We won!

we whine, we moan
in coherence we groan

we wonder, we doubt
how could they muster such mighty clout?

we pray, we believe
though time-n-fortune deceive

we plead, we shout
that couldn't possibly be out!

we hope, we blink
hey, is there more to think?

we ping, we ring
have they lost the zing?

we urge, we coax
win this - and we achieve moksh!

we fight, we bite
hope it's not stage fright

we hiss, we kiss
the silly throw that they miss :)

we hug, we dance
the win wakes us from a trance!

Dedicated to all the cricket lovers who were following Indian win over Australia in the Mohali test :)

Rewind to Sydney

I am back to Sydney again - another month long office trip. It is lonely so far - the flight was through Bangkok this time around. Ate a lot of good food all through the flight - but little else really. Slept, and watched a movie.

Doing a share-house thing this time around - the roomie is a kid, a chocolate maker from Belgium, all of 21 years - but taller by atleast a foot! The room is not far from office - just off Hyde Park. And it is a 2 man team, the other fella stays with relatives. Am missing Bangalore - Sydney, with all its charm, fails to entice me :(

What do you do when you are blessed with great weather on a Saturday?

I answered that question with bike rides to outskirts of Bangalore. We are currently getting pre-monsoon showers at Bangalore - and the weather is awesome at this time of the year (it usually is when compared to most parts of the country all throughout the year). Cool breezy days, sun playing hide-n-seek with the dense clouds, and slight drizzle every now and then urges you to go out and have fun. Getting wet in the drizzle was never a problem, nor was travelling! So Lopa and I went out on the first instance of pre-monsoon showers on a brilliant Saturday morning in the first weekend of June.

The destination was the Art of Living ashram on the Kanakpura road. It had been raining pretty consistently over the past few days, and I was pretty sure the greenery around the place would be soothing to the eyes. Both of us had no interest in the ashram as such except for the visual treat that could be awaiting us. Lopa had earlier hesitated on the mention of the place - but the weather this time around coaxed her to do something off the beaten track (read visiting malls, eating out, watching movies, or doing nothing!).

We started out from BTM towards the Bannerghatta road, with the idea to catch the ring road on our way to Kanakpura road. But as we chit-chatted along the way, I missed the diversion and continued driving towards Bannerghatta National Park. I realized the mistake only when we saw a constant traffic piling up on the road. I wondered if everyone in town was the weekend getaway mode just like the two of us. We had three options now: take a U-turn and catch the ring road, continue beyond Bannerghatta National Park and go to a small stream-turning-into-waterfall (something Lopa and I researched about only the previous day), and third was to take the NICE road which would connect us to the Kanakpura road.

We chose the third option and after a short while when we negotiated the truck traffic and the toll gate, we were greeted with a perfect wide highway which had minimal traffic. Driving through that stretch was a pleasure as we passed through some scenic views. Soon we erached the diversion point for Kanakpura road, the ashram being a few more kilometers ahead. As we entered the Ashram, we were delighted to see the greenery around the place. Ashrams are usually located in the outskirts of cities/towns for the peaceful and serene locales - probably it helps in all the meditation, and prayer chanting!

We parked our bike and continued towards the large meditation hall (lotus shaped?). Lopa liked the ampitheatre in front of the hall while I insisted on some photographs with the meditation hall in the backdrop. As we clicked along, a security guard started shouting at us in Oriya from some distance. He must have overheard us speaking in the language. The mentor of the Art of Living ashram, Sri Sri Ravishankar was passing through in a golf cart. The guard wanted us to see him as he passed through. Several people were following him, trying to catch a glimpse of the popular man. Our non-chalance with his presence intrigued the guard, for he felt anyone who visits the ashram surely would be eager to see the man behind such a popular vocation of sorts. We on the other hand were amused by the attention given to the man, especially from a devout follower who kept folding his hands and looking through the horizon in the direction where the preacher went. Well, for all his good work, I believe people should differentiate between respect and devotion - and treat humans as they are, mortals and not divine ones!

We continued looking around the campus, had a look at the kitchen hall from a distance. A huge number of disciples emerged from the meditation hall. Apparently some course was being undertaken and probably Mr. Ravishankar was giving a discourse to the group. All of them were headed towards the kitchen hall for lunch and therefore we avoided going in that direction.

We went to the meditation hall and had to keep our footwear at the shoe stand. A senior member of the ashram asked us to wait before all the disciples left for the kitchen hall. We waited for a while, and realizing he was acting as a nagging monitor for everyone, we left our footwear at a particular place he wanted it and continue towards the meditation hall. Since the meditation hall is at slight elevation from the rest of the ashram, it offers brilliant views of the area surrrounding the ashram. There was a little lake visible from the top, and we decided to go near it. Apart from us, there was one more trigger happy foreigner couple who were taking a lot of photographs. The rest, were all "well dressed" disciples of the ashram! Lopa could not help but comment on some very fine clothes that some of the ladies were wearing (she is all for modern fashion - be at home, office, or outings!). I must admit, many of them were dressed in embroidered creams, and starched white - and they all seemed to come straight out of a Bollywood movie. As about the comment from Lopa - relate the following items: wealth, perfect finery in apparel, irritation and a madness in life, ashram, peace of mind, Art of Living. Link all of them and I guess you will fix the jigsaw puzzle :P

We strolled along the campus to reach the lake, but be could not find it. We decided that was it for our excursion in the ashram campus. Lunch was a little overdue and we had picked out some dhabas just before the ashram campus. We returned back and entered a place which was not exactly a dhaba, it was more a restaurant. I forget the name but the place had a good leafy ambience and it looked almost like Inchara at JP nagar. We ordered a few things and most of them came out well. Especially the chilly egg pepper dry, and the chilly prawn pepper dry - or some similar names. Mostly it was the freshly grounded pepper and kadi patta which gave a crackling flavour in the rainy backdrop. Satiated with our hunger pangs, we left for home and had another watch-a-english-movie session (or something like that, the multiplex-Bollywood saga ensured we upgraded our english movie have-seen list). Later in the night, when another urge to go out for a drive occured post dinner, we drove to Lory's (Lopa's younger sis) place at Brookefield. What else could we do - we were blessed with great weather on a Saturday!!

Valley of Flowers

Standard disclaimer – the post IS long, yet amusing :) Read at your own peril.

I seem to be in love with World Heritage sites. My last post was on Blue Mountains, a beautiful stretch of mountains near Sydney. This post is based on my experience at the Valley of Flowers (addressed VoF in further sections) and nearby areas in the foothills of the Garhwal Himalayas. While both of the sites are beautiful World Heritage sites, VoF was way beyond any competition from the Blue Mountains. I was alone at Blue Mountains – however this time around I was accompanied by Lopa, my wife – and Nupur & Prem, our friends. The company made the journey much more engaging and memorable.

Planning

I have heard many people say that an unplanned trip is the best one. I agree to a certain extent – however there are a few disclaimers for that statement to hold true. One – you need to have ample time (go and check how many “privilege” leaves you have gathered, and in case you have sufficient – go woo your manager). Two – you need to be able to spend as much money as you can (you have a choice here, hack your way to an Ambani bank account, or start minting money). Considering the fact that aam aadmi has no provisions to satisfy either one of the above criteria, we had to plan!

The first major assignment was to time our trip. VoF is in full bloom for a few months only – namely, from July to September. Even in these three months, the bloom reduces towards the end of the period. Our planning started when I was still rooted in Sydney, trying to complete my project commitment there. Lopa and Nupur are to be credited with coming up with the idea of going to the VoF – I had never heard of the place (so much so for being a lover of travel, nature, and all such fancy terms). I blindly said a yes – before finding out the valley is somewhere in Himalayas. Arranging logistics for such a trip is time consuming, and at times impossible when you have to plan it for four individuals who work in separate firms. I was always available (find out why) – but the other three had limited leaves, and had to let their managers know about their plans well in advance. We zoomed in on two sets of dates, around the Aug 15th period (it was a long weekend) and another around the end of August/ beginning of September period. The logic behind the second set of dates was availability of hotel rooms in that period, for we feared there will be too many people in the long weekend around August 15th, the Indian Independence Day.

Once we decided the period of visit, it was now time to do some budgeting for the trip. Travel from Bangalore to Uttaranchal meant we had to touch-base Delhi. Nearest airport was Delhi, and therefore we had no other alternative. It was also the bulk of our expenses. Traveling on train to and fro was out of question, because we did not have those many days. So we decided we will go on plane and return on a train. The next major expense was the travel from Delhi to VoF and back. We had ideas about hiring a taxi, and taking it all the way. The trip involved trekking for three days – so the vehicle would have been idle for better part of three days. It puffed up the figures in the excel sheet, and we made frantic calls to several tour operators to check if there was a cheaper alternative. One tour operator surprised us all by quoting 20k per head for an all expenses trip to VoF from Delhi. In comparison – we had a budget of 25-30k for all four of us at max!! There was a bus tour available from GMVNL (the state tourism department) – and it departed from Haridwar. It seemed a feasible idea, but it would have restricted us in terms of how much time we wanted to spend in a particular place. At the end of it – we decided we will just plan for the to and fro trip to Delhi – and beyond that, we will take it as it comes.

