Vibrant Gujarat - December 2017

Vibrant Gujarat….December 2016

We planned for a sight-seeing trip to Gujarat well ahead in September for a trip in December end. We took assistance from a travel agent of Gujarat to arrange for the trip assuming that we will get good guidance from them and can optimize our trip in terms of time /money and also places to visit.

However, it turned out to be that the guidance from the local agent (Compass) was far to come by! We realized on the second day of the trip that we were not guided properly by the agent and they had also overcharged us!  They had organized the route as follows –

Bangalore…… Rajkot -Bhuj– Rann – Rajkot – Dwaraka-Porbander – Somnath – Gir – Diu – Bangalore for 10 days and a car at disposal.  By end of the trip we realized that this was non-optimal and they had missed Junaghad and also Ahmedabad! Instead our trip should have taken the route:

Bangalore–-Bhuj–Rann–Bhuj–Ahmedabad(train)–Dwaraka (train)-Porbundar–Junagadh-Gir (Somnath) – Diu– Bangalore.  We would have seen more places and also saved two days! We were disappointed by the culture of tourism industry!

We landed in Bhuj, and stayed overnight. Unfortunately, our baggage did not arrive and we had to go to the town centre to buy some essential items for the night hoping the baggage would come in the next flight next day! Bhuj, as it is advertised is not colorful! The town centre was begging to have roads… there were literally no roads… dirty and garbage strewn place. I was wondering, how the local shop owners, business people tolerate such apathy by the administration! Next day our baggage did not arrive and we anyway, proceeded to the next destination Rann after seeing the old fort at Bhuj. I must say, that this was also a disappointment with no write up on the fort in English / Hindi and the approach road and the place was absolutely a disappointment with garbage all over! It is also the indiscipline of the tourist that contributes to the uncleanliness of the area coupled with official apathy!

Rann was very pleasant and the salt bed was indeed a geographical phenomenon worth visiting! Though it was not full moon or so, the sunset and the pleasant weather at Rann made it memorable. The sparse population in and around Rann also contributes to the pleasantness of the area.  We went till KalaDongar and till the point where we are allowed to go as thereafter the border starts near the village Dharamsala…

We returned from Rann to Rajkot via driving (thanks to the mismanagement of our agent!) and stayed overnight at Rajkot. Our baggage was delivered by Jet airways to Rajkot and finally we felt relieved that we have our clothes for the rest of the stay!

Next day, we travelled from Rajkot to Dwarka. On the way one gets to see the Industrial town of Jamnagar. One must say Gujarat is blessed to have such enterprising community!  Hotel at Dwarka was a disappointment! Though close to the beach, maintenance was a far cry! I had to get the room cleaned almost thrice to get it to a shape where we could spend the night. Adding to the misery, our agent had booked two nights at Dwarka! Anyway, though a very small town, cleanliness was not up to the mark in the town as well. While religious places where foot falls are very high like Tirupati, temples at Tamilnadu were able to maintain cleanliness, Dwarka can do much better in terms of maintenance. Temple was very beautiful with artistic and flowery carvings unlike temples of south where carvings are more theme oriented and depicts stories of Mahabharata and Ramayana. Roads were bad and garbage was all over place… I am wondering when will places like these where the foot falls are so high from poor to rich respect tourists and tourists also respect the place they visit! The next day we visited Bet Dwarka, giving us an opportunity to go on the boat and enjoy the short ride and view of fishermen’s boats sailing around! Bet Dwarka was also a disappointment with cleanliness hard to see! I started wondering about our culture of being dirty! Why do we think throwing garbage is a right but not throwing garbage is in fact a right! Keeping one’s own city and the place of visit clean is our right!

Afternoon we traveled to Junagadh on the way visiting Porbander.  We were so disappointed to see that there was literally no road in the old part of Porbander and the road leading to Kirti Mandir ( Gandhiji’s birthplace and house) was pathetic! I am surprised that our rich Gujarati business tycoons built super luxury houses for themselves and gift their spouses’ unimaginable expensive gifts, but they hardly support or come forward to sponsor such a historical place of importance.  I am amazed how the tourism department in Gujarat functions! We were really disheartened to see this place without the desired attention!

 It was a pleasant surprise at the hotel in Junagadh as it was very clean and the hotel team was very cooperative and friendly! We went to visit Uparkot fort in the morning. I must say, it is one of the living forts like Jaiselmer of Rajasthan where people still live by the lanes of the fort. Disappointment was there again for us as the place was so dirty that we were aghast! With so many tourists coming to see the fort, the apathy of the administration towards the fort and the tourists is shocking! We could not get one guide who was not eating paan! One has to live with the tobacco smell of paan through- out the journey of Gujarat. Very sad indeed but that is the reality! We took a guide with us, though very humorous, he too was very disappointed with the apathy of the tourism department in maintaining the fort. Every nook and corner of the fort is filled with garbage and the Adikadi well is a shame to our history!! Filled with dirt and filth one will only feel aghast as to how can citizens and the administration have such apathy to cleanliness!

Junagadh to Somnath was short and pleasant journey, passing through Gir! We should have stayed in Gir and gone to Somnath for temple visit. This is where we rely on the local travel agent and they were really not good!  History of Somnath is very fascinating with the main temple on the seashore. The sangam (rivers – Saraswati/Hiran/Kapila) , sun temple which is actually the ancient temple is crying for attention! Sun temple must be more than 2000 years old! Unfortunately, there is nothing to guide the tourists and the surrounding to go to the temple is filled with filth! One should start the tour in Somnath by visiting the Sun temple, Sangam and then the main Somnath temple. Hopefully, the Sun temple would get the attention of the tourism department as much as it should get. Somnath temple situated on the seashore and built multiple times over many centuries is quite beautiful and fascinating!

We stayed at Gir Jungle Lodge in Gir and were looking forward to the safari. The density of lions in Gir is very high and we were expecting to get some good sighting. Alas, our travel agent had again goofed up and booked only one safari online (all bookings are online and the jeeps are allotted based on the bookings. Jeeps are to be paid additional for every trip apart from the online fees). Anyway, we were taken one more private safari (that was the travel agents call!) to a famous temple nearby and we spent the afternoon through the forest. The man and animal conflict can be easily understood while we travel the path. Plenty of Deer and peacocks to see and while returning we spotted a leopard quite far though! Mornings and evenings are very pleasant at this time of the year and rather for people like me it is “cold”! The next day morning was our safari with the jeep and it was biting cold inside the forest! We could spot nothing except for owl and came back freezing!

Our travel agent had anyway goofed up our itinerary and we had to spend one night at Gir doing nothing! The next stop was Diu and the next morning we set for Diu. Diu being a union territory with separate administration was the cleanest place that we saw in this trip. However, closer to the beach we found that the place was overcrowded due to the new-year celebration and tourists left nothing to imagination and made the place as dirty as possible. Though there were dustbins every 200 mts, we saw papers/plastic covers/ Corn / chips wrappers/bottles/ paan spit all over the streets and the beach front! It is really a shame to Swach Bharat slogan and request! We need to be born to cleanliness to feel the impact of being clean and to own cleanliness. Unless we change our habits and ensure that our children are born to cleanliness, Swach Bharat will be only a dream! The very next day morning the beach was cleaned and again in the evening we saw the same ugliness all around! It is the responsibility of every tourists to keep the areas that they visit clean or at least not make it dirtier than what they saw first!...

It was a very mixed feeling at the end of the trip for us… one we did not expect professional travel agents to mix up routes and overcharge, secondly we were disappointed with the cleanliness of the tourist areas. We were searching for Gujarati Thali at each and every place but were disappointed there too! We could hardly find authentic Gujarati Thali and dishes in most of these places.

Probably, Gujarat is still not ready for tourism? Vibrant?!... we couldn’t feel at all!

Coastal Andhrapradesh

A trip to coastal Andhra Pradesh was due since I watched movie “”Godavari”” back in 2009. The enchanting river Godavari made a lasting impression on me after watching the movie, Godavari. The best season to visit is during October – Feb as the weather can get very hot in summer. During the schooldays when I learnt about the ports of India, Vishakhapatnam was another place that I always wanted to visit. The rice belt of Coastal Andhra with rivers Krishna and Godavari was tempting enough to plan a trip to Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, and Vishakhapatnam from Bangalore. There are plenty of trains travelling to these stations. My research on the various trains were not that “good” and hence resulted in booking a train to Vijayawada, which goes through Chennai adding three hours more to the journey time!

We boarded the train Sangamitra express from Bangalore cantonment on 19^th December 2015 in the morning. I was pleasantly surprised at the cleanliness of the platform!  Probably an impact of Swach Bharath?! The waiting room was also very clean! Train arrived on time and the travel time of 10 hours was kind of getting on the nerves for the last two hours! The rice belt starts as soon as we enter Andhra Pradesh with the vast fields stretching on both sides.

We de-boarded in Rajahmundry at 10.15pm and again were surprised to see the station clean! Outside the station while walking towards the auto stand, we were surprised by the cleanliness! We took a prepaid auto the hotel at Vijayawada. Our hotel was at M G Road in Vijayawada which is about 10 mins from the station. The first impression that one gets is good when one sees the well laid wide roads, service roads on either sides. M G Road of Vijayawada is very long probably 2 -3 kms long!

