Dubai Trip : Nov'09

Few More Funny ones..!!!

"Doing nothing is very hard to do ... you never know when you're finished".

"No problem is so big you can't run away from it".

"Reality is for people who can't face science fiction".

"The trouble with life is that you're half-way through it before you realize it's a do-it-yourself thing".

"FOR SALE: 1 set of morals, never used, will sell cheap".

"Heaven won't take me and hell's afraid I'll take over".

"Someday your prince charming will come. Mine just took a wrong turn, got lost, and is too stubborn to ask for directions".

"I can't make you want me, All I can do is stalk you and hope you give in.[grin]"

"Don't follow me, I am lost too!"

"Don't follow me, I walk into walls".

"Don't upset me! I'm running out of places to hide the bodies".

"All power corrupts, but we need the electricity".

Funny Things heard on actual airplane fights: "As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses."

Funny Things heard on actual airplane fights:" Your seat cushions can be used for flotation, and, in the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with you with our compliments."

"All who wander are not lost." -JRR Tolkien

"Love will die if held too tightly, love will fly if held too lightly".

"You never see the bad days in a photo album but it’s those days that get us from one happy snapshot to the next."

"You know what the trouble about real life is? There's no danger music".

"Yes time flies. And where did it leave you? Old too soon...smart too late".

"I never think of the future - it comes soon enough."

As promised

This one is especially dedicated to you my fren :) Even as I pen this down m still not sure if I’m the best person to blog about books. Yes, they used to be a big put-off for almost all my life; still wonder how I managed the mandatory (study) ones. My decision to read is inversely proportional to the size of book (some people might find it amusing but I had dropped science in class 12th just by (looking at) the idea of reading books which seems to over-weigh my own self).

Now that I’ve established my love for the wonderful hobby; I can safely introduce some of my ‘favorites’ (may not be best word here considering I’ve read just 10 books so far) ones.

Shataram: By far the thickest book I’ve ever read by any standards (and this includes padai book as well). Come’on 950 pages that should have taken me atleast 5 years to complete and considering my star-fish (read short term) memory; the cycle would’ve never ended. Anyhow, the book is awesome and to my own surprise; was finished within a ‘month’. Highly recommend my fren; though you can skip the Afghan war part. I can’t help but point some of my favorite quotes from the book.

“Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope. Sometimes we cry with everything except tears. In the end that's all there is: love and its duty, sorrow and its truth. In the end that's all we have - to hold on tight until the dawn”

“Nothing grieves more deeply or pathetically than one half of a great love that isn’t meant to be- Didier”

"Fate gives us three teachers, three friends, three enemies and three great loves in our lives. But these twelve are always disguised, and we can never know which one is which until we’ve loved them, left them or fought them"

“Its always a fool’s mistake to be alone with someone you shouldn’t have loved-Didier”

"Luck is what happens to you when fate gets tired of waiting"

“I smoke because like everyone else in the world who smokes, I wanted to die as much as I wanted to live”.

Family Matters (by Rohinton Mistry): Nice comfortable reading for a lazy Sunday noon. What I liked was the simple but moving style of writing.

The collected short stories of Roald Dahl: Quite an unusual stories on ideas one cant’ even imagine. Would’ve appreciated him earlier had I known for a fact that he is the originator of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’.

Namesake (Jhumpa Lehri): Had read it years back and frankly wasn’t that impressed maybe due to the over hype. They surly made a better movie out of it.

Three mistake of my life (Chetan Bhagat): Well first mistake of my reading this book was that I hadn’t read his first book (one night at call center) which I’m told is his best work so far.

A Year Gone By

It just struck me today..it’s been a year and I’ve not blogged!! Not that it matters but It will be weird to look into ‘my dairy’ some day and find missing pages!!

March 2008: Goa

May not be the best season to visit this amazing city but nevertheless… give me Goa anyday.. I can’t believe it was never in my ‘to do list of travel’ !! I’m not even sure if I can do justice to this place with my mediocre writing skills!!
There is so much relaxation in the air that you can’t help but ask yourself… wow is this life..or beyond !!

