Day 233 of Indian places giving smiles – the capital of Bihar – Patna.
In 1984, after a long and tiring train journey, we decided to spend one night in the railway retiring room at Patna. Our location was obviously in the heart of the city and our visit was during their main festival of Navrathri. There was excitement in the air. I saw a lot of makeshift enclosures with idols of the Goddess with blaring loud music from the speakers. But what shocked me was the close proximity of the two Devi pandals as they are called, both having different songs being played in very loud decibels – at the very same time! My poor ears complained at this confusing cacophony and noise pollution, yet there was nothing I could do about it…
We decided to get out and do as much of sight seeing as possible. The first stop was at the Golghar, a huge Granary – the place where the government stores the grains that have been collected from the local farmers. The impressive almost bee hive shaped structure had steps from outside to climb to the top if needed.
I had read a lot about the ancient city of Pataliputra when we learnt about the Magadha, Mauryan, Nanda, and ‘Mughal rulers. Many foreign travellers to India also came here as it was a center of learning. This is the same city that was the capital of so many ancient empires. We went to Kumhrar- the archeological site to see the ruins of the Mauryan empire and I wondered how the eighty pillared hall must have been filled, around the year 250 BC. India really has such a rich and ancient culture and heritage to learn about.
We then went to the Takht Sri Harmandir Saheb at Patna, which is considered a very sacred place of pilgrimage for the Sikhs as their tenth Guru Gobind Singh was born in this city. This was my first visit ever inside a Gurudwara and I listened carefully to the soothing religious prayer that was going on.
We then went to the Patna museum and I remember writing in the visitor’s book that I was happy to see the collection dedicated to the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad. We also saw a fossil of a tree said to be more than 200 million years old!
We did see some temples and the banks of the river Ganga, but because of the festival season there was too much of crowds and noise, this is the memory of Patna that stayed with me after our short visit to the capital of Bihar.
So which Indian city gave you smiles?
Please share your experience of an Indian city that gave you smiles
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