tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58234719388691448122011-06-08T11:55:44.168+05:30A recount of experiences from a trip visiting the four corners of India. The image portrayed is my opinion as on 'that' particular day and need not be treated absoluteSleepyfacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11958540454040162146noreply@blogger.comBlogger251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823471938869144812.post-79440220862242345832007-09-17T20:35:00.000+05:302007-09-17T20:50:27.007+05:30

1. India is vast. Very. It broke the boundaries I had created in my mind.2. Food is generally available in most of the cities in India with ease. There wasn't a single place we went out of food because of unavailability. (Food = Clean Food)3. People are generally nice.4. Indian Railways is one of the best things to have happened to India. The interconnectivity, the services offered (most of the

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We were so happy that the next destination was Bangalore! We surely were missing it. The filter coffee, work, friends, masala dosa, Kannada, boy! You just don’t know how much we were missing Bangalore towards the end of the trip. Two young boys full of enthusiasm boarded the auto to the airport and gleefully awaited the boarding call. So, India, there!

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If someone had said all good things would come to an end on this day, I would’ve given a pat on the lad’s shoulder (kiss on the cheek, if it were to be lass) and said, I agree with you. You’ll know why at the end of this post. Shillong bade us good bye, but not before making us spend more than hour in the ill-fated bus, with which problems began even before we got in. The driver’s 1000hrs was

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12. Cherrapunjee: “Megha-alaya. A place so wonderful that even the moving homeless clouds found a home!”......... (Kavithai Mannan) Poet from Bangalore “Wow”......... Consultant from Bangalore “Too much”... Oneiro on Cherrapunjee Morning woke me up to a dream that I was sleeping in a dungeon. Things tumbled back in my mind the moment I saw the water jug that was kept on the dust

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10. Guwahati: “What if there’s a bomb right here, next to us?”…. SF to himself on Guwahati “Filthy...” O on Guwahati Guwahati! The city, slow but organized. People, nice. Weather, pleasant…SF on Guwahati It had just stopped drizzling. The whole place was wet and the weather extremely pleasant. It is one of those rare cities where the bus stand is right next to the railway station. We

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All day in the train, we continued to read the book. Oneiro at Side Upper and me side lower. We didn’t speak a word. Evening saw Oneiro read quite a good chunk of Atlas Shrugged and me completing Ken Follett’s Code to Zero. The highlight of the day was the Patna Railway Station – the head quarters of the minister of Indian Railways

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On completing the eventful journey, which will remain in the memory for a long time, we saw ourselves at the outskirts of Delhi. Mobbed by auto drivers and driven by indecision, we checked in at the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in, in Pahargunj. It was a place that could’ve attracted a raid by the police any hour, for all the wrong reasons that you can think of. Yes, all the reasons you can think

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We booked tickets for the bus leaving Manali at 3pm and reaching New Delhi at 7 am the next day. There is no choice. You have to leave Manali by 3 if you wish to see New Delhi the next morning. The train to Guwahati was at 2359 hrs from New Delhi. So we had some time which we didn’t want to while away in New Delhi. After intense discussion, some shopping, a visit to a Gompa in Manali, lunch at

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9. Manali “Look at the commercialization maan!” – SF on Manali, upon arrival “You know what Vishnu, I think Manali is the closest to the Himalayas, the “not so fit” people can reach” – O on Manali It must be close to 7 when we reached Manali. The place, I tell you, is totally in contrast with Leh. Commercialization has spoilt the beauty of Manali. It’s a honeymooners’ paradise. We

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We left for the bus stand at 0000hrs. I think you should write this down somewhere. There are absolutely no streetlights at Leh. Pitch dark. You never know which pot hole is waiting to gobble up your foot or which dog’s tail is going to be the bait. Having undertaken the journey far and wide, we went all the way wherever destiny took us. Our internal sense of direction worked quite well and we

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A 1 min video of the road to khardung la. At these conditions, to shoot a one minute video itself was a challenge.

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Having “done” Lamayuru, we decide to go to Khardung La, which is the highest motorable road in the world. We hired the bike for an extra day, get the required in-line permits (yes, tourists need permits here and the hotel or the guest house you stay in will arrange for this quite easily. When you’re visiting Leh, please do carry an identity proof – passport (or at the least a driver’s license).