Bangalore-Delhi-Haridwar

Finally the D-day arrived and we embarked on our journey. It was an early morning flight to Delhi, and we had booked a Meru cab for the 60 km airport trip. The driver drove fast and steadily and we arrived at the airport in fairly quick time. We slept on the flight and arrived at Delhi. It was Independence Day, and we feared several sections of the streets of Delhi will be blocked. However a pre-paid taxi from the Airport to Kashmere Gate Inter State Bus Terminus (ISBT) took us hardly 35-40 minutes. We had planned to take a bus to Haridwar – a distance of 250 odd kilometers – as this was the cheapest way to get there. There was a train, but it was booked well in advance.

The ISBT was – well, a typical bus terminus of any Indian city. It was crowded, it was dirty, and it was full of commotion. Streaks of black water (drain water?), mud, littered pavements, and foul smelling atmosphere sagged our enthusiasm. The sweltering weather did not help us either – almost draining out the spirits of Nupur – she was dehydrated. And when we finally found the right spot to catch a bus to Haridwar/Rishikesh – we were traumatized to see the jam-packed bus that came in. The law of the land seemed to be favouring the “first-come-first-serve” approach to grab a seat. You had to run to get the first available seat – and even then rest assured the bus will be cramped up to its limit – with people occupying every square inch of space available. Getting a seat was a luxury – people were ready to stand on the space between seats, on the steps of the bus, and some even on the ladder behind the bus.

We decided to abort the bus trip – and started looking for a taxi that can take us to Haridwar. It was then that the infamous rogues of Delhi started coming to their own. This is a publicly known aspect, and I have experienced this on my own – cheats/thugs rule in this part of the world. Every other person we met in the terminus claimed to have a taxi ready to get us to Haridwar – they just wanted a cut. That it was an Independence Day, and taxis were impossible to find was another story. They quoted random prices; all they wanted was some “bakra”. After much of haggling and much more of nuisance, we finally found a group of auto rickshaw men – who claimed they could arrange a taxi for us. A few phone calls exchanged and off we went to another place (presumably Karol Bagh) in an auto rickshaw. This was where the travel agent was located – who could give us a taxi for the Haridwar trip.

The taxi – a red Maruti 800 – seemed it required a servicing for at least a decade and a half. It was the only option available – and we took it for 2000 bucks. The roads that led out of Delhi were horrendous – and were a sharp contrast to the roads within Delhi. With the classy Maruti touching top speeds of 40 km per hour – our dreams of roaming around Haridwar in the evening were remote. A tyre puncture (thankfully we had lunch at that time) well and truly dashed our hopes and we barely made it to Haridwar around 8-8.30 in the evening. The ride took us approximately 7-8 hours – it was the slowest and most agonizing stretch of 250 kms that we will ever have. We cursed our way to a small inexpensive hotel – who repeatedly asked for valid proofs to ensure we were married couples! Apparently in this part of the world – couples sneak into budget rooms for a night to get a few hours of pleasure – not that it is wrong, however deriving business from pleasure is – and that is what the hotel owners were trying to curb.

We freshened up – and strolled around to reach the famous hari-ki-pauri ghat. There were other temples in nearby hillocks which were closed by that time of the night. Some prayers and chants were flowing through the evening air, as we gazed down at river Ganga – this was supposed to be one of the holiest Hindu places of the world. We had to leave early next morning, our next destination was Joshimath – and it was 270 km from Haridwar. We enquired about possible ways of reaching the place – there was a GMVNL bus the next morning from the bus stop. We booked four seats for 1200 rupees and rested for the night.

Haridwar-Joshimath

The morning after saw us more enthusiastic. The dull Delhi car ride was behind us – and we were looking forward to a more picturesque journey – now that we had left the plains behind. We reached the bus stop before time, and saw a line of buses – similar to the ones we saw at the ISBT. Only there were not many people – just a bigger group of 8-10 men, and we four. It had started drizzling by the time we reached the bus stop. Before the bus started, we took our breakfast from a thela – poori-bhaji and tea. We kept our bigger bags in the bus trunk – if I may call it so – and sat comfortably in our seats. Lopa felt it was not necessary to put the bags behind, and we could have kept them near our feet. But I thought it would be much more comfortable with us being able to spread our legs if necessary.

The bus moved out of Haridwar – and houses, hotels, businesses lined the road till Rishikesh on almost a continuous basis. Rishikesh is famous for its Laxman jhula, and is another famous Hindu religious destination. Catching glimpses of the Laxman jhula, we proceeded forward and the road started winding through the hills. River Ganga was right next to the road, and the steep views from the bus to the river below were both thrilling as well as frightening. Just as we left Rishikesh town, we encountered a minor landslide. A huge boulder had crashed down the slopes above – and was smack in the middle of the road. My father had been to Rishikesh earlier, and he had warned me about this time of the year being prone to landslides. But we did not have a choice – this was high-season for VoF, and there was no way we were postponing our trip. The bus stayed stationary for about 30 minutes, before the road was cleared by highway clearing force – these men are deployed all throughout Uttaranchal where landslides are a common occurrence.

Our journey continued, and all throughout the way river Ganga accompanied us. The hills were beautiful and Lopa filmed a lot of spots on her camera. This was the start of the high activity week for the camera – Garhwal Himalayas had many more pleasant scenes to unravel.

It was slow progress; the terrain was tricky and meandering. We basically followed the river’s source as we headed upwards. We encountered a lot of Prayags (where two streams/rivers meet) on our way and ate bhuttas (roasted corn) at Rudraprayag. Somewhere in between, we had our lunch at a road-side dhaba – and it was effectively the best resemblance of lunch we had for the next few days. As we neared Joshimath, we encountered some really bad stretches of road. Boulders were strewn across the roads, and we were all petrified! We had thought we will reach Joshimath before evening, but the mountain roads meant the average speed must have been 30-35 km per hour at max. There is a drive-ban from evening 8 in the hills – as roads are so narrow that it becomes very risky in the dark.

It was dark by the time we reached Joshimath. We hopped out of the bus, and stretched our legs. It had been a long day – and we had spent nearly 11-12 hours on the bus that day. There were a lot of passengers who had put their luggage in the backside of the bus. We kept waiting, as our bags were at the bottom of the pile – first in, last out! My bag was at the extreme end, and to my horror it was completely drenched with mud and was soaking wet. Surely it was the mud and gravel from the roadside which had crept in the bus trunk somehow, and my bag being at the bottom of the pile – it was the worst affected. All my clothes were drenched, and I didn’t even have spare underwear! The others also had a few clothes affected, and the need of the hour was to find a place to dry the lot. We found the GMVNL tourism hotel, and booked two rooms. We sprawled all our clothes in the rooms, and I cleaned up my bag.

I selected a few clothes and started looking for a laundry shop where I could get the clothes pressed. It was already close to 9 when we started looking for a laundry shop. Most of the shops were closed for the day, and the only few that remained open were small restaurants. There was a solitary laundry shop open, and the shopkeeper was reluctant to do it, since I needed the clothes delivered later in the night. It was then that I realized the “economies” of need-based-pricing. Since it was an urgent necessity, I was charged 15 rupees per cloth. I was annoyed, but I was helpless. I needed a few dry clothes to continue my journey. I also bought an extra set of underwear – they were unknown brands, but effective all the same!

Dinner was a few parathas and some dal. Poor quality food wound up the worst evening that I had in the entire trip.

Joshimath – Govindghat - Ghangria

This was a big day – we had to first reach Govindghat – and then trek 14 kms to Ghangria. It had to be an early start – the thing with mountains is – you have to start early because the days are shorter up there. And we had to catch the first “gate” on our way to Govindghat. The “gate” system means traffic is one-way in the narrow mountain roads for a certain number of hours – the next period of time is for the reverse traffic directions. Buses/shared taxis/sumos left Joshimath at 6.30 in the morning. Chilly water of the GMVNL tourist place greeted us first thing in the morning – and we walked to the nearby taxi stand at one end of Joshimath. As we waited for the shared vehicle to fill up its quota of 10 people, we saw the scenic mountains all around us. It was a majestic place and we all were excited about the trek. We wanted to reach Ghangria as soon as possible, and paid up for 3 additional passengers (30 bucks per head) to leave early. The twists and turns in the short passage (20 kms) from Joshimath to Govindghat took us approximately 1.5 hours. It was a bumpy ride, and treacherous roads and scary drops were commonplace.

Once at Govindghat, we headed straight for breakfast. We had no idea whether we will be able to trek all the way up to Ghangria – and so had a heavy breakfast. We met another group of trekkers from Pune at the restaurant – it was an all men group, and they were experienced trekkers. I thought we will get some company along the way – we realized later there will no dearth of people as it will be filled with Sikh pilgrims who were on their way to Hemkund Sahib. Lopa called up her sister and we cancelled the return tickets for additional couple of days of the trip – we were already feeling so good that we wanted to extend the holidays as long as possible!

