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 š 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 earlierā¦ so all is wellā¦ and Life IS goodā¦
You can click HERE to check out the fotosā¦
And now let me talk about my experienceā¦
I was kinda scared that I would not be able to make the June Tripā¦ and I was not sure where I wanted to goā¦ I was discussing getting out of Delhi on the ODM day tooā¦ and looked like it would be just fineā¦ we decided on the 25th wala weekend and it looked doableā¦ Asked a couple of people… Aseem was readyā¦ Deepak was gameā¦ Akash also was keen, though he dropped out at the last minuteā¦
We tried hard to take Rohit alongā¦ but there were things that he could not run away from and go with usā¦ so he stay put at his place over the weekendā¦ too bad he missed itā¦
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 driveā¦ had a nice dinner at the Vishalās kitchen and managed to sleep only by 0000 hoursā¦ rather go to bed around that timeā¦ kept talking and managed a sleep of only about a couple of hoursā¦ I was the last to sleep and the first to get upā¦ which meant that I was awake at 0230 hoursā¦ got ready and woke the rest of the gang up @ 0300 hoursā¦ we managed to leave at 0325 hrs from my place and then went to the ATMā¦ and managed to officially start our journey at 0341 hoursā¦
Zoomed past the lesser mortals, took the right turns after asking the policemen about the route on BegumPul in Meerutā¦ I could not believe the kind of road I was driving on the entire wayā¦ I was hoping for a much worse experienceā¦ actually was prepared for itā¦ but could not really get out of the surprise till we reached Kotdwarā¦ I was comfortably driving at 90-100 km/hr most of the timeā¦ ohā¦ we almost hit a lot of stupid crowsā¦ who were not ready to fly off the middle of the road till the car was about 50 metres away from themā¦ and we almost hit a few donkeys because they strayed on the wrong side of the roadā¦phew.. that was a close shaveā¦ 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!!!
Anywayā¦ I was not really surprised after completing the first 210 kms in about 3 hoursā¦ we reached Lansdowne around 0730 hoursā¦ and then spent time looking for a place for ourselvesā¦ GMVN was bookedā¦ Fairydale was bookedā¦ we had breakfast thereā¦ had read about the kinda paranthas that place makesā¦ but it was just averageā¦ I have had better stuff and more then onceā¦ so once our stomachs were full, we decided to find another place to stayā¦ tried two very shady hotels in the main market but both of them were full tooā¦ 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 bucksā¦ 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 downpourā¦ driving on a mud-stone track in the kind of rain is definitely not one of the best things I have done to Radhaā¦ but she was there with me right through and we were safeā¦ checked into the roomā¦ and were kinda stunned to see the number of bugs in the toiletā¦ this is not what we had planned ? but there was liāil we could do nowā¦ it was raining cats and dogs outsideā¦ and we three were stuck in a room in the middle of nowhereā¦ anywayā¦I decided to take a nap… and quickly fell asleep while watching the TVā¦ got up fresh in two hoursā¦ It had stopped raining and Deepak had checked out most of the surroundingsā¦ Aseem gave us the idea of getting out of there for good.. and staying somewhere elseā¦ 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 nightā¦ 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. Johnās church, The St. Maryās Church ( I think I am messing up the name here) and the Tip-n-Top Pointā¦ went to snow-view pointā¦ and then rushed straight outside Lansdowne to Tarkeshwar Mahadev temple a good 45 kms awayā¦ reached there in good time but realised that the last 5.6 kms were mud-stone roadā¦ and I was not keen on taking the car thereā¦ Deepak and Aseem were not too sure eitherā¦ so we took a u-turnā¦ parked the car there for a while, had tea from a local shop and started back to Kotdwarā¦ the plan was to reach Haridwar ASAP !!! I was expecting to reach there by 2100 hoursā¦ but we made it in good time this time tooā¦ Deepak slept on the back seat while me and Aseem talked our way throughout the drive back and managed to reach Haridwar around 2000 hoursā¦ nice roads againā¦ beautiful sunsetā¦ and also a good 2 hours of conversationā¦ I missed out on atleast a thousand shots because I was drivingā¦ I wish to capture them sometime when someone else is drivingā¦
Haridwar was full of peopleā¦ most of them from Delhiā¦ ?ā¦ and that ensured that we did not get a room in Haridwar as wellā¦ so a quick decision to go to Rishikesh was takenā¦ and we reached Rishikesh in about an hours timeā¦ got a room in the Madubanā¦ this is where we eat most of the timeā¦ and this time managed to get a room there for 350 bucksā¦ extra bed for 150 bucksā¦ in all 500 bucks for the nightā¦
Went to Chotiwala for Dinner but it had already closed, checked out a few more places to eat but no luckā¦ and at the end we ate at a small road-side restaurant near the parking for Ram Jhulaā¦ not bad eh !!!