Next day we went for a half a day sight seeing at Vijayawada, which is on the banks of river Krishna. Like in any other towns and cities of India there are temples to see in Vijayawada. We went to the hilltop temple at Mangalagiri and then went to see Undavalli Caves. The Undavalli caves must be dating back to the 3^rd/4^th Century BC. It is a mutlistructure stone building, the second and third floor houses stone carvings depicting of avatars of Vishnu. There is a huge statue of Ananthashayana. Sadly, there is not enough light to see the huge statue and all of us were using our mobile flash light to get a glimpse! 

Undavalli caves

I liked the caves and the inside carvings. I hope there is more information available to tourists on these caves in terms of guide and good lighting to see the statue of Ananathashayana. Thereafter we went to  Kanaka Durga temple crossing the Prakash Barrage across river Krishna. For those who are interested in watersports and other activities Bhavani Island is beckoning.  The other interesting site is the upcoming Amaravati, capital city of Seemandrha and the Buddha excavation site. Unfortunately, the local drivers know the place where the statue of Buddha is now standing, newly constructed by the current Dalilama. The driver would not take us to the archealogical survey of India site where excavations of Buddhist settlement exists. However, we went to the museum and needless to say, it was very interesting and informative.  The road to Amaravati is through the lush fields of plantains, cotton, flowers, paddy….!

The city of Vijayawada was vibrating with shops getting ready for Christmas and new year! The road to Rajahmundry from Vijayawada also gives you the feel of prosperity in the area in terms of agriculture. Rajahmundry is the place where you see Godavari at its best! The long running river (1465kms) increases its width in Rajahmundry looking more like an ocean than a river. We went to the Sir Arthur Cotton Museum passing the bridge across Godavari. The bridge itself is a site to see, first of all it is long and the train and road bridge one above the other! The train runs below and the road is built on top of the train bridge. The museum of Sir Arthur Cotton gives an insight to the Dowlaiswaram Barrage built across Godavari which has helped channelize the river water to the districts of Rajahmundry and around! The museum was good and Sir Arthur spent almost his life in India working across Pamban ridge, Krishna river to Godavari river harnessing the river water by building barrages and bridges.

Sir Arthur 

Bridge on the river Godavari

My intention of going to Papikondalu by boat as shown in the movie Godavari, however, did not materialize as my planning was inaccurate. We should have stayed two nights in Vijayawada and 2 nights in Rajahmundry. This would have allowed us to take the boat ride conducted by APTDC every morning from 7.30am and return by 6.30pm. I was not able to get a clear picture of hotels in Rajahmundry while searching in google and was under the impression that the hotels may not be that good. However, while reaching for lunch at Rajahmundry we realized that there are good hotels there!. Anyway, my chance of going a boat ride was missed by bad planning on my part!

Next destination was Vishakhapatnam. The port and naval hub city was always in my places to visit! We took  Patna Express from Vijayawada to Vishakhapatnam. It was approximately 6 hours of journey. Again the train station surprised me with its cleanliness! If we maintain this for another 5 years, I am sure all of us traveling will just get used to being clean! The footfalls in these stations are high and from every walk of life, we need to appreciate that to bring all of them to the same level of thinking is not easy! Hopefully Swach Bharat campaign will unite us irrespective of religion, caste and creed!

Vishakhapatnam impresses by its roads and appears like a well planned city. The weather was good with cool breeze in the night coming from the Ocean. Next day we went around the city and the first site that any taxi person will take you is Simhachalam temple. It is uphill and our taxi driver said that he will switch off air-condition while driving up as that will heat the car engine! We were perplexed and asked him what car is this? He said TATA Indigo. So, the question was, does TATA Indigo has a problem running air condition while going uphill? The driver said, nothing like that all the cars that goes uphill do not switch on the air condition! It took us a while to convince him that he should not switch off the air condition if he wants us as his passengers!

The Simhachalam temple is architecturally very nice and resembles the temples of Hoysala, Hampi etc., King Krishnadevaraya was the patron of the temple and one wonders the empire that Krishnadevaraya kings had in south of India. 

The other notable place to visit in Vishakhapatnam is the Submarine museum by name Kursura. The Russian Submarine used by the Indian navy is now converted into a Museum. It gives a glimpse of life inside the submarine and one feels that how much of ordeal defense services members go through in their service life. Living in the high altitude of Siachen Glacier or in the submarines without bath for 60 days, inside the submarine you can’t even stand straight! 

Submarine Museum

 The other places of interest would be the various beaches and aquarium. I was very impressed with the beach road and the way they have maintained it! The long beach road with wide foot paths is getting ready to host various festivities. Morning walks are beautiful with no vehicles allowed till 7.30 pm. The place is filled with people from all walks of life. It was also tourist season with December holidays and long weekend of Christmas. The whole place was buzzing and we got to know that they were expecting at least more than a lakh foot falls by train during this season. This would mean more than a lakh tourist in Vishakapatnam for the holiday weekend as there are people using other modes of transport as well. My friends are indeed surprised that one can have holidays by going around places like these, but we enjoyed and were impressed with the culture, cleanliness of Coastal Andhra. The new capital city Amaravati was indeed bringing the excitement in the town of Vijayawada. We saw the model city displayed near the ground breaking ceremony area. The creation of the new state will indeed bring renewed interest and opportunities for the people.  India being such a big country and some of the states are really big and having smaller states is of great benefit to the general public.

The next day we went to Arakku Valley and Borra caves. It is a day’s journey to and fro from Vishakapatnam.  The caves are old and for the benefit of the tourists are lit. Arakku valley was a disappointment though! There is a mock village of the local Tyda tribals. As usual the driver refused to switch on the air-condition saying he is going uphill! We had to insist that we will not travel in his car if he does not switch on air-condition! This attitude is something that was funny with the taxi drivers!

In terms of food, Andhra food is very famous in Bangalore and for a vegetarian the choices were very good with “”pesarattu”” for morning breakfast! I remembered, in Udupi,  my Dad, had introduced “”pesarattu”” in a restaurant that was nearby to our shop long back (may be 20 years back!). It was quite popular there too… and now with added variety of upma inside the pesarattu etc.,,, it is quite exciting!

This was an exciting holiday except though I missed the important part of Godavari river cruise! Nevertheless I was happy! There are direct flights from Vishakapatnam to Bangalore to return!

Misty Himachal - September 2012

Old Delhi train station was not that crowded at 9.00pm in the night. I could see the cleaners sweeping the floors... also I saw passengers spitting on the go! I should learn to be blind while travelling. It is very difficult to drive home the culture of hygiene in public places. The only way is to be harsh by banning Paan, Gutka and to impose heavy fines. The plat-form was wide enough to take huge traffic but it is the dirtiness that puts one off. One could sense that people are putting up with these conditions of bad smell and the spit all over in profound silence and helplessness. Nobody dares to even politely tell the person who is spitting not to do so... it is better to turn away from that place and find some other less dirty place to wait for your train! The wait till 10.00pm was over and the train to Pathankot arrived. The 2nd AC berth was fine and once inside the train I felt like breathing normally! Sometimes one wonders if this misery is in one's own self? Or is it really dirty outside, that it is not bearable and so many people go around without being affected by it?

The temperature of the air-condition in the train was so low that everybody in the compartment felt miserably cold and could not sleep! After some 3 people requests, the technician came at around 3 am the temperature was brought under control. Train was on time to leave and on time to reach Pathankot station, morning at 8.14am, September 15, 2012. Last year almost the same time probably a month earlier I had gone with two other friends of mine to Spiti Valley via Shimla. The trip of 7 days was fantastic giving us great views of the mighty Himalayan range. Some of the villages (especially Chitkul) where we walked through was so picturesque that words cannot express the beauty. One has to visit these places and see them. The green grass, the yellow, white flowers on them and sometime purple and red, the mist and the clear blue sky, the green mountains, the sound and the clear water of the stream, and the snow peak! To top it all, the driver used to tell us, you cross this mountain you will be in China! The thrill of hearing this was adding to the beauty of this place. I am sure the borders of China is close but not that close as it was told to us every time, "cross the mountain, you are in China"! Coming from the South of India where sea is the borders, hearing a neighbouring country is just across the mountain, is too close!

The Spiti valley trip travelling through Shimla, Kaza, Tabo is an experience in itself. The apple orchards, the plums, the apricots, almonds all are available through-out the journey. Eating apples fresh from the garden was very exhilarating. While growing up in younger days, apple as a fruit was an expensive proposition. Apple was brought home only during festivals! So, seeing the green and red apple orchards was dream come true. I had seen the orchards in China while travelling in Beijing but this was real as we also stayed in "home stay" where the owner had orchard and allowed us to explore the orchard.

The only unseasonal thing that happened during the trip last year was the event of thunderstorm, rains and landslides! 2 days out of the trip went into this and the heavy rains almost made it certain that we would not progress... however, by god's grace the rains had stopped and we moved ahead to see the terrain of Kaza and Tabo. Impressive is not the word. Driving along the river Sutlej and then the river Spiti, leaving them behind we went to Kaza to see the different range of the Himalayas- dry, desert rustic range! There is a saying in Kannada, that the eyes are not enough to behold the beauty of the nature! It is so true in these ranges. Every curve you take, you feel that you are in a new place and the same mountains are looking different! I think my friends and I would have taken endless photographs and finally got tired as these are not to be photographed, this is a beauty to be seen and experienced by breathing the air in that place, by smelling the mud and feeling very tiny in front of the huge mountains. It was the season of Green Peas and the farms in the valley was full of Green peas and the farmers busy harvesting.

