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Pages from the Gangtok trip diary

We boarded the Darjeeling Mail from Sealdah at 10.30 pm. As the train began its journey to the foothills, we pored over whatever information we had about Gangtok and chalked out a plan for the next three days.

Day 1

We reached Siliguri next day around 9.30 am. Fresh after a good night’s sleep and raring to go,

we booked two tickets in a Gangtok-bound Mahindra Max, which started off around 11.30 am. The four-hour drive was scenic. The river Teesta, emerald in colour, kept us company almost till the end. The driver, a sprightly man in his 30s, started playing Nepali numbers. We did not mind because it gelled so well with the region we were traveling through.

The first stop was Rangpo, the Bengal-Sikkim border. A huge, ornate gate welcomed us to Sikkim. “Dus minat,” the driver yelled at us as we got out the jeep. Rangpo is a busy little stopover. We checked out the shops and found nothing interesting.

We reached Gangtok around 4 pm. We checked into Hotel Delamare. After a quick wash and tea, we decided to explore the town. We checked out the shops and walked till Raj Bhavan, which is located at one end of the town. The estate is huge and beautiful and we cajoled the guard to let us in. He called his superior, checked our ID cards and then impressed on us the importance of official procedure. By that time it was already pitch-dark and we decided to head back to the main town. The main thoroughfare, M.G. Road, is dotted with souvenir shops and eating joints. We booked a car for the next day’s sightseeing.

A friend had told me a lot about the local fare served Hotel Tibet. So, Hotel Tibet was the destination for dinner. After walking so much (almost two hours), we were famished. The cocktails were good (though the alcohol content was very low) but the ‘momos’ and ‘thupka’ pretty bad. They serve better ‘momos’ in Chanakyapuri or Delhi Haat.

Day 2

We knew Day 2 would be hectic because we had to cover Tsongmo Lake, Baba Mandir and Rumtek. We started around 8 am. We could not go to Nathula because it was closed for tourists on that particular day.

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I prefer having an idea of the things I want to explore so I do not miss out on anything of significance. That is what I used to think until I made a trip to Jaipur. My travels to Jaipur changed my pre-conceived notions of travelling as to how I wanted to approach new places and encounter new experiences

It was in July 2007 when, unexpectedly, I got a few days free while I was in Delhi. On a whim I decided to go to Jaipur. I have never been more delighted on having made such an impulsive decision. To put it simply, I ended up having a fabulous time exploring the place on my own.

Jaipur, popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital of the State of Rajasthan in India. Founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber in 1727, it is regarded as one of the best planned cities, when compared to other towns of that period. Keeping in mind the Hindu architectural books involving geometric planning, Jaipur was planned by the Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II together with the famous Hindu priest architect, Guru Vidyadhar.

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Akbar is often remembered as a liberal ruler who expanded Mughal Empire to the vast region but his lust for women is lesser known. The royal complex of Fatehpur Sikri was witness to his typical Mughal attitude towards women. The number of women in his harem increased with every victorious expedition. The defeated kings and nobles were forced to gift their most beautiful daughters, who together with their maidservants were installed in Royal Zenana. Akbar collected and amassed women like an antique collector. At its height of splendor the royal harem at Fatehpur had around 5000 women, guarded by an army of eunuchs and no man was allowed inside. Akbar counted Hindu, Muslim and even Christians among his wives. These women were brought from all corners of his kingdom and even from far away places like Russia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran and Tibet. There is even mention of a Portuguese woman gifted to him.

I read a book “Goli” by Acharya Chatursen. This novel details the life inside Zenana Dyodi of Rajput kings; situation in Mughal harem should be similar. King’s arrival to the harem was often a reason for celebrations and usage of drugs and liquor was very common among its inmates.

Some of the women in Harem were very powerful and rich too. It is believed that during Jahangir’s rule, Nurjahan managed empire from Harem. Jahangir was mostly too drunk to manage the daily affairs. As a result of money and power at some women’s disposal, jealousies in the harem was also rife. The work of maintaining law and order among all of Akbar’s wives, minor wives, their kaneez and baandis, paramours, musicians, dancers & whatnot was major preoccupation. It was noted by Abul Fazal that the government of the kingdom was an amusement compared with such a task. I don’t think anybody would disagree.
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I am basically from Lucknow and live in Noida. Normally I board a night train to visit Lucknow. We were visiting my parents in Lucknow on new year’s weekend and this time decided to drive down because of two reasons. One, we had to pick up some stuff from my parent’s house for which we needed a vehicle. Second and more important was that, having completed the big road drive (Delhi - Jaisalmer- Jodhpur - Delhi in 4 days) on previous weekend, we were high on driving!

The distance from Delhi to Lucknow is approximately 500 kms by road. The standard route is Delhi - Hapur - Moradabad - Rampur- Bareilly - Shahjahanpur- Sitapur - Lucknow. I had been hearing about the bad road conditions on some stretch on this route. Another new route that is becoming popular is the Dellhi - Kanpur - Lucknow route. Some of my friends tried this route few months back and said that it is fast as it’s a 4 lane road but longer than the standard route by about 50 kms. We decided to take the longer and the faster one.

Delhi-Kanpur-Lucknow route can be divided into 4 parts:

a. Delhi - Agra ~ 200Kms

b. Agra - Etawah ~ 125Kms

c. Etawah - Kanpur ~ 150Kms

d. Kanpur - Lucknow ~ 80 Kms

Delhi - Agra: Started early (around 5:45 am) from Noida and reached NH-2 via Kalindi Kunj. Road was clear in the morning so we covered the first 150 kms quickly. Delhi-Mathura-Agra road is an important road (because of Agra) so generally one doesn’t experience bad roads here. But this time, I guess maintenance was due and we met some rough stretches. Arrived Mathura (160 km) around 8:30 and stopped at McDonals to get fresh, but couldn’t resist the smell of fresh burgers and ended up having burger and french fries for breakfast. You can not miss this McD while driving as its huge in size and is a good place to stop for breakfast if you start early in the morning.

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