Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Trip report: 22Apr12; Bhangarh - India's most haunted place.

Home on the outskirts - 2Pratapgarh - 2PratapgarhHome on the outskirtsRuined, perhaps still valuableRuins - attempting to stay up
Baby langoor 2Ruins - Completely destroyedRuins - Market cornerRuins - Main streetRuins... 1
Distant chhatri

Bhangarh, a set on Flickr.

Complete set of images can be found here.

Here are some pics of my visit to Bhangarh. Bhangarsh is listed as the most haunted town of India. Do not take my word for it, just google Bhangarh ghost haunted on the net, you will see what I mean :)

Pictures taken on Apr 22nd, 2012 - Sunday.

Map: Here is the google map link - http://g.co/maps/f9z65

From Delhi, at 212km (4hrs) milestone, you turn left and drive another 60kms (2.5 hrs) on NH11A, to reach destination. Just in case, you want to seek a face to face appointment with the ghosty residents.  :P

Jokes apart, this is a very well maintained ASI heritage. Worth a days visit.

Wikipedia leak - "Legend states that the city of Bhangarh was cursed by the Guru Balu Nath, who sanctioned the establishment of the town with one condition, saying, "The moment the shadows of your palaces touch me, the city shall be no more!" When a descendant raised the palace to a height that cast a shadow on Balu Nath's forbidden retreat, he cursed the town as prophesied. Balu Nath is said to lie buried there to this day in a small samādhi.
Another myth is that of the Princess of Bhangarh Ratnavati, said to be the jewel of Rajasthan, who on her eighteenth birthday began to get offers of marriage from other regions. In the area lived a tantrik, a magician well versed in the occult, named Singhia, who was in love with the princess but knew that the match was impossible. When one day Singhia saw the princess's maid in the market, he used his black magic on the oil she was purchasing so that upon touching it the princess would surrender herself and run to him. The princess, however, seeing the tantric enchanting the oil, foiled his plan by pouring it on the ground. As the oil struck the ground it turned into a boulder, which crushed Singhia. Dying, the magician cursed the palace with the death of all who dwelt in it. The next year there was a battle between Bhangarh and Ajabgarh in which Princess Ratnavati perished."
I would not argue for the facts of the case - haunted or myth, the site receives several thousand visits per day and is generally regarded as haunted site.

This was my second visit to this place here. In the first visit, last year me and four of my friends - reached here at around 5pm, we stayed upto well over 830pm.
The idea was not to do a scientific research but to generally have fun.

1. People generally are not willing to take name of bhangarh, when you ask for directions - they would give directions to Pratpgarh, Ajabgarh etc. (all close to bhangarh) but most people will NOT react to your asking question about how to reach bhangarh.

2. Even before you get to Bhangarh, the village/city/town of ajabgarh is pretty much in ruins and the narrow street actually takes you through very recentlyt deserted houses. We had stopped here to speak to locals - all of them had 'abnormal' reason to leave - 5 of 6 members of a family died in one night, 2 families started coughing blood, youngest member never survived, hence couple grew old and died. All can be explained in a perfectly scientific way, but...

3. During our stay there (in our 2011 trip), we had video camera - and were recording off and on. Nothing abnormal was caught on the camera. during the 2 and half hour stay at the fort.

4. However, there were a lot of sounds - and most of them can be explained by the fact that bhangarh is on the periphery (about 30km) of the wildlife park of Sariska. So wild animals can make similar sounds that may seem haunting during the nights.

5. There were, however, clear kinds of sound, which is still in store with me, that we were not able to attribute to any natural cause - it was pretty much rhythmic and it was difficult to imagine that coming from a natural action. Like somebody trying to knock his way out of some enclosure.

6. The site is still open for religious rituals, apart from a temple in the complex - there is a separate place for doing the hawans, and even today small time tantriks and believers come and do occult kind of prayers... one was in progress when we had visited last year.

7. Unlike last trip, where there was almost zero population within the 2 km vicinity of the fort, this year we did see some homes coming up...

8. In order not to promote superstitiion the ASI has taken down the board which prohibited people staying after 530pm, though the rule still prevails. It is to do with protecting the heritage site, ith over night occupation and protection from wild animals, than anything else - but I guess romanticism of haunting can be flared with even the smallest of information.

