Top summer vacation spots in India

Summer vacations are just round the corner and many are looking to escape the heat as the summer sun beats down on all and sundry. People are packing their bags and getting ready to leave the the hustle bustle of the cities to enjoy the beautiful tourist spots that are getting ready for the people to start pouring in this holiday season.

Here is a list of the top destinations that people head for every summer:

Shimla

The favourite of every Delhiite this hill station is beautiful and boasts of being the top most visited spot in the summer. Whether it is honeymooners or just travellers from around the country, Shimla is one of the most beautiful places to visit this summer. Cool temperatures, lovely views and something to do for everyone. The touch of the British Raj and the architecture reflecting that era is fascinating as are the multiple small places nearby that one can drive down to.

Mahabaleshwar

Mahabaleshwar is famous for its temple and the fact that it is the source of the Krishna river. It offers a spectacular view of the Deccan plateau and is a preferred destination for the Mumbaikars. Surrounded by trees all around, the Venna lake is one of the major tourist attractions of Mahabaleshwar. Other places to visit are the fort of Pratapgad, Needle Hole Point or the Elephant Point, 3 Monkey Point and many others

Ooty

The queen of hill stations, Ooty is situated in the Nilgiri ranges. Like Shimla, this beautiful vacation spot is also accessible by train and the ride is indeed dreamy. Beautiful mountains, lakes, tea gardens sprawling the slopes of the hills, the heady smell of eucalyptus fascinated the British years ago and still captures the imagination of the romantics all over the world.

Ladakh

Ladakh is possibly heaven for all adventure sport enthusiasts and people who love driving to their destinations. Each of the mountains boast of a different colour and the lakes reflect the hue of the skies like a large mirror placed on the ground. Speckled with monasteries all around, Ladakh is every travellers dream destination and many go there every year in search of peace and revel in the wonders of nature.

Gangtok

The site of Kanchenjunga, a morning walk in fresh mountain air, flowers all around, beautiful music wafting through every cafe in the evening, along with the aroma of fresh Tibetan food, Gangtok boasts of this all. The capital of Sikkim became a popular Buddhist pilgrimage site after the construction of the Enchey Monastery in 1840. The diverse ethnic populace of the town keeps the colours of the town alive.

Sikkim Travelogue: Flowers, mountains and snow - a trip to remember

Planning a trip and checking boxes while travelling has never been my forte. What I do like is stuffing a few T-shirts in a backpack and taking off whenever I can get some days off. Alas! Growing up has its disadvantages – you cannot just up and leave as you want. And if you are planning to go to Sikkim – that is not an option anyway.

Travelling with my recently travel bug-bitten husband, Sikkim required an advance planning by a few weeks. Not only because it is far from Delhi, which is my home, but you also have to take special permissions to go to the places near the border areas.

After speaking to a couple of friends who had been there before, we decided

Talai, Himachal Pradesh: Travelling into the cloud factory

When the cottony clouds overcast the skies, remember wanting to reach out to them, plucking them out and eating them like cotton candy? Remember lying on the grass and looking up with your friends trying to plant stories, finding bunnies and dragons in the shapes of floating clouds? What if you could touch them in real?

Driving into a village called Talai, near Fagu was like climbing the stairway to heaven, and reaching paradise, sitting on the clouds.

A few miles from Kufri (the famed ski destination in Himachal Pradesh), this little hamlet is straight out of a Ruskin Bond book. A total of five houses strewn around the mountain top, in the middle of an apple orchard, a family with little children who walk down to school every day and a big mountain

Driving in Delhi – God save our souls!

Delhi boasts of a well-developed transport system. Unlike a decade ago, most of the commercial areas are now well-connected with the Delhi Metro and hence, the roads have become relatively unclogged. Obviously, in an ever growing city like the Nation's capital, there is no dearth of traffic snarls and yet things have become much better than before.

When you get a new vehicle, all you want to do is, have fun with it. Young guys zip, zap and zoom through narrow streets. They try and emulate bike stunts and test the speed limits of their machines.

Without condoning their stupidity, I still do understand why they do it. It is after all young blood – adrenaline rushes through their veins. Most of them are inspired by numerous advertisements of the latest super-powered bikes by manufacturers.