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1. Flower and Bike, 2. Leh to Lamayuru, 3. Patches of Green, 4. Postcard, 5. Leh to Lamayuru, 6. Waiting to be used, 7. Zanskar Range, 8. Indus River, 9. Indus, 10. Movie Poster, 11. One, 12. Tough Roads, 13. View from Lamayuru, 14. Ladakhi Flowers, 15. One (Part 2), 16. Zanskar River, 17. The road with the small stones, 18. Break, 19. Road amdist Peaks, 20. Dead End?, 21. River Zanskar, 22.

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We start quite early. Fill petrol. The journey to Lamayuru, one of the oldest monasteries was filled with beauty. The great Zanskar and Himalayan ranges, Indus & Zanskar Rivers, smaller towns – Nimmu and the like, breakfast, breaks which were taken to admire the view, a sigh here and an exclamation there, the army convoys, boy! It sure was a miracle in motion. As ‘they’ say, the journey became

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8. Leh “Heh, Bangalore is colder than Leh!” – O and SF on Leh, upon arrival “Me in Leh, beautiful view” – Murderer Leh. It’s something else. Words fail. But there’ll be an attempt. As I think more about Leh, it ceases to be a geographical location in my mind. It has become more of a feeling or a state of mind (Stop grinning!). There’s a connection with this place that gets bonded the

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7. New Delhi “Delhi Sucks man!” O on New Delhi “Whatay city, Whatay city, Life after ten, is a pity” Consultant from Bangalore on New Delhi “I would kill you. Delhi is a nice place!” Mathemagician from New Delhi, on the above quote Delhi comes by around noon. From here the magic begins. The magic of metro rail, which we use to travel to Karol bhag, where we were going to stay, the

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0400hrs in the morning, we left Yatri Nivas with a heavy heart. The bus left almost immediately and the four and half hour journey which demanded us to sit in only one position had us quite irked. The familiar Bhuj bus stand had nothing to welcome us, the horrifying stares continued. We ignored such acts of the devil and moved to the same place where we had the tasty pooris. Intake of oil is

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clockwise from the largest picture - breathtakingness, koteshwar, the road, the house

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6. Bhuj The image I saw in the morning of Day 4 was quite disturbing. Filth greeted the early morning eye, right at the entrance of the door in the train. The autowallahs mobbed us, as if we were film stars. After assuring that we only looked like them, they treated us as customers. The bus stand at Bhuj is a paradox, besides being unclean. It should’ve been called “people stand”. At least

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4. Ahmedabad “Ahmedabad! What can I say…. It’s something else…” – An Architect from Ahmedabad, on Ahmedabad “Let’s hope the city finds me again” – SF, on the above quote “Ugh…” – Oneiro, on Ahmedabad 39 hours in Sleeper Class can make one dirty. Sulabh Shauchalaya called us. My first ever visit to one of the greatest humanitarian contributions to the Indian public. After the ritual,

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Only the eyes moved (with an occasional adjustment of the body) between the Western Ghats and Salman Rushdie’s, Moor’s Last Sigh. That pretty much sums up Day 2. The highlight of the day was the Sadhu in Madgaon, a guy selling fenny in the train.

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The sun had to rise, regardless of SF and Oneiro rising earlier or later. But, we being we, rose earlier, got the cameras ready, rushed to the terrace to welcome the sun. There has to be something going wrong when everything else is right. No, the sun rose, but behind the clouds. The sunlight penetrated, making Kanniyakumari brighter and brighter by the minute, but no sign of the sun! Hide and

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This day was filled with trade offs. First instances traced to the list of things that were to be taken and not to be taken, while packing. The rush to the airport in an auto caught me by surprise. The time for travel was the surprise, not the auto. Oneiro was already at the airport. Air Deccan closes check-ins 45 minutes ahead of departure. When I entered the airport, the aircraft was to

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This is the Introductory post. If you click here, you'll know what I'm talking about, oh, and here are some points you would be interested in reading:Notes: How this travelogue is (going to be) organized: Four Headings – South, West, North & East – in the order traveled17 Days comprising of the experiences in places and/or in travel, with (supporting photos & videos,

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