“Where liquor is cheaper then water…thanks to ‘King of Good times’ and food doesn’t get you all puffed up and heavy.. where life takes it’s own pace and sea is by your side..into that heaven, let each day I awake”. Hmmm I have no clue where that came from…those of you poets out there and have a sudden urge to strangle me..gud luck finding me.. :-)

I don’t see a point in talking about the usual site seeing spots and water sports (though water scooter really rocked..!!) since all that is quite obvious.
To end this ‘Goa Praise’ blog all I can say is ..it’s definitely one city in which I wish to retire.

July 2008: Ooty & Conoor
I am not gonna bore people with specific details but a word of advice. Conoor is really quite beautiful and serene town. Don’t miss it..even if you need to trade it off with Ooty.

August 2008: Coorg
Interesting concept of home stay is what I need to mention here. One city which has mind and soul to not only protect this enviournment but also not loose out on tourism. I have always felt responsible (in some sense) in which some of most beautiful tourist cities/hill stations in India had hap hazard construction just to accommodate sudden interest by tourists.

It gives you opportunities to not only interact with locals but makes you feel little ‘Green’. Believe me your whole perspective about hotels will change drastically after a home stay experience.

Dec 2008: Delhi and Jaiselmer

Those of who you know me personally may wonder ‘what’s so great about visiting your home town?’ (In this case Delhi). Well as a starter, I have been away from the city for past two years and had not visited back since one and half. My friends don’t recognize me any more…and have given up any hope for to come back. Trust me guys..Delhi is the only city I connect with..and having stayed away for sometime now..I have realized my love for the city even more.
This time the visit was even more special, since I have just moved to a city which is just ‘too alien to me’. To be fair I think I need to give this place (Kolkata) some months before I become too judgmental.

A short trip of around 12 days had my itinerary full with meeting friends and barely managing a 6 day trip to Jaiselmer. I love to categories my friends into the ‘place of origin’.For example my boarding school friends (many of whom I have known from 15 years now..now please don’t try and guess my age), Collage Frends, Masters’s frends, Amex , FI and so on!! Hope this list never ends..!!!

Jaiselmer was fun too…specially the awesome road trip from Jodhpur to Jaiselmer. Best roads in the country crown should no doubt goes to Rajesthan. All one needs is an awesome car. As a city it was alright though the sand dunes were way off my imagination. Thanks to movies/media my idea about the sand dunes was all sand and no vegetation what so ever..i think for that I need to visit Gobi desert or something. As expected food was great. I will definitely recommend this city for it’s sunsets and hawalis.

Now that I am back to Kolkata, it’s seems a different world altogether. I do hope someday I sit back and see this as just another city which grew on me and who knows…I might miss it too..!!

London to Paris : Great start

Personally for me the Europe trip began in London, since this was my first visit here. With the 'day pass' and some ‘half’ day to kill I explored areas around central London including Oxford street, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar square etc. Meanwhile I could only manage to get the ticket for first train at 5.45 for Paris (tough..but I could have even taken a 3 am train if I had to ;-)).I can’t resist mentioning that it cost me quite few ponds hiring a taxi to reach Waterloo station at 5 am. Reached Paris at around 8.30 am, but somehow I couldn’t believe I am in Paris..not because I saw something spactuaclar..but as the train approached 'Nord' station all I could see was graffiti !!! After actually confirming with co-passengers I got down at the station. Now yet another dilemma surrounded me.. I was to meet my fernz (Shilpi, Padma and Apri … who would join me on the rest of the Europe trip) at the station but without a cell phone how will we find each other (my cell was on roaming but battery was dead). Suddenly I saw Shilpi coming towards me … I can’t describe how happy I was to see her..after all the goof-ups and miss-happenings (including Shilpi loosing her camera in Brussels) we were in Paris together. Now we can crack this Europe trip…cheers!!!

Our hotel was quite far and involved changing few train lines (Thanks to Padma and Apre as they took care of all the maps and directions). It wasn’t much to talk about. The very first site we visited was the famous 'Louvre' museum and I must admit the building structure was awesome. Despite some resistance from Shilpi and me we decided to go inside and pay our homage to Madame ‘Lisa’. Personally I am not a museum person simply because I don’t understand art. So at every hall in the museum I would try to find a bench or a seat to rest my mind and catch up sleep :-) And I could make out that Shilpi wasn’t much different either.

