The town of Akola

Still on the trail of swach Bharat with NDTV and fellow blogger it was day-2

From Buldana, to Akola district, we stayed at the town of Akola, at a place called Jasnagar Hotel. The town of Akola, looked slow paced, it was as if the town wanted to share her story with us, old British building, late British Raj period Maharashtrian ,Akola  spoke of urban residence of landed gentry. There were quite few building more precise residences built in the seventies style of architecture.

The town has a clock tower another typical, British feature. The railway station that connects Akola to more prominent towns is very old British in appearance. The town definitely has an old world charm.

Enroute we passed fields of thuvar, channa and cotton our driver Balbirji, is a farmer on a sabbatical so kept pointing out the various flora. It was interesting to see him enjoying the well laid fields with modern farming technology and irrigation system.

I normally tend to note a hotel for the cleanliness, the service, and food particularly in that order. My family at Poona were worried about this road trip, because they were not sure where we would be put up.

Well this hotel was definitely clean, what really got me, was their complimentary beverage counter with a handy hot water kettle.

It was the first time I used Girnar premixed sachets; it was so good I have been hunting for it, back in Goa. Then was the toiletries the hotel gave complimentary, to this indicates not only the kind of clientele the hotel deals with but also the kind of meticulous care they take of their customers. What surprised me was with usual soap and shampoo, they had complimentary moisturizer,oral care, shoe polish, suing kit. It was the Shoe polish that gave it the star in my book.

In the evening we wanted to go to the fort, but unfortunately the fort closes down for visitors at 5pm. The hotel provides a brochure with all the places of tourist interests, in addition to the staff being helpful. Since we decided to go to the fort at 4.30, and it closed at 5pml they did try to tell the curator to give us a little extra time, they tried throwing in the NDTV carrot but govt. Rules are adhered to.

Akola is now definitely on my to visit list.

Hotel Jasnagar is great place to stay, try their Maharashtrian cuisine, it is excellent.