Walked back to Maduban, and crashed on the bedsā¦ I had opted for the floorā¦ so I managed to enjoy the sleep on the floorā¦ got up at 0400 hours on Sundayā¦ and rushed to Haridwar to catch the Morning Atariā¦ it seemed we were late and we decided to have a bath before going to the Har Ki Pauriā¦ I had the holy bath after a long timeā¦ and I loved itā¦ it happened to be some auspicious occasion too which I came to know after I reached homeā¦ so I am sure it helped me wash away some of the deadly sins committed by me in the last few monthsā¦ we went to the famous Mohan Ji Poori Wale, to have the poories, but they had not started servingā¦ so we had to be content with some Khasta Kachauri and some Halwa and some Gulab Jamunsā¦ 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 Heartsā¦ niceā¦ thereon the struggle to overtake startedā¦ there was a bumper to bumper traffic on the opposite sideā¦ to over a vehicle I was like waiting for atleast 5 minutes on an averageā¦ things became better once we reached the Meerut Bypassā¦ it had started raining tooā¦
We stopped at Kadrabad to have the famous Jain Shikanjiā¦ this time it was better then the last 4-5 times I had itā¦ because of less crowd I guessā¦
By the time we reached Modinagar it had started raining very heavilyā¦ and I drove with the left tyres in water throughout the townā¦ the other side of the road was flooded as well with waterā¦ rain stopped after Muradnagarā¦ and it was nice drive back home from thereā¦ dropped Deepak at the NOIDA Modeā¦ and Aseem drove back to his place in his car which was parked at my placeā¦
So this was the trip!!! I enjoyed writing as much about it as the drive itselfā¦ it was nice to know Deepak a liāil moreā¦ 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 Nangalā¦ anyone Game?
Oklie doklie doks…
on our way to triund
in triund or on triund… i dunno ši did not think twice before i deleted most of my landscapes… *is rohit happy š* and i am not too happy with the people that i have clicked this time… why.. because most of it was not thought of… but clicked very very quickly…
a monastery near our hotel…so a lot of fotos deleted…
some of them ignored…
some out of focus and useless..
