Waypoint Zero

Of Indians and Queues

2011-02-28T00:27:00.002+05:30

So we have a surplus of people - A one billion plus population cramped into the subcontinent. And they crowd; Drive around the countryside and it is sometimes difficult to find any people at all. But in the cities, they cover all available surface area! If there's anything built for a certain number of people to use, there's always at least twice that number to actually use it.

Enter queues. Over time, most of us have gotten used to the idea of these simple enablers of civil society; but we Indians follow them grudgingly at best. I guess the underlying fear is of being left out. With one billion people breathing down your neck, get in front of the queue, before whatever it is that the queue is for runs out? The average queue is hardly complete without a bit of jostling, a few barging shoulders, and some swearing! And if there is a way to circumvent the queue, rest assured someone will find it.

So imagine my surprise when I get out of a packed metro train at Noida City Center along with about 500 other people, and they all come out to the exit gates and form 6 neat queues to get out through the 6 available gates. Neat straight lines; no jostling, no pushing, no swearing! Of course there's a bit of a race to get there first, but it's all fair play. And this in Delhi, a place infamous for it's rudeness and crudeness! I for one, was sure we left our "consideration for fellow humans" genes behind when we got on the great world economy train; guess I was wrong!

But then again ... maybe it's just the air conditioning that keeps people cool!?

Itchy Feet - In the mountains

2011-02-28T00:18:00.000+05:30

Itchy feet: very strong or irresistible impulse to travel (Source: The Oxford English dictionary)

That's what all of us have. Plus the need to meet up occasionally and relive the memories and camaraderie from college. This is a great thing in itself, but take a random sample of 7 of your batchmates from college; chances are they will be separated by a few thousand kilometers of ocean (and timezones, and job descriptions, and such). So if these random 7 are in the habit of taking a holiday together every year (or sometimes every 6 months), that is a pretty significant logistical effort. But that is the kind of friendships that come out of college ... the effort will be made.

Last year we hired motorcycles and rode up from Manali to Leh and then some around there. Bettering that is not easy, but you got to try! So that's how we wound up meeting at Rati's place in Delhi on a wet, crazy-traffic-day. Abby and Rashmi from London, Kavi from Chennai, Manoj on a flight from Mumbai, and Mithun, Umesh, Abhijit Chavan, and me, on a train also from Mumbai - the same train Manoj was also supposed to be on, but missed because he underestimated the on time performance of Indian Railways! For the record, he tried really hard to miss the flight on our last trip, but just wasn't good enough then :)

The Nandadevi East base camp trek in Uttarakhand starts from the town of Munsiyari in Uttarakhand. The rail head is Kathgodam, and the same night, we were on the 5013 Ranikhet Express headed there. The excitement and the filth in our compartment kept some of us awake for a while, but not for long. A day in Delhi can be tiring even for the sprightliest teenager!

We woke up to a chill in the air, eyefuls of green landscape, and a mild early morning mist ... only a sneak preview to what we were going to see over the next couple of weeks. Our 2 jeeps were loaded up with supplies and waiting to take us to Munsiyari. The welcome party included our guide Laxman, his partner and younger brother in law Ganga, his older brother in law Deepak (the business savvy end of the trio), and the 2 drivers! There is something about these pahadi folks. They're simple, straightforward, almost naive people who seem to believe that everything about them is better than the rest of the planet (But wait a minute, that last part is true of everyone else as well ... so scratch it). And they do have at least one smart-ass songwriter in their ilk. Sample the one track that translated "Neither my younger bhabhi, nor my older bhabhi. The generation is corrupted by Kareena (Kapoor?) bhabhi." The music is nice and folksy, but would be much better without the tacky mixing most likely done on the producer's nephew's home computer. In the end, the day long ride turned out to be a lot of fun with the music, the fun people, the surreal landscapes, and the anticipation of things to come.

Laxman had us put up for the night in extremely cozy rooms in Munsiyari that had a balcony with a view to die for! You could see the Panchachuli peaks reaching up for the sky and Munsiyari town down below, while everything in between was covered by a thick fog! He also got us our first bottle of 'dado' - the local brew distilled from rice and jaggery. Takes a while to adapt to the taste (or the lack of it?), but it sure is potent. Unsure of what physical torment awaited us the next day, we decided against any drunken revelry. The anticipation though, was something else ...

Day 1 of the trek - Munsiyari to Lillam

In the mountains, you have to respect nature. Your plans mean little if she decides otherwise. Landslides along our planned route meant that there was no way mules could go. Plan B was to to have have more men to do the heavy carrying, which meant more provisions to feed them, and more weight in turn. That was how we ended up having 14 men to accompany 8 of us! Like a friend told me later, we could have invaded Nepal with that army ... sure their army would have given us a heck of a fight, but me thinks we would have prevailed!

The physical demand of the trek did not take long to hit us. The first 2 hours were an unrelenting steep climb that felt like it would never end. Earlier in the morning, us silly plainsfolk, having no idea what we were up against, had covered up in multiple layers of clothing. Half an hour of trudging up the slope, and people were starting to peel off all those extra layers ... it was sunny, and terribly hot! It's well worth the effort though, if only for the beautiful sights on offer. The valley is thickly wooded for the most part; with villages and cropland interspersed. There is also the occasional bald patch caused by landslides. In fact, we could hear a persistant rumble from the many big and small landslides that covered the slopes. The climb is followed by a gentle down slope through a thickly wooded forest. It's dark and damp and there's a mist hanging, which makes it look very much like a tropical rainforest. And where there's a wet forest, there's leeches. It is not easy to fall in love with these critters. Even veterans have to try super hard to ignore the omnipresent suspicion that there could be a dozen of them in your shoe sucking you dry of blood (Not really though ... It would take an outrageously large colony of them to do that!), so it's easy to forgive the first timers who scream their lungs out!

Useful tip - In weather that is not cold, ponchos good (Roomy, easy to take on and off, fold and carry, covers backpack too), windcheaters/jackets bad (Hot, sweaty, and a complete pain in the ass when not in use). Bright sunshine passed into heavy rain as we got out of the forest, and by the time we stopped for lunch at Yedthi, we were wet and miserable. It required a steaming hot meal, with fresh-from-the-field vegetables, to lift our spirits - as it would continue to do for the next few days. The weather cleared out by the time lunch was done, and we had a comfortable trek to Lillam, a small village of about 10 houses, one chai shop, and an ITBP camp - our abode for the night.

Day 2/3 - Lillam to Bugdiyar to Railkot

From Lillam on, the path is a mild climb that follows the Gori Ganga upstream along the left bank. "Gori" because all the silt that the river drags along makes the water white in color. The weather was good to us here and there was no rain. The path is mostly a gentle slope up with short steep sections at times. To add excitement, every now and then there's a portion of track washed away by a landslide. The only way here - depending on the size of the fallen rocks - is to run across, or scramble up and over ... all the while hoping that the next falling rock does not catch you! There was also the one section where you have to walk right through an industrial strength, freezing waterfall. You can see this in pictures on the internet, but these can hardly prepare you for the actual experience!

Another interesting chai stop en route is Railgadi, so called because of the series of shacks built under the shelter of one gigantic overhang of rock. This is about where the aches started to show up. When Manoj complained, Laxman massaged his knees and gave him a little "herbal" cigarette to kill the pain. That cigarette was so good, pretty soon everyone's knees were complaining!

