As good as the outside was at Hotel Narayani Heritage, the room was just average - a small room, with an even smaller bathroom, paint peeling off in places, tiny cockroaches... sigh.... maybe because the whole place, including the palace, was getting a facelift.
This heritage stay is part of the Neelambag Palace Gardens in Bhavnagar where we spent the night on Day 2. We woke up to a wonderful morning and this lovely palace was just the right place for a long walk.
The weather was pleasant - a cool breeze blowing the monsoon clouds all over the sky, ensuring that the sun doesn't show its face. We saw parrots, bulbuls, mynahs and squirrels nibbling away some grains that the wafadaars (I guess these grey-haired, stern-looking men with uniforms walking all around the palace grounds can be called that!) had thrown for them.
After working up an appetite, we walked back inside Hotel Narayani Heritage for our breakfast. There were several interesting artefacts, furniture and photographs of the British Raj and the world gone by.
It was getting late... time to move on. And before that, we did our stemcell awareness talk. The interesting part, though not surprising, was what the local women staff here told us.... they do preserve the umblical cord of the newborns in the family, keep it tied to the cradle and when the baby falls ill, they tie the cord to the baby's leg or hand which heals the child! Like all things traditional, I think this practice too (in some families enclosing a part of the cord blood in gold pellets and tying it with a black thread around the child's waist) has lost its meaning but the ritual continues. So we explained the significance to Hansa behen and Bharti behen, explained the scientific research and development in this field... they understood as it was an extension of what they have been doing all along!
We said our goodbyes and were on our way... to Ghogha! (sounds like the name of a Bollywood villain like Amrish Puri in a movie like Mr. India, doesn't it? :) )
Next... Day 3 - A variety of sights, sounds, roads, vehicles... from Bhavnagar to Diu!
This heritage stay is part of the Neelambag Palace Gardens in Bhavnagar where we spent the night on Day 2. We woke up to a wonderful morning and this lovely palace was just the right place for a long walk.
The weather was pleasant - a cool breeze blowing the monsoon clouds all over the sky, ensuring that the sun doesn't show its face. We saw parrots, bulbuls, mynahs and squirrels nibbling away some grains that the wafadaars (I guess these grey-haired, stern-looking men with uniforms walking all around the palace grounds can be called that!) had thrown for them.
After working up an appetite, we walked back inside Hotel Narayani Heritage for our breakfast. There were several interesting artefacts, furniture and photographs of the British Raj and the world gone by.
It was getting late... time to move on. And before that, we did our stemcell awareness talk. The interesting part, though not surprising, was what the local women staff here told us.... they do preserve the umblical cord of the newborns in the family, keep it tied to the cradle and when the baby falls ill, they tie the cord to the baby's leg or hand which heals the child! Like all things traditional, I think this practice too (in some families enclosing a part of the cord blood in gold pellets and tying it with a black thread around the child's waist) has lost its meaning but the ritual continues. So we explained the significance to Hansa behen and Bharti behen, explained the scientific research and development in this field... they understood as it was an extension of what they have been doing all along!
We said our goodbyes and were on our way... to Ghogha! (sounds like the name of a Bollywood villain like Amrish Puri in a movie like Mr. India, doesn't it? :) )
Next... Day 3 - A variety of sights, sounds, roads, vehicles... from Bhavnagar to Diu!
3 comments:
Will read regularly starting today. What fun!! The photographs are beautiful too. Excited to be following along.
--Deepa, Mohan and Arnav
p.s: Arnav wanted to say he likes the parrots.
wonderful
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