Bhopal
It has been a long time.
The craziness of the harvest and then the enjoyment of doing almost nothing. High time I start writting again.
I finally managed to get a few days of the winery and I decided to go to Bhopal.
Bhopal, which is situated in Madya Pradesh is now almost only know because of the Union Carbide disaster in the 80's. I guess it will always be there to remind us how far man can go just to make and save some extra money.
But Bhopal is also a fascinating city.
It is divided in 2. The old city is the mulsim part and is a maze of streets dotted with mosqs.
The new city has got wide and clean streets and is located near two lakes.
As can be expeceted (when you know me) I loved the old city and spent most of my time wandering among the streets.
The chokw is a universe of smell, colour and noise. It is made of tiny streets full of small shops selling everything and anything.
I spent hours watching the guy making the beeds necklaces, the one selling mango, the one reparing I don't know what, the sarees vendors ....
I also spent hours inside the mosqs. I had never been to a mosq before and didn't expect it to be such a peaceful place. I guess even if I see myself as open minded I have this image of Islam being quite violent.
The mosqs are a well of peace , people wander around, spending a lot of time washing their hand, feets, face and then go praying.
I just sat and observed. Look at them moving around,feel the calm faith emanating from the place, look at the sky and the clouds playing with the minarets, just looked and listened.
I was lucky to be there one day during prayer time and when the voice of the muezzin rose to call for prayer I was deeply touched and transported in another universe.
Then back in the ocean of life that is old Bhopla, trying to enjoy fully the sensual experience that is India.
Bhopal reminded me also of what is India and its strenght.
It is probably one of the only place in the world where next door to a mosq you can see an hindu temple and there is no problem. I wonder why people try to create some.
So I was also caught in a Krishna celebration . Krishna was carried on a chariot and preceeding him was an elephant. I missed my chance to climb on it (I had an invitation to do so by the man on top, who speaking about it was very good looking...) I guess I'm still not adventurous enough....
The stairs of the mosqs also gave me a good spot to sat and observe the life bellow.
The movement of the people in the streets. I made a special sudy on the mulsim women dressed in black and marvelled at how even wearing that cloth they have manage to transcend it.
As soon as I understand how to do it , I will post some pictures to show you.
The craziness of the harvest and then the enjoyment of doing almost nothing. High time I start writting again.
I finally managed to get a few days of the winery and I decided to go to Bhopal.
Bhopal, which is situated in Madya Pradesh is now almost only know because of the Union Carbide disaster in the 80's. I guess it will always be there to remind us how far man can go just to make and save some extra money.
But Bhopal is also a fascinating city.
It is divided in 2. The old city is the mulsim part and is a maze of streets dotted with mosqs.
The new city has got wide and clean streets and is located near two lakes.
As can be expeceted (when you know me) I loved the old city and spent most of my time wandering among the streets.
The chokw is a universe of smell, colour and noise. It is made of tiny streets full of small shops selling everything and anything.
I spent hours watching the guy making the beeds necklaces, the one selling mango, the one reparing I don't know what, the sarees vendors ....
I also spent hours inside the mosqs. I had never been to a mosq before and didn't expect it to be such a peaceful place. I guess even if I see myself as open minded I have this image of Islam being quite violent.
The mosqs are a well of peace , people wander around, spending a lot of time washing their hand, feets, face and then go praying.
I just sat and observed. Look at them moving around,feel the calm faith emanating from the place, look at the sky and the clouds playing with the minarets, just looked and listened.
I was lucky to be there one day during prayer time and when the voice of the muezzin rose to call for prayer I was deeply touched and transported in another universe.
Then back in the ocean of life that is old Bhopla, trying to enjoy fully the sensual experience that is India.
Bhopal reminded me also of what is India and its strenght.
It is probably one of the only place in the world where next door to a mosq you can see an hindu temple and there is no problem. I wonder why people try to create some.
So I was also caught in a Krishna celebration . Krishna was carried on a chariot and preceeding him was an elephant. I missed my chance to climb on it (I had an invitation to do so by the man on top, who speaking about it was very good looking...) I guess I'm still not adventurous enough....
The stairs of the mosqs also gave me a good spot to sat and observe the life bellow.
The movement of the people in the streets. I made a special sudy on the mulsim women dressed in black and marvelled at how even wearing that cloth they have manage to transcend it.
As soon as I understand how to do it , I will post some pictures to show you.
posted by Indian wine adventures at 1:29 PM
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