Bhopal - the city of lakes

Resting place on a magnificent lake, Ash Wednesday

When we reached the hotel, I breathed a sigh of relief, because I was tired with traveling and with the chaos of Indian cities. Hotel Ranjit's Lakeview is located just above a big lake, away from crowded streets and dust. We received a very nice little room, the best we got to this date. This hotel is designed for Indian businessmen, foreign tourists are almost totally absent. Perhaps that's why the standard of this hotel is much higher than that of the tourist hotels.

Our room had working air conditioning, really clean sheets, and the bathroom shower was working too. The huge window was heading to the slope covered with bamboo trees, and on the right there was the lake. The best view point for the sunsets.

My mother went straight to bed, and I started "to settle things" and to explore the hotel. First I went to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast. This was truly an Indian buffet: parathas stuffed with potatoes, curd (a thick yogurt), idli, sambar, samosas, dal, etc. And when you ordered a tea, you got a proper Indian chai.

In the afternoon I came here for lunch too and I have ordered stuffed tomatoes. The waiter asked if I wanted medium hot or spicy (real hot), I ordered medium, but it turned out to be really hot. I think this was the first really hot food I had eaten in India. Experience has already taught me the most important rule when eating hot Indian dishes, do not overeat. Two pieces are sufficient and one should not worry that a full plate is left over, the health is more important. With a little fire inside me, but with a high spirits too, I returned to my still aching mother and ordered for her some biscuits with tea to be brought to the room. In the afternoon I went to church (it was Ash Wednesday). I could no longer stand sitting at the hotel. At the reception I learned how to get to the church, they gave me a map and ordered a rickshaw for me. I would never dare go out alone in Agra or Delhi, Bhopal, however, proved to be quite different.

Rickshaw driver did not speak English, but he helped me to recharge the cell phone anyway, and he took me to the church. It turned out that I am much too early, so I sat on the bench and waited for everyone to gather. It turned out that the women sit on the left and men on the right. Most of the women covered their heads with the dupattas or with pallus of the saris. During Mass, I realized that all of the people took off their shoes before entering, only I had my shoes on.

The church was full, this time a group with mikes and keyboards led the singing in a rhythm somewhat similar to the Bollywood songs. As usual mass was very spontaneous and full of singing. At some point all the lights went out (power-break), and when it was totally dark, gradually all began to sing louder and louder, so that chills went up on my back. The priest marked people’s heads with ashes very generously, so that everyone in the church had great black cross on the forehead. As I returned to the hotel, the gentlemen at the reception seemed to be somewhat surprised, and even began to rub on their foreheads, apparently they thought that I got some dirt on my head by accident :)

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