Head out on an unforgettable journey with an open road that leads to an untouched horizon. Travel to faraway places, connect with people and immerse in their stories.
Outlookindia presents Break Away in Madhya Pradesh, in association with Madhya Pradesh Tourism, Responsible Tourism and Incredible India.
#Travel #OutlookTravel #OutlookMagazine #OutlookGroup
Outlookindia presents Break Away in Madhya Pradesh, in association with Madhya Pradesh Tourism, Responsible Tourism and Incredible India.
#Travel #OutlookTravel #OutlookMagazine #OutlookGroup
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NewsTranscript
00:00 It's a Sunday kind of week, with an open road that leads to an untouched horizon, and a
00:24 desire to travel to far away places, to discover new landscapes, to escape from reality.
00:39 I've been travelling far and wide for over a decade, and long after the physical spaces
00:44 start to fade, what remains are the people and their stories.
00:53 It's time to head out on another journey, this time in search of those stories, to seek
01:00 inspiration, find thoughtful point of views, and discover a mindful way of living.
01:09 And the best place to start is always the heart.
01:14 I'm starting with Madhya Pradesh, the heart of India.
01:18 The plan is to end up in the Malwa plateau by the banks of Narmada, after having travelled
01:23 across the state, east to west, starting in Bundelkhand.
01:32 It's well after the monsoon months, but MP is still dressed in its lush best.
01:40 Given that the state has the largest forest cover in terms of area in the country, it's
01:45 no surprise that it attracts an equally large number of wildlife enthusiasts.
01:50 And I'm no different.
01:55 Like most travellers, my reason for visiting Bundelkhand is the region's national parks,
02:00 the one place I'm happy to queue up at the crack of dawn.
02:05 For the past few years, I have been keen to come back to Panna Tiger Reserve.
02:11 This time with someone who knows this habitat more intimately than most others.
02:20 I came here in 1995.
02:23 I was looking for some tiger habitats where I can look at tiger ecology.
02:28 And I came here and fell in love with this.
02:31 And since then I'm stuck here.
02:33 Dr. Raghu Chundawat's pioneering research and scientific work on tigers took place in
02:39 this very landscape.
02:40 And before I start stalking the big cat, I'm going to get a crash course on their habitat.
02:56 We are now in the kind of heart of Panna Tiger Reserve.
03:01 It's a fantastic view.
03:03 It's very typical of the Vindhya mountain ranges.
03:07 So we have these flat plateaus and then a scarp and it's gorgeous.
03:12 It's a very unique habitat for a variety of wildlife.
03:17 So these are very vulnerable strongholds of tigers and we need to protect these.
03:24 A word of caution and rightly so.
03:27 Panna has had a history of losing all its tigers to poachers.
03:32 As a result, the number of visitors started dwindling.
03:35 Dr. Chundawat explained how tourism is a very important tool in conservation as well as
03:42 poverty reduction of the local community.
03:50 Right at the beginning the environment has to be of topmost concern.
03:54 Because once the damage is done it's very difficult to reverse it.
03:59 In reversing Panna's tiger-less landscape, one of the key contributors is a Bandhavgarh
04:04 tigress called T1, brought in after the Panna population was decimated.
04:10 I hear she's been on the move with her two sub-adults.
04:15 And I'm promptly back for an evening safari to get a glimpse of the stripes.
04:31 Within minutes, there she is.
04:34 Wait!
04:35 There they are!
04:38 T1's daughters.
04:40 The two sisters are in their playground while tiger mother is out to fetch lunch for the
04:45 family.
04:49 One shy, the other not so.
04:56 It's going to take decades of providing a secure home to live, hunt and breed in for
05:14 this lineage of Panna tigers to have a stable population.
05:30 For now, the curious catch decides to take refuge deeper into the forest to escape the
05:35 cacophony of tourists.
05:37 A cue for me to chase the setting sun.
05:40 It's when you witness a golden sunset in the quiet of the jungle, and birds chirping,
05:47 the wind rustling the leaves, that's when you realize that there's a gem in the heart
05:51 of India called the Emerald Forest of Panna.
06:00 Long conversations about the new generation of Panna tigers with my hosts, Raghu and his
06:06 partner, Joanna.
06:08 She's a wildlife filmmaker with four decades of experience in India.
06:12 And that's the thing with wildlife holidays.
06:14 They always spill out of the forest into tails exchanged over a fire.
06:43 I got in fairly late last evening and just this morning as the sun came out, the place
06:55 started coming alive.
06:56 I can see textures and I can see ideas and I can see Joanna.
07:01 Good, how are you?
07:02 Very good, thanks.
07:03 You slept well?
07:04 Slept very well.
07:05 I have to say, absolutely stunning this place.
07:06 We have a very lovely location.
07:07 Both Raghu and I come from wildlife backgrounds.
07:14 So we had this study in the National Park, which is the connection we had to this area
07:20 for 10 years.
07:21 And I come from a wildlife research background.
07:24 So when the research project came to an end, we wanted to continue working with conservation
07:29 with the community around here that we got to know in India.
07:32 So we thought a hotel would be a very good symbiotic way of doing it.
07:37 The word hotel is a synonym.