and the rest… have been uploaded…
from the dalai lama temple…getting jiggy with it š *4-10e*and i am happy š you can click here and be happy too š
so basically i would be found somewhere on the streets when i am traveling next… just clicking more janta…
“Day 0: Wednesday”
i really really wanted to take Radha along.. but looks like Goddie had different plans and he made us take a bus.. actually not “A” bus but multiple buses on our way to Dharamsaala…
the Volvo leaves ISBT at 2000 hrs and was full… there is another bus at 2015 hrs which apprantly was cancelled…. so we could not take it either.. another funny thing that happened was that the guy at Himachal Bhawan told me that the buses leave from there.. but the buses are from ISBT which meant that we got late for both the buses and were not in a position to take any of them either…
anyway… a look at the queue for the ordinary bus to Dharamsaala made me almost cancel the plan… too many ppl… and rotten buses… so we decide to find out private buses to Dharamshaala… we managed to get one… which we boarded at 2130 hours from ISBT… it then went to Lal Quila… and then again to the IST.. and then again to the Lal Quila.. before it took at U-turn to stop on the other side of the road in front of the Lal Quila again…
i so far have never spent this much time in a bus ever without the bus going anywhere… oh.. and about the bus.. this was a sleeper class bus… someone which is kinda common in Rajasthan.. infact the bus had a registration on Jaipur as well…
we finally moved out of delhi around 2300 hrs… and then stopped at the border for fuel… and then again for some Tax related issues…. the bus finally picked up some speed after crossing the border which was around 0000 hrs… and it reached Chandigarh is about 4 hours only.. including a 30 minute break near Pipli…
“Day 1: Thursday”
most of the time in the bus was spent sleeping.. so i am not too sure of the route that the bus took after Chandigarh… however we had taken this bus till Pathankot and we managed to reach there around 0800 hrs… took a private bus to Gaggal from Pathankot and completed this distance of about 80 kms in about 3 hours… and then another bus to dharamsaala from Gaggal… and then one more bus to McLeodganj… our final stop !!!
her name is Zema which means beautiful… isn’t she?on our way we got some valuable information about what do to and where to stay from a guy too… so we decided not to stay in Dharamsaala and moved to McLeodganj instead… which actually turned out to be better…
i broke my favorite shades on the trip.. now left with only the frame štook a decent room for 350 bucks a night… and then moved out of the room to walk around… Tushar suggested that we should do the local sightseeing the same day.. which meant hiring an auto for 200 bucks… and a visit to nearby places like the Dal Lake, St. John’s church, some view point, and finally the Bhagsu Nag Temple… we also went for a short long walk from the temple to a nearby waterfall… spent about 1.5 hours to and fro… got into an argument with the Auto-wala because he said that we should not have spent more then 30 minutes there… anyway…
a view from our hotel…the small hump that you see on the first mountain is Triun…went back to the hotel… and then went out again for food and all…
McLeodganj is a very very neat place if you want to experiment with food.. there is so much to eat… i had Spaghetti with Cheese for Lunch, India Food (though i did not want to) for dinner…. all sorts of Italian, Tibetan, continental food is available.. and not too expensive either…
Another highlight of the place:
Figures to kill for and Skins to Die for… so many firangi chicks around… and if thats not enough.. there is more !!! the Local Chicks are more or less awesome too…
I was certainly feeling out of place… there were either Tibetans or firangies around.. anyway…
so after a long day.. i slept while i was talking to tushar… and then i guess he went out and sat in the balcony for a while.. before he slept too…
our room…nice.. clean…Day 2: Friday
We had done some homework to find out about the bus back home the last evening… and managed to get a ticket for the Saturday Volvo in the morning…
next on the agenda was a trek to Triun… we could see it from our hotel balcony and it looked far away too…
the breakfast here is worth mentioning.. the farmer’s breakfast and the JJI breakfast.. at the JJI cafe.. will talk about it later too…
we took an auto till Gallu Temple.. which was a good 6 kms away… and the roads ( well thats what i can think of calling that path as cars, jeeps, autos etc. are supposed to move on it) were scary… something that needs a good 4 wheel drive was being negotiated with a 150 cc three wheeler…. with all the weight at the back.. increasing the chances of going down the hill on the small mistake.. anyway.. we were lucky.. and managed to reach the place where we had to start off with the trek…
