Visiting Madhya Pradesh, the heart of India, was an amazing experience. The beautiful yet less explored State houses so many ravishing yet contrasting gems. We Attested the might of river Narmada and elegant natural carvings of marble rocks . Engrossed ourselves in virgin Wilderness of Satpura ranges . And also saw how human imaginations devotionally capture ,the formless Almighty ,and the spirited human expressions and moods ,in stone at khajuraho. Interestingly, despite all our planning this trip turned out to be very extemporary.
Our trip to Madhya Pradesh was planned in a hurry as an alternative to our earlier planned kumaon trip since nobody’s parents were convinced for a bike trip to hills and that too during peak winter season ( God knows when would I venture in bike touring). So, after some discussion and information gathering process, everybody responded affirmatively for a trip to MP. This trip was going to be a budget trip, since we are students, and we would be using trains and local transport during this entire trip. (I missed my bike many times during the trip though). Train reservations were done a night before our departure, obviously in Tatkal quota, but the conformation that the trip is going to happen came six hour before our departure, as one of us had some personal problem ,and it was all or none kind of situation, after all nobody wanted to face emotional atyachar.
Day 1: Journey begins
Our train left Lucknow railway station at 5:30 pm to Jabalpur, our first destination of the trip. We were more than happy as the trip was finally on. We settled in our births and wished the train to reach Jabalpur on time.
The train reached Jabalpur at 9 am, an hour late from its schedule time. But we were happy to see the glowing sun, as it was more than 10 days we’d seen the sun in lucknow.
We found a budget hotel near bus stand, and got ready t for the day by 11:30 am
After having a light breakfast of Dosa at a roadside Thela , we left for the Narmada valley at bhedaghat in a shared auto rickshaw. Bhedaghat is 20 kms away from jabalpur bus stand and it took us about 30 minutes to reach there.
The area has three main attractions namely, marvel rock valleys, chaushat yogani temple and dhuadhar falls. There are many souvenir shops in the area selling items , mainly made from marble, Sculptures in various sizes and what Narmada rock is famous for, shiv lingam . Even there’s saying,” Narmada ka har kankar shankar” ( every single pebble of river Narmada is Shiva)
नर्मदा का हर कंकर शंकर
Marble rock valleys
The panchvati ghat was a bit crowded on account of some mela . After exploring some areas nearby we headed for a boat ride through the marble rock valleys. The old boats look debile , and adding to this, they accommodate more than 30 people, even though the permissible limit is of 25 . But then, Its our very own India!. On the other hand one can book a dedicated boat , and for instance even a motorboat, but motorboat is not recommended, as it finishes the ride in 20-25 minutes unlike normal boat which takes 45-50 minutes, hence one can get view of those beautiful valleys for longer time in an unmotorized boat.
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| Narmada flowing through marble rock valley |
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| The Narmada looks beautiful as it flows through marble rock valleys, cutting rocks in various shapes . |
Chaushat yogani temple
We headed for Chaushat yogani temple , situated a hilltop near the ghat, the place provides a panoramic view of the area. The temple compound is in a circular shape, with a temple situated at the centre , dedicated to lord shiva and ma parvati. Idols of 64 avatars of ma shakti are poisoned at the inner walls of the temple periphery and photography is not allowed inside the temple.
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Chaushat yogani temple
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Dhuandhar falls
The fall is situated one km upstream from the panchvati ghat , river Narmada transforms into a waterfall as the whole river fells into a gorge and flows through a deep ravine. We walked through the ridge along the river under setting sun, to witness the beauty of the most feminine river of India . finally, we were at the dhuandhar falls and stayed there till the last rays of sun disappeared from the sky.
The fall is beautiful and huge quantity of water creates powerful roar
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Dhuandhar falls
The first day of our trip was quite eventful and we enjoyed every bit of it, and specially with friends around it was a nice day the whole way.
Returned to our hotel after having our dinner and went to bed at 11 pm. We had to board a train to Pipariya at 4:30 next morning    |
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