Day 88, The Marble Rocks of Jabalpur

Oh, I am so excited......today I finally met the best Indian friend I have ever had........

Dear sweet Sanjay has taken us to his home where his beautiful wife Bash has prepared quite a royal feast for us.

Tandoori Chicken, Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka, Seekh kebab, Rogan Josh, Bhuna Ghosht, Kadhai Ghost, Raan Gosht, Dal Gosht, Saag Meat,

Nihari Gosht, Rara Gosht, Kebabs, Paye ka Soup, Amritsari Fish, Lamb Biryani, Keema Naans

She even catered for the vegetarians amongst us.

Makki Roti, Dal makhani, Rajma

The savouries and desserts were simply to die for

Phirni, Jalebi, Malpua, Sheer korma, Pakoras and Samosas

Wow, Bash, that was a scrumptuous lunch.....yummmmmy!

Now we are going to watch a Bollywood movie about the Emperor Asoka

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka_the_Great

http://www.porchlight.ca/~blackdog/ashoka.htm

That was an awesome movie, even if it was not historically accurate....it gave us a little insight to Asoka's personality...and the scenery was awesome.

Sanjay has a surprise in store for us.....he is taking us to Bhedaghat, a town on the banks of the holy River Narmada in Jabalpur.

Yippee, we are going to see the marble rocks at Bhedaghat, just like in the movie!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkJQKIB0e8c

Sanjay has arranged for us to go boating on the river tonight , since its a moonlit night........

Wow, the rocks rise to more than hundred feet on either side of the Narmada.

These white, floodlit rocks with views of black and dark green volcanic seams offer a majestic view. It is such a pleasure to enjoy the sight of the rocks during this moonlit night when they produce a magical effect.........

The whole stretch of water along this 2km long gorge is transformed into a sheet of liquid silver.......simply amazing.......

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Tell us a little about these rocks Sanjay.....

Well, they are basically metamorphic rock that are produced when limestone buried under the ground goes through constant physical and chemical changes and are the only of its kind in India!

Nopi is so in awe of this majestic view.....she says that the view of these rocks amongst the river on moonlit night make them appear like a sparkling of diamonds on a silver blanket.....so romantic........

Most of the rocks have interesting names based on what they appear to look like.

Sanjay pointed out the Monkey's Leap, the point where the mountainous rocks are the closest to each other.

It is apparently the spot where Lord Hanuman (character from Ramayana) had set foot on his way to Lanka.

Other interesting rock formations include the Hanthi ka Paon (Elephant Foot), a deer (Miran Kunch), the horns of a cow (Craay Singh) etc, etc...

Captain J. Forsyth summed up the beauty and tranquility of the marble rock experience of Jabalpur best

"The eye never wearies of the ....effect produced by the broken and reflected sunlight now glancing from a pinnacle of snow-white marble reared against the deep blue of the sky as from a point of silver, touching here and there with bright lights the prominences of the middle heights and again losing itself in the soft bluish greys of their recesses...".

Thanks so much dear Sanjay for this awesome day......

Jabalpur ( http://jabalpur.nic.in/aboutus.htm) is amazing!

Next stop.....Sanchi??

What's wrong Marti?

Marti is upset because she sent snail mail to South Africa and it hasn't arrived as yet.......

Well my dear, you do know that there has been a postal strike in South Africa since 19 August, so let's all be patient, and hope that an agreement is reached soon.....

http://www.postoffice.co.za/newsarticle.aspx?ID=57