Day 4 -- Noida to Hanumangarh

25-December-2016
9:15 AM Started from Noida towards Hanumangarh. We were not really sure about the route, so we decided to take whatever google maps told us.
9:50 AM Entered Noida-Greater Noida expressway.
10:00 AM Exited the expressway
10:35 AM Reached Paschim Vihar
11:10 AM Reached Bahadurgarh
11:35 AM Crossed Rohad toll plaza. We saw vehicles lining up for a ralley so decided to let their convoy go ahead and stopped at the place that claims to make India's largest paratha.

Preparations were going on for some
12:45 PM Finished the paratha and continued on with the journey.

4:25 PM Google maps shows multiple options to turn left to go to Hanumangarh but all the roads were extremely narrow, so we continued driving till Dabwali and then took an extreme left to continue towards Hanumangarh.

The road after Dabwali becomes two lanes undivided road but the surface quality is good and traffic is comparatively less.
5:30 PM We reached the hotel in Hanumangarh. We had decided to stay in Narang Hotel and Restaurant. Here is my review of the place.

Day 3 -- Bhopal to Noida

24-December-2016
6:00 AM I started towards Delhi from Bhopal.
7:00 AM Crossed Sanchi.
7:15 AM Crossed Vidisha
8:10 AM Crossed Kurwai
8:25 AM Crossed Bina
8:55 AM Crossed Malthone, joined NH-44.
9:11 AM Stopped at Sri Radha Kunj Dhaba, It has kind of become my favorite for breakfast. It is at a sufficient distance from Bhopal for a breakfast.

10:30 AM Crossed Babina
10:45 AM Crossed Jhansi and turned towards Delhi on NH-44. The bad road starts from here and lasts till Gwalior.
11:15 AM Crossed Datia
11:45 AM Crossed Dabra
12:30 PM Byepassed Gwalior
1:15 PM Crossed Morena

1:30 PM Crossed Dholpur. I was stopped here by a police checkpoint, they were looking for currency notes in the light of demonetization. They were disappointed when they didn't find any and they let me go.

2:30 PM Reached outskirts of Agra. I always saw an under construction road that goes towards left with a signage showing Delhi. It was always closed, this time it was open, so I took it believing it to be a byepass for Agra. It is a byepass alright but it lands you straight in Mathura town and you have to get on to YEW from there. I am not sure if it is a good idea.

3:45 PM Got on to YEW after couple of detours. If one does not get lost, I think one can get on to YEW 15 minutes earlier.
5:40 PM Exited YEW.
6:15 PM Reached destination.

Day 2 -- Nagpur to Bhopal

23-December-2016
The destination for the day was Bhopal where we had to attend 25th reunion of our undergraduate program. We decided to relax and start little late.
8:00 AM We started from Nagpur,  quickly got on to NH 47 towards Betul.
9:40 AM Crossed Multai
10:10 AM Crossed Betul.
10:30 AM Stopped at Hotel Meghna for a break. Just before Hotel Meghna there is a petrol station that accepts credit cards, so filled up there.
12:30 PM Crossed Hoshangabad
1:20 PM Crossed Obaidullagunj
2:20 PM Reached Motel Shiraj in Bhopal.

GEC 25 years reunion

There was a 25 years reunion for our undergraduate engineering batch, so the journey was cut-short in Bhopal for the day.

Day 1 -- Bengaluru to Nagpur

22-December-2016

05:05 AM We started from our home towards Airport road on ORR.

Iskcon near Ananthpur

06:25 AM Stopped at Kamat Upachar just after  Chikkaballapur for breakfast.
08:10 AM Crossed Ananthpur.
08:30 AM  Stopped at Bluemoon food court for a break for 15 minutes.
11:05 AM Stopped at 97 food court. Unfortunately the petrol station did not have any fuel so could not fill the car.
12:30 PM Got on to Hyderabad ORR.
1:15 PM Exited ORR and got on to Nagpur road.
1:50 PM Stopped at Cafe Coffee Day at Nagulapally for Lunch.
Even after demonetization, it was extremely challenging to find a petrol station that would accept credit card. had to drive in and out of 4 petrol pumps and then found on that accepted credit card.
3:55 PM Crossed Nizamabad
4:30 PM Crossed Nirmal
5:30 PM Crossed Adilabad
5:45 PM Entered Maharashtra, the road turns bad from here. Now the construction has started so there is some hope that in another year, the road may be in good shape.
7:30 PM Crossed Hinghanghat
8:30 PM Crossed Buti Bori
8:45 PM Reached our hotel, Le Meredien, Nagpur and checked in.

