Gwalior

This is my ancestral city. Gwalior! Although there is nothing like royalty left in this city and this was the last time I ever visited this city, I really hope it gives me a chance to come back again. Gwalior is reminiscent of royalty and every piece of architecture speaks it loud. The railway station is awesome but beware of everything that may hit you after that! The city is chaotic, filthy, clumsy, crowded, and backward and genuinely my heart goes out to everybody who manages to live there.

Gwalior happened when we were driving from Delhi to Indore. We stayed in Gwalior for a day till we proceeded with our journey. I was at old family friends’ house which was no less than a mini palace. Our house was sold ages ago so we had no other place to live in. While some typically royal Madhya Pradeshi were being cooked back home we went around the city to check out my dad’s famous boarding school atop a hill ‘The Scindia School’. My dad was nostalgic about his school trip after over 25 years and it was worth a visit for us as well. The drive up was interesting because you are actually cut from the chaos of the city as you go up. There is a large Buddha sculpture carved on a stone. I don’t remember the history exactly but it surely had some significance. Water seeps through the rocks and builds up a little drama for what comes next, nothing! You reach the top where deafening wind blows through your hair and the view is superb! It must have been an experience of a lifetime to have studied there am sure when life was better. There is a point on the hill from where Rani Laxmibai had jumped off with her son while she was fighting the British. It did not seem interesting to us when we read it all in text books but it was stunning to see the height from which she must have jumped in real time.

We then visited the Summer Palace. It was reminiscent of the royal Scindia lifestyle. It is partially converted to a museum with some artifacts and old time commodities. And surprisingly it also hosts the ‘doli’ that was gifted to my grand mother on her wedding by the Scindia’s. It was studded and wrapped in gold and now adorns the gallery of this timeless architecture.

Birla temple is a landmark that every local would suggest you see. Its built by the big business family of Birla’s and is entirely made of marble. It’s jeweled with beautiful carvings of Lord Krishna and depicts parts of his life. The temple is surrounded with a green patch and low pipe music across the premises echoes in your ears feels like trance. It wasn’t populated by tourists then, but now it attracts quite a few eyeballs.

Gwalior is not exactly what I’d call as a tourists delight yet it holds some charm that can only be felt.