A Query under the RTI has revealed that more than 20700 people have died in the last 5 years in Mumbai while traveling on the local trains…
On the Central Railway exactly 17553 lives have been lost between Jan’03 and Dec’07…
Western Railway tracks account for 3153 deaths between Mar’03 and Feb’08…
On an average over 10 people die everyday on the tracks..
Very sad !
Laluji, you have done wonders for Indian Railways in the last few years… this is something that you might want to look at too…
Having Golgappas till water starts flowing from your nose and eyes…
Having Tikki with that wooden spoon… and almost burning your mouth in every bite…
Sitting on the stool, and having the Cafe L’orange…
Resting your butt against the boot of your car, and staring into space…
Sleeping till 9 in the quilt on a mattress on the floor…
~Hindi speaking community attacked in Guwahati
~Protests against non-Mumbaikars staying in Mumbai
~10,000 North Indians flee from Nashik in 48 hours
~The riots because of some remarks made by Karunanidhi over the Ram Setu (I think he said that Ram was a made up character, and that the Ram Setu did not have any value as such, not sure though)
And loads more which are not doing any good to the country !!! and to add to this, there are people, and thousands of them who blindly follow what these so called leaders have to say…
I wish the people who play with the people of our country, ROT in hell…
BASTARDS !!!!
Two things that I have been following and am happy about are…
1. The cheaper Car – Nano… The claims are that it costs a lakh, however when you add things like road tax, insurance, a few accesories etc this should be around 1.25 on-road for the base model… not bad at all for a 33bhp 600 odd cc engine… I think this should be a very practical buy for city driving… The only thing that will keep me away from it would be the poor Tata build quality in cars… except the Safari, the plastics of most cars are cheap, and they can start rattling in about 6 months of regular usage… Indigo is a delight to look at, and has one of the best ACs that I know of in Sedans in India, however the sound that it starts making after a few months is something that is a big put off… Ankur now has a Safari and I am really looking forward to some first hand reviews from him…
The sad part is after I have driven the FIAT, the build quality of almost every car that I have been into seems inferior…
2. The new SUMO… relabelled as the Sumo Grand… though the looks seem to be coming a lot from the LandRover, minus the headlights which still have a dated feeling… the first looks at the SUV made it look impressive… again.. the TATA build quality is something that I would really like to consider before I would recommend this to anyone… Mahindra seems to be much better in their engine refinement and the quality of the vehicles when it comes to a comparision between the Sumo and the Balero and the Scorpio and the Safari…
But with this new good looking Sumo, and the “I so want it but cannot afford it” Safari, things might be a li’il tough for Scorpio and likes…
Another news that I have been waiting for was the launch of SKODA Fabia… Its a premium hatchback, which personally makes a lot of sense to me, and comes with the SKODA tag… needless to say the safety, reliability, build finish and quality are the things that you can assume coming with this car by default… Not sure how successful it would be though in the very cost concious Indian market… We are not too keen on paying a premium for a smaller car which comes with added benefits… If the Fabia 1.4L Diesel engine delivers like the much higher and bigger Octavia does… they already have a customer in line for the car !!!
Honda also had on display the Honda Jazz which is a sleek looking 5 door hatchback… Another car to look forward to in terms of reliability and performance…
Oh, and yes I also saw a few pictures of the new Suzuki Dezire… the sedan version of the SWIFT ( which is a nice car) but Dezire is one of the most stupid looking cars that I have seen in recent times… Looks like there is a competition of sorts about who makes worse car backs between Mahindra Logan and Suzuki Dezire…
All in all, this looked like a good beginning for the potential car buyers, and people who are looking at decent upgrades for their existing vehicles…
I am looking forward to another FIAT though 🙂
do i need to say more !!!