Tolls on Indian Highways, my experiences

If one wants to drive on half decent roads in India, one has to drive on tolled roads. Toll payment has always been a hassle, but after demonetization, it has become much worse. Here are my thoughts based on a recent drive across the country over a period of 11 days covering over 5500 kilometers.

1. Cash works best if you have change, but on a long drive you run out of change very quickly and then it becomes a huge problem.
2. Toll plazas have been supplied with card swiping machines but many toll plazas are just on the boundary of cellular networks and machines don't work many times. Wherever these machines work, the time taken is much longer compared to cash.
3. Initially, most toll plazas started accepting PayTM, but many have moved the PayTM signage now and are refusing to accept it. This method also takes a long time, because the confirmation of payment comes to a single mobile number that is with the supervisor and the toll counter has to confirm the receipt of payment over a two-way radio or mobile phone or just by shouting.
4. FasTag which was introduced many years back as a means to expedite the payment of tolls has transformed into a payment method. In most places, the effort to pay through FasTag were slowest. At places, it took almost 10 minutes with just 3-4 cars. Of course, the reasons for this are multi-fold. At many locations the non-fastag vehicles occupy the fastag lanes so they cordon off the lanes and then you have to wait there, honk, shout and the somebody with come, look at you with disgust and slowly remove the barricades. In other places the overhead sensor just doesn't work and they use a handheld scanner. Most toll plazas have one handheld scanner being shared across 4-6 gates and that results into huge bottleneck. The scanner is always with supervisor and the individual manning the plaza has to shout for him to come and scan the tag.

I have to say of all the above technologies, the most suitable is electronic toll collection, or fastag as we know it. I think the system should be properly installed so that it really becomes a fast toll collection system. Wherever the fastag system was properly designed with two gates to control access of non-fastag vehicles into the lane, it worked properly, and I was out of the toll plaza in less than one minute.

1857 Trip

I had in my mind to travel to places that were significant during 1857 freedom struggle, rebellion or sepoy mutiny. You can choose the phrase depending on your choice. As part of my background research on the topic which was primarily limited to the internet, following places found mention as significant places during the event.

1. Barrackpore
2. Meerut
3. Jhansi
4. Gwalior
5. Lucknow
6. Kanpur
7. Delhi

Some of the places are very significant in regards to 1857 rebellion but there is nothing left now to see. For example, places like Kanpur, Meerut have nothing or very little left that points to that event.

Based on availability of time and our understanding of the importance of the places, we decided the itinerary.

1. Day 1 -- Bengaluru to Hyderabad
2. Day 2 -- Hyderabad to Bhopal
3. Day 3 -- Bhopal to Lucknow
4. Day 4 -- Lucknow
5. Day 5 -- Lucknow to Gwalior via Jhansi
6. Day 6 -- Gwalior
7. Day 7 -- Gwalior to Sagar via Orchha
8. Day 8 -- Sagar to Nagpur
9. Day 9 -- Nagpur to Bengaluru

The total distance covered was 4460 Kilometers with 425 liters of diesel consumed during the trip.

Total toll amount paid during the trips was ₹ 4505/-.
Last time around when I traveled, I saw many FasTag lanes operational but this time I saw most of those were barricaded out. In some places when I argued with the security present, they opened the lane but in many places, they told me to do whatever I can.
The deteriorated quality of road had one casualty. One of my tires had a side wall fracture and the last segments of trips were challenging because of that.  It was an interesting trip, would have liked to see more preserved monuments related to 1857 movement but what we saw was priceless.

