Dharaji Again

Dharaji, the serene place that is now submerged under Narmada dam waters was the topic of my first post when I started this blog. You can read it here. I am still hooked to its beauty and I am sure, anybody and everybody who has seen the place will share my feelings.

The vast expanse of the Holy Narmada before submergence

 This was how it looked before. I had taken this photograph in March 2007. Incidentally, large quantity of water was released daily from an upstream hydel project that would submerge the place as much as it is now, only a little less. It would start in the evening at the dam site upstream and would reach  Dharaji by 9 pm or so. But that phenomenon lasted only for few hours and once the water discharge upstream was stopped, the level would return to normal. It would generally happen around dawn.

 

Possibly the same angle from where one of the current photos has been taken (see link)

There was this small inspection hut belonging to the forest department from where I captured this image. I believe it is still there. The reason for remembering the wonderful geographical - and equally mystical - pilgrim centre is a series of photos of what it looks now. I accidentally bumped into it while searching on the net for something else.

 Someone has taken great pains to photograph the 'look' now and post it on the wikimapia site. You can see it here

Prayers and more prayers ... nothing more comes to my mind when I see this and remember how it was.