Useful tip - Carry photo ID. Bugdiyar (night 2) and Railkot (night 3) are both essentially ITBP camps where every tourist has to register on the way up, and sign out on the way down. This is because the Chinese and Nepalese borders are not more than 3/4 days trek away. The restriction does not apply to locals though, who apparently do end up wandering into the other country every now and then! Our accommodation in both places wass the local government rest house.

Day 4 - Railkot to Gannaghar

By Railkot, the weather starts to get chilly, and the landscape begins to change. The trees give way to grassy meadows and flowers of different hues! All through, the calm of the mountains continues. Occassionally, you bump into a shepherd watching over his grazing flock. Friendly locals pass you, and they always have the time if you wish to stop and chat a moment. Every now and then, there's a mountain torrent blocking your path with only precariously perched log bridges to cross over.

Gannaghar, our stop for the night was a village typical for the parts. Small, cozy stone houses with slate roofs, raised living quarters, and a store in the basement; a whole bunch of abandoned and broken down houses; tiny fields growing veggies; and the odd goat. The sarpanch is the most educated man in the village and has the best house, let out to us for the night. He also happens to be the operator for the village sattelite phone - a sure sign that technology has begun to make a difference in the remotest corners of the country. Who needs an erratic postman when you can call anyone in the country at Rs.2 a minute (Rs.5 for tourists)! Mobile phones are useless after the first morning of the trek, and this is the only way you can communicate with the outside world.

The sarpanch is also your entertainment for the evening. He loves talking and telling stories, so while we rested in the evening, he sat with us and told us stories about the village; about the legends of the Goddess Nandadevi; and about the festival every year dedicated to the Goddess when thousands from the surrounding villages and towns gather there.

Evening gave us the first glimpse of what we had come this far for. At 7816 meters, the western peak of Nandadevi is the 2nd highest peak in India; the 23rd highest in the world; and another 3500+ meters higher than where we were. One of the most interesting stories associated with the mountain is about the CIA trying to plant a nuclear powered device on top to spy on Chinese nuclear tests in Tibet; only to lose it in a major storm. The device is rumored to still be hanging around missing somewhere, "radioactive poisoning" anyone who inadvertantly gets close to it!

But we were at a safe enough distance, and when the clouds cleared out momentarily to show the mountain in the evening light, it was impossible to not be awed by the sight! Even from the distance we were - about 10 kms as the crow flies - we could see why Nandadevi was the Goddess in these parts.

Day 5 - Gannaghar to "Base camp"

"Base camp" is the point where the real climbing starts. For Mt. Everest, base camp to the peak is only 5 days of climbing (although it takes about 3/4 weeks with the acclimatization, and waiting for the right weather). So when the guides promise to take you to base camp or camp 1 (which is further), take that with a pinch of salt. Additionally, given the exalted status of the mountain, the locals have beliefs about not taking women there (Yes, the prejudices still exist!). So although they tell you that you are standing at base camp, some close questioning will reveal that the real base camp is still some way off.

So although some of us wanted to see the real base camp, that did not seem practical considering the guides' reluctance and the time constraints. It also does not help that Nandadevi is a highly restricted zone since it was found that tourism was causing the fragile ecosystem some serious damage (Conspiracy theorists also refer to the missing nuclear device as a reason for the restrictions). Getting into the inner perimeter of Nandadevi requires special authorizations, and these are not easily available. We took the compromise - an additional day to go up closer to the glacier and camp there - and the reward was even more breathtaking views of the mountain from closer up. Even though it meant sleeping in tents on a rainy and bitterly cold evening, it was completely worth the effort.

Day 6 - Martoli

We saw a lot of beautiful places on the trek, but Martoli is out of this world! First glimpse reminded me of pictures I had seen of Machu Pichu in Peru. Being situated strategically on the traditional overland trade routes between India, Nepal, and Tibet, Martoli has had a long history; but after India and China decided to go to war in '62, the trade routes died. And with each passing day, there is lesser hope of a revival. The once bustling village is now down to a last few people. Most make their living harvesting herbs that grow all over the place; keeda-ghaas being the most fascinating of the lot - it starts life as a worm, but a fungus infects the worm, kills and mummifies it, and grows out of the worm as a blade of grass. The herbs are used in traditional medicine in China and India and go for high prices. Goat breeding is another venture. The pashmina goats make for excellent and expensive wool, and the other mountain goats are prized for their meat. The more successful goat owners have flocks numbering in thousands!

Martoli was also the set location for our party - to celebrate the successful trip - and our hosts sure knew how to throw a good one! The dado and chang (rice beer) flowed unlimited, and a goat had been slaughtered and cooked. There was song and dance around a fire, and we partied late into the night and got completely wasted!

Day 7/8/9 - Martoli - Bugdiyar - Yedthi - Munsiyari

From Martoli, the return trip to Munsiyari was two and a half days with stops at Bugdiyar and Yedthi. Good knees had gotten bad and bad knees had gotten worse with the downhill work, but the thought of the celebratory single malt kept everyone going. Actually, the whole return trek went past like a blur. All we seemed to do was walk, eat, walk some more, stop and check for leeches, and sleep at night - a little tedious if you look at that description. It was all mixed feelings - disappointment of the trek coming to an end, anticipation of hot water in a bath, and even plain physical tiredness. But when we finally got off the trail, I almost turned around and went back!

That is the thing about the mountains - one time up there, and you are hooked! Hide all you want, but sooner or later you will go back. And if you have your college buddies to go with, it cannot get better! The only probem at the end of this trip is having to better it next year! But that's a problem we like to have!

Apologies

2011-02-27T23:44:00.002+05:30

That last post was a draft from 2 years back. Just published it so I could get on with life! As of that one, I am killing the Ladakh post. It was too far back in the future and I am not sufficiently enthu to write about it anymore! Might continue with it if I get in the mood some other time!

Return to Ladakh - Introducing Anand

2009-08-13T22:43:00.010+05:30

Our time - A euphemism for extremely unreliable time estimates / extremely unreliable timekeeping (Source - the official Ladakh 2009 trip dictionary).

If you don't sleep at night, waking up early ceases to be a problem. But once you wake up, you still need to pack up the tents, clean up the campsite, and cold start the bullets in the thin air! When we finally got going at 7 "our time", we were 2 hours behind the scheduled time of 7 hours IST.

Chavan was already ill. Abby having not gotten his quality sleep was grouchy. And to top it, there was the rain; not a downpour or anything, but that steady persistent drizzle that gets under your skin. Suddenly, no one wanted to take photo breaks or smoke; all that we wanted to do was ride non stop till we found better weather, hopefully beyond the next pass. We wished!

Just past Nakila, we ran into a herd of grazing Ibex. That was our first stop for the day, and even that lasted only long enough to get a few photographs.

But knowing our history, it was time for something to go wrong :) Abby was complaining all along of his engine dying in idle, and just after Nakila it stopped again; and refused to start! Brute force kicking would never have worked, and it did not. As luck would have it, just when we were running out of ideas, we saw this lone rider come up from behind us. And he turned out to be just the person we needed.

Anand Ethirajulu, on his solo trip, had enough knowledge of bullets to help us fix the broken bike. It wasn't a major fault - just a change of the fuel mixture to adjust for the rarefied air - but left to ourselves, we probably wouldn't have got it right for at least another hour. It took us a few kilometers, some experimentation with the settings, and fixing a bad fuel supply tube before we could really get going again.

