Penetrating Pachmarhi

Date: 7th Feb-8th Feb 09

Who: My Family

The long overdue family trip was finally happening. This was also an occasion to celebrate my parent’s anniversary. I ensured that at least this year I should be at home on my parent’s anniversary. So I reached home on 5th Feb 09. I had taken Rajhdhani train from Bangalore to Nagpur (don’t even ask how I managed to leave office in time). Well I had to cancel the earlier plans (due to the unfortunate work pressure).

We celebrated our parent’s anniversary, went out for dinner and had decided that next day we would go to Kanha National Park. But fate didn’t want us to go there, we couldn’t get the hotel’s booking confirmed. So we decided to go to Pachmarhi instead. So, the next day, that’s on 7th Feb, we started early morning at around 7 from our home by car. On route we stopped at a temple for 5-6 minutes, which was near Amla. Then reached Chhindwara, we tried searching for a breakfast point but there wasn’t a single decent one. Our driver suggested we go to Parasia and then search for some restaurant. We reached Parasia at around 10 in the morning. Had ‘pohe’ for breakfast and then resumed our journey.
I was wondering that although we had entered MP, still the roads were in good shape (I mean taking the benchmark of MP roads into consideration) and then I realized that I concluded a bit early. Coz the next stretch of around 80-90 kms was in a pathetic condition! Thank God that I was in an Amby, nahi toh gaadi ki as well as hamaari vaat lag jaati. After 4 ghat sections and a long stretch of bad road, we reached Pachmarhi. A beautiful hillstation in the Satpura ranges. The waterfalls in this hillstation are always full of water, unlike many other places.
We checked in the hotel and after having lunch, we took a local guide and went to Pandav Caves. This was on top of a rock. There are 5 caves, supposedly one each for each Pandav, during their exile (vanvaas). It is also believed that Buddhist monks also did their dhyaan here. The garden of Pandav Caves was awesome, beautifully maintained and a varied varieties of flora…including the rare Green rose. From here we headed to Handi Khoh. It was a beautiful spot overseeing a valley. There fwas this person who had binoculars and who showed us the Chauragarh temple on top of a hill. There were thousands of Trishuls. It is said that whenever, a person’s mannat is fulfilled, s/he donates a Trishul at this temple. We also saw a very strong root of a tree with the help of which the aadivasi’s climb down the hill to gather jadi booti.

From here, we headed towards Priyadarshini. This was named after our former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. A small trek and you see beautiful valley ahead of you. this is an echo point. If you keep a pin drop silence, you can even hear the paani ki kal kal!! If you drop a stone from the hill, after around 3-4 seconds you can hear it hitting the ground!!

From here we went to Bade Mahadev, Chote Mahadev and Gupt Mahadev. Well, there are two shivlings, one is naturally created (Chote Mahadev) and the other one is manmade (Bade Mahadev). On Chote Mahadev, water drips from the roof of the cave continuously throughout the year. There are thousands of monkeys on the way to these caves. But once inside the cave, it’s a very pleasant environment. The beauty of water droplets throughout the cave cannot be explained in words. the next cave was Parvati Gufa, wherein the idols of Parvati were there.

About 400 mts away was Gupt Mahadev. Its called as Gupt Mahadev, coz to reach there, you need to cross a cave which is hardly two feet wide.
After this we headed to a sunset point. But unfortunately, by the time we reached here, the sun had already set. We missed the sunset view by 10 minutes (reminded me of Wayanad Phookot Lake and Dam). Still we spent some half an hour there, had tea ate some junk and headed back to our hotel. We had our dinner, did some gossip, some discussion on the favorite topic, played cards then then called it a day. Next day we were supposed to get up at 5.30 to see the sunrise….why does sun rise so early!!! I love sun rises, but I love my sleep!!!
Early in the morning we got up. We had hired a jeep. It was freeeeezing!! But the ride was amazing. We went through the forest. Saw a couple of wild rabbits! Finally, after some half an hour ride we reached Dhoopgarh. The view from the sunrise point was awesome. We reached there at around 6.10 but the sun rose at its own time…I,e, after almost an hour..i guess it was more than 7 am. And the site was mesmerizing!! It was a site which cannot be forgotten. Pictures say it all…

We also went to the sunset point, which was just on the other side of the same hill. One board caught my attention…

On the way back, we stopped at a couple of echo points. We reached our hotel at around 8.30, got ready, had a good breakfast and then headed to Beefall. It was an awesome place. Words can’t express the site which was in front of us. It was around half a km trek down. It was really tiring. I thought that there wont be any water in the fall, however, was surprised when I sawa beautiful waterfall in front of us. The water was almost white and as cold as ice. My feet became numb, it was freezing. We spent around one hour there and then trekked our way back. It was really tiring, coz it was a steep climb and there wasn’t any energy left with me.

From here we headed to Reechgarh. these were caves, a couple of them, here SRK and Kareena Kapoor did a part of Asoka shooting. It was a nice place..some pics:

After this we went to Jatashankar, this is again a religious place of Shivji. This is called as Jata coz there are a kind of ‘jataaein’ which are coming out of the caves and hence the name. after darshan, we went back to our hotel, had lunch and started back to Nagpur…Again those 80 km of bad road…4 ghats and reached Nagpur… dreading the week to come…!!!