Madhya Pradesh

Man Singh Palace
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I arrived into Gwalior train station at 7.20pm and caught a rickshaw to Hotel Safari. I had called a few hotels on the train and it was the only one that had rooms free. I checked out the room that was offered and took it. It was clean and tidy and it had a TV. Normally I'm not fussed about a TV, but not sure if many tourists venture this way, so had something to do in the evening. There was no restaurant in the hotel but they offered room service from the restaurant next door. Upstairs there is a bar, but they told me at reception its for men only. I was tired after the long journey anyway so checked in, had some tea, took a shower (no hot water) ate some dinner, watched a bit of TV and went to bed at 10pm. I put in earplugs as the hotel was on a main busy road and also the bar was above my room, so I could hear people walking past and chatting. I was knackered and fell asleep quite quickly. Despite the noise I slept well.

Man Singh Palace
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The next day i didn't feel like doing any sightseeing and spent the day walking around and doing admin type things. I updated my blog, changed some of my flights, caught up on emails etc. I found a coffee house and enjoyed a nice cup of proper milky coffee. I was actually feeling homesick. I think it was because I have just come from Punjab and was surrounded by family there and now I'm on my own on the road. Ah well, I'll soon get back into it.

On the Friday I was up early and went to see Gwalior fort. I walked some of the way but also caught a tempo for part of the journey. The tempo dropped me off at the base of the fort. From there it is a 1km uphill walk. I walked up slowly, sipping water as it was already quite hot. When I reached the top I had a sit down to rest a little and then found the ticket office. The fort complex is really big and there are roads within it. Also there is a private school in the centre.

Sikh Gurdwara -
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My first stop was Man Singh Palace. It is a 4 storey building with 2 being underground (to escape the hot weather). The underground rooms were later used as a prison. The most famous prisoner was Murad - Aurangzeb's brother (Mughal ruler)

Near to the palace were some ruins of other palaces. I took a walk round. There were some elephant statues decorating one of the palaces which I took a picture of. After lookng at these I went wondering off towards the centre of the fort area. I knew there was a big Sikh Gurdwara here so was in search of that. The temple is famous and a lot of sikh pilgrims come to it. The gurdwara was built to commemorate a Sikh hero who was imprisoned in the fort. The story goes:

statue
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The sixth Guru, Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib was falsely imprisoned for spurious reasons by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. After some months it was declared that Guru could walk free. There were other prisoners also held in Gwalior Fort (the prison), specifically 52 Hindu Kings who made a heartfelt plea to the Guru begging him to negotiate their release too. The Guru listened attentively to their plea and showered his grace upon them and told them not to worry and that he would negotiate their release.

ruins
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Guru told the Emperor he would only leave the prison on the condition that the 52 Hindu Kings are freed also. The Emperor being a man entangled in his own ego and pride of intelligence, replied that Guru could walk free with as many Kings who could hold onto his clothing on the day of his release. Guru the fountain of knowledge easily got around the condition by getting a robe tailored with 52 tassels on it. On the day of His release Guru walked out of Gwalior Fort with all 52 Hindu Kings holding onto one tassel each, this auspicious occasion is referred to as "Bandi Shorr Divas

–the day of emancipation."

I found it after a 15 minute walk. The building was a lovely white marbled domed one. I took off my shoes, washed my hands, covered my head and walked up the stairs.. At the bottom of the stairs is a tank of water to clean the feet. I went in to say a prayer and took some prashad. Unfortunately there was no singing of hymns as the men were cleaning up and tidying. So I walked round the building and was grateful for the peace and quiet.

I made my way back towards the main gate of the fort for the descent down. There are other sculptures within the fort but I didn't want to see anymore. I got a look at the view of the city below. When I reached the base of the fort some of the boys were playing cricket, so I stopped to watch a little. When I finally moved on I made my way to the train station. I needed to book a ticket to my next destination Orchha.

Booking train tickets can be a nightmare! There is no queueing system that makes sense. There are so many types of train classes and tickets and it can all get very confusing. Sometimes at the big main statons there are separate queues for ladies, but at the smaller ones if there isn't, women can usually go straight to the front anyway and usually get served quickly. So this is what I did. In the past I've never had any problems with it, but the man on the counter was being so rude to me, telling me to get to the back of the queue and very unhelpful (he wouldn't book a ticket for me or give me anymore info or reasons why) that he reduced me to tears. It wasn't just him, I was just feeling emotional and he just set me off. Arrrrrggghhhhh!

Anyway I went to get a drink to calm myself and found that there was a tourist office at the station, so I went to talk to the lady in there. She was very helpful and within 10 minutes I had my ticket. I went back to my hotel to check out and grab a some food for the journey. I had just about enough time before the train was due to arrive. The train was running late so I didn't have to rush. Whilst I waited I ate the fruit that I had bought. The journey to Jhansi would only be just over an hour and from there I would have to get a rickshaw or bus to take me onto Orchha. I was glad to be going. Apart from the fort, there really isn't much else to Gwalior. I only came here to use as a stop for the journey onwards.