Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Off the Betwa river, the skyline of Orchha is marked by the pinnacles of the cenotaphs constructed in memory of the Bundela kings and lords.  The chief hobby of most kings and lords in the olden days was conquest.  The victors and the vanquished fill the pages of our history books in the colour of blood.  Orchha’s cenotaphs have stood for centuries reminding us of the futility of all victories.  All cenotaphs and mausoleums remind us of the ultimate fate of all human beings: “Out of dust, to dust again,” as Bahadur Shah Zafar wrote after being imprisoned by his British conquerors.  But the last Mughal Emperor also wrote the following lines in the same poem. You pressed your lips upon my lips, Your heart upon my beating heart... Life is a love affair.  A series of love affairs, rather.  We love people, things, and whatever else adds delight to our life which would be a dreary enterprise without these love affairs.  Political power and sublime art, religious pie

Our tourist guide was deaf and dumb.  Chaturbhuj Temple Maggie and I landed in Orchha rather unexpectedly.  We had no idea what lay in store for us there except that some parts of the movie, Raavan, were shot there.  The auto driver stopped in the parking lot and pointed at an ancient structure and mumbled something.  I asked him what it was and he said while pushing his auto into its parking corner, “Mandir (temple).  There’s also a mahal (palace).”  He did not look cooperative at all.  He must have been irked by the cop who swindled Rs 50 out of him at the UP-MP border though he added that amount to our fare in the end.  “What fault did you commit so that you had to bribe the cop?” I asked when he had returned from the cop.  “It’s the routine...” he mumbled with palpable irritation. The Ascent We ascended the granite steps of the Chaturbhuj temple.  A honeycomb lay hanging on the arch at the entrance.  There was a priest conducting some rituals and a few devote

Orchha lies 15 km away from Jhansi.  While Jhansi is in Uttar Pradesh, Orchha is in Madhya Pradesh.  Tourists probably don’t take interest in Orchha which has nothing much to offer except what is known as Jahangir Mahal.   I happened to reach Orchha by destiny.  Purely by destiny.  There's much I have to say about that destiny. Destiny can wait.  Like history.  In the meanwhile, here is a picture of the eagle I captured from the Jahangir Mahal at Orchha. It may be difficult to see the eagle.  Its body merges with the structure of the "temple".   I zoomed my camera lens.  And the pic is below.  Is the eagle of Orchha real? I started writing this blog with the caption "The dumbness of Orchha" and then changed it.  Because I can't express all that I saw in Orchha within a few words.    Orchha taught me much.  But give me some time to write about it, please.   In the meanwhile, let me say I turned a bourgeois after reaching Orchha b