But what percentage of these 18 to 22 year olds is actually driving daily on the roads?

Romancing the hills in Ranikhet

India is my favourite place on earth. Where else will you find landscapes as contradictory to each other within 500 kilometres? There are snow-capped mountains and vast sand deserts, beautiful waterfalls and exotic virgin beaches, all in one country.India is a place where colours are a riot of emotions and people are welcoming.

Travelling in India is an experience that no one in the world should miss. As a lover of mountains, with limited time and budget – Kumaon is a perfect getaway.

The drive - Jodhpur and Jaisalmer

Mehrangarh Fort

Road trip. Have I ever mentioned that I have a travel bug. Not that I can afford it everytime, but I still have it. Ever since I remember I have loved hitting the roads. Especially if there I can drive down there. My father loves taking long drives, and so does my husband(thankfully).

Fortunately or unfortunately I was born in India. Which means that we have practically all kinds of landscapes possible in this one country. And as we recently figured out, we can’t possibly travel abroad for the next 16 years without visiting the n number of places in our list of ‘must visits’ of India. Hampi, kasaul, ladakh, Spiti, kerala, to name just a few. 

One of the most memorable trips (and one we have to take again, simply because it was so awesome) was Rajasthan. Specifically- Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. My husband – Shreyas, a friend – Pradip and I decided to take this road trip in the winter of 2011-2012. So packed into our Tata Indica, with enough razais(quilts) to help a joint family of 15 ward of a himalayan winter we set of from Delhi.

Inside the fort

NH 15 - on the way to Jaisalmer (Near Pokhran)

Gadsisar Lake - beautiful lake with a temple at the center 

It was truly spectacular. Jodhpur is the blue city of Rajasthan. With forts and palaces, the colour imbibed by the people of the state makes up for the dry and arid nature of the landscape. On the other hand Jaisalmer is gold. Wherever you look the blue skies contrast the golden forts, the city is golden, the landscape is golden, and it is mesmerising when you look at the slanting evening rays of the sun hitting the forted city. 

The Mehrangarh fort (featured in the 'Dark Knight Rises') happens to be one of the most well stocked museums in India. It houses several of the royal armoury, fine arts, paintings, palanquins, gifts from emperor Akbar to the royals of Jodhpur, jewellery, traditional royal clothes, and folk musical instruments. The ornate Howrahs are exquisitely carved and as Rudyard Kipling had said – the fort was built by the fairies for the giants. 

The drive from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer is fantastic. The roads are very well maintained. And dotted with desert wildlife. The state roadways has to applauded for maintaining this road over the years as many of my friends who have gone have also reported. I wish the Delhi-Jaipur highway was as good. I digress. The highway NH 114 (which is a little patchy at places) and NH 15 (we sped along this one) have several road side dhabas with good food and awesome tea. 

We reached Jaisalmer in the afternoon and travelled to Sam Dunes (and onwards to Dhanana) the 

The Sam Dunes

next morning. About 45 Kms from Jaisalmer, and totally a desert, It was freezing cold. With temperatures going below zero and an extremely open landscape, the winds were cutting. But the sunrise was beautiful. We kept driving next to the sand dunes to almost 20 kms away from the India-Pakistan border. The village around Sam are untouched and one can almost guess the way the village order lies with the clothing and the housing structures. 

We also visited the Jain Temples, which are supposed to be directly connected to the jaisalmer fort with underground tunnels that would have been escape routes incase the fort was ever under attack. 

Standing on the Trikuta Hill, the fort itself has a walled city within. Around 25% of the populace lives within the fort with varied tourism-centric occupations like food stalls – aimed at the foreign tourists; jewellery, stone work, traditional clothing stores, tourist guides etc. Built by Rao Jaisal in 1156 AD, this fort is one of the largest in the world. Although a lot of them are still lived in by the descendants of the merchants, some of the havelis in this fort are now museums and contain the ornate sandstone carvings, carved wooden doors and other royal artifacts from the bygone era. The famous detective movie by Satyajit Ray – ‘Sonar Kella’, was also based in this fort. The movie has possibly got more tourists to the city than any guidebook – the locals admit. And you can see a lot of Bengali eateries for the number of Bengali tourists who come to Jaisalmer for the ‘Ray pilgrimage’. 

