We suspect that even the greatest India enthusiasts are unlikely to have heard of Burhanpur let alone been to it – completely understandably, since it’s in the middle of nowhere; the only reason we’re here is because we’re on our way to the Ajunta and Ellora caves. But Burhanpur turns out to be a rather magical place, considerably enhanced by the knowledge of the hotel owner where we’re staying, though he stretched Sue’s patience somewhat with the 35 minute lecture about the city when we hadn’t even been shown to our rooms after a terrifying three hour car journey.
Anyway, turns out to be the place where Mumtaz (of Taj Mahal fame) lived and died, though it was six months before her body was taken to Agra. Anyway, we saw her bath house which was full of fresco paintings, including one supposedly of the building on which the Taj was based (see below). I will refrain from posting the picture of the 16th century urinal in the palace.
It’s also the home to the tomb of the most important Dawoodi Bohra saint – Syed’s Abdul Qadir Hakimuddin (17th century) – see below. The Dawoodi Bohras are a branch of Shia Muslims but the women dress in a very different way to other Muslims as you can see.
And for the final picture – today is Republic Day and we weren’t supposed to be drinking beer but Nikhil managed to secure some – which came with its own disguise!
Well I know I’ve done a bit of upwomanship on this blog but …………. it wasn’t Hotel Ambar was it by any chance. It was the 35 minute lecture on all the amazing things in the town which gave the game away. Though I think you got off lightly to be frank. We didn’t see any of the things you saw but did like the town. Is the swimming pool still filled in with all the pool equipment still in place? Also he took all the spices out of our food without asking on the basis that we wouldn’t like it. And made us drink beer in our room so in order to have a drink with our meal we had to run between our room and the table outside!
Of course it was the Hotel Ambar And Holiday Resort! Your account brings back such memories and we haven’t even left yet! Suspect the filled in swimming pool may have been rebranded as the jogging track ( promised in the brochure). Extremely cherishable resort.
I love the paper wrapped beers! Definitely more classy than a brown paper bag.
You’ll have to start the practice in the UK Lex – blind tastings anyone?
Yes, more classy but not v classy
I think it’s right and proper that you drank to Independence Day.
I suspect we weren’t the only ones, even though the country was supposed to be dry!
Completely agree! M wanted us to buy a small Indian flag to wave but I thought that was going too far..
Hi Sue and Miriam, thank you for the interesting updates on your travels Lois and I stayed in one of those Maharajah’s (spelling?)palaces once and had an amusing experience with a waiter, whiskey and ice!! We really liked the Indian beer cannot think of the name now but it was much more tasty and seemed lighter than UK beer we thought. Your pictures and chats have sparked a lot of good memories thank you May all your journeys be enjoyable Brom
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So glad you are following the blog, Brom. Were you drinking Kingfisher? Look forward to you identifying all the birds for us!
So glad you’re enjoying the blog, Brom, off to do wine tasting tomorrow- now that definitely doesn’t seem v Indian!
What a clever disguise for the bottles, nobody would have a clue. I should think one needs a few after the host’s welcome. We have quite a few Shia Muslim women in Chesham who dress like that, quite a lot of them only on holy days or mosque days, western dress the rest of the time.
A fascinating post
You are right about needing beer after the welcome! It’s interesting that this group are in Chesham because there are only about a million in the world, according to Wikipaedia.
In one dry state we drank beer out of a tea pot and tea cups!
Ah, the joys of prohibition. Nikhil told us that bootlegging was big business in Gujarat!