We bought some raincoats which were a one-piece lengthy polythene dress that covered most of the body. At ten rupee per piece – they were inexpensive and a simple way to avoid getting completely wet. It could hold drizzle and a bit more – though torrential rains would mean we will get drenched. Four walking sticks (with pointed metallic ends) was the next shopping item. And then we started our trek. 14 kms being a long way – we didn’t want to take any chance with our luggage – and hired a mule to carry our bags to the top. We had to reach Ghangria early, as we had no information on accommodation in the place. We had read in the blogs about a GMVNL tourism hotel – but it was almost always fully booked. There was a gurudwara, but then we wanted a hotel for better comfort. The mule owner wanted one of us to go with him on the mule, as he was sure we will take much more time with our feet. But none of us wanted to miss out on the trek – it was a challenge we wanted to conquer.

The route was mostly zigzagged; the path was paved with stones, and a bit of concrete to hold the stones. It was good initially, though there were places where the track had mud and gravel. At the first bend, I had realized this was going to be a slow trek. The girls were a few paces behind us, but surely we were going to have a lot of stop-overs all throughout the route. The view was getting better as we marched ahead, and we frequently had photo-shoot sessions. With no rains – we were enjoying our trek. We were virtually following a stream as we went up the mountains. Numerous villages lined up the trekking path, with small shanties selling raincoats, walking sticks, and food! The staple food for this part of the world seemed Maggie – almost everywhere it was the only snack in offer. And yes, it was priced 30 bucks per plate! Actually we felt it was justified to a certain extent – the only way these people received any goods was through this same path we were trekking on – on mules, as there were no road/railways to reach these places. And apart from tourism industry, there was no other means of employment for the area.

The drizzle had by now converted to a steady downpour as we approached midway. We took shelter in one of the shanties, and had piping hot tea, and some Maggie. It added some more energy to our bodies and we continued our journey. The stream was gushing all along the path and was a constant companion all the way through. Just about 4kms to the pit-stop (read Ghangria), we crossed the stream on a foot-bridge. From this point onwards, the trek was extremely tough. Till this point there were stretches of uphill- and then subsequent downhill. But after the bridge, the entire path was uphill. Lopa and I took frequent breaks and stopped every 20 steps or so. Prem and Nupur went substantially ahead and we could catch up with them only at Ghangria. We were amazed by the stamina of Nupur – she has such a slight frame, and yet had the enthusiasm and the energy to march on with much fewer breaks.

Finally we reached Ghangria, and by that time Nupur and Prem had already enquired about the hotels. We finalized on one, and it was a pretty good room for 250 bucks per night. There was no fan (there was no necessity in such conditions). Power remained for only a few hours during day time, as there was no supply in these areas. Diesel generators were used to supply power for a couple of hours in the morning and the evening. We freshened up, and sprawled the clothes again hoping they will dry marginally. The weather was chilling, and the blanket in the bed ensured the sleeping area was a touch warmer. We strolled around the area later in the evening, and had some snacks from a nearby eatery. The entire place was filled with shops and hotels – there were no residential areas. When we enquired, we were told the town remains open only for three months in the year – the rest of the time it is entirely covered with 8-12 feet of snow. And all the hoteliers and shopkeepers came from different places during the “season” to set shop and earn some money from the tourists.

Valley of Flowers

We woke up a tad bit later than the past few days because the trek to VoF from Ghangria was only 3 km one way. Lazily we woke up and had our breakfast of Aloo Parathas from our hotel, and proceeded towards the end of the town to start our trek. As I mentioned earlier, the entire town was full of shops and hotels – I took a jacket on rent as mine was completely drenched on the previous day. We passed the Gurudwara which was full of Sikh pilgrims who were on their way to Hemkund Sahib – Ghangria being the pit stop for both VoF as well as Hemkund Sahib. We had thought we will stay over at the Gurudwara in case we did not get a place to stay at Ghangria. The place was jam-pack, and we were happy we could get a hotel instead!

It was cloudy as we left Ghangria – and the initial few meters were as tough as the last part of the trek yesterday. It was demoralizing, and we started feeling 3 kms uphill is going to be a tough task for us – and this was supposed to be “easy” trek! Soon there was a diversion from the steps, and we took a left to enter the VoF area. There was an entry ticket of 50 bucks per person and camera charges. A detailed map of the area was also present, and the valley seemed spread over a large area. We proceeded further and the trek got prettier with every step. We spent a lot of time in the initial few meters of the valley. Small bushes with pretty flowers were lined up near the path we were walking on – and Prem and I were busy taking close-up photographs. Soon we realized we had to move on, it was pretty cloudy as such and we wanted to come back from the main valley before the weather became too bad.

Soon we encountered a small stream which one had to cross through with a make-shift bridge – the bridge being a small rectangular metal sheet over two large rocks. It was a touch scary – and I wondered if it would carry my weight. In spite of my doubts – I made Lopa pose on the metal sheet by asking her to sit on it while I clicked a few photographs – now that it was tried and tested, I crossed over ;-) A few more bends and then we crossed a proper bridge and the river was gushing down the slopes beneath. The river was fairly wild but it all added up to the overall charm of the place. After this the trek again became steep as we had to cross a hill and get over to the other side. There were tall trees surrounding us and suddenly the landscape had changed from open views of hills faraway to dense jungle setting with much less sunlight pouring in.

Again, after crossing the hill we came across wide open spaces and beautiful views. It had started drizzling but nothing deterred us. Actually the drizzle ensured that were not tired at all. There were a lot of people who were going to VoF – but it was not as crowded as it was when we had trekked to Ghangria. The major lot goes to Hemkund Sahib, probably the second most religious spot for Sikhs after Amritsar’s Golden Temple. We saw a few foreigners as we trekked along – VoF is a popular destination, both among Indians and foreigners alike.

Soon we encountered a glacier – it was the first time I was seeing a glacier. Most of it was melted as the river gushed right through it. We were on one side of the glacier and the trekking path was now all muddy. At one point we had to go closer to the river on our way down the slope over the glacier. With no path as such, were on “all fours” as we crawled to slide down the slope – one wrong move or extra momentum, and we would have gone down the river with everyone in front of us. Thankfully, no scary event occurred and we continued our trek.

We realized that there were two major varieties of flowers that had bloomed all across the valley as we trekked along – don’t ask me the names, had I chosen botany as a profession, I might have helped you! We enquired people who were on their way back whether they saw more varieties of flowers. With most people giving a negative reply, we were a touch is disappointed – we had imagined various species of flowers. Nevertheless we moved on. Another small stream crossing, and then we entered the main valley. The moment we entered we were dumb-founded. It was a huge valley – with mountains covering it from all sides, and it was full of flowers! With a small path to walk in between, the rest was entirely flowers. It was such a beautiful sight – this must be something similar, if not better than heaven. Imagine - flowers all around – beautiful weather, clouds swirling around, green mountains surrounding the entire valley, and streams flowing down the peaks of some of them. What can I say - scenery par excellence!

We took a lot of photographs – me and Prem chasing down bees to capture a photo with a bee sipping in the honey from a flower. After covering a lot of area in the valley, we finally decided to return back because for whatever stretch we could see, it was the same set of flowers (contrary to what the map said at the entry to the valley). On the return, we were very tired. The previous day’s trekking had taken its toll, and Lopa and I had decided we will not be able to trek to Hemkund Sahib the next day. That was supposed to be a tougher trek, and the steep trek meant we were not taking any chances with mules to go up – for that would have been scarier!

Another set of snacks in the evening led us to a very deserving sleep at the hotel. Prem and Nupur were going to Hemkund, while Lopa and I were proceeding towards Badrinath the next day. We had decided to meet again at Badrinath.

Ghangria – Govindghat – Badrinath

We woke up thinking of the missed opportunity – we had come so far, and will probably never come back to this place – so not going to Hemkund Sahib was not a pleasant feeling. But the body, especially the legs, had given up. We parted ways at the breakfast table, and hired mules to carry our bags. Though we were tired, we could not gather courage to sit on mules – it was just not a comfortable idea. I was willing to sit on them – but Lopa was scared – so we had to abandon the idea of going down to Govindghat on a mule. We walked down, and it was also a tricky proposition because we had to rush down in some steep areas, which led to a bit of sliding. Nevertheless we reached Govindghat much faster than the time we took to go up, approximately half the time in fact.

We had thought that just the way we reached Govindghat from Joshimath on a shared sumo; we will get something similar on our way to Badrinath – which was again just 20-35 kms from Govindghat. But we realized we had reached at a time when the one way gate system was on and we had to wait for the next time period to leave the place. We waited on the road, sitting on a stone/cement slab without having any clue what type of vehicle we could go in. There were a few private buses (probably carrying people all the way from Delhi) parked – but those were completely full and did not take passengers for short destinations. Finally we sat on a local bus (well, I did not get a seat for a long time) and proceeded towards Badrinath. Most were locals; however there was a set of three foreigners who looked more like hippies.

The bus suddenly stopped behind in what seemed a long queue of vehicles. It was another landslide. I got down the bus to check how bad it was – it was another minor case, and some army personnel were cleaning the debris. The foreigner trio left the bus and walked to Badrinath – approximately another 5-6km from the point where our bus had stopped. It was a 30 minute halt, and then we entered Badrinath town. From the first impressions, Badrinath was a very neat town, and even at these heights – each and every modern facility was available – including internet! That was probably because it is a major Hindu pilgrimage, and also because there was significant army presence – with the China border very nearby. We found a good hotel – easily the best in this particular trip, and ordered a heavy meal. My shoes were stinking, with all that dampness at Ghangria/VoF. I trashed them inside a cupboard, and then we called up our respective homes to give them an update on how our trip has been so far. After that we both slept off like logs. We had initially wanted to see the evening aarti at Badrinath – but then again – you cannot do much when your body demands rest.