07:39 Well, that's why we call it the Sarai.
07:41 Joanna and Raghu opened the Sarai at Toria village for guests in 2010 to share this stunning
07:50 space and the experiences they've gathered over the past two decades.
07:54 So this was one of Raghu's buddies, Tiger.
07:55 She was a tiger specialist in this lower area.
07:56 And this was a guy, a young man who had a one tooth broken tooth, and they were consulting
08:03 together.
08:04 A wholesome breakfast out in the open and endless chatter about this space.
08:19 Joanna and Raghu and their architectural team have done an extremely creative job with landscaping
08:25 as well as the use of natural building materials at this 100% solar powered outfit.
08:31 My favorite feature is this bridge, which of course has its very own story.
08:36 There used to be one very small crocodile that lived here for quite a while, but because
08:39 the water goes down, we used to see it lying on this bank.
08:43 In the off season when this floods, huge crocodile lying on the bridge itself.
08:47 I know, right here.
08:48 I mean in the water.
08:49 So the water comes up really high, is it?
08:52 And one year it came even over the top of this.
08:55 On another part of the property, the men are hard at work.
09:00 Under Raghu's keen supervision, a local meal of pooris with home grown kaddu is being put together.
09:10 But I'm not done with my tour of Sarai just yet.
09:14 We decided that mud, I mean mud is what we wanted to build.
09:18 So we did it in the local way, which is basically just to slap on the mud, one foot at a time
09:23 and then let it dry.
09:25 When we started, we decided we weren't going to use any forest timbers.
09:28 Because even if it has a certificate, you can never be sure it's actually legally felled.
09:33 So we went for woods that you don't normally use.
09:36 What's interesting is how many people actually remark on the attention to detail.
09:43 When they come, a lot of them are worried because there's no air conditioning and things.
09:47 And they think it may be rather basic.
09:50 It's nice for us when they realise that actually, you know, you don't need all your double basins
09:55 and marble floors and whatever to actually have all the comforts.
09:59 It's not that challenging if you get it right at the building stage.
10:03 And it's so much more appropriate for this climate, you know, because this area, it goes down to freezing
10:09 and then in the summer it can go up to 50 degrees.
10:12 But luckily, today is a perfect day for an alfresco meal.
10:18 Hi, Ralu.
10:19 Hi.
10:20 Hello.
10:21 Freshly prepared food with local ingredients, an excuse to overeat,
10:26 and the natural progression is an afternoon siesta.
10:29 Evenings in Panna have to be kept for Karnavati.
10:46 Or Ken, as most people call it.
10:48 One of the cleanest rivers in India, and this water body has just crossed 55 kilometres in the Panna National Park.
10:56 Ken in the evening is like a floating garden come alive,
11:10 with an orchestra of wagtails.
11:13 Ken in the evening is surreal.
11:19 And I drift away towards day end, with wanting to push my privilege just a little longer than that of a fleeting traveller.
11:34 I've spent the last few days exploring the Kundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh.
11:39 I've spent the last few days exploring the Kundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh.
12:05 Just as I decide to move forward, the sound of the bundelis holds me back.
12:10 And I'm all ears.
12:15 There's no education, or the farmer does it.
12:19 So what is the environment for that?
12:21 Everything is there, the jungle is everything.
12:23 This will give us money to cut wood, to do farming,
12:27 and the animals, the birds, will come.
12:30 So the environment will be good, and our farming will be good.
12:33 So the environment will be good, and our farming will be good.
12:35 Look at the forest, the forest is everything.
12:42 The fruits and vegetables grow in it, and the honey is available.
12:49 In our village, there were very few pears left,
12:52 but now we have at least 4,000 to 5,000 pears.
12:56 This is our effort, our village's effort.
12:59 It's always small efforts such as these that eventually add up to make a big difference
13:03 in preserving the land and its traditions.
13:06 In every neighborhood, there's a band playing the bundelkhandi.
13:10 We've seen that the singing of the band is disappearing.
13:18 The old people are singing, but the new people don't.
13:22 We want to continue the band,
13:28 so we've created a channel called Bundeli Superstars.
13:34 Bundeli Superstars, one of the wonderful surprises that travel brings with it.
13:40 On that happy note, I continue my journey westwards.
13:50 Cutting across the state, I make my way to the Malwa plateau,
13:56 flanked by Vidyachal ranges in the north and Satpura in the south.
14:00 There are several trains that connect Khajuraho to Indore,
14:03 from where you must return to the road.
14:06 I started my journey with a relatively short drive.
14:12 In two hours, I'll get from the airport to my destination.
14:15 And yes, two hours is a short drive in India.
14:18 It's just the right amount of time to get a sense of the landscape,
14:22 and from what I can see, it's a pretty good start.
14:27 The second largest state of India makes it hard to pick just a few places to visit.
14:32 But on my pre-travel research, I'd found out that
14:35 ten river basins crisscross Madhya Pradesh's landscape.
14:39 And there I knew, I'd have to visit the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh, Narmada.
14:51 I stopped somewhere along its 1300 km long journey to the sea,
14:56 on the north bank, in a quaint town called Maheshwar.