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and now time for a detailed trip-o-logue…
Long discussions with a group called Let’s Go.. preperations and bookings… and last minute drop outs… this is what happened before the trip happened…
We finally managed to start around 0030 hrs on 26th January for Pushkar… it was just the four of us finally… Me, Ankur Gupta, Aditya, and Shubhika… about 100 kms on CNG and the rest on Petrol, we reached Puskar around 0600 hrs with one break and swapping of people on the front seats…
here are the key highlights of the drive to Pushkar and some statistical infomation…
1) Total Distance covered : Approx 425 kms…
2) Total Time taken : about 6 hours…
3) Top Speed : 160 kmph
4) Cars overtaken with sheer power : Skoda, Endeavour, Tata Safari and numerous others…
5) Best Stretch : A consistent 130 kmph on the Jaipur Ajmer road for about an hour
6) Car we were in : Fiat Rock Solid Petra
7) Number of Breaks : 1
We did not expect ourself to reach Pushkar that early, and were kinda surprised ourself when we reached there… fortunately we found a small Dhaba open in Pushkar and had our second tea of the drive there… we managed to kill about 30-40 odd minutes, before we moved to the Hotel Sunset where we had booked the rooms… this was right there in front of the Lake and the view was beautiful… thinking about not waking up anyone at that hour, we decided to just rest for a while, and then knock the doors… that we finally did and realised that the door keeper was not too keen on entertaining us and we left that place quickly… One local guy assisted us in reaching Hotel Kashyap Palace, which looked like a relatively new small hotel with 8 double rooms… no frills nothing, but clean and nice…
All we wanted to do at that hour was sleep for a while, before hitting the streets again in Pushkar… so we all crashed on the beds and woke up only around 1100 hrs, got fresh and all, and moved on to check out the small town… Our hotel was near the Govt. Sr. Secondry School Pushkar, and not too far away from the main market either… 10 minutes walk and we were at the Only temple in the world of Lord Brahma… did the usual walking around, shooting around and were out quickly… Had loads of nice food at a small restaurant called the Mamta Restaurant near the temple itself…
We tried to hire Camels for Safari, however there were no camels available, thanks to the maddening rush in the small town… which meant that we had to walk our way to the sunset point, which turned out to be a better idea then doing the safari… a walk back from the point took us to another restaurant, where we ate more…
Here is some statistical information about the day again…
1) Woke up around 1100 hrs…
2) Out of the Brahma Temple around 1400 hrs…
3) Things we had at the Mamta Restaurant : Rajasthani Thaali, Daal Bati Choorma, Gatte Ki Sabzi, More Daal Bati Choorma, Chaach… ( Bill : approx : 250 bucks)
4) Total Kms walked : Atleast 6
5) Things we had at the restaurant in the evening ( don’t remember the name though) : Mexican Enchilada, Pizza with loads of toppings, a very different Tomato Soup, Pineapple Lassi and Masala Chai… (Bill : Approx. 250 bucks)
We reached our hotel after a tiring day, and were very very happy when the Hotel owner decided to get food for us from his home… Though we were kinda stuffed already, but the great food did not stop us from eating more… And this time we had great Kadi, Chawal, Chapati, and some traditional sweet… lovely food and that too on the house… We were on the terrace of our hotel which has been made very nicely to sit a lot of people and chat.. wonderfully done…
A good night sleep and my regular alarm saw me waking up at 0700 hrs.. and we got out of the hotel after packing our stuff by 1000 hrs…
I did one of the toughest climbs ever this time… we were trying to reach a temple on the hill top through an unconventional way and did not realise that its going to be this challanging… no way to climb up and no way to get back… we literally searched for a space for almost all the steps that we took to reach the top… and a small mistake would have meant that we fall about 50 ft into stones and thorns… phew… but then we made it to the top.. only to find a closed door 🙂 anyway… it was the spirit that WON there… and we could come down just fine using the stairs that were there… and realised that it would have been tougher climbing up if we had taken that path…
Moved out of Pushkar after buying some excellent bers, and having some great Sugercane Juice… Went to Ajmer Sharif… now while I love the fact that I see people from all religions there, i hate the crowd there…. specially the beggers… God know what, but looks like that they have been professionally trained to speak a different line to get some money for a good 30 minutes… Had to get really aggressive to get two of them off my back, or else they would have followed us to Delhi i guess…
Left for Jaipur, got hit by a truck from the back and left with a damaged tail light… which led to spending a good 4 hours in a police station on the highway, with one of the most cooperative staff… the SHO, Mr. Rajvir Singh ensured the the driver was booked and a FIR lodged… it took some time, but we were out of there with the Truck confiscated, and a FIR lodged against the driver…
Took one break to eat on the highway, and then rushed to Jaipur, and went to Chowkhi Dhani, and ran out of there, scared by the crowd… I hope to go there again, sometime when its less crowded… had dinner at a place called Padharo Sa… decent food here… bill amount again approximately 250 bucks…
Left Jaipur around 2300 hrs and I was home around 0300 hrs… drove all the way from Ajmer to Jaipur to Delhi… and the best part was those 20 minutes when everyone else was sleeping, I was singing loudly, and driving at 120… i loved that time… loved it loved it loved it…
Some more statistics…
1) Total Kms Driven : about 850 kms
2) Room Tarriff in Puskhar : 400 bucks per night on twin sharing
3) Total expenditure for the trip : about 1800 bucks per person
4) Fun and feelings : Priceless
oh.. and a few pictures for the record have been posted here.
Some of my picks from the lot that I clicked can be see on my flickr page, or by clicking HERE…
The Pictures from the drive are finally with me… I know that I have missed atleast 1000 shots that I wanted to click because I was driving… You cannot get everyone in one trip can you 🙂 sometime later, I probably will be someone who would be driving… and I would only click !!!
