Thread by @amargov

A short thread on @SwarajyaMag team's small Bharat Darshan - #Kashipath2019 - our road-trip from Bengaluru to Kashi aka Varanasi.

We covered approx 2000km by road and visited over 15 places of great historical and cultural importance.

Our plan was quite ambitious - to try and see so much of India in so short a time was quite a challenge.

We saw places of great natural beauty, places of learning, centres of architecture and even prehistoric art in rock shelters

The possibilities India offers - amazed!

On Day 1 we began with a prayer at a temple and reached Lepakshi.

Not too far from Bengaluru this place is a treasure trove of sculptural work and paintings that are centuries old.

From Lepkashi we hit Hampi where we spent the night.

Next day we visited the royal enclosure area and Hazara Rama temple, just two spots in an area dotted with dozens of sites.

At Hospet, spent time with these gents who are all on - how do you term this - on 'vrats' to visit various temples.

Some are going to Sabarimala, some to the local Anjanadri hill.

Spending (only) a little less than a day at Hampi we reached Koodalasangama for the night.

Stayed at a very affordable Yatri Niwas and saw the confluence of Malaprabha and Krishna next day.

By now we've crossed Tungabhadra at Hospet.

A nice, longish drive later we reached Ellora - in the 500+km we could've covered another 3-4 heritage sites.

But our objective was Kashi in 10-12 days, so we pressed on.

The caves, art and sculpture work at Ellora are simply out of the world.

None of us were ready for the sheer majesty of Kailasanatha temple, for instance.

We decide to spend the day at just this one place. (But a day is not enough for Kailasanatha temple)

All of us were exhausted by sheer dehydration and fatigue by the time we shot a few videos at Kailasanatha temple.

From here we left for Ujjain where we had a darshan at Mahakaleshwar temple late night.

But before that all of us spent a little time on the banks of Narmada.

After Ujjain we visit Bhimbetka. A very quiet, not often visited site - the place is teeming with historical importance.

Not happy with an evening's visit we slept at a nearby hotel and came back at first light next day.

To me Bhimbetka counts among the top sites we saw.

By now we're bang in the middle of Madhya Pradesh.

All important sites have great access by road, clean facilities and good MP tourism dept run hotels.

Seeing MP is a pleasure and all the work put in by @ChouhanShivraj shows.

If Bhimbetka was a mystery then Bhojpur Bhojeshwara was a return to Kailasanatha like majesty.

If you want to visit then plan to spend an evening here.

The nearby river, the shivalinga and the temple - everything adds to the magical atmosphere here.

We reach Khajuraho the same evening and have our first glimpses of the temples just as the sun was setting.

We returned to spend another whole day at the temples.

There's so so many sculptures and fractal designs of shikaras that your neck will get sprained just by looking

Note: Khajuraho is not just erotic sculptures, though that image has stuck.

This place has among the most grandest temples with unequalled intricate sculptural works. Do visit and spend a lot of time.

Our penultimate stop was Chitrakoot where we were taken on a nice boat ride at the ghats.

There's a certain charm to places like Chitrakoot - the devotions of simple villagefolk sit well with the curious travellers.

Since our plan was to dash to Kashi in 10-12 days we had to skip or simply hurry at many, many places.

This was by design in our trip - it was Kashipath and the challenge was not to soak in everything but have a preview.

Prayagraj had to skipped since we were already late.

The bustle of Kashi welcomes us finally on the evening of Day 10.

2000+ kms and having had many glimpses of what India has to offer later we finally reach our destination: Kashi!

All the driving around and we're still late for the Ganga aarti!

Thankfully we have one more day to spend at Kashi.

We find food and shelter for the night but before that spent a lot of time just walking around the roads of Varanasi.

Day 11: We have darshan at the Kashi Vishwanath temple.

We also have an opportunity to see the Kashi Vishwanath temple corridor will work.

PM @narendramodi has really pushed a lot of positive changes in Banaras but this corridor will be the biggest.

We were fortunate to have spent time with the CEO of the corridor project Shri Vishal Singh.

With relocation and other works soon getting over the corridor will soon be a world class heritage site with good facilities for pilgrims from across India.

At Kashi we see the beginnings of a renewal.

This city of great antiquity will in some years, if work proceeds without breaks, be a fitting tribute to all the grand heritage that India offers.

After ten days on the road, with lots of travel, video shooting and very little sleep we're all keen to head home.

But ofcourse we've had a grand trip that we will remember for many decades to come.

There's no better way to see India than this.

The investments we make now in tourism and pilgrimage will yield great results.

What we saw in places such as MP and Varanasi are very very encouraging.

Our trip was over but India, it would be apt to say, has begun a new journey.

Our travel sponsors @savaaricars were a great help and without them this trip may not have been possible. Great team to work with.

Hopefully the #Kashipath team @arvindneela @jonesabraham1 and @astrokaran will get to go on their next trip very soon :)

Here's @arvindneela's travelogue written during the trip.

swarajyamag.com/big-picture/ka…