What is
fear??!!
Is it just
within you? Is it just your mind’s reaction to the unknown? Or is it real?
Is any place
really haunted as legends proclaim; or is it just that years of non usage &
desertion gives an eerie feel to an otherwise regular & normal place??
Bhangarh –
The mysterious kingdom locked in time, still remains World’s Best Kept Secret.
However, for us, Musafir & Hasina, Bhangarh was a gem of a beauty and a
thrilling journey to reach the place!!
ROADMAP TO RAJASTHAN:
Time: December, 2010 (25th Dec – 1st Jan)
Roadmap: Delhi – Bhangarh (Alwar) – Jaipur – Shekhawati – Bikaner – Jaiselmer –
Jodhpur – Udaipur – Ranthambore – Delhi.
Total Kilometres to Travel: 3300kms.
Total no.of days: 9 days
Travellers: 3
Mode of Travel: Santro
Rajasthan
allured us always as an exotic land of forts, palaces, mystique & grandeur.
Both Musafir & Hasina have visited parts of Rajasthan as kids with their
respective families; but while on Musafir, Rajasthan left no special indelible
mark, because let’s face it, how many 9 year old boys are interested in forts,
palaces & history?? On Hasina, Rajasthan left an imprint even then – she
had visited Rajasthan first when she was 14, and being a history aficionado
loved the exotica of the Desert land.
Therefore,
to Hasina, Rajasthan was always closest to her heart & used to call to her
for a deeper & more soulful holiday.
It was a
task convincing Musafir at first, since he was still not into forts, palaces, etc.
and thought it will be boring….until, he introduced the concept of Rajasthan by
Road!! Now, Hasina, not a “travel regular” then, was a bit sceptical of travel
by road…but well, there was no other way to take Musafir to her favourite
destination, but by road!! So Road Trip to Rajasthan it was.
While making
the itinery for Rajasthan by Road, Hasina actually started seeing the benefits
of road travel by own vehicle. The best part being that road trip allows your
holiday to be more flexible, adventurous, fun…and then, journey actually
becomes a crucial part rather than destination.
Suddenly,
fun detours, destinations, music (very crucial), food & beverages,
everything became exciting, as you were practically in a moving home for the
large part of your travel.
Amongst,
co-travellers, was Hasina’s brother, whom we shall name Raahgir here J , then in college & thus with
all the time in life to go along on a 9 day trip. The group was kept to minimum
3 people!! Larger groups are not Hasina’s cup of tea at all, as generally then
you travel & explore less & are adjusting expectations &
compromising most of the time. Large groups have their own fun, but possibly in
small holidays only.
So, with
lots of places to cover, with lot of music to listen to, with lots to eat &
drink, we set off for what promised to be a Holiday of a Lifetime!!! J J J
BHANGARH:
We had read
& heard a lot about Bhangarh!! The fact that it is actually an ASI Certified haunted site was enough
to pique our interest!! We were anyways travelling from Delhi to Jaipur on Day
1, we crammed in Bhangarh at the last minute, as it just required a small
detour from the NH8 Highway. Our plan was to start from Delhi at 6am on 25th
December, have breakfast & then proceed to Bhangarh by 1.30-2pm. Explore
the palace & the Kingdom till 4pm & then push off to Jaipur & land
there by 6.30pm to rest & relax.
Now starts
our road trip and its unpredictable fun:
25th
December, Saturday, 6.30 am:
“HURRRRYYYY
UPPPP!!!!” Hasina bellowed!! “How much time are u guys taking!!” She
practically yelled.
“Can you
help in doing anything apart from yelling??”, Raahgir bellowed back.
“Will both
of shut up & quickly move all luggage downstairs”, Musafir gave an
irritated look to both.
“Oh god, we
are late, we are late”, Hasina muttered again” Let’s skip Bhangarh”!!
“No WAY!!”
Both Musafir & Raahgir said in unsion.
“Let’s skip
breakfast”, Musafir shot back, not being a particular foodie, and happy with
chips & biscuits as breakfast.
“NO WAYYY”,
Both Hasina & Raahgir said again in unsion.
“OK!!
Relax…we will do everything!! So what if we are a bit late. We are on our own
vehicle”, Musafir reasoned.
