Bibi Ka Makbara, Panchakki, Paithan-Aurangabad

Continuing from the Daulatabad Fort we move ahead to "Poor Man's Taj"

Time 3:30 PM:

Thoughts at Bibi ka Makbara:

Friends....I frankly tell you that I don't know anything about the emotion called "love"..!! One of my girlfriends (that means ...she is girl and she is my friend...that’s all!!), who is in great love with somebody else (latest update is that she is living happy married life!) recently told me that “love is nothing but pure selfishness"...may be...I don’t know.....lovers say "it just happens"...it blooms (in) the heart, mind, life. Dreams gets wings...wings get fired! And so and so. This "Bibi ka Makbara" is also a symbol of love...a carbon copy of Taj (or Taj is duplication of this ....???..I haven't studied history much!)...a monument to memorize wife of Aurangazeb...her dead body is kept in here... (Anyway it is buried ...hence it doesn't smell bad!!).

This structure is built by son of Aurangazeb in memory of his mother. Taj is built by Shah Jahan in memory of his wife and this Shah Jahan happens to be the father of Aurangazeb! What I understood finally is very simple...same family built two buildings that look alike!

It’s a "kabr". Just imagine Taj Mahal..glittering white...cold...cool...made up of marble...four pillars at four corners...main entrance gate...u can see Taj in a single view........

That’s all; you have seen "Bibi ka Makbara".

Enjoy the Mughal Gardens. Marble is used inside the tomb...See the panoramic view in all angles...its nice. Spend joyous moments with your children if you have. If you are a lover, love the love like you have never loved...else if you are a simple enthusiastic traveler like me....pen down something so that others can scratch their head!

With haunting melodies and memories of love and "bibi" we geared up to another place very near to it called "Panchakki"(....means "water mill").

Water comes out of the ground here, which is used by the masjid situated over here. In good olden days the source of the water was not known. But now it is found that water has its roots at around 40 kms away near ellora hills, flows through underground path and because of height difference it comes out here. There is nothing big here....!! In our cities also rain water comes out in the same fashion from so many gutters and roots are not at all known!!!!

Time:7PM

We are in Paithan ...50 kms away from Aurangabad..very famous for its Paithan sarees.( like "Tirupur" in tamilnadu ).Biggest dam of the Maharashtra is built here, we could not see it...leave that ! There is a beautiful garden...its cool evening...here is one musical fountain..also we have dance program....songs are booming. Hundreds of people gathered to see it...suddenly Nair started to dance. It looked like "Tandava Nritya" of lord Shiva. I expected news of earthquake somewhere in the world in the newspaper tomorrow! Thanks god...nothing happened!!

Daulatabad Fort

Nearly 2 years back i was working in Nashik. I along with colleagues went to Ajantha - Ellora - Aurangabad - Daulatabad Fort for a two days trip. Here is the initial part of the travelogue:

Day One . Towards Daulatabad:

Morning 6 o'clock:

I woke up..I had to be.....otherwise how others can wake up????

Time: 8 to 8:20AM: Simply waiting for our great Kishor in Dwaraka circle of Nashik city....at last he came zooming....flying..!!!!....and our sumo zoomed out of Nashik city like a rocket (I know it's too much of exaggeration!) towards Aurangabad in Nashik-Indore highway..!

Time: 11:30AM: See there atop of the hill......its dramatic Daulatabad fort of the 12^th century....just 10 Km be

fore to Aurangabad city. One whole hill has been converted to majestic impregnable fort. Mr. Tughluq changed old name of the once charming city “devgiri” and gave a new name “daulatabad”. “daulat” means wealth and hence we can term

it as “city of wealth” or “fortune” or so !!. (Well... I know a film “city of god”, a fantastic Brazilian film, and a true story of a slum boy turned out be a photographer). Short period of time it was capital of India. Originally it seems it was built by Hindu kings and later conquered by Muslim invaders. (Of course…nothing new ...it is the story of every corner of Indiaa!). Fort is surrounded by three levels of thick walls and several traps for the enemies.

Starting itself you can see a large tower "Chandmeenar" (actually “chand” means “moon” and “meenar” means “tower” .....can I call it as “moon tower” – a tower that is touching moon) of height around 30m..now it is completely covered by iron grills for conservation works.

On the left side you can see "Gajashaala" where elephants were fed. There is a water tank made up of lined stones.

Come up...a huge door of the fort welcomes you ...go on climbing....a few more big steps.........don't tell "ooophs......!!!"....you have climbed just 100 to 200 steps..more are there......well...we have reached a plane ground now.

Here is a Cannon situated over stone platform...lets have some snaps...smile please...

Come on lets move...take care...slow...gruesome traps are awaiting for us...see...this great moat is death canal for enemies....hungry crocodiles were freely moving in this water trap...whole fort is surrounded by this...now we have a small access bridge to cross over to other side of the fort and this is main fort or innermost ring (3^rd level) of the fort...

oh..God! Where we reached??...here it seems very dark...this seems to be a trap... maze.....completely dark...!

Do you see anything?

We can see many people just outside that maze offering them to be a guide along with their flame torch....even frightening that we ourselves can’t get into that maze and solve it....! Rs.30 was the price they were charging..!

No!!! Suresh shouted with complete disagreement...he is experienced for this fort... he is coming second time (nice...!)....lets attack......

Suresh is shouting at us to follow him properly, for a while I thought to turn back because there are seven members blindly following me. Immediately I smiled myself, thinking that there are eight members behind Suresh (this is nothing but relativity theory!)...when he is not worried about the consequences why should I cry??!! . We moved in, simply by feeling the touch of cold walls...oh god...I can see the source of light! After coming out I simply glazed over towards downside...there are a few easy steps to come here instead of that scary route....many people are coming....!!! Thanks to government arrangement.......! oooophs..!!!!!!!!!!!..i even felt happy that we did not waste 30 rupees for those torch light guides.... it might have been utter foolishness to get trapped in to their frightening words ! So if you are going to daulatabad fort remember to carry a good torch light!

A white colored structure can be seen at the top of the hill by further climbing up. Remaining of the Buddhist cave temple structures provides a glimpse of great history of the fort.

Watching the gigantic view of Daulatabad city from the top of the hill......is it ? sorry to say ..It is small dirty city now!

I just checked time....its already 1:30PM.....lets move down now friends...come quickly...because you have to see two more places...again left right turns.....same steps...some foreign couples.....some romantic moments....Dream yourself, but also take care that you will not fall down. We are in the vehicle rocketing towards “Biwi ka Makbara”!.