9. During our stay, one of our friends did feel extra ordinary chilled, but it can be attributed to his mild fever that he was running through the day, and the booze he was gulping in - so a fever flare up is a fair possibility.

10. This trip, yesterday was with my wife and kids - my idea was more to shoot pics, while they got to do the digging... and we were in the ruins bang middle of the day... so nothing very extra-ordinary to report except the same shyness in the people to direct you to this place.

Summary: Is the place haunted. Do not know, don't care. Personally I am non-believer of such things so it does not matter to me. But I guess, for some people ( i suspect hundreds of thousands - going by the internet search) the haunting and the myth around it needs to be kept alive. So I would vote to let it be.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Trip Report: 06-08Apr12: Dudhwa Tiger Reserve

Post travel report


Situated on Nepal Border - Now totally devoid of any animal life... except for three deers and swamp deers , no other animal was visible. Sad state of Government official mafia. Informal, hushed voices of the staff claimed of seeing the newly born cubs at the homes of Forest Officer & DM home.
 
Very sad to see, a total annihilation of animals in the reserve. While the guides claimed they have seen animals - we saw NO SIGN of animals in the entire reserve. 

None, there is absolutely NO WILDLIFE Left. It has been usurped by the Babu mafia - it seems, that the reserve is the playground for the sarkari babu. Not only are there no tigers to be seen, even wild animals are not visible - not just to me (we queried with other people and guides), they had not seen ONE WILD ANIMAL in over weeks worth of trip.



This excludes 5 deer we saw, and some swamp deer(10-15 against the claimed 600) and some Barasingha deer (20-30 against the claimed 1600).

I really hope, it was my luck and not reality that for more than 7 days not even one wild any animal was sighted... really hope so.

I did manage to shoot some great bird photos though.

The trip itself was very nice, since we had three families together and in general had some great fun.

  1. Limited photographs
  2. Complete photos - 6th Apr
  3. Complete photos - 7th Apr
  4. Complete photos - 8th Apr


Initial plan for travel
Parties
    - Party A - Alok Sinha, Anjali Sinha, Akanksha Sinha, Aparajita sinha - 4 adults + Driver - using Endeavour
    - Party J - Jayant Jhamb, Meenakshi Jhamb, Urvika Jhamb, Pankhuri Jhamb - 3 adults, 1 kid + driver - using ???
    - Party S - Sanjay Bhattacharya, Amit Singh, Mrs Bhattacharya, Master Bhattacharya (10), Master Bhattacharya (4) - 3 Adults, 2 kids - using Zen Estillo ???

Route
Here is the proposed route
    http://g.co/maps/s34bz

Dos and Donts
   Dos
     - Get your cameras - this is NOT the time to miss any fleeting moment - charge them in advance.
     - Carry medicine as you would be atleast 4 hrs of drive away from a decent pharmacy
     - BOYD - Bring your own (&yr family's ) Daaru, soft drinks. Soft drinks available @ resort, but if total drive time is 20hrs, you would rather carry ur own soft drinks for enroute atleast
     - Bring your glasses - disposable would be good.
     - While food and meals are covered in our cost - it is highly recommended that you provision for some snacks and instant food (cup-o-noodle etc)
     - The weather is expected to be clear, and hot - high temp 39'c and low 20'c - light summer clothing would be nice.
     - For the safaris (sat/sun) please wear full sleeves shirts/tops and full covered leg suits.
     - After lunch @ Bareily we still have to do 5 hrs of drive - keep lots of ice with you.

   Donts
     - For safari, DO NOT wear sandals - during drive is ok, but once you reach the resort, till the time you leave - please ALWAYS wear shoes.
     - For safari - Preferably wear muted colors - bright, sparkly colors are likely to alert the animals. - Wear colors like khakhi, brown, grey etc. - Drive time is ok.
    
