A day out in Indore

I went on a round-the-city, day-long tour of Indore that was fun to see executed almost exactly as I had planned.

I first visited the Central Museum, which hosts unique Paleolithic tools natively excavated from Madhya Pradesh.

In the same vein, the museum hosts artifacts of an independent Bronze age civilization in Madhya Pradesh from Kayatha and Avara (modern day Mandsaur).

The museum also had an intriguing 5th century painting from the Bagh caves depicting a folk dance being performed by women.

The museum’s gallery of inscriptions displayed a copper plate which references a solar eclipse.

I then visited the Holkar clan’s Rajwada palace and its gallery, owing to the clan’s significant role across the Mughal-Maratha-British eras in central India.

I then walked up to the Sheesh Mahal, a Jain temple made largely of glass and collage-esque mirror pieces, including the large paintings that adorn its also-mirrored walls. Sadly, photography isn’t allowed in there so I couldn’t take any pictures. If the relevant stakeholders want more people to appreciate the beauty of the temple’s build, they should change their policy to allow mobile photography at the very least.

I also stopped by the Gandhi Hall and Lotus lake. The former was hosting an exhibition on coins that I had no interest in. The latter neither had a lake nor lotuses. My plan to sunset the tour with a sunset had to be set aside.

I enjoyed some street food during transits, after learning to avoid the incredibly spicy stuff the locals have a knack for. I quite liked the ginger tea served at various street shops. Using Uber and Ola to travel in autos & mini-autos was reliable and affordable, which included a couple of nice electric rides. It was great to see the city host dedicated lanes for AC buses in some areas to encourage public transport. Though I didn’t need to board one. It’s a service I appreciate though when I visit Ahmedabad, and wish Bengaluru had it too.

In all, it was a day well spent with no undesired humans to spoil the plan and its execution.