Deccan dreams

Hit The Road

 Aurangzeb's Deccan capital, a seven-hour drive from Mumbai, has a lot to offer to those interested in history.

 Remnants of Mughal splendour will confront you time and again, from the borrowed glory of the Bibi-ka-Maqbara, a carbon-copy Taj Mahal built in memory of Rabia Durani by her son, to the simple cloth-covered grave of the pious Aurangzeb at nearby Khuldabad, only garnished with the marble screens that the Nizam of Hyderabad later thought befitted a deceased ruler.

 Aurangzeb actually saved for his own tomb by selling skull caps he stiched and copies of the Koran he personally wrote! Make sure you visit the stunning cave complexes at Ajanta and Ellora, world heritage sites both.

 You will marvel at the talent, the toil and the faith of the monks that chipped away for centuries to create such incredible art...in the midle of nowhere.

 Another must-see is the 50,000 year old meteorite-crater at Lonar, the only one in India.

 Aurangabad is 400 km from Mumbai, via Pune and Ahmednagar. There's the Taj Residency (Ph: 0240 - 2381106) at Rs 2,000 onwards for a little luxury, or try Hotel Raviraj (Ph: 0240 - 2330793) at Rs 450 onwards.

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