But never mind, I think the percentage of shots I can publish now is much more then what it used to be earlier… so all is well… and Life IS good…
You can click HERE to check out the fotos…
And now let me talk about my experience…
I was kinda scared that I would not be able to make the June Trip… and I was not sure where I wanted to go… I was discussing getting out of Delhi on the ODM day too… and looked like it would be just fine… we decided on the 25th wala weekend and it looked doable… Asked a couple of people… Aseem was ready… Deepak was game… Akash also was keen, though he dropped out at the last minute…
We tried hard to take Rohit along… but there were things that he could not run away from and go with us… so he stay put at his place over the weekend… too bad he missed it…
Aseem and Deepak were at my place by 2100 hours on Friday night, we had thought of sleeping for a few hours before we start an early morning drive… had a nice dinner at the Vishal’s kitchen and managed to sleep only by 0000 hours… rather go to bed around that time… kept talking and managed a sleep of only about a couple of hours… I was the last to sleep and the first to get up… which meant that I was awake at 0230 hours… got ready and woke the rest of the gang up @ 0300 hours… we managed to leave at 0325 hrs from my place and then went to the ATM… and managed to officially start our journey at 0341 hours…
Zoomed past the lesser mortals, took the right turns after asking the policemen about the route on BegumPul in Meerut… I could not believe the kind of road I was driving on the entire way… I was hoping for a much worse experience… actually was prepared for it… but could not really get out of the surprise till we reached Kotdwar… I was comfortably driving at 90-100 km/hr most of the time… oh… we almost hit a lot of stupid crows… who were not ready to fly off the middle of the road till the car was about 50 metres away from them… and we almost hit a few donkeys because they strayed on the wrong side of the road…phew.. that was a close shave… I do not care if the donkey had died on the spot… but a scratch on the car would have been a good enough reason for me to kill the rest of the donkeys and bury the owner alive with all of them!!!
Anyway… I was not really surprised after completing the first 210 kms in about 3 hours… we reached Lansdowne around 0730 hours… and then spent time looking for a place for ourselves… GMVN was booked… Fairydale was booked… we had breakfast there… had read about the kinda paranthas that place makes… but it was just average… I have had better stuff and more then once… so once our stomachs were full, we decided to find another place to stay… tried two very shady hotels in the main market but both of them were full too… so we were not stuck with just one option, the Anand Retreat !!! we talked to the guy there and got a room, a semi deluxe room, in 750 bucks… while driving to the place, it started raining pretty heavily and we reached there in about 30 odd minutes in the middle of a heavy downpour… driving on a mud-stone track in the kind of rain is definitely not one of the best things I have done to Radha… but she was there with me right through and we were safe… checked into the room… and were kinda stunned to see the number of bugs in the toilet… this is not what we had planned ? but there was li’il we could do now… it was raining cats and dogs outside… and we three were stuck in a room in the middle of nowhere… anyway…I decided to take a nap… and quickly fell asleep while watching the TV… got up fresh in two hours… It had stopped raining and Deepak had checked out most of the surroundings… Aseem gave us the idea of getting out of there for good.. and staying somewhere else… we bought it right away and decided to first drive around the place and see whatever we could and then decide what we really wanted to do and where we could stay in the night… went back to the Town, drove to a so called Lake, did not bother to get out of the car, took a u-turn and went to see the St. John’s church, The St. Mary’s Church ( I think I am messing up the name here) and the Tip-n-Top Point… went to snow-view point… and then rushed straight outside Lansdowne to Tarkeshwar Mahadev temple a good 45 kms away… reached there in good time but realised that the last 5.6 kms were mud-stone road… and I was not keen on taking the car there… Deepak and Aseem were not too sure either… so we took a u-turn… parked the car there for a while, had tea from a local shop and started back to Kotdwar… the plan was to reach Haridwar ASAP !!! I was expecting to reach there by 2100 hours… but we made it in good time this time too… Deepak slept on the back seat while me and Aseem talked our way throughout the drive back and managed to reach Haridwar around 2000 hours… nice roads again… beautiful sunset… and also a good 2 hours of conversation… I missed out on atleast a thousand shots because I was driving… I wish to capture them sometime when someone else is driving…
Haridwar was full of people… most of them from Delhi… ?… and that ensured that we did not get a room in Haridwar as well… so a quick decision to go to Rishikesh was taken… and we reached Rishikesh in about an hours time… got a room in the Maduban… this is where we eat most of the time… and this time managed to get a room there for 350 bucks… extra bed for 150 bucks… in all 500 bucks for the night…
Went to Chotiwala for Dinner but it had already closed, checked out a few more places to eat but no luck… and at the end we ate at a small road-side restaurant near the parking for Ram Jhula… not bad eh !!!
Walked back to Maduban, and crashed on the beds… I had opted for the floor… so I managed to enjoy the sleep on the floor… got up at 0400 hours on Sunday… and rushed to Haridwar to catch the Morning Atari… it seemed we were late and we decided to have a bath before going to the Har Ki Pauri… I had the holy bath after a long time… and I loved it… it happened to be some auspicious occasion too which I came to know after I reached home… so I am sure it helped me wash away some of the deadly sins committed by me in the last few months… we went to the famous Mohan Ji Poori Wale, to have the poories, but they had not started serving… so we had to be content with some Khasta Kachauri and some Halwa and some Gulab Jamuns… moved out of Haridwar and reached Roorkee to have the Lassi there, but the shop again was closed.. and this time to keep us company, Aseem bought some Mazaa, some chips, Appy Fizz, and Little Hearts… nice… thereon the struggle to overtake started… there was a bumper to bumper traffic on the opposite side… to over a vehicle I was like waiting for atleast 5 minutes on an average… things became better once we reached the Meerut Bypass… it had started raining too…
We stopped at Kadrabad to have the famous Jain Shikanji… this time it was better then the last 4-5 times I had it… because of less crowd I guess…
By the time we reached Modinagar it had started raining very heavily… and I drove with the left tyres in water throughout the town… the other side of the road was flooded as well with water… rain stopped after Muradnagar… and it was nice drive back home from there… dropped Deepak at the NOIDA Mode… and Aseem drove back to his place in his car which was parked at my place…
So this was the trip!!! I enjoyed writing as much about it as the drive itself… it was nice to know Deepak a li’il more… Aseem was nothing unusual, he has been with me for a number of years now and I more or less know him!!!