15:00 Golden mornings and a pleasant breeze,
15:08 the river Narmada is a beautiful place to visit.
15:11 But there's a lot of work to be done.
15:14 And it's a lot of work to be done.
15:17 Golden mornings with their secret windows,
15:23 revealing how everything in this town happens by the water.
15:27 Busy people, lazy boats,
15:30 an odd traveler, and an inviting heart.
15:36 Something quite enchanting about this little town, home to less than 30,000 people.
15:42 The clean spaces certainly add to the magic.
15:45 A spring in my step.
15:48 A quick check-in.
15:50 The pocket-friendly Labuz Lodge it is.
15:53 Room is right in the middle of the city, on the road.
16:03 This looks really interesting, I think.
16:06 Worth an Instagram story?
16:08 I think so.
16:12 A quick social media update on the way up, and...
16:16 Clearly, I wasn't prepared for this.
16:20 Nor was I prepared for the heat.
16:25 Of course, I'm in the Khargon district, bordering Neemar.
16:29 The southwestern region of Madhya Pradesh is one of the hottest parts of central India.
16:34 The local favorite of poha and jalebi suddenly makes sense with this weather.
16:40 Having tucked in on the snack, I'm drawn to the ghats for the cool breeze of Narmada.
17:04 The distant sound of rhythmic clicking-clacking of innumerable looms sets the pace for my day in Maheshwar.
17:13 Maheshwari saris.
17:18 The lustrous weave has adorned women miles apart from each other.
17:22 But the journey for them all always begins right here, in the tiny town of Maheshwar.
17:30 It was as recent as the 1970s that the resurgence of what was then a dyeing craft took place around this very courtyard at Reva Society.
17:40 I'm keen on meeting someone who's been part of this journey right from the start.
17:47 And I've been told there's hardly a match for the number of yarns spun into stunning sheer fabric than those woven by the hands of Chandravati.
17:59 I had 12 looms. I spun them one by one and started spinning them.
18:04 And after a couple of years, everyone liked it. They said, "Let's go there, we'll get to see it."
18:11 Now joined by her son and one of her five daughters at the loom, Chandravati has proudly passed down her legacy.
18:21 It takes about 4,000 threads of fine cotton yarn in its taana or weft and silk in its baana or wop
18:28 and eight days of this relentless movement on the loom for a single pallu sari to be created.
18:34 What started with just 12 looms, four decades later, has 70% of the town engaged with this craft,
18:42 placing this fine fabric firmly back on the world weaving map.
18:48 Maheshwar as a weaving centre is known in the Arthashastra.
18:52 So it has great antiquity of weaving.
18:57 The current, let us say, avatar of weaving is stemming from when Ahilyabai was here and she bought weavers either from Surat or Ayodhya.
19:06 Richard Holkar, the co-founder of Reva Society, is carrying forward a family tradition started by the great Maratha queen, Ahilyabai Holkar,
19:16 in what was once her capital.
19:19 Ahilyabai's spirit sort of moves here and she is, of course, one of India's most illustrious women.
19:30 Her being here, I think in many ways, energized me to think really more concretely about the nature of heritage.
19:41 Under her patronage, weavers prospered and life flourished in this ancient town.
19:47 The Kashi Vishwanath Temple stands as testimony to her true devotion to Lord Shiva.
19:53 Just as intricately carved scenes of wrestling matches and marriage ceremonies inside the fort walls depict life in another times.
20:05 But stories are best told by those who've been a part of them.
20:09 When I arrived here in 1971, there was no green at all.
20:17 It was still as a 19th century sort of establishment.
20:21 So for a couple of years we had some serious rain and snow.
20:27 So it was really sort of bringing it back to a living, you know, any of these places.
20:34 If you spend two years and restore something and then forget about it, within five years it's going to go back to the condition it used to be in.
20:43 It made so much sense to make it into a living place where people are living and enjoying life.
20:50 It made so much sense to make it into a living place where people are living and enjoying feeling the place.
21:14 Ahilyabai's most prized possession was the fort she built, which is open to travelers today as Ahilya Fort Heritage Hotel.
21:22 The Marathas were not as grand a lot as, let us say, the Rajputs were.
21:29 Generally you think palace hotel, you look at the Lake Palace, you look at the Umed Bhavan.
21:33 It's quite ornate, very beautiful and so forth, but that was not the tradition amongst the Maratha.
21:40 They have what is known as the vada style of architecture, which is this.
21:45 And basically vadas are generally courtyards with built structures around them.
21:51 And that is what Ahilyabai did when she came here.
21:55 As the day comes to an end, the monotones of the sandstone begin to absorb the intricate carvings outlining the larger canvas of where I am.
22:08 Much like the thousands of threads that come together to create the fabric of this town.
22:14 A town cradled by not one but two mothers, Mata Ahilya and Ma Reva.
22:24 There's something quite reassuring about Narmada that gently flows by.
22:35 Perhaps it's the steady beat of her heart.
22:38 The hangover of a holiday is real and the traces it leaves are long-lasting, if not permanent.
22:50 This will be the last memory of my journey as I bid farewell to Madhya Pradesh.
22:56 [water flowing]