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Continuing with my ongoing journey of exploring this beautiful country of ours -India, and moving forward from where I left this majestic state of Rajasthan (earlier trip being to Neemrana Fort Palace), this time around enticed enough by a long weekend from the 25th of December to the 27th of December we(our family) decided to visit the city of forts n palaces- Jaipur. We drove across the Delhi- Jaipur highway, the journey usually takes about 4 1/2-5 hrs but due to flyover construction work at Bairoad and Kotputli, it took us around 7 hrs to reach our hotel in Jaipur. All the fellow travelers are thus cautioned to try and leave as early as possible, by 6 am or so, as opposed to 8am (when we started), to cover this stretch of 280 km, so as to avoid traffic congestions at the two locations mentioned above. One is welcomed into the city by its splendid arched huge pink gates. Its believed earlier Jaipur was confined to the inner stretches and restricted to these massive “city gates” .

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Ambitious two day trip to cover Narkanda , Jalori Pass, around 1100 Kms in chilly weather of December 2009. Narkanda is at 2621 metres (8599 feet), about 65 km from Shimla and surrounded by the Shivalik Ranges that span a large part of Himachal Pradesh. It is an enchanting place abounding with natural beauty, serenity and calm.

Day 1 : Gurgaon to Narkanda (around 450 Kms) 25th December 2009
Our journey started in a chilly winter morning at around 2:45 am from Gurgaon. Early morning Air was fresh but chilly. We started in our ALTO three of us, me, my husband & my brother, plan was to reach Narkanda before Sunset.

We took a small break in Muruthul to have famous Gulshan’s paratha and we all liked the taste. Our journey was going really smooth but soon got interrupted by dense fog near Ambala.

Dense Fog near Ambala

A great year of travel is coming to an end and we AT Ghumakkar are trying to imagine, what the new year is going to bring. With the dreaded recession mostly on the way out , airlines beginning to get full, industrial output and inflation both heading north, we are definitely heading towards more exciting times. Twenty-Ten is what the next year would be and the general perception that its going to bring more travel. Let it come. Amen.

Before I digress too much, let me hold my horses and bring to you the intent of this post. While winding up for 2009 and heading for our own well earned vacations, the team at Ghumakkar wanted to identify a select few who in our opinion have done their bit of traveling in 2009, shared their experiences with fellow community, been around for advice/suggestion and jabs , and love to be called Ghumakkars. It was tough to choose a few and it didn’t come easy, sometimes the discussions went too deep and personal that we decided to rather not do it. At the end, sanity returned and we did agree on a list which we all feel proud of. Our laze ensured that we do not get enough time to get our readers’ opinion and we fully understand our loss. We are sure that the next time something like this happens, it would have to be your with your active participation.

For lack of a better name, we agreed on the simplest and we are calling them ‘Ghumakkars of 2009′.

Please join me in congratulating Reema, Mahesh Semwal, Manisha Chitale, Arvind Padmanabhan and Manish Khamesra as the ‘Ghumakkars of 2009′. Clap, clap, clap.
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I’ve heard the call of the wild since a very tender age, but never really answered it the way I wanted to (when I say ‘wild’, I mean it in all perceivable senses). When Jim Corbett came calling, it was no different. So, this travel account is not going to be the ideal guide on how to plan a visit to the Corbett national park. Rather, my endeavor is to list a few things you should not do when planning a trip to the legendary abode of the Royal Bengal Tiger. To those who are acquainted with me, this travel account doesn’t involve royal enfields. As part of my office excursion party, I took my wife and eight-month-old son on a trip to the Corbett national park. As it turned out, it was like looking for Kashmir in Kashmere pulao. Bad joke? Can’t help it. There was very little of Corbett national park in the entire trip. The majestic resorts in Dhikuli, the Garjia temple, the Koshi River, the waterfall in Kaladhungi, and a day trip to Nainital, constituted a nice and comfortable 3-day trip, but overshadowed the real thing. Bear with me as I try and stitch all those elements together to produce a moderately readable travel story.

Corbett National park - Bijrani gate