Aurangabad Diaries 2019_02

Day 02_ 01^st Sept 2109

Though we had planned an early start to revisit the Ajantha Caves again in the morning , it was a late wake up call for all of us since we were pretty tired the earlier day. Also we had seen most of the campus so we decided to give another visit to the Ajantha caves ,a miss. Also the fact that you had to park the vehicle , walk upto the bus pick up point and travel by the bus to the start of the campus deterred us further!!! So we had a nice relaxed morning chitchat  session at the MTDC resort and then checked out after the breakfast. We headed back to Aurangabad, dreading the road travel again because of the previous day’s experience. Probably , due to our preconceived expectation of the road condition, somehow the return journey was smoother and faster!!!! Soon we were in Aurangabad and we checked in to a decent hotel , Treebo Sonia, near the CIDCO bus stand (away from the core city) and it was a pleasant ‘upgrade’ from the MTDC resort. A quick walk around the hotel to explore the near by area and we settled down for lunch.

The evening was planned for a visit to the Bibi ka Maqbara, mausoleum for Aurangzeb’s wife(one of the many!!!) which is designed and built on similar lines of the Taj Mahal of Agra. We had decided not to take our cars and instead explore the city on foot and local transport.  So a rickshaw ride from the hotel to the Bibi ka Maqbara gave us a quick glimpse of the core city of Aurangabad.

To Travel, is to Live……

Hans Christian Andersen

The Bibi ka Maqbara is a pretty decent structure resembling the Taj mahal, but definitely not as impressive as the TAJ. It could be termed as ‘the poor mans’ Taj. The look of the entire complex and the mausoleum is very similar to the Taj mahal. Also the tourist crowd there were posing and clicking the exact same scenes that one sees being clicked at the Taj!!! So the entire look and feel is almost as if you are the Taj mahal, but for someone who has seen the Taj mahal in its full glory, this monument fails to impress.  However the scale, the grandeur, the spaces are impressive in themselves. After some good selfies and group- fies…we headed out of the complex. We had heard that there was an authentic Muslim food joint close by so… Google maps to the rescue,,,,We decided to walk it up. All of us really got the feel and the vibe of the core city. A striking feature in Aurangabad are the ‘Gates’.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_in_Aurangabad#History)These must have been in their full glory and immensely important for the City during the Mughal rule.  These gates(52 in all in the entire city) probably are insignificant now but they still stand tall and give a character to the neighbourhood. While we were walking we came across a traditional bakery which was just making a special type of bread/ roti called as the Naan which is eaten with Khaliya, a non veg curry dish. Apparently , this was a food dish which was prepared in large quantities for Aurangazeb’s Army. Now it is a delicacy which is normally prepared in Muslim weddings. This was the information handed out to us by the bakery guy.

Soaking in the city feel we reached the dinner place, called the Mughal Darbar, near the Jama Masjid. A very dhaba like, old place , nothing fancy at all. We ordered the specialities there . Fully satisfied with the finger licking food we headed back to the hotel , not before having the famous ‘paan’. The next day was going to be a long one since we had decided to visit the Ellora caves and the Daultabad fort.

Fill your life with Experiences..Not Things.

Have stories to share….. Not stuff to show!!!

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