Thursday, December 6, 2007

Madhya Pradesh: From the point of tourism.



Madhya Pradesh - my home state. Obliviously I’m biased for it but whatever I’m writing about tourism of M.P. is a reality. Due to my parents travel freakness I’ve been to many tourist destinations in India especially in Madhya Pradesh. I and my parents share one common notion that India has got much in the field of tourism. By the way I’d like to say Madhya Pradesh has many good sites for tourism. Some of them are in tourist map but still many locations are hidden from the eyes of tourists, and if these are properly promoted they can increase tourist inflow to this state.

Let me tell those places in M.P. where I visited with my family and/or friends. So side by side I’ll tell you some of experiences which I had while visiting to these places.


Bhopal – It’s really lovely place. Being a capital, it’s a major city of this state. But it hasn’t affected by all those pollution etc problems which existed in some of state capital cities. From the point of natural beauty & greenery, it’s been blessed with many nice spots like Upper Lake (its lake view is fantastic), Lower lake, Kaliasot dam, Kerwa dam, etc. When we were in college these spots used to be on the top of the list of our most favorite hang out spots.


Besides these, there are many others worth visiting places like state museum, Bharat bhawan, old palaces etc. In surrounding of Bhopal, you can visit many other places which are either famous for its antiquity like Sanchi, Bhimbetka, Bhojpur etc or full of natural scenery (they are good picnic spots).


Panchmarhi – Ah, what a place! This hill station is on Satpura Range, I visited here recently with my family and friend. I really enjoyed watching sunset, mountains, and waterfalls. As I mention one of my dear friends was also with me on this trip, so we took some time from our schedule and explored this place in our own way. We visited local church, old British cemetery, bathed in waterfall, did some trekking in forest etc. We had fun. Overall it was great time in cradle of Mother Nature.


Khajuraho – It is an international famous tourist destination of not only M.P but of India. The colossal temples themselves tell about the erstwhile glory which has been passed before many centuries. One can think Khajuraho is all about temples, yes it’s so but it has other tourist spots too in its vicinity like Panna national park, Ken river banks, Alligators sanctuary, waterfalls. I’d like to mention esp about tree houses which are constructed on trees in nearby forest, Staying there give so awesome experiences. You can feel like forest folk while living here. These are most visited by tourists (after temples) to get different feelings of living on house built on tree branches.

I visited to Khajuraho umpteenth times. I can’t reckon now the trips of mine to this place which began since 1993. But the one when I came only with friends in college days was wonderful and memorable. I can’t compile in words the fun we had in this trip.


Amarkantak – There I’ve been to in last year, which was my first trip to this place which is the origin point of Narmada and Son Rivers. It’s on Vindhyachal Range. I can still remember how those sky touching trees (covered the whole area) here enchanted me. Besides this, I’ve seen Narmada River (which takes large shape after some kms from here) in the form of small stream.

There we did some trekking in the dense forest along the path of Narmada River up to some distance.. (It was quite adventurous).


Orchha – There I’ve visited before the trip to Khajuraho with friends. It is gradually developing now and has taken place in the foreign tourists’ itineraries.. The Ramraja temple is very famous here. God Ram is considered and worshipped here as a King of Orchha. You can also go here some historical buildings like old palaces, cenotaphs and can enjoy water sports on River Betwa and visiting in nearby Wildlife sanctuary.

Gwalior – This city has great historical importance. This was the capital of Scindhia Dynasty. The main tourist spots are Jai Vilas Palace museum, Gwalior fort etc and Bateshwr, Mitaoli etc which are situated in the outskirts of this city.
My personal advice is to go here in winter. Summer is Big NO a suitable season to visit here.

Ujjain – A city, which has been one of oldest great cities of India since ancient times. It is famous for many attractions esp Kumbh Mela. It is equally famous for Lord Mahakaal temple. You can also visit to many places like Kaliadeh palace, Shipra ghat etc. I can assure you that you have lot more to see here.


Kanha and Bandhavgarh National parks – They are very popular national parks and in brief I can tell you that these are very wonderful and you can forget all your worldly tensions for while when you’re here. You can have a close encounter with wild beasts like Tiger & many more.


Mandu - Its is Dhar district and near to Indore.. Its famous for the manificent buidlings and love story of Rani Roopmati and her consort baz Bahadur
So these are the main places I’ve visited but the list is not completed. It has also included all those small towns, villages, country side, various natural spots which are having some uniqueness but are currently not so famous.

By the way there are still MMMAAAANNNYYY places in M.P (where I’ve not visited yet). Some of them are famous and some of them are not so but offered much to tourists.

One has so much to explore in M.P, in many ways Religious, Adventurous, Cultural etc!


Madhya Pradesh can be very popular like states of Rajasthan and Kerala. It needs proper government involvement with effective tourism polices implementation along with private sector participation in the promotion of state tourism

Though I can say the now days Governemnt and private sector are doing much for the development of tourism in M.P. and it’s resulted in the form of better tourists facilities, new destinations, increased tourists visits etc..

Well while telling you about my state tourism scenario, I did some reminiscing which refreshed my sweet memories linked to these places.

2 comments:

era said...

Hey !! Vipul... Iam astonished to read u'r this post !! Mann !!U'r language profiency has improved by leaps & bounds... I think I need to learn something from u..
& hey ! coming to the content... really v.informative & is a testimony to the fact that u love Geography & Travel n tourism..My information also got improved.
Finally I wanna give u one suggestion...add a slide-show of snaps or simply snaps to add beauty to the post.. u may even add video here if u had made any..
However this u'r best post till this date !

ROHIT GUPTA said...

Yes no doubt M.P is one of the beautiful place in India. I was not knowing about it but after reading about it i caqme to so many new things.
M.P is also famous for its education plateforms. we are 'vg IIM,IHM,IIIT,National law school of Bhopal univertsity,AIIMS(proposed),Several renowned engineer colleges(MANIT etc),Coaching institutes for CAT,IIT,CPMT).

Many corporates are being setting up offering good salaries. Its cities can help the middle class to enjoy good housing,and even luxuries of life which are very difficult in Metros.


Bhopal,capital of M.P is less prone to natural calamities due to its geographical location. Its hot during summer and ofcourse cool during winter.

ROHIT GUPTA
Madras school of Economics