We didn’t have the luxury of time to sit in a proper restaurant to have lunch rather it was ‘on the go’ street food. Next we visited 'Notre Dame' a beautiful church at the heart of Paris. Now it was the turn for my personal favorite 'Eiffel tower'..not sure what it was but I was totally in love with this monument. This was one moment I have been waiting for a long-2 time…and here it was ….as if a dream comes true. I couldn’t believe I was in front of Eiffle…!!! For me France was done!!! After wandering for while we found small little place for dinner. Apparently it was a family run place and didn’t carry any of those ‘Snob French waiter’ attitudes.

Next day also involved quite a bit of site seeing and walking, and despite having a train pass I can safely say that we saw Paris on ‘Foot' (not sure why?). Before ending this Post I must thank Padma for her perfect French (language) which made all our communications with locals a ‘piece of cake’. Overall Paris rocked and I do hope to visit again sometime :-)

Some funny ones …. Enjoy

There are some situations from which one can only escape by acting like a devil or a lunatic. - George Orwell

Analysing humour is like dissecting a frog — few people are interested, and the frog dies. - EB White, "A Subtreasury of American Humor"

I had to hit him : he was starting to make sense.

A tree never hits an automobile except in self defense.

What if there were no such thing as a hypothetical situation? "

May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house." - George Carlin

You know the oxygen masks on airplanes? I don't think there's really any oxygen. I think they're just to muffle the screams.

I am all in favour of spontaneity, providing it is carefully planned and ruthlessly controlled.

There is not enough time to do all the nothing we want to do.

It was an accident officer. I was cleaning my fingernails. With a hunting knife. And he ran into me. Backwards. Fourteen times. - B. Hill

Please, Lord, let me prove that winning the lottery won't spoil me.

If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."

Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights, even if you don't know what your rights are, or who the person is you're talking to. Then, on the way out, slam the door.

Much Anticipated Europe trip

It took me years of dreaming (not planning), convincing and more to actually materialize this trip. It’s been while since I have been looking for a group of frenz to organize a Europe back-pack trip. I’m not sure if there is even a single friend (and at times people walking on the road :-) ) left whom I’ve not tried to convince to come along. So this should be a big sigh of relief for all those of you I’ve been bugging now for years.

Well somehow my present organization had decided to dispatch ten of us to our UK office on some projects. Since the duration of this project was quite long (3-4 months) I thought it would be a perfect situation to explore rest of the continent. As the first step I did manage to get an ‘anticipatory’ schengen visa (I know this term may raise some suspicions around here but it’s a long story and can’t be discussed at public forum). Even though at this point I wasn’t sure there would be enough enthu janta to come along but it was worth giving a shot. Reached UK later then I expected but still enough time for visa to get expired. It was good to know that few of my colleagues were inspired (I hope) to try and get a schengen coinciding with my ‘presumed’ travel dates. So after several un-anticipated issues we are all set to undertake the ‘trip of our lifetime’ (I can use this phase at least till the time something grander comes along ;-) ).

As the first person to get the visa and with obvious confidence I did manage to overlook one tiny but quite important detail of my visa. Well it was the date from which the visa is valid. I thought it was 1st Nov but actually it was 2nd Nov, all the booking (hotels+flight) done accordingly. Since we were to catch the early morning flight from Stansted airport we decided to spend the previous night at the airport itself. On my way to the airport I somehow decided to see my passport and suddenly it struck me, the visa issue, oh shit what do I do now? Thankfully the train was passing through an area very close to a friend’s place (whom I haven’t met in 10 years), called her up and had atleast some place to stay that day. Next day when I was supposed to be in Brussels I was busy buying my Eurail pass and the Eurostar tickets to Paris (since it was the next destination according to our ‘itinerary’). Come what may we all had decided to reach Paris the next day, even if it involves buying 1st class ticket (Brussels to Paris for my colleagues) for just managing within the last few tickets on the London-Paris route for me. So here we were a bunch of 4 over-enthusiastic and over-excited people on our way to so called Europe trip.

More details in the posts to come :-)

Udaipur the Jewel of Rajasthan: August 2005

In the history of my all the travel endeavors this would go down as one of the most ‘fun’ one. Not because it was filled with dare-devil activates but simply because of the events everyday tasks and chit-chats.