Due to the landslide and the road getting blocked, we could not complete that trip as planned originally and returned back from Tabo. We were supposed to go to Chandrataal , Rohtang pass and come to Delhi via Manali.  The landslide was quite heavy and most of the people (tourist and alike) were stranded in these places for more than 4 days. We came back to Mandi via the same route that we took and reached Delhi. No regrets of not completing the stretch, another reason to visit the misty Himachal again!

This time, I checked with Sunil (who arranged the earlier trip to Spiti Vally) and decided to go to the other stretch of the Himachal and also visit Dharmashala. For some reason Dharamshala was always intriguing me and I wanted to see this place where Indian Government has given shelter to DalaiLama. So, talked to Sunil and he suggested, Pathankot - Dalhousie-Khajihar- Bir - Palampur - Dharmashala- Delhi route. I would have added, Amritsar in the beginning, however had to listen to Sunil and skipped Amritsar. Probably go to Punjab, next time.

The drive from Pathankot to Dalhousie took around 2 hours and as we moved up the hill , the misty Himachal was at its best. On the way, I found the downhill area of Pathankot are full of Mango orchards and there are plenty of mango products like aam pappad (the thick one) being sold on the road side. Of course you buy some to taste the variety of the mango! Can anyone say no to anything made out of the king of fruits?!

By the time we reached the Kalatop Forest guest house, few kms from Dalhousie, the mist had covered the place at afternoon 12.30! I was wondering if I came in the wrong season? The guesthouse people said, untimely rains and it has been raining since last two days! Why do I take rain where I go?! God, Sun God, please come out was my only prayers the next few hours. After lunch, we went to Kajihar as small town amidst the misty forests! The only thing that was not there was some haunting music to accompany us.

Of course, finally the sun god came out and the walk in the misty Kajihar was very pleasant. The weekend crowd was there with family, friends enjoying the weather and time together. Surprisingly, I did not see many foreigners on this stretch! Else, most of these ranges are always filled with foreigners and the vendors mostly attending to them! I see this in many tourist places in our country and the Indian tourist is always treated second class, though you pay the same amount or sometime more than the foreign tourists. The language problem, the food difference, the culture, the dress difference is the same for us as it is for the foreigners. However, the treatment is very different when it comes to Indian tourists . If we can get the Tourism culture right in this country and know how to treat people coming to visit other places, we need not depend on foreign tourists. If we can be friendly with each other and show the eagerness to welcome people from other parts of the country, I am sure the inter country tourism can be the next big thing. Why should we go to Singapore or Thailand for holidays? Aren't the beaches of Orissa, or the mountains of Himalayas a great place to be? I hope one day Indian tourists are respected and treated equally on par with the foreign tourists!

The next day, packed from Kalatop and travelled to Bir via Khajihar, Jot. This place also housed the army , airforce, their radar stations etc, etc., Sometimes when you see these, the respect for the armed forces multiply and at the same time, one feels, why should we have an army at all? Will a war happen? Will China really attack us one day? Can that happen in our life time? Or will Pakistan be dare enough to march towards India?

The 5-6 hours of drive was superb. Jot which is at 2400mts high is one of the highest places of this range. The village would have had inhabitants of 20 families or so... On the way we found lots of fresh vegetables and walnuts. The freshness of the vegetables cannot be described.

Reached Bir in the night and checked into the forest guest house. Guess what happened there after? Thunder storm! heavy rains lashed till the wee hours in the morning. The next day plan was to trek from Billing to Rajgonda a small hill which stretches about 12-14 kms. I thought in the night, hearing the sound of the rains, the trek has to be cancelled and I was thinking how to spend the day if it rains like this! Anyway, it is very seldom that your prayers are not heard! The rain stopped around 6am and I had to wake up and get ready for the trek as my partner was already up.

We reached the uphill by car where we start to walk the path to Rajgonda and the mist covered mountains the sun playing hide and seek gave a fantastic view. Again, these cannot be captured by cameras! Eyes and the mind are the only cameras that can capture such beautiful morning! At 8.15 we started to walk and most of the villagers do trek this hill to go to the other village. This is a short cut to reach the village down the other side of the hill than go via the road which is longer. We could see many of the villagers already walking and going up-hill. I walk very slow but I do complete all my treks. On the way, we found a freshly eaten hunt with bones and skull lying around! No no...we did not find any animals. Walking through the forests, with the fresh streams (due to rains the previous day) flowing across the hills was wonderful. Every curve one takes, one feels that we are in midst of a new hill. The scenery you would have seen seconds earlier disappears and something new seems to be taking place in front of you! There was mist for an hour or so and then the skies cleared up and sun god appeared! We need sun in life...without sun we are nothing, it is simply suffering. One ray of sun is enough to wake you up and make your body active and energetic. On our way, we saw 2 girls and a boy coming down hill and checked with them how far is the village for us to reach. One of the girl saw me and waived her hand saying, Oh, it is far from here', she was almost indirectly hinting at me that it could be difficult for me to make it! Funny girl!

By afternoon 12.30, we were on the other side of the mountain, completing probably 12 kms or so. There was a tea shop catering to the villagers where we had tea and spent some time around. We walked back through the sunny and misty mountains to reach back the spot where the car was parked by 3.30pm. This was indeed a good trek and not so difficult range. I was happy I could do it! Though I knew, my leg would pain in the evening and the pain will last for a day.

Bir/Billing is the place where the International paragliding competition happens every year. Hence it is quite a hot spot with many lodges/hotels around. We thought we will go to Barot the next day and hence drove towards Barot and stayed in the Himachal Guest house on the way to Barot. Guess what happened in the night? Thunderstorm and heavy rains. This time the rain god was not kind and it rained the next day till afternoon. There were landslides and one of the roads was closed making it impossible for us to move from the hotel room! Sometime in the late afternoon rain stopped and we could feel the sun. Vehicles, buses started moving around. We had given the vegetables that we purchased up in Jot to the hotel cook and requested him to make Muli (Raddish) paratha for breakfast and use the louki for evening for side dish! What better way to eat the fresh purchase?

We went out to go to Barot, but the mist was too heavy by the time we reached the road which takes us to Barot. We came back to the hotel room sensing that it will be impossible to then get back if it rains heavily again. The next day we read in the news papers that there were landslides and cloud burst in Barot! So, next time, if I come again to the misty Himachal, will I be going to this place. I think landslides, cloud bursts, roads getting blocked are all part of life here. Nobody gets too disturbed by these events and people wait patiently for things to clear up. Last year, it was more than four days that the landslide of Rohtang pass took to clear! One just manages with what is available and find way I think!

The next day we went to Dharamshala passing the Khangra valley and overseeing the Dauladhar mountains with fresh snow on the peak! The drive was beautiful.

 Strictly speaking, nothing much to do in Dharamshala! Probably it was my imagination coupled with Dalai lama that I thought there will be lots to do and see in Dharamshala. One can never see Dalai lama even if he is in Dharamshala due to the high security. The Mcleodgunj roads are narrow and the streets are full of shops, hotels one above the other.  Anyway, we went around for a while and saw the place, saw the temple. The night was spent at hill top place called Nend. Nice hotel, good price (season is yet to start I think!)!

Some facts about Himachal which might actually interest you to visit this place is that, plastics are totally banned and people use cloth bags or paper bags. See if you have a will there is a way! Toilet in every house is the target of the state and they have taken a novel method of ensuring that ration cards and toilets go hand in hand. You would not get a ration card if you do not build a toilet in your house! They will ban Gutka/Paan coming October 2012!

Finally my trip to the misty Himachal had to end and the rains which accompanied me through-out was also tired and had stopped. Though there were clouds and mist the next day, there was no rains! Dharamshala is also famous for paragliding but due to mist in the day there was nothing happening.  The season of paragliding had just opened (September 15th) and yet to pick up the tourists enthusiasm. Hopefully once the rains stops it will pick up... better luck for me next time!

Thanks to Rajeev who accompanied me on this wonderful and memorable trip, in midst of rains and mist! Misty Himachal... I shall be back again to see Kulu, Manali, Rohtang and Chandrataal!

My photos of this trip is in the below link..... My earlier photos of Spiti Valley is also posted here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12177005@N04/

Bhutan Calling - March 2011

I have been planning a trip to Vietnam & Cambodia for quite some time now, and for some reason or the other I am not able to make it. However, decision to go to Bhutan happened in two minutes, when my Rotarian colleague gave me the details and the price! The price was very attractive and though I had not traveled with a group till now, I said to myself, that I should not let go of this offer. The price quoted by WOW ( http://wowsumitra.com/) was Rs49,000/- for 6days, 7 night trip which included Delhi-Paro-Delhi ticket , Stay, BLD and a guided tour.