Day 9 -- Nagpur to Bengaluru

15-October-2016
The trip was nearing the end with the last day of drive left. Even though we had decided on starting early, the tiredness was catching up, so we decided to take it very easy.
10:05 AM Left the hotel after breakfast.
12:25 PM Stopped over at a dhaba for small break.
1:45 PM Stopped over for lunch at Singh is King Dhaba just before Nirmal.
3:15 PM Crossed Nizamabad
4:45 PM Entered Hyderabad ORR
5:20 PM Exited ORR
6:00 PM Stopped at a food court for break
9:30 PM Stopped for dinner
1:30 AM Reached home.

Day 8 -- Sagar to Nagpur

14-October-2016
We had made a plan to visit Sagar university just to have a drive through.

We left university at around 12:15 PM, reached hotel, had lunch and then set off for Nagpur.
2:00 PM  We left Sagar and joined the NH-44 towards Kanyakumari.
4:00 PM We crossed Narsingpur.
5:00 PM We crossed Lakhnadon.
While driving we saw that the road is good and we continued on NH-44, the road gets really bad some 140-150 kilometers before Nagpur.

If you end up going on NH-44 towards Nagpur, a good place to stop is MPTDC Rookhad Highway treat.
 
The road is really really bad and it takes more than two hours to traverse the road of less than 60 kilometers.
08:40 PM Reached hotel. Here is my review for the hotel.

Day 3 -- Bhopal to Lucknow

09-October-2016
08:40 AM Started for the day, took Bina, Lalitpur. Joined NH-44 which joins NH-27 after Jhansi.
11:45 AM Crossed Malthone
12:00 PM Stopped by a small Dhaba to grab something to eat.

Sri Radha Kunj Dhaba

 Took a break of around 30 minutes.

Govindam Hotel

12:45 PM Crossed Lalitpur
2:00 PM Crossed Jhansi, now we are on NH-27.
3:52 PM Reached Govindam hotel just after Orai.
Looked like a decent place with toilets etc.
Observed a very interesting fact on Jhansi to Kanpur NH-27. The roads towards Kanpur is really in bad shape while Kanpur to Jhansi, though not great, is much better. On asking some locals, I was told, there is a very heavy traffic from Jhansi to Kanpur of Sand trucks while the trucks that come back are empty and that is the cause of uneven wear and tear on road.

Awadh Ki Rasoi

5:35 PM Stopped at a Reliance petrol pump for refueling.
The place accepted credit cards. I also got free advice at this pump from a fellow traveler, who remarked, "Sir why are you wearing the seat belt? No checking happens here.".
7:00 PM Crossed Kanpur
7:50 PM Stopped at a road side eatery called Awadh Ki Rasoi. OKish place.
9:15 PM Entered Lucknow. The city looks much better than what I had hoped. Particularly the area around M. G. Road where my hotel was. There are well laid out parks, wide roads.

9:35 PM Reached hotel. We had planned on staying at Vivanta By Taj. Here is my review of the hotel.

Day 5 -- Lucknow to Gwalior via Jhansi

11-October-2016
The days' plan was to go to Kanpur, Jhansi and finally end up in Gwalior. As we did more research on places to see in Kanpur and the fact that we had to drive into the city to reach those places, we decided to drop those from our itinerary.
The day we were planning to this trip, Prime Minister was visiting the Lucknow city, so we quickly wanted to get out of the city.
9:05 AM We start from our hotel after breakfast and quickly progress towards Kanpur road.
10:20 AM We crossed Unnao.
10:45 AM We crossed Kanpur town.
As we were looking for opportunities for a break, we did not find anything that looked decent. Most of the places on this route are plain Dhaba with no toilet breaks etc. So we finally reached back at Govindam Hotel where we had stayed during our earlier run.
12:00 PM We reached Hotel Govindam for a bio and tea break.
As we near Jhansi, we start looking for a restaur

ant for Lunch. We find Hotel Haveli recommended well on Tripadvisor and we decide to stop there for Lunch. it is pretty close to the Fort.
2:05 PM We stopped for Lunch at Hotel Haveli. It is an half an hour break. The restaurant is decent and serves a thali style lunch.
2:45 PM We reach Jhansi Fort. It is a smaller fort compared to other forts but has its own character. The fort has been ruined to some extent by some telecom operators putting their microwave station but still it is a good sight.