“But we have
to leave Bhangarh before 5pm. ASI orders!!,” Hasina had read that Bhangarh is
scary post 5pm, as then the “ghosts” of the haunted kingdom come back to claim
what is theirs; before that, the place is picnic in Sunshine!! So, a cute
traveller love story movie by day, a haunted horror story movie by night.
“Oh don’t
worry” Musafir said in a sweet, comforting tone, “When you are already there
with us…what is there to fear”, and with a wink & knowing smiles to
Raahgir, took the rest of the stuff downstairs.
REALISATION
DAWNING!!!! Aaaaargghhh!!!
7am:
Finally we
were off…but well, a thick cover of Delhi Fog at its peak welcomed us outside.
Our driving speed was as it is reduced to 35km/hr because of the fog.
“I can’t see
this happening” Hasina kept on muttering from the back of the car, and Raahgir
simply increased the volume of the songs.
8.30am:
After an
hour and a half of driving in thick fog, we were hungry & moving at snail’s
pace, until we spotted Ronald McDonald’s happy big “M” glaring at us from a
distance!! Breakfast, hunger, good food exclamations ran in the car!!
We stopped
for a Breakfast at McDonald’s Manesar, positioned right at NH8. The fog looked
like it could lift in sometime, light warm sunshine was seeping through already,
we were obviously famished & we steered our car to the restaurant!!
Warm
Pancakes with butter & maple syrup, Hash Brown Potatoes – crunchy &
crispy on the outside, and soft & comforting on the inside, Egg burgers,
Fries, Hot coffeeee…mmmm…we were loving it!! J J J
It was a fun
breakfast time with everything ordered thrice in quantity & polished off to
the last morsel!! A little bit of lounging later, we noticed the fog had lifted
& the traffic was increasing, thus signalling it was time to go.
We came out
with happy smiles on our faces with renewed vigour to head to the “haunted”
mansion…when…
(Disclaimer: the below mentioned #Sign
are just included for fun in the narrative & actually happened with us and
are not over dramatized at all. We DO NOT promote superstition of any kind;
however what we express below was our genuine experience only!!)
#Sign to turn back 1: Our car JUST WOULD NOT start!!!!
Why, oh why why?? Engine was off, lights & fog lights off, car had just
come back after servicing, but our car just WOULD NOT START!!!!
OMG!!OMG!!
Sign to turn back and not go to Bhangarh??!! Oh come on…..the boys found it
laughable & silly. Hasina then suggested to give a long ignition to the
car, even if it does not start, close it, let the car be for 5 mins & start
again. Musafir did that….and 5 minutes later, the car started back!!! J J J Happiness filled the air, and we
thought possibly the engine got too cooled down due to the immense cold outside!!
Could be possible!! Kicking out all negative thoughts, we were off again with
music on our player, smiles on our faces & good food in our tummies!! J J J
En route we
crossed beautifully golden fields of mustard!! What a sight it was…endless rows
of dainty mustard flowers dispelling the gloomy fog outside with their radiant
presence.
Did you know
that the famous DDLJ song “Tujhe Dekha To Ye Jaana Sanam” with mustard fields
as backdrop, was in fact filmed in Haryana & not in Punjab. In these exact
fields at NH8!! Well the situation called for this song to be part of our
player!! J J J
12pm:
We were
finally just an hour & a half away from Jaipur, where we were supposed to
take a detour from the NH8 to reach Bhangarh. We had faced a massive jam due to
a Gujjar agitation at that time en route & hence we were a bit delayed than
intended.
We turned to
a route and asked a local folk the way to Bhangarh & he just pointed ahead,
so we took that turn.
#Sign 2: Our
music system suddenly crashed, thus stopping our car!!
Oh no!! A
long road trip without music!! We could not figure out why!! The road to
Bhangarh looked dusty and sun was beaming on our head now, with no music, this
did not look nice. Hasina almost wanted to turn back & head to lovely &
comfortable Jaipur, but well then missing Bhangarh was something no one wanted.
#Sign 3: According to the map we could reach
Bhangarh in just half an hour of leaving NH8, however, almost 2 hours plus
& we were nowhere closing on to Bhangarh. With no music & anticipation
of reaching Bhangarh fast, as we had to move out post 5pm, we were getting
riled up increasingly & unable to understand why it was taking so long!!!