The rain had let up by then, but the sky was still overcast threatening to open up any time. We pushed on though, and did the remaining 25 kms to Pang in quick time. The landscape had changed meanwhile; we were riding through a valley with an ultra clear river flowing next to us. Everything around had gotten more stark, more dry, more rough, and nature was doing overtime in it's modern artist role; creating strange and varied formations out of the rocks.

Just before Pang is a small checkpost where you have to register your vehicle and riders. It's manned by a friendly policeman who has no clue what the weather is outside his tent. If you do have questions about the weather, you'd be better off asking someone else!

Pang itself is a small tent colony where you can get some grub and bedding for the night. They've got a cool socialist scheme going - even though there's fierce competition between tents for the food business, the proceeds from the accommodation business are distributed evenly between all the tent owners. Viva la revolucion!

Return to Ladakh - Deep freeze

2009-08-07T23:42:00.007+05:30

The plan, day 3 - Leave at 0800 hours and ride the 200 kms to Pang. Take the ride easy; with more breaks and more photographs; soak in the view; chill out even while making the distance.

As things transpired, we got up in the morning, sat around chatting, had a heavy breakfast at the hotel, and when we finally got rolling, the time was closer to 10. Thankfully, we had already fueled up the night before, including picking up our spare cans of fuel; otherwise, we might have ended up doing only 30 kms that day!

The roads were pretty good and we made Darcha in under 2 hours, photo and smoke breaks included. Darcha is the point where the Bhaga and Barai rivers meet, and is the starting point for a lot of treks into the Zanskar valley. The ride was pretty uneventful except the one time when Chavan decided to switch gears. Suddenly, from riding easy in third spot, he was racing out in front of everyone else. For a moment, he seemed possessed. Till he decided to stop for 10 minutes to let an oncoming truck do the 50 meters between them and pass; the moment was over.

After a chai (or two, in the case of Manoj) at one of the many tea stalls in Darcha, we hit the road again. The road overall was awesome, except for the one water crossing, with the coldest water that we had yet encountered. We finally stopped for lunch at Zing Zing Bar, which is a total of 3 tents run by Nepalis; serving chai, maggi, and dal chaval. I doubt there would be a cooler named place in India (with the possible exception of Chutia, Assam; although some would dispute the use of the word cool in this case ;-)).

The Nepali dude at Zing Zing Bar decided Kavi was "strong" because she was wearing just a pair of trousers and a t-shirt in that weather, while the rest of us were all covered up in multiple layers! Well ... she obviously wasn't strong enough to do the striptease later on Baralacha La ... like a couple of us did! :) By the way ... any likeness to Somali pirates is purely incidental. For the record, there have been no reported sightings of Somali pirates anywhere in Ladakh.

Just before Baralacha la is the serene Suraj Tal lake; memorable to Kavi as the place where she touched snow for the first time. Baralacha La was the highest pass that we had yet done on the trip. Standing at the highest point on the road, all around are rolling hills checkered black and white with stone and snow. To the right is a stupa with thousands of prayer flags. The small hill to the left is covered in chorten (Stones piled to resemble a stupa; a symbol of thanks from travelers for their continued safety).

We hung around for sometime, even getting abused by a passing truck driver for parking our bikes in the middle of the road. Not true really, but he was probably just getting back at us for having blocked him in a bad patch of road on the up slope. He went sliding down some 10 meters before he regained traction there!

The road down from Baralacha is as bad as the road up to it is good. The landscape starts to get stark around here with hues of brown all around; loose rock and mud, landslides, and the like. The road meanders down about 30 kms before finally reaching Sarchu, occasion for a small celebration as we had finally hit J&K state, and Ladakh ... 3 years after we first set out!

Sarchu is where we see the Tsarap Chu river, strangely beautiful in the way nature has carved the gorge down from the grassy plains to the river. Look carefully, and you could see nature carving faces in the mountains around (No! I was not high on anything at this point. :-))

It did not look like we had a lot of daylight left. The sun was going down fast, leaving us no chance of getting to Pang for the night. We stopped after going only as far as daylight and terrain permitted us. It took us the better part of the available daylight time to set up the new tent, which we had to figure out how to put up (The damn packaging did not even have a picture of the thing for us to use as reference)!

Chavan was already showing signs of illness - a mix of food poisoning and AMS - and his sleeping bag was wet (A result of his new river crossing strategy - "floor it"). So it's 4 sleeping bags, 5 people, and biting cold - perfect recipe for a sleepless night. Abby probably had the worst of it as Kavi seemed more adept at tugging at the sleeping bag in her sleep, but we all had a pretty bad night although wrapped in full riding gear!

The best part of the day was just before though - the night sky lit up with a million shining lights. I remember nights spent at INS Shivaji in Lonavla that could compete, but I'm sure even that would be a distant second to this sky. It was the perfect place to camp ... if only we had been more prepared for the cold.

Return to Ladakh - The first hiccup

2009-08-06T22:58:00.004+05:30

19-Jul-2009 0500 hrs our time. We were up alright, but nowhere close to getting on our way. It took us over a couple of hours to get everything packed, fixed up on the bikes, redistribute the bags to get the weight distribution right, and get on our way. And this was with the bungee cords. If this had been the last trip, the same exercise with regular nylon cords would have taken us twice the time!

If you are headed for Rohtang, there's a good reason why you should be leaving early. Come morning, and hordes of tourists hit the road for Rohtang. Most of them just go up there, click a few Patel snaps, ride a pony, throw snowballs at each other, and head back along the same road to Manali. There's also all the trucks that leave Manali to get across the pass to Lahaul & Spiti, or to Ladakh. On a regular road that would be fine, but the road to Rohtang (especially past Marhi) is just a slush pit in most places!

So we left late allowing all these guys to go up ahead of us, and the result was we ran into a HUGE traffic jam just up above Marhi. The traffic was standstill and enterprising locals were already there selling tea and bhutta. If you are stuck in a traffic jam though, a bike is the best thing to be on. We managed to sneak through between most of the vehicles, till we came to the problem spot. It was just one hairpin bend, but the road was only slush, about a foot deep. One of every 3 vehicles was getting stuck, and then there'd be all the pushing and revving to get it unstuck.

We thought we could go through, but the couple of cops present would have none of it! Everytime one of us tried to start our bike and get through, we'd hear this guy screaming abuses at us! Eventually though, with some effort, we managed to sneak past the cop, only to find out that Manoj's bike died on him and would now refuse to start! That feeling of disappointment rose up in my guts again. We tried a while but saw it wasn't working, so we called Anu for help. Anu remote diagnosed the problem to be a dead battery, and said he'd be there in a couple of hours with a replacement. So Kavi, Chavan, and me waited, while the other two headed further up to refill our water supplies.

I had a headache and was feeling a little woozy. Most likely symptoms of AMS, but I suspect it also had a lot to do with the situation and the disappointment. In retrospect I was jumping the gun, but at that point, I almost felt like it was a lost cause, like we might need to head back and try again the next day, or maybe try again the next year!

Nothing like that happened though. Anu came and replaced the battery, and we got started up and on our way. Kavi who was already drooling over the 'hot Anu', now also had him as her knight in shining armor and savior of her trip. We did not hear the end of it over the next few days! Half an hour got us to Rohtang, and after a quick snack of Maggi and chai, we hit the road again.