Just to introduce the Janta that went along: Anubha, Gaurav, Harshi and myself.One of the major reasons for visiting this place was the fact that we’ll get to see the famous Lake Palace Hotel (where Gaurav’s sis Neha was working at that time).

It was one of those long weekend kind of trips with overnight train journeys (a sure shot way of saving on your hotel bills ;-) ). Luckily for us the northern railways has started a new train service (called Mewar Express) just few days before our departure. We thought that to be a good sign and a blessing from Railway ministry itself. It was an overnight train journey from Delhi to Udaipur. The journey started with usual ‘Aloo parantha’ and ‘poories’ which was followed by ‘cards’ (read bluff) playing session. We had an awesome time playing this fun game, and at the end of it we realized at all of us were pretty good at ‘bluffing (at least in cards)’

Reached Udaipur around 8 in the morning I must mention this ’Udaipur is one of the neatest cities of India’. Out first stop after we checked in was the famous lake palace hotel. ‘White palace amidst a sparkling (from the sun’s reflection) Lake’ was a treat to watch. Even the interiors of the hotels were quite impressive owing to its ‘high-price high-value’ reputation. One could also see the adjoining hotel called Udaivilas which was again a marvel in itself. Not only the hotel was grander but even the architecture was mesmerizing. It may not be in the middle of a lake..but it surely stands out ;-)

Let me mention a funny incidence that happened during this trip. The public mode of transport available was the autorickshaw which has a seating capacity of 4 including the driver. Since we were a group of four, we decided to ‘adjust’ in just one auto with ‘Gaurav’ sharing a seat with driver. It was a funny scene..with half of him hanging out from the rickshaw. Imagine four ‘khaate-peete’ punjus in one auto, and to top it up even Neha joined us in the same auto for couple of times…I guess our combined weight was more than the weight of the auto..how did the driver manage is beyond my comprehension. Since he was so good at this we decided to hire him for the entire duration of our trip. It was like having a personal vehicle at one’s disposal all the time.

Though we did some site-seeing but our main focus was to eat, eat and eat. Rajasthan is famous for its spicy cuisine and sweets. I can still remember the kadai chicken (our staple diet throughout the trip) we had in one of the finest restaurants in the city. It was worth every rupee of the price (600 a plate) charged for.

We also managed to do lot of shopping including the dress I was to wear on Anubha’s wedding. It always helps to get opinions from so many people. Another interesting place we visited was the vintage car museum. Apparently all the cars there were owned by the ‘Raja’ of the city..rich guy :-).After that we went to Shilpgram which had an exhibition of earthen pottery, toys and artifacts. Our last stop was again the Lake where we saw some fireworks and then left for the station to catch our train back to Delhi.

Phoenix and Beyond : Oct’06

I will not take the credit for planning / organizing this one since it was an official trip. So let me take you through, how I had spent the ‘weekends’. Couple of days after we (‘Mank’ and I) landed at Phoenix we hired an awesome car ‘Pontiac’ G6 (I have no idea what G6 means ..but does sounds like something with great engine.. :-) ). For me it was straight jump from 1 star to 4 stars category (Just an FYI .I drive an M800 here in India). Not only the car was fully loaded (great pick up, traction control and all the jazz) but very smooth to drive. This was my first (and till now..the last) experience of driving a big car so don’t be surprised if you find me mentioning the car too often :-) .

Grand Canyon: This place is around 450 km from Phoenix. As much as I wanted to drive in this stretch but wasn’t confident since I have never drove on the highway before (which completely changed after the phoenix trip). Although I was the navigator but since it was a straight road for some 100 km, I dozed off quite a number of times and each time my nap was abruptly but intentionally ended by sudden brakes applied by ‘Mank’ who was driving the whole time (poor guy must be feeling sleepy hiself..Sadist ;-( ).

The place has different feel altogether with those different shades of rocks and the sheer size this ‘Gorge’. I wish we had planed a stay over there to be able to trek down the ‘Gorge’. On our way back we saw this National Geographic IMAX (my first IMAX experience) film about Grand Canyon. Somehow I thought the film was more real than the actual place with all those special effects and graphics. It makes you feel as if you went up to the core of the ‘Gorge’ (People, don’t miss the movie if and when you travel there).