in about 10 minutes we reached a T point.. and had to choose between one of the two directions… and no one to guide too… i chose one… and it took us about 20 more minutes to reach a point which looked like a dead end.. crossed the mountain with some support from the rocks at the edge… and managed to move to the other side.. we had to be careful not to slip… we did not…
and after walking for a good 2.5 hours on a path second to the worst i have walked on.. we reached the top of the mountain… Triun… the pain was worth it… i cannot explain what it looked like with words.. maybe the picture would help…
Triun…lots of foriegners… and a few shops… this was the best place to spend a couple of days… the only sounds were crows or air.. and an occasional cheer of the ppl around… lovely.. beautiful…
Triun again…
on our way back to McLeodganj… the walk took over 3 hours… phew… it was tough..the walk back was tiring.. and longer.. as we had to walk those 6 kms done in the auto on foot this time… managed to reach McLeodganj around 1800 hrs… had tea and mango lassi in one of the roof-top restaurants… went back to the hotel… rested for a while.. and then came out for a walk…
somewhere….just walked around before i wanted to sleep… came back to the hotel.. and slept in peace…
Day 3 : Saturday…
Saturday started late… packed our bags.. checked out of the hotel… went to Dharamshaala.. found the Kangra museum of Art closed because of a local holiday… came back to McLedoganj… spent the entire afternoon in the JJI’s cafe… about this place now… JJI is a name that comes from the Initials of the JJI EXile Brothers… the cafe is a small shop with 4 tables.. and about 10 chairs… awesome music.. wonderful food.. and the best place to spend time in, if you want to just relax… had the best Honey ginger Lemon tea there… had some great Farmer’s breakfast… and some delightful Pasta in Tomato Cheese Sauce…loved it…
took the bus back to Delhi @ 1900 hours… wonderful bus.. a semi sleeper to Delhi… reached delhi in 12 hours.. and home around 0800 hrs on sunday…
The Trip ends !!!! AWESOME… LOVED it…
time for some tips/statistics….
~ Total money spent in Travel : 1400 bucks per head (Private buses Delhi-Pathankot, Pathankot-Gaggal, Gaggal-Dharamsaala, Dharasaala-McLeodganj; Back in a Volvo 750+ bucks per head)
~ Stay : 350 a room per night…
~ Food : depending on what you want to eat.. the food however is not expensive at all… a meal for two should not cross 200 bucks even if you eat a lot…
~ This is a place to just relax.. and chill.. and go for a couple of treks… if you are interested in treks… ensure that you carry some good shoes, some medicine, water, and food…
~ Enjoy the variety of food available…
and HAVE FUN…
p.s. i will have the pics by Wednesday.. hope to upload them the same day too…
i submitted the list of things that i commit to complete at work in the next one year, today…
long list…
and way to go…
have also thought of a few more things.. which need me to be more serious about myself and where i want to go and what i want to achieve…
i think i will be able to think while i am driving for 400 kms at a stretch… towards Dharamsaala….
and i want to do this thinking in the second week of may… starting the evening of 10th(Wednesday) to the morning of 15th.. or maybe evening of 14th(Sunday)
I plan to visit Dharamsaala, McLeodganj, Pragpur, Nalagarh…. and i would not be surprised if i go to Manali too which is about 235 Kms away from Dharamsaala…
anybody game?
_________
the next question comes about what would be done in dharamsaala in these days…
expected drive time to dharamsaala is 8 hours.. about 500 kms…
trekking options:
Dharamsala is one of the most popular starting points for treks and rock climbing over the ridges of the Dhauladhar range. There are tailor-made treks in the Kangra valley around Dharamsala and adjoining places. The trekking season starts from May and goes on to October. The most frequented route from Dharamsala to the Chamba valley, over the Indradhar Pass (4350m), is arduous trek but the most novice trekkers can manage to complete it within five days.
There are many easy walks of small treks around McLeodganj and Dharamsala such as Toral Pass (4575m) that start from Tang Narwana (1150m), which is 10-km from Dharamsala. A 2-km stroll takes one to Bhagsu, then a little further a 3-km walk will bring the trekkers to Dharamkot. If one wishes to go on a longer walk then he can walk 8-km to Triund. The snow line of Ilaqa Got is just a 5-km walk.
The most difficult route is towards the north, a five to six day trek across Bhimghasutri Pass (4580), covering near-vertical rocky ascents, sharp cliffs and dangerous gorges. An easier four or five day trek from Dharamsala crosses Bleni Pass (3710m) in the milder ranges of the northwest, weaving through the alpine pastures, woods and passing through few streams, before terminating at Dunali, on the Chamba road.