The roads are considerably better past Rohtang, and the traffic is almost nil. The road is pretty decently maintained, and the stretch between Khoksar and Sissu is especially good. Beautifully laid tarmac snaking along the river bank made this some of the best riding on the trip. We passed our campsite from the last trip and headed straight for Keylong, where we intended to stay the night. There was some bad roads, but as we realized over the trip - if you get past Rohtang, you've pretty much made it! We fueled up at Tandi (our last fuel source before Leh), and got to Keylong by nightfall with only enough energy left to crash at the Tashi Deleg.

Sight of the day: A couple of Himalayan eagles soaring above us while we were waiting for Anu to come. Even in the state that I was in, the eagles brought a smile to me. Pure grace and beauty!

Return to Ladakh - The starcast

2009-08-03T22:17:00.011+05:30

I was still reminiscing about Thailand, when it was time to begin preparing for the mother of all trips - the repeat to Ladakh, with the hope that this one would end better. The last one, although highly eventful and remembered fondly, ended with us unable to reach even halfway to our destination! 3 years down, this was our chance to make up for the failure.

The first guy to pack his bags and be ready for the trip was Zappy of course, but turned out he was the one who did not finally make it. The last person we thought would come was Chavan, but he managed to make it here just in time! In between was a mile long mail trail of planning, persuading, begging, and general bull$#!t. When at last we met at Delhi airport, there were 5 of us.

The usual suspects ...
1. The Terminator a.k.a Abby
2. High Command a.k.a Kavi
3. Dhakka Start a.k.a Chavan
4. Macho Man a.k.a Aj (that's me)

... And introducing ...
5. Bullet Baba a.k.a Manoj (I just made that up ... we did not have anything for Manoj on the trip!)

The drive from Delhi to Chandigadh is a super drab affair. Till we got to dinner, the after-a-long-time talk kept us awake. But after a paratha heavy dinner, there wasn't anything anyone could do to keep from falling asleep, especially with Abby going on about how he had not slept in 2 days! Except for Chavan, who was on keep-the-driver-awake detail, the rest of us just dozed off after dinner. Abby and me even managed to redesign the last seat and convert it into a makeshift bedroom for ourselves. I can't say it was the most comfortable bed I've slept in, but it sure was better than sitting up the whole night!

Morning saw us entering Himachal and seeing some rains. The landscape is a lot more interesting here in the mountains, but the lack of rains this year was apparent in the dry lake bed in Bilaspur. I remembered looking down out of the airplane the previous day and seeing the brown all over, very uncharacteristic for this late in the monsoon season!

We soon stopped for breakfast, again Bunty's decision, as were most stops on the whole drive! There were times when he almost made us feel like we were a bunch of hitchhikers he had picked up somewhere along the way! After a crappy breakfast, we started on the final leg of our trip. By the time we got to Manali, we had already finalized our shopping list and bike spares checklist, and had assigned duties to everyone. We had just one half day in Manali to get all the arrangements done, and we were going to have to be quick!

It did seem a tough ask, but somehow we managed to get everything done (in spite of some difficulties with missing driving licenses, total ignorance of Enfield bullets, and extreme negativity from some of the team). The guys at Anu Motors were extremely helpful helping us get all the rides and riders ready for the trip the next day. Abby and Chavan practically learnt to ride in that one afternoon!

By the time we had finished our dinner at Manali (with old monk for good luck), we were actually raring to set out. Wake up time 0430 hours and ETD 0500 hrs.

The musician from Myanmar

2009-06-16T01:43:00.000+05:30

A bunch of Burmese folk live in Railay. They work in tourist places around the village. They probably get paid a pittance for working in sub standard conditions. They live cramped into tiny makeshift tin sheet single rooms that can barely keep the rain out. But they get together in the evening, pass around cups of cheap whisky, light a few cigarettes, and sing a few songs.

Ao Ong is the star. He plays the guitar like nobody's business. His friends join in the singing on and off, and they all have a jolly good time. When I stopped at the door to listen, they let me sit in the circle. I guess all of us were curious!

I don't speak a word of Burmese, and Ao Ong could barely manage a dozen words in English, so communication was mostly restricted to hand signals and monosyllables. But the lack of a common language was just a minor irritant in having a good time enjoying the music and each other's company.

It did not take me long to realise that he was playing Clapton, John Denver, Metallica, the usual suspects, except that all the songs were in Burmese. The guys were glad they found someone to sing the original English words for them, and there is noone who can dispute that I could give John Denver a run for his money that night (at least, noone who can dispute it in English :) ). A couple of swigs of the whisky, and I was in prime form. Shantanu joined in a little bit and and I was glad for the reinforced vocals.

They had the Burmese version of every song in our favorite list. They even had one for the Hindi 'Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye'! And even if he did not know the song, it took Ao Ong only one hearing to figure out how to play it while we sang. We rocked the town that night... till the neighbours sent someone to shut us up! Unfortunately, not everyone has the taste to appreciate good music!

Sitting in a group of strangers singing songs and talking to each other without a common language, that evening we went away knowing that people are all the same everywhere. And there's no reason for our differences to stop us from being friends.

Easy pussy

2009-06-14T20:42:00.003+05:30

Thailand's known for it's sex tourism. One of the primary reasons for a lot of people going to Thailand is the cheap and easy sex. The ill-repute is a real pity though ... it's an awesome place even without the sex!

Here's Prashant getting his easy pussy... :)

Railay's a haven for cats ... and surprisingly low on dogs! I saw only one during my entire 8 day stay! Maybe it's the seafood the cats love? Our Nepalese tailor friend had another reason for it ... the predominantly muslim population of Railay ... Muslims have a preference for cats over dogs.

Welcome to Thailand

2009-06-13T21:26:00.000+05:30

Thailand happened suddenly. Prashant told me about the plan sometime in May, and I immediately decided to go. He'd done all the research, decided where to go (the primary idea being rock climbing), and all I had to do was show up. Not totally in control like I usually prefer it, but well, I'm not the rock climber ... atleast not yet! Shantanu, even less of a climber than I am was also recruited; more for the idea of the beaches than the climbing, I suspect!

Deja-vous! Walking out of Krabi airport, I see Kerala ... and I see America. The landscape and weather are exactly like Kerala, and the roads and Japanese cars look just like America. The shuttle bus takes us to Railay pier in Ao Nong town, and very soon I'm waiting at the restaurant for 6 other people to show up so I can take a long-tail boat to my destination. The setting is perfect ... The sky is blue as blue sky can be, the water is turquoise as turquoise water (Correct me if I am wrong. I can only identify 8 colors, and turquoise is not one of them!) can be, the food is awesome, the people are friendly, and the waitress is pretty!

Talking about pretty waitresses, I soon realise that ALL the other waitresses at the place were at some point waiters!!! Remember all those things that people told you or you read on the internet about Thailand's famous ladyboys? Well, I'm not sure if my waitress was one ... but I decided to not ask questions, answers to which could potentially be a dampener to my spirits.

Coming into Railay, the view of the beach is one of the prettiest sights that you can see. Limestone cliffs jut out of the sea everywhere, more cliffs mark out the limits of the beaches, and there's a sparse crowd that's having a great time out there. There's restaurants / shacks on the beach, people in kayaks, fishing boats. Everything to make for a perfect holiday.

We find our way to Diamond Cave resort, which is on the bay side of Railay. It's a really cozy place, neat rooms with air conditioning, fridge, television, a balcony, and at 1200 baht a night ... a complete bargain. Off season travel is the best! A comparable hotel room at any tourist destination in India would easily cost twice as much. It's no wonder people flock to Thailand!

Prashant and Sharad are waiting for us to get there ... It's time to go climbing! My Thailand adventure is looking good already!