The group that was traveling to Bhutan, organized by WOW Club was consisting of 17 women from various places of India and of the age group between 28 years to 73 years! So, it was like, I am yet to see life vs I have seen it all!

We left Delhi early in the morning via Druk Air and reached Paro at 9.40am Bhutan time. From Paro we left to Thimpu and on the way visited a small four wall building, which is supposed to be the oldest monastery of Bhutan. I was very disappointed to see the barren landscape while traveling from Paro to Thimpu and wondered if it was the right season to visit Bhutan. The winter had just concluded and spring set in, most of the agricultural land looked barren and the small hills covering them also looked very barren. This was not the impression I had of Bhutan. I was questioning my decision making at this time!

Thimpu is a small town with Parliamentarians, business men staying in the town. Hotel Khisa is where we stayed for the night. We didn’t have much to do at Thimpu, except for visiting a memorial of a King and visiting the Buddha statue under construction. I believe the statue made of Copper is supposed to be at the highest altitude.

In Bhutan, Education and Health facilities are sponsored by Government and sometimes the Government sends students on scholarship to various parts of the world. People are nice and smiling (probably that is the reason the GNH is high). I did not see anyone not having smile on their faces. They seem to be generally happy and content in what they were doing and not disturbed by others! Be it in the market, on the streets, at the hotel, at the Monastery.

The first night food was Bhutanese style with Aura (rice wine). The country was going through the 30 days or 45 days of no-meat (or less meat!) time. Hence only for the visitors meat was cooked. It is funny that Bhutanese never butcher their meat, as it is considered sin to kill animals. They import all their meat from borders to India. They however, consume a lot of meat. One wonders what is sin? Killing or eating?

Most of their vegetarian food is cooked in cheese; generally it is potato with cheese (and green chili). Variety of greens and other vegetables mostly cooked with Cheese and green Chili. If you like spicy food (green Chili) then Bhutan is the place to be. One should try their traditional green Chili with Cheese dish called Ema Datshi. We did have Rice wine out of curiosity on the first day but then the enthusiasm of having it in the coming days waned away. Probably there was inconsistency in the taste of the wine from place to place as mostly it is made at home by the Bhutanese families. Though it is kind of their national wine, one could not find this in the airport to buy.

Throughout the trip, Food in general was very good with a mix of Bhutanese, Indian, continental. There were some of us (that includes me!) who could not end the meal without curd. I had seen Tibetans having curd in their restaurant when I had gone to Tibet, I assumed that it must be the same in Bhutan as well. However, to my surprise they did not have curd and they do not have it as part of their meal like the Tibetans. We did manage to have some curd for the last three days of the nights at Paro!

The hotels and the rooms were very good and took me by surprise. Every hotel we stayed was value for money. (http://www.hotelkisa.com, http://www.gangteypalace.com).

We traveled the western part of Bhutan covering 3 -4 small towns of tourist’s interest. Thimpu, Punakha, Phobjika and Paro. Like in any Bhuddhist country the tourist spots are Monestray, Zhong (Fort) in all the towns. There were very interesting stories associated with each of these spots giving an overview of the cultural and political influence that Bhutan had from Tibetans and of course India & China!.

The guide told us that the land of Bhutan has shrinked in the recent years due to occupation of China in the northern part. India is funding most of their hydroelectric projects both for want of power as well as to have an eye on Bhutan!
The guide said to us that smoking is not allowed, cutting of trees is not allowed etc., etc. At Thimpu, I had gone to a local cobbler to get my shoes repaired and there were three girls getting one of their shoes repaired. They were chatting and giggling continuously in their language. Once their work was done they paid and went out. Within two minutes one of the girls came running and was searching for the Cigarette packet that she left behind! So much for “no smoking” Bhutan! Like in any country, people do what they want to do hiding from the law makers.

The disappointment I had while traveling from Paro to Thimpu, faded away as we went to Punakha and Phobjika in the coming days. The landscape is very beautiful and green surrounded by forest. Though I would have preferred to stay in Phobjika for another day, the travel itinerary did not allow this. We got back to Paro seeing Monastry and Zhongs on our way back. Every second son in the family is given to Monastry to become Monks and Monsatry plays an important part of the Bhutanese lives starting from naming ceremony of the child till the death.

In Paro we did go to the local market and also had a brief sitting at the Sunday sport event – Archery. In India people would go to play cricket on Sundays and probably have beer, lunch etc., the same way Archery, being the national sport of Bhutan is played every Sunday or in the evenings in the clubs and grounds.

Another aspect that intrigues one is that the Bhutanese houses are decorated with drawings outside the house. Most of the houses have Phallus drawn on both sides of the entrance to the house. This is supposed to protect the people of the house and also ward away any evil! It is very fascinating and lots of stories are being told to strengthen the belief of decorating the house with Phallus!

Traveling in a group was very interesting and fun. It took a while for people to get to know each other, probably two days or more. In the 18 seat van that we had throughout, the younger lot sat in the front and the older lot was most of the time seated at the back. One had to be vocal to the younger lot requesting them to take the seats at the back! I was really surprised at this. We had 70 year old sitting at the back row and the 28 year old sitting at the front complaining about back pain!

There was lot of chatter during breakfast, lunch and dinner at the table. Sometime one could not hear what the person next to you was talking! Lots of photo sessions and lots of shopping! The national dress of Bhutan for ladies called Khira was purchased by most of the ladies.

I realized that one had to be fashion conscious while traveling with a group of women. At the breakfast table, people see what dress is one wearing. There were looks gauging people from top to bottom! Thank god, I had a good roommate who helped me in matching colour concept! For me all the colours go well with all the colours, every person is beautiful and whatever they wear looks good on them! So, it was really a tough call as to judge oneself whether I am wearing the right colours and the right accessories! I never thought to be fashionable was an important aspect of life. But after this trip, I have changed this opinion, and vehemently say that being fashionable is an important aspect of life! I think I must enroll to some short crash course or so where Fashion and trends are taught. Being alone, and mostly mingling with men who generally are more bothered about my mood than my dress, my fashion sense is in the negative. I need to push it up and start watching the lifestyle channels and be more observant on the roads and social gatherings. I am so disappointed about this aspect of my life after this trip!

Though the age gap was varying in the group, I could not see any so called “generation gap” incidents in the group. This was amazing. The older lot was very active and very young at heart, of course needless to say physically fit as well. I think being fit and healthy is important whichever age bracket one belongs to. There was a seven kilometers trek to one of the Monastray (Tiger’s nest- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paro_Taktsang) on the last day of the tour. All the women trekked the stretch up and down except for 3 who chose not to come and relax in the room with stone bath and massage. A Brazilian TV crew which was on its way for a documentary was impressed with one of our fellow 73 year old traveler and interviewed her for about 5 minutes!

I must say that traveling in a group is good fun, however I did miss talking to local people and spending time where I wish. Probably, I shall take another group trip sometime after 2 or 3 years and resume traveling alone or in a smaller group of 2-3. I get to know more about the local people and their style of living, culture when traveling alone.

Nevertheless, though traveling to Bhutan is recommended after Monsoons, this season was not bad when traveling in the high altitude range. I think our own range of Himalayan region in the north east has the same landscape as Bhutan. It is the Monastery; Bhuddism (of course coupled with local and lots of Hindu rituals) makes Bhutan an interesting place to see.