The next day we woke up early. We did not know when Nupur and Prem were supposed to come to Badrinath. With no mobile network at Ghangria, there was no way we could connect to Nupur and Prem. We could not even tell them which hotel we were staying at. Therefore, Lopa had contacted a common friend at Bangalore (whom Nupur also contacted later) to let Nupur know the place we were staying at.

Lopa and I decided to go to the temple. We reached the place after a walk of 10-15 minutes from the hotel. It is not a huge structure as one would associate with one of the prime pilgrimage destinations of Hindus. Nor was there a huge crowd of devotees that you would usually find in such places. However we did see a long waiting area with asbestos covering stretching far away from the temple. Apparently on peak periods (read ram navami, diwali, etc.) people stand in queues which are well over a km long! The setting of the temple was remarkable. On one side there was this river which had freezing water in it. On the other hand there was this hot spring geyser where devotees were taking bath before entering the shrine. My mother had asked both of us to take a dip in the hot water – it seems sins get washed away if you manage doing that. Lopa and I tried getting into the hot spring area, but immediately retreated when we realized it was more a public bath for men, with each and every guy in his underwear. The scene was messy, and we thought we were better off with our sins!!

The temple was relatively simple from inside, and our darshan hardly lasted 10 minutes or so. After that we did some bhakti shopping. I collected some CDs which had some history about the place and its nearby areas (mythological history). Lopa collected some memorabilia of the temple town. We came back to the hotel and waited for Nupur and Prem in the bus stop. They came soon and we asked them to visit the temple while we ventured further into Badrinath town. The place seemed a very neat and clean town and we were highly impressed with the facilities of the town. Everything seemed organized and the people also seemed very friendly. We even spotted a mini VoF in one of the bylanes of Badrinath town – though this time around the valley had only cauliflowers!!

Badrinath-Govindghat-Joshimath-Karnaprayag

We had some time in hand – so we had thought that we will go to Mussoorie or Dehradun whilst Nupur and Prem wanted to stay back in Delhi at their relatives’ place for a day. Either way we had to go back to Haridwar to proceed further. We took a shared sumo at Badrinath bus stand that was going till Joshimath. There was another family with husband, wife, and two children. They had been travelling for the past month or so and they had completed all four dhams in Uttaranchal :Gangotri, Jamunotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath and were returning back to Rudraprayag where they had kept most of their belongings in some cloak room type of a set-up. We were amazed at their endurance levels – they were stuck many times thanks to landslides, but they continued their journey, all to complete the four dhams. I wonder how some people manage to stay away from work for such long periods. By the looks of it, they seemed middle class or less, and such a long trip would have definitely cost them a lot of money. But they seemed least bothered about the duration of their trip! Was this a case of mind over matter, rather faith over pragmatism? If you know the answer – enlighten moi!

There was a twist in the tale a few kilometers from Badrinath. A landslide had stopped the traffic in either direction. Huge boulders of stone had blocked the road. We were about 700-900 meters from the road blockade. There was a line of vehicles on both sides of the blockade. Armymen were breaking the bigger stones into smaller rubbles. And an Army truck was involved in clearing the debris. Amidst all this chaos; one thing stood out clearly. There was a lane discipline maintained by vehicles on either side of the blockade. It being a mountain terrain, two vehicles juxtaposed would cover the entire width of the highway. And if that happens, there is no way a third vehicle can pass them. With one side of the road having steep mountain side, and the other being a mighty drop – this could have stuck us all in a massive traffic jam. Therefore vehicles were stretched out in a long queue waiting for the debris to be cleared away. The blockade remained for close to an hour and a half, thereby reducing our chances to reach Rishikesh by the evening.

The journey till Joshimath was uneventful. It was at Joshimath that we had to take a decision on what our vehicle would be. Hiring a taxi/sumo would have caused a huge dent in our pockets – and going by bus would mean the travel time will be extended by several hours. After much deliberation, we found another shared sumo that was going till Chamoli – which was a district headquarter. Packed into the back side of the sumo, we mostly dozed in this leg of our journey. It was quite some time since we had our previous meal. Therefore once we reached Chamoli we decided to have some snacks.

Our bladders were full given the jerks and turns of the roads. We started looking for a toilet – hoping we will find one of those Sulabh Sauchalayas. While not one of the Sulabh series, we nevertheless found one immediately next to the bus stop. It was a public urinal – and typical to most Indian cities – its stench meant we could not hover in the 100 meters surrounding the place. We had to find a place fast and we started looking for hotels/restaurants which looked decent enough to have a toilet. The restaurants were basically road side shacks – and did not have any toilets. We finally entered a hotel which had a man sitting at the reception. I enquired if we could use the toilet in one of the rooms. The man said a no – and it made me wonder if the rooms were full. On the contrary, the hotel was mostly empty. I even offered the man 20-30 bucks so that we can use the toilet. But the man was in no mood to listen. We did not have a choice – we paid full charges of a room (250 rupees) to use its toilet! We were very annoyed at the arrogance of the man at the reception. Instead of being co-operative, he had chosen to extract some money out of us thanks to the sorry state of our respective bladders! Nupur and I wanted to teach the guy a lesson – so in our anger, we stamped the bed sheets of the room so that we extract something worth the 250 bucks! To top it all, our snacks were horrible and we wondered if maggi was the best possible meal in this area.

The landslide near Badrinath had pushed our schedule a bit. We had to reach as close to Rishikesh as possible so that our plans for the Mussoorie-Dehradun could be executed. We decided to rent out a vehicle to continue our onward journey. It was one of those city to city shared vehicles which originally plied from Chamoli to Nandaprayag. We thought if we could take the vehicle till Rudraprayag, it would be good for us. We started bargaining with the driver – but he wanted a lot of money for going that far. After much haggling, he was ready to drop us off at Karnaprayag (which was in between Nandaprayag and Rudraprayag) for a reasonable sum of money.

Karnaprayag was entirely different from what we had experienced for the past 3 days. It was at a much lower altitude than the other places, and therefore we could make out a drastic drop in the chillness of the air. There were two ways leading out from Karnaprayag – one going towards Rudraprayag, and Dehradun or Haridwar subsequently. The other was going towards Almora, and Nainital subsequently. The girls started having a different idea – they wanted to go towards Almora now. The idea was to reach Palankhet (mentioned in the movie Raja Hindustani) – stay a day or two – and then move to Delhi. Me being me - I was irritated at this sudden change of plan. We had discussed the Mussoorie plan so many times that I was annoyed with this destination shift. I vent my anger at poor Lopa – and unreasonably shouted at her :(.

The driver dropped us off at a hotel known to him, and we decided to stay for the night at the place. The tempera“MENTAL” me did not help in deciding the rooms where we had to stay. Lopa had not checked the bathroom and the moment we entered the room – we got reminded of the stench at Chamoli bus stand. We changed the room – and then after a cool down session through the night – we were ready to proceed towards Palankhet the next morning.

Karnaprayag - StopA-StopB-StopC….-Palankhet errr….Ranikhet

Once we asked people in the hotel about Palankhet and the possible means of travel to reach the place, we came to know that it is actually Ranikhet which was nearby. Apparently there is no place called Palankhet in Uttaranchal – whether it does exist is another story! The distance between Karnaprayag and Ranikhet was about 135 kilometers and there were no direct links between the towns. True to the traveler spirit, we decided to go ahead with the first available vehicle to take us to the next town – whatever it might be; as long as it took us further towards Ranikhet. These were shared vehicles – usually a Jeep or a Sumo.

This break journey meant we changed about 6-7 times in between towns. Each leg would cost us anywhere between 40-80 rupees for the four of us. The shared vehicles were jam packed – and we somehow stuffed ourselves in the vehicles to continue our journey. I don’t even remember the names of the towns – but we did cross places named Gwaldam, Chaukhutia, and Dwarahat. In the final stretch before Ranikhet – we were in a Jeep which was rusted all around and barely moved in the 40 kmph range. The circular mountain roads meant the vehicle moaned most of the time as it moved up some hill. Finally – the vehicle broke down and we were stuck in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately there was another shared Sumo passing through the area – we got into it and reached Ranikhet.

Stay at Ranikhet

As we entered the town, the Sumo driver mentioned that though not Raja Hindustani – the place was indeed a popular movie shoot location. Shahid Kapoor and his crew were in the location for some movie it seems. Well, at least we ended up in a place where a Kapoor had visited, if not a Khan! But there were no regrets – Ranikhet was a beautiful place with scenic views all around.

We checked into a hotel that seemed pretty dated by its looks. The facilities were decent and prices reasonable. We were told this was the off-season and summers are when people come by hordes to this quaint little town. Hence the rates were down 50%! Not that we were complaining :)! We walked around the place – ate veg momos and egg noodles at a Chinese joint. Got a trivia byte there – these guys offered only mutton in the non vegetarian momos – there was no chicken momo being made anywhere in town!