And for people who missed out this trip!!! Well I cannot say much but tell them that they missed out on one of the best drives I have ever been to!!!
Oh!!! And Next month, I want to go to Bhakra Nangal… anyone Game?
I was back from office by 1400 hrs to attend myclass.. and back home by 1700 hrs after my class… Aro was not yet in.. coz the bus he was coming had a flat tyre.. and that delayed his arrival to my place… he finally managed to reach by 1800 hrs… and then we started packing our stuff… two huge bags… and about 50 line items needed to be packed for this long 8 day trip…. we were still not sure about that plan.. about when and where we would be except that we have to move out of home asap and reach the Lal Quila to catch our bus…
we left around 1900 hrs and took an auto to reach the Chandni Chawk Red light… i felt that the 5 rolls i was carrying were not good enough and i needed more.. so we went to the market there and grabbed another 5 pack of the Fuji 100 rolls… the shopkeeper gladly gave them to me for 220 bucks.. a good Rs. 2 more then the price in the market… next stop the travel agent’s counters.. and we found out that the first bus to Rishikesh would not leave before 2200 hrs… we were not ready to wait for that kinda time and move to ISBT to catch a bus…
We managed to get good seats in a faily decent 2X2 UP Roadways bus.. called the Pawan Gold… and took our seats at 2100 hours… at that time there are loads and loads of buses to Rishikesh… actually every 2 minutes you will see a bus moving into that direction… this bus looked like the most comfy of all.. and we took our tickets… cost of the tickets… 312 bucks for two… the bus finaly moved at 2145 hours after we had two big cups of the Mother Daily Mango Delight Icecream… we were expecting to reach Rishikesh by 0330 hrs in the morning… but a traffic jam after Muzaffar nagar increased the travel time by over 90 mintues…
~ UP roadways bus we took from Delhi to Rishikesh, seen here parked at the hotel near Khatauli… we had to push this bus to start it here.. making it a true 2X2 Pushback 🙂
Saturday, 9-July
We managed to reach Rishikesh only around 0530 hours… thanks to Traffic Jam.. and quickly rushed to the Srinagar Bas Stand.. this is where we had to take the next bus from… We were planning to go to Badrinath… we were told that we could take a bus run by GMOU Ltd. stands for the Garwal Motor Owners Union Ltd… infact most of the buses on this route are associated with this body…
when we reached there… we got to know that there was no way we could reach Badrinath by night.. as the bus was scheduled to move only at 0630 hours and it would reach Joshimath in about 12 hours… late enough to skip the last Gate from Joshimath… we had no other option but to board the bus… it was a small… actually reach small bus.. and we managed to get the first seats from the back on the gate’s side… i could hardly manged my legs between the two seats.. and was wondering how i would manage to be there in that bus for about 12 hours… trust me it was not a very nice thought… anyway.. the bus moved at 0630 hours for a destination about 300 kms and 12 hours away…..
we stopped for a quick breakfast after about an hour.. and had some Aaloo Paranthaas with Curd…
~Our first break after Rishikesh.. what you see in the foto is the bus which took us to Joshimath…
Long travel that was.. and the view outside the windows was really beautiful.. most of the time was spent sleeping and the rest looking outside the window…. we passed through.. Srinagar ( in Garhwal), RudraPrayag, KaranPrayag, Nand Prayag, PipalKoti etc to reach Joshimath in the evening…
We got stuck in a Jam caused by a landslide and had to waste about 45 minutes waiting for it to get cleared… and once it was done.. we moved ahead…
~ The road being cleared… Border Roads Organisation has done a great job with the roads on this route…
One thing which i noticed here in the jam was the disclipline with parking… reminded me of the reason why we got late on our way to Rishikesh.. the traffic from one side of the road would try and take as much space as they can.. and then block all the lanes that the traffic from the other side can use to cross.. but here it was different… the vehicles were nicely parked at one side of the road… and ensured that there was enough space forthe vehicles from the other side to cross when the road clears up…
~ Notice the way vehicles have been parked… rare sight in a jam if this was in Delhi…
We manged to reach Joshimath earlier then expected.. it was 1700hrs… and we got to know that we had missed the last gate only by 30 minutes… if we had not been caught in that Jam.. we would have reached Badrinath in the night itself… anyway… li’il that we could do about it… we searched for the GMVN ( Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam) Guest house… and did not find it upto the mark… the room rent was 350 bucks for a night.. and it was not in the best shape either.. so we decided to look for something cheaper and better.. and then checked in a hotel called Hotel Sriram right next to the Guest house.. for a room which was for Rs. 250 a night.. definitely better then the guest house.. and the owner of the hotel was a very nice fella himself.. we spent about 30 minutes talking to him before we moved into the room… the view from the room was very beautiful… the air pure and the feeling great…
~ The view from our room at Joshimath…
Took a back with freezing cold water… and had a quick dinner before sleeping… did not take much time for our tired bodies to get to sleep… we had decided that instead of the going to Badrinath we would go to Govindghat.. and then to Hemkund Sahib and the Valley of Flowers before we move to Badrinath…
Sunday, 10-July
We got up early… around 0500 hours… managed to reach the gate by 0545 hours.. this is where we could get a bus to Govindghat…. managed to get the seats in a decent bus which moved at 0600 hrs… and we were in Govindghat by 0645 hours….
