We had the morning to explore Aurangabad. On our drives earlier in the week, we’d spotted a few gates. It turns out that Aurangabad is known as The City of Gates and has 52 - one for every week of the year (that’s not why there are 52). It was obviously an important, and well defended, city - although having to keep your eye on 52 entrances must have been a headache. Only a few of these gates are still standing so Caitlin and I went and found a couple.
We crossed the local river. Pretty yucky. The streets here are well swept but I suspect rubbish collections are not common or well regulated and the river has become a convenient tip.
We also passed a Buddhist temple, Khadakeshvar temple.
Our first gate was Bhadkal. It was built in 1612 and was the first gate of Aurangabad. It was also the first building built of pillar construction in India (sorry, lots of 'firsts' here).
It had a marble plaque showing the Constitution of India.
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens: JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith, and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation; IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.
On the way to our next gate we passed a tiktok with a massive speaker on top broadcasting some advertisement. For something so small it made a lot of noise.
Next was the Paithan Gate, built in 1622/3.
We then retreated out of the sun for coffee where we played cribbage. This is Caitlin’s not so happy card playing face. And my rummage-in-rucksack look. I did a lot of rummaging as I bury my wallet and phone deep inside to help prevent pick pocketing. But it does mean I take a while to retrieve these things too!
On our walk back I spotted the trolley made from bike wheels and the globe. Not sure why there was a globe, but there is no such thing as too many globes.
After lunch we caught the train back to Mumbai. We passed Thumbs Up mountain, aptly named. It’s also the name of the local soft drinks company. It was a slow trundle and it took us 8 hours to cover 360 km. Mind you, I don't think the Waterloo line is that much faster. The reason for the sedate speed, apparently, is a capacity issue so, to keep a higher number of trains running they slow it all down. Or that’s one theory.
As I’ve seen before, eg Kazakhstan, closing train doors on a moving train is optional. On many trains we passed people were clinging onto the doorway as they travelled. I can’t think how many loose grip and fall off over the course of a year. It was, mind you, a pleasant place to stand for a decent breeze. Our carriage was air conditioned but it wasn’t that cool still.
As we nearer Mumbai most people alit until it was just Caitlin and I in our carriage.
Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 February 2024
It was a gentle Saturday. Caitlin wasn’t feeling well so we took it easy with plenty of water and tea stops. We did a bit of shopping and a lazy lunch over a crossword. [Note - she shared her cold with me which I came down the following week - sharing is caring]. Then we treated ourselves to a massage each.
Our flight was at 0425 so we had a couple of hours sleep before heading to the airport at 0030. Shravappati airport is nice and new. It also has a wonderful feature of only allowing passengers into the terminal. This avoids the masses of relatives who just pop along to say farewell and makes the terminal very hassle free.
Queues for security and passport control were long but moved. We boarded on time and we enjoyed the excitement of premium economy.
We then sat. And sat. Apparently the airport ran short of those trucks which push back aeroplanes. We waited an hour to go from no 14 to number 4 in the queue. Then, nearing our chance of freedom, a 747 cargo plane broke down behind us so we were blocked in. There was nothing we could do about this.
It was eventually shoved out of the way and we took off 1:45 late. It was so late we saw sunrise over Mumbai!
I'd built a huge buffer into my journey back having a train ticket 4 hours after we due to touch down. This was pretty much consumed by the time we landed (nearly two hours late), waited for the not-very-fast luggage delivery, walk to the train station at LHR (it's kilometres!) and then to Waterloo. I like a big buffer. Thank you for a wonderful holiday Caitlin. Where next? ;-)
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