The construction of Jhansi fort is ascribed to Bundela Chief Raja Bir Singh Deo of Orchha in 1613 AD. it was one of the strongholds of the Bundelas till it passed into the hands of the Mughals for the next hundred years and subsequently came under the possession of the Marathas for another hundred years. The Maratha Chief Naru Shankar enlarged the Shankargarh area of the fort in 1729-30. During the first war of Independence of 1857 it passed into the hands of British who defeated Rani Lakshmi Bai and took possession of the fort.
The fort proper has occupied an area of 15 acres. Altogether there are twenty two bastions with a massive fortification wall and moats on two sides. The old city wall had ten gates and four Khirkis. The gates are known as Khanderao, Datia, Unnao, Orchcha, Baragaon, Lakshmi Sagar, Sainyar, Bhander, and Jhirna. Four kirkis are Ganpatgir ki Khirki, Alighol ki Khirki, Sujan Khan ki Khirki and Sagar Khirki. The important structures in the fort are Baradari, Panchmahal, Shankargarh, Memorial Cemetery, Kal Kothari, Hanging Sport, Ganesh Temple, and Shiv Mandir are made in traditional Maratha style.
Graves of Gulam Gaus Khan, Khudabaksha, Moti Bai, the three faithful military officers of Rani Laxmi Bai and Kadak Bijli, Bhavani Shankar canons and Jumping sport are major attractions for tourists. It is said that Rani Jhansi along with her adopted son jumped out of the fort from the said spot.

Kadak Bijli

The great canon of Gangadhar Rao is still visible in the eastern side of the rampart. It used to lighten from its nozzle at the time of operation which is curved like a lion mouth and as such it received this name. Gulam Gaus Khan used to operate this canon. The total measurement of the canon is 5.5 meters X 1.8 meters. It has a diameter of 0.60 meter.

Kal Kothari

Originally Kal Kothari was a prison room built by the Marathas and used for the said purpose. The british added another floor to it and used it for the same purpose.

Place where Rani Jhansi Jumped with her horse from

Panch Mahal

Originally the panch mahal had five stories and was built by Raja Bir Sing Deo (1611-1627 AD). But presently only three stories are existing. Rani Laxmi Bai used the ground floor of the Mahal as the conference room. She stayed in one of the corner rooms in first floor.

We are done with the fort at 3:40 PM. As you leave the fort, the famous poem by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan on Rani Laxmi Bai is at the gate.