On the plus
side, we encountered some good roads in such interiors, saw simple village
life, came across breathtakingly beautiful landscapes amidst all the arid land
and saw peacocks run around here & there in abundance. The
route to Bhangarh, i,e, the district of Alwar was lovely to say the least.
But the
question was….when will be reach Bhangarh??
3.30pm: We
finally saw a signboard that read Ajabgarh!! (oh the relief!!) Ajabgarh is the
neighbouring kingdom to Bhangarh & the only populated province next to the
now deserted & “haunted” province, Bhangarh!! Even ASI’s office is not in
Bhangarh but 5 kms away from their on the border of Ajabgarh!!
3.45pm: We
reached Bhangarh finally!!! Oh man!!
It took us
almost 3 hours plus to reach the famed Kingdom & we had to be out by 5pm
for sure!!!
BHANGARH starts now:
The tale of Bhangarh:
Years ago, Bhangarh was a small but flourishing Kingdom. Despite its
expanse being limited, it started gaining prominence as one of the most
beautiful kingdoms because of its meticulous planning & governance. The
growing popularity of Bhangarh in Alwar Tehsil of then Rajputana drew jealousy
from many nearby provinces too!!
Bhangarh’s most prized possession however was its beautiful &
mysterious Princess Bhanumati. An
accomplished woman, Bhanumati was adept in governance & was exceedingly
gorgeous. She was also proclaimed exceptionally gifted & intelligent &
went on to the extent of learning sorcery & black magic.
Many neighbouring kings
wanted to marry the beautiful princess & align Bhangarh in their kingdom
post the royal betrothal.
However, fate had other
plans!!
A little atop
Bhangarh’s fort stayed an evil tantric, adept in the art of black Magic &
sorcery. He had made his abode much higher than Bhangarh’s tallest tower to
exert his superiority over the king (pic attached).
One day he saw the
ravishing princess & immediately wanted her for himself!! However she was
the famed princess Bhanumati & if biggest of kings were bidding for her
affections, a small sorcerer with no social standing could not even think of
her.
The evil sorcerer
devised a plan. He used his Black Magic to create a potion & passed it off
as a fragrant body oil for the Princess. He persuaded the Princess’ servant
girl to carry the “magic oil” to her. An application of the oil would have
induced dark powers in the Princess & she would have ran to the sorcerer,
as if attracted by an unstoppable force!!
All this while, the
tantric did not know that the Princess herself was adept in the Dark Magic. She
immediately saw the oil for what it was!! The next day she visited the
tantric’s home; while he was leery in his hope that his magic had worked,
Bhanumati threw the vial of cursed oil on a huge boulder. On contact, the boulder
came crashing towards the tantric & crushed him. Throughly mutilated, the
tantric cursed Bhanumati, his line & the entire Bhangarh, and died!!
A year later the
neighbouring Ajabgarh was in a battle with Bhangarh & Bhangarh along with
lovely Bhanumati & all its royals declined & perished completely in
sands of time!!! Bhangarh is proclaimed cursed to this day, and it is said the
ghost of both Bhanumati & the Tantric still move in the shadows of the lost
Kingdom.
These are but folk
stories, carried generation to generation.
To our mind
the explanation seems that jealous of Bhangarh & its popularity, the
neighbouring state of Ajabgarh first tried to annex this luminous kingdom by
proposing marriage to Princess Bhanumati. Haughty that she was, she must have
outright refused to marry the Prince of Ajabgarh. Taken aback by this slight,
they must have retaliated by a brutal war & with the knowledge that
Bhanumati was adept in Dark Arts, they must have captured & proclaimed her
a “Witch”, thus establishing Bhangarh as a dark kingdom; not giving it any
chance to regain back its original glory!! It would have been difficult for a
male dominated Rajputana royalty to disgest a woman as not only a Queen, but
one with lesser means, & yet one who was progressing better!!
This tag of
haunted could have been created by Ajabgarh & neighbouring kingdoms &
always stayed!!
Again, this
all is a speculation based on some loose historical facts, but seems plausible
& the best one we could come up with!!
Coming back
to our travelogue….
As we
entered into this Kingdom locked in time, truthfully, we did not get any eerie
feeling at all!!