The area is rich in small rivers and streams, which give ample opportunity for angle fishing. The 20-km stretch of the river Beas between Nadaun and the Pong Dam offers ample of opportunities in angling for Mahaseer.
because i got the snaps today… writing about the trip without pictures is not really fun !!! so here i am…
friday evening… the bag was packed in 15 minutes… and me Aditya and Shubhika left for the metro station.. both of them had not seen the metro from inside so far, and the excitement was justified… so we took at bus ( we got on at 2100 hrs easily) and reached the Rajiv Chawk Station… huh !!! its the CP station… grabbed the tokens and took the train.. the crowd at this to take this train was nothing less then the Kolkata Metro !!! tooooo many ppl at the platform… thankfully when the train came to the station it was empty and we could get in with ease…
the Delhi Main Station… or the Chandni Chawk station has two exits… one which takes you to the Fawwara Chawk and the other ( which i took for the first time) which takes you to the entry of the Old Delhi Railway Station… Love you DMRC… going to the Old Delhi Railway station is fun now !!!
there were a total of 21 ppl who were going… all very excited… we quickly ate some sandwiches and searched for the bogie… and took our seats.. had to make some adjustments to sit together… so we asked a lot of ppl to exchange the seats with us… and they had no option… afterall who would like to sleep in between a group of 21 ppl.. we are expected to make noise right ?
the guys who wanted to have drinks enjoyed the drinks after the train moved.. and the other group… with 6 girls were getting bored… and then the game of dumb sharades started… and it was real fun for about 2 hours before some ppl woke up and asked us to sleep… but we could not stop… and carried on for a while this time controlling our voices…
reached kalka in the early morning around 0500 hours after i managed to sleep for about 3 hours…
tried getting a seat in the two trains scheduled to go to Shimla…but Shivalik Express and the Himalayan Queen were both full !!! and there were ppl waiting and fighting the TT because the idiots and taken waiting tickets and wanted a seat… anyway… we moved out of the station to find out alternatives to reach shimla…
took a joyride in a small truck to the Gandhi Chawk bus stand… and waited for a bus there… we could’ve taken three qualises for 100 bucks per seat… but we chose not to and waited more for a bus.. and finally a Himachal State Transport deluxe bus took us to Shimla… we managed to reach Shimla around 0930 hrs and spend about 1.5 hours looking for a hotel… and finally checked in to the Maharaja Palace near the Kali Badi Mandir… checked in… got ready… and moved out by 1300 hrs… had a wonderful time eating chinese food at Alpha near the LIC of India Office on Scandal Point… and then spent the rest of the day just walking around the Mall Road… what crowd !!! manh !!! i have not seen better girls in this quantity for a long time… the place was FULL of people.. and a good percentage of this PEOPLE was CHICKS… yummy !!!
some of the people got really tired and went back to the hotel while me and a few more decided to stay back on the Mall… i was one of the ppl who stayed back.. took some pics… watched some chicks… and then called everyone for dinner at one of my favorites The Plaza near Guptajee’s on the Mall.. both of these restaurants have been the places i make a point to eat at whenever i am in Shimla…
managed to sleep around 0030 hrs… had to wake up early to go to Kufri…we managed to hire 2 Sumos and one Alto… some view points… lots of mules in kufri… and the nature park walk… some rain… a wonderful view point… some pictures… and some great kashmiri pulao and wonderfully tasty pineapple raita followed…
we reached the shimla station @ 1600 hours a good 2.5 hrs before the toy train was to leave Shimla…we had planned to take the general tickets… and to kill time we just kept our bags inside the small ticket counter area… and started what i am never going to forget ever in my life…
the next two hours saw me, Rajat, Lalit, Shivasheesh singing songs loudly.. and on request…we even were asking the other passengers for just 5 bucks for any songs.. hindi, english, marathi, punjabi, sanskrit.. whatever… after sometime the show shifted to the platform where we had the entire passengers of Shivalik Express as our audience.. and we even managed to Sing our way to 5 bucks from a foreigner.. in addition to about 50 bucks that we earned from within the team by singing songs of their choice !!! i will see if i can get one of these videos and upload it…
and as soon as the train arrived… the general dibba was full š and we did not have a place to sit… so we quickly graduated to a sleeper class compartment and talked to the TT about the extra fare… and made the payment !!! nice… 30 seats in one compartment and 21 of them were with us !!! so no points for guess what followed…
about 4 hours of non-stop singing… with all of us singing at the top of our voices… and me adding some beats to the songs by picking up two empty water bottles and using them for managing the tempo of the songs… a personal question hour.. one Chichora hour… and some non-veg jokes followed… and this journey from Shimla to Kalka because one of the most interesting and well spent journeys of my life !!!