सिंहासन हिल उठे राजवंशों ने भृकुटी तानी थी, बूढ़े भारत में भी आई फिर से नयी जवानी थी, गुमी हुई आज़ादी की कीमत सबने पहचानी थी, दूर फिरंगी को करने की सबने मन में ठानी थी। चमक उठी सन सत्तावन में, वह तलवार पुरानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ कानपूर के नाना की, मुँहबोली बहन छबीली थी, लक्ष्मीबाई नाम, पिता की वह संतान अकेली थी, नाना के सँग पढ़ती थी वह, नाना के सँग खेली थी, बरछी, ढाल, कृपाण, कटारी उसकी यही सहेली थी। वीर शिवाजी की गाथायें उसको याद ज़बानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ लक्ष्मी थी या दुर्गा थी वह स्वयं वीरता की अवतार, देख मराठे पुलकित होते उसकी तलवारों के वार, नकली युद्ध-व्यूह की रचना और खेलना खूब शिकार, सैन्य घेरना, दुर्ग तोड़ना ये थे उसके प्रिय खिलवाड़। महाराष्ट्र-कुल-देवी उसकी भी आराध्य भवानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ हुई वीरता की वैभव के साथ सगाई झाँसी में, ब्याह हुआ रानी बन आई लक्ष्मीबाई झाँसी में, राजमहल में बजी बधाई खुशियाँ छाई झाँसी में, सुघट बुंदेलों की विरुदावलि-सी वह आयी थी झांसी में। चित्रा ने अर्जुन को पाया, शिव को मिली भवानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ उदित हुआ सौभाग्य, मुदित महलों में उजियाली छाई, किंतु कालगति चुपके-चुपके काली घटा घेर लाई, तीर चलाने वाले कर में उसे चूड़ियाँ कब भाई, रानी विधवा हुई, हाय! विधि को भी नहीं दया आई। निसंतान मरे राजाजी रानी शोक-समानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ बुझा दीप झाँसी का तब डलहौज़ी मन में हरषाया, राज्य हड़प करने का उसने यह अच्छा अवसर पाया, फ़ौरन फौजें भेज दुर्ग पर अपना झंडा फहराया, लावारिस का वारिस बनकर ब्रिटिश राज्य झाँसी आया। अश्रुपूर्ण रानी ने देखा झाँसी हुई बिरानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ अनुनय विनय नहीं सुनती है, विकट शासकों की माया, व्यापारी बन दया चाहता था जब यह भारत आया, डलहौज़ी ने पैर पसारे, अब तो पलट गई काया, राजाओं नव्वाबों को भी उसने पैरों ठुकराया। रानी दासी बनी, बनी यह दासी अब महरानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ छिनी राजधानी दिल्ली की, लखनऊ छीना बातों-बात, कैद पेशवा था बिठूर में, हुआ नागपुर का भी घात, उदैपुर, तंजौर, सतारा,कर्नाटक की कौन बिसात? जब कि सिंध, पंजाब ब्रह्म पर अभी हुआ था वज्र-निपात। बंगाले, मद्रास आदि की भी तो वही कहानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ रानी रोयीं रनिवासों में, बेगम ग़म से थीं बेज़ार, उनके गहने कपड़े बिकते थे कलकत्ते के बाज़ार, सरे आम नीलाम छापते थे अंग्रेज़ों के अखबार, 'नागपुर के ज़ेवर ले लो लखनऊ के लो नौलख हार'। यों परदे की इज़्ज़त परदेशी के हाथ बिकानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥

कुटियों में भी विषम वेदना, महलों में आहत अपमान, वीर सैनिकों के मन में था अपने पुरखों का अभिमान, नाना धुंधूपंत पेशवा जुटा रहा था सब सामान, बहिन छबीली ने रण-चण्डी का कर दिया प्रकट आहवान। हुआ यज्ञ प्रारम्भ उन्हें तो सोई ज्योति जगानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ महलों ने दी आग, झोंपड़ी ने ज्वाला सुलगाई थी, यह स्वतंत्रता की चिनगारी अंतरतम से आई थी, झाँसी चेती, दिल्ली चेती, लखनऊ लपटें छाई थी, मेरठ, कानपुर,पटना ने भारी धूम मचाई थी, जबलपुर, कोल्हापुर में भी कुछ हलचल उकसानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ इस स्वतंत्रता महायज्ञ में कई वीरवर आए काम, नाना धुंधूपंत, ताँतिया, चतुर अज़ीमुल्ला सरनाम, अहमदशाह मौलवी, ठाकुर कुँवरसिंह सैनिक अभिराम, भारत के इतिहास गगन में अमर रहेंगे जिनके नाम। लेकिन आज जुर्म कहलाती उनकी जो कुरबानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ इनकी गाथा छोड़, चले हम झाँसी के मैदानों में, जहाँ खड़ी है लक्ष्मीबाई मर्द बनी मर्दानों में, लेफ्टिनेंट वाकर आ पहुँचा, आगे बढ़ा जवानों में, रानी ने तलवार खींच ली, हुया द्वंद असमानों में। ज़ख्मी होकर वाकर भागा, उसे अजब हैरानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ रानी बढ़ी कालपी आई, कर सौ मील निरंतर पार, घोड़ा थक कर गिरा भूमि पर गया स्वर्ग तत्काल सिधार, यमुना तट पर अंग्रेज़ों ने फिर खाई रानी से हार, विजयी रानी आगे चल दी, किया ग्वालियर पर अधिकार। अंग्रेज़ों के मित्र सिंधिया ने छोड़ी राजधानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ विजय मिली, पर अंग्रेज़ों की फिर सेना घिर आई थी, अबके जनरल स्मिथ सम्मुख था, उसने मुहँ की खाई थी, काना और मंदरा सखियाँ रानी के संग आई थी, युद्ध श्रेत्र में उन दोनों ने भारी मार मचाई थी। पर पीछे ह्यूरोज़ आ गया, हाय! घिरी अब रानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ तो भी रानी मार काट कर चलती बनी सैन्य के पार, किन्तु सामने नाला आया, था वह संकट विषम अपार, घोड़ा अड़ा, नया घोड़ा था, इतने में आ गये सवार, रानी एक, शत्रु बहुतेरे, होने लगे वार-पर-वार। घायल होकर गिरी सिंहनी उसे वीर गति पानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ रानी गई सिधार चिता अब उसकी दिव्य सवारी थी, मिला तेज से तेज, तेज की वह सच्ची अधिकारी थी, अभी उम्र कुल तेइस की थी, मनुज नहीं अवतारी थी, हमको जीवित करने आयी बन स्वतंत्रता-नारी थी, दिखा गई पथ, सिखा गई हमको जो सीख सिखानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥ जाओ रानी याद रखेंगे ये कृतज्ञ भारतवासी, यह तेरा बलिदान जगावेगा स्वतंत्रता अविनासी, होवे चुप इतिहास, लगे सच्चाई को चाहे फाँसी, हो मदमाती विजय, मिटा दे गोलों से चाहे झाँसी। तेरा स्मारक तू ही होगी, तू खुद अमिट निशानी थी, बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी, खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी॥

