Just About Everything

A Godavari Dutta painting on the wall of her house Did you know that there is a museum in Japan devoted to Madhubani paintings? Well, I didn't either, but that was before visiting Madhubani. Ranti village in Madhubani is home to quite a few famous madhubani artists like Mahasundari devi and Godavari Dutta.We wanted to meet at least one of them, and as luck would have it we did meet with Godavari Dutta. Godavari Dutta is over 80 years old but she is so active at this age that you will find it hard to believe that she is over 80! A Rashtrapati award winner for her excellence in painting and social welfare, She is quite a well known name in Madhubani. Love this one Godavari Dutta's Madubani painting in a museum in Japan We reached her place around 1 pm, and she was actually resting then. We did not want to disturb her because it was after all an odd time to call on anyone. But then we did not have an option to visit her later:( Her daughter- in- law...

Madhubani Painting by school children  We left Darbhanga at around 10.30 am and started for Madhubani. We wanted to go to village and meet artists and see Madhubnai paintings...we were informed that a village by the name of Jitwarpur is home to some artists who are actively involved in Madhubani paintings. We set off and soon after reached the village. We were caught off guard and were very pleasantly surprised when we suddenly chanced upon a painting on the wall of a house, wow! We stopped the car and started clicking, up ahead we saw a school, and really that school was something. It has paintings on the walls by school children. We stopped the car and we were wondering if there was some way we could take a closer look at those paintings. We did not want to disturb the school's normal functioning.  We got noticed after some time, and they gave us permission to go around the school without disturbing any school proceedings. I was thrill...

We reached Darbhanga around 8.30pm. We were tired but happy to have accomplished so much in such a short time! Our purpose of stopping over at Darbhanga was mainly because we wanted to visit one of the oldest cities of Bihar. Darbhanga has so much of history that it definitely warrants a visit. The other reason was to visit Madhumbani, I am a huge fan of Madhubani paintings and I wanted to visit the source of these wonderful paintings. Some historic facts about Darbhanga. I had found the name a bit weird and could not resist finding out about the origin of the name before my visit: This is what I found from Wikipedia (the -paragraph in italics has been taken for Wikipedia) The name Darbhanga is the mutated form of "Dwarbanga". That is, it is the combination of words "Dwar"(Gate) and "Banga" (Bengal) meaning "Gateway of Bengal". If one notices Bengali and Maithili, he will find many a phonetic similarities particularly in the main verbs...

View of the Mahabodhi temple complex In continuation with my Bihar trip , after reaching our hotel at around 10.30 pm, a hot bath and hot and delicious stuffed parathas for dinner revived us completely. We were eager to visit the Mahabodhi temple, and the other beautiful Buddhist temples in Bodh Gaya.We checked out of the hotel at around 7.30 am in morning. Our packed agenda did not allow for much relaxation. There was so much to see and just 24 little hours! We wanted to make the most of every precious hour. Our plan was to tour Bodh Gaya, then Gaya, followed by Rajgir and Nalanda, all in one day! A bit about the history of Mahabodhi temple : In the 6th century, Prince Siddhartha attained enlightenment at this spot. Emperor Ashoka set up a throne of sandstone to represent the spot. A sandstone railing was constructed around it in the 3rd century BC.The present Mahabodhi temple was constructed in 6th century AD. There have been several restorations after that. There has...

Lomas Rishi cave Barabar This post is in continuation to my earlier post on my Bihar trip . Our next stop was Kumrahar excavation site which happens to be the site of ancient Pataliputra. We spent some time going through excavations. We set off from there around 1.30 pm. After doing another  60 kms, we reached Jehanabad at around 2.30 pm. Barabar caves are located in Jehanabad district of Bihar. Barabar caves, are believed to be the oldest surviving rock-cut caves from the Mauryan period. Some the caves have Ashokan inscriptions on them. The amazing part of these caves were the inside walls, they looked so new and were shining as if they were recently polished. It is unbelievable that something so old (322-185 BC) can look so new! I think the answer lies in the fact that it is carved out of granite and therefore looks so new and polished! Out of the four caves of Barabar hill, we saw The Lomas Rishi and Sudama caves. A must visit if you like ancient structu...

The aerial ropeway ride in Rajgir Bihar is quite an interesting ropeway ride. A ride that I thoroughly enjoyed! This video will give you an idea about the ride. At first glance you might wonder if it is safe to take a ride in this, but believe me, it is safe, fun, and quite an affordable ride.  

Entrance of Patna museum I took advantage of the longish weekend last week. Took an off on the 1st and got a four day break! I did utilize it pretty well. Went off on a hurricane trip to Bihar. Managed to pack in a lot of places. It was quite a hectic but exciting trip. We covered over 900 kms in three days. We visited, Patna, Gaya, Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Kesariya, Vaishali, and Danapur! I can't believe that we actually covered so many places. We saved a lot of time because we flew from Kolkata to Patna. Our friend in Patna had booked an AC car that would be with us for the next three days. We started touring from the moment we landed in Patna! One piece of advice; It is best to avoid traveling in Bihar during summer .It is much too hot. Thank God for the AC car, I don't think we would have managed to do so many things without getting dehydrated! If you are thinking of traveling to Bihar, March is the best time to travel to Bihar. Museum buildin...