Tall cider (pine?) trees and vast spaces of solitude greeted us as we strolled around the place. It was a welcome change from the constant travel that we had been doing in the past day or so. We took a lot of snaps and fooled around doing nothing specific. I bought a pair of slippers because by now my shoes were stinking so badly that they were beyond day-to-day usage. With no more trekking ahead, I could use the slippers going forward.

Ranikhet-Haldwani-Delhi

It was time to move towards Delhi – and we enquired if any buses went to Delhi directly from Ranikhet. Like all other times, there were no direct connects. We were told that we could reach a place called Haldwani – and from there we could catch buses to Delhi. We took yet another shared Sumo – and passed through Bhowali, Bhimtal, and Kathgodam on our way to Haldwani. Nainital was just a few kilometers away from Bhowali – however we did not have any more time in hand to venture out to any other place. The views from the roads were spectacular all through – though we had descended down to the plains by the time we reached Haldwani.

We took our lunch at Haldwani and looked for buses to Delhi at its bus stand. Buses similar to the ones we saw at the Delhi ISBT plied between the two places. It was midday already and the sun was blazing down at full intensity. We were already a bit tired with our travels. Hence we skipped the idea of a bus journey and instead hired a taxi. It was a private vehicle turned taxi – and there was a waiting period for getting the actual vehicle ready. The driver had picked us from the Haldwani bus stand and took us to the actual vehicle owner’s shop. As we waited, I saw a procession of political activists. It was election times for college students. However the procession was more like a big baarat. I have seen student politics and such processions – but none like this. There were crackers being bust like in a baarat – and loud music and motorcycle stunts! It started raining by the time we left Haldwani.

We crossed the main gate of Jim Corbett National Park – and rued not having time to spend a day or two there. Having heard so many stories about the place, it was a pity not being able to visit the place. We had researched a lot on VoF and nearby areas – and therefore all these extras could not be accommodated in our itinerary. The rest of the journey was uneventful and we reached Delhi around evening 8 PM. A minor scuffle with our driver meant Nupur and Prem had to take an autorickshaw to their relative’s place from somewhere near Saket. The driver claimed the understanding was to just reach Delhi at one particular location – not drop people around to multiple locations within Delhi.

Stay at Delhi

After we got down from the taxi, we had taken a room at one of the less expensive hotels (it was actually a lodge of sorts). Delhi being Delhi was expensive – and the facilities we wanted (a clean room, clean bed sheets, clean bathroom, and maybe an air conditioner) would have cost us upwards of 3500 rupees per night! That was way beyond our budget and we had moved to a budget hotel at Yusuf Sarai in one of the by lanes near AIIMS. The place was shanty looking, and it had an air cooler. We were surprised when the reception guy wanted a photocopy of my ID card and a verbal confirmation that Lopa and I were married. Myriad ways of increasing security check it seems! And to add to our discomfort, the photocopy guy mentioned that you should ensure that the ID photocopy is not misused as such was the norm in Delhi! We had decided that we will spend the night and move from this hotel the very next day.

The next day we moved to another hotel – this time near the New Delhi Railway station. We had wanted to move near the airport so that it was easier for us to fly back – but then we felt the places on our agenda would be far off if we stayed near the airport. And either way the hotels near the airport were expensive by our standards – one even quoting an exorbitant 7500 INR per night! All it provided were the basic facilities that I have mentioned earlier – and the looks of the hotel did not convince me enough that it was anything more than a standard decent hotel.

We had two things on our agenda – do some shopping (Lopa insisted Delhi was a paradise for reasonably priced Salwar Kameez) and do some sight-seeing if possible. We had no clue how else to kill time – maybe watch a movie somewhere later in the evening so that part of the day is spent. We wanted best possible places to go for shopping. A few phone calls went to friends and relatives meant we had zeroed in on a few places. First we went to the Sarojini Nagar market. Lopa bought a few clothes there, but overall we were disappointed with the hype about Delhi being cheap for clothes. Maybe we are not the best hagglers in terms of bargaining, but still the prices were marginally, and not drastically, low from those in Bangalore. We then went to Connaught Place (Palika Bazaar) and finally booked tickets to watch a movie at the Regal Cinema.

The next day we booked a taxi to do some sight-seeing. Our flight was due only in the afternoon. We visited the ITDC shop and bought a couple of sarees (which were NOT good :() for our respective moms. Buying a couple of blankets meant we had overshot our pre-decided trip budget another 10k! We then decided to go to Akshardham and Qutub Minar. Akshardham was beautiful – we rued not having come in the evening as we missed out on the musical light and sound fountain show. I am still amazed at the amounts of money people pump in for religious activities, especially in India. The investment to create such a structure would have been massive, and it would have come from several parts of the world. Wish such an investment was also directed towards improving overall living standards in our country! Lopa was least interested about Qutub Minar because it was a very hot day. Post lunch, we went straight to the Airport because it was the only place at Delhi where we could sit in an air conditioned environment without having to spend additional money.

Back to Base

We had arrived well ahead of schedule at the airport. We spoke to our families in between and then finally took the flight to Bangalore. The entire trip had lasted 8 days and it was one long and fun-filled holiday! We rued missing out on a few places like Corbett and Nainital – maybe we could have stayed back a little longer at those places rather than spending a day and half at Delhi. But nevertheless – it was one of the best holidays that we have had for a long time – with Valley of Flowers being the highlight of a wonderful trip.

Sydney Diaries (#4)

Letters to home (#4)

Warning - it is a very lengthy mail - so all office goers - please read in installments at your own spare time!

Hi All,

Nama Nama to everyone :)
How have you all been? It is midway between summer and monsoon in India - take care of your health - we are all prone to viral fevers in this period - so be careful.

The past weekend was one with brilliant weather in Sydney and nearby areas. And I utilized it to full extent - well, at least for one of the days on the weekend. After having researched on the weather forecast for the weekend in the Blue Mountain area - I was glad that it was clear and sunny. Next thing to do was to call up my friend (the OEC batchmate) and plan for the weekend. Idiot that my friend is - he had visited the Blue Mountains in an earlier weekend with his manager and his manager's wife - his interest lying with his manager's wife (who was apparently pretty and flirtatious) and not the Blue Mountains! So I was annoyed - because there went my chance to get some snaps of mine with pretty scenery in the background - I mean the pretty scenery of the Blue Mountains, not the lady in question!

Nevertheless - I had to use this weekend. Since my departure is now fixed for July 11th, I had only three more weekends to do any sight-seeing/shopping/meeting friends. Since all three are priority events - I decided to go alone. I could atleast see some wonderful places and etch them in my memory - if not in my snaps with lovely views in the backdrop. The plus factor was the fact that Saturday the 21st June was the day for the annual Winter Magic festival at the Blue Mountains - and that was the day I had decided to visit the place.

I woke up early on Saturday morning (5.30 A.M) because the first train to the Blue Mountain area was at 7.18 A.M. (one train every hour). The station is about 1.5 km from our place, and though there are buses - they are not that frequent in the early hours of the morning. I left home around 6.30, hoping I will catch some bus or the other. After reaching the bus stop I realized that the next bus was only at 7.10 - too close to comfort. I started walking - worrying that I might miss the first train and will therefore loose an hour in the process. Thankfully I was not late, there was no queue in the ticket counter, and hardly any passengers in the train! The trains in Sydney are double decker - and I took up a window seat at the upper deck with my camera ready to click snaps if I come across pretty sights as the train chugged along. The journey was pleasant - and not many passengers boarded my coupe. And yes - I was too lazy to click any snaps from the train - because I was engrossed at looking outside the window at the countryside. As the train approached the Blue Mountain area, I was surprised to find the stations in the Blue Mountain area so empty and vacant. Since it was the festival day, I had thought the area will be overcrowded with visitors and tourists like me. But on the other hand - there was barely any person on the platforms.

I arrived at Katoomba, my base station, at 9.15 - the journey taking approximately 2 hours. And the moment I came out of my train coupe, I felt the chillness in the air. The coupe was warm and cozy and I had to remove my jacket. But the platform scenario was different - cool breeze flowed around and my fingers were frozen immediately. I just had a jacket with me and I thought a set of gloves would have helped a lot. Katoomba is the main tourist destination in Blue Mountains. My train ticket was clubbed with an Explorer Bus which took to all important landmarks in Katoomba and Leura, another town/village in Blue Mountains. The bus usually started from the main street of Katoomba, which was right across the railway station. Since it was the Winter Magic festival day - the route was altered and the bus started from the other end of the railway station. I walked down the main street, and people were starting to put up stalls for the festival. There was a bit of hustle but then the numbers were not huge by any strecth of imagination. I thought it must be a quaint little festival in this village/town and decided that I will come back to the festival area later after I had visited all major places.

