itinerary, but still!) So i researched online and found Meadows, Aurangabad. It's a 4-star resort a handful of kilometres out of the city, but very peaceful. The service was superb, the staff was impeccably courteous, helpful and friendly and the place was tranquil. The selling point was that it was situated right next to stretches of agricultural land dotted with fields of colourful pulses, vegetables and spices.

My only dissatisfaction was with the rooms - i thought they could have been much better for the price i was paying for them, but that will apparently be taken care of with the renovation that's due to start next month.

We flew out to Mumbai on Christmas morning, with my Dad glued to the window overlooking plump white clouds cast with the rosy glow of a magnificent sunrise. Our train to Aurangabad was from CST (the erstwhile Victoria Terminal) late in the night, but i was panicking because our tickets weren't confirmed. Since we had the whole day to ourselves, we hired a cab and went around the city. My mother bought half of Linking Road, after which we lunched at The Great Punjab (excellent Bheja Fry!), after which the cabbie showed us the homes of fillum ishtaars - Mannat and Jannat and what-have-you.

Feeling a little silly about it, we then asked him to take us to Juhu beach. The first things that struck me were the ice gola shops with a multitude of flavours, each popping out in bright colours. The place was teeming with people, but rather than seem crowded, it was just full of life. My senses were thoroughly stimulated.

After hanging about for a bit, we went back to collect our luggage from Sister K's place and headed to CST way before time so we could do jugaad for our tickets. We were still RAC.

The sunset as we drove through the sea link was breathtaking. Especially when the ball of fiery orange played hide and seek through the cables holding up the bridge. It was momentary respite from my stressing about the train tickets.

We reached CST at 6:45 p.m. Our train was at 9:00 p.m. It was going to be a long, and very painful, wait for the train. Nevertheless, we hurried in, trying to get a coolie to take our luggage because Mom and Dad couldn't have walked the distance to our platform with extra load, checking to see if the final charts were put up, and catching the eye of TTs to figure out if something could be done.

My parents were absolute rockstars about the whole thing. They came up with hundred and one plans to get berths on the train, all the time trying to calm me down by saying that it was okay, we could adjust and travel. Dad was super-thrilled. Travelling without a confirmed ticket was like an adventure straight out of his younger days!

The final charts got prepared an hour before our train was scheduled to leave. We were still RAC, but we had two RAC berths allotted between us. It was the first time in five hours that i breathed normally. When it was time to board, we got in and Dad occupied one berth while Mom and i shared another.

I was up most of the night, and to entertain myself i took pictures of stations, people, tried bokeh shots, challenged myself to keep my hands still at Shutter speeds of 1.3 seconds, shot my multicoloured socks and finally, like a class contortionist, curled up into a tiny ball of fat (as much as i could) and tried to get some sleep.

At 4 in the morning, you'd expect any place to be cold. But the air in Aurangabad when we landed at half-past was crisp, with the fresh smells of morning wafting around. The resort had sent us a cab, with the sweetest, most easy-going Vishnu as our driver. He was with us for all the time that we were in Aurangabad.

The city itself is dry. And scorching hot. People there do not know what the chill of December means. To them, the heat in December was pleasant as compared to that of the rest of the year. Because the soil of the region is black, ginger, garlic, turmeric, chillies, sweet corn, tomatoes, grapes, musambis, guavas and figs, Toor Dal, wheat, maize, and cotton grow in abundance. Needless to say, i freaked out in every one of the fields growing all of them.

On our first day in Aurangabad, we visited Ellora Caves. It's amazing how over hundreds of thousands of years ago, people were able to carve these caves out of stone with just a hammer and chisel. The detailing in each one of these caves defies words, and makes one wonder about the determination and dedication the artisans must have had to create such masterpieces.

Ellora caves are home to three different religions, with caves built during the reign of different kings. There are Jain, Hindu and Buddhist caves carved against the backdrop of a hillock.

This is a Jain temple; you can see Mahaveer sitting cross-legged in the inner chamber of the temple. His sculpture is flanked by two smaller ones, one on either side. Apparently, these sculptures are of Mahaveer's helpers/servants who were always with him. The doorways are carved with motifs and Yakshas - angels.

The second set of caves were made by Hindus, the most remarkable of which is the Kailash Temple. It's a massive monolith full of intricate carvings detailing various mythological stories of Hindu gods. The walls of the central structure speak of the stories of Ramayana and Mahabharatha.

Apparently, all structures carved out of stone follow a pattern - the sculptor starts from the top of the rock to the bottom, and then moves from the front facet of the structure to the back. That should give you an idea of what a mammoth task the artisans and sculptors undertook with this temple! How did they measure the structure? How are the lines so straight? How are the motifs mirror images of each other? It's just mind-boggling.

If you climb on to the hillock right next to the temple, you get a fabulous view of the entire structure, but i was exhausted with all the walking by the time we reached here, so i skipped climbing up.