Las Vegas: Now this trip (at least the journey) was more fun for ‘me’ simply because I got to drive here (due to shortage of people with driving skills). The highway (Phx-Vegas) was not really a busy one (during our visit ..not sure about otherwise) so that made it really easy for us to drive at good speed. We were a group of 11 people in three different cars following each other. Well this kind of arrangement has its pros and cons..coz if the leading car goes in wrong direction so would the rest of the group (mind you ..we didn’t had the luxury of carrying our cell phones..for obvious reasons of high roaming costs).

All the three cars were cruising (at 120 mph = 190 kmph) along nicely with me being in the middle (quite comfortable to drive here..!). The Speed limit sign was at ‘65’ but we conveniently presumed it to the ‘minimum limit’. Thankfully there weren’t any cops to spoil our ‘party’. I have never driven on this high speed before specially on a highway….so it was one of the ‘defining moments of my life’ (something like formula 1..I know it’s not a great idea to compare..!). I didn’t care much about how Vegas would be (since I had already seen Atlantic City a year before…so had some faint idea about the place). I loved and cherished every moment of that drive; wish I can do that again sometime.

After seeing the ‘Hover’ dam on our way we reached Vegas at around 7 pm. Well the best time to see this city is at night and that’s what we had planned. Out hotel was around 15 miles from the strip ..that gave me another chance to drive .. this time in the city. Here the traffic was not as polite as Phx and we had to be extra careful. We could see the lightings (of the Strip) from a distance as we approached this area. It was fascinating..as if one part of the city is still blessed with ‘daylight’.
Saw the usual casinos and some part of the famous 'water show'. Some went to the stratosphere ride but I didn’t, not because I am scared, but they (rides) don’t suit me somehow (me ending up nauseous and more).

Overall I didn’t think much of the city simply because of my distaste for gambling (read slot machine… it’s too boring) and too much indoor activity.

Skiing at Auli: Mar 2005

The Beginning: Though a thought of visiting this place was lingering in our minds for quite some time but somehow the trip wasn’t materializing earlier. It was again a group of 5 of us ('Nets' and 'Gunts' plz refer earlier blogs to know more about them..! ) and new members ‘Anub’ and ‘Vands’ (I hope my ability to come up with better pseudo names improves soon..!). Since Auli is quite far from Delhi we decided to cover part of the journey (Delhi to Haridwar) via overnight train. Due to some last minute planning we could only manage sleeper class tickets (which was nothing compared to the journey from Rishikesh to Auli).

Haridwar to Auli: From Haridwar we hired an Ambi (this time it’s not a twisted name ..but the good old ambassador car) the driver of which was quite an amusing chap. Even though we left during morning hours (around 9 am) the way to Auli was quite bad. Actually during that time the roads were being broadened or something so there were controlled blasts happening at various points. The delays were further added by the driver who didn’t share our enthusiasm to reach the place at time (I think he was somewhat hassled by the fact that we were a group of all 5 girls heading to nowhere and no fear..! read on..!).I don’t know weather it was his extra cautious nature or he was just being a jerk but he did took his own sweet time to cross those blasting points. Even though few cars were passing along the points of blasts but he would stop and wait. At times we felt like taking the car from him and drive ourselves…it was really frustrating (maybe amusing for him..i don’t know). After a never ending and slow motion journey we reached Joshimath (which is around 10-15 km from Auli) at around 7 pm. We were quite happy to spot some snow around and wondered what’s in store for us in coming days. That happiness was short lived when this jerk tells us that he won’t go to Auli (those extra 10-15 km) in the dark as this ‘precious’ Ambi might skid . ‘Who made this guy a driver’ we thought..how can someone be so scared all the time..? He should drive in the plans or something..! There is now way we could have got a place in Joshimath at this hour and why should we stay there when our bookings are at Auli..? So decided to dump the driver there and went on a quest to find another cab..! It took us some time but we managed...it was getting pretty chilly now..so all possible woolens..were out..!