Some pictures from Bhutan at : http://www.flickr.com/photos/12177005@N04/

Trip to Iceland

I have always wondered how it would be to have 24 hours of day light. During my school days when teacher was teaching, it was something that I could not believe and comprehend. Of course countries like Norway, Iceland etc., was existing only in the map for us to see up in the north. I never thought that I would one day visit Island to see the day light throughout the 24 hours.
I went to BIAL in Bangalore to the Emirates counter for checking in to the morning flight to London via Dubai. The staff there were not able to understand where I am going – Rejkyavik (Iceland). I explained to them that the airport name is Keflavik. They got it in their system and were pleased that I am going to some place that exists! Anyway, they were able to put in my luggage through from London to Keflavik.
The shops at BIAL international section hardly have any item that is “Indian”! I could only see “Coorg coffee” bags, other than that everything is foreign and sold only in US$! It is a shame that we cannot keep items that are made in India in our airports. Why would one want to take chocolates while going out of India is something that I fail to understand! That too chocolates of some other country! I hope the management in BIAL will wake up one day and keep those items that we do and make. Why can’t we have mangoes, jackfruit papad /chips or so many handicrafts that we have all over south India…. If one goes to Thailand Airport (Suvarna Bhoomi) one can see how they have kept so many items which are “made in Thailand”!
It was a long journey to reach Rejkyavik, as I did not take any break in London. I suggest that anybody traveling to Rejkyavik from India, better take a break in London for a day or two and then travel to Rejkyavik. It is almost 24 hours flight journey and will definitely exhaust you!
I reached around June 21st local time 11.30pm and found that the weather was cloudy but there was lot of day light. For some reason, I had a very rough image of Iceland with lot of medieval period bars and huge looking people with beard and loud voice. However, I was in for a great surprise! The place is like any other European city with neat clean roads, modern houses and modern bars & restaurants! I was so disappointed that this did not fit my imagination! And also the people are not huge at all….they were of normal height and weight!
The driver who picked me up told me few things, which I heard often from all the guides in the days to come. Iceland draws the power supply from two sources – water (hydroelectricity70%) and geo thermal (30%). They have natural geo thermal supply from underground and 80% of the places have natural hot water springs. The population is 3,20,000 and Rejkyavik has almost 2,00,000 out of the 3,20,000 and the rest are spread out in the island with small towns/villages of 6,000 people to 12,000 people.
For a population so scarce, I think they have built a country which is very developed. The place is so clean that when I first saw the street, what came to my mind is that one can sleep on the road. I really felt sad that for one street that I live in Bangalore, we are struggling to keep it clean and it appears that we are in for struggle even longer than my life time to have clean roads in the area I live in Bangalore!
My trips were organized through a travel agent (Nordic visitor) and was organized well. There is nothing historic to see in the town of Rejkyavik as the whole country is very young, inhabited only after the 9th century AD by the Norwegian Farmers (called the Vikings) in order to escape from the heavy taxes levied in their country. They did bring along people from Ireland, who I believe were their slaves. Rejkyavik means “smoking baby” as you can see lot of smoke coming out from the natural hot water springs almost in most places in Iceland. I believe the Iceland language has retained its original language that the settlers spoke and all their old books, texts can be read by this generation too. They do have words for all new invented things (i.e after the settlers) in their own language - example a Telephone is called “simi” and computer has some name etc., There is a city sight-seeing tour for 2 hours which one can take just to get familiarized with the city.
There are plenty of excursions available from Rejkyavik to all over places in Iceland. It is nature lovers ‘paradise and also a good place for adventure enthusiast. The temperature is almost around 10 degrees celcius through out summer and I believe in winter it never goes below zero degrees. I took two excursions from Rejkyavik for the next two days. June 23nd I went to see the famous Gullfoss water falls, Geysir (hot water spring) and Pingvellier national park. This is called the Golden circle classic tour and was very beautiful.
The landscape is amazing to see as most of the land is covered by the Lava that would have been erupted by one volcano or the other. Pingvellier lake gives a breathtaking view. It also hosts a place where the Icelanders say their first democratic elections/parliament was held sometime in 12th/13th century by the settlers. They also had their share of sufferings by being handed over from one king to the other outside Iceland as part of the war in other countries! The king of Norway handed over Iceland as part of some settlement to the King of Denmark. Most of the time they were imposed law and rules from outside Iceland by either Norway or Denmark.
The Gullfoss is another breathtaking view. The falls is from the melting glacier and is something that is worth the visit and the travel. For my luck that day was very sunny and no wind. A perfect day to click lots of photographs!.
Geysir is another amazing hot water springs. Every eight to ten minutes, the hot water from the earth erupts like a spring to 8 to 10 mts high. The water is boiling temperature and the air is filled with the smell of sulphur!
The landscape is beautiful with small hills and the farms. The country does not grow any vegetation due to the condition of the soil though now the farmers are trying to grow wheat, potato and vegetables. The farms are basically to grow grass during summer. This is the fodder for the sheeps, lambs, cows and horses during the winter. The main farming is livestock and the other main economic activity is fishing.
For a vegetarian this can be a tough place to be as there is nothing vegetarian in their dishes. The most famous is the lamb soup and of course the various fish dishes. If Vikings had to be vegetarians, by now they would have had four legs by just eating grass! There is nothing that you can grow there to eat! So, by the compulsion of the nature one becomes a meat eater! Or probably the Vikings would have moved on from Iceland and settled somewhere else!
The next day June 24th was not that lucky in terms of sunshine but nevertheless was fine, the clouds were not that harsh. I went on another trip to see Jokulsarlon Glacial lagoon. The landscape on the way is interesting too. We could see the huge fields of dried up lava and also huge land of ash of the recent volcanic (Eyjafjallajokull) eruption. I believe, volcano keep erupting every 4-5 years or every 10 years etc… and each volcano has names so that one identifies and knows their frequency of eruption. Most of the time it is the lava eruption and sometime it is ash. This time the ash eruption was very bad. I believe they had even worse eruption in 18th century which harmed crops all over Europe!
This was a very long journey and we stopped in between to see waterfalls. There are umpteen number of waterfalls coming from various glaciers throughout the journey. The landscape is green and then turns into ash and then turns into the lava fields and then again green…..it goes on.
We reached the glacier lagoon just opposite to the sea at around 2pm in the afternoon. There is boat ride which takes us around the glacier and it is an experience worth having. The sea water (salt water) goes underneath and melts the glacier slowly. So we could see huge ice cubes of glacier standing on the melted water. The boat ride is in between these huge ice cubes of the glacier! There was sunlight for a very small duration when we were there and there after it started raining making it very damp and cold. The guide told us the James Bond movie “Die another day” was shot there. They stopped the flow of the sea water to the Glacier underneath for two weaks and this stopped the melting of Glacier and the lake converted itself into ice. On this the major and interesting part of the shooting was shot for 1 or 2 weeks. The sea water then was restored back to its natural flow! Amazing!
A very nice experience and nature’s wonder!
If it was winter, one could have gone to see the winter lights in the sky. But since the summer is already on and there is long day light, one cannot see the colourful lights in the sky, another natural phenomenon in Iceland.
The next day I went to see the much talked about “Blue Lagoon”. It is natural hot water swimming pool made for tourists. I suggest that one can skip this and go to the public pools where there are natural hot water springs at 38 to 40 degree celcius. Every village / small town will have one swimming pool with the natural hot water springs. It is a ritual to lie down in the natural hot water springs in Iceland. One can skip Blue Lagoon and go to one of these public pools which are available in plenty.
In the city there are plenty of restaurants serving all kinds of dishes - Thai, Mexican, Indian, Italian etc., It is amazing to see how a small country has built everything for them and made it so comfortable for them to live. One needs to have the will power and the Government has to work towards the betterment of the general public. I am not sure when that day will happen in India and whether I will be alive to see that. We only see corruption and our own people loot our country and sell it to others. During the breakfast, when one sees the banana, that grows only in tropical countries in the buffet, one wonders how did they make all this possible, everything for their comfort? And we grow everything on this earth but it is so expensive for us to have it in our own country! Our own people die out of hunger without having enough to eat! What an irony….? I wonder what are our great minds the so called IAS cadre, IPS cadre etc…of the administrative services doing for our country? I am not sure what happens to their great minds once they get into administrative services….
Coming back to Iceland, one can spend more time on the country side, going around the Volcanos’, climbing the glaciers etc… but they are all very expensive trips and also needs lot of time. Iceland is very expensive. All the trips that I took was very expensive, I believe the prices have come down due to the economic conditions, bankruptcy and the volcanic ash. But I found even then, things were very expensive as compared to other European countries. However, one understands that, which is mainly due to lot of imports that they have to do and also too far a distance up in the north!
On our way back from the Glacier the guide also showed us where Bobby Fishcher lived and is buried now! All chess lovers gave our obeisance towards that direction!
Nice way to spend 4-5 days in Rejkyavik and go around to see the wonder of nature! Do it only when you are in Europe and would like to take a short break from the churches and the museums of Europe to explore the nature’s wonder!
I had to go to France and London on work, hence did the detour to Iceland for a short break! Found it really worth the time! Simply clean and neat. No pollution. I can feel the clean air even now!
Some pictures to see in this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12177005@N04/

Whispers from Kashmir

It was long time since I traveled by train and it was exciting to start this trip by train from Bangalore to Delhi and Delhi to Jammu.

We traveled by train from Delhi to Jammu and found out that our seats were against cancellation and had to wait for considerable time to get the seat confirmed. While waiting for the seats to confirm my dear friend Aradhya filled the time with his hilarious travel experience to North east. I am laughing even now as his narration of the stories was picturesque!

We landed in Jammu the next day and after breakfast went around Jammu. The first stop was Raghunath Mandir and I found the collection of fossils and saligrama (stone) from the Himalayas very impressive. Later we visited the cave temple and the fort. I wouldn’t really recommend these two as sight seeing places.

We reached Katra (base to go to Vaishnodevi hill) by night via the Mansar lake. It was cloudy all the way but the drive was beautiful. We were 7 of us traveling together and it appeared each of us wanted to reach the hill top in different ways. 2 of us wanted to trek the hill in the night, I wanted to trek in the morning, 2 of us wanted to take horse ride in the morning and 2 of us wanted to reach via helicopter. Unfortunately the helicopter ride was available only one way i.e to reach up the hill and while coming down one had to walk. Nevertheless each stuck to their plans after lot of discussions!

My plan was to wake up at 4.30am in the morning and start trekking by 5am. I had planned 3 hours of walk to reach the hill top (approx.14kms). At midnight rains started pouring with thunder storms and lasted till morning 7am! I could start only by 9 am in the morning. The walk up the hill was very pleasant and the energy of the kids, women carrying children, old people walking was very infectious. The maintenance of the path and the regular cleaning work that is being done was very impressive. Except for food which was not good everything else was very pleasant through out. It took just 3 hours of walk to reach the top and for some reason there were fewer crowds that day on the top. Aradhya & his wife joined me on the top (they had reached via horse back) and the Darshan to the cave took us hardly 15-20 minutes contrary to what people had told earlier of 2 hours wait time etc….

