Academic tour to Junagadh

5-6 February

A tour is a journey for pleasure in which several different places are visited, but when we include the word 'Academic' before the word 'tour' then its meaning extend to Academic Interactions with the students and teachers of college, university, school. In these two days of Academic tour we enjoyed a lot. But with enjoyment we have learnt so many things also. Let me tell you from the first to last place of our visit.

1. Bahauddin College

We departed from very early morning from Bhavnagar to reach at time to our first place Bahauddin college because it will be close at 12 p.m. First we have seen the old architecture of college. It was amazing. The structure reminds us of history. It was inaugurated by Lord Curzon. Earlier there are 52 gates but one gate is closed afterwards because as per the myth to have 51 gates is luckiest than 52. People consider 51 as lucky number.

52nd gate in middle

 The building structure was based on Muslim Sthapatya. We have seen the huge seminar hall with mind-blowing art work on wooden. The ceiling was made up of wooden. Normally terrace gate will not open for students. But we have seen terrace also. The beauty of art was mesmerising.

wooden ceiling

Then afterwards we have an interaction session with B.A English students. We tell them about our departmental activities specially about our blogs. they asked about net/set also. We have seen curiosity in their eyes to know about net/set, many of them are preparing. It was strange because when I was in bachelor, I don't even heard about any exam like Net/set. Then they asked about our you tube channel. As we all have our channel in which we are uploading videos of our presentation. After the interaction session we visited the library. There were oldest and rarest books. The names of writer and their work are too strange for us which we have not heard.

There are so many Ideas that we need to take from their computer lab because the students are preparing for net-set, they have made charts on the history of English literature. Much creativity is used in making posters or adding bulletin points about the history. 

We had taken our breakfast there and then moves to our second place of visit that is Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden.

Group picture on the terrace of Bahauddin college

2. Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden

After academical things we moves towards the entertainment site that is one of most amazing zoo Sakkarbaug. There we have seen the rarest species of birds and animals like White tiger, Ostrich and so many. We have also seen skulls of the lost species and then afterwards taken lunch.

3. Uparkot

Uparkot is the hubs of Tourism with oldest forts, Adhikati vav stepwell, Ranki devi mahal, Buddhist caves, Navghan kuvo, Lashkari vav and so many other places. We can remember the history of Junagadh through Uparkot. The beautiful architecture of very ancient times from the rule of King and Queens becomes the place of attraction for many foreigners. It is the place where Amitabh Bachhan' shoot about "Khusboo Gujarat ki" to promote Gujarat tourism being made.

4. Ashok Shilalekh

Then we went to see Ashok Shilalekh where we paid rs 25. The 3rd century B.C saw extension of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka's rule over Saurashtra as attested to by his famous 14th  rock edicts at Girnar, Junagadh. Ashoka chose slopes of the Girnar hill and got his fourteen Rock Edicts engraved on the north east face of a Granite boulder at the foot of the hill.

5. Damodar Kund

The last place of visit for 5th date is the sacred Damodar Kund. According to Hindu mythology many prefers to bath here and immerse the ashes and bones into it. There is belief that departed soul get moksha in this kund. There is Damodar Hari Temple also. This is satirical that even if Hindu considered it most sacred Kund, they pollute it more than any other people. Like they used to worship Kund by lighting the lamp, Joss stick and by throwing flowers, food, coins into it.

6. Bharti Ashram

We all stay at Bharti Ashram, where there is free distribution of food. There is ongoing Annakshetra for the travellers or for the students who are living in hostel.

7. Dattatrey Temple

On next morning we took risk of climbing Datta, but we are able to climb 900 steps only. There are total 9999 steps, it was a daunting task. Two of my friends climb 5000 steps and reached Ambaji, but then they also returned because of shortage of time, as we need to depart from Bharti Ashram at 8 am.

8. Bhavnath Temple

Then we have seen Bhavnath Temple which is nearby the Ashram. As per the myth the Shivling is said to have emerged of its own divine intention. Mrigi Kund is the place where Naga Bavas used to bathe before Shivratri parva. It is belief that one from the Naga Bavas is Lord Shiva himself who took bath and never comes out of the kund. This happens every year.

9. Rupayatan Ashram

The most beautiful place for study is Rupayatan school of Junagadh. We had an interesting session here. Many students from our department interacted with small children and make them sing a song. Our professor also shared one of the best moral story of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam to make students aware about the positvity in life. We have seen that the children are very curious to learn English language and many of them spoke about themselves in English. The education system is better than other schools because many children come out shame and gave answers of each questions which were asked to them by Professor or by students. One thing which I have noticed that no one wants to become a teacher or professor there. All wish to become, IAS Officer, Doctor, Engineer etc. Cinema plays a vital role in building the mentality in children that IAS officer, Police, Engineer, Doctor are best jobs than other. Children are also influenced by the portrayal of action hero of Bollywood which are fictitious police characters. There is one interesting place "Divyasetu Darshan" from where we can see the mount Girnar and the shape of sleeping Rishi clearly.

10. Mahabat Makbara

After Rupayatan AshramShala, we went to visit the most beautiful Mahabat Makbara. We can see the influence of Lucknow's Islamic Sthapatya sheili and Hyderabad sheili into it. This Makbara is the best example of Western Islamic architecture. This is built on the grave of Junagadh Nawab Mahobat Khanji Bija in 1892.

11. Willingdon Dam

Willingdon dam is also one of the best place of natural beauty. This dam is built on the river kalwa. It was named after Lord Willingdon. It is a beautiful picnic spot.

12. Bhakta Kavi Narsinh Mehta University

The last place of our visit is Bhakta Kavi Narsinh Mehta University where we had an interesting session with newly made Vice chancellor Chetan Trivedi sir. It becomes surprise for us because the day when we are planning to visit their university he was a professor only but before two days of our tour he became the Vice Chancellor. We all have taken Lunch there and then interact with students. There were presentations by Documnetation and ICT committee leaders. Me and Ramiz Solanki gave brief introduction about our works. We have seen lots of simmilarties between their and our department. Most of the activities are same. they are also doing daily schedule everyday, they have same numbers of committees and so on. They are also using ICT in learning English literature. Mr. Clement(research scholar) also presented on Academic writing. After that there were wonderful performance of mimicry by Nirav Makwana, song by Dr Rupa Danger, youth winning Drama performance, Sanskrit song by on of the student. Many students from our department also presents themselves with creative poems, song.

In this way our two day tour ended with lots of memorable moments. It not only gave pleasure but also becomes one of the best interactive academic tour, in which we met students from different college, University and saw their way of learning. Interaction with Rupayatan school children is also worthy where we have find curiosity of learning in children who are the future of India. I would like to thanks our professor Dilip Barad for making out tour interesting and knowledge gaining.