Now we were excited (and little relived I must say ...after getting rid of that driver) to reach the ski resort. It took us just half and hour to reach the resort but now..there was another problem.! It was pretty dark (10 pm) and the resort was about 1 km trek (all covered in snow) from the road. Thankfully the porters were there to carry our bags but walking steep on snow (mind u in complete darkness) was something none us thought we had to do..! And we thought the real adventure would begin in the morning ;-). I must admit...it was scary but fun at the same time….even the staff at the resort was amazed to see our enthu and determination. Now we are in the resort (which was a great boast to our pride..!) Huts which were really nice with ‘Bukhari’ to keep us warm. It’s then when I realized the strength that comes when traveling with a group and the milestones (maybe too strong a word to use here..?) one is able to achieve. Cheers to you Guys.. :-)

Skiing Experience: A word of advice to all those first time skiers … ‘it’s not much fun when you don’t know how to ski’. It’s not that we didn’t have an instructor but learning the sport is not a 2 day affair. Getting used to carry those heavy skies and wearing the metal boots wasn’t all that fun (that we imagined.. ;-) ) Maybe it was just too much effort for us without much immediate result (in terms of skiing properly at least once). Anyhow the next day we decided not embarrass our selves further and went to some see some nearby places. It’s not that we didn’t have fun (the details of which would make this blog too long..!) on this trip but the sheer fact that couldn’t enjoy / learn the sport was little discouraging.

To conclude …now I know..why they say that at times the ‘Journey is more important then the destination itself’.

Trip to Vaishno Devi Sept 2004: Jai Mata Di

Despite my serious attempts to avoid temples and holy places (for a trip) I somehow end up visiting one of them. Well to be honest this was more about ‘trekking’ (plz spare me for using this word at this juncture) then anything else.

Before I mentioned the funny incident let me just introduce the ‘characters’ who accompanied me on this adventure. There was ‘Payrol’, ‘Nets’, ‘Amry’ and ‘Gunts’ (I hope these people forgive me for twisting their names). We planned to meet up at the station to board the train to Jammu. ’Payrol’ and I decided to go together and so did ‘Nets’ and ‘Gunts’. As per the instructions of the ticket holder (in this case ‘Nets’) we were to reach New Delhi Railway at around 9 PM.’Payrol’ and I reached the station an at around 8.30 and guess what … after inquiring the platform number we were informed that..all trains for Jummu leave from Old Delhi and not New Delhi..! Oh shit..we are definitely gonna miss this train…! We informed the other group but it was too late for them too..! Anyhow we decided to take a chance….during the peak traffic …and hired an auto hoping that he might be somehow related to ‘Shumi’..(which in the end seemed little true.. ;-) !

Since ‘Nets’ was carrying the tickets we couldn’t have boarded the train. So we decided that whoever reaches first would pull the chain and try stopping the train..brave souls. We (‘Payrol’ and I) somehow managed to reach the station at around 9. On the other hand ‘Nets’ mom (who was driving them to the station) set the city roads on fire..just managing to save few souls on her way ;-) . None of us has any idea how ‘Amry’ managed but..she too made it. So now all of us are in the train just seconds from departure..jai Vaishno Devi! We couldn’t believe our luck and stupidity at the same time..when asked ‘Nets’ confirmed seeing something called NDL on the ticket and assumed it to be New Delhi..! Now in the compartment we were laughing (read howling) about the whole incident… and this elderly lady couldn’t help but notice our conversation…and wondered ...’who let these people travel..?’ Then she asked ‘Payrol’ what’s her name..? Well madam ‘Payrol’ was so engrossed in laughing and discussing that she assumed that the lady is asker her ‘where are u going’? She replied in the most causal manner ‘Jammu’ and wondered..why is she asking me this question when the train is going to Jammu..? Now the lady got really disgusted and thought what kind of brats have boarded this train? Rest of us knows the exact conversation and told ‘Payrol’ but then by this time it was too late and the lady had already formed an opinion…! :-)

Rafting @ Ganga River : Mar 2004

It all started with the idea of opening a Mirch Masala (a la Fun) club at my previous organization. The name how ever did attract some suspicions about the activities the club would organize. To prove us wrong the first (and perhaps the last) activity of the club was organized…the rafting trip to Rishikesh.

Sine the trip happened around 3 yrs back I don’t really remember the exact dates which I am sure none of you really care about. The club did manage to convince 30 of us that it’s gonna be a rocking trip…and belive u me..it was ..!

Day1 Friday 1.30 PM: What better way to start a trip then on a Friday afternoon and luckily we had some townhall on that day which made it easier for us to take the ‘half day’ off. It was a ‘perfect’ beginning of a ‘perfect’ trip..(how perfect is however debatable).So all 30 of us boarded the bus named ‘Shunty’ which by the end of the trip had become an entity in itself…. so read on for further details. We should have got the hint when one of organizers informed us about his inability to accompany us due to ‘personal’ reasons.