We took the battery run car back which runs half the hill and then walked back down amidst the rains. Our other travel mates, two of them who went the previous night had come back in the morning by helicopter and the other two walked down and reached by 10.30pm. I must admit that all went well amidst the thunderstorms and pouring rains. Rains were to stay with us till the end of the 10 days trip through out Kashmir!

The next day we started off to Kashmir. The road drive was excellent and one could feel the chill in the air as we were going towards Kashmir. The drive through the great tunnel connecting Jammu to Kashmir was very exciting. There were so many army men through out and there were check points before and after the tunnel. Born and brought up in the coastal belt of Karnataka and spending another 20 years in Bangalore one rarely gets to understand and see the work that army has to carry on in these border hilly areas.

We reached Kashmir in the evening and checked into Nehru Palace, a hotel opposite Dal Lake. It was a very old hotel and was hardly occupied. At least in our room where Ashwin and I stayed, we had to get the room cleaned before we could get in! Since the occupancy was abysmally low it appeared that the owner had 2 or 3 people doing almost all work i.e housekeeping, room service, kitchen etc…. So, getting anything out of them was a herculian task rather it was convenient to get into the kitchen and make your own tea. The owner appeared to have relieved with customers who can help themselves and was full of approving smile when I checked out whether I can make my own tea! That is what we did the next two days and cooked Ugma (south Indian dish) as our breakfast the next day!

Thanks to the rain god, clouds and the snowfall we couldn’t see the mountains surrounding the Dal Lake for the next 3 days. I was waiting to see that, as that is what is shown in all movies and postcards of Dal Lake!

We went to see the Mughal gardens amidst rains….The new Tulip garden was looking beautiful. That night we went to Aradhya’s friend’s house – Qasim who is from Kashmir. We had the “kawa” (tea with saffron) and a demonstration of their dress “pheran” where in they carry the pot with coal to keep them warm during the biting winters.
Next day we went to Pehelgam. Rain god had shown some mercy and the sky was clear. The routes passing the villages are depressing as the conditions are very bad. We reached Pehelgam by afternoon and after lunch we went by horse back to some sight seeing spots. Since it had rained it was very slippery and we were afraid that the horse would throw us down to the muddy earth! The porter who was with me was asking us to come back during August and trek to Amarnath. He was claiming how his horse was good and it would take us without effort to Amarnath! He was also proud that he had a voting card that too in “original” and he would definitely vote like the way he has done always. He and his wife both had voting cards. The pride in which he said one could feel the power of ‘voting’!

That night was quite cold, below zero degree. It took some time for us to ensure that the JKTDC rooms, which is quite big had heater, rugs etc… It appeared that there too the occupancy was very low.

Next day we went to Sonamarg en route passing the beautiful mustard fields. We reached Sonamarg in the afternoon to find that the JKTDC huts that we booked were buried deep under the snow! There were one or two restaurants that were open and few army people around. This is the route that connects to Kargil – Ladakh. Unfortunately it was not open due to snow. I believe last year, it was open by this time. Anyway, we enjoyed in the snow hills for some time and came back to Srinagar.

We checked into a houseboat for the next 3 days. The next day was shopping day and first time in my life did I understand the meaning of “shop till you drop”. I think we would have entered all the shops of Lal Chowk thanks to Aradhya’s sister and sister-in-law. Every purchase was bargained to almost 50% to 40% of what was quoted originally! If Kashmir people are dependent on tourism then I am surprised that they quote so high that without bargaining one doesn’t feel comfortable to buy. Some sanity has to prevail while quoting rates to tourist. One wouldn’t feel comfortable even after purchasing at the bargained price!

The next day we went to Shankaracharya peeta on the top of the hill overseeing the Dal Lake. By then, the rains had stopped and the clouds cleared. One could see the mountains that surround the Dal lake with snow clad on the top! At last I could really see what I always saw in photos!

It is said that Shankaracharya did penance in the already built temple by the Hindu king during 3rd-4th century. The security to that place is quite high with too many check points.

The next destination was Gulmarg and we reached there by afternoon. By then, rain god was back and there was hailstorm for a few minutes before we could go to the cable car. The snow clad Gulmarg was definitely out of the world except to see that people had merrily decorated few places of the snow with spit of their “paan” (chewing paan (beetle leaves)! I am not sure when will the tourists learn to keep the place they see clean and void of their saliva in whatever form. This is what makes disgusting traveling in India. One just doesn’t know who will spit from where and where that would land!

I was disappointed that we could hardly spend time in Gulmarg. We should have reached there in the morning and spent time till they closed…Anyway…will plan to visit again….! Gulmarg changes during summer as the snow melts and farmers cultivate the land till the winter.

Aradhya and family left to Bangalore the next day. I had decided to stay two more days to explore Srinagar and relax. The weather god was not that kind and there were few moments of sun and then clouds/rains. I went to Kheer Bhawani temple where the colour of the water above which the temple is built changes. When I saw the water was milky white and when my sister had visited the temple during March 2006 it was blue in colour.

I went to the gardens again to take some pictures unfortunately the rain god was not kind that evening too!

I was introduced to Hamid, who retired as J&K transport secretary from Government service. He now runs a hotel near the Dal lake. The discussion with him was interesting as he was narrating Kashmir before terrorism and after…. It is also sad to see that nobody knows whether Kashmir language has its own script or they follow Persian. Overall the culture / tradition of Kashmir are being lost over the years as the demography has changed considerably and is changing. The good thing is that lot of the current population has education to their credit which would have been very slow otherwise.

The next day I took almost 4 hours ride on Dal lake. It is interesting to see that lot of people live on Dal lake and also have farm lands growing vegetables, flowers, paddy, mustard etc… However, it was one of the dirtiest lakes that I have seen till now. The locals whom I spoke to also agree and crib that the government is doing nothing to clean it! The garbage and dirt is not because of the tourist who are most commonly blamed by locals. I believe there are approx 1500 houseboats and most of the owners stay there. I am surprised that the government has shown apathy in keeping the Dal lake clean and I wonder how they can say it is the pride of Kashmir! I was very disappointed with the lake, I hope the government and the people will wake up and keep the natural resource that they have unharmed and beautiful as it is given by the nature.

I believe once in the last 100 years the lake was frozen and the current chief minister’s (Omar Abdullah) grand father had run a car on the frozen lake!

The houseboat where I lived had two brothers managing it. It appears that most of them, the shopkeepers, houseboat owners, and taxi owners are all desperate of tourists. Though the news for the last one week was that Pakistani militants were forcing themselves towards India, people in Srinagar were desperate to tone the intensity of the news down. They change the news channel or loudly say that this is just media hype! The people are desperate for business but unfortunately sitting in southern tip of India one really can’t assess the situation except through media. Media does not say that the forest the Pakistan militants entered is 300kms from Srinagar and there is no road path to come down to Srinagar. Anyway, life looked “as usual” during the 7-8 days of my stay there in spite of sensational news of infiltration by the media. The people whom I spoke to are desperate for good governance, normalcy to be re-stored to their day to day life. They want the richness what they had earlier. They can see that people from other states are prospering thanks to development and education. They also openly spoke about how they think that Pandits should come back to Srinagar. It is sad to see that in one’s own country a group of people have to live like refugees outside their birth place. Now it is 20 years of unrest in Kashmir and I believe most of the Pandits are settled down outside Kashmir. What ever be the conflict, one should not loose the essence of one’s culture and tradition. One could see that Kashmir is losing all that and from the car driver to the shopkeepers, to the hotel owners they openly speak about this.

One thing that I never could understand is the bargaining one had to do for all kinds of purchase, including the stay. If Islam preaches not to make excess profit at the expense of others, why would it not be practiced in a place where more than 60% of the population is practicing Islam? Why will somebody sell you a carpet which was quoted at Rs15,000/- at Rs7,500? So, if one paid Rs15,000/- that means the person has been cheated? Is that allowed in Islam? We got cheated in Gulmarg too…..almost everywhere it appears that one had to bargain and be mindful of not being cheated . I thought this was too painful and I expected people to practice Islam, if that were the only reason for Kashmir to be what it is today.

The checking in the airport was quite tedious. The bags are checked 100mts before the airport. No handbags allowed, except for one small bag etc…. It is better to go 2 hours before the flight if there is lots of luggage. The lounge was full and besides me a handsome young sardar sat and smiled. After we exchanged pleasantries, we started talking! He was from Kashmir and currently was working in a BPO in Gurgaon. So, I asked him whether he knows to write “Kashmiri”. I think he was taken aback and was not sure whether Kashmiri language has its own script! Probably not……. He seemed to love Srinagar and the weather and everything that the place has to offer. He said industrialist who have invested in the past 5 years in Kashmir have really made good fortunes as people there now are looking for stability and work. So, people themselves will protect any good investments etc..etc…. At last, I couldn’t resist but ask to whom he will be voting in the coming loksabha elections. He laughed it off as though voting was the last thing that he would like to do! Young, educated, energetic youth being so indifferent to the “power” they have is something that is disturbing. I told him how the porter whom I met in Pehelgam, who did not even know how to read & write, and makes his living taking people like us to Amarnath etc… has understood the power of voting and how he will now make a difference in this young educated man’s life by exercising the voting power. So, instead of allowing somebody else to decide for you, why can’t he exercise this simple duty once in every five years? I hope I have made him at least to think in that direction if not vote!