After Kailash temple, we moved on to the Buddhist caves of Ellora. I found them to be the best of the lot in terms of craftsmanship. Maybe it has something to do with the style of the carvings - a sense of serenity descends upon you when you walk into the caves.

In this picture, the entranceway is flanked by angels in flight, with window space in the centre for sunlight to come through to the inner chambers of the temple. Motifs range from stupas to elephants, chariots, mandalas and episodes from Buddha's mortal life.

In this picture, you'll see the seven avatars of Buddha (i think they're called Satvas, if i'm not mistaken), his transformation from mortal to monk and the future avatars he will don when he returns. This was the only temple in which i found the transformation to be so clearly carved and portrayed.

There was more fabulosity in the Buddhist caves, each with a dominating sculpture of Buddha in the inner-most sanctum. All of them depict him either teaching, preaching or meditating.

Out next stop was Daulatabad Fort. But before we went there, we made a little stopover at Aurangzeb's tomb. On one hand is the cruelty of Aurangzeb in mistreating his ageing father Shah Jahan; on the other, we hear the story of a man who didn't use a cent from the city's treasury but rather, sold prayer caps which he stitched himself and asked that only his earnings from the caps be used for his burial. He also asked that he be buried next to his mentor - a saint of sorts and also a very clever man (he was the mastermind behind Panchakki - a hydraulic system that helped pump water from 6 kilometres away by employing the kinetic energy of water). The facade is pure marble that has withstood the test of time.

Over Aurangzeb's mentor's grave, there are strings of threads and metal plates that hold a series of oval, stone-like objects. Apparently, those are ostrich eggs that Aurangzeb got all the way from Africa to hang here. The eggs have been emptied out, of course, but the shells have been retained and are matted with the patina of passing years. I still cannot figure out what the significance of the Ostrich eggs is.

A murshad of some sort stood outside the mentor's grave, delivering blessings in the form of gentle knocks on people's heads with a bunch of peacock feathers. Once i had mine (i wore Skinny jeans and glasses above my head, with my camera slung around my neck and spoke Urdu. No surprise that they were stupefied), it was time to head to Daulatabad Fort.

The name Daulatabad was given by Tughlaq (popularly known as The Mad King) because he found Aurangabad to be full of innumerable riches. That fact holds true even today - there are over 220 Mercedes owners in the city and more than half the population is very well-to-do.

Daulatabad Fort was built on a mountain. While the fort is essentially at the base and winds up to about halfway up the mountain, the rest of it is a series of passages leading to a hall on its pinnacle.

The picture on the left shows the Chand Minar, the second highest structure after Qutb Minar. The fort is worthy of every praise it can get because it has been designed to throw off the invading armies of enemies at every step. There's a deep moat surrounding the fort, with only a narrow passageway leading to it. Window-like openings in the walls of the fort housed the King's army who shot down the enemy with arrows, sending them to their death in the moat full of crocodiles and snakes. Now, only green algae and plastic garbage thrive in the water.

Upon entering the fort, there are two pathways ahead of you to the left and the right. In fact, the paths always divide at every juncture inside the fort. The only way of knowing which way you should go is to look on the wall of the fort to find elephants pointing in certain directions. The way they face is the way to go. For instance, at the entrance of the fort, there were three elephants facing three different directions, showing that one had to walk straight first, take a right and then a left.

But that's not the most brilliant part of the fort. I have total respect for the genius behind the creator of the Dark Passage: Once the enemy enters the fort, they must pass through more than a kilometre-long, pitch dark passage. There's no wind, no light, and absolutely no idea of where one is headed. You may think you're walking straight, but actually, you're going around in a semi-circle. At some places, you'll find a duct wide enough to let you pass through. Stay away from it. It will lead you straight into the hungry mouths of waiting crocodiles.

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If you think the Ellora Caves are beautiful, then you're in for a surprise. Ajanta Caves, a two-hour drive from Aurangabad, are the most stunning examples of Buddhist art i have seen.

The story goes that John Smith, a British gentleman from the days of the Raj, was out in the mountains hunting for tigers. He didn't find any striped cats, but his eye did catch something white glinting in the distance. Curious about what it could be, he walked over (it's a good five kilometre walk at least, by the way; you have to do a LOT of walking to see Ajanta caves) and noticed that it was a door of some kind. And so started the excavation work of the caves that were hidden for more than 800 years. The place has been declared a World Heritage Site, and when one sees the beauty that's been preserved inside each of these caves, one can understand why.

The walls and ceilings are full of paintings - elaborate, colourful, impressive and massive. Each painting depicts a story from Buddha's life and the people associated with him. In this cave, the painting on the walls is the story of a poor boy and a rich girl. The father of the girl is the best chess player in the world, and when he hears of the poor boy wanting to marry his daughter, he challenges the boy to a game of chess. Distraught because he knows he won't win, the boy seeks the help of divine powers. Meanwhile, the mother of the girl talks to her husband and says that if he doesn't lose the game, his daughter will never marry. And so the father loses the game, and the couple get married.