We drove back to Jaipur the next day and after a day of rest we came back to Delhi. This road trip was full of great experiences and the longest I had taken. Can’t wait to get back on the road and possibly add some more fantastic experiences.

This is an official blog entry for the Ambi Pur’s “The Perfect Road Trip” . You can visit their facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/AmbiPurIndia

Durga Puja in Delhi 2012

Our theme for this years Durga Puja was... Jamini Roy... and the pandal was really beautiful...
The lights, the way things were put up, the traditional touch and the modern twist... everything was right there... and the Pandal received many people from all across the city to see the novelty. It also won an award for the best pandal, from Times of India I think.

the pratima was beautiful too... but then many said it was beautiful, but doesnt provoke bhakti...

The Pratima

Ah well!!! perceptions... The pictures have come out nice

Shreyas ki Kalam se...

I 'discovered' Delhi in 2006. 

Though I've lived my life almost entirely in this metropolis, I never 'opened my eyes' to it before that - it was always just a collection of this-nagar and that-pur, this-vihar and that-extension to me. That was till William Dalrymple's acclaimed travelogue 'The City of Djinns' found me. And my outlook changed...

My mother is a historian. Delhi is history. I requested a crash course. She told me, there's nothing like visiting history instead of theorizing it. 

Not that it is all about history and culture. Not at all! It is, statistically (in terms of area covered), the Greenest capital city in the world and the third greenest among all cities with a population of 1 million or more. Yes, this is Delhi we're talking about, the same one where horizons used to be dark gray not more than 10 years ago. So expect to find some non-archaeo-historical visits on this blog too, predominated by the colour green.

And so, armed with my 'City of Djinns', Eicher City Maps, 'Architecture of the Cities of Delhi - A Reliance Presentation' (good detailed maps of historical sites), my omniscient Marlboro regulars and a Sony Ericsson K300i camera phone, I've set out on a journey of the last 3500 years. And that is the conservative archaeological estimate of Delhi's age, not a Doc Brown idea from the Back to the Future movies.

'...और नीली फ़ज़ा की मख़़मल पर

हँसती हुई हीरे की ये कनी

ये मेरी जन्नत, मेरी ज़मीं ...'

(अली सरदार जाफ़री - 'मेरा सफ़र ')

DISCLAIMER:

This post comes from a Dead Blog http://www.meri-dilli.blogspot.in with the permission of the blogger. I thought it was a very well written post, and needs to be read by more people. It has not been written by me, and i take no credit for it. There is just one more post from this blog which was posted and here is the LINK

Nearer Home? The Northern Ridge and thereabouts...

December 17, 2006 dawned a grayish-blue.

The usual Delhi winter chill was accompanied by a rare and not-very-welcome companion, the rain. However, by about noon, the latter had disappeared and though the sun could still not peek through the curtain of clouds, one could feel it was hardly the kind of weather to stay home and continue to be cold. And so, a call was put through to the 'partner in crime and rhyme', Mr. Chandrashekhar Singh, him of the big-build and the marshmallow-heart. He was (as usual) open to the idea of roaming about; all it generally needs to convince him is something that will make him escape the rigours of a Civil Service aspirant's life. And so we decided to meet at the Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station, intending to walk through the personally-unexplored areas in and around the Delhi University North Campus, the phase in Delhi's history most recent to our times apart from Lutyens' New Delhi - the Ridge and adjoining areas.

First up, we met our Bengali-dada, the cigarette/aerated drinks/potato chips vendor outside the metro station, and stocked up our supplies. Then the journey commenced, walking through the parking lot towards the University Guest houses and the ridge beyond...

FLAGSTAFF TOWER

Funnily enough, I never attached any significance to this structure even when I saw it before, on numerous occasions - my earliest visits to the University for CCGI meetings, when I used to drive through the ridge (the road was still open to traffic then) to get to Stephen's.