Doing a 'Chavan'

2009-06-10T09:20:00.002+05:30

The good news is Uncle had a 300mm lens for me. Only hitch ... it's in Bangalore. As always though ... good luck shines, and Kumar happened to be on a visit to Bangalore, so he would be carrying my 300 for me on his way back to Valsad. All I had to do was pick it up at Kalyan at 09:40 PM. Easy enough task to do ... but I ended up 'doing a Chavan' on that one!

Doing a 'Chavan' requires that special level of absent-mindedness and bad planning that comes to very few souls (Chavan himself being one, and now me)! The legendary Chavan once missed a flight because he calculated "2000 hours" to be 10:00 PM. Another time, he made us wait a night at the airport because he got the timezones wrong and would actually only be landing 24 hours later. A third time, him and me collaborated to miss a flight, because I thought divine intervention would bring a "no-traffic-blocks-day" to Bangalore (Yes, my optimism knows no bounds!!!).

So I'm in the office at 8:00 PM, and I think, "9:40 is a long way off ... 20 minutes to Mulund / Thane in a rickshaw, and 30 minutes drive with Shantanu upto Kalyan station. Hmmm ... What was that? You wanna grab a beer? Well .. I guess I have the time." So Shraddha, Avinash, and me get to Pop Tate's and get a table when I start thinking "Hey ... maybe this is too close ... got to rush!" Shantanu calls to check where I am ... and I get the "Whattannidiot!" tone from him. That's when I decide to leave. It's 08:20 and I still have an hour and 20 minutes to get to Kalyan.

Why the roundabout route you ask? Why not just take a local train to Kalyan? Well ... I'm not much of a local train person ... too crowded for me. I'd probably never even get in! Plus, Shantanu had some new music in the car for me to sample.

"Rickshaw! ... Rickshaw!" ... no response. First signs this ... I've never had to wait more than a few seconds to get a rick at Pop Tate's! I start walking, and couple of hundred metres towards Vikhroli depot, I flag one down. 08:25.
"Mulund check-naka?" ... Nod of the head and I get in.

08:35. Gandhinagar. So far so good. Signal's turned green twice, and not too much movement. Not unusual for this signal, but it's usually clear past this. So chill. Third green light .. and I see it's not really clear! Does not look good!

08:40. Gandhinagar.

08:45. 30 meters past the signal. Still Gandhinagar.

08:50. We're finally clear. Someone chose the wrong time, and the "wrong-est" spot for an accident. 50 meters either way, and the traffic would not be this bad!

09:00. Nahur / Airoli flyover. We're supposed to be taking the left below this bridge and heading to Mulund(W). But it seems like my rickshaw man has other ideas. I check. He confirms that it's straight we go ... Well ok. maybe that other route through Mulund(East) is faster!

09:01. Halfway up the flyover. Point of no return. "Sir ... you want to go to East / West?". I could have smashed his head with a sledgehammer, but I did not have one handy ... so I let it pass. "Check-naka = Mulund(West)". I give him a minor lesson in Mumbai's geography, with as much sledgehammer as I can deliver in my tone of voice (which, my friends tell me, is not much). And we take that other route through Mulund(East).

09:13. Mulund check-naka. I pay the man and run across the check-naka to find Shantanu. He's waiting.

09:17. Shanto (Bangladeshi rock band) is playing something in Bangla, and we're off to Kalyan. Switch to Avial a little while later. Aadu Paambe. Is awesome stuff!!! Smiles all around.

09:35. The turn-off to Kalyan from the highway. 7kms to go. 10 mins before the train leaves Kalyan station ... Kumar calls to confirm it's running on time.

09:42. Very close to the station. The train has not pulled in yet, and I see hope.

09:45. Still not reached the station. Stupid traffic, pedestrians, animals. Kumar is waiting on the platform with the bag in his hand.

09:48. Flyover ahead. Now that's something we should not have been seeing! Wait a minute ... it looks familiar. Hmmm ... hmmm ... Damn! And then another Damn! We've overshot the station by a km or so!!! We're just turning around when Kumar calls to tell us that the train's leaving ... and there goes any chance of me using that lens in Thailand!

We did think about going out to the Bhiwandi hookah place for a bit, but realised that we had already taken the wrong turn and were heading back towards home! Probably a good thing considering the events of the evening. Tomorrow already looks like a better day ...

Fast Car

2008-10-02T10:12:00.005+05:30

"India Shining" ... Although the BJP lost an election on this slogan, it is true that a lot of Indians are buying a lot of new cars, and as it stands today, Mamata Bannerjee seems to be the only one standing in the way of the "One car per Indian" dream!

Shantanu's new Swift Diesel is the only thing that's made me change my mind about how to choose a car.

I used to thinks that a car should get you from point A to point B; nothing else. After last Sunday, I realise how much difference it makes to have a car that's fun to drive!

It's Sunday afternoon and we've got mileage to do. The car is now 2 days old and has clocked 380 kms; another 720 to get the engine run in up to first service! We leave my house at 2 PM and decide to go all the way up to DiveAgar. It's 180 kms away and going by past experience, a 4 hour drive at least ... ETA 6 PM. Even with the 3500 RPM running in period RPM cap, we are able to drive FAST ... and the Swift handles like a dream ... smiles all around :)

The coast close to Shrivardhan is a string of beautiful beaches starting from Dighi in the north and going up to to Harihareshwar in the south. Of these, DiveAgar is probably the longest. It's a 2 km stretch of beautiful sand and easy sea. The village is also known for the 'Golden Ganapati', a pilgrim attraction.

The first time I had come to DiveAgar, I spent an entire day on the beach with only one other car-full of visitors. Parkar's was the only place in the village offering accommodation along with some awesome gharguti (home cooked) food. It's a different picture now. Big resorts have sprung up, and almost every home offers food. The good part though is that the village still retains it's original charm, and the beach is big enough to accommodate the increased number of tourists without making it look too crowded.

We were pleasantly surprised by the roads and made our destination is just about 3 hours ... around 5:15 PM! What also helped us is that there is now a shortcut to get from Mhasla to DiveAgar without having to go through Shrivardhan. We did not intend to stay too long ... so all we had time for was a pleasant walk on the beach, some photographs, and enquiries as to the rates at Exotica resort (the rooms are basic, air conditioned, and the property itself is beautiful - at 2500 a day, slightly overpriced though), before we started the drive back home.

A couple more stops along the way for photographs and chai, a small detour through NH17 - Pali - Khoppoli (when the road is in better condition, this is a really scenic drive), and we were back home in time for dinner. 400 kms, 8 hours, and one nice beach ... a perfectly acceptable Sunday afternoon!

I'm leaving on my vacation today ... it's family time in Kerala followed by time with friends in Bangalore, and a camping trip in Kudremukh. More about this when I get back ...

The hill in my backyard

2008-09-25T23:14:00.003+05:30

Karnala used to be a favorite for the school picnics, the age when a shaded spot in the trees with a few caged birds seemed like a good idea. One time I remember going there and wondering why it was called a "bird sanctuary" when the only bird I saw was in a picture pinned to a tree! Age tells me now that most animals usually stay away from predators (which we very well qualify to be ... considering that we've put the birds in cages just to protect them from ourselves!).

I live 40 kms from this place, and have never been to the fort up there!

I always thought it quite a shame that I (being this avid trekker) never got around to climbing this hill! And for the last 3 weekends, I've been trying to get Shantanu and Sukesh to get off their asses and go there with me. Last weekend, after all these years, I finally got to the fort of Karnala with Shantanu.

