Bhopal

December 22, 2019

We landed at Bhopal airport around 3:45 pm. When the plane started the descent for the airport, I was thrilled to see a huge expanse of water just close to the landing strip. I would learn later that Bhopal is also called 'Jheelon ka sheher' or 'City of Lakes'. There are so many of them. And they are big ones. We were told that earlier some of these lakes were dried up last year because of scarce rains in the past few years. There was a lot of rainfall this year and all the lakes were filled up. Lucky for us!

As soon as we came out of the airport, I was again pleasantly surprised to see mountains in the distance. One of them had an imposing building that was awash in the setting winter sun colours and another mountain had a temple-like structure at the top. The driver told us that the former was a CRPF building and the latter a 'pracheen' (ancient) Jain temple. I felt exhilarated. This is pure joy. The start of a trip. Top of the world feeling!

Impressions of Bhopal - December 22 & 23, 2019

Pinkish evening skies. Lakes bordering the roads. 

Tajul Masjid in the evening. Aesthetically lit domes and minarets of masjid where the men were rushing for their evening prayers. An older woman clad in black burkha pleaded for some alms outside the masjid. A few 'non-believers' like us tentatively circled the water tank and expansive courtyard. I was relieved to see another woman in the distance; relief at not flouting any law of the place. The streets leading to this largest mosque in India (and among the largest in Asia) had ancient looking soulful buildings and security forces installed at multiple places. The driver said that the security is always prevalent near 'their' prayers as 'they' get together and riots can happen any time. (Probably) bigoted driver.

The large lakes with a statue of Raja Bhoj in it. Boats bobbing in the waters. Speed boats and cruises are also there. Families cluster around the lakes. We take a long walk along the periphery of the lake the first night of our trip. Groups of teenage boys in a photography frenzy. Many in a selfie frenzy. Another group is probably making Tik-Tok videos as they make exaggerated postures for the 'cameraman' and giggle shyly when we see them. 

The next evening we see the open zoological park (Van Vihar National Park), which has barricades for the big cats (tigers and leopards), bears, alligators, and turtles while the other less-ferocious and less-mobile animals have the freedom to go anywhere. The big cats move around lethargically as humans run around the barricade frantically searching for them laughing nervously. The unique thing of this park is that almost all of it is facing the big lake. So a tiger who climbs up a hill in his large enclosure can have a view of the waters. I remark that at least the animals may not be depressed here as they can see the lake unlike the other zoos.