No sculpture in the Ajanta caves is less than six feet tall. Add to it the sculpting itself, and you're bound to be left feeling small and insignificant. Even your most remarkable achievement will fade into nothing when you behold the marvels hidden within the caves.

Like Mahaveer, Buddha's sculpture also is flanked by two smaller sculptures on either side - his helper and wife who were with him throughout his life.

Some of the caves are lit because Ajanta was created in the shape of a horse shoe facing West. So sunlight only comes in fully when the sun's setting. The cave in which this picture was taken was not a finished one. The creation of caves depended solely on the stone, and so, if the stone was not good, then the sculptors and artisans abandoned their efforts and moved on further. Opposite the sculpture pictured here was an unfinished sculpture missing its lower body. I obviously haven't shared the picture because it has more people than the sculpture.

Be warned, when you go to Ajanta or Ellora - and this is regardless of the time of year you go in - there will always be hordes of people. Some foreigners, but mostly locals and Indians from other cities. In Aurangabad, it is compulsory for schools to take kids on a historical trip once a year. So you'll find lots of school kids too.

Also, flash photography isn't allowed in most caves. I never use Flash, but for those of you who do, make sure you enquire - if you're not with a tourist guide.

This is a picture of Cave No.26, the most beautiful cave at Ajanta. Every aspect of this temple is detailed and finished to perfection. Unlike all other Buddhist caves, this one has a special something to offer its visitors:

A 7-feet long sculpture of a Reclining Buddha. All other caves show him sitting in one of his three Aasans - teacher, protector or meditator. This is the only one that shows him resting. (Don't miss the tassled bolster under his head.) Just below his sculpture, you'll find carvings of people. They're all crying or weeping or in misery because they think that Buddha is not looking over them any more.

This was the last of the Ajanta caves we saw. I was tempted to go to the lookout point from where John Smith had discovered the caves, but after all the walking around, i just didn't have the energy.

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The part of the holiday i was looking forward to the most was the trip to Lonar Lake.

Over 50,000 years ago, a meteor hit Earth, forming a crater and displacing the land mass around it. As the years passed, fresh water sources from around it started trickling in, and soon a lake was formed. The water is rich in minerals - some that aren't even discovered yet - but with a pH level of 10.5 which makes the water unfit to drink, bathe in or use for any purpose. The rim of the crater is almost two kilometres in diameter, and the base of the crater has rich biodiversity, with migratory birds (none of which we saw, except for ducks) often flocking to it.

The climb down is 170-odd metres, with no defined path to take one down to the base. It is said that the meteor is still buried 50-60 metres under the lake. But whether this is true or not, it is true that the magnetic fields at the base are pretty active.

This is a picture of the Raam temple that people built a little after the 10th century. When the tourist guide and i entered and sat down, the guide took out his compass and asked me to observe the four directions carefully. South was to my left, North to my right and so on. He then moved the compass four inches away, and the directions immediately changed to East to my left and West to my right. I was awestruck. As if to make sure that i didn't think it was a trick of sorts, he moved the magnet around a few more inches every 30 seconds, and the direction of the poles changed immediately! It was absolutely fascinating.

There are at least 20 more temple ruins at the base, of which i saw three that seemed eerie and straight out of horror movies. The lake water itself is ripple-free and green because of all the algae living in it. It's a very quiet place to be in and i loved every minute there.

We spent an entire day at Lonar, leaving the Bibi ka Maqbara, Panchakki and Aurangabad Caves for the last day of our holiday.

This here is the Taj Mahal. Not. Hehe. This is Bibi ka Maqbara, nicknamed the Mini Taj Mahal. It looks exactly like the Taj, except that the Taj is bigger, the smaller domes adjacent to the central dome are absent in it, and the entire structure is made of marble. In this rendition of the Taj, the base and up to two feet above the base is made of marble; everything else is limestone.

Aurangabad Caves are a stone's throw away from Bibi ka Maqbara. These are Buddhist caves as well, with one cave holding carvings of Buddha and Ganesha side by side, implying that sculpting could have happened at two different points in time by two different religions. Had the caves been completed, they would've been almost as remarkable as Ajanta-Ellora, but the work was abandoned because the stone wasn't good. There are plenty of unfinished stone carvings that are testimony to this.

Collectively, all the caves have inspired textile arts that go by the name of Himroo and Paithani. Himroo mostly uses motif patterns from cave paintings, typically the swirls and curls and mandalas. Paithani is inspired by the Buddhist painting style and is full of animals, lotus flowers and birds. The colours are vibrant, and gold threads are sometimes used. These days, though, weavers use silver thread plated with gold because of gold rates. Himroo can mostly be found in shawls and stoles, while i've seen Paithani designs only in sarees. The former is possibly more affordable, while the latter is bound to leave a gaping hole in your pocket, with Paithani sarees starting at 6,000 rupees and going all the way up to 5,00,000.

So yes, i've pretty much covered everything. I'm done with my monologue, i've lived my adventure. It's your turn now, so go and experience Aurangabad as soon as you can. I assure you, you won't regret it.