The two cities of my life-- Part 1

Bhopal is the city where I have spent the most beautiful and the most important eight years of my life. I had settled in Bhopal when I was 16, and to be honest, I fell in love with this beautiful city. Bhopal is a part of the central India and capital of Madhya Pradesh. Popularly, it is known as the City of Lakes as it has about thirteen lakes including one of the biggest man-made Lake, UPPER LAKE, constructed during the aura of the King “Bhoj”. The local people call it BADA TALAAB also. No doubt, it has a unique beauty but the reason for which I admire it is its significance to the city. It is solving the major problem of drinking water in Bhopal.
Due to less monsoon in 2008, the city may face a WATER PROBLEM in 2009. Therefore, the entire Bhopal geared up and got united for the major cause of SHRAM DAAN. People from every corner of the city gathered and participated voluntarily for desilting the Upper Lake. This activity lasted for approximately a month.Apart from this example of the awareness of the mass, the Culture of Bhopal also has a momentous in itself. You can see the true color of the nation in this city as the people from all the religion live here with an intimate bonding of love and respect for each other. Be it Marathi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Malayalee, Telugu, Himachali, Oriya or any other, people from all over India have got settled in Bhopal.

Moreover, Bhopali shayars and their shayris have their own presence. The famous Urdu Shayar and ghazal writer Mr. Bashir Badr has his roots in Bhopal. The other feature of the bhopali culture is its dialect. The dialect of old city is entirely different from that of the new city. In fact, the old city dialect is very unique in itself. Who can forget the character of SURMA BHOPALI in the most successful movie of the Indian cinema-- SHOLAY. The character depicted the shades of the culture of old city bhopali guys and the role was played by the very famous comedian JAGDEEP.
How can I forget to write about my most favorite things of Bhopal which are really really close to my heart and my soul. The most happening things of Bhopal like:

• The packed roads and crowd of Jahangirabad,
• Hang outs at 10 no./Bittan Market,
• The famous ZARDOZI work of old city,
• Shopping in New Market,
• Ice-cream of Top n Town,
• Theatre at Bharat Bhavan/Ravindra Bhavan,
• The first ISO 9000:2001 certified “Habibganj” railway station,
• Spectacular places like Lake View, Upper Lake, Van Vihar, Bhadbhada Dam, Kaliasot dam, Kolar Dam, Manuabhan ki Tekri and so many to count.

That’s it for Bhopal. Will post for the 2^nd city of my life soon.