kalka came…we took our seats… and were back in Delhi by 0700 hrs in the morning… so a weekend very very well spent in the company of some amazing people…these are the times when you know life’s good !!!
the next weekend is already here and i am not doing much this time…
and i noticed that starting Sep’05 i have managed to be one a outstation trip every month !!! i am praying to God that this continues forever !!!
Amen !!!
oh… and i almost forgot… the fotos have been uploaded to flickr… you can check them out by clicking here
i am getting out of delhi tonight… for two days…
much needed break from the negative frame of mind i have been in since the time my salary got credited this month…
i need some fresh air…
i need some train…
i need some curves on the road…
i need some hills…
i need myself…
i am going on my way to get it !!!
ankur…
clicked some of the best candid shots of the trip !!!
Wonderful work Ankur.. looks like I would not be able to get out of the rafting trip for a few more days !!!
here everyone.. check some more of the fotos out š Courtsey Ankur…
our guide from the October Trip.. Sunny.. preparing the raft for the downstream trip…
the gang of rafters… brushing their teeth… ankur did not brush.. he took these fotos š
sheetal, rohit and me… busy clicking ourselves…
shammi… clicking shetty…
this was a group of Bharat Police.. practicing for the competition… they have to reach rishikesh as fast as possible… they took off like zoooooom….
me taking a few pics… i like my pics… both where i was clicked… thanks ankur š and which i clicked š
A lot of us…
i love myself for clicking this one… including me…
have been wating for the fotos…
and i finally got them today..
had to wait till like 2300 hours to start uploading them.. but i did.. and most of them are up on flickr.. except the ones which rohit has in his cam…
rohit.. pitega tu !!!
so folks… you might like to click… err.. no.. lemme have some of the fotos here before i give you the link š
heheh…
Aseem working on the only babe with us on the trip…
and there she is… right there.. on a beach… in her natural best… Kudos to Aseem… 
after lunch… the gang… 
one of the rapids enroute…so now.. you can click here to go see the rest of the fotos š
friday evening around 2000 hrs i picked up aseem from his office… we came home… kept his bag and then went to the T-shop… during that time to when i came back home around 2230 we had quickly changed a part of the plan…we were seven guys and could afford to get a cab instead of going to the ISBT and then take a bus… so the list of poeple going rafting was now:
Me
Ankur
Rohit
Tushar
Shammi
Aseem, &
Harsh…
and believe it or not… the first six are members of Orkut… and i have met Rohit and Shammi through Orkut itself…
so we leave around 2300 hrs from my place after enjoying the great Indian laughter challenge… meet our driver.. MAMU š yes.. thats what he liked to be called… and then picked up tushar… and then Shammi and Harsh… and then Ankur and then Rohit… this is around 1145 hrs… and we were moving at a good speed towards rishikesh…
the traffic less…
the road good…
the driving quick…
made sure that we were moving at a very nice speed… and were able to cross meerut in less then 1.5 hrs time… the journey so far included a lot of gaalis and loud singing by the people in the car with the nice songs that were playing… *courtesy : your truly :P*
we decided to take a small stop for tea before we reached MuzaffarNagar… the road between Sakauti and MuzaraffarNagar is a pain… the rest for some reason looks and feels better… i am sure some work has been done on the highway… felt that on the last month’s trip to mussoorie as well…
the stopover would be remembered because, THIS is where… Shammi is supposed to have eaten BALLS, which he did not like and for some reason as soon as he ate them, he ran away only to reappear in about 5 minutes… a secret that he guarded till the last minute yesterday.. and still its safe with him…
the next stop came at Haridwar… 0330 hrs… nice lights… cold air… i had learnt from my last trip in october that mornings are supposed to be cold around the Ganges.. and hence my nice warm red jacket kept me just fine… and the colour combo i was wearing.. yello t and the red jacket.. was nicely complimented by tushar.. who was in a red T with a yello jacket… some fotos have made me realise that NOW is the time i have to do something about my tummy !!! š
the fotos make it evident š *crying out loud* and the waise pouch that i had on my waist helped look the tummy look worse :(( not done… kuch na kuch to karna padega… and that too soon !!!