Only after reading the previously mentioned historical books did I come to know that this was the place where the British infantry first observed the 'Mutineers' of 1857 entering Delhi, and raised the

Bringing alive Melbourne

Melbourne Pic Courtesy

My love for Australia started with Discovery Channel’s show on reptiles hosted by the beloved Steve Irwin. Remember ‘The Crocodile Hunter’ ?. As much as my mother would try to hide the remote, disconnect the cable, and even resorted to tie up the TV, I and my brother would find ingenious ways to put the TV on watch the Disney hour and the epic reptile wrestler Steve. He was the first animal lover hero to me and my brother. He and his wife (I am forgetting her name) were what I thought were the ideal fun loving, wild couple, who went extravagant adventures and did things I cannot dream of doing ever... a real life hero. My love for wildlife documentaries starts from there. So does my love for Australia.

Heath Ledger Pic Courtesy

Then of course came the movies with Nicole Kidman (who I have a girl crush on), the legendary Heath Ledger of the Batman fame, Russel Crowe amongst the countless others who I got acquainted to. The Don himself is from Australia – Sir Don Bradman for the uninitiated, I am a sports enthusiast after all. With the learning about various cultures of the world, I came to learn about the aborigines of the Australian Continent and I was fascinated by them for their art and their resourcefulness.

But the city that has fascinated me the most has been "Marvellous Melbourne" (a term coined by the English journalist George Augustus Henry Sala). It is the Cultural hub of Australia and has a wide variety of cultural attractions spread all over the city. It boasts of hosting a large number of theatre, music and art festivals across the year. The juxtaposition of the growing modern architecture with the 19^th and early 20^th century buildings is something that can only be seen to be believed.

It’s the cultural mix of the new city, which has evolved in the last century to be one of the most beautiful and developed cities of the world really intrigues me. It has a heady mix of absolutely stunning street art (a claim that can probably be matched only by Berlin or New York), and a 150 year old National Gallery of Victoria, the oldest and biggest public art museum in Australia. If you are sports buff then you would know about the famous MCG – Melbourne cricket ground, or the Melbourne park, where one of the 4 grand slams are held every year. It has a great nightlife with restaurants, bars and pubs and the Crown Casino as well as the bohemian Brunswick Street and the lazy water facing Nelson Place, an ideal place for the tourist to experience street food on an idle holiday afternoon. And most of all the Federation Square, the centre of it all, where one could catch all the major cultural and sports events around Australia on a large screen in the public area.

The Melbourne experience doesn’t stop there... It extends to the beautiful destinations close to the city and within a day trip.

Geelong: The Surf Coast near Geelong with magnificent views on the Great Ocean Road, provides quite an experience for surfers around the world. The 12 Apostles and the Bells Beach look like heaven has been drawn somewhere on earth and you have magically walked in.

The 12 Apostles Picture Courtesy

Bendigo: rich in its gold mining history, and the Victorian architecture speckled around the city, Bendigo is very popular with history and art buffs

The Dandenongs: these low lying hills are popular for the winding roads and the narrow-gauge heritage steam railway, Puffing Billy Railway, from Belgrave to Gembrook, with beautiful views. It is also a popular destination for quite picnics in the Sherbrooke Forrest and antique shops and gardens.

Phillip Island: Little Penguins which come ashore in groups attracts nature lovers from across countries to watch this beautiful spectacle at the Phillip Island Nature Park. This is also a surfer’s paradise and holds quite a few surfing festivals.

A holiday in Melbourne is a dream come true, and it is a dream for anyone. Whether you are a adventure lover, a history buff, a sucker of culture and people, a food lover; whether you want to backpack and take a hike in the mountains, or sit quietly on a beach, or whether you want to just go and hang out and meet new people, and party all night …it's your time to visit Melbourne NOW!

This is my official entry to the indiblogger contest http://www.visitmelbourne.com/in

Gauraiya

'Gauraiya' - a baby female sparrow sitting on the bulb wire at a tea stall
near Jodhpur, Jan 2011. Image (C) Aparna Mudi

A long time ago I and Shreyas went for a play - Swanand Kirkire's award winning  'Aao Saathi Sapna Dekhen'. A musical/lyrical/comic rendition of a common love story which isn't so common. A claim a lot of stories make, but fail to do. Aao Saathi... however was different. It was simplistic, with inspirations from here and there, the songs were beautiful and however much I waited for the cliches, they came as in all romances, but they were put beautifully. Never for one moment did you feel the director has lost touch with the pace of the drama.