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Temples of Tamilnadu – End of Trip

This was my second leg of Temples of Tamilnadu tour. In the first leg I had my mother and a friend for company in March 2008. We started from Bangalore and went to Trichy. Trichy has a historic Rock temple and also is close to Srirangam. Second day we went to Chidambaram and on the way back saw almost all temples in Kumbakonam. Third day we went to Tanjore, Darasum, and Gangaikondacholapuram. I think it is on the third day we felt the trip was worth it. The temples are 800 to1000 years old and beautiful. The landscape while traveling is also beautiful. The sad part of the trip was Kumbakonam; we felt it was a village of filth and dirt. It is very sad that apart from the beautiful temples one also would remember the filth and dirt as fond memories! Except for the UNESCO maintained temples none of the others were clean and felt like a place of worship. We also saw kids being allowed to urinate inside the temple premises. The first leg of the temple trip left a mixed emotion in me. It is sad that we do not value what we have has heritage and the Government is doing absolutely nothing about it.

We couldn’t find a good eating place nor did we find a good toilet through out our journey for the 3 days. We covered almost 1500 kms through out this belt. While traveling through these places we were traveling on the river belt of Cauvery. It is almost going along with the river flow. Very rich and beautiful landscape. But the thought of filth, no toilets and no good eating place still haunts and comes along with the beautiful temples as memories.

Since we could not cover Rameshwaram in my first leg of the trip, I decided to go to Rameshwaram via Madurai. I had been to Madurai twice before and was glad to go once again as the Meenakshi temple is worth seeing multiple times in one’s life. Also, Madurai offers some decent place to stay unlike Rameshwaram. October 2nd holiday gave an opportunity to take one day off and combine the weekend giving some 3-4 days off from office. I booked the Karnataka Government bus which flies from Bangalore to Madurai every night and back from Madurai to Bangalore every night. Very convenient and also is a very good alternate when flight prices are becoming unaffordable. There is a train which goes to Madurai every night as well – Mysore express. Unless the booking is done ahead of time you will always find yourself in waiting list. So, I decided bus as a good option.

I went to the bus stop well ahead of time anticipating traffic congestion. Surprisingly I found the bus stop very clean! J. After waiting for half an hour the bus was ready to board. I was apprehensive as to who would sit next to me. It is not always pleasant to have unknown company for a night journey unless the person next to you behaves well. I saw a well built sturdy looking man sitting in the seat next to mine. As soon as I said that the window seat was mine, he started laughing loudly! He said, “oh my god!Here also I have a lady for company. I could not get the private traveler book my ticket as the lady who got a seat next to mine refused to travel and bought both the tickets”! I told him, yes, it is difficult for a lady to travel because men seldom behave decently. We have to be careful. However, the guy turned out to be a decent man and very friendly striking conversations with fellow passengers near to our seats. He told me what he does and where he works etc… I was not so forthcoming in giving my details. He asked if I am visiting temples and I said yes. I was expecting the next dialogue from him, which without fail he uttered “good”! We can never stop being judgmental about others. What is so good about visiting temples, unless one’s heart and mind is void of jealousy, hatred etc..! J

Thank god, the night was fine and the bus reached Madurai at 7.00am. I got down at the main bus stop – Mattuthavani. An auto driver came running offering me to take where I wish to. I checked how much he would charge me to take to Taj – Pasumali. He said Rs150/-, which was fine as I had checked with Taj hotel last night about these charges. I did not want to be cheated by any one as that would spoil the pleasure of my much anticipated trip. The driver turned out to be very enterprising and actually helpful. As usual he asked if I am coming to Madurai first time etc…. I said yes and enquired where I would get to book tickets to go to Rameshwaram. He said not to worry and he will take me to a travel agent before dropping me off to Pasumali. He was also not very happy that I was staying at Taj as it is very expensive. He was coercing me to change the hotel to much cheaper option as he was not finding it worth to stay in Taj which is so expensive! I just smiled. After that, he said – anyway madam, “your money your choice”. I am just advising. Then he said, if you want to see Madurai I can take you in my auto- half a day trip will cost Rs700/-. You can also go in the tour bus with others they will charge you Rs150/-. Anyway, it is “your money your choice”! Our conversations were happening in broken Tamil along with Hindi/English from my side and broken Hindi and English from his side. I thought his English was pretty good and he knew some essential sentence constructions which he needs for his livelihood! On the way, he showed me some important sites of Madurai. He was very eager to be my guide and show his town. He also asked me - in Madurai we have Meenakshi world famous temple. Like wise what do you have in Bangalore? I was kind of struggling for answer – the first thing that came to my mind is “software engineer”! J. Anyway, I just smiled as I had nothing in my mind to tell him about Bangalore. He also showed me a hotel “Northern Gate”. Madam even this is good. You can stay here. It is cheaper than Taj. However, one day’s rent is equivalent to my monthly salary! Anyway, it is your money and your choice.

He took me to a place near the temple. It was a very old lodge very old and needless to say dirty. Since I was expecting the whole place to be dirty, I did not feel repulsion for a change! There was sweeper cleaning the dim corridor and the driver walked on the dirt as though he did not see it! I politely asked the sweeper to stop sweeping for a second and walked around the dirt! What a difference in reacting to dirt! It just did not matter to the driver! Then I was politely told by the driver and the travel agent that there are power cuts in the morning for an hour or two and hence it is very dark inside. I booked a Madurai sight seeing trip for half a day and Rameshwaram trip for full day. I was told that the coach is good and is 12 and 20 seater. I had no choice but to trust till I actually saw the coach!

With great accomplishment on the driver’s face he took me to Taj at Pasumali and asked if I would need his service in the afternoon to drop me from Hotel to the lodge for Madurai sight seeing. I was much obliged and said fine please come at 1.40 in the afternoon. He readily agreed and said he will be in the hotel sharp at 1.40pm.


Taj is a wonderful place to stay as long as one can afford their price. It was kind of decent price that I got in Madurai. The staffs were very polite and eager to assist. So, I was showered with all details of Madurai and Rameshwaram. I also wanted to go to Danushkodi which is 18kms from Rameshwaram. This village was washed away in the 1964 cyclone. It is also a confluence of Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean and very close to Srilanka.

At 1.40, I was ready to go to the temple to take the Madurai sight seeing trip. Alas, my morning auto driver never turned up till 2.00pm. I got another auto and got dropped near the temple. One has a choice to take a taxi but for one person it is prohibitively expensive and I found auto to be the cheap alternate of travel from Taj to temple. I was like an auto queen always calling for an auto. Somehow, this did not surprise the hotel guys. Probably they have some guests like me who use auto instead of car or Taxi!

The Madurai sight seeing trip was a put off. It started at 3.30pm instead of 2.30pm! Thanks to some guests coming late. We never have sense of time and respect to other’s time. However, we started off with 15 people in 12 seater coach (due to kids we could all get accommodated in the coach). We were first taken to a palace. What a put off that was! It was getting renovated and the ideal thing for the tourism department was to shut it off from visitors. Unfortunately they had not and all one could see inside the palace was sand, dust, filth and many pillars. No writing as to how old is the palace, significance of the palace or any thing that would attract a tourist’s attention. After that disaster, we were taken to Gandhi museum. I liked the museum. It depicted the British monarchy and independence struggle without mincing words. I thought this is one of the best and honest depictions of the hypocritical British monarchy.

After that we were taken to Alghar temple. It is a temple on the top of a small hill. There is another temple at the foot of the hill which is very beautiful but poorly maintained. There was also a big temple complex behind the one that is open to public which is also very beautiful. Unfortunately under renovation and it was impossible to see without sufficient light. These are probably 800 years old temples. I hope after 2-3 years this will be restored back and becomes one of the best tourist spot.

After that the driver rushed back to town since the coach had a couple who had to catch the 7.30 Mysore express back to Bangalore. He dropped them first near the train station and dropped all of us back at the temple square. I went to the temple complex outside and was almost exhausted just seeing the line. It was so long I decided to skip the visit inside and do it on the 3rd day of my trip and headed back to hotel. Overall, I couldn’t but think that it was worth taking this small sight seeing trip as we traveled in and around the temple city and got a glimpse of the city.

Next day, I went to the pick up point near the temple for Ramshwaram at 7.30am. I was told by the agent that the coach will be better than the one we had the day before. I was not convinced though. It is 8.15am and we see no sign of the coach! The agent is outside on the road calling on his cell phone and was acting busy! Then I see the auto driver who picked me up on the morning to drop me at Taj discussing animatedly with the agent. He saw me inside the lodge waiting and came running as though he saw a long lost friend. I looked at him with a stern face showing my disappointment that he did not honour his word of picking me up afternoon yesterday. He was very apologetic and explained that his vehicle was under repair and he did not have my phone number to inform. He apologized profusely and wished me luck for my stay at Madurai and pushed off! Interesting character!

