Allahabad with Aakash Mehrotra

Winner of Giveaway of Pranav’s book - Kunal Sachdev

This week, The Musafir Stories speaks to author and content creator, Aakash Mehrotra as he takes us to his hometown of Allahabad of the yesteryears, now known as Prayagraj!

Today's destination: Allahabad, UP!

Nearest Airport: Prayagraj Airport (IXD)

Nearest Railway Station: Prayagraj Railway station, PRYJ

Packing: Pack depending on the weather, winters are cold and summers are hot and humid!

Time of the year: Feb-Mar, or during the Kumbh if you have a chance!

Length of the itinerary: 4-5 days

Itinerary Highlights:

• Aakash covers a short history and mythological significance of Allahabad, formerly known as Prayag and currently known as Prayagraj, the home to the confluence of the 3 rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati.

• We also cover other influences on the city including the Mughal period and the origin of the Ganga Jamuni tehzeeb as well as the British period and the strategic location of the city.

• Important places to visit include the sangam, Allahabad fort, Civil lines and the british architecture, Khusro Bagh, Anand Bhavan, Swaraj Bhavan, Azad park, State Museum, Minto park, Allahabad University, All Saints Cathedral, Alopi devi temple, Kalbhairav temple, Lete Hanuman temple, Nag Vasuki temple, Jhusi fort of Chaupat Raja, Shankar Viman temple, Muni Bharadwaj’s ashram.

• We also touch upon the literary connection of Allahabad including the Allahabad university and some of the popular hindi writers and poets including Sumitranandan Pant, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Harivanshrai Bachchan, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, Kailash Gautam, Yash Malviya, Mahadevi Varma, Akbar Allahabadi to name a few.

• We also visit some of the important cuisines and foods one should try while in Allahabad including chaat like khasta and dum aloo, poor ke samosa, aaloo samosa, gajak, kali gajar ka halwa, malai makkhan, til ka laddoo, mughlai dishes, dahi jalebi, amrood, kandmool.

Links:

Link to Aakash’s book: The Other Guy - https://www.amazon.in/Other-Guy-Aakash-Mehrotra/dp/9352017609

Link to Aakahs’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aakashmehrotra/

Link to Aakash’s blog: https://handofcolors.in/

Link to episode on Nagaland: https://open.spotify.com/episode/26TT57iSuUu5iGXGjOCtPL?si=1qLlPkemRJ2eOA17I7Bx2Q

Link to episode on Landour: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4jyTU9Q4fQK8AIkB0mBqbM?si=VhOwfvL-T8-XiLjg7IuneQ

Link to episode on Pragpur and Garli:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3PRTJBAwq50iebqS7L5XYM?si=b-d-sjX8Ttasum8lBQhHCA

Photo by Shubhanshu Prajapati on Unsplash

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