Which is what stands out in theater. You know it can take you on a emotional ride as the director wants you to. Its happening live. You dont need filming techniques to capture the audience. The imagination flows as it progresses. And theater has repeat value. A story once told will be told again in the same format, but each time it has the potential to be better and change within itself. And Aao Saathi... does just that. In its dark and dreamy sequences it makes the audience stay entwined with the story line, yet not losing the romantic colored stance of it.

Aao saathi was refreshing. Not very serious, but not complete mindless comedy either, the play takes on all the love stories ever heard. It is set in Delhi 6, and with its dreamy sequences of ordinary love stories to destiny taking it over to a darker shade, combined with the energy and pace of the play makes it tick. The young and extremely talented Sneha Khanwalkar has composed the music, who is making waves with her music direction in bollywood these days (especially with Gangs of Wasseypur being my recent favorite) which is set to Kirkire's fantabulous lyrics. 

Why I wrote this piece so long after I saw the play? I was sifting through my old pictures and saw this photograph of the baby sparrow - Gauraiya. Gauraiya and Baiju's story - Aao Saathi Sapna Dekhen, retains its innocence and dwells in my mind even so long after I watched it, in times when memories have become short, and nothing lasts, yet Aao Saathi... did. It only proves the genius of the story teller.

Now that the theater season is back, I shall be waiting for another show  in Delhi soon

When the Cat Scratched the Sky

Gadsisar Lake, Jaisalmer 2011, (C) aparnamudi

January 2011
Jaisaalmer Lake

We sat near this lake for about 2 hours just watching the changing colors of the sky and how it reflects on the water... a sight that would always be captured in my memory... fantastic experience

View from a view

This post is inspired from Kiran-tarun's Blog post.
En route from Pokhran to Jaisalmer
Jan 2011

Rear View - Pokhran Rajasthan Image (c) aparnamudi

Rishikesh : The Indo-European food trail

I haven’t written a lot of about food, and I have no idea why. Thorough foodie that I am, maybe it is time to start writing about travel and food.

Travelling is a passion that a lot of people have acquired lately, especially with the amount of dispensible money on the rise, travelling is much more affordable now. The ‘Shimlas’ and the ‘Kullu Manalis’ are a passé, and instead new destinations have now cropped up.

The Ghats of Rishikesh

However, there are some staples that I personally can’t get away from. And Rishikesh is on such destinationthat doesn’t fail to relax me. Maybe it’s the Ganga flowing and gurgling and singing, that does it, or maybe it is just the atmosphere. There is something about that town that pulls people there. It’s not as if it is full of joints and shopping markets (called malls in most hill stations). It is the overall atmosphere of relaxation and not tourists hopping from one place to another.

Apart from the innumerable temples dedicated to various gods across the town, there are hotels and ashrams lining the main road on both sides of the Ganga for the temple tourists and the foreign nationals that keep trickling in throughout the year. There are various ayurvedic, yoga, spa and massage centers guaranteeing the relaxation of both body and soul. There are innumerable outlets promising adventure sports that the area has to offer.

And then my favourite kind: the food joints.

Rishikesh has a plethora of these. Whether it is the cheap chhole bhature and ‘snakes’ counter (snacks, don’t get freaked out yet). Or the expensive but really famous ‘Chotivaala’, complete with a man with a standing choti (hair plait) sitting near the entrance looking magnificent in his loud makeup. But wait-for-it there are two of them, side by side and looking identical… considering the amount of waiting one has to do for the Indian food here, I thought there needs to be another one. But a trip to Rishikesh isn’t complete without a visit to this famous food shop with a blustering crowd breathing down your neck waiting for their turn, my advice is to go there for an early lunch after a dip in the ganga in the morning.

There is a fabulous Rajasthani Food restaurant near the Ram Jhula main bus terminus where you get everything, from gatte ki sabzi, kadhi, rajasthani dal, spicy and mouth watering, there serving size is not too large, but it is not expensive.  But I forget the name all the time. Maybe if one of you can tell me. I can add that on.

