In the past (maheshwar)

we have seen how, the one has traveled to various places in the last few years, so she decided it is now high time she starts writing about these trips, as there are various memories attached to them.

maheshwar(there has been a post about this), for example, its one of the most calm places to which i have been. apart from the fact that it is on the banks of an incredible river, and has beautiful temples, and is a small peaceful town, it also has rapids just a few miles down the river. sitting on the steps leading down to the rivers (or "ghats" as they are more commonly known) is like listening to gulzar's poetry. sometimes, just the fact that, this is another land, another world that i have never seen before gives me enough to think about. there are trees and plants that i know about... but these are not known to me...
its a quiet place. a very quiet place. and the river flows with its own rhythm, making songs along the way, no wonder there is so much poetry and music made about the rivers in india. you hum along some random song that comes to your head. introspection, retrospection, nothing of the sort... i just got lost in the endless gurgles and laughters of the river. it felt as if she was laughing at me. laughing at the petty things i keep chantering about. sometimes you just get annoyed, and throw in a stone, she just laughs again "missed" she calls out and laughs again.

you can see this temple right at the middle of the river, one needs to take a boat to go in there. the breeze plays with its bell, occassionally u can hear it ring in the middle of the night. as if calling out to u. maybe it was feeling lonely. how many nights did i spend on the bank?? maybe out of the 10 odd days i spent there.... 6. the water plays with everything there. there are little kids who swim around, challenging each other, swimming into as far as they can go, laugh while trusting the river completely. how many generations has this river seen... growing up and playing with her. while she incessantly goes along. maybe she has a little chat with the gods in the temple, or maybe she washes down all the worldly dust settled on the hundred odd shiva lingams that are strewn here and there along the banks.

on the first day i just took a walk along the bank, with some old fishing boats tethered along. some broken, and rotting away, some forgotten for the day as their work has been done early morning, and now their owners must be in the markets...selling what they found from the mother river.
there have been more lonely walks have been taken in that town, with a camera, and a dupatta to keep off the heat of the day.

there have been calls, real calls (not phone) out to the boat man, and wishes that the wind carries your voice to them, and tell them to pick me up from the ghats of the hotel and take me to the other side of the river tot he village, or to the fort. the fort itself is not too huge, but it is beautiful. one almost wishes, it could be stayed in now, there is a little restaurant inside the fort. where you get meetha chirwa. or you could have your dinner in the homes of the various families that give homely food to travelers for a very small price. it is the hub for the textile craft of maheshwari sarees, which is basically cotton/silk blend sarees and is very sheer, it has a zari paar and almost all homes in this area have the loom in their verandah. some do it for mass production, others work under the NGO's. some may just be working for dyeing and stocking fibre. it is a beautiful silk craft that the NGO's are working to preserve. the design students going there every year try, and learn what they can in the 2 weeks they have there. it is a skill that one needs to develop and does not come easy though. a lot more to be done... a lot more...

I'm just waiting to go back. god!!! this stupid college needs to get over, and its been too long that im stuck.... hopefully more coming up soon

currently listening to: three days grace, cat stevens, slipknot

currently reading: sa'adat hassan manto (in hindi), greatest short stories
current mood : 1st track:nostalgia, 2nd track: in love and upset about it, 3rd track: randomly tensed about work

currently watching : dogma (the movie), step up 2 (the streets)