~The Gate system at Joshimath… to avoid any jams on the small road ahead !!!
We just could not stop looking at the mountains when we reached Govindghat.. the view was magical.. clouds all over.. huge majestic mountains… lovely wind…
~ Got down of the bus at Govindghat… the view was too beautiful to move from there…
and then we received a shock !!!!
we had thought that we could take a cab/taxi something to Ghangria… but this is where we realised that we had to walk 13 kms to reach Ghangria also known as Govinddham… anyway… li’il we could do about it… so we starting walking… and realised it in the first 500 metres that it was not going to be easy… though the weather was good.. there was no sun.. and it was kinda cool too… we were still all in sweat… and we had bags which weighed over 10 kgs each… it was going to be one challanging journey…
~ Rafting anyone 🙂 the sound of the waters could tell you about its might too…
I just could not take it anymore after about 6 kms.. and had to hire a pony… no no.. not for myself.. but the bag… talking about ponies… this entire path had a never ending smell of horse shit…
so basically you would breath air.. walk on stones.. listen to a small but very mighty river and smell horst shit on this way from Govindghat to Ghangria… there are plenty of small shops all along the path where you can get cold drinks (the 500 ml bottles) for 25 bucks… glucose buiscit packets for about 10 bucks… and anything to eat… and if it is packed… it is going to be awefully expensive.. and the prices would increase as the altitude increases….
We reached Ghangria around 1500 hours… very tired.. and very hungry.. and it had also started raining a li’il… and we did not have our raingear with us.. it was in the bag.. and the bags with the TattoWalla… who had already reached about 30 minutes before us…
~Our hotel at Ghangria
we had a quick afternoon meal… well.. for a meal we had some noodles… and then we checked into this small but decent hotel called the Hotel Pritam…
We were too tired and it did not take us more then 30 minutes to fall asleep… which means were already in deep sleep by 1600 hours….
We woke up around 2000 hrs… i guess we were hungry.. and then had a nice walk around the place… and some bad dinner… and some great Gulab Jamuns ( tat too at a price of just 5 bucks each)… now with everything so bloddy expensive there.. this treat was more then wat we could ask for… anyway…after having the sweets we headed back to our hotel… applied some move on the legs… they were in real bad pain.. and then went off to sleep to get up early next morning…
Monday, 11-Jul
Woke up at 0430 hours.. thanks to the alarm in my mobile… an alarm clock was all it could have been used for.. coz there were no signals i could catchafter rishikesh.. anyway.. that was something that i really liked… no one could call me up… away from the world….
so by 0530 hours were out of the hotel.. had some biscuits and some tea at a tea stall and then started our trek for Hemkund Sahib…. had no clue what were heading for… we thought what we had experienced in the last three kms to Ghangria was the worst that could happen.. it was a climb at 45 degs.. and we were walking on stones… had to look at every stone we were stepping on… otherwise would end up having some strained muscles.. and fractures…
anyway.. we knew it was going to be tough… 6 kms… and moving from 3049 m to Hemkund Sahib @ 4329 m.
~ 100s of Ponies are there in the morning… costs about150 bucks to reach the Glacieron the pony and then walk from there…
We were walking on a path which was not one of the best laid.. i remember looking at every stone that i kept my feet on…
~ The kinda path we were walking on.. this is a better part of the entire way…
But trust me.. it was worth it… the views that we had from the way…. the air that we were breathing.. the faith that we witnessed… it made it all worth it… people of all ages.. kids, women, men.. old or young… everyone was determined to climb up and reach the Gurudwara…
~ Look at the steep climb… some determination it takes to do this trek…
~ What a view… made all the pain worth it…
Finally after walking for over 4 hours… crossing a Glacier.. and climbing up over 1200 steps ( there were two ways to the Gurudwara after the glacier.. we could take the stairs or the slope.. we chose to walk on the steps… knowing that it is tougher to climb up the steps.. we still took’em… wanted to reach faster actually)
~ The Glacier we had to cross to reach Hemkund Sahib… looks scary.. and was too..
