Trip to Agraa ~ Fortress in Kuno Wls

During this trip I was fortunate to make an enthusiastic albeit hurried visit to the Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary.  While Dharmendra (Khandal) had sort of induced me to take up the trip, could regretfully not ask him to join, this being decided at the last moment on the penultimate date of my stay at Agraa. Naresh was to accompany me and I recalled visiting the place with Aniruddha (Mookerjee) few years ago whom I remembered being fascinated by the ruins comparing them to Hampi.

Beautiful entrance to the Palpur fortress. Palpur, the village that houses the fortress, is one of the villages relocated near Agraa (Sheopur district). Wild growth seems to be challenging the grandeur of the structure after having won the tussle with it's lesser counterparts in the relocated villages.

Close-up view of the fort door. Did those who attacked the fortress take help of elephants? I recalled reading of the Moghul army, during Emperor Akbar's time, sourcing their elephants from around what today is Madhav National Park (Shivpuri district) and wondered how long it was before elephants graced the forests around Kuno - Kuwari rivers with their walks ~

Section occupied by the 'protection force' of the fortress. Even Paira (neighbouring village) used to have machan like structures to guard against possible raids by dacoits. There were peepholes in these thick walls for guns and also remains of a structure that I thought would have been a home to horses.

This Naresh said was the point where the ruler (of the fortress) would sit and shoot wildlife, primarily water-birds. We saw a hook in this 'balcony' from where a seat would have hung in the time gone by; presenting a majestic view of the Kuno river and surrounding forests. 

Bats came out to greet us as we stepped inside the rooms, not in thousands as they did during my visit to the Siju caves in Garo Hills, but the few that did were enough to startle me. While I could not manage to identify the bats I recalled my visit to the Gwalior fort. That too is a sanctuary for them !

View from across the river ~ simply love this. 

Agraa Trip - A Wonderful Meal

I had a lovely meal during my recent trip to Agraa, with colleagues and friends. After a long wait was enjoying this meal where the process of cooking is as much, if not more, joyous as partaking the food itself. Meal, for me here, consists of not only the food but also the location and people giving company.

The cheerful mood was amplified by the first rains of the season. Mobile phones went busy informing ones dear in villages near of the boisterous advent. I got wondering how differently rains were looked upon in Saiha and recalled a conversation with Manuna where he told me (seeing my love for walking in rains) he was tired of rains and clouds for unlike me had been seeing them since he was born. Rains had us shift from our original plans of having dal, bati and churma (ladu) and we replaced bati with the less effort driven but comparably delicious tikkad. 

Roshan began the action with the process of churma. He was insistent on covering himself while working and held on to his umbrella as well! One of us, part of the 'sub-group' working on tikkad, got dough ready. Other put it in shape and passed it on for cooking to the person sitting adjacent to the chula while the last in line applied ghee prior to stacking them neatly on 2 plates. Two 'honest' appointees kept track that the dry fruits (kaju - kismis) were not siphoned off while they were being readied to be mixed with churma in its penultimate stage. 

Dal was to be cooked in the kitchen. Ummed had agreed to the idea after initially displaying signs of reluctance to allow usage of his gas cylinder which he feared would be half empty by the time we were done ! Premium attached to these cylinders is a commonality between Agraa and Saiha : Agraa we had to go 22 kms to Vijaypur to fetch one while in Saiha we got one for 750/-! No wonder people use firewood. Dayakishen our 'dal-specialist' had not turned up but others had 'inputs' all ready for him. When I caught up with him, a while later, he said he only guided colleagues now and did not make it himself ~ ab main senior ho gaya hoon ~

The process went for about 3 hours during which I enjoyed chatting with all those around, on Saiha - Agraa and more.