Seeing is believing

This summer vacation was probably the best one of my life. I always wanted to visit the tourist attractions at my native place, Patna in Bihar, India. But I never got the opportunity. This time I was very pleased as my wish was going to come true.

There are uncountable locations where one could visit such as Tara Mandal (the planetarium), Gol Ghar and the two museums that showcase the specimen of archaeological importance found during various excavations. They reveal the historical importance of Patna, which used to be called Patliputra and was capital of the Maurya and the Gupta Empires, and the Sur dynasty. 

Later, the city was renamed as Azimabad during the eighteenth century, prior to the British Raj.

The best place for me was the museum. I love history and always read stories of the olden times. One of the main reasons for visiting this museum was to see different paintings, olden clothes and weapons that existed during the Mauryan Dynasty as well as during the Mughal era. I had only read about them in school textbooks, but seeing them in reality was a great experience.

And due to the same reason, I enjoyed the trip to the Gol Ghar. It too was related to history in a very important manner. It is actually a granary built in British India when a famine had hit the area. I was interested in this piece of information. Walking up the stairs, I could see the whole great city.

The next was the Tara Mandal or the Indira Gandhi Planetarium. It is one of the largest planetariums in Asia. It attracts a number of people who are interested in astronomy and science. It shows a short film at regular intervals based on the topic. One gets to learn a lot through these shows. And I enjoyed it a lot. I got a very close look at the planets and the most special stars that are scattered in the universe.

After touring these special places, I believe that one has not seen anything special in the world if he has never explored the hidden aspects of his own native place.

(Published in The Gulf Today on October 10, 2015)