Finally, I woke up at around 8 am, and I have decided to travel from Surat to Indore and Ujjain city of Madhya Pradesh. I just had Muesli and orange juice for breakfast. I was ready to travel by road. It was a sunny morning, and the first sun rays fell on my face. Overall it was a pleasant, beautiful morning. So I had started my journey towards Vadodara. One of my friends will join me from Vadodara, approx 220km from Surat.
There was traffic on the highway, and everyone liked traveling to meet their loved ones, especially during weekends. Still, nothing to worry about; after 3 hours I reached Vadodara, the temperature here was hotter, and suddenly my phone rang and guess what, he came and met. So I told him, let’s have something, then we travel further. By this time, I was exhausted. So we went to a restaurant and ordered light food, dosa, and buttermilk. After eating the first bite, I felt a bit relaxed, and while eating, I searched the route on Google map, from Vadodara, Indore was around 340km via Halol and Godhara road (NH47). Before beginning this journey, I had also decided that I would visit Ujjain, and I will indeed pray Mahakaal (Hindu God), well am devotional too.
Journey on NH47 Begins
We are slowly moving towards the city’s outskirts, and he told me, let’s refuel the car. I said that we have enough fuel we can refuel in Madhya Pradesh if required. To which he said a big no. He explained that the fuel would be costly in Madhya Pradesh. To which I agreed and we took a stop for refueling.
After refuelling, we connected the Halol road, and there was hardly any traffic on the highway. I speed up a bit and turned on the music. Finally, around 12 pm, the sun rays were poking hard, AC was turned high, and music was going on, but I still felt a silence. I noticed that my travel partner has slept. I understood that I had to drive a long time. Without any further thought I kept on driving. I looked towards the mountains and observed farmers on the field cutting Wheat plants; a few children were playing and some were taking back their cows.
After one hour, I touched Godhra Bypass road and took the right turn to continue on the highway. From that point, if you go straight, you will enter Godhra City. After 45 mins of the drive, we finally crossed and entered the MP border, and we were on the Dhar-Indore road; finally, I decided to have a quick break for tea. So we had tea and fafda. From this place, Indore was around 40km away.
So after a quick break, I started my journey, and after 15 min of the journey, one guy raised his hand on the left side of the road and tried to stop us, by this time I was also concerned and thought, why is he raising his hand? But I realized that he was trying to give us Prasad (blessed food) because it was Mahashivratri. So by this time we entered Indore City, from the last three years Indore has been named the cleanest city of India and we have seen the cleanliness in every part of the city.
Arrived in Indore
I had already booked the hotel name ‘Daksh Residency,’ and finally reached the hotel and checked in. From Indore, Ujjain is 60km. Therefore we had decided to travel to Ujjain on the next day. It was already 6 pm, and we were tired after 8 hours of driving. After freshening up, we went out for a short walk; we sat and had a ginger tea and asked the tea vendor about the Ujjain; what he said, I realized that I had to get up early because people from across the country visit Mahakaal. We came back to the hotel, and we ordered Mawa Bati and Poha Jalebi. The authentic local dishes.
Next Destination Ujjain
My alarm rang around 6 am; I woke and called my friend. We managed to check out around 7 am. As I was getting closer towards Ujjain, I could see the wall painting of Shiv everywhere and I felt the positivity and enthusiasm of people. I suddenly stopped my car and asked the temple’s exact location because Google Map also seemed to be confused. I giggled in my thoughts and I asked the traffic police nearby, he directed instantly. But he also told me to buy liquor for Mahakaal. I was confused, but I moved on.
Mahakaal
Finally, I was around the destination, and I could see the Orange (bhagwa) flag and started listening to the chants of ‘Har Har Mahadev.’ I removed my shoes, washed my hands, and purchased the alcohol bottle. When I was in the queue, I observed the happiness in everyone. The sun was blowing high, but still, people were lost in the chants, and everyone wanted to see God face to face. People were raising their hands and saying Har Har Mahadev. Police were struggling to manage the crowd, but thanks to the management and the co-operative people. The queue was moving slowly as we all were moving towards the Lord Shiv.
When I got a chance to see it, everything was extraordinary. My eyes were shining, and I was stunned; I can’t express how happy and satisfied I was after seeing live. It is said that pandits and pujaris serve liquor to Mahakaal. From local people, I got to know that the Discovery team came and researched, but they didn’t find where the liquor goes.
After that, we moved out of the temple. We had local Bhaang (a substance with mind-altering properties prepared from the leaves and flower tops of the Indian hemp plant). It is said Lord Shiv also used to have this.
Last Night in Ujjain
After the tiring day, we came back to the hotel in Ujjain. We searched many hotels that serve authentic local food. Finally, we went into a hotel and ordered Desi darbari, Dahi Vada, and Baafla.
Baafla was very new and different for me as I had never tried this before, they use Desi Ghee, and you can say it was like Daal Baati Churma. My taste buds were rolling as I love food, even though I was trying the local cuisine. At last, we ordered Rabri and custard.
We came back to our hotels, and we had a quick nap and checked out around 2 am as we planned to reach by morning. As we decided not to go back to Indore from Ujjain, we started our journey back to Surat. We didn’t know much about the road from this route; we observed the roads getting narrow. It was entirely giving the vibe of haunted. My friend suddenly told me he observed something unusual on the road; after this, I started shivering. I paced my car and continuously thought about God. After one hour, we finally touched the Halol highway, and with the same route, we entered the Gujarat check post. And it was 9 am. I dropped him off in Vadodara, reaching Surat around 11 am.
All I can say is this was one of the most exciting journeys I ever had because driving, experiencing, involved in devotion. Everything makes perfect, not to forget the food and the people of Madhya Pradesh.
