Excited, nervous and sweating that was us when we stepped on to the platform at the Gwalior Railway station in the sultry heat of April 2007. It was during the five days of our stay there that we realized just how enchanting, rich and mystical our country’s past was. We spent a day in Jhansi too and saw the famous Jhansi fort and the memorial made in the honour of Rani Laxmibai. We learnt about the life of this woman of steel, her painful childhood, her sacrifices, her bravery, her patriotism. The memorial through statuettes told the story of her dangerous escape from the Jhansi fort with her adopted son soon after which she became a martyr. The fort was beautiful with its four gates, a Shiva temple, and a hanging tower where prisoners used to be hanged. After admiring all this we returned to our hotel at Gwalior. Gwalior fort, as we noted the next day, was even more magnificent, in spite of the fact that it was much older than the Jhansi fort. It has two entrances and a number of monuments are built inside it since it has been passed down a long line of rulers. The best one was the Man Mandir or the Palace of Raja Man Singh Tomar. Its marble and coloured glaze simple awestruck us with its intricate pictures of elephants, birds, flowers, crocodiles and tigers. We were told that the architecture was cent per cent Indian. The palace had a sunlight chamber, a moonlight chamber, a summer bedroom and a winter bedroom all with symbolic intricate carvings. The royalty and grandeur amazed us. The other monuments were: The Saas-Bahu temple of Jain Architecture (dedicated to Lord Vishnu, it was originally named Sahastrabahu temple but simplified for the benefit of the locals), then there was the tall Teli-ka Mandir which was a blend of the North Indian and South Indian styles of architecture (again a Vishnu Temple, originally called the Telangana Mandir). Both these temples had beautiful carvings which were destroyed by rulers like Aurangzeb but rebuilt later. We visited the Atlas Cycle Factory where they showed us how these cycles were built and we also learnt how they reused water for cooling purposes by treating it in an environment-friendly way. 38 We also saw the Jai Vilas Palace which belongs to the royal family of the Scindias. This palace was huge and full of splendour. A few rooms of the palace were converted into a museum. We saw pictures of the line of rulers of the Scindia dynasty from Mahadji Scindia to Aryaman Scindia. The museum has a wide collection of goods from all over the world – cutglass from Italy, carpets from Iran, pottery from China and embroidery from Japan. One room of the museum displays various weapons and armoury and plates which turned red if the food on it contained poison. The corridor leads to another room full of Jain and Hindu sculptures. There were many such rooms full of items which caught our attention and curiosity. The ingenuity of the makers of those various artifacts really impressed us. We were sorry to leave the Palace so soon. Back in the hotel we were given a quiz on all what we saw, heard and read. The final three teams also had to act out a play on the various stories of Gwalior told to us earlier. It was all good fun. Later we were given some time to complete our projects. The night before we all had to leave for Mumbai, the men from Adventure Tours and Travels played some peppy music and we all danced, teachers included. When we were finally forced to stop, it was quite late. The next day we returned to Mumbai by train, drowsy and tired, but full of the sweet memories of our trip. They remain fresh in my mind even today. — Uma Balakrishnan, IX-B