I boarded the bus at stop 1 around 9.45. The driver was a pleasant old man who greeted all of us on the bus and was very informative about the stops in the route. With not many people on the bus, I was wondering if Blue Mountains are as appealing as it sounded when I went through numerous websites acclaiming it as one of the prettiest places on earth. The entire Blue Mountain area is listed as a World Heritage site. The first major destination was the skyway station for scenicworld - a company which provided skyway, cableway, railway, and broadway services for certain areas of the valley. The skyway would have taken me to the main scenicworld station - where I could catch a railway or cableway to the Jamison valley down at the bottom of the cliffs/hills where Katoomba & Leura are located. But I decided to skip the skyway because I wanted to walk down to the valley - there is no otherway I could see the rainforest in full details. I got down at the stop which led to the Katoomba cascades - the start of the waterfalls in Katoomba. The cascades were - well, a touch disappointing because the water levels weren't too high. With such heavy rainfall in the recent past - I thought the waterfalls would be flowing with huge quantity of water rushing down the slopes. Nevertheless the site was pretty and my interest levels increased with the lush green surroundings.

I continued further down the valley along the waterfall route in what is called the Furber Steps. The walking/trekking path was narrow and was concreted at times, while on other occasions it was muddy and damp. I wondered that in a pleasant day like this the conditions were soggy on the trekking path - what would it be like when it was raining. And contrary to what it felt when I landed in the railway station, the rainforest was warm and cozy. With huge lush green trees covering the valley, the openings for wind and sunlight to come down to the valley were few. And since I was walking with a jacket on, I was actually pretty warm (and sweaty in the arm-pits). I just saw a single bird in the entire time I spent in the valley - though I heard a lot of noises throughout my trek. I could not identify what it was, but from the looks of it - it seemed like a pea-hen. Again with such dense forests, one would imagine there would lots of animals/birds around. Probably the presence of people made them go deeper into the valley where there are no trekking paths. Speaking of people, there were long durations when I was walking alone and I hardly saw anyone doing it the hardway - maybe they just went to scenic world on the skyway - few nature lovers perhaps?

I trekked on to the scenicworld railway station in the valley - and visited an abandoned coal mine site nearby. Apparently, the scenicworld railway is the steepest inclined railway in the world (52 degrees) and it was initially used to haul up the coal from the mines to Katoomba town above the cliffs from where it was transported to Sydney. With the mines gone a long time back, the railway is now used for tourists by the scenicworld company. I went up the railway with a one way ride costing 10 Australian dollars. It was a 3-4 minute ride up, but was thrilling and scary for whatever length it lasted! Once back up - I went to the scenicworld base station and bought some souveniers - koalas and kangaroos that is :) The explorer bus came to scenicworld after some time and I hopped on to go to the next stop - the echo point.

Echo point is one of the locations where toursits keep yelling to hear their echoes resonating across the valley. With so many toursits (the numbers had swelled from the morning), I could not differentiate which one was my echo and which one was the one the others were yelling. From that area, I could see the famous 'three sisters' rock formation. This rock formation is very reknowned and there is a mythical story behind its name. The following is the abstract from wikipedia that I found online:

"The modern day tourism industry has created a legend that says that three sisters fell in love with three men from a neighbouring tribe, but marriage was forbidden by tribal law. Battle ensued, and the sisters were turned to stone by an elder to protect them, but he was killed in the fighting and no one else could turn them back. This legend is falsely claimed to be an Indigenous Australian Dreamtime legend."

With having seen the pretty sights from the cliffs - now it was time to either take lunch or go down the valley again towards the Leura waterfalls. I decided to skip lunch because I wanted to be finished with all trekking so that I can end up in the Katoomba Winter Magic festival. I could eat something in the festival and therefore got down at the trekking stop for the Leura waterfalls. By this time I was already tired and I just egged myself on for some more trekking. The trek this time was more strenuous and the valley was deepre than what it was near the Katoomba falls. But as the adage goes, more pain - more gain. Leura cascades were much more beautiful than katoomba cascades. I wanted to see the entire might of the waterfalls deeper in the valley. I chugged along, going down steep steps and inclines. I also realized that the way back up will be tough as it would be very steep back up. I saw an alternate path which was connected to the Katoomba scenicworld railway station - though it mentioned that the trek is rough and dangerous and is advised only for experienced trekkers. I could have walked straight from scenicworld to this place - only - it would have taken me 3-4 hours :)

The trek back up was difficult and after overcoming several tough stages, I was fortunate to get lovely lookouts of the entire valley floor beneath. It is a breath-taking place and is ideal for hoenymooners I guess - provided one is able to walk for long durations along steep inclines. Tiring yes, but rewarding all the same! I skipped the George falls - I was too tired and hungry by then and it was almost 3 in the afternoon. And I had had enough of rainforests by then :) At the point where I came out of the trekking path was a small toy and railway model museum/house. Entry was worth 12 dollars and photography of the toys were prohibited. I entered and saw one of the oldest houses in Leura. It was filled with toys on two floors and I was amazed at the collection that was available - certainly it would be a child's delight to visit such a place. The railway models were also very beautiful (and tiny). They were working models, one could press a switch and get the trains to move across dummy stations, tunnels, and valleys.

I boarded the explorer bus again to go back to Katoomba and then I went to the main street to see the festival. By now, the crowd was huge and the street was jam-packed. Street performers, musicians, dancing groups, clowns, small shanties which sold everything from clothes, to face masks for kids - it was festive atmosphere all around. It seemed like 'fancy dressing' with people dressed as dragons, witches, clowns, animals, etc. And it was a welcome change for me with so many vivid colours all around me. Over the past 5-6 weeks, I have seen mostly black, white, and grey in the usual clothing of Sydney folks. Here people were dressed in several colours and it was a vibrant joyful scene. I clicked a single photograph but I managed to get more from the web. I ate Chicken Satay sticks (well, seemed like kebabs) from a Thai food stall. It was cold again and my hands were freezing. With the festival dying down, I decided to go back to Sydney. I caught the 4.25 train to Sydney and almost dozed on my way back.

It was a hugely satisfying day and I was very tired at the end of it. I did not go anywhere on Sunday because I wanted to take some rest. I have captured a lot of photographs and have put comments wherever I could. Have a look at them at the following link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sumitspeaks/BlueMountains

Ok, that's it for now - sorry for the long mail - but that is me - loooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnng descriptive stories :)

Regards,
Sumit

Sydney Diaries (#3)

Letter to home (#3)

How is everyone doing?
I am good - the long weekend passed by without anything significant happening. I had planned to go to Blue Mountains with my OEC friend - but he had some other plans. Saturday was a good day for outing as well - sunshine and pleasant weather all throughout the day. My roomies did not want to go out - so the less I write about them the better. Finally I managed to convince them to atleast come with me to the Opera house and Harbour Bridge (I had been there - but I had a vested interest - I wanted my snaps with the Opera House in the backdrop). They agreed and we went there and took a lot of snaps.

We then went to the casino - and I gambled :) I have managed to learn only one game (and like everything else - it is entirely luck based). It is a big wheel with multiple number slots. You have to guess which number will come and there are odds for winning. I played for 100 dollars - and after about 2.5 hours, I ended up with no profit no loss. It was fun - but yes, I learnt that you needed a lot of patience to play in a casino. The more cash you carry the more chances of winning - but equally big chances of loosing. I had pre-decided I will play for 100 dollars and will not bother even if I loose the money. And probably that is why I managed to even out at the end. The Senior Software Engineer, Suresh lost money after having won a lot initially.

I did not go anywhere in Sunday. There were two reasons - it rained almost all throughout the day - and there was another software engineer, Anand, coming to Sydney in the evening. Nobody had come to pick us up when we landed - nor did anyone assist us in our accomodation seach. I did not want anyone else to face the same set of problems. I picked him up in the evening - the others did not come. Monday was again gloomy and dark - though it rained less. We went to the casino (again). This time we had done a lot of calculations with respect to our safe bets for the game. We were accompanied by Anand as well. Again we played for about 1-1.5 hours. This time I won 150 dollars and backed out of the game after making profits. Suresh kept playing and again lost money. When we left the place, it was raining heavily. We somehow managed to come back home.

Though the long weekend was damp and gloomy for most part, the best thing was the manager was not around :) He had left for India on Friday and will join us only in the coming Sunday. It is such a relief that he is not around. And yes - I have started cooking on my own and am not eating the ready-to-eat stuff the others prefer to eat. The mushroom curry I prepared was fairly nice - though my experimentation with fried brinjals bombed. Actually I tried to add some curd with haldi, salt, and chilly powder (since we didn't have anything else to make the paste like coating). It would have been good except for the part that the curd was veryyyyyyyyyyyy sour :(. The vegetables here are very fresh - though a touch expensive.

All in all - I am surviving still. The manager will inform me about my return date once he comes back. Do send me a mail or two whenever you feel like it.

Regards,
Sumit

Sydney Diaries (#2)

Letter to home (#2)

Dear all,
so tomorrow is kuny baby (jigna's) birthday - guess everyone at Bangalore are eager to celebrate her first birthday - dekhu dekhu 1 year palei gala! nani - mora jou party miss houchi seita tu aau mu aau thare celebrate kariba, ok? bhala jaga re khai jiba - our usual pact.

well - i spent the past weekend looking around places near to where I stay currently - one was Darling Harbour - and the other was Bondi beach. Bondi beach is world famous (or so I have heard). However by the time we went - it was getting dark - and since it is winter time here - not too many people were there in the beach. Quite a few of them were surfing - it is a popular sport here. Not much to describe about the place - except that it is semi-circular - and a very clean beach. Relax - this wasn't a nude beach :) As you would expect, the beach is dotted with resorts/apartments/eateries - all of which are pretty expensive. We strolled the beach for about 15 minutes and then had a look at the shops before heading back. Maybe if it gets sunnier sometime later, I might want to take a bath at the beach.