We start our journey towards Gwalior which is our stop for the night. The road from Jhansi to Gwalior is challenging.
6:30 PM We reach the hotel in Gwalior. We stayed at Usha Kiran Palace, Here is my review of the hotel.

Day 6 -- Gwalior

12-October-2016
The plan for the day was to visit places in Gwalior. I was aware that Rani Laxmi Bai finally died in Gwalior and her samadhi is somewhere in the city. The place was much harder to find than what I thought.

Maharani Laxmi Bai Smarak

We spent around 20 minutes at the smarak. There is nothing much to do here. The next stop was Gwalior Fort. We took the usual route and on reach closer to the fort, we were told that the road is closed because of Muharram procession being taken out on that road. The police man on duty told us that we should go vial the road that goes towards Mental Hospital.

Man Singh Palace is one of the finest example of Hindu Architecture. It was built by Tomar king Man Singh Tomar in 1508 AD. There are total four stories of the palace of which two stories are underground. The plan on the third story consists of two open courtyards and various rooms supported by different decorated pillars and brackets. There are Jhulaghar, Kesar Kinda and Phansighar below this story.
The palace is decorated with beautiful paintings, glazed tiles of varied colors, different figures like human beings, ducks, elephants, peacocks, lions, plantain trees and attractive pillared domes. The palace is built on the outer wall of the fort raised over the cliff at about 300 feet from the ground level. In Sixteenth century when the fort was captures by the Mughals, this palace was used as a state prison.

Vikram Mahal mandir was constructed by Raja Mansing's Son and heir Vikramaditya (1516-1523). There is a baradari in the middle with a room on each side. The length of the place is about 65 meters.

Jahangir Mahal and Shahjahan Mahal are in same complex. As per Hiraman Munshi it as also known as Sher Mandir which was made by Sher Shah. The palace was later restored by Jahangir. In the north east direction of Jahangir Mahal is Shahjahan Mahal which was made by Shahjahan. The palaces were built in Mughal architecture. The length and breadth are 98X52 meters.

View of Gwalior City 

View of Gurjari Mahal from the top

We could not visit Gurjari Mahal because it was closed on the day due to a holiday.

View from the top

Next stop was Jai Vilas Palace.

Seal

BMW Izetta Car

Dining Table with the train

By the time we were done with the palace it was 6:30 PM, time to call it a night. We returned back to hotel.