Bhangarh is
gorgeous!! It is so beautiful, laidback, well planned & spacious that
roaming here, taking in its beauty, was an experience in itself.
The most
imposing structure in Bhangarh after entering the gates is its
beautifully laid out Main market area.
So well
planned & meticulous, was the market area, that Hasina almost wished it was
flourishing again, so that she could shop there J J. It reminded us of the mystique
filled markets we have heard of in Arabian Nights tales.
We went
ahead further, stopping to take pictures, here & there!!
The sight
that probably sets an eerie tone to Bhangarh are some of the oldest trees
present there. These Banyan trees are huge & its boughs look so imposing
& twisted that they actually paint a very scary picture.
The 2nd
most imposing structure that attracted us inside Bhangarh palace ground was the
presence of a beautiful Shiv temple!!
Now our
natural question is, with a positive presence, like Shiv temple being in the
premises of Bhangarh, why do we believe that the place is haunted?? Are we
believing more in negative forces over a singular positive force?? So are we
not, but unintentionally, letting fear get the better of us??!!
Moving on
after this thought….the Shiv temple was lovely & reminded us of countless
temples we have seen in Hindi movies.
Unfortunately,
due to the paucity of time at hand, we could not explore the temple, as the Sun
was fading gradually.
We were
moving on to the main palace, when a sound of chants & hymns being recited
attracted Hasina to a garden called “Kewda Baag” aka The Garden of Frangrance.
The Garden
was so pretty & lovely, yet so mysterious that we got attracted to it
straightaway.
We saw a
large group of villagers gathered here & some Puja (sacred rituals) being
performed there.
Another
thing that led us to question the whole “haunted” tag of Bhangarh. When
something as positive as a Puja is being performed on the grounds of Bhangarh
itself, why do we feel that the negative forces will get the better of them?
Are we untrustworthy of the immense power & positivity that Vedic chants spread?
They are not hocus pocus ranting, that someone just cooked out of thin
air…..the Vedic chants are extremely scientific recitals that invoke the
positive forces of nature. The chants in that Puja, being conducted at
Bhangarh, was the very scientific & sacred, Maha Mrityunjay Jaap aka The
recital for the Almighty Shiv. In that case, what is to fear??!!
A little
talk with a Puja participant cleared that this ritual is a six monthly affair
& done for just purging the area of anything negative. So, there you go!!
After the
beautifully mysterious Kewda Garden, we headed to the main palace. Trust us, in
no way, in no manner, by no indication we felt any sort of eerie presence. To
our mind it was just beautiful. But of course, the place was teaming with picnickers
& tourists; we are sure that if the place is desolate, then all eerie
elements will automatically come out (like it would be in any desolate place on
a vast expanse), thus inviting negative thoughts.
Finally it
was 4.30pm & we were on the topmost tower of Bhangarh. Now you call it
mindplay or whatever, but suddenly a sense of panic set in amongst all the
people there. Hiking down would require minimum 15 mins of time & leaving
the grounds of Bhangarh village at least 20 mins.
This panic
to rush to the exit suddenly caused all the fear!! Very frankly.
We rushed
fast to the exit and to our surprise or maybe due to over-thinking even saw
cattle pacing fast out of Bhangarh limits. There were some people who were
still staying back, but we respect Govt. regulations enough, especially in such
cases J J J
5pm: We
drove off from Bhangarh limits!!
It started
getting dark & since coming in took so much time, we did not know, how much
time going out & reaching highway would take. We asked a local & he
said, oh you start this way & keep going straight…flat 20 mins you will be
on the NH.
…and it was
exactly like that!! We had taken a long & wrong route all way!! But in lieu
of this, at least we drove all the way through beautiful Alwar villages &
saw the beautiful & laidback life of India’s interiors.
Finally
wading 20 mins through dark & dusty roads we saw the bright lights of NH8
at a short distance. Getting back to highway by 6pm, we were off to
Jaipur…leaving behind the mystical & serene Bhangarh.
It did run
in our mind though that at that particular hour, with dark & desolation set
in, would Bhangarh still look as ethereally pretty or maybe eerie as the World
paints it??!!
Coming Up: Musafir, Hasina & Raahgir in
The Pink City!!! J J Keep watching this space!!