Darling Harbour is very much the area I live in currently. We walked to the place - crossing a Fish Market. There were lovely sea-food items on display - and since most of it was frozen, there wasn't much foul smell. I got attracted to huge prawns/lobsters/crabs. Once my accomodation gets finalized, I will bring home a few things and cook - to hell with my veg manager!! We have anyway started bringing eggs and cooked non-veg items :)

After the fish market area - we went to the Darling Harbour area. It had a maritime museum - whose entry was free. Went in there and had a look at old Australian navy stories. Missed out on the aquarium in the area (have heard it is very good) - thanks to the unenthusiastic group that I am with. But I will make sure I go out there sometime in this visit. At the end of it, went to a mall called Star City. There was a casino in it - but then there were dressing restrictions - and all of us were not dressed appropriately enough. Even a jeans with shoes would have been ok - but I was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt - so could not check the casino.

We also bought some Indian grocery from a nearby area (as in 3-4 kms away - so all in walking) - the south indian morons live only on rice - so all they wanted to bring was rice (10 kgs of it - imagine!)....and ready-to-eat curries (none of them can cook). I bought some ginger garlic paste, and a curry powder.

That's about it now - we are looking for accomodations (preferably for longer duration) - but getting one is not easy (especially with what facilities these guys want). They cannot adjust to community kitchen, or shared bathrooms. That hikes the costs - and also makes availability an issue.

Work is not very amusing as of now - there is no pure Business Analyst work in here. I am doing things which I can - but if things get too technical - like designing/coding things, I might decline doing it. One - it will be difficult for me since I have lost touch of these things, two - I haven't done my MBA for nothing, it is a coder/designer's job! Even if it means coming back soon - I am more than happy with it. I am missing home already :(

and yeah - I sleep late and wake up late - no more acting as an alarm for the manager - it is he who gets annoyed when i switch on the lights late at night :)
I watch some TV till late (around midnight)...

Ok - enjoy the birthday and the subsequent party!Give lots of gela to kuni baby.

Regards,

Sumit

Sydney Diaries (#1)

Letter to home (#1)
Hi,

How have you all been?
I am fine - I just remain a touch busy because it is a client location.

I reached on Sunday evening at Sydney - the flight was on time - reaching around 7 in the evening (2.30 in the noon at India). However the customs clearance took a lot of time. And in the clearance they took away my maggi, and the curry powder. They don't allow cloves to be taken inside Australia. Unfortunately both these items had parts of it as ingredient. In fact there are more restrictions - they even checked my formal shoes which I had packed - just in case there is some dirt. One has to necessarily declare these items when they give the immigration pass on the flight - if caught, you are penalized heavily. So I declared, and some of the items were removed and I was then allowed to go - of course without any penalty. It took a lot of time however - by the time we left the airport - it was 9.15 P.M. It was chilling the moment we left the Airport - cold breeze was flowing - the temperature hovered around 15 degrees celsius. It might rain later in the week - light showers at most.

Sydney becomes dead after 7-7.30 in the evening - shops shut down, and there are very few people on the road. We have taken up an apartment close to the city center (around 3.5 km). yet it was very lonely on the streets. The apartment was around 9 kms from the airport. The apartment is very good. It is a two floored apartment - the ground floor has one bedroom and an attached bathroom. The top floor has another bedroom - non attached bathroom, a kitchen area (with all facilities - fridge, microwave, toaster, gas, electric chimney, grill, utensils & crockery), a living room kind of an area with TV - dining table - music system and a 3 seater sofa, and a small room with two bunk beds. The entire area is carpeted - and one has a vacuum cleaner to clean things. The bathroom on the top floor has a washer and a dryer for washing clothes. The shower area is an enclosed one and everywhere you get both hot and cold water. And yes - the toilet is with the tissue - no taps around to wash! So one necessarily takes a bath after one completes the daily routines.

The nearest station is about 1.5 kms away - and then the office is just 2 stations away - again a 0.5 km walk there. However even for this short journey -the ticket costs you 2.6 Australian dollars one way. The office is in a place called Martin Place - it is the Central Business District of Sydney. There are a lot of offices around the place - and one usually sees people dressed formally. Contrary to what I hear about the U.S, the Australians seem a lot more formal at office. Many of them wear suits, and some wear formal shirts and pants. Not many wear a tie though - which helps us. So after the first day we just wear formal shirts and trousers, without the ties. Ladies are dressed formally as well - skirts/trousers with shirts. And some have suits. We sit in the IT department area in one building. The business sits in another building across the street. The area has several shops. And a lot of food areas, However everything is a touch costly in Sydney. One paratha with a bit of chola cost me 6 dollars. So you can imagine it is tough going. Each office floor has a pantry - you can take biscuits, tea, coffee, breakfast cereals, fruits. So that helps in the morning. Lunch is the issue as of now.

We return back aroun 5.30 or 6 in the evening. Go back home - I take a bath again - and then to the kitchen. These south indians can do anything and survive on rice. My manager is pure veg - he didn not want non veg to even come to the house. Thankfully one of the other guys has brought non-veg pickle - so that opens the gate for me to bring in non veg when I feel like it. The first night sine all our maggies had been disposed - we survived on maggi soup. The next day these people were content with rice (which was more a khiri) and pickle (andhra pickle - highly spicy). yesterday i prepared some curry from frozen mixed vegetables - I took that with rice (again - more like a khiri). I take up a banana or bread in morning and then come to office.

People in Sydney are multi-cultural - there are a lot of chinese (or chinese looking) people around - less Indians than I had imagined - Dubai and Singapore had hoardes of them - here there are few people. I can understand most of their accent (thank goodness!)....but am yet to understand my role in the project - will get more clarity over a period of time.

That's about it - the daily routine is more like - wake at 6-6.30...go to office at 8-8.30....leave office at 5.30-6....cook at home from 8 in the evening - and then sleep at 10 amx (insisted by the manager since he sleeps early)!!

I am very annoyed with my manager - I share the room with him - he sleeps early, and he wants me to wake up eaely (because he wakes up early to do some yoga!) - not that he wants me to join him in doing yoga - but the fact that I can act as his alarm - and simultaneously use the bathroom so that he ain't interrupted when he wants to use it. All this - plus the constant nagging by him every 5 minutes - what is the status, what is happening - etc, etc - I have always had managers who were not THAT eager to get updates. And to top it all - he brags about himself - the first day he mentioned about how he has been working very well - how happy his customers have been - I am already tired!

That's about it - I have taken up a SIM card here - but outgoing is very costly - I will also buy a calling card - it will be cheaper for outgoing calls. Anyway my contact number is +61-449841496
Hou - rahili - everyone please take care of yourself.

Regards,
Sumit

Dream Job - DUREX Super Tester!

Back off Harsha Bhogle and Star Cricket - your dream job sounds kid's play in front of the one that Durex is offering.

And yes - it means getting involved in the world's most popular sport - sex!

Durex has come up with a new job to enhance their product offerings - the Durex condom tester. With 1000 positions up for grabs and a grand prize of 25000 INR for the top-tester, it seems there are new ways to enhance your (s)experience.

Before you start imagining "objects" for testing, the Durex site mentions you will get a test-kit with a feedback form which you have to send back to Durex post use of the test products. So finding the "objects" of your imagination has to be your own effort!

And let us not get sexist here - positions are open both for men as well as women!

Stop imagining - and start applying!

Introducing the newly weds - Lopa & Sumit

Contrary to popular belief, I am relieved after my wedding. It has erased so many uncertainties in my life. And the best part - there is a certain "feel good" factor that has been imbibed to my overall attitude towards life. Life seems more perky, adventurous, wonderful, and happening.

This does not mean there is a dearth of the "never-ending" shopping lists - for the house (nay, the home); for the people visiting us; and ofcourse - for her highness - my beautiful wife, Lopa. Apart from the regular chores of a household, suddenly there is a lot more social camaraderie to be shown - and my huge list of "known people in the planet" seems to have doubled. I have to admit Lopa is more shocked than I am about the sudden increase in acquaintances - she can't be labelled wrong if she starts believing I might have been a postman at every post office in the country at some point in time.

Time has zipped by since our wedding - we married on the 2nd of December 2007. We are back after a hiatus of more than a month or so. In between we have managed trips to multiple locations in Orissa; visited different localities in Kerala to claim having better knowledge than local tourist guides; and visited all possible shopping destinations in Bangalore which sell curtains, bed sheets, pillow covers, and the like! However, things haven't changed in the workfront for me - except the location of my office. I have moved to the Electronic City office premises, and I still get paid with no hint what-so-ever of possible work. And surprise-surprise, Lopa has managed to get a project allocation within a fortnight of her transfer from Bhubaneswar to Bangalore!

Till I write more - take care and have a nice time.