~Ice on my hand… and me on a Glacier…
The view at the Guru Dwara was breathtaking… it was just too beautiful to be described in words… i do not know enough adjectives to describe what i saw… so will just stick to some pics…
~ The lake near Hemkund Sahib…can’t believe i actually dip my feet in it…
~Hemkund Sahib
I managed to gather enough courage to dip my legs in the lake near the GuruDwara and wash my face with the water.. it was freezing cold… can’t tell u how bad i was shivering after i did that dare.. and there were ppl who were taking a dip in there.. .phew.. how did they manage it.. is something that they only know… to make things worse.. it started raining.. which dipped the temprature to sub-zero level and then the only pair of socks that i was wearing got wet… man !!! i was not in a good situation there…
went inside the GuruDwara…
came back…
had some hot and really tasty Khichdi and Tea at the Langar.. and then started walking back…
which turned out to be more painful and long then we expected.. every time i was keeping myfoot down on a stone.. the entire leg used to cry out loud in pain.. from my ankles to my knees… it seemed that i just could not take it any longer.. but still there was no other option but to carry on… and so we did…
and reached Ghangria at 1500 hours… with almost broken bones.. had managed to save myself from slipping a couple of times as well… the knees and the ankles were in pain like hell… and yet there was a satisfaction of achieving something that a lot of ppl do not…
~ Ghangria when we came back from Hemkund Sahib…
before we could sit down for lunch in our hotel.. there was a huge sound of stones falling.. and it was just behind ourhotel… we had to run hard to save ourself… the sound made us feel that a stone could hit us any moment.. but we were lucky.. though the noises were scary… the landslide was at a distance… so no harm done to anyone…
had a good lunch…. and then were off to sleep by 1630hours… not before applying lot of Move to our legs… this is were we realised how soothing these lotions can be…
got up around 2000 hrs for dinner… had a quick bite.. and then our favorite Gulab Jamuns and went off to sleep again by 2200 hrs… tmrw was going to be a long day… we had to go to the Valley of Flowers.. and then back to Govindghat….
Tuesday, 12-Jul
Woke up early morning… but coz we were so damn tired.. justcould not get out of our beds… managed to somehow get moving at 0530 hrs… the legs were still in a bad shape..lots of pain still.. but we had to do it…
so packed our biscuits.. and some peanuts… and started for the VOF….
~ a bridge that we had to cross on our way to the Valley…
soon after we entered the gate.. we realised we were in a different world… i could only hear a small river flowing nearby.. and could listen to the insects… even breating heavily would be considered noise there…
it was just to beautiful.. and right now.. i hate my vocab.. i just cannot find enough words to write what i felt… just cannot 🙁
anyway… the pics might just help…
~ Though this was not the peak time for flowers… we still managed to catch up with a lot of them…
We were again walking on some steep paths.. though the pain was there… the beauty of the surroundings.. kept the thoughts of the pain away…
~The trek is too beautiful… steep but beautiful… tiring and relaxing…
Crossed two small glaciers.. and two landslide areas with complete care… and got stuck at a glacier about 500 metres from the Valley… it looked too dangerous to move ahead on that.. though i had a stick with me.. i was not sure i should move ahead… i was scared.. coz there were no one around to help… and a minor mistake there could have meant… death… that too in cold waters… just could not take that risk…. so stayed there for sometime.. enjoyed the view.. and headed back to the hotel.. so that we could start our journey to Govindghat from there…
~ This is what the Valley of Flowers looks like…
~The Valley of Flowers… all nature.. pure as pure can be…
~ The glacier we could not cross… Aro became too sad after this… though i was kinda content with watever we managed…
We were back in Govinddham (Ghanngria) by 0930 hrs.. had some heavy breakfast, hired a pony to carry our bags and then moved started for Govindghat by 1015 hours… Had to walk for another 13 kms… we knew its going to be a tough walk ahead… and were determined to make it through…
so we started…
~ Some camp just before Gangria… probably was an Army camp… also had a helipad there..
~ Walking in the middle of the nature with almost dead feet… pain and pleasure together…
We reached Govindghat by 1500hrs…
~ These shoes were brand new when i moved out on friday.. and look at them now 🙂
this where i saw remains of a tragedy which struck the small town a few days back.. a flash flood… about 11 people lost there lives…. and about 230 vehicles were destroyed beyond recognition… 200 two wheelers and about 4-wheelers… the area was still being cleared and the scooters and the bikes were being dumped at the sides… it was scary to see the state of these….
~ A bike as good as waste in GovindGhat… reminds me of the power of Nature…
had to wait till 1715 hours before we got a bus for Badrinath…. we had again missed the previous gate by just about 15 minutes…
what we landed into was another jam.. because of a landslide… waited for an hour for that to clear up… and then decided to go back to Govindghat for the night… we were already too tired to take it any longer…. and then God knows that came to our minds… both of us decided to get back home…
the decision was quick and was not questioned by anyone of the two.. so we took at jeep to Joshimath and landed at the same hotel… where the owner was really glad to see us…
Talked to him for a good 45 minutes before we went to the room… then i rushed to get the tickets for the first bus out of Joshimath to Haridwar…
had a great dinner after a nice warm bath… and slept after repacking the entire stuff by 2200 hours…
Wednesday, 13-jul
Got up at 0330 hrs… and move out by 0400 hrs to take the Himgiri Express to Haridwar…. the drive back also involved a lot of sleep… beautiful sceneries around… some fotografs…
~ The Himgiri Express parked at a place called Teen Dhara…
~ Notice the small white car being pulled up…please drive very carefully always…
~C the Earth Movers in action again…
We were in haridwar by 1600 hrs.. looked for a place to keep our bags… and then moved to the Har ki Paudi… stayed there for while.. before going to the famous Mohan Ji Poori Wale.. to stuff our tummies with Poories, Halwa, Kachories, and Gulab Jamuns… then had some good Lassi… followed by a fantabolous pan….