As soon as we hit the Delhi – Haridwar highway the usual ‘Jam’ started trapping us…! But nothing prepared us for what was in store ahead. Yup it was the worst Jam I have ever seen ..we were in stationary state for around 2 straight hours. By then even the enthu of usual ‘antakshary janta’ had died down (hats off this category of janta for all my trips especially in absence of a stereo systems). Slowly but surly we were heading towards rishikesh but then ‘Shunty’ stopped again..’now what..?’ we wondered. In the middle of nowhere Shunty’s tire gave up adding to our anxiety and (diminishing) enthu levels.
Finally we reached the base camp at around 1.20 am. I sure it must be longest anyone would have ever taken to reach Rishikesh from Delhi in the history of tourism (I have the stats to prove my point…J ). I know somewhere in his cozy house one of the organizer was smiling.




Day2 Friday 8.30 AM: With whatever little sleep we could manage in our ‘cozy’ (for mosquitoes) tents, we were made to get up early for breakfast (which tasted pretty gud considering the fact that we were in a ‘jungle’). For those of you who haven’t been to a rafting adventure before… you are up for a surprise when it comes to the morning rituals…. ever heard of a concept called ‘Dry Toilets’ ? After a round of military style instructions were all set to raft and take on the world of adventure sports....believe me it’s a refreshing change from the usual ‘bhagam bhag’ of everyday city life. I would have never thought of moment away from …cell phones..and ‘electricity’ will make me feel so alive (I might have slipped on philosophical note here …but I wish I had better words to explain my state of mind).

Life jackets (almost a weighs a kilo), helmets and a ‘chappu’ were given to each one of us as protective gears. It’s funny the way we all looked so similar in the attire. Then we were divided into 3 teams with one raft for each team. The initial stretch wasn’t fierce and a good place to practice our rowing skills. Then came those nasty rapids which hit your face with a mighty force….! I was lucky enough to get a seat in the front most section coz that’s where the force of water is maximum and thus most thrilling (first time rafters…got any hint!). The rapids in this region goes upto 5+ grade level which I am told is high and of course more fun. Though I don’t know how to swim but thanks to those life jackets I had nothing to fear about (since it’s my blog I can take the liberty to show off my guts… ;-) ). At some point when the water was ‘still’ we were literally thrown in the chilling water to float around. As a non swimmer I never thought I would be able reach this milestone..! Back to base camp.


Day2 Friday 4.30 AM: Exhausted after the day’s work, a heavy lunch and a little siesta time we were all set for another adventure ‘Rappelling’. As per my knowledge it’s the opposite of rock climbing. This time we were to come down from a 100 feet bridge using ropes and security gear. After a few nervous but enthu janta performed this scary looking activity even I ventured out. To be honest …it was damn scary..especially when one looks down and see nothing but flat ground …! Thankfully the activity went well except for one colleague who turned upside down in the middle of her ‘journey’ and somehow found it amusing …cheers to her courage man. Then there was the usual bon-fire and singing and dancing.

Day3 Friday 8.30 AM: This was a pretty light day for us. We covered a rafting stretch the base camp to Laxman Jhula. Had our lunch and headed for Delhi. This time round ‘Shanti’ too behaved and didn’t cause many delays. Overall it was a great trip and a beginning of many more to come. Hope I have created some inspiration somewhere to form a mirch masala club and hire a Shunti… :-)

The Motivation

If someone would have paid me a $ every time I decide to start writing…I would have been a millionaire … naah… whom am I kidding…alright to be honest….just a few $s richer!

So now the next million dollar question is what to write about? There are far better writers around me who can raise awareness about social causes. As for me I have just three passions in life travel sports and Driving. Despite my wishful thinking about the others the former takes up most of my energy and time. Let me give you gist of how and where of my traveling experience (no prizes for guessing the ‘why’ part of It....Cheeky).

It all started at the beginning of my career around 3-4 yrs back. Though I had more than my share of travel before that but now it had become more flexible in some sense. So let the adventure (at least for me) began … ride along if you feel the enthu ..!