8.30am and the agent says the coach has come. I went and saw inside the coach. No place to sit. It was full. I was asked to sit opposite to the driver with my back on the side! I came back to the agent and refused to board. The drama went on for 10 minutes with the agent arguing with the coach driver and me arguing with the agent. The agent insisted that there was a seat at the back but men are sitting! I told him nothing doing this is cheating and asked him what alternate arrangements he can make. Anyway, the coach was also not going to Danushkodi which I wanted to see. I had thought that I will take a drop till Rameshwaram in the coach and come back on my own from Rameshwararam. After arguments and a sorry from the agent, I asked him to arrange for taxi for Rs2,000/- to and fro. He first refused and told Rs2,500/-. Since I had made him feel sufficiently guilty, he then agreed and arranged for a taxi at Rs2,000/-. I also had another condition that the driver should not smoke and chew tobacco. The agent convinced me saying that such people do not exist in these lines! Hard to believe. After waiting for another 15 minutes the taxi arrives. For a change it was clean and the driver looked like a small boy just getting into job. I was fine with the arrangements and asked the agent to inform the driver that after Rameshwaram he has to take me to Danushkodi. The driver seems to be aware of these places. We started off at 8.45am from Madurai to cover a distance of 200kms one way to Rameshwaram. The driver’s name was Manikantan and he was really good. Thank god. As usual I did not expect any good place to have breakfast, lunch or any good toilet facilities on the way. Thankfully, the Taj guys at hotel had packed sufficient breakfast which kept me going through out the day!

The road to Rameshwaram is good and one travels through many villages. One stark revelation is that there are lots of hay huts through out Tamilnadu. I had noticed this during the earlier trip as well. It is quite disturbing to see as one do not understand what progress of the country that we discuss with 9% growth etc… and who are the beneficiaries of all Government programmes.

On our way to Ramanathapuram the next big town near Madurai we saw an escort of police vehicles coming from Ramanathapuram. It was our ex President Abdul Kalam on his way back from a visit to an Engineering college. I said this to the driver. He asked me if I saw ex President Abdul Kalam in one of the cars. I said no it was difficult to locate as they were speeding off. He was also very disappointed that he could not see Dr A P Abdul Kalam. I told him, let us at least see his house in Rameshwaram while we are there in the afternoon.

The way towards Rameshwaram is very beautiful with two sides surrounded by ocean. It is out of the world and one of the best drives one could drive. Very well maintained road and decent traffic sense by the drivers. The colour of the Ocean is very green and beautiful.

We reached Rameshwaram around 11.30am and the first place we went was the temple. The temple closes in the afternoon after 1.00pm. It is the temple which hosts Shiva Lingam built by Sita after she was rescued from Ravana. The lingam was supposed to be built by her in sand. It also houses two other lingams which were brought by Lord Hanuman from Kailash. The temple is famous for having the longest corridor and also has 22 wells inside the temple complex (which are called Theertham). Almost all devotees take bath in the water of these 22 wells and then go inside the temple sanctorum to worship. However, I did the other way round I first went inside the temple and saw the worship place. It was not that crowded and they have some special entrance for additional fees. It is a very nice temple and the long corridor is really very long! On my way around the long corridor I saw people hopping in wet clothes from one Theertham to the other. One of the coordinator asked me if I want to join. Initially I was not convinced but then I thought who knows when I will come back here and decided to go to the Theerthams that was available inside the temple corridors. The boy who took me around was decent and could speak Hindi and explained that the water in each well tastes different. I did taste the water of the 10 wells that I went around and indeed each was different. It is amazing that one complex could host so many wells with different tastes of water. I recommend this to all visitors to the temple. One should not miss the Theerthams. The boy also explained to me that the temple was built through the aid from a king of Nepal and the priests are from Maharashtra. The visitors mainly are from north India as this is one of the popular holy places after Varanasi. He also said Tamilians only assist the tourists in giving baths in the Theerthams and outside work of the temple. As expected poorly maintained temple with wet floor all over due to deities taking bath in Theerthams and going around in wet clothes! One should be blind to these and enjoy only the beauty of the temple and its sanctity.

I was kind of actually happy after visiting the temple and went back to the waiting taxi to visit ex president’s humble abode. Humble it is named as “Kalam House”. Even now the access roads are not good! However it would inspire every Indian that it is possible to reach greater heights in life if only one is determined and work towards it.

After that, my driver Manikantan had lunch and I waited outside in the taxi. It was hot and sweating. After lunch, we drove to Danushkodi. The route to Danushkodi is fantastic. It is beautiful with sand and ocean on both sides. The road is well maintained probably by the navy. We reached Danushkodi, tip of India on the eastern side. To see the Danushkodi village that was washed away in the Cyclone of 1964 one needs to go further two to three kms on sand. We need to get into a special van which is available in plenty. Fortunately, I got a van which was hired by a family from Bangalore. They were around 15 people and they seem to be fine to take me and my driver along with them. So, it turned out to be safe and I enjoyed their company.

This small van trip is a must do for all who visit Danushkodi. Do not miss to take the vehicle and go to the place where Bay of Bengal meets Indian Ocean. It is out of the world and beautiful is not the word to describe. The landscape is outstanding and gorgeous. Very clean thanks to meagre population. Some 500 fishermen live in and around this area fishing both in Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The contrast colour of the Oceans is hard to believe. The local drivers are enthusiastic and explain how close Srilanka is and how and where Lord Rama built the bridge to reach Srilanka to rescue Sita from Ravana. Also, there are remains of the railway track, post office, church on banks of the Indian Ocean where once the village of Danushkodi thrived. After 1964, government declared that it is not a fit place to habitat and relocated the village to nearby Rameshwaram. While I was enjoying the waters of Bay of Bengal a local driver caught my attention giving me a dead star fish. He explained how the fishermen live there and all that they know as occupation is to fish.

Depending on the wind and season fishermen either go to Indian Ocean (six months season for each ocean) or to Bay of Bengal. There is always a fear that the fishermen cross borders and get caught or shot by Srilankan navy. I was reading in the news too that few fishermen were shot by Srilankan navy and is now being a controversial topic in political debates. The fisherman also told that generally the fishermen go off for a week or more in the ocean. So, generally they have two houses, one in this part of the coast and the other in that part of the coast (probably in Sir Lankan borders). So, it is common that they have two wives and two families, one in this border and one in that border! Interesting….polygamy can never leave man! So, with this we had a hearty laugh and I departed to the van to join the others. After an hour, we were taken back to Danushkodi. I recommend to all travelers not to miss this opportunity of seeing the lost village. Though people say it is dangerous with LTTE presence, locals are also secretive and do not want to exhibit their LTTE links to tourist like us. This will create more problems to them.If you have good fellow travelers to accompany please do this trip.

Having felt very elated and thanking god for this beautiful day in my life, I headed back to Madurai via Rameshwaram at 5.00pm. I could have stayed back for the sunset, but that would delay reaching Madurai and I thought I should not risk being alone.

On the way back Manikantan stopped at a place closer to Madurai for a cup of tea. We could not get any good place other wise to have even a cup of tea. We reached Madurai at 8.00pm. I profusely thanked Manikantan for being a good driver and also giving me a good company through out. Though the morning started with a disaster, all turned out very well for me at the end of the day!

After a very tasty Pongal for dinner at Taj, I slept off as though it was my last day in life!

My bus to Bangalore was at 9.30pm next day night and I had plenty of time during the day. I went to Madurai Meenakshi temple at 3.30pm in the evening to be greeted by a long line of people waiting to enter. Security and Policemen were every where due to the recent bomb threats all over India. The celebration of Navarathri was on and also lot of tourist due to the long weekend and school holidays. At 4.00pm we were allowed inside the temple. One of the beautiful temples with stone carved sculptures. I spent nearly 3 hours inside the temple complex going to all four gates and spent nearly an hour in the 1000pillar museum. I think this is one of the treasure houses of Indian architecture and sculptures. Each and every pillar depicts the glory and the glamour of the kings ruling then. Like any other temples of Tamilnadu, this too needs maintenance. If the same temple was in any other part of the world probably the maintenance would have been thousand times better. It is sad that we do not even appreciate and value what we have. Government is doing precious little about these and less said the better. I sat to listen to the live Veena recital that was going on inside the temple complex. It was a very well built auditorium keeping in mind such evenings. However, the maintenance was very poor and there were handful of people listening. I remembered my recent trip to Greece where in the stadiums in most of the archeological sites are being used now for live performances. To watch those people throng from all over places buying the high priced tickets. Artists also feel elated to perform in these venues. I could see complete contrast in here. Disinterest by the Government, temple authorities to advertise, poor maintenance and kind of “I don’t care” attitude. The Veena recital was over and then there was a speech by a principal of a music college in Tamil. As I was not fluent in Tamil I decided it is wise for me now to head back to hotel and then leave to catch my bus to the bus stop.

I had my dinner at Taj and went to the Mattuthavani bus stop. I was told by the hotel staff that it is one of the biggest bus stops in Asia. My auto driver was kind and ensured that I board the right bus insisting to carry my bag till the bus. Bus started on time at 9.30pm and reached Bangalore at 7.00am. Getting down at Lalbagh I was greeted by bunch of auto drivers pushing one another to get their morning business. Till the public transport of our country improves, autorikshaw zindabad!

I called my mom and told her that she missed this trip. She said she will make it next time. I said let us explore Gujarat next, traveling along the paths of Gandhi.

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