It's a smallish fort bang in the middle of the sanctuary, only about 450 meters above MSL. The trail from the sanctuary entrance to the fort takes about 1.5 hours to do, and is a nice walk, gently sloped and mostly shaded. A rock pinnacle about 40 meters tall (a favorite with climbers) is the most striking feature of this place.

The beauty of Karnala is that it is so close to home ... practically in my backyard. It's the perfect place to head for half a day, get a fair bit of exercise, and an awesome spot to relax and chill. I'm expecting to be there more ofen now!

Celluloid dreams

2008-09-03T22:06:00.002+05:30

I wanna be that man on celluloid
Wanna be that man on stage
And when he woos those ladies
Wanna do it just like him

They sell you aspiration,
They sell you dreams ...
Gotta aim for all that glory
Why not? When you got no aim

They drive those mean machines
Wreck them and walk away
Even kung fu is passe
All I gotta do is take aim! BANG!

They sell you aspiration,
They sell you dreams ...
Why wake up from my slumber
When the morning's still away

I wanna be that man on celluloid
Wanna be that man on film
6 billion and counting still ...
Do we need one more like him?

Royal Deccan Odyssey

2008-09-03T20:00:00.012+05:30

That we wanted to take time off was certain ... where we wanted to go was the question. The prospective destinations were many, including the 'Valley of flowers' in Uttarakhand, and Khajuraho and Pench in middle India. We finally chose North Karnataka, on account of it being drivable distance, doable in 5 days, and the charm of it's not-very-touristy historical places of Hampi, Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal. Hidden agenda - my new Nikon D60 would surely have enough subjects here!

Morning of 15-Aug, Sukesh, Shantanu, The-Atif-possessed-CD-player, and me took off from Mumbai in Sukesh's Hyundai Santro. After picking up Darshan from Pune, we hit the road south on NH4. It was perfect ... beautiful weather, good music, Haywards black stout (although warm), awesome roads, green vistas, and then BANG ... a dead dog and leaking radiator fluid. With the tremendous increase in the average speed of driving on these roads, what has gone up even more is the number of dead dogs on the road. It does not help that the roads are beautifully lined with hedge bushes down the middle, so the dogs can conveniently sneak up on you!

The good fallout of this unfortunate incident was the chance to go once more to Shetkari hotel in Kolhapur to try out the mutton there. The place was recommended to us last time we were in the town, but it was the wrong time of day and the place was closed! Fate was cruel though, and no Shetkari this time either! We did get a lead on Hotel Nilesh, but that was out because they served no vegetarian fare (for Darshan). We finally ended up in Hotel Opal based on yet another recommendation, and were finally served some awesome authentic Kolhapuri food. One thing while I'm on the subject ... Kolhapuri food in Kolhapur - going by my experience till today - is not really the super spicy stuff it is made out to be. The alleged spiciness is a myth, and that title is still retained by Andhra food ... by a huge margin!

Day 2 saw us stopping at Hidkal dam and Gokak falls on our way to Badami. At Bagalkot, the four of us had a full lunch with cold drinks and it cost us 157 rupees in all ... it's amazing, the difference in the costs between our cities and our rural hinterland!

Badami was the capital of the Early Chalukyas, who ruled much of the area currently in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh between the 6th and 8th centuries. There are sandstone rock cut caves here along with some historical temples, and also a mosque (More recently, Badami was the setting for some parts of Mani Ratnam's 2007 movie Guru). The caves did make excellent subjects for my pictures, and I used the chance to get familiar with the art of taking good photographs. Just to clarify ... most the pictures I took are only good enough to adorn the deeper corners of my hard drive, but I'm more concerned with the learning here.

Hospet, the nearest significant town to Hampi, is a good 150 odd km drive from Badami, and we headed straight to Hotel Malligi where we shacked up for the night after a good beer in the restaurant. Malligi might seem a little out of place for an industrial town like Hospet, but it has the right mix of rooms to serve anyone from the budget to the luxury (The term is used in a relative manner here ... do not expect the Taj!) traveler.

We hit Hampi first thing in the morning, and immediately set out for breakfast. The main Hampi bazaar in front of the Virupaksha temple is full of restaurants dishing out stuff for the western tourist - meat free though, courtesy the temple. The place is a favorite with Israelis, and along with Goa and Manali, is part of the Hippie circle. Last time I was here, I had some Israeli stuff called shakshuka, and was really looking forward to getting some of that again. Only hitch, Israelis weren't in season this time!

If you do not mind the physical effort and the frustration caused by the occasional tyre puncture, the best way to go around Hampi is bicycles. We picked ours up for 50 rupees each a day, and set about exploring the capital of the Vijayanagara kingdom. Hampi is a world heritage site now, and with all the funds available on that account, the ASI seems to be doing a really good job of restoring the ruins to it's past glory!
The most breathtaking of all the monuments in Hampi is the Vithala temple. There is a sublime beauty to the temple complex, and once you spend some time on the carvings and the design of the temple, you realise the depth of the culture and learning of the kings and artisans who built the place. The most awesome aspect of the temple is the pillars in the main dance hall that, when struck, reverberate to the tone of different musical instruments!

Sunset in Hampi is best viewed from the top of Mathanga hill. The view is a beautiful expanse of boulders and hills, paddy and banana plantations, and the Tungabhadra river winding across the landscape. We were a little late getting here, but even without the sunset, the cool breeze and the twilight work wonders on tired human bodies ... every bit worth the effort of climbing the hill.

For some reason, we decided to spend the night at Vikki guest house in Hampi instead of heading back to trusted Malligi. In retrospect, the only great thing about staying there was the idlis we had for breakfast. There is no questioning the wisdom of choosing the local food joint over the one directed at the tourist, but this time we hit pay dirt. This joint-without-a-name served up, without doubt, the best idli sambar I have ever had in my 30 years of existence! The perfect end to our stay in Hampi ... and a good feeling to take us through a long day of driving!

Despite occasional patches of bad road, NH63 is a decent drive. The land in this season is fertile black soil either just harvested or ready for sowing! It's the expanse of the deccan plateau on either side all the way to the horizon, with only the occasional hill standing out starkly against the landscape! I was reminded of something I read earlier ... That the entire human population on the earth standing shoulder to shoulder could be accommodated in an area as small as the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The statement actually endorses the enormity of the canyon, but I saw a different perspective right then! The highway bears straight west through Koppal, Gadag, and finally Hubli (or Hubballi, if you prefer). We made the distance in 4 hours to give Darshan enough time to get a bus that reached Pune before it was too late in the night. Plans though, are flexible ...

Even as the bus was docking at the platform, we decided to drive Darshan upto Kolhapur, so he could get home sooner. In any case, we had too little time to go to Amboli / Dandeli as originally planned! So the day finished in Kolhapur with a nice lunch in between, a beautiful sunset on the highway, another awesome dinner at Opal, and the last show of Bachna Ae Haseeno, a thoroughly forgettable movie that followed the lines of any other Yashraj banner movie. The movie did bring out one perceptible change in our car though. The-Atif-possessed-CD-player was now the Bacha-Ae-Haseeno-possessed-CD-player!