~At Har Ki Paudi in Haridwar
bak to the Bus stand by 1715 hours.. and took the first bus to Delhi…. a failry decent bus.. the front seats again.. so that we could get enough leg room…. though we were expecting to reach delhi by 2200 hours… a Jam struck again.. and this time near Khatauli… just before Sakauti… spent a good 2.5 hours there before we reached the ISBT late night around 0100 hours…
it was a trip well done… too muchhard work.. and surroundings that i had never seen before… i would like to go again to the same places… but then this time i would act a li’il more intelligent…
we managed the entire trip in somewhere around 2500 bucks per head… and here are a few learnings from the trip :
– Start working out atleast a month in advance when you are planning such long treks…
– Stop smoking for this time period at least….
– Always carry a pair of socks with you 😉
– A stick always helps when you are climbing up or down…
– Always look before you step forward… make sure that you do not step on the wrong side of the stones…
– Carry along with you loads of will power and mental strength….
waiting for another trip already… well.. thats what i am …..
~Weather back home was great as well… took this foto after some good showers on Thursday
Steering wheel in the hand for two days…. and now the keyboard of this laptop… trust me it reeeeealy does not feel good… I am already missing that cool air… something that could make you shiver in the hottest of sun as well… something that tells you what being pure is really about… umhum….. what awesome two days these were….
16-April; NOIDA; 0545 hrs….
8818 kms on the dash !!! Me, Aro and Martina leave NOIDA… we had not planned anything for the next two days..and were in a mood to take it the way it was coming…. though we were a good 2 hours late then the planned time to leave.. the early morning sun was still not there to greet us…. moving from noida towards haridwar at an easy 80 kmph i was realy enjoying the morning breeze… while listening to the Mahamrityunjaya Matra…Drove for about three and half hours before all three of us decided to stop and have tea… so there we were 8978 kms on my dash, 0930 hrs in my watch.. and about 60 kms before Haridwar we took a break….. Sat on the “charpais” in the Mansarovar Restaurant , surrounded by thick trees and a sweet smell of wet soil (the owner had just sprayed the entire area with water)… it was good feel… this is when i am usually in the office.. working on something or other.. and today i was walking around with a Nikon n65 thinking where should i take a few pictures from… what a striking difference between friday and saturday :)I think we were there for about 45 minutes… and then moved to Haridwar… instead of going to Har Ki Pauri, we decided to take a different road and try reach the banks of the actual river in the car itself.. and managed to do that too 🙂 the flow of the river is actually diverted towards the bathing ghats and that is why the river itself did not have a lot of water flowing.. which made it really easy for us to just pull up our pants and walk inside the water for sometime 🙂 :)…. and then take a bath as well… ummm… the water was reeeeealy cold and once out of the ganges.. i was as fresh as ever.. not at all tired… ready to drive !!! took some fotos around the place.. and finally moved out of haridwar around 1130 hrs…
Driving from Haridwar to Rishikesh is a good exp. The road is good.. and is between the rajaji national park.. so you can ( if you are lucky) can see some deers at times…. monkeys lotsa them :)… sometimes inside the cars.. and sometimes outside …. reached rishikesh in about 45 min… the plan was to stay in rishikesh overnight.. and do some rafting in the morning on sunday !!! Aro checked out a couple of hotels.. but i decided to move ahead.. and see if can get some better options… and this is where things changed.. I saw this booking office for rafting and all and decided to check out if we could go for rafting righaway… and the good news was that we could… from Shivpuri to Rishikesh… checked two places.. one wanted us to pay 450 bucks per head.. and we would be picked up from that office around 1500 hrs and start rafting by 1600 hrs… we were fine with this arrangement.. when I decided to walk into one more office and see what he had to offer… and here was the offer : 400 bucks per head..Shiv Puri to Rishikesh… and we had to move rightaway 🙂 Aro reeeally was not keen on this.. but me and Martina forced him to go.. and we paid the guy 1200 bucks and sat in the Amby which was to take us to Shivpuri… Martina was kinda suprised when we told her that for about 20 odd years Amby was the car which was driven on Indian roads…
anyway… we had to take a sumo from some distance ahead.. and then reached shivpuri… Aro was shit scared and me and martina were enjoying the looks on his face while was busy looking at the Ganga and the rapids that he would actually get in… hehehehehee.. it was a good drive….
finally we were at the banks of Ganga in Shivpuri… Three rafts… 24 ppl… 4 different groups… i was kinda uncomfortable with this.. coz on a raft its always good to have ppl who you know a li’il or more…. coz rafting is one “team” exercise that I have seen…. however the raft we took was a good heterogeneous mix of ppl… Me, Aro and Martina… Two more german girls… two guys from somewhere in India…makes it a total of 7 ppl and our instructor…. I took that front left space… martina behind me on the left.. and because Aro was really scared… he took the last place on the left just next to the instructor !!!! Aaaaaaand there we go… finally in the river.. did some small warmup exercises… Front Paddle.. back paddle…left front right back… left back right front… and STOP !!!!
