Raipur is a city in the central India and the capital of the Chattisgarh . It has some beautiful gardens , lakes and some malls . Street foods in the evening are very famous among the locals . People in this place are mostly vaishnavites . So, the vegetarian foods are very common in the city of raipur . Chattisgarh is a state of tribal people , so don’t miss the tribal museum Porkhuhti Muktangan , little far from the city center but worth to visit it . Raipur is also famous for the jungle safari .
Swami Vivekananda Sarovar :
This is a big Lake situated in the heart of the City . In the middle of the lake there is a big statue of Swami Vivekananda in a yoga posture . This statue is connected with the main road by a narrow walk way . This walkway has been designed as a park . The place is really nice for the evening time .
The statue is opened daily from 5am – 9 am and 3 pm – 8 pm and in sunday opened from 12 pm to 8 pm . There is no entry fees for the statue area .
Energy Park :
Energy park is a park on the theme of energy generation , conservation , renewable energy and different scientific models . It tells the history from using fire as energy source to solar energy . They also has some scientific game to increase interest in the mind of the children .
The park is opened from 10 am to 7 pm daily . Entry ticket is priced at 30 INR .
Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum :
This is the only archaeological museum in Raipur . This museum has good information about the different temples in Chattisgarh . In the ground floor there are different sculpture of different deity . In the upper floors there are cloths , jewellery and artifacts used by the tribal people . There are also pictures of the different tribal festivals in Chattisgarh Top floor is totally dedicated towards the arts and tradition of the bastar people . Bastar people have unique tradition and culture and it is influenced by the mao people .
This museum is opened daily from the 10 am to 5 pm except Monday . Ticket price for the museum entry is only 5 INR for a adult .
Porkhuhti Muktangan : –
This is a beautiful park which showcase the rich tribal customs in Chattisgarh . In this museum you can see lots of sculpture of tribal heroes . You can see lots of tribal dancing models and and relief of tribal customs in the wall .
This place is very far from the city center of the Raipur city . It is situated 24 km from the city center . Only Government AC bus leaves from the city toward the new Raipur comes this place but it will drop you near to the Law college which is 2.5 km ahead of this place . There is very few bus which directly goes to the Porkhuhti Muktangan . Transport is very difficult for this place .
This museum is opened daily from 9 : 30 am – 5 : 30 pm except monday . Ticket price is only Rs 30 INR per adult
ISKON Temple :
ISKON temple in Raipur will come to your notice if you come to raipur by train from the Bhilai station . Just near to the Sarona station you can see a under construction big white temple . Present temple was established in the year 2001 and a big temple construction was started in the year 2005 . from a long distance you can see the huge whilte marvel temple shikara(a multi side conical structure above the base temple ) . I reached the temple in sunday and there was some religious teaching going on in the morning .
The temple is opened for general people from 4:30 am – 1 pm and 4pm – 9 pm daily .
Nandan Van Zoo :
Though it is a zoo but they preserve mostly the birds and very few animals which exactly translated the exact meaning of “chiriya ghar in Hindi ” , which means bird’s home in english . Here you can see emu , different types of goose , parrot , peacock , owl , kite , pigeon and many more birds . The cages are well maintained , and having a good description . The zoo is well maintained and there was lots of big and small trees inside this .
The Zoo will be opened from the 8:30 am – 5 pm except Monday . The zoo is situated very far from the city and you have to reach there only by the private vehicle not even a share auto . I go there by hichhiking a motor bike going on that direction .
Malls in Raipur :
I must say malls in Raipur are really beautiful , clean and world class . Magneto Mall , Ambuja city are some of the biggest malls in Raipur . but most of the malls are little far from the city centre of the city .
Magneto mall is most visited malls in the city . It is all glass covered all the big fast food chains are available here .
Ambuja city is a mall which spread horizontally not vertically . Specially the clock tower in front of the mall is really beautiful .
food stalls in MG road in Raipur :
MG Road is one of the retail market for the cloths and other goods in the day time but becomes food hub in the night time .
In the night from 6 pm you can see there is no of food stalls with spicy chats to delicious sweets . You can try different types of dosas , bara pao , vhelpuri , ice gola , pao bhaji , ice cream , rabri , jalebi , chanar jilapi and many more .
There are certain food stalls which opens from 9 pm . This are the second batch of the food stalls . Manju mamata is one of the oldest and and busiest restaurant in Raipur .
Raipur Ghanta Ghar :
This is a clock house in the center of the city and recorded in the limca and india book . This house also known as the singing bell house as previously folk music was played all the time . after playing the musical tune for long years in 2009 it was recorded in the Limca book of records . This ck was installed here in the year 1995 .
Different folk songs like Jasgeet at 4 am, Ramdhuni at 5 am, Bhojali at 6 am, Panthi dance at 7 am, Dadriya at 8 am, Dewar Geet at 9 am, Karma at 10 am, Bhadauni at 11 am then 12 noon Sua song, 1 pm Bharthari, 2 pm Danda dance, 3 pm Phaag song, 4 pm Chandaini and in the Evening 5 pm Pandwani, 6 pm Raut dance, 7 pm Gaura were played . After that At 8 o’clock in the night, the tune of Parab, 9 o’clock Alaha, 10 o’clock Nacha, 11 o’clock Kamar, 12 o’clock Sarhul, 1 o’clock Baans Geet, 2 o’clock Dhola Maru, 3 o’clock Sohar Geet were played .
This are the names of the different folk songs and dance .
Summary :
Raipur is the capital of chattisgarh and one of the biggest city in the middle India having some of the finest malls in India . Chattisgarh is a tribal state and have many tribes and unique customs . In the Porkhuhti Muktangan and Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum are some of the places where you can have the glimpse of the tribal culture of the state . Raipur is also famous for it’s evening chats and tasty food .