The revised plan for our last day on the road was to go to Wai and spend some pensive time on the famous ghats on the banks of the Krishna. We got to Wai, but not to the ghats. The morning was spent skipping stones on the lake of Dhom dam, till we decided to drive upto Mahabaleshwar. Mahabaleshwar is now overrun with ugly tourist developments, but it can still be nice in pockets. Being a Tuesday, there were few tourists around; I dont think I would make the same favorable judgements on a weekend! Lunch at the bazaar was a disaster, courtesy the Lonely Planet guide to India which recommended (what I hope is) another restaurant of the same name!

Finally, Kate's point provided us the pensive time we were looking for - A bird's eye view of 2 lakes and beautiful green covered hills ... now covered in mist, and now clear - the perfect way to end the trip. The drive back home was a breeze with that image in my head ...

Resurrected ...

2008-09-03T19:50:00.002+05:30

I've been off for a while now ... Not enough enthusiasm / inspiration to write. But this is the resurrection ... Starting off fresh with a post on my Independence day 2008 trip!

Getting off the high speed lane

2007-10-23T19:03:00.000+05:30

I had to travel to Pune yesterday, and I happened to take an ST bus which went over the older NH4 route through Khopoli. I haven't taken that road ever since the expressway became operational about 7 years back! So the sight of the Khopoli bus stand and the Tata Power complex brought back memories of old days, when that road was the only option available.

The road back then was not even as wide as it is now, and traffic jams were the norm. There were days when you could have spent 12 hours getting from Bombay to Pune (it's never more than 3 hours now!). The ghat section has roads with steep gradients, something the expressway has totally removed from the equation.

So no surprise that there was a small temple in Khopoli, just before the the really steep sections started. I don't know if people prayed, but nearly every vehicle that went past offered a few coins to the goddess ... just flung them out the window into the temple. If you are the believing kind, you might think it saved a lot of accidents back then; especially if you would have seen the number of overturned vehicles littering the roadside.

Sure enough, the bus slowed down and a few coins - although lesser than the earlier days - were tossed out the window. The tradition remains, and even though I'm not much of a believer, I like to see that these small things are still alive! In the age of homogenisation, they provide some relief and some color to life.

It's these small things that are missing when you travel on the expressway. Sure you've shaved a couple of hours off the travel time, but the journey is that little bit poorer for the lack of the temple. Maybe they could have built a temple along the expressway just to keep up the tradition ... but then, who needs God when you have ABS and airbags!!!

Where the gods did their time!

2007-10-20T11:02:00.001+05:30

My trip to Delhi was supposed to be simple. Leave Bombay on the 2nd of Oct, reach Delhi on the 3rd, take the train back on the 4th, and get back home on the 5th. What actually happened was a slight deviation from this plan!

On the 4th, I realized that I was going to have to stay in Delhi one extra day ... and that was the end of "the plan". After canceling the original return ticket, I found that there were no seats available to return on the 5th. That was interesting news, because then it brought about the possibility of a "detour" (According to the Oxford University press dictionary - /deetoor/ • noun a divergence from a direct or intended route. • verb take a detour. — ORIGIN French, ‘change of direction’). Detours are something my friends and I specialized in during our days in Bangalore ... and I'm still doing my bit to perfect the art :) Because Delhi -> Varanasi -> Calcutta -> Bombay would cause both time and budget overruns, I chose Delhi -> Indore -> Bombay. Varun booked my ticket, and on the evening of 5th October, I was on the Indore intercity express leaving Delhi.

Not much of note happened on the journey, apart from some inspired moments when I wrote my first poem, and some awesome Pohay served at the BabanBhai B Savli stall on platform 2 of the Nagda junction Railway Station. By the afternoon of 6th, I was having beer with Benny in Indore, thinking about where we could go for a couple of days. We had already picked up a copy of "The Madhya Pradesh State Road Atlas" (useless waste of paper), and after an entire day and night of deliberation ( accompanied by chicken curry at Neeta Aunty's - Benny's mom - place in Ujjain), we decided to go to Pachmarhi.

Like most other hill stations in the country, Pachmarhi was "discovered" by the British in 1857, who built a cantonment here and used it as a sanatorium for British troops in the Central Provinces of India. It is 52 kms from the nearest railhead (Pipariya, on the Jabalpur - Itarsi line), ~220 kms from the nearest airport (Bhopal, capital of MP). Pachmarhi is so named because of five caves (pach marhi) carved into a small hillock here. Legend has it that the Pandavas in their period of exile, spent some time in these caves. Although the caves have now been established to be of much later Buddhist origin, the legend and name have stuck.

Getting to Pachmarhi was not easy because of the time we left Ujjain. We had to take a local bus to Dewas (35 kms), another from Dewas to Bhopal (150 kms), and finally, a night train from Bhopal to Pipariya. At 02:30 in the morning, we were in the waiting room in Pipariya station; me sleeping blissfully on the floor, and Benny sitting around hoping that a mattress would materialize out of nowhere; I don't think he found his mattress that night! At first light, we were in the front seat of an overcrowded Tata Sumo making the final 52 kms to our destination. Pachmarhi is near 3500 ft above sea level, and the early morning ride up gave us no chance to complain about the cramped seating. The morning chill, slivers of sunlight through the trees, lily covered lakes, winding roads, all contributed to our saturated senses as we pulled into the town. I was feeling so good, I even forgot the twenty rupees the driver owed me!

Pachmarhi abounds in cheap hotels, and when the first place offered a room for Rs.200 a day, I did not think twice before taking it. In retrospect, that was a rip off - The hotel was an absolute dump! Anyway, an hour later, we were off to get breakfast and start our day of exploration. Maruti Gypsys seem to be the norm here, but I was very much in the green mood, so I forced Benny into doing the day on bicycles. Unfortunately for us, it was too early for the bicycle shops to open, so we decided to take the Pandava caves on foot (This based on a local's estimate of 1.5 kms. This is a phenomenon I've never really understood ... any distance to a local is always 5 mins or under 2 kms, never more!).

The distance turned out be at least twice the initial estimate, but we weren't really complaining when we got to the site. The caves themselves are not much to see, some of them even locked in with metal grates in the typical Indian preservation method. Sadly, people in our country have still not learnt to appreciate history without leaving their traces in it! We spent some time there looking out over the panorama and enjoying the feeling of clean morning air. It's always a heady feeling when you can see out that far out into the distance!

Back in the town, we went out and found ourselves bicycles. Benny found a mountain bike, while I picked up a "doodh-wala's cycle" from one of the cycle shops. These roadsters - though out of style in urban settings - are really comfortable for the springiness in the seat and the very comfortable gear ratio, and still rule the rural markets in India.

A full stomach later, we were cycling to Bee falls. I am told it's so called because if you stand under the waterfall and look up at the water cascading onto you, it looks like a swarm of bees. I could not even keep my bloody eyes open, so I presume the madman who named the falls in that manner would now be blind! It was a good ride, metaled road for the first 2 kms, then downhill jeep track for the next 4. Half way down the jeep track, at the entrance check post, we abandoned the cycles. Good decision that, because we'd only have to drag the cycles back up the rest of that slope! Being a Monday, the holiday crowds were absent and we had a great time at the falls. We even got a couple of photos clicked by the local lensman, and by 04:30 p.m. we were back in the hotel room.

After watching India beat Pakistan in the day's match, we stepped out to see whether we could arrange tickets to get back home. Fortunately for us, there was a bus later in the evening straight to Ujjain. So after a bhurji pav dinner near the bus stop, we boarded the bus. While Benny carried on home to Ujjain, I got off at Pipariya to take the 1094 Mahanagari Express to Bombay.