Accommodation
    Jambolana safari camp, Dudhwa
       Costs:
Rs. 4,500 per tent per night. Including taxes, and including meals - for the entire duration of stay (17:00 hrs 6th to 14:00 hrs 8th) (For luxury tents it is Rs. 6,000 per tent per night       What is not included: Booze, softdrinks, accessory to booze - like soda, snacks etc.
   There is no TV. Electricity is present, but erratic. No AC. Internet available @ reception. (Post Trip: This we learnt was not true - there is NO internet connection, other than your own mobile GPRS)

MUST carry these
   Carry mosquito repllents - Hit, Kacchua chhaap, odomos - we are going into wildlife - will need these.
   Carry Torch/Emergency light - though, we will NOT need these, there need to be available in case of emergency - power may fail at nights @ resort - better to have lights by your bed.
   Water - lots of it - I recommend getting 1 x 20 ltr of water per party.
   Tissue paper - going to meet nature, calls of nature sometimes, cannot be avoided
   Carry some hand towels, long towels - safaris can be fairly dusty.
     

Summary of Delhi - Dudhwa
(Post Trip: At Bareilly you will meet with Traffic jam. Notice, I said _WILL_ not may or can, plan for 1 to 2 hours time to get out of tow)

      - Start @ Belvedere Park 05:00 hrs    
      - 45 minutes drive - NH24 bypass - all collect
      - 2hrs drive - Gajraula McDonalds - Pack and Go breakfast
      - 2 hr 45 minutes drive - Lunch @ Bareilly (yet to be decided)
      - 2 hr drive -  Leg stretch break at puranpur
      - 3 hrs drive - Reach destination 17:00 hrs
I have assumed slow, comfortable drive and hence 12 hrs - I am told by many people that it is indeed just 9 hrs drive and not 12. If it is indeed 9 hrs, then we will be reaching on better time. (Post Trip: Forget 12, you would need 14-15 hrs to reach one way. This includes about 1-2 hours of traffic jam you would face on highway. The roads on the highway are under construction.)


Detailed drive plan

Friday
             - 05:15 hrs -
Party A leaves Belvedere Park (0Km)

             - 06:00 hrs -  Party A rendezvous with Party J @ Signal light on NH24, (Map point B) (32km)
             - 06:20 hrs  - Party A & J, rendezvous with Party S  @ Map point C, at the NH24 bypass (12.3km)
      Drive 91kms, 2 hrs drive
      Stop 1 - Breakfast  - Pack and go - only 15mnts break - bfast in vehicles
             - 08:15 hrs -  All party arrive @ McDonalds , Gajraula - marked @ Map point D (91km)
                  - 08:30 hrs - All party leave McDonalds
     Drive 141 km, 2:45 mnts drive
      Stop 2  - Lunch (estimated location - exact unknown) 1 hr
             - 11:15 hrs - All party arrive @ Rajindra Market, Bareilly marked as Map Point E (141 kms) (Post Trip: There are two main malls in Bareilly [Amrapali and Phoenix] - one each side before you enter and leave the town. As on Apr 8th, the Phoenix Mall DID NOT have an open Mc Donald restaurant - it did have a good value for money food court.)
                   - 12:00 hrs  - All party leave Rajindra Market
     Driver 88kms, 2hrs drive
      Stop 3: Stretch leg option - 15 minutes
             - 14:00 hrs  - All party arrive @ rest point, Puranpur Map point F (88kms)
                  - 14:15 hrs - All party leave rest point
      Drive 95 kms, 3 hrs drive
             - 17:00 hrs - All party arrive @ Jambolana Map point G (95kms)
    Freshen up @ resort
    Campfire
Saturday (all items optional)
  Early morning - Birding  : 05:00 hrs to 06:00
  Morning -Elephant ride to Rhino area (07:00 to 10:00 hrs)
              - Mohana river beach (not yet confirmed) 10:30 to 12:00 hrs
  Lunch
  Evening safari
             - Kishanpur wildlife safari (14:00 hrs to 17:00 hrs)
             - Sharda river front  (17:00 hrs to 18:00 hrs)
  Dinner
Sunday
  Early morning - Birding
  Morning - Safari @ satiayana grasslands - 07:00 hrs to 10:30 hrs (Post Trip: Not one soul went on this safari, all were comfortable sleeping away to glory)
  Drive to Nepal - 30 mnts 
           Lunch @ Dhangiri Town, Nepal  11:30 hrs to 14:00 hrs
  Drive back to Delhi