It was only a few days back when I saw that one of my dancer friends was going to Ujjain to perform. Call it a random coincidence or call it a connection, but we (The Husband and I) were also planning to go to Ujjain as part of our second stay at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. I had never really thought about Ujjain as a holiday destination but my love for travel always trumps my preference for weekend getaways.
And He sold Ujjain to me as a mystical place where we could visit another Jyotirlinga temple. I was game! In my very ordinary opinion, Ujjain can be compared to Varanasi and termed as “Varanasi of Western India” – no offense meant to either of the places.
It is all about people going on a pilgrimage to either Mahakaleshwar or Omkaleshwar and there is a whole list of other Hindu temples and important historical or mythological sites that you can visit – Ram Ghat, being the one that really captured my imagination. Ujjain is an overnight train or bus ride away from Ahmedabad. The weather was cloudy and rainy when we reached the morning of a Saturday. Our destination hotel was Shipra Residency, which is a beautiful old property situated in a very nice location. The maintenance of this property, though, is nothing to write home about. The food was average, the cleanliness of the rooms horrendous, and I could list several improvement points for the hotel staff. However, the staff was quite accommodating and while they spent very few words, they tried their best to make guests feel comfortable.
Maybe because it is the month of August or Savan, but each holy place that we visited was quite crowded. There is some sort of system in place at each of these temples, and we could do our darshans quite smoothly. This was due in large part to The Husband’s meticulous planning of the day, our pre-booked ride, and Him always looking out for my comfort. And all this while He recorded visuals of our trip. Sometimes, He reminds me of a favorite nursery rhyme about a little girl who was very good when she was good, and…
But I digress! We could have gone on more sightseeing ventures, but this was one of those trips when we were in sync and after visiting the temples on our list, we spent the rest of our one-and-a-half days, relaxing and recuperating at the hotel. I also managed to persuade Him to record a short dance sequence of mine, which I always consider a mega-achievement.
However, no trip is without blips and this one was started by Indian Railways deciding to revert to its habits of old. Our train back to Ahmedabad was delayed by almost a day and we caught one of the sleeper buses back home. That was also an adventure, being that it was the first time we rode in one. It did tire us out a little more than the train ride would have!
Ujjain will stay in my memory as a riverside city full of beautiful temples and people who speak very little. Will I go back? Perhaps or perhaps, I would want to revisit Varanasi to see if I am right about the similarities and if I can find more differences! Cheerio!!!