Thank you aunty

2007-10-17T10:26:00.000+05:30

Just a small incident in the train to Delhi. Wouldn't count for much in the larger scheme of things, but I think it deserves a mention. There was a lady in the seat next to me, just my mom's age I guess. Her son who came to drop her off at the station was just a few years younger to me. She spoke very little, all throughout the journey. Just spent her time looking out the window, or sleeping. We smiled at each other a couple of times, but that was the only real communication between us.

When night came, the compartment started to get a little cold. I was a little uncomfortable, although not enough to complain. The unknown lady, without a word, draped half of her shawl over me! Maternal instinct? Neighborly love? Trying to explain it will probably dilute the beauty of the incident, so I'll leave it at that.

In the morning, we had a small conversation introducing ourselves and talking about our lives. When it was time for her to get off at Mathura, I helped her with her suitcase and she left. No goodbyes, nothing.

Though it might never get to her, this post is my "thank you". The one I left unsaid ...

Manjakkili

2007-10-17T10:08:00.000+05:30

That's the Malayalam name for the Eurasian Golden Oriole. Spotted it on the acacia tree outside my balcony. That's the most brightly colored bird I have seen yet :)

Apparently has a beautiful call, but this one was not in the most talkative mood when I saw it. Here's a good close up shot.

Let's do our bit

2007-10-15T10:56:00.001+05:30

Today is October 15th ... and it wouldn't be a particularly memorable day if it wasn't Blog Action Day. Although this could serve as an awesome PR tool for the guy who came up with the idea of this day, I'll let him have it because of the potential this has to make a change. What's happening here is that thousands of people are blogging today about one issue ... the environment. It's a way of letting people know that we care; a way of spreading the message out to more people; and a way to make a change.

Here's my list of simple ideas for people who'd like to join in the struggle ...

Realize that we have a problem - Those who don't can probably log off right now, because no amount of my ranting is enough to convince anyone that there is a problem. I'm convinced because I see the problems right in my face. There's the increasing temperatures each year, the erratic weather patterns, the missing stars at night, the heaviness in the air when I'm breathing, the missing birds. Those who aren't convinced by this should stop to notice these simple things, and then check out the massive amounts of literature doing the rounds (the counterarguments included).
Tell people about it - There's tons of people out there who just refuse to believe that there is a problem, or believe the problem is not as grave, or that there is no alternative. The fact is that there are things each of us can do to help ... simple things which could snowball into huge changes. Talking about it is one way. Once you are convinced yourself, make the effort to tell a few others about it. Every new person convinced adds to the network.
Take the bus - Every once in a while, leave your car at home. Take the bus to work, or better still, cycle. I know it's difficult in a hot country like India, but I believe the problem is grave enough for each of us to take action even in the face of a little personal discomfort. And do get your cars serviced to make sure they are not polluting any more than they should.
Change to energy saving CFLs - Though slightly more expensive, they repay through saved energy costs. And energy is only going to cost more in future! Check out a cost benefit analysis.
Switch off the power - When not required, switch off your appliances. Just leaving your phone charger plugged after usage can increase your power consumption by 5%.
Avoid flying - When you have the time, choose rail instead of air. I've always found that trains are a lot more comfortable and enjoyable than aircrafts (I was even inspired to poetry the last time I was traveling by train :) Check it out!).
Plant a tree - This page gives an indication of how much a single tree can do. The data is US centric, but it's enough to get the idea across.

This is a very minimal list. Think up your own easy ways to save energy, post it in the comments, put it in your own blog, tell others about it. Let's all do our bit ...

The following links should make good starting points for further reading.

Children of the earth

2007-10-10T19:08:00.000+05:30

Children of the Earth

She runs through the fields, with careless abandon
A dog in tow, her friend and companion
Skipping stones in the pond, watching them jump in joy
A dip in the river, or is it soaking in life?

There's something she knows, something I ought to know too
I hid it from myself, for oh so long too!
Her eyes spoke to me, as she smiled from afar
Children of the earth, that's what we are.

I was traveling Delhi to Indore, and wrote this in a moment of inspiration as I saw a girl in a field.

I've made an earlier attempt at poetry (I wrote one for a girl once :-)), but the only fathomable reason she could have liked it is because she was overcome with emotion!!! I really forced myself to write it after deciding to ... and it showed in the result. Thankfully, I do not remember any of it, so cannot go through the agony of repeating it!

This, on the other hand, came from the heart. I just had to put the words together. I love it myself ... it's honest.

Forgot to carry my bird book!

2007-10-10T12:39:00.001+05:30

On my Bombay Delhi train journey, about 4 hours was daytime travel as I approached Delhi passing through Rajasthan, Haryana, and UP. And the amount of bird life on display was mind blowing. My only regret is that I forgot to carry my bird book!

Even without the book, I managed to recognize some birds. The most beautiful sight was a couple of Sarus cranes. These are the tallest flying birds in the world, and I could see that these ones were taller than humans in the nearby fields! Hoping for a good winter birding season ...

P.S.: My wishlist ...

A good set of binoculars
Canon EOS 400D / Nikon D70

Why I'd like to travel the Garib Rath again.

2007-10-10T11:28:00.000+05:30

The Garib Rath (poor man's chariot) is Laloo Prasad Yadav's gift to the poor of India. It's a chance for them to travel in air conditioned luxury (and travel fast). The fares on this train are almost half as compared to the fares on other trains, and they take the same time as a Rajdhani traveling on the same route. A very well intentioned gift, considering the utility to the public, and the votes that he stands to gain.

I recently traveled Bombay to Delhi in the chair car on the Garib Rath. And although current circumstances make me technically garib, I am by no means so. Not surprisingly, none of my co-passengers fell in the garib bracket either. In a country where per capita income is Rs.23222 (2006 figures) and over 25% of the people live below the poverty line (the poverty line is an income of approximately Rs.500 a month, which is the cost of the ticket i bought!), this train cannot qualify to be called the Garib Rath.

Not faulting the fact that this is an excellent service that could be used by people in the relatively lower income bracket, there is no way anyone really garib can use it!!!

The train itself is basic. The chair car I took is horribly cramped for shoulder space, leg space, and space of any kind. The seats do not recline, and the only way you can get any real sleep is to get a dose of valium. The upshot is a lively trip with everyone awake, and joking about the train and the facilities.

The low fares made sure that I got entertaining and eclectic travel companions. My companions included a retired wrestler, a middle aged civil engineer, couple of doctors, couple of small-town-small-business owners, and more. And the conversation included discussions on the medicine man's profession, Mayawati's political strategy, the Ram Setu controversy, and the Kashmir problem. A complete revelation for me was the fact that most people are knowledgeable about a lot of stuff, and there are radicals and liberals alike in the general populace! In short, an uncomfortable but entertaining journey to get me to Delhi in double quick time. Isiliye ...

Jab tak rahega samose mein alu, Tak tak rahega railways mein Lalu!

They're back

2007-09-29T07:49:00.000+05:30

The bulbuls' calls woke me up in the morning today, and I got a visual as well. So they're very much in the vicinity. Only looks like they've lost interest in the Sitaphal tree!

I mentioned the Melissa Etheridge track for Al Gore's movie in an earlier post. Just read some other stuff about her which I wasn't aware of. She's fighting breast cancer while she's doing all these songs with a message.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/CancerPreventionAndTreatment/story?id=3665549&page=1

Looks like she's quite a fighter, apart from being a person with a heart!