During my recent trip to Uttarakhand , I was faced with a problem I had never encountered before. We were passing through Delhi, but we had hardly any time in the city. On earlier visits when I have had to change trains/flights at Delhi, I have always arrived in the morning and left again at night, visiting relatives in between. This time, I was arriving in the city at night, and leaving again early in the morning. There was hardly any time to visit people. I would only have a couple of hours with them before I’d have to leave again. For the first time, we considered booking a hotel, but there again, we were hesitant about the actual hotels, the costs involved, and the logistics of getting from the airport to the railway station and then back again from the station to the airport. That’s when we remembered reading something about a corporate-managed lounge at Delhi station. We soon figured out that we could book online and pay by the hour. Besides, we also learnt that there wasn’t ju
The first time I visited the Elephanta caves, I remember being told that the caves were so named because the island on which they stood resembled an elephant. It was only much later that I learnt that the name came, not from the imagined shape of the island, but from the sculpture of an elephant which once stood at the jetty welcoming visitors to the island.
The elephant sculpture was probably installed by the kings who built the cave temples, but they were first noticed and mentioned by the Portuguese invaders.
When the British arrived, they tried to take the elephant back with them to England, but the crane carrying the sculpture broke and it shattered. The pieces were brought to the gardens we now know as Jijamata Udyan in Byculla, where they were put together.
Today, the Elephanta caves is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The elephant deserves to be part of that distinction too. Unfortunately, its state probably prevents it from being restored to its original site. However, it is worth making a trip to Jijamata Udyan to see this relic of our history.
P.S.
Knowing all this still doesn't stop me from looking out for the imaginary elephant shape of the island every time I visit Elephanta!! How the stories of our childhood stay back with us!
I never knew about this, I too was still fascinated with those stories...!
ReplyDeleteThanks Santosh! these stories are the only things we remember sometimes :D
DeleteI hardly have explored Mumbai so I thoroughly enjoyed reading this bit.
ReplyDeleteYes, Mridula! guess its high time u come to Mumbai... and there are lots of us here all set to help you explore!
DeleteDint know that. Thanks for sharing this Anu.
ReplyDeletehttp://rajniranjandas.blogspot.in
my pleasure, Niranjan!
DeleteThe Elephant of Elephant, now the Elephant of Bhau Daji Lad Museum, is quite something. And in spite of its rather squat proportions looks quite real.
ReplyDeleteYes, Sudha.. its now the elephant of the museum.. and yes, at first i was a bit surprised to see how squat it appeared. but it did look rather real, too.. once i had got used to it!
Delete