some fotos were clicked.. and the sleep was fought with… and we moved to rishikesh in abt 45 minutes time…
the moon was out.. the air was again cold… and the sulabh was closed… so all of us chose to be inside the cab itself… and rest and sleep.. harsh was the first one to brave the outside cold and get out and take a few pics… rohit followed…
oh.. i had also called Deepak from Mohan Nagar to tell him that ODM was happening outside delhi for the first time š
and then in turns we went out of the car… stood in the cold air… which was now turning to a nice cool breeze… and then the sulabh shauchalay in the parking was open to public and we guys being the only public around.. had unsigned exclusive rights to the loo there š
some fotos clicked… with Ankur trying to click something inside the ladies toilet.. and tushar coming out of one of the ladies toilets… hehehe… some nice pics of the place around followed… and then we moved to Govindam…this is one of the restaurants that Me and Tushar like to like… but the cook was not in so we decided to walk a li’il towards the ganges.. and enjoy the breeze…
this is where i saw a whole army of buses… i counted 30 buses myself… and all with West Bengal plates… and full !!! oh boy !!! what crowd… too many people… and that made us just come back to the restaurant… this place is called Govindam… complete with a temple, a guest house, a few shops and all.. just like ISKON… and has this small restaurant called Govindji’s Prasadam…
breakfast followed… lots of paranthas… cooked very well.. some lassi and pickle… that reminds me that i really really want to go to Murthal to have some paranthas… i think i will stop there on my way to Dharamsaala next month…
we finally met Pradeep, who arranges for my rafting trip everytime i go to rishikesh…
oh one thing which is not to miss a mention here is Ankur’s shorts.. hehe bright blue swimming shorts.. shorter then shorts and a li’il bigger then the v-shaped undies.. and the best part being that he was walking barefoot.. and this big white tshirt had very nicely covered his shorts… so for obvious reasons there were people staring at him.. and actually turning back to see what kinda person was roaming around in the otherwise sane rishikesh š
š oh.. and did i forget to mention that he was a carrying a very decent looking SLR with himself as well… Aseem asked him to ensure that he speaks in english only.. this would save him from the rage of any sadhus for offending the hindu community atleast š
anyway… we moved to shivpuri in a sumo… and were joined by Sheetal, who is back in India for good after his masters in finance something.. he turned out to be a cool guy and was a part of the gang as were by the end of the trip.. i also need to send him a orkut invite…
because it was an all guys gang.. the gaali galoch was at its best.. and i don’t remember but for some reason we decided that everyone someone swears.. the rest of them would point a finger at the sky.. i guess to let God know what he sweared and request that he should be fogiven… and find it offensive or whatever.. there was someone or the other rising to the occasion every second sentence !!! it was funn.. bigg time !!! atleast we were enjoying without offending anyone !!! so chilled out !!!