Went through rapids like Return to Centre, Roller Coster, Club House, and finally “No more Rapids”… back in rishikesh at 1745 hrs… wat a water trip this was… awesome… changed our clothes and had food in Madhusudan Restaurant.. this was something on the lines of ISKON… they had a temple and a small restaurant and a guest house as well… good food.. and very very cheap… 219 was the bill for the three of us… and me and aro as usual were really hungry and ate as if this was the last time we were getting food 🙂
Time to decide what we want to do next… we asked a couple of ppl as to where could we go from there.. and out of the many options that we got we chose “Chamba” as our next spot… 60 kms and about 2.5 hours away.. considering that I had never driven on the hills, we decided to move to Chamba… started at 1915 hrs… distance on the dash at this hour was 1915 kms… It was dark, it was hilly and it was my first drive on the hills… so a lot of excitement… and exactly 2 hours and 60 kms later we were in Chamba.. the small hilly town was already asleep and we had to find the Garhwal Nigam Bunglow to sleep… on our way to that place.. we saw this small but ok sorts of a hotel.. and decided to stop there… we were not hungry… coz we had great food back in rishikesh about 2 hours back… so we decided to call it a day !!! Aro as soon as got inside the bed got up again… saying that he was feeling as if he was still in the raft 🙂 and was moving like that.. hehehehehe… but we convinced him that he was very much on a bed which was on firm ground and could sleep as well.. so he went off to sleep, snoring away to glory while Me and Martina decided to take a walk around the place for a while before we get into our beds….had tea at 2230 hours.. and then finally got inside the rooms and slept.. We took a single room and got an extra bed for her inside that room.. and her bed was right next to the window from where could see the valley, and the small lights here and there !!! good view..
17 April:
Some disturbance in the room wakes me up at 0600 hrs.. and look out of the window to see the sun just about to come up from the hill in the east.. so even though i wanted to sleep more.. i got out of the bed so that I do not miss this view !!!It was chilly outside… there was no sun so far at the point where I was standing… and the air was very cold.. and i did not have any jacket or anything… enjoyed that feeling for about 15 minutes before the sun was there in front of us… we decided to have a quick breakfast and move from Chamba.. the route that we had to take was go to Dhanaulti and then to Massourie on our way to Dehradoon… We had to decide that we want to go back to Haridwar from D’doon or straight to Delhi once we reach there… so we moved outta Chamba at 0830 hrs ( 9118 kms)…. Only a part of the road between Chamba and Dhanaulti is good, most of it actually is in a bad shape… we stopped at quite a few places to enjoy the surroundings…there were no sounds except the air… cannot decribe that feeling in words… no way possible…the hills were full of Buransh… a deep red flower, the juice of which is supposed to have a high medicinal value… at a lot of places on our way… the red petals of the flower were there.. which had fallen off the trees at higher mountains…. Drove past Dhanaulti, as we did not feel that it was any more beautiful then wat we had seen in the past few kilometres…. though i was driving very slow enjoying the cool breeze and the scenic looks of the place…..
Reached Massourie at 1200 hrs ( 9176 kms) and I did not like that place.. too crowded… not the kinda hill station i would like to be in… reminded me of Nainital which I really hated when I saw it for the first time…. we thought we would go to Kemty falls but it was a good 15 kms away.. and we would have to be back on the same road… I was in no mood to drive to that place after having a look at this town…. it for sure would be full of tourists and families… who would never take a chance and go to a town which most do not frequent !!! anyway… we parked the car there only.. and walked to the market… had some food there… and some mango shake… on our way back.. bought some grapes and bananas.. so that we could eat them on our way back !!! and finally managed to leave Massourie at 1325 hrs…
The road to D’doon is very well laid…. and it was real fun driving on this road !!! though I was careful about not picking up speed which I cannot control… though it was the first exp of hill driving.. i was enjoying it like anything… tooooooooo GOOOD !!!
Once we reached D’doon, we were not in a mood to go to Haridwar again.. so we took the way to Roorkee from there which goes through the Rajaji National Park and managed to get on that highway at 1430 hrs ( 9210 kms)… As soon the hills end there is a road for about 50 odd kms which is a straiiiiiiiiiight road… managed to touch 120 kmph on this road without any problems and was driving b/w 100-120 for about 15-20 minutes… too bad the traffic started building up soon.. and had to get back to a comfortable 80-90 zone !!! Reached Roorkee.. took a turn towards Meerut, stopped at Khatauli for a quick bite and was in Delhi by 2115 hrs (9475kms)… Thinking about another day in office.. and how bad i wanted to be back in Chamba 🙁
Anyway….here i am today…. writing about whatever happened in the last two days…rafting from Shivpuri to Rishikesha total of 40 litres of Petrol used and 650 kms covered. No refuel needed on the entire trip thanks to the huge 48 litre petrol tank of the car.about 120 kms of driving in the hills which was fhinomenol !!!the way my car worked on this trip is something that strengthens my trust in Fiat… it was absolutely effortless.. and I was not at all tired when I reached home in the night !!!
Here is something that I thought of right now:
40 litres of Petrol : 1500 rupees
17 kms of Rafting : 400 rupees
Food for three in Rishikesh : 219 rupees
The feeling of not being tired at all at the end of a two day 650 km drive : Priceless 🙂
Oh yes.. did i forget writing that we managed to take over 70 fotos in these two days? Thanks to my dear friend Rupak who was kind enough to give me his NIKON N65 🙂