Brand New Day

It is way past midnight - and today happens to be an off day in India. Well, most parts of India if not all - I know people who are going to their respective offices today as well. So much so for it being one of the 'national holidays'.

But hang on, I am not going to write about October 2nd, there is enough literature on this topic. I write just because I wanted to. Off late, waking up suddenly at odd hours hasn't been the feature of my fairly active life. So this is different. I can't even figure out the reason - excessive sleep and a blank mind perhaps. Added to such a vacuum moment is this inherent desire to listen to some soothing sound tracks. I must be insane - I don't even have an agenda for this post.

Let me think back - where am I in terms of job satisfaction? In the middle of no-where I guess. A month back - and I could safely find myself in the dissatisfied category. But the past 20-25 days of training has propelled my career towards something significantly different - or is there a catch somewhere? From being selected for a pre-sales job to doing nothing to being trained as a business analyst to being in charge of a competency center for a particular product sounds like some weird kinda 'transformation'. Plus there is this hanging carrot for a job switch - which I never latch onto - can't latch onto is more like it :)

Personal front - well, things look rosy here. With a wedding to attend (my own) in a couple of months time - I ought to be happy. Most of my weekends are spent hunting for 'deals' in furniture or electronic appliances showrooms. Stop laughing about it, all bachelors-turning-to-non-bachelorhood would testify on having done that at the crossroads of their lives.

The past 20-25 days have not just been different in terms of my career change, it has also brought a transformation to my own attitude towards life. Ask me why - and I cannot pinpoint the reason. Maybe the very reason that I have something to look forward to in my day-to-day life at the office. Maybe it is the 20-20 cricket victory for India - or the Asia cup hockey victory for India - or India winning the football tournament(how often does that happen?) - or Pankaj Advani winning the world title - or Vishwanathan Anand claiming his 2nd world title - or the sensex reaching dizzying heights (it had crossed the 17k barrier); there are so many positives all around that it has rubbed on to me and my outlook towards life. I am my old self - who has no care for what the world thinks, and is happy with whatever is in the offing.

I think I have unravelled one significant trait in my thought pattern. Sporting success, even if it does not come for me personally (never had quite 'that' amount of talent) - means a lot to me. There is only one other thing which drives a community/nation better than sports - and that is religion. While that's an area I am yet to be conversant with - I more than make up in my interest in sports. It gives such a zeal to my life - and I wish these glory days continue for ever - both for me, and Indian sports!

The Waste called Waist

I never thought I would have to write something on these lines - but alas, the minor expansion 3 inches above my belly button and 2 inches below it have compelled me to do something about it. And I chose to blog - call it my way of reducing calories ;-).

All said and done, atleast I am conscious about my ever increasing waist size. The trousers seem to get tighter by the passing second, and each time I look myself in the mirror I tend to pull in my tummy and stop breathing for a while. Damn - this is terrible, I am a certified pot bellied character now :(

Okay - enough of sulking over, I should now chalk out an action plan to tackle this menace. I have my wedding in December this year, that is less than 5 months away. Surely I can do something to look "better" and "in shape". What are the options I can look into?

• Stop dipping myself in beer - irrelevant, am a teetotaller.
• Start going to the gym - worth considering, but is it very essential?
• Avoid, nay - stop consuming "fatty" foods - Ouch, chicken kaise bhool jaoon?
• Stop worrying, relax - Ah, high funda stuff - wonder if this is applicable to me!

Ummm - I have been thinking of doing a daily round of jogging for the past one year or so, and that has resulted in me going out for long walks on certain days. I think loyalty to myself would help me reduce an inch or two. Abstinence from "fatty" food! In my case, the lust of a tangdi kabab is much more than the usual reason why the word "lust" is used for. But I have managed to put a check on myself - my office lunch is purely fruits, and I have managed it for about two weeks now. This, coupled with infrequent indulgences for the taste buds (which are few and far between them), should work favourably for me.

That's it - I have developed a "plan" which needs to be implemented well to realize fruitful gains. How much do I comply with it? Well, guess you will get to know more about it in the days to come!

P.S - I walked back home yesterday, and it wasn't too taxing. 4.5 km in 45 minutes or thereabout. I believe I will continue the pattern till I remain jobless in the workplace.

The King of Bikes

Ask any average Indian biker – which is the most favoured bike on Indian terrain? Many replies will immediately spell Pulsar – the Bajaj success story in recent years. But none can beat the enthusiasm that a Bullet churns out from its zillion lovers. Robust, strong, macho, heavy – these are a few words which are usually associated with a Bullet – it is easily the King of bikes on Indian roads.

One such bike lover has a very similar frame to that of a Bullet – heavy, and if I may add, a bit pot bellied ;-) Alright – not a bit, make it a wholesome heavy frame. He has lost a bit of weight over the years with his penchant for exercise, yoga, diet control, etc. That’s my dad for you – sexy at sixty :-P (62 actually). My father owned a bullet Enfield in his hey days – and it remained as one of his prized possessions (an Analog Olympus SLR camera comes close as the second best) – until one day he decided to sell it off because it was guzzling a tremendous amount of oil. Those were the days of paise bachao andolan in his life – which seems to be my priority now-a-days.

A day before the 17th of June, celebrated as Father’s day universally, one of my friends came to visit me at my sister’s place where I am put up. He owned an Avenger – a cruiser bike of the Bajaj family. As we talked about Bangalore, the trouble with the city traffic inevitably came up during the discussions. And from there my father enquired about my friend’s bike. I mischieviously quipped; it is similar to a Bullet. That led to a sudden spurt in the interest levels of my father. I cajoled him further about the bike – and my friend talked about the comfort levels attained while driving the bike. And then we suggested him to take a ride. My father declined initially – but a bit of coaxing made him excited. He went in to get ready for the ride; shirt tucked in and all set to drive.

The lengthy body of the bike meant he had to make a bit of an adjustment to get used to the brake and gear positioning. But one had to grant him that, he hardly rides a two wheeler these days – let alone a cruiser. The electronic start oozed life into the bike – and after a hiccup or two he was on his way. He zipped around for about 5 minutes, and thoroughly enjoyed his ride.

Post the ride he talked about the peculiar sound that a bullet-like bike makes – rhythmic beats at no acceleration. He liked the Avenger, it was smooth and lovable – but remained loyal to Bullet, saying nothing beats the King. A broad grin on his face and a well-savoured Avenger ride – my Father’s day gift ideas seemed irrelevant now J. We still went out for a dinner the next day – but it was evident, his biking experience was much more cherished.

I Scored a D

Yeah – a bitter truth that one. I scored my second D in my MBA, it happened to be in my last submission – the final project (the so called dissertation as per the whims of my erstwhile Dean). My first D came in my first subject, Financial Accounting - so much so for synchronous scoring pattern.

It left me fuming at my Dean – he was the one who was supposed to evaluate the project. For all that hard work – it certainly didn’t deserve a D. I had even worked on formatting the entire document along with my other project members (yeah – have a laugh, our so-called dissertation had team members – it was our brilliant Dean’s idea). Now before you wonder what is the big deal in formatting a document – well, yours truly has always managed to ignore such innocuous work – leaving it for the toppers to do. After all, the matter inside is what makes the work important, isn’t it? And there lies the fundamental issue. Our dissertation had enough worthwhile material to get a score above D. For all the copy-paste from a zillion web pages – it was a good enough assorted work – at the end of the day, you have to make sense of all those web pages, and utilize only the relevant information.

I was against the idea of a “dissertation” in the first place – and even had a long argument with the Dean. Do notice – I mentioned “long” argument – that is because I exchanged 2 pager mails with him. Don’t ask me why such lengthy mails – that’s because he loves doing things that way. The length of his mails – and his speeches when he just has to say “hello” are atypical of his character. A character which reminds me of “Charlie Chaplin” thanks to his moustache. And a character who loves blabbing – and ensures he holds his sway over certain students because of his sweet talk. That I didn’t like him from the start is a different story – his audacity in changing the course curriculum on his whims almost propelled me to write a piece on his satanic manners with a subject line – A meeting with the Devil. I have always been a rebellious kind – without showcasing it much. But I like to say things as they are – and it still disappoints me that people do not respond in a similar manner.

After having multiple discussions with him – I arrived at a conclusion of sorts. Here was an academic who wanted to prove his mettle at the helm of an MBA course. He listened patiently to suggestions, and acted on none. He wanted to prove that industry plays second fiddle in the world of academics and they have lesser priority even in an MBA. He proves this when he wants a dissertation to be done in 5 months time, in a group of students, which preferably is a study not related to any company or organization, and is based on secondary data as time is at a premium. While people work on dissertations on a longer frame of time – I fail to understand the importance of one in a shortened 1 year course (10 months actually). There is so much research that is required for such a work, and 5 months is simply not ample enough for the work to be anything more than a document whose content is a selective amalgamation of many others. My Dean’s credentials are worthwhile – and he is a master of his own subject. However his attitude reminds of a saying - there are different horses for different courses. With scant respect for the industry in an MBA curriculum, he is probably a pony in a world of stallions.

Did this story of mine sound like a case of grapes turned sour? It might, but I also think it is the same with my Dean – no wonder he remains an academic and not an industry person.