rafting.. started from shivpuri.. and braved the rapids like Return to Sender, Roller Coster, Gold Course ( the only grade 4 rapid on the Shivpuri-Rishikesh route), Hilton etc… we also had lunch @ brahmpuri where we took a lot of fotos.. and Aseem here was at his artistic best.. and made something unusual with sand… this was first a man lying down on the beach.. and after some peer pressure he did some small tweaking on his work… and turned him into a her… someone who could give Pamela Anderson a run for her money ( you know what i mean š; and what else do you expect in a beach full of all guys, hehehe) anyway… it was fun.. and after some more rest… we moved on the river again… to the jumping point…
Aseem was the first one to jump and repeated it twice… Shammi gave his fear a finger and managed to jump twice too.. Harsh managed it twice… and so did Sheetal… he was all excited and told us that this was by far the best he has done in rafting… while comparing it to the rafting trips in US… oh.. how can i forget.. ankur took sometime.. but jumped too.. the water level was kinda low there… and that meant that you had to jump from about 24 feet instead of the usual 22… as if that makes a difference from that height.. i did not jump this time… could not gather enough courage.. and was feeling very tired already… had not slept for over 29 hours now… so i took the role of a life guard.. and made sure that i could bring Ankur and Shammi to the shore… Ankur needed it.. Shammi could take care of himself.. with a li’il help from me…
the last leg was kinda slow.. and relaxed… where more of talking happened… with Ankur performing on the Kajraare Kajraare as well.. Ash beware.. you are going to get a run for your money if ankur performs his way in his bright blue designer shorts… and the wet white t-shirt š
got off the raft near the parking lot itself… changed and decided to move to haridwar to have food.. had the poories, the gulab jamuns, the halwa and Lassi at haridwar… no fotos this time.. and then moved to Delhi…
Aseem realised that he had dropped his phone near the railway crossing on the Muzaffarnagar by-pass… but he did only near Khatauli… we turned back… and tried looking for his phone where we had stopped for a while.. but as expected we could not find it… so basically.. Aseem pee-ed away 10K bucks on this trip… and even though its possible, he had not backed up the data which is biggest loss, other then the money ofcourse… Sayan also did not back up her phone … and when she lost the phone.. she lost a lot of data too.. guys please please please be careful with your wallets and phones… its very very difficult to get the numbers, the files, the tones back and we usually realise this only after we’ve lost the phones and wallets…
One thing that i did not like was that Ankur had made plans of meeting his relative for some work in Meerut and did bother to tell anyone till we left Rishikesh, even though he knew he had to do this when he left.. coz he was carrying his papers and the official docs needed… you cannot take a call for yourself, without talking to the rest of the people who are travelling with you… no one knew Ankur so well.. and did not say anything even though it was kinda evident that they were not at all happy with waiting for him in Meerut while he was with the person he had to meet… anyway…
we reached delhi.. dropped Rohit, Ankur, Shammi, Harsh, Tushar.. and Aseem and Myself… dropped Aseem to the NOIDA expressway crossing where his brother was waiting for him… and i was back home @ 2345 hrs… a 24-trip came to an end now !!! wonderful !!! this was my fifth time on the Ganges and i loved it out and out.. already waiting for the next time i go there… April may be… lets see…
ok now for a few stats…
Total time in reaching Rishikesh : approx 5 hours.. actually less if you start late night.. best time to start if you are travelling on ur own : 0300 hrs this gives you enough time to sleep for a few hours… and also avoid the traffic on this route..
now the money part…
Cab : 3700 bucks.. include the 2*100 bucks night charges for the cabbie…
Rafting : 450 bucks per person including food @ Brahmpuri…
Food: Approx 400 bucks in breakfast @ Govindam, and 250 bucks in Haridwar ( snacks.. but very very filling)
the total expense per person came out to be around 1050 bucks… ( Rohit: you need to be treated for spending 1100 :D)
i am right now tired… because of the cold water.. and air… need to rest today…
the fotos that i clicked would be availble soon.. i guess by wednesday… Rohit should be posting his by day end today !!!
Have a happy sunday everybody !!! God Bless…