Devraj Coffee Corner, Picture Courtesy

There are several Mexican, Israeli and Italian food joints popular with the foreign nationals seen more than the Indians or Indian youngsters who are visiting Rishikesh for adventure. One of the most popular has to be the Devraj Coffee Corner, popularly known as the German Bakery. This well known joint is almost always full, it overlooks the ganga on the corner of the Lakshman Jhula and especially during the autumn has a pleasant breeze blowing throughout the day. One could sit here for hours and have the variety of bakes like the apple crumble pie and ginger lemon honey tea (my personal favourites), while reading a simple book. One can have his morning breakfast in these European joints (sans the bacon, sausages and hams, rishikesh being a vegetarian town). They serve eggs to order as well as porridge and milk for the health conscious. For me, glutton that I am, what takes the cake literally are the pastas and Pizzas that are available in many of the cafes.

The Little Buddha Cafe Pic Courtesy

Freedom Cafe Pic Courtesy

The Little Buddha Café: situated right on the banks of Ganga, it has a beautiful opening near which you can play your guitar, and/or read your favourite book, and order for bruschettas and lemon tea, with ‘hello to the queen’, a dessert made of honey/chocolate cookie crumbs, butter sautéed banana pieces, hot fudge and vanilla ice cream. One of the most delicious desserts I have had anywhere. It’s great to go with a bunch of friends here as the food takes its own sweet time to arrive, but it is worth the wait and not expensive at all. This cafe is apparently run by the same guy who runs 'Freedom cafe', but I havent been to the freedom cafe, despite hearing a lot of rave reviews about it,

The Green Italian Restaurant: I have gone here only once and what I loved most about the place is the wood oven baked pizza aroma that fills you up when you enter. The pizzas are creamy and quite filling. And I have heard they serve a mean pasta. It’s worth a try.

Shiva Café: Under renovation when I last went, this cozy place has low lighting, floor seating with cushions and rugs thrown around and is a great hangout joint in the evenings after the sun as set. They do have good food but their food is slightly on the costlier side. Or maybe I have ordered for the expensive food here. They do play very good music with even Pink Floyd in their playlist.

Chill out café: My friend highly recommends this… but says it needs to be left alone, so no advertisement for this one… Apparently has a beautiful setting and great lounge music.

Niloy Playing the Guitar at one of the cafes

Green Hills Café: This one is a huge space and is attached to the green hills cottage in Tapovan. But since it is away from the river, it doesn’t fall on the main road so you won’t meet too many people which is a relief at times. It is on the way to the neel guddur (neel garh) waterfall. In the winters this café gets a roaring fire around which you could sit and have your food. The food is again very affordable and their spinach pasta is very good, so are the sizzlers. I and my friend Agomoni gorged on one the last time we went there.  A very good place to sit in the night especially if you are planning to sit for long.They also have a scrumptious Greenhills special pizza with a Spinach topping among the other toppings! Their special pasta is also a recommended.

Lhasa: I have visited this only once and looking for a light meal. And I ended up having Tibetian Food. It does have a menu that consists of European and Israeli food too. 

You can also read my other post on Rishikesh HERE

चल, लौटते हैं|

Taken On Route to Manali (August 2011)
Kodak 

चल, वापस चलते हैं,
उस रास्ते के किनारे,
हम अपनी रौशनी छोड़ आएँ है शायद,


और कुछ साज़ bhi रखे होंगे,
उन्ही लिहाफ ओढ़े
पहाड़ों की पगडंडियों पर।

उसी बारिश की छींटों में भीगी सी माया,
वहीं बैठी है,
सड़क के किनारे टूटती सी bench पे...

कहीं किसी तरफ से ही आ कर,
किसी पुरानी train का फ़ालतू सा किस्सा सुनाते हुए,
मेरे पास बैठे तू,
आँखों से मेरे बाल हटाते हुए,
कोई बेहूदा सा ठट्टा करे,
मेरे ज़हन के लफ्ज़ गुनगुनाये...

चल लौटते हैं?
जहाँ रेतों पर अभी भी,
सिर्फ़ हमारा आशियाना बना है...
चल, अब वही चलके रहते हैं।

image (C) copyright: aparna mudi

Food Fest @ JNU

Delhi students were given a rather global treat this Republic Day. Jawaharlal Nehru University had its Annual International Food Festival on Thursday as Students from 14 different nations brought their traditional dishes for the Delhiites to savor.

Dishes from Countries like Armenia, Tibet, France, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Laos and Vietnam etc. were put out by the student chefs and their friends and families, many bringing their flavor and ingredients from their own countries to get the original taste and aromas of their food. Students, food enthusiasts and young people from all over Delhi were here to taste the flavor and be transported to the far off lands with the essence, without having to pay the cost for the flight. The embassies also pooled in to help the stalls of their respective countries to provide traditional costumes, travel pamphlets and posters, and even Books. Diwash Gahatraj  The music in the late evening were a perfect setting for this wonderful weather, plateful of flavorful evening and the colorful extravaganza in a truly universal way sharing cultures and making friends without having to really speak in the same language.

It is as Cesar Chavez said “If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him... the people who give you their food give you their heart.” 10 years and the festival will hopefully only get spicier every passing year

Reported by Aparna Mudi

The original Article Here

The Bongs in Rishikesh

Idiots on the Lakshman Jhula

In the rather boring lifestyle that I have now; the week leading up to the New Year and the week after that have been, to say the least, INCREDIBLE.

Ram Jhula as seen from Budha Cafe

Rishikesh is a place I have been to, many times, but it never fails to leave me satisfied and with a calm head, despite the ruckus we make there. And not even a freezing Ganga can deter me from jumping into the water at least once. My mother has a flat of her own there. Kind of what people call a ‘retirement plan’. For us it is just somewhere with free crashing and cooking facilities. But then with a bunch of 20 year olds who really

Walk

Ranikhet 2009

A magical misty night,

Up in the hills,

A couple walks hand in hand,  only out of habit…

Both remembering the love they shared,

Even a few years ago.

Now as they fight,
With their own lives,
catching up on them,

Their dreams lie back home on their pillows,

Fading away in love letters

Folded and locked away in boxes.

A magical misty night,

Getting colder as the night falls,

Each wishing the stars would start falling,

So the lover’s eyes would twinkle again

With the wishes they made in secret,

Even a few years ago.

The wishes that came true,

At the cost of love,

Love which was stored in piggy banks,

For years,

So they could be spent little by little,

On magical misty walks like this. 

Ranikhet- The beautiful greens

After a rather longish wait for a vacation, the fateful day arrived...couldnt sleep a wink either the day before or during the journey... though the weather was quite comfortable...

full moon night and the train travelling north... it travelled with us... till the clouds decided to give it a rst and ran the rest of the way... early morning as the train pulled up

to the station and a cigarette was smoked... we were in

another world...

i have never really known how to write a travellouge, i dont even know how to spell it right. so i shall be pretty bad.

what i love most about travelling is the instant change it brings... how everything amazes you while you walk. how the people are so different that you like them more

than your friends who have so much in common with you... how images change with every turn you take. how sleep, food, money doesnt really matter (unless you are worried that you would never find an ATM).

The Ranikhet KMVN(kumaon mandal vikas nigam) cottages are very comfortable and situated in a very beautiful place...in the middle of the forest. away frm the main ranikhet township. It was pointed out to us that if you dont step out of the premises then you probably wouldnt see more than 5 people in an entire week. and oh! it rained... the pleasure of it all.. the rain battering down on the cottage roof... and there is not

hing else one can hear... not A SOUL... we reached thr about 8 30 or so... and it was soo silent that i could hear it...

while the sun came out at about noon, we went for a walk... which, though fun, was very tiring... had two deliciously hot paranthas and chai at a small

shop. the sunset was breathtaking... behind the clouds...golden lining... not silver...

at night fall... it became quieter still.. though i did not think that was possible... but it did... the moon rose to its full glory, rising from behind the hills, and if only i could fly i would have touched it, i am sure... i so wish we could have sat outside watching the moon... but it was quiet cold... and there were insects coz of the rain... so that was not to be....

after dinner, we sat at the balcony... drinking.. and smoking, talking through the night... slept at 6 in the morning... still dont understand one thing... how i end up talking soo much...

woke up at noon, had breakfast, realised its raining too hard for us to really walk down to the township... so called for a cab and left for kausani....

im letting the pictures do the talking

currently listening to: bengali classics, eagles

currently reading(trying to): ruskin bond omnibus

recently watched : naruto shippuden till the latest episode

image (C) copyright: aparna mudi

images taken with a canon digital A550

Incoming!!!

Some travel posts coming up... stupendous man and me went travelling to kumaon... and